Barony

Barony is a 2015 roguelike that places almost no sustained load on modern flagship hardware, and the Intel Core i7-12700K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination proves exceptionally fast, ranking 33rd out of 1,702 tested combos. This places the combo in the top 2% of all tested configurations for this title, a position driven overwhelmingly by the GPU’s raw fill rate and the CPU’s high single-thread throughput. The measured frame rates are so high that the practical bottleneck shifts between components depending on resolution and preset, but in every scenario the combo delivers playable—and usually refresh-rate-saturating—performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 33 out of 1,702 tested combinations reflects near-top-tier performance in Barony, but it is not the absolute fastest pairing possible. The data shows that this rank is achieved with a CPU that scores in the 89th percentile among all processors and a GPU in the 91st percentile among all graphics cards. The i7-12700K’s average benchmark score of 35,684 places it virtually tied with the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845, which scores 35,802 and is only 0.3% ahead. Conversely, the i7-12700K is 0.6% ahead of the Intel Core i7-13700T and 0.8% ahead of the Intel Core i7-13800H, showing that the CPU is a solid, mid-tier performer relative to its immediate rivals.

On the GPU side, the RTX 4090’s average benchmark score of 66,473 is nearly identical to the NVIDIA Tesla T4, which scores 66,733 and is only 0.4% faster. The RTX 4090 is 0.5% ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla P40 and 1.3% ahead of the NVIDIA Quadro P6000, indicating that while the 4090 is a top-10-percentile part, its closest rivals in the database are professional workstation cards rather than gaming-focused alternatives. For Barony specifically, this rank means the combo will never be the limiting factor; the game’s low graphical complexity allows the hardware to run far ahead of typical requirements.

GPU Role

The RTX 4090 provides 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, yielding 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth, which is far more than Barony’s modest texture and geometry demands require. The GPU’s boost clock of 2520 MHz and base clock of 2235 MHz are high for a 5 nm Ada Lovelace part, and the 16,384 shading units, 512 texture mapping units, and 176 raster output pipelines give it a theoretical pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s. These specifications translate directly into the measured FPS: at 1080p Low, the combo hits 664.7 FPS, a number that is constrained by CPU draw-call throughput more than GPU shading.

The GPU’s 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is largely irrelevant in Barony, as the game’s roguelike rendering does not stress parallel compute workloads. Instead, the 4090’s massive memory bandwidth and pixel throughput allow it to maintain high frame rates even at 4K Ultra, where it still produces 100.1 FPS. The data suggests that the GPU is never the primary bottleneck at 1080p, but at 4K Ultra, the gap between Low and Ultra settings (222.5 FPS vs. 100.1 FPS) shows that the GPU’s shader work begins to matter more.

FAQ

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-12700K fast enough for Barony?

A: Yes. The CPU’s Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 29,241 and single-core score of 4,128 are far above what Barony requires. Its 3DMark single-thread score of 1,043 confirms strong per-core performance, which is critical for the game’s single-threaded logic.

Q: Does the RTX 4090 bottleneck the system in this game?

A: At 1080p, no. The measured FPS of 664.7 at Low settings suggests the CPU becomes the limiting factor. At 4K Ultra, the GPU is more involved, but it still delivers 100.1 FPS, so it never becomes a hard bottleneck.

Q: How does this combo compare to the CPU’s nearest rivals?

A: The i7-12700K is 0.3% slower than the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 and 0.6% faster than the Intel Core i7-13700T. These differences are negligible in real-world gaming, as all four CPUs produce nearly identical average benchmark scores.

Q: What memory configuration does the CPU support?

A: The i7-12700K supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration. The fact pack does not specify bandwidth, but the dual-channel bus is sufficient for Barony’s memory access patterns.

Q: Is this a power-hungry combination?

A: The CPU has a 125 W TDP and the GPU has a 450 W TDP, with a suggested PSU of 850 W. This is high, but the numbers are provided for reference only and do not affect measured performance.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming?

A: Yes. At 4K High, the combo produces 139.1 FPS, and at 4K Ultra it drops to 100.1 FPS. Both are well above playable thresholds for a roguelike.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo achieves 422.8 FPS on High settings, 664.7 FPS on Low, 493.8 FPS on Medium, and 302.3 FPS on Ultra. These numbers show a clear scaling pattern: dropping from Ultra to Low nearly doubles the frame rate, from 302.3 to 664.7 FPS. The gap between High and Medium is 70.1 FPS (422.8 vs. 493.8), while the gap between Medium and Low is even larger at 170.9 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but scale down predictably. High produces 269.4 FPS, Low produces 417.7 FPS, Medium produces 315.1 FPS, and Ultra produces 193.4 FPS. The Ultra-to-Low delta is 224.3 FPS, larger than at 1080p, indicating the GPU is becoming more relevant. The High-to-Medium gap at 1440p is 45.7 FPS, smaller than at 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the GPU load increases significantly. High produces 139.1 FPS, Low produces 222.5 FPS, Medium produces 163.7 FPS, and Ultra produces 100.1 FPS. The Ultra-to-Low delta is 122.4 FPS, and the High-to-Medium gap narrows to just 24.6 FPS. These results show that even at 4K, the combo never dips below 100 FPS on any preset.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial but not linear. At High settings, the frame rate falls from 422.8 FPS at 1080p to 269.4 FPS at 1440p (a 36.3% reduction), then to 139.1 FPS at 2160p (a 48.4% reduction from 1440p). This pattern indicates that the GPU becomes progressively more limiting as resolution increases, which is expected given the 4090’s fixed pixel throughput.

At Low settings, the scaling is more dramatic in absolute terms. The frame rate drops from 664.7 FPS at 1080p to 417.7 FPS at 1440p, then to 222.5 FPS at 4K. The 4K Low result is still over 200 FPS, meaning the GPU is never fully saturated even at the highest resolution with minimal settings. The data suggests that the CPU is the primary limiter at 1080p and 1440p Low, while the GPU begins to influence results at 4K.

The most telling comparison is at Ultra settings: 302.3 FPS at 1080p, 193.4 FPS at 1440p, and 100.1 FPS at 4K. This represents a 66.9% reduction from 1080p to 4K, which is close to the theoretical pixel-count scaling (a 4X increase in pixels would suggest a 75% drop if fully GPU-bound). The fact that the drop is slightly less than 75% indicates that the CPU still contributes to limiting performance even at 4K Ultra.

CPU Role

The i7-12700K’s 12 cores and 20 threads are far more than Barony needs, as the game’s roguelike mechanics rely heavily on single-threaded logic. The CPU’s 3DMark single-thread score of 1,043 and Cinebench R15 single-core score of 415 confirm strong per-core performance, which is why the combo achieves 664.7 FPS at 1080p Low. The CPU’s boost clock of 5.00 GHz and base clock of 3.60 GHz are relevant, but the data shows that its 25 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache are sufficient for the game’s data access patterns.

The CPU’s 3DMark 16-thread score of 9,276 and max-thread score of 9,979 indicate that multi-threaded performance is strong but unnecessary here. In Barony, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and update game logic, and its 89th percentile ranking among all CPUs means it will not hold back the RTX 4090 in most scenarios. The nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845, is only 0.3% faster on average, so switching CPUs would yield no measurable benefit in this game.

Settings Recommendations

For players targeting the highest possible frame rates, Low settings at 1080p deliver 664.7 FPS, which is far beyond any display’s refresh rate. However, the visual quality trade-off is unnecessary, as even Ultra at 1080p produces 302.3 FPS. The data suggests that Ultra at 1080p or High at 1440p (269.4 FPS) offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance for high-refresh-rate monitors.

At 4K, the choice is more nuanced. Ultra produces 100.1 FPS, which is playable but close to the 100 FPS threshold. High at 4K produces 139.1 FPS, offering a 39 FPS improvement over Ultra with minimal visual difference in a roguelike. Medium at 4K produces 163.7 FPS, which is smoother but may not justify the visual downgrade. For most users, High at 4K (139.1 FPS) is the recommended preset, as it provides a comfortable margin above 120 FPS while retaining most graphical features. Low at 4K (222.5 FPS) is only advisable for competitive play where frame rate is paramount, but the game’s genre makes this unnecessary.