Barony

# Barony with Intel Core i7-12700K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti

The Intel Core i7-12700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti delivers exceptional performance in Barony, a roguelike title from 2015 that clearly favors high refresh rate displays. The measured frame rates across all resolutions and settings presets are remarkably high, with the lowest average recorded at 90.1 FPS (4K Ultra) and the highest reaching 575 FPS (1080p Low). This combination ranks 169th out of 1,702 tested combos in this game, placing it in the top 10% of all configurations. The data suggests that Barony, despite its age, scales aggressively with both GPU and CPU capabilities, and this particular pairing extracts nearly everything the game can offer.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K reveals how the RTX 5070 Ti becomes the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions, while the i7-12700K maintains a strong supporting role. At High settings, the transition from 1080p (363.4 FPS) to 1440p (233.7 FPS) represents a 35.7% reduction, while moving from 1440p to 4K (120 FPS) cuts performance by another 48.7%. This steep decline indicates that the GPU's rendering workload scales significantly with pixel count, a pattern consistent with a game that isn't heavily optimized for modern hardware but still benefits from raw GPU throughput.

The scaling behavior changes dramatically when examining Low settings. At 1080p Low, the system produces 575 FPS, which drops to 362.7 FPS at 1440p (a 36.9% reduction) and then to 190.7 FPS at 4K (a 47.4% reduction from 1440p). The consistency of these percentage drops across different presets suggests that Barony's rendering pipeline is resolution-bound rather than settings-bound; the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth are the constraining factors. Notably, the gap between High and Low at 4K is 70.7 FPS (120 vs 190.7), while at 1080p that same gap expands to 211.6 FPS (363.4 vs 575), indicating that at lower resolutions the CPU has more headroom to feed the GPU, allowing settings changes to have a more pronounced effect.

GPU Role

The RTX 5070 Ti's 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus with 896.0 GB/s bandwidth provides ample resources for Barony, which is not a VRAM-intensive title. The GPU's 96 ROPs and 280 TMUs, combined with a pixel rate of 235.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 686.6 GTexel/s, explain why the card can push 120 FPS at 4K High without breaking a sweat. The boost clock of 2452 MHz (with a base of 2295 MHz) allows the card to maintain high throughput even under sustained load, and the 43.94 TFLOPS FP32 compute capacity is more than sufficient for a game with Barony's visual fidelity.

The GPU's benchmark scores contextualize its position: it scores 32,974 in Passmark G3D and 23,1226 in Geekbench OpenCL, with a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6,604. Its average benchmark score of 52,086 places it at the 87th percentile of all GPUs, and it trades blows with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 (0% delta) and AMD Radeon RX 7700S (-0.8% delta). In Barony specifically, the GPU's performance headroom is evident at 1080p, where even Ultra settings deliver 261.3 FPS, suggesting that the card is never the bottleneck at lower resolutions — it's only at 4K Ultra (90.1 FPS) that the GPU starts to show meaningful strain.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K's 12 cores (with 20 threads) and boost clock of 5.00 GHz provide substantial processing power for Barony's game logic, procedural generation, and entity management. The CPU's Alder Lake architecture with a 25 MB shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 per core ensures that data-heavy roguelike operations — such as dungeon generation and item interaction systems — have quick access to frequently used information. The 3DMark scores illustrate the CPU's multi-threaded capabilities: 9,276 in the 16-thread test and 9,979 at max threads, while single-thread performance sits at 1,043.

The CPU's role becomes apparent when examining the 1080p results. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 575 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's ceiling for frame generation in this game. The fact that 1080p Low (575 FPS) is only 34.4% faster than 1080p Ultra (261.3 FPS) — despite the massive GPU workload difference — indicates that at low settings, the CPU is the limiting factor. This is corroborated by the Cinebench R23 scores: 29,241 multi-core and 4,128 single-core, which place the CPU at the 89th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 (-0.3% delta) and Intel Core i5-14500HX (-0.7% delta), showing it remains competitive in synthetic benchmarks, though Barony's real-world performance is more dependent on the GPU at higher resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for optimizing the experience across different display configurations. At 1080p, Ultra settings at 261.3 FPS provide the most visually complete experience while still delivering frame rates far beyond what any standard 60 Hz or 144 Hz monitor can display. The jump from High (363.4 FPS) to Ultra (261.3 FPS) costs 102.1 FPS, but both are so far above typical refresh rates that the visual upgrade is worth the performance trade-off. For competitive play where maximum frame rates matter, Low settings at 575 FPS offer a 120% improvement over Ultra, though the visual compromise may not be justified given how smooth even Ultra remains.

At 1440p, the recommendation shifts slightly. Ultra still achieves 164.5 FPS, which comfortably exceeds 144 Hz displays, while Medium (267.4 FPS) offers a 62.6% uplift over Ultra for those with 240 Hz monitors. High at 233.7 FPS provides an excellent middle ground for high-refresh displays. At 4K, Ultra at 90.1 FPS is the only preset that dips below 120 FPS, so users with 120 Hz 4K displays should prefer High (120 FPS) or Medium (142 FPS) to maintain smooth motion. Low at 4K (190.7 FPS) is available but unnecessary unless chasing maximum refresh rates on a 165 Hz+ 4K panel.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination ranks 169th out of 1,702 tested combos in Barony, placing it in the 90th percentile of all configurations tested. This ranking is noteworthy because it significantly outperforms what the individual component percentiles might suggest — the CPU sits at the 89th percentile and the GPU at the 87th percentile, yet their combined performance in this game ranks higher than either component's standalone percentile. This synergy suggests that Barony benefits from the balanced pairing of a strong multi-threaded CPU with a high-bandwidth GPU.

The ranking also implies that most of the 1,533 combos ranked above this one likely feature either newer generation hardware or more specialized configurations. Given that the RTX 5070 Ti's average benchmark score of 52,086 is nearly identical to the RTX 4080 (52,085, 0% delta), the GPU is already performing at a level comparable to the previous generation's flagship. The i7-12700K's average score of 35,684 places it just below the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 (35,802, -0.3% delta) and above the Intel Core i7-13700T (35,468, +0.6% delta), indicating that this CPU remains a top-tier option for gaming workloads.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers 575 FPS on Low, 427.7 FPS on Medium, 363.4 FPS on High, and 261.3 FPS on Ultra. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a consistent degradation: Medium is 25.6% slower than Low, High is 15.0% slower than Medium, and Ultra is 28.1% slower than High. This pattern indicates that each settings tier adds meaningful GPU workload, but even the most demanding preset at 1080p remains far above playable thresholds.

At 2560x1440, the measured averages are 362.7 FPS (Low), 267.4 FPS (Medium), 233.7 FPS (High), and 164.5 FPS (Ultra). The relative gaps narrow compared to 1080p: Medium is 26.3% slower than Low, High is 12.6% slower than Medium, and Ultra is 29.6% slower than High. The 1440p results show that the GPU is beginning to exert more influence, as the absolute FPS values drop by roughly 36-40% from their 1080p counterparts across all settings.

At 3840x2160, the results are 190.7 FPS (Low), 142 FPS (Medium), 120 FPS (High), and 90.1 FPS (Ultra). The 4K data reveals the most pronounced GPU bottleneck: Medium is 25.5% slower than Low, High is 15.5% slower than Medium, and Ultra is 24.9% slower than High. The 4K Ultra result of 90.1 FPS is the only measurement below 100 FPS in the entire dataset, and it shows that this combination, while exceptionally powerful, still has limits when pushing 8.3 million pixels with maximum quality settings.

FAQ

Q: Is the RTX 5070 Ti bottlenecked by the i7-12700K in Barony?

A: The data suggests the CPU limits performance only at 1080p Low settings, where 575 FPS approaches the CPU's frame generation ceiling. At higher resolutions and settings, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, evidenced by the steep FPS drops when moving from 1440p to 4K.

Q: What is the best settings preset for a 144 Hz 4K monitor?

A: High settings at 4K deliver 120 FPS, which exactly matches 144 Hz refresh rate needs. Medium at 142 FPS provides a slight buffer above 120 Hz, while Ultra at 90.1 FPS would require a 90 Hz or lower refresh display to avoid screen tearing.

Q: How does the RTX 5070 Ti compare to the RTX 4080 for this game?

A: The RTX 5070 Ti's average benchmark score of 52,086 is effectively identical to the RTX 4080's 52,085, representing a 0% delta. In Barony, the 5070 Ti's 16 GB GDDR7 memory and 896.0 GB/s bandwidth are more than sufficient for the game's demands.

Q: Can this system handle high refresh rate competitive play?

A: Yes. At 1080p Low, the system produces 575 FPS, and at 1440p Low it still achieves 362.7 FPS. Both are well above the typical 240 Hz competitive display capabilities, though the CPU may cap performance at the extreme low-settings case.

Q: What causes the FPS gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p?

A: The gap of 313.7 FPS (575 vs 261.3) is primarily GPU-driven, as Ultra settings increase the rendering workload substantially. However, the CPU's ability to feed frames at 575 FPS on Low indicates that it can handle the game's logic at very high rates, making the GPU the bottleneck at Ultra.

Q: Is the 4K Ultra performance of 90.1 FPS considered playable?

A: For a roguelike game, 90.1 FPS is highly playable, especially given that Barony's turn-based combat and procedural dungeon crawling don't require twitch reflexes. The frame rate remains above 60 FPS, ensuring smooth camera movement and responsive input.