Barony

# Barony with Intel Core i7-12700K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090

The data presents a compelling picture for this pairing in Barony, a roguelike title released in 2015. With the RTX 5090's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and the i7-12700K's 12 cores and 20 threads, the measured FPS across resolutions and settings shows a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at lower resolutions and progressively more balanced as pixel count rises. The combo ranks 77th out of 3,717 tested combinations, placing it in the top 2.1% of all pairings, yet the scaling patterns reveal interesting bottlenecks that merit closer inspection.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and tells a clear story about where the limiting component shifts. At Low settings, the system delivers 679 FPS at 1920x1080, 428 FPS at 2560x1440, and 224 FPS at 3840x2160. That is a 36.9% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 47.7% reduction from 1440p to 4K. At Ultra settings, the pattern is similar but with lower absolute numbers: 311 FPS at 1080p, 196 FPS at 1440p, and 102 FPS at 4K — a 37.0% drop and then a 48.0% drop respectively. The consistency of these percentage declines across settings suggests the scaling is driven primarily by resolution, not by graphical complexity.

At 1080p, the frame rates are so high — even 311 FPS at Ultra — that the CPU is almost certainly the limiting factor. The RTX 5090's raw compute power, with 21,760 shading units and 104.8 TFLOPS FP32, is far more than Barony's 2015-era rendering demands at this resolution. The i7-12700K's boost clock of 5.00 GHz and single-thread score of 1,043 in 3DMark single-thread suggest it is a capable CPU, but the physics and game logic of a roguelike can still create a ceiling. The fact that 1080p Low produces 679 FPS while 1080p Ultra produces 311 FPS — a 54.2% difference — indicates that even at 1080p, the GPU is not entirely idle.

Moving to 1440p, the FPS drops are substantial but the system still exceeds 400 FPS at Low and 270 FPS at High. This resolution appears to be the sweet spot where neither component is severely bottlenecked; the GPU starts to take on more work while the CPU still keeps up easily. At 4K, the GPU becomes the primary constraint. The RTX 5090's 1.79 TB/s memory bandwidth and 512-bit bus are put to use, yet the 224 FPS at Low and 143 FPS at High show that even this flagship card cannot maintain the triple-digit frame rates seen at lower resolutions. The 4K Ultra result of 102 FPS is particularly telling — it hovers right at the edge of high-refresh-rate display usability.

GPU Role

The RTX 5090's VRAM capacity of 32 GB GDDR7 is far beyond what Barony requires, even at 4K Ultra. The game, being a roguelike with procedural dungeon generation, does not feature the massive texture libraries or open-world assets that would stress memory capacity. The data shows the GPU's role is more about raw throughput than memory headroom. The boost clock of 2407 MHz and base clock of 2017 MHz, combined with the 423.6 GPixel/s pixel rate and 1,636.8 GTexel/s texture rate, suggest the card can push enormous fill rates. Yet, at 4K, the 102 FPS at Ultra versus 224 FPS at Low represents a 54.5% performance penalty for the highest preset, indicating that the shading workload and memory traffic at Ultra settings are significant even for this hardware.

The GPU's benchmark scores reinforce its position. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 18,355 and PassMark G3D score of 39,650 place it in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 79,842 is 0.3% ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB and 1.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT, though it trails the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X by 1.4%. These rivals are not gaming-focused cards, which underscores that the RTX 5090's gaming performance is exceptional. In Barony specifically, the GPU's role at 4K is to maintain playable frame rates, and it does so admirably — even 102 FPS at Ultra is well above the 60 FPS threshold.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the Medium preset offers the best balance between visual fidelity and performance. At 4K, Medium delivers 167 FPS average with a minimum of 142 FPS, compared to 143 FPS at High and 102 FPS at Ultra. The gap between Medium and High is 24 FPS (14.4% faster at Medium), while the gap between High and Ultra is 41 FPS (28.7% faster at High). This suggests that the Ultra preset imposes a heavy cost for marginal visual gains in a game like Barony, where the procedural dungeons and sprite-based elements may not benefit proportionally from the highest settings.

At 1440p, Medium achieves 319 FPS with a minimum of 271 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate monitors. The minimum FPS of 271 at 1440p Medium is actually higher than the average FPS of 273 at 1440p High, indicating that Medium provides more consistent frame pacing. At 1080p, Medium's 505 FPS average with a 429 FPS minimum is so far beyond display refresh rates that any preset would work, but Medium still offers the best headroom. For players targeting 144 Hz or 165 Hz displays, 1440p Medium is the clear choice — it provides 319 FPS average, ensuring the display is always saturated. For 4K users, Medium at 167 FPS is the recommended preset, as it keeps frame rates above 140 FPS even in the worst measured moments.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system produces extraordinary frame rates across all settings. Low settings yield 679 FPS average, Medium produces 505 FPS (with a minimum of 429 and maximum of 580), High delivers 433 FPS, and Ultra drops to 311 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 54.2% performance reduction, but even the lowest 1080p result is sufficient for any display technology. The minimum FPS at Medium, 429, is higher than the average FPS at High, which indicates that the Medium preset provides a more stable experience.

At 2560x1440, the numbers remain impressive but begin to show the GPU's load. Low hits 428 FPS, Medium achieves 319 FPS (minimum 271, maximum 366), High reaches 273 FPS, and Ultra settles at 196 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra is 232 FPS, or 54.2% — nearly identical to the 1080p percentage, suggesting a consistent scaling factor. The Medium minimum of 271 FPS is still far above the 240 Hz refresh rate, making this resolution ideal for competitive play.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates become more moderate. Low produces 224 FPS, Medium delivers 167 FPS (minimum 142, maximum 191), High drops to 143 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 102 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra is again approximately 54.5%, matching the pattern seen at lower resolutions. The Medium min of 142 FPS is notable — it means even in the most demanding moments, the system stays above 140 FPS at 4K, which is a remarkable achievement for a roguelike title. The Ultra average of 102 FPS is the only measured result that approaches the 60 FPS standard, but it still clears it by a wide margin.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 77 out of 3,717 tested combinations places it in the top 2.1% of all pairings in Barony. This is a strong showing, though not the absolute top — the 76 combinations ahead of it likely feature newer CPUs or more specialized configurations. The i7-12700K's CPU percentile of 84 versus all CPUs, combined with the RTX 5090's GPU percentile of 92, suggests that the CPU is the weaker link in this pairing. The CPU's average benchmark score of 35,287 is nearly identical to its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-13600T, which scores 35,305 (a delta of -0.1%). The i7-12700KF scores 35,365 (-0.2%), the i7-13700T scores 35,403 (-0.3%), and the Intel Core 5 213PE scores 35,428 (-0.4%). This clustering indicates that the i7-12700K is at the margin of its performance class, and the RTX 5090's massive headroom is not fully utilized in this game.

The rank of 77 suggests that while this combo is exceptional, it is not the definitive best. The data implies that pairing the RTX 5090 with a higher-end CPU, such as one with more single-thread performance, could push the combo higher. However, the fact that the system still achieves 679 FPS at 1080p Low and 311 FPS at 1080p Ultra indicates that the CPU is sufficient for Barony's demands at most settings. The rank is more a reflection of the GPU's raw power being partially wasted at lower resolutions than a criticism of the CPU's capability.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K, with 12 cores (Alder Lake architecture) and 20 threads, is a desktop processor that has been on the market since late 2021. Its boost clock of 5.00 GHz and base clock of 3.60 GHz, combined with a 125 W TDP, position it as a solid mid-high-range chip. In Barony, a roguelike that generates dungeons procedurally, the CPU handles game logic and physics alongside rendering calls. The benchmark data shows the CPU's single-thread performance is its strength — a 3DMark single-thread score of 1,043 and a PassMark single-thread score of 4,013 indicate strong per-core capability, which is crucial for a game that may not scale perfectly across many threads.

The multi-threaded scores are also robust: Cinebench R23 multicore of 19,784, Geekbench multicore of 15,790, and PassMark multithread of 34,404. These scores suggest the CPU can handle whatever background tasks Barony throws at it, but the game's 2015 release date means it likely does not use more than a few cores effectively. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 9,276 and max-thread score of 9,979 indicate that scaling beyond 8 threads (score of 7,202) is minimal, which aligns with a game that is not heavily multi-threaded. The CPU's role in this combo is to provide enough single-thread speed to feed the GPU, and the data shows it does so admirably at 1080p and 1440p, where frame rates exceed 300 FPS in most settings.

At 4K, the CPU's role diminishes as the GPU becomes the bottleneck. The fact that 4K Ultra still achieves 102 FPS suggests the CPU is not holding the system back even at the highest resolution. The CPU's 25 MB of L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache help maintain low latency for game logic, which is important in a roguelike where dungeon generation can cause stutters on weaker processors. The i7-12700K's 10 nm process node and support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory give it flexibility, though the measured data does not specify which memory type was used.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Barony?*

A: Based on the measured FPS, 2560x1440 at Medium settings offers the best experience, with 319 FPS average and 271 FPS minimum. This provides high frame rates for fast-paced gameplay while maintaining visual quality.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K?

A: At Low settings, FPS drops from 679 at 1080p to 224 at 4K, a 67.0% reduction. At Ultra settings, FPS drops from 311 at 1080p to 102 at 4K, a 67.2% reduction. The scaling is consistent across settings.

Q: Is the RTX 5090's 32 GB of VRAM necessary for this game?

A: No. Barony is a 2015 roguelike that does not require large memory capacities. The 32 GB GDDR7 memory is far more than needed, but the card's other attributes — 21,760 shading units and 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 — drive the high frame rates.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at any resolution?

A: At 1080p, the CPU is likely the limiting factor, as evidenced by the 679 FPS at Low settings. At 4K, the GPU becomes the bottleneck. The CPU's single-thread score of 1,043 in 3DMark suggests it is capable, but the GPU's power exceeds what the CPU can feed at lower resolutions.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested combinations?

A: This combo ranks 77th out of 3,717 tested combinations in Barony, placing it in the top 2.1%. The ranking reflects the RTX 5090's strength, though the i7-12700K's CPU percentile of 84 is lower than the GPU's 92.

Q: What is the lowest FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The lowest measured average FPS is 102 at 4K Ultra settings. The lowest minimum FPS is 142 at 4K Medium settings, which is the only preset with a reported minimum at 4K.