Barony

The Intel Core i7-12700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D produces the strongest measured performance in the database for Barony, securing the top spot out of 2,935 tested processor and graphics card combinations. This pairing delivers exceptionally high frame rates across all tested resolutions and settings, with the data indicating a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions while still maintaining triple-digit frame rates even at 4K Ultra. The following analysis breaks down the CPU and GPU contributions, the measured FPS across various configurations, and how the combination scales with resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The data shows this specific combination of the Intel Core i7-12700K and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D achieves a rank of 1 out of 2,935 tested combos in Barony. This top-tier ranking is a direct result of the synergy between the two components, where the CPU’s strong multi-threaded and single-threaded performance is sufficient to feed the GPU’s massive rendering capabilities, even at lower resolutions where CPU load is typically higher. The combination’s performance is not just about raw component strength; it reflects a balanced pairing that avoids significant bottlenecks in this particular roguelike title.

The RTX 5090 D’s individual benchmark standing reinforces its role as the primary performance driver in this combo. The GPU holds a percentile ranking of 92 against all tested GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 77,712. Its nearest rivals in the database include the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (average score 76,904, a delta of 1.1%), the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (average score 78,940, a delta of -1.6%), the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (average score 79,396, a delta of -2.1%), and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (average score 79,605, a delta of -2.4%). These deltas are remarkably small, all within a 3.5% band, indicating that the RTX 5090 D’s average benchmark score is closely clustered with these other high-end parts, though its game-specific performance in Barony as part of this combo is what pushes it to the number one rank.

On the CPU side, the Intel Core i7-12700K holds a percentile ranking of 84 against all tested CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35,287. Its nearest rivals are extremely close in average score: the Intel Core i5-13600T (35,305, delta -0.1%), the Intel Core i7-12700KF (35,365, delta -0.2%), the Intel Core i7-13700T (35,403, delta -0.3%), and the Intel Core 5 213PE (35,428, delta -0.4%). This tight clustering shows the i7-12700K is positioned at a performance plateau where several CPUs deliver nearly identical average scores. However, its combination with the RTX 5090 D results in the top game-specific rank, suggesting that the CPU’s specific architecture and thread handling are well-suited to Barony's workload when paired with this GPU.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K is built on the Alder Lake architecture and features 12 cores with 20 threads, a configuration that provides substantial parallel processing capability for a modern roguelike. Its base clock is 3.60 GHz, with a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, allowing it to handle both lightly-threaded and heavily-threaded tasks effectively. The CPU has a 25 MB shared L3 cache, which is critical for game logic and world-state updates common in roguelike titles, and it supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory, though the specific memory configuration is not detailed in the measured FPS data.

The CPU’s benchmark results show a strong balance between single-thread and multi-thread performance. In Cinebench R23, it scores 1,850.5 in single-core and 19,784 in multi-core. The 3DMark tests reveal scaling from 1,043 in single-thread to 9,979 in max-threads, with 16-thread performance at 9,276. This scaling pattern indicates the CPU can utilise its thread count effectively, which is relevant for Barony where entity updates and procedural generation can benefit from multiple cores. The PassMark multi-thread score of 34,404 and single-thread score of 4,013 further confirm this capability, while the data compression score of 446,595 and integer math score of 114,264 suggest strong general-purpose compute that can handle background tasks without impacting game performance.

In the context of Barony, the i7-12700K’s role is to maintain high minimum frame rates, particularly at lower resolutions like 1080p, where the GPU is less likely to be the limiting factor. The measured FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings is 724 average FPS, which is far beyond what any display can show, indicating that the CPU is not bottlenecking the GPU in this scenario. Even at 4K Ultra, where the GPU is under maximum stress, the CPU’s high boost clock and 20 threads ensure that it can keep up with the GPU’s output, resulting in an average of 109 FPS. The CPU’s performance is sufficient to allow the RTX 5090 D to operate at its full potential, which is a key reason this combo achieves the number one rank.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is a flagship GPU based on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture, built on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It features a massive 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s. This is a critical specification for Barony, which can involve large, complex maps and numerous texture and asset loads. The GPU’s 21,760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 raster output units give it immense raw fill power, with a pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s. Its FP32 performance of 104.8 TFLOPS indicates a processing capability that is overkill for a 2.5D roguelike, but it ensures maximum performance headroom.

The GPU’s clock speeds are 2,017 MHz base and 2,407 MHz boost, with memory running at 1,750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). In benchmark tests, the RTX 5090 D scores 14,326 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, 310,674 in Geekbench OpenCL, and 376,915 in Geekbench Vulkan. Its PassMark G3D score is 44,065, with a G2D score of 1,487, and compute score of 28,396. These scores place it in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs, confirming its high-end status. The GPU’s closest rivals in average benchmark score are all within a small margin, but none of those rivals are paired with the i7-12700K in this specific test scenario, which is why this combo stands alone at the top.

In Barony, the GPU’s role is to render the game’s visuals at high frame rates. The measured data shows that at 1080p Low, the GPU can push 724 FPS, but even at 4K Ultra, it maintains 109 FPS. The GPU’s 32 GB VRAM is more than sufficient for any possible texture load in this game, meaning there are no memory-related bottlenecks. The RTX 5090 D’s high bandwidth and shading power are the primary drivers of the FPS numbers seen across all settings and resolutions. The GPU is the dominant component in determining performance at higher resolutions and settings, as evidenced by the FPS scaling from Low to Ultra at each resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a detailed look at performance across three resolutions and four settings tiers. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers an average of 724 FPS at Low settings, 538 FPS at Medium (with a min of 458 and max of 619), 462 FPS at High, and 331 FPS at Ultra. These numbers are exceptionally high, indicating that at 1080p, the system is capable of far exceeding the refresh rates of any current monitor, and the limiting factor is likely the game’s engine or the CPU’s single-thread performance, though even this is not a constraint given the 724 FPS result.

Moving to 2560x1440, the average FPS drops but remains extremely high: 457 FPS at Low, 340 FPS at Medium (min 289, max 391), 292 FPS at High, and 209 FPS at Ultra. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is more pronounced at lower settings, with Low settings seeing a 36.9% reduction from 724 to 457 FPS, while Ultra settings see a 36.9% reduction from 331 to 209 FPS. This suggests that the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor as resolution increases, but the system still has massive headroom.

At 3840x2160 (4K), the average FPS is 239 at Low, 178 at Medium (min 151, max 204), 152 at High, and 109 at Ultra. The 4K Ultra result of 109 FPS is still well above the 60 FPS standard, and even the most demanding setting maintains a playable frame rate. The data shows a clear trend: as resolution increases, the FPS drops consistently, but the drop is not linear across all settings. For instance, from 1080p Ultra (331 FPS) to 4K Ultra (109 FPS), there is a 67.1% reduction. From 1080p Low (724 FPS) to 4K Low (239 FPS), the reduction is 67.0%. This consistency suggests that the performance scaling is primarily dependent on the GPU’s rendering load, with the CPU maintaining a stable frame delivery.

The Medium settings at each resolution are the only ones with recorded minimum and maximum FPS values, which provide insight into frame time stability. At 1080p Medium, the min FPS is 458, which is 85.1% of the average 538 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the min is 289, which is 85.0% of the average 340. At 4K Medium, the min is 151, which is 84.8% of the average 178. This consistent ratio indicates that frame pacing is stable across resolutions, with no unexpected stutters or drops, which is important for a roguelike where precise timing can be crucial.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals which component is the primary limiting factor at each resolution. The data shows that the performance drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial across all settings, indicating a strong GPU dependency. For example, at Ultra settings, the FPS drops from 331 at 1080p to 209 at 1440p (a 36.9% reduction) and then to 109 at 4K (a 47.8% reduction from 1440p). This scaling pattern is typical of a GPU-bound scenario where the pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K, but the FPS does not drop by a factor of four, which would be 82.75 FPS if it did. The actual 109 FPS at 4K Ultra is higher than that, suggesting that the GPU has enough headroom to mitigate the full impact of the resolution increase.

At Low settings, the scaling is similar: 724 FPS at 1080p, 457 at 1440p (36.9% reduction), and 239 at 4K (47.7% reduction from 1440p). The consistency of these percentage reductions (around 37% from 1080p to 1440p and 48% from 1440p to 4K) across Low and Ultra settings is a strong indicator that the GPU is the limiting factor, as the CPU’s workload does not change significantly with resolution. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect the FPS to remain relatively flat from 1080p to 1440p, but that is not the case.

The data strongly suggests that the RTX 5090 D is the performance ceiling for this combo. At 1080p, the FPS numbers are so high (724 FPS at Low) that they are likely limited by the game’s engine frame rate cap or the CPU’s ability to issue draw calls, but even that is not a practical limitation. At 4K, the GPU’s rendering power is the primary driver, and the fact that it can maintain 109 FPS at Ultra settings in a roguelike shows that this combo has no difficulty with the game’s demands. The CPU’s role is to provide a stable foundation, which it does, as evidenced by the smooth frame time data from the Medium settings.

FAQ

*Q: What is the overall rank of this CPU and GPU combo in Barony?*

A: The Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D combination ranks 1 out of 2,935 tested combos for this game, indicating the highest measured performance in the database.

Q: How does the RTX 5090 D’s average benchmark score compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 5090 D has an average benchmark score of 77,712. Its closest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT, scores 76,904, which is 1.1% lower. The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT scores 78,940, which is 1.6% higher, and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB scores 79,396, which is 2.1% higher than the RTX 5090 D.

Q: What is the maximum average FPS recorded for this combo, and at what settings?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 724 at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is the top score across all tested configurations.

Q: At 4K Ultra settings, what average FPS does this combo achieve?

A: At a resolution of 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the combo achieves an average of 109 FPS. This is the lowest average FPS in the measured data but still far exceeds the 60 FPS standard for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the CPU’s single-thread performance compare to its multi-thread performance in Cinebench R23?

A: The Intel Core i7-12700K scores 1,850.5 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 19,784 in multi-core. The multi-core score is approximately 10.7 times higher than the single-core score, which is consistent with a 12-core, 20-thread processor.

Q: Is the performance scaling from 1080p to 4K more limited by the CPU or the GPU?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions. The average FPS drops by approximately 37% from 1080p to 1440p and by an additional 48% from 1440p to 4K across both Low and Ultra settings, which is consistent with the GPU’s rendering load increasing with pixel count. The CPU’s performance is sufficient to maintain high frame rates even at 1080p, where it might be expected to be the bottleneck.