Barony

The Intel Core i7-12700KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER delivers a playable but uneven experience in Barony, with the game’s performance scaling heavily on resolution and settings. At 1080p, the combination is overwhelmingly CPU-bound, producing frame rates above 300 FPS on Low settings, but at 4K Ultra, it drops to just 48.1 FPS, indicating the GPU becomes the primary constraint as pixel count rises. This is a system that excels at high-refresh 1080p and 1440p gaming but struggles to maintain smooth 4K performance at maximum quality.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear pattern: as resolution increases, the average frame rate drops sharply across all settings, but the magnitude of that drop varies significantly by preset. At Ultra settings, the transition from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 reduces the average from 142.6 FPS to 93.5 FPS, a 34.4% decrease, while moving from 1440p to 4K (3840x2160) cuts it further to 48.1 FPS, representing a 48.6% drop from the 1440p result. This demonstrates that the RTX 2070 SUPER’s rendering pipeline is heavily taxed by the 4K pixel count, especially with Ultra quality settings.

Low settings show a different scaling behavior. At 1080p Low, the system produces 314.5 FPS, which drops to 198.8 FPS at 1440p (−36.8%) and then to 103.2 FPS at 4K (−48.1% from 1440p). The fact that even Low settings at 4K cannot exceed 104 FPS indicates that the GPU is still the limiting factor at that resolution, though the high 1080p numbers suggest the CPU has ample headroom. Medium settings follow a similar trajectory: 234.5 FPS at 1080p, 150 FPS at 1440p, and 77.3 FPS at 4K, with the percentage drop from 1080p to 4K being 67.0%. High settings yield 201.4 FPS at 1080p, 126.7 FPS at 1440p, and 67.9 FPS at 4K.

The scaling data reveals that the system is most balanced at 1440p, where even Ultra settings maintain a playable 93.5 FPS average. At 1080p, the frame rates are so high that the CPU (with its 12 cores and 20 threads) is likely the bottleneck, especially on Low settings where the GPU has minimal work. At 4K, the GPU’s 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth become critical, and the performance collapse from Ultra 1440p to Ultra 4K (from 93.5 to 48.1 FPS) shows that the VRAM capacity and memory bandwidth are insufficient for maximum quality at that resolution.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is built on the Turing architecture with a TU104 chip manufactured on a 12 nm process at TSMC. It operates at a base clock of 1605 MHz and a boost clock of 1770 MHz, with memory clocked at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). The GPU has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its compute capabilities include 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, 64 raster output units, 40 ray tracing cores, and 320 tensor cores. The card achieves a pixel rate of 113.3 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 283.2 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance of 9.062 TFLOPS.

In the context of Barony, the GPU’s role is most evident at higher resolutions. The benchmark results indicate that at 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 48.1, which is below the 60 FPS threshold commonly desired for smooth gameplay. This is despite the GPU’s substantial compute resources, suggesting that the game’s rendering demands at 4K exceed what the RTX 2070 SUPER can deliver with Ultra settings. The GPU’s percentile rank among all GPUs is 65, and its average benchmark score of 22206 places it near the NVIDIA RTX A400 (score 22307, deltaPct −0.5) and the AMD Radeon RX 5700 (score 21670, deltaPct 2.5).

The VRAM capacity of 8 GB appears adequate for 1080p and 1440p, where the card delivers 142.6 and 93.5 FPS at Ultra, respectively. However, at 4K Ultra, the combination of higher resolution textures and effects likely pushes memory usage to its limit, contributing to the 48.1 FPS result. The 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is also a factor; at 4K, the GPU must move significantly more data per frame, and the measured FPS decline from 103.2 (Low) to 48.1 (Ultra) at that resolution highlights how memory bandwidth becomes a bottleneck when settings are increased.

FAQ

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

A: The 2560x1440 resolution offers the best balance of performance and visual quality, with all settings exceeding 93 FPS (Ultra at 93.5 FPS, High at 126.7 FPS, Medium at 150 FPS, and Low at 198.8 FPS).

*Q: Can this system run Barony at 4K smoothly?*

A: At 4K, the system only achieves 48.1 FPS on Ultra settings, which is below smooth gameplay standards. Low settings at 4K reach 103.2 FPS, so 4K is playable only with reduced quality presets.

Q: How does the RTX 2070 SUPER compare to its nearest rival in raw benchmark scores?

A: The RTX 2070 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 22206, which is 0.9% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z (score 22006) and 2.5% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 5700 (score 21670).

Q: Is the CPU limiting performance at 1080p?

A: Yes, at 1080p Low the system produces 314.5 FPS, indicating the CPU (with a single-thread score of 1043 in 3DMark) is the limiting component, as the GPU has ample headroom at that resolution.

Q: What is the overall rank of this combo among tested combinations?

A: The Intel Core i7-12700KF + RTX 2070 SUPER combo ranks 1062 out of 1702 tested combos in Barony, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database.

Q: How does the CPU’s multi-threaded performance affect the game?

A: The CPU’s multi-core score of 28979 in Cinebench R23 and 9983 in 3DMark max threads suggests it can handle the game’s logic and physics, but at 4K the GPU becomes the bottleneck, so the CPU’s high scores do not translate to higher FPS at that resolution.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For 1080p, all settings are playable, but Ultra provides the highest visual quality at 142.6 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold. For 1440p, the Ultra preset yields 93.5 FPS, which is smooth and offers the best visual experience without sacrificing playability. High settings at 1440p provide 126.7 FPS, which is beneficial for high-refresh monitors, but Ultra is still recommended for the best image quality.

At 4K, the data shows that Ultra settings are not viable, as the average FPS of 48.1 is below acceptable levels. High settings at 4K achieve 67.9 FPS, which is borderline playable but may feel inconsistent. Medium settings at 4K deliver 77.3 FPS, offering a better trade-off between visual quality and performance. Low settings at 4K reach 103.2 FPS, which is smooth, but the visual sacrifices are significant. For the best experience at 4K, Medium settings (77.3 FPS) are recommended, as they provide a playable frame rate while retaining more visual fidelity than Low. For 1440p, Ultra (93.5 FPS) is the clear choice, and for 1080p, Ultra (142.6 FPS) is recommended for maximum quality.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-12700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER combination ranks 1062 out of 1702 tested combos in Barony, placing it in the 62nd percentile of all tested systems. This rank reflects the system’s strong 1080p and 1440p performance but its weakness at 4K Ultra. The CPU’s percentile rank among all CPUs is 89, and its average benchmark score of 35355 is nearly identical to its nearest rivals: the Intel Core i5-14400 (score 35336, deltaPct 0.1), the Intel Core i7-13800H (score 35416, deltaPct −0.2), the Intel Core i9-12900HX (score 35289, deltaPct 0.2), and the Intel Core i5-13600T (score 35256, deltaPct 0.3). This indicates the CPU is well-matched to its peers in overall processing power.

The GPU’s percentile rank among all GPUs is 65, and its average benchmark score of 22206 places it near the NVIDIA RTX A400 (score 22307, deltaPct −0.5) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z (score 22006, deltaPct 0.9). The combo’s overall rank is influenced by the GPU’s mid-tier status, as the CPU is clearly high-end. In a game like Barony, which has modest system requirements relative to AAA titles, this combo performs well at 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K Ultra result of 48.1 FPS drags the overall ranking down. The combination of a top-tier CPU and a mid-range GPU creates a system that excels in CPU-bound scenarios but is limited by GPU performance at high resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four settings. At 1920x1080, the system achieves 314.5 FPS on Low, 234.5 FPS on Medium, 201.4 FPS on High, and 142.6 FPS on Ultra. These figures show that even at Ultra, the system maintains a frame rate above 140 FPS, making it ideal for high-refresh 1080p monitors. At 2560x1440, the results are 198.8 FPS (Low), 150 FPS (Medium), 126.7 FPS (High), and 93.5 FPS (Ultra). The 1440p Ultra result is still above 90 FPS, providing a smooth experience on standard 60 Hz or 144 Hz displays.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops significantly: 103.2 FPS on Low, 77.3 FPS on Medium, 67.9 FPS on High, and 48.1 FPS on Ultra. The 4K results highlight the GPU’s limitations, with only Low settings exceeding 100 FPS. The transition from 1080p to 4K at each setting shows a consistent decline: Low drops from 314.5 to 103.2 FPS (−67.2%), Medium from 234.5 to 77.3 FPS (−67.0%), High from 201.4 to 67.9 FPS (−66.3%), and Ultra from 142.6 to 48.1 FPS (−66.3%). This uniformity suggests that the performance penalty from 1080p to 4K is proportional across settings, indicating the GPU’s memory bandwidth and compute resources are the limiting factors at 4K.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700KF is a 12-core, 20-thread processor from the Core 12th Gen series, based on the Alder Lake architecture and manufactured on a 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, with a TDP of 125 W. The CPU’s cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 25 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration and has 20 PCIe Gen 4 lanes. The processor’s benchmark scores are strong, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 28979 and a single-core score of 4091, as well as a Geekbench multicore score of 13596 and a single-core score of 2526.

In Barony, the CPU’s role is most apparent at 1080p, where the frame rates exceed 200 FPS on all settings except Ultra (142.6 FPS). At 1080p Low, the 314.5 FPS result indicates that the CPU is delivering frames faster than the GPU can render, making the CPU the bottleneck. The CPU’s 3DMark single-thread score of 1043 and 2-thread score of 2065 show strong single-threaded performance, which is important for a roguelike game that likely relies on single-threaded game logic. The multi-threaded scores (3DMark 16-threads: 9282, max threads: 9983) suggest the CPU can handle background tasks and any multi-threaded game systems without issue.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score are the Intel Core i5-14400 (score 35336, deltaPct 0.1), the Intel Core i7-13800H (score 35416, deltaPct −0.2), the Intel Core i9-12900HX (score 35289, deltaPct 0.2), and the Intel Core i5-13600T (score 35256, deltaPct 0.3). The i7-12700KF’s score of 35355 places it essentially tied with these processors, indicating that its performance in Barony is not significantly better or worse than its closest competitors. However, at 4K, the CPU’s advantage is moot, as the GPU becomes the limiting factor. The data shows that the CPU is more than capable of driving high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, but the system’s overall performance at 4K is constrained by the RTX 2070 SUPER.