Barony

# Barony with Intel Core i7-12700KF + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER

This combination of the Intel Core i7-12700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER delivers exceptionally high frame rates in Barony, a roguelike title released on 2015-06-22. The measured data shows this pairing ranks 316th out of 3717 tested combinations, placing it in the top 8.5% of all configs tested for this game. Across all resolutions and settings, the average FPS never drops below 90, indicating that this hardware pairing is overwhelmingly capable for this title, with the limiting factor shifting between CPU and GPU depending on the resolution and quality preset selected.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound behavior at higher resolutions, with the CPU becoming the primary constraint only at lower resolutions. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 597 FPS average. Moving to 1440p Low drops this to 377 FPS, a reduction of 220 FPS or approximately 36.8%. At 4K Low, the average falls further to 197 FPS, which is 400 FPS below the 1080p result — a 67% decrease from the baseline.

The scaling behavior changes significantly with higher quality settings. At Ultra settings, the progression from 1080p (273 FPS) to 1440p (172 FPS) represents a 101 FPS drop (37%), while moving from 1440p to 4K (90 FPS) is an 82 FPS drop (47.7%). This steeper decline at Ultra settings indicates that the GPU's rendering workload scales more aggressively with resolution when additional graphical features are enabled.

For Medium settings, the measured data shows 444 FPS at 1080p, 280 FPS at 1440p, and 146 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops between successive resolutions are 36.9% (1080p to 1440p) and 47.9% (1440p to 4K). High settings follow a similar pattern: 381 FPS at 1080p, 240 FPS at 1440p (37% drop), and 126 FPS at 4K (47.5% drop).

The consistent pattern across all settings — roughly a 37% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a 47-48% reduction from 1440p to 4K — indicates that the RTX 4080 SUPER's rendering pipeline is the dominant factor at higher resolutions. The GPU's 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus with 736.3 GB/s bandwidth appears sufficient to handle the increased memory pressure at 4K without additional frame rate penalties beyond what the compute load dictates.

At 1080p Low, the 597 FPS result approaches the practical ceiling for many display technologies, and the relatively modest 220 FPS drop when moving to 1440p suggests the CPU is still keeping pace. However, the fact that 1080p Low (597 FPS) is only 1.58x faster than 4K Low (197 FPS) — despite the 4x pixel count difference — confirms that the CPU begins to limit performance at lower resolutions where the GPU has spare capacity.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance on which settings preset delivers the best balance of visual quality and performance for this hardware combination. At 4K resolution, the High preset delivers 126 FPS average, which is 40 FPS higher than Ultra (90 FPS) and only 20 FPS lower than Medium (146 FPS). Given that High typically includes most visually significant features while omitting the most demanding effects, the 4K High preset represents the strongest recommendation for users prioritizing smooth gameplay with good visual fidelity.

For 1440p displays, the High preset achieves 240 FPS average, which exceeds the refresh rate of virtually all mainstream monitors. The Ultra preset at 1440p produces 172 FPS, still comfortably above 144 Hz displays. Users with 144 Hz or 165 Hz monitors could reasonably select Ultra at 1440p, as the 172 FPS average provides sufficient headroom. The Medium preset at 1440p (280 FPS) offers minimal additional benefit over High for most users, though the minimum FPS data shows Medium has a 238 FPS floor versus no reported minimum for High.

At 1080p, all settings produce frame rates well above 240 FPS, with Low reaching 597 FPS, Medium at 444 FPS, High at 381 FPS, and Ultra at 273 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1080p still maintains a 273 FPS average, which exceeds the capabilities of most high-refresh displays. For competitive play where maximum frame rates matter, the Low preset's 597 FPS provides the highest possible responsiveness, but the visual trade-off is substantial.

The Medium preset deserves special attention because it is the only settings level with reported minimum and maximum FPS values across all three resolutions. At 4K Medium, the minimum FPS is 124 with a maximum of 168, indicating a 44 FPS variance. At 1440p Medium, the range is 238 to 322 FPS (84 FPS variance), and at 1080p Medium, it spans 377 to 510 FPS (133 FPS variance). This data suggests that Medium produces consistent frame pacing at 4K, with the variance widening as resolution decreases — a pattern consistent with CPU-side frame time variations becoming more visible at higher frame rates.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER, based on the AD103 chip with Ada Lovelace architecture, is the primary performance driver in this combination. Its 16 GB of GDDR6X memory operates at 1438 MHz (23 Gbps effective) across a 256-bit bus, yielding 736.3 GB/s of memory bandwidth. This memory configuration proves adequate for Barony at 4K Ultra, where the average FPS of 90 indicates the GPU is handling the full rendering load without memory capacity constraints causing additional drops.

The GPU's clock speeds — 2295 MHz base and 2550 MHz boost — contribute to its compute capabilities of 52.22 TFLOPS FP32 and 52.22 TFLOPS FP16. The 10240 shading units, 320 TMUs, and 112 ROPs provide the raw throughput needed for the high frame rates observed. The pixel rate of 285.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 816.0 GTexel/s are directly relevant to Barony's rendering workload, which appears to scale predictably with resolution changes.

The RTX 4080 SUPER's benchmark scores place it in the 86th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54209. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, scores 54247 — a delta of -0.1%, meaning the SUPER variant is essentially performance-equivalent to the non-SUPER version in these benchmarks. The AMD Radeon Pro W5700X scores 54828 (1.1% higher), while the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB scores 55698 (2.7% higher) and the AMD Radeon 8060S scores 55757 (2.8% higher). These small deltas suggest that the RTX 4080 SUPER is positioned at a specific performance tier, and the measured game results reflect this positioning.

The GPU's 320 W TDP and requirement for a 700 W power supply indicate it is a high-power component, but the measured FPS data shows this power budget translates into strong performance. The GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) support and Vulkan 1.4 API compatibility are relevant for Barony's rendering path, though the game's 2015 release date suggests it may primarily utilize DirectX 11 or earlier APIs.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average FPS achievable with this combo at 1080p?

A: The highest recorded average FPS is 597, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next highest is 444 FPS at Medium settings, followed by 381 FPS at High and 273 FPS at Ultra.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 SUPER compare to the standard RTX 4080 in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4080 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 54209, while the RTX 4080 scores 54247. The delta is -0.1%, indicating the SUPER variant performs virtually identically to the standard RTX 4080 in average benchmark scores.

Q: At 4K resolution, which settings preset provides the highest minimum FPS?

A: The Medium preset at 4K has a reported minimum FPS of 124, with an average of 146 FPS and maximum of 168 FPS. Other 4K presets do not have reported minimum FPS values in the measured data.

Q: What is the CPU's percentile ranking among all tested processors?

A: The Intel Core i7-12700KF ranks in the 85th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35365. Its nearest rival is the Intel Core i7-13700T with a score of 35403 (0.1% higher).

Q: How many combinations does this setup rank against in Barony?

A: This combo ranks 316th out of 3717 tested combinations, placing it in the top 8.5% of all tested hardware pairings for this game.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 4K Ultra and 4K Low settings?

A: At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 90, while at 4K Low it is 197 FPS. The difference is 107 FPS, meaning Low settings deliver 2.19x the frame rate of Ultra at this resolution.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700KF provides the processing foundation for this combination, featuring 12 cores and 20 threads based on the Alder Lake architecture. Its base clock of 3.60 GHz and boost clock of 5.00 GHz, combined with a 125 W TDP, position it as a high-performance desktop processor. The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 80 KB L1 per core, 1.25 MB L2 per core, and 25 MB shared L3 cache, which supports the gaming workload across its hybrid architecture.

The CPU's benchmark results show strong multi-threaded performance with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 28838 and a single-core score of 4071. The 3DMark results demonstrate scaling from 1043 (single-thread) to 2065 (2-thread), 4011 (4-thread), 7211 (8-thread), 9282 (16-thread), and 9983 (max-thread). This scaling pattern indicates that the CPU maintains efficiency as thread count increases, which is relevant for Barony's potential multi-threaded rendering tasks.

In the context of Barony's measured FPS, the CPU's role becomes apparent when examining the 1080p Low result of 597 FPS. At this resolution and settings level, the GPU is not heavily taxed, allowing the CPU to become the limiting factor. The CPU's passmark single-thread score of 3984 and multithread score of 34092 suggest it can sustain the high frame rates observed. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 9282 versus max-thread score of 9983 indicates that additional threads beyond 16 provide diminishing returns, which is typical for gaming workloads.

The CPU's nearest rival comparisons show it is closely matched with other Intel processors: the Core i7-13700T scores 35403 (0.1% higher), the Core i5-13600T scores 35305 (0.2% lower), the Core 5 213PE scores 35428 (0.2% higher), and the Core i7-12700K scores 35287 (0.2% lower). This tight clustering means the i7-12700KF's gaming performance is representative of its performance tier, and any differences in Barony would be minimal.

The CPU supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory across a dual-channel bus with PCIe Gen 4 (20 lanes), which provides adequate bandwidth for the RTX 4080 SUPER's PCIe 4.0 x16 interface. The 10 nm process node and 215 mm² die size contribute to its power efficiency profile, though the measured game data does not include power consumption figures.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are 597 (Low), 444 (Medium), 381 (High), and 273 (Ultra). The Medium preset includes minimum and maximum values of 377 and 510 FPS respectively, showing a 133 FPS variance. This resolution produces the highest frame rates across all settings, with even Ultra maintaining 273 FPS average.

At 2560x1440, the average FPS drops to 377 (Low), 280 (Medium), 240 (High), and 172 (Ultra). The Medium preset at this resolution has a minimum of 238 FPS and maximum of 322 FPS, producing an 84 FPS variance. The 1440p results show that all settings except Ultra remain above 240 FPS, making this resolution suitable for high-refresh-rate displays even with maximum quality settings.

At 3840x2160, the average FPS is 197 (Low), 146 (Medium), 126 (High), and 90 (Ultra). The Medium preset at 4K has a minimum of 124 FPS and maximum of 168 FPS, representing a 44 FPS variance — the tightest range among all resolution-setting combinations with reported minimums. The 4K Ultra result of 90 FPS is the lowest recorded value for this combo, though it still exceeds 60 FPS by a 30 FPS margin.

The progression across resolutions shows consistent scaling factors. For Low settings, the ratios are 597:377:197 (1080p:1440p:4K), representing 63.1% and 52.3% of the previous resolution's performance. For Medium, the ratios are 444:280:146 (63.1% and 52.1%). For High, they are 381:240:126 (63.0% and 52.5%). For Ultra, they are 273:172:90 (63.0% and 52.3%). This remarkable consistency — approximately 63% retention from 1080p to 1440p and 52% from 1440p to 4K across all settings — indicates that the rendering pipeline scales uniformly with pixel count regardless of quality preset.

The minimum FPS data, available only for Medium settings, shows that the 4K configuration (124 FPS minimum) maintains a higher minimum relative to its average (146 FPS) than the 1440p configuration (238 FPS minimum versus 280 FPS average) or 1080p configuration (377 FPS minimum versus 444 FPS average). This suggests that frame time consistency improves at higher resolutions, likely because the GPU becomes more uniformly utilized.

How This Combo Ranks

This Intel Core i7-12700KF + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER combination ranks 316th out of 3717 tested combos in Barony, placing it in the 91.5th percentile of all tested configurations. This ranking reflects the hardware's ability to maintain high frame rates across all measured scenarios, with even the most demanding preset (4K Ultra at 90 FPS) remaining playable.

The ranking position relative to the total combo count (316 out of 3717) indicates that this setup outperforms approximately 91.5% of all tested combinations for this specific game. The GPU's 86th percentile ranking among all GPUs and the CPU's 85th percentile ranking among all CPUs contribute to this strong game-specific performance, though the combo's game ranking (91.5th percentile) is slightly higher than either component's individual percentile — suggesting that this pairing is particularly well-suited for Barony's performance characteristics.

The data shows that this combo's performance is not limited by either component in isolation. The consistent ~63%/52% scaling pattern across resolutions indicates balanced performance, with the GPU becoming the bottleneck at higher resolutions as expected. The high frame rates at 1080p (even Ultra exceeds 270 FPS) suggest that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU adequately at lower resolutions, while the 4K results demonstrate that the GPU maintains solid performance when the resolution increases.

For users considering this combination, the ranking data confirms that it delivers top-tier performance in Barony. The 90 FPS minimum at 4K Ultra represents the weakest measured scenario, yet this still exceeds the 60 FPS standard for smooth gameplay. At 1440p and below, all settings achieve frame rates sufficient for high-refresh displays, with 1080p Low approaching 600 FPS for competitive play scenarios. The combo's 316th rank out of 3717 places it firmly in the upper echelon of tested configurations for this roguelike title.