Barony

# Barony with Intel Core i7-12700KF + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050

The measured frame rates for this combination reveal a system that handles Barony comfortably across most settings, with the RTX 5050 and Core i7-12700KF pairing producing playable results from 1080p through 4K. The data shows a clear performance hierarchy where resolution scaling impacts frame rates significantly, but the GPU remains the dominant factor in determining output. This roguelike title, released in 2015, appears well-optimized for modern hardware, and the benchmark results indicate that even at 4K Ultra, the system maintains playable performance, though with notable concessions required at higher resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K shows a consistent pattern across all four settings presets, with the largest absolute drops occurring at the lower settings where the system is less constrained. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 302 at 1920x1080 to 191 at 2560x1440, a reduction of 111 FPS, and then further to 100 at 3840x2160, representing a cumulative drop of 202 FPS from 1080p to 4K. This steep decline indicates that at Low settings, the system is heavily GPU-limited, as the CPU has ample headroom to feed frames at 1080p but the graphics card becomes the bottleneck as pixel count increases.

For Medium settings, the scaling shows a similar pattern: 225 FPS at 1080p, 142 FPS at 1440p, and 74 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 83 FPS (37% reduction), while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 68 FPS (48% reduction). This suggests that the GPU workload scales more than linearly with resolution, which is expected given the increasing pixel count. The 4K Medium result of 74 FPS with a minimum of 63 FPS and maximum of 85 FPS shows that the system maintains reasonable frame pacing even under heavier load.

High settings exhibit a similar trajectory: 193 FPS at 1080p, 122 FPS at 1440p, and 64 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 1440p drop is 71 FPS (37%), and the 1440p to 4K drop is 58 FPS (48%). Interestingly, the percentage reductions at High settings mirror those at Medium settings almost exactly, suggesting that the scaling factor is primarily resolution-driven rather than settings-driven. This consistency implies that the rendering pipeline in Barony scales predictably with pixel count, regardless of the quality preset selected.

Ultra settings show the most dramatic scaling: 138 FPS at 1080p, 87 FPS at 1440p, and 46 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 1440p drop is 51 FPS (37%), and the 1440p to 4K drop is 41 FPS (47%). The 4K Ultra result of 46 FPS is the only measured configuration that falls below the 60 FPS threshold commonly considered smooth for action games. This indicates that at maximum settings, the RTX 5050 reaches its practical limit at 4K, though the roguelike genre may tolerate slightly lower frame rates given the turn-based elements present in many such titles.

The percentage drops across all settings presets are remarkably consistent, hovering around 37% for the 1080p-to-1440p transition and 47-48% for the 1440p-to-4K transition. This uniformity strongly suggests that the limiting component is the GPU across all tested configurations. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see smaller percentage drops at lower resolutions where the GPU has less work to do, but the data shows no such divergence. The RTX 5050's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 320.0 GB/s bandwidth appear sufficient for this game's demands, as the frame rates scale smoothly without any anomalous dips that would indicate memory capacity issues.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for optimizing the experience in Barony with this hardware combination. At 1920x1080, all four settings presets deliver playable results, with even Ultra averaging 138 FPS. The jump from High to Ultra at 1080p costs 55 FPS (193 to 138), which represents a 28% performance penalty. Given that Barony is a roguelike where fast reaction times may not be critical, players might prefer Ultra for the best visual quality, but the High preset at 193 FPS offers a substantial headroom that could benefit high-refresh-rate displays.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset delivers 142 FPS with a minimum of 120 FPS and maximum of 163 FPS, which provides a smooth experience even during intense gameplay moments. High settings at 1440p achieve 122 FPS, which remains well above the 60 FPS threshold. Ultra at 1440p drops to 87 FPS, which is still playable but leaves less margin for frame drops in busy scenes. The data suggests that High at 1440p offers the best balance, as it maintains over 120 FPS while providing enhanced visual fidelity over Medium, and the 35 FPS difference between High and Ultra may not justify the visual gains in a game with Barony's art style.

At 3840x2160, the choices become more constrained. Low settings achieve 100 FPS, Medium reaches 74 FPS with a minimum of 63 FPS, High drops to 64 FPS, and Ultra falls to 46 FPS. For 4K gaming, Medium appears to be the sweet spot, as it maintains an average above 70 FPS with a minimum of 63 FPS, ensuring that even the most demanding sequences stay above the 60 FPS threshold. High at 4K averages 64 FPS, which is technically playable but leaves almost no headroom for dips, and the minimum FPS is not recorded for this configuration. Ultra at 4K is not recommended given the 46 FPS average, which could result in noticeable stuttering during fast-paced sections.

The min FPS data provided for Medium settings across all resolutions reveals the frame consistency. At 1080p Medium, the minimum of 191 FPS versus an average of 225 FPS shows only a 15% deviation, indicating stable performance. At 1440p Medium, the minimum of 120 FPS versus an average of 142 FPS represents a 15% deviation as well. At 4K Medium, the minimum of 63 FPS versus an average of 74 FPS shows a similar 15% deviation. This consistent frame pacing across resolutions suggests that the RTX 5050 handles Barony's workload evenly, without sudden spikes in rendering complexity that would cause frame time anomalies.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050, based on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with the GB207 chip, provides the rendering muscle for this combination. The GPU's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus delivers 320.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which appears adequate for Barony's texture and geometry demands at all tested resolutions. The measured FPS data shows no evidence of memory capacity being a limiting factor, as the frame rates scale predictably with resolution rather than showing sudden collapses that would indicate the GPU running out of VRAM.

The RTX 5050's clock speeds of 2317 MHz base and 2572 MHz boost, combined with 2560 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, produce a pixel rate of 82.30 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 205.8 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance of 13.17 TFLOPS places this GPU in a mid-range tier, which is reflected in its 66th percentile ranking among all GPUs in the database. The average benchmark score of 21035 for this GPU puts it in close competition with several older and mobile parts, including the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL (avgScore 21153, deltaPct -0.6), the AMD Radeon HD 8970M (avgScore 21237, deltaPct -1), and the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT (avgScore 20713, deltaPct 1.6).

The GPU's performance in Barony aligns with its synthetic benchmark results. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2502 and Geekbench OpenCL score of 90334 provide reference points, but the actual game performance shows that Barony is not particularly demanding by modern standards. The fact that the RTX 5050 can achieve 302 FPS at 1080p Low settings indicates that this game presents a relatively light workload for the GPU, allowing the card to operate well within its capabilities. The 130 W TDP and suggested 300 W power supply requirement suggest that this GPU is power-efficient, though such details are secondary to the measured performance data.

The RTX 5050's 80 tensor cores and 20 RT cores are present in the specifications, though Barony's roguelike nature likely does not heavily utilize ray tracing or DLSS features. The GPU's support for DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4 ensures broad API compatibility, and the 1x HDMI 2.1b and 3x DisplayPort 2.1b outputs provide flexible display connectivity. The PCIe 5.0 x8 interface offers ample bandwidth for this game's requirements, and the dual-slot form factor with 1x 8-pin power connector fits standard desktop configurations.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable with this combination at 1080p?

A: The highest measured average FPS at 1920x1080 is 302 FPS, achieved at Low settings. Medium settings reach 225 FPS, High settings reach 193 FPS, and Ultra settings reach 138 FPS.

Q: Is this system capable of 4K gaming in Barony?

A: Yes, but with limitations. At 4K Medium settings, the system averages 74 FPS with a minimum of 63 FPS, which is playable. High settings at 4K average 64 FPS, while Ultra settings drop to 46 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the RTX 5050 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5050 has an average benchmark score of 21035. It is 0.6% behind the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL (21153), 1% behind the AMD Radeon HD 8970M (21237), 1.6% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT (20713), and 1.6% behind the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile (21379).

Q: What is the frame consistency like at Medium settings?

A: At Medium settings, the minimum FPS values are consistently about 15% below the averages across all resolutions. At 1080p, the average is 225 FPS with a minimum of 191 FPS; at 1440p, the average is 142 FPS with a minimum of 120 FPS; at 4K, the average is 74 FPS with a minimum of 63 FPS.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU in Barony?

A: The data does not indicate a CPU bottleneck. The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K shows consistent percentage drops across all settings presets, which is characteristic of GPU-bound scenarios. The Core i7-12700KF's high multi-threaded performance (Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 28838) provides ample headroom for this game.

Q: What is this combination's rank among all tested combos for Barony?

A: This combination ranks 1775 out of 2935 tested combinations in Barony, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the performance distribution for this game.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of Intel Core i7-12700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 ranks 1775 out of 2935 tested combos in Barony, placing it in the 60th percentile of all tested systems for this game. This ranking position indicates that while the system is not among the top performers, it still delivers solid playable performance across most configurations. The rank of 1775 suggests that there are 1160 combinations that perform worse in this game, meaning this setup outperforms approximately 39.5% of all tested systems.

The CPU's position among its peers helps contextualize this ranking. The Core i7-12700KF has an average benchmark score of 35365, placing it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-13700T (avgScore 35403, deltaPct -0.1), the Intel Core i5-13600T (avgScore 35305, deltaPct 0.2), the Intel Core 5 213PE (avgScore 35428, deltaPct -0.2), and the Intel Core i7-12700K (avgScore 35287, deltaPct 0.2). These extremely small deltaPct values indicate that the CPU is in a tightly clustered performance tier where the differences between parts are negligible.

The GPU's ranking is less impressive, sitting in the 66th percentile of all GPUs. This discrepancy between the CPU's high percentile (85th) and the GPU's lower percentile (66th) suggests that the RTX 5050 is the limiting factor in this combination. The combo rank of 1775 out of 2935 reflects this GPU constraint, as systems with more powerful graphics cards would naturally achieve higher FPS in Barony regardless of their CPU. The data implies that pairing this CPU with a stronger GPU would likely improve the combo's rank substantially, while swapping to a weaker CPU would have minimal impact given the GPU-bound nature of the game.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700KF, with its 12 cores and 20 threads, provides substantial processing power that appears more than sufficient for Barony's requirements. The CPU's Alder Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process, features a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1.25 MB of L2 cache per core, and 25 MB of shared L3 cache, which collectively provide fast access to frequently used data. The CPU's 125 W TDP and support for both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration offer flexibility for system builders.

The synthetic benchmark results for this CPU demonstrate strong multi-threaded performance. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 28838 and single-core score of 4071 show that the CPU excels in both multi-threaded and single-threaded workloads. The Geekbench multi-core score of 14367 and single-core score of 2255, along with the 3DMark max-threads score of 9983 and 16-thread score of 9282, reinforce the CPU's capability. The PassMark multi-thread score of 34092 and single-thread score of 3984 provide additional evidence of balanced performance across different workloads.

In Barony specifically, the CPU's role appears to be facilitating high frame rates at lower resolutions where the GPU is less stressed. At 1080p Low settings, the system achieves 302 FPS, which requires the CPU to process game logic, physics, and draw calls at a very high rate. The fact that the frame rate drops to 191 FPS at 1440p Low and 100 FPS at 4K Low indicates that the CPU is not the limiting factor even at these high frame rates, as the GPU's workload scales with pixel count while the CPU's workload remains relatively constant.

The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks show how tightly grouped the mid-to-high-end desktop processor market is. The deltaPct values of -0.1, 0.2, -0.2, and 0.2 for the Intel Core i7-13700T, Intel Core i5-13600T, Intel Core 5 213PE, and Intel Core i7-12700K respectively indicate that all four processors perform within a fraction of a percent of each other in average scores. This clustering suggests that for Barony, any of these CPUs would produce nearly identical results, reinforcing the conclusion that the GPU is the primary determinant of gaming performance in this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080 resolution, the measured average FPS values span a wide range across settings. Low settings produce the highest result at 302 FPS, followed by Medium at 225 FPS with a minimum of 191 FPS and maximum of 258 FPS. High settings achieve 193 FPS, while Ultra settings drop to 138 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 164 FPS, representing a 54% reduction in performance from the lowest to highest quality preset.

At 2560x1440 resolution, the performance scales down proportionally. Low settings average 191 FPS, Medium settings average 142 FPS with a minimum of 120 FPS and maximum of 163 FPS, High settings average 122 FPS, and Ultra settings average 87 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 104 FPS, which represents a 54% reduction, matching the percentage spread seen at 1080p.

At 3840x2160 resolution, the results show the system's limits. Low settings average 100 FPS, Medium settings average 74 FPS with a minimum of 63 FPS and maximum of 85 FPS, High settings average 64 FPS, and Ultra settings average 46 FPS. The Low to Ultra spread at 4K is 54 FPS, again representing a 54% reduction. This consistency across resolutions indicates that the settings presets in Barony impose a uniform performance penalty regardless of the base resolution.

The Medium settings row provides the only complete min/max FPS data across all three resolutions, allowing for frame consistency analysis. At 1080p, the range from minimum to maximum is 67 FPS (191 to 258), which is 30% of the average. At 1440p, the range is 43 FPS (120 to 163), also 30% of the average. At 4K, the range is 22 FPS (63 to 85), which is 30% of the average. This consistent 30% range relative to the average suggests that Barony's frame time distribution scales uniformly with performance, indicating stable and predictable rendering behavior across different resolutions and settings combinations.