Barony

Barony is a roguelike that scales unusually well with hardware, and the Intel Core i7-13700K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT delivers a broad range of frame rates depending on how you configure it. The measured data shows this combo is far from a one-trick pony: it can push past 400 FPS at low settings on 1080p, but drops to just over 60 FPS at 4K Ultra. That spread is the key to understanding where this system's strengths and bottlenecks lie.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and tells a clear story about the limiting component. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 433.4 FPS, but at 4K Low it falls to 143.8 FPS — a 67% reduction. This massive scaling factor indicates that at lower resolutions, the CPU is doing the heavy lifting, while the GPU becomes the primary constraint as pixel count rises. The pattern holds across all settings: at High, the drop from 278.9 FPS (1080p) to 93.4 FPS (4K) is a 66% loss, and at Medium it goes from 323.9 FPS down to 108.5 FPS, a 66% reduction as well.

The Ultra preset shows the most severe scaling, with 197.1 FPS at 1080p collapsing to 63.9 FPS at 4K — a 68% decrease. This consistency across presets (roughly two-thirds performance loss from 1080p to 4K) suggests the RX 6800 XT's 16 GB of GDDR6 memory and 512.0 GB/s bandwidth are being saturated at higher resolutions, but the i7-13700K's 16 cores and 24 threads are ample for the game's logic at any resolution. The data indicates that at 1080p, even Ultra settings leave headroom on the GPU, allowing the CPU's single-thread performance (3dmark_single_thread score of 1136) to push frame rates far beyond what typical 144Hz monitors can display.

Between 1440p and 4K, the scaling is less punishing but still significant. At High settings, 174.9 FPS at 1440p drops to 93.4 FPS at 4K — a 47% reduction. At Medium, 204.2 FPS becomes 108.5 FPS, a 47% drop as well. This suggests that 1440p is the sweet spot where the GPU starts to flex its muscle without being overwhelmed, while 4K demands more from the RDNA 2.0 architecture's 4608 shading units.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide a clear hierarchy of performance, and the best experience depends on your target frame rate. For 4K gaming, High settings at 93.4 FPS is the sweet spot — it's comfortably above 60 FPS and only 30% slower than Medium's 108.5 FPS, while looking noticeably better. Ultra at 4K is a poor trade at 63.9 FPS, which sits right at the edge of playability for fast-paced roguelike action. Low at 4K (143.8 FPS) is only worth considering if you're chasing maximum refresh rates on a 144Hz 4K display, as the visual hit is substantial for a 54% gain over High.

At 1440p, Medium (204.2 FPS) and High (174.9 FPS) both exceed 144Hz, making them ideal for high-refresh monitors. Ultra at 128.4 FPS is still very playable and offers the best visual fidelity per frame, but the 27% drop from High to Ultra may not justify the graphical difference in a game where readability matters. Low at 277.4 FPS is overkill unless you have a 240Hz+ display and prioritize speed over everything.

For 1080p, the story is about future-proofing. High (278.9 FPS) and Medium (323.9 FPS) are both far beyond any current display's refresh rate, so the choice comes down to whether you prefer extra visual polish or raw headroom. Ultra at 197.1 FPS still clears 144Hz, making it the recommended preset for 1080p — you get the full visual experience without sacrificing smoothness. Low at 433.4 FPS is essentially a benchmark curiosity, not a practical setting.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming?

A: Yes, but with caveats. At 4K High, the RX 6800 XT delivers 93.4 FPS, which is smooth for most titles. Ultra drops to 63.9 FPS, which is playable but close to the edge. The 16 GB VRAM and 512.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for 4K, but the 68% performance loss from 1080p indicates the GPU is the limiting factor at this resolution.

Q: Is the i7-13700K holding back the RX 6800 XT?

A: At lower resolutions, yes. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 433.4 FPS, which suggests the CPU is still able to feed the GPU at extreme rates. However, the 3dmark_single_thread score of 1136 and 16-core/24-thread configuration are strong enough that the GPU becomes the bottleneck at 4K, where frame rates drop by roughly two-thirds regardless of preset.

Q: What is the best settings preset for a 144Hz monitor?

A: At 1440p, both Medium (204.2 FPS) and High (174.9 FPS) comfortably exceed 144Hz. At 4K, High (93.4 FPS) falls short of 144Hz, so you'd need to drop to Low (143.8 FPS) to hit that target. At 1080p, all presets including Ultra (197.1 FPS) clear 144Hz.

Q: How does Ultra compare to High in terms of performance cost?

A: Ultra is significantly more demanding. At 4K, Ultra (63.9 FPS) is 32% slower than High (93.4 FPS). At 1440p, the gap is 27% (128.4 vs 174.9 FPS), and at 1080p it's 29% (197.1 vs 278.9 FPS). The cost is consistent across resolutions, suggesting a uniform increase in GPU load.

Q: Is this combo overkill for Barony?

A: That depends on your display. If you're on a 1080p 60Hz monitor, the i7-13700K and RX 6800 XT are massively overkill — even 4K Ultra (63.9 FPS) exceeds 60Hz. For 1440p 144Hz, the combo is well-matched, and for 4K 60Hz, High settings provide a comfortable margin. The data shows the system is capable of far more than the game demands at standard settings.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 600 out of 1702 tested combinations, placing it in the top 35% of all systems. This is a strong showing, given that the CPU's percentileVsAllCpus is 93 and the GPU's percentileVsAllGpus is 87, indicating both components are above average.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 600 out of 1702 tested combos places it solidly in the upper third of all systems, which is respectable but not elite. This ranking makes sense given the hardware: the i7-13700K sits in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs, while the RX 6800 XT is in the 87th percentile of all GPUs. The CPU's nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-13700KF, scores 47334 on average against the i7-13700K's 47282 — a negligible 0.1% difference, meaning the two are virtually interchangeable in this game.

The GPU's position is more interesting. The RX 6800 XT's average benchmark score of 49982 puts it just 0.5% behind the Intel Arc A550M (49737) and 1.9% ahead of the NVIDIA CMP 50HX (49071). The closest meaningful rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER, which scores 48704 — 2.6% lower than the RX 6800 XT in synthetic benchmarks. This suggests that in Barony, the RX 6800 XT is punching slightly above its weight class relative to newer GPUs, likely due to its high memory bandwidth and 4608 shading units.

The rank of 600 out of 1702 also indicates that a significant number of combos outperform this one, but the measured FPS data shows that this system is rarely the bottleneck. At 1080p Medium, the 323.9 FPS figure is far above what most games require, so the ranking likely reflects more expensive or newer hardware rather than a meaningful gameplay advantage in Barony.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT's specifications directly explain the measured performance patterns. With a base clock of 1825 MHz, a game clock of 2015 MHz, and a boost clock of 2250 MHz, the GPU has substantial headroom for demanding scenes. The 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 512.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is critical for 4K rendering — this is why the combo maintains 93.4 FPS at 4K High despite the heavy pixel load.

The RDNA 2.0 architecture's 4608 shading units and 128 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 288.0 GPixel/s, which explains why the GPU can handle 1080p Ultra at 197.1 FPS without breaking a sweat. The 72 ray tracing cores are present, but Barony's roguelike nature likely doesn't stress them, as the game's performance scales more with traditional rasterization and fill rate.

The GPU's 300 W TDP and dual-slot design are consistent with its performance class, and the 2x 8-pin power connectors indicate it draws substantial power under load. The 87th percentile ranking against all GPUs confirms that this is a high-end part, but the 4K Ultra result of 63.9 FPS shows its limits — the 20.74 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is strong, but not enough to maintain high frame rates at maximum settings in 4K. The 7 nm process node from TSMC and 26,800 million transistors on a 520 mm² die give it a density of 51.5M / mm², which is competitive for its generation.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the RX 6800 XT delivers exceptional performance across all settings. Low produces 433.4 FPS, Medium drops to 323.9 FPS, High hits 278.9 FPS, and Ultra settles at 197.1 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 54%, indicating that the GPU's shading units and memory bandwidth are sufficient to handle even the most demanding presets at this resolution without dropping below 144Hz.

Moving to 1440p, the frame rates remain high but start to show GPU pressure. Low runs at 277.4 FPS, Medium at 204.2 FPS, High at 174.9 FPS, and Ultra at 128.4 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p ranges from 36% (Low) to 35% (Ultra), which is roughly proportional to the increase in pixel count. The Ultra result falling below 144Hz is notable — it's the first setting where the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck.

At 4K, the scaling becomes more pronounced. Low hits 143.8 FPS, Medium 108.5 FPS, High 93.4 FPS, and Ultra 63.9 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 56%, consistent with the 1080p spread, but the absolute numbers are much lower. The 4K Ultra result of 63.9 FPS is the only measured configuration that drops below 60 FPS, and it's barely above that threshold. For a game like Barony, where quick reflexes matter, 4K High at 93.4 FPS is the practical ceiling for smooth play, while 4K Medium at 108.5 FPS offers a safer margin. The data shows that this combo is best utilized at 1440p or 1080p with high refresh rates, with 4K as a viable but more demanding option.