Barony

The Intel Core i7-13700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER delivers a robust experience in Barony, with performance scaling predictably across resolutions and presets. The measured data shows that this combination is heavily GPU-limited at higher settings, while the CPU’s strong multi-threaded capabilities ensure high frame rates at lower resolutions. For the best balance of visual fidelity and smoothness, the Medium preset at 1440p offers an excellent middle ground, providing 145.9 FPS average, which is more than sufficient for the fast-paced decision-making required in this roguelike. At 1080p, even the High preset maintains an average of 201.8 FPS, making it a strong choice for high-refresh-rate displays. The Ultra preset, while playable at 1440p with 91.1 FPS, demands a significant performance cost that may not justify the visual gains in a genre where clarity and responsiveness are paramount.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows indicate that the Medium preset provides the most efficient performance-to-quality ratio for this hardware combination. At 2560x1440, the Medium preset delivers an average of 145.9 FPS, which is a substantial 60.8% improvement over the High preset’s 127.7 FPS and a 37.6% improvement over the Ultra preset’s 91.1 FPS. This headroom is valuable for maintaining consistent frame pacing during intense dungeon-crawling sequences. For users with 1080p displays, the High preset is the optimal choice, yielding 201.8 FPS average, which is only slightly below the Medium preset’s 235.5 FPS but offers noticeably better visual quality. The Low preset at 1080p reaches an exceptional 317.3 FPS, but this extreme performance level is unnecessary for a game like Barony, where the visual feedback from enemy attacks and environmental details enhances the tactical experience. At 4K, the High preset’s 64.5 FPS is marginally above the 60 FPS threshold, but the Medium preset at 80.3 FPS provides a safer margin for complex scenes. The Ultra preset at 4K drops to 50.4 FPS, which introduces perceptible stutter in a game that demands quick reactions. Therefore, the data supports favoring Medium or High presets over Ultra, as the measured deltas show diminishing returns at the highest settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Barony with this CPU-GPU combo?

A: The data indicates that 2560x1440 on the Medium preset offers the best balance, achieving 145.9 FPS average. This resolution provides a significant visual upgrade over 1080p while maintaining frame rates well above the 60 FPS threshold, unlike 4K which drops to 64.5 FPS on High settings.

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

A: The Ultra preset incurs a substantial performance penalty across all resolutions. At 1080p, Ultra averages 142.9 FPS compared to High’s 201.8 FPS, a 29.2% reduction. At 1440p, the drop is from 127.7 FPS to 91.1 FPS, and at 4K, from 64.5 FPS to 50.4 FPS.

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

A: Yes, but only at lower presets. The data shows a 4K average of 101.6 FPS on Low settings and 80.3 FPS on Medium. The High preset manages 64.5 FPS, which is playable, but Ultra falls below 60 FPS at 50.4 FPS.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at 1080p?

A: The benchmark results suggest that at 1080p Low, the combo reaches 317.3 FPS, indicating the CPU can feed the GPU effectively. However, the scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p (317.3 to 142.9 FPS) shows the GPU becomes the limiting factor as settings increase.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Medium settings?

A: At 1080p, Low averages 317.3 FPS while Medium averages 235.5 FPS, a difference of 81.8 FPS. At 1440p, the gap narrows to 55.8 FPS (201.7 vs 145.9), and at 4K, it is 21.3 FPS (101.6 vs 80.3).

Q: How does the combo’s performance rank against other tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 1059 out of 1702 tested combinations in Barony. This places it in the lower-middle portion of the database, indicating that while it performs adequately, many other hardware pairings offer higher average frame rates in this specific title.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 on the High preset reduces the average frame rate from 201.8 FPS to 127.7 FPS, a 36.7% drop. Scaling further to 3840x2160 brings the average down to 64.5 FPS, representing an additional 49.5% reduction from the 1440p figure. This steep decline with pixel count indicates that the RTX 2070 SUPER’s rendering throughput is the primary constraint at higher resolutions. The GPU’s 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, along with its 9.062 TFLOPS FP32 compute, become the limiting factors as the pixel workload increases. In contrast, the CPU’s role diminishes at higher resolutions; the i7-13700K’s robust multi-threaded performance, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 39000, is more than adequate to maintain frame pacing. The data supports this interpretation: at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 317.3 FPS, suggesting the CPU can drive very high frame rates, but the GPU cannot sustain similar performance at 4K. The performance drop from Low to Ultra at 4K (101.6 to 50.4 FPS) further confirms that the GPU is the bottleneck, as the CPU would not struggle with the increased settings in a roguelike title with relatively simple geometry.

How This Combo Ranks

In the benchmark database for Barony, this specific combination of the Intel Core i7-13700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER ranks 1059 out of 1702 tested combos. This percentile position, roughly in the 38th percentile, indicates that the hardware pairing is competent but not exceptional for this game. The rank reflects a balance between the CPU’s strong compute capabilities and the GPU’s mid-range performance. The i7-13700K’s average benchmark score of 47282 places it in the 93rd percentile among all CPUs, with nearest rivals including the Intel Core i7-13700KF (deltaPct -0.1%) and AMD EPYC 4364P (deltaPct 0.3%). This shows the processor is a high-performing component. In contrast, the RTX 2070 SUPER’s average benchmark score of 22206 puts it in the 65th percentile among GPUs, with rivals like the NVIDIA RTX A400 (deltaPct -0.5%) and AMD Radeon RX 5700 (deltaPct 2.5%). The GPU’s mid-tier standing is the more significant factor in the combo’s rank. The data suggests that while the CPU could support a more powerful GPU for higher frame rates in Barony, the current pairing delivers playable performance, especially at 1080p and 1440p. The rank of 1059 also implies that many combos with newer or higher-tier GPUs achieve better results, but this setup remains viable for the game’s requirements.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K is a 16-core, 24-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. This configuration provides substantial multi-threaded throughput, as demonstrated by its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 39000 and Passmark multithread score of 45887. In Barony, a roguelike that typically does not heavily utilize many cores, the CPU’s strong single-thread performance is more relevant. The 3DMark single-thread score of 1136 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 5505 indicate excellent per-core performance, which is crucial for maintaining high frame rates in games with limited threading. The measured FPS data supports this: at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 317.3 FPS, which is likely near the CPU’s frame generation limit for this title. The CPU’s 30 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache help reduce memory latency, further benefiting gameplay. The processor’s 125 W TDP and support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory provide flexibility, though memory bandwidth is not listed as a bottleneck. The i7-13700K’s 93rd percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 47282, shows it is a top-tier processor. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-13700KF, performs nearly identically (deltaPct -0.1%), confirming the i7-13700K’s position. In the context of this game, the CPU is not the limiting component; the data shows that the GPU governs frame rates at higher resolutions and settings, while the CPU ensures the system can deliver high FPS at lower settings. The core count and clock speeds are more than sufficient for Barony’s demands, making the RTX 2070 SUPER the primary determinant of overall performance.