Barony

The Intel Core i7-14700F and AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT pairing in Barony presents a clear case of a GPU-bound system at higher resolutions, while the CPU’s substantial core count ensures headroom at lower settings. The measured data shows a dramatic scaling curve from 1080p to 4K, with the average frame rate at Ultra settings falling from 130 FPS at 1920x1080 to just 42.8 FPS at 3840x2160. This 67% drop between the two extremes indicates that the Radeon RX 5700 XT, with its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, becomes the limiting factor as pixel count rises. The 1080p Low result of 285.8 FPS versus the 4K Low result of 96.1 FPS further underscores that the GPU’s shading throughput, rated at 9.754 TFLOPS FP32, is the primary constraint when resolution scales.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS degradation from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings, revealing a system where the graphics card saturates well before the processor. At 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, the combo delivers 130 FPS, which drops to 83.4 FPS at 2560x1440 (a 36% reduction) and then to 42.8 FPS at 3840x2160 (another 49% reduction). This halving of performance at each step up in resolution is classic behavior for a GPU that is working near its limits. The Low settings tell a similar story: 285.8 FPS at 1080p, 181.8 FPS at 1440p, and 96.1 FPS at 4K. The scaling factor from 1080p to 4K at Low is roughly 3x fewer frames, which aligns with the 4x increase in pixel count—a sign that the RX 5700 XT’s 64 ROPs and 160 TMUs are the bottleneck, not the CPU.

Interestingly, the gap between Medium and High settings narrows as resolution increases. At 1080p, Medium runs at 213.7 FPS and High at 178.9 FPS (a 16% difference), but at 4K, Medium hits 67.1 FPS and High 61.1 FPS (a 9% difference). This compression suggests that at 4K, the GPU’s memory subsystem and compute units are fully occupied, leaving less headroom for settings to differentiate. The Ultra preset, which likely taxes the 8 GB VRAM buffer more heavily, shows the steepest cliff: 130 FPS at 1080p, 83.4 FPS at 1440p, and 42.8 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is barely playable, while 1440p Ultra remains smooth, indicating that this resolution is the practical ceiling for this pairing in Barony.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.10 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. Its benchmark scores are impressive—Cinebench R23 multicore reaches 35443 points, and Geekbench multicore hits 16571—placing it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs. However, in Barony, the CPU’s role appears secondary given the GPU-bound scaling observed. The Low settings at 1080p produce 285.8 FPS, which is high enough that even a weaker processor could keep up, but the i7-14700F’s strong single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 singlecore score of 5003) ensures that frame pacing remains consistent even when the render thread is stressed.

The processor’s 33 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache likely help with the roguelike’s procedural generation and entity management, but the data does not show a CPU bottleneck at any resolution. The fact that 1080p Low nearly triples the 4K Ultra frame rate (285.8 vs 42.8) indicates that the CPU is never the limiting factor; if it were, the scaling would be far flatter. The i7-14700F’s nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X, scores 54450 in average benchmarks, a mere 0.6% higher, which means any CPU-bound scenario would produce nearly identical results. In practice, the 20 cores are overkill for Barony, but they provide ample headroom for background tasks and future titles.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT is the decisive component in this pairing. Built on the RDNA 1.0 architecture with a 7 nm process, it features 2560 shading units and a boost clock of 1905 MHz. Its memory configuration—8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth—is adequate for 1080p and 1440p but shows strain at 4K Ultra. The GPU’s benchmark percentile of 68 places it mid-pack, and its average benchmark score of 24731 is nearly identical to the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile (24763, deltaPct -0.1%), indicating that it performs like a mid-range mobile GPU from a later generation. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2134 reflects its aging architecture, which lacks dedicated ray tracing cores.

The measured FPS data directly correlates with the GPU’s compute capabilities. At 4K Ultra, the 42.8 FPS average suggests the 9.754 TFLOPS FP32 throughput is insufficient for the shader workload, while the 8 GB VRAM may be approaching capacity with high-resolution textures. The drop from Medium (67.1 FPS) to Ultra (42.8 FPS) at 4K is a 36% penalty, which is steeper than the 1080p gap between Medium (213.7 FPS) and Ultra (130 FPS) of 39%—but the absolute numbers show that Ultra settings at 4K push the GPU past its comfort zone. The texture rate of 304.8 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 121.9 GPixel/s are the theoretical limits that the measured results approach, confirming that the RX 5700 XT is the sole performance arbiter in this system.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers excellent frame rates across all presets. Low settings hit 285.8 FPS, Medium reaches 213.7 FPS, High achieves 178.9 FPS, and Ultra still manages 130 FPS. These numbers indicate that 1080p is well within the GPU’s capabilities, with even the most demanding preset producing smooth, high-refresh-rate gameplay. The scaling from Low to Ultra is a 54% reduction, but the absolute floor of 130 FPS is more than adequate for competitive play.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains strong but shows the GPU beginning to strain. Low settings produce 181.8 FPS, Medium 132.1 FPS, High 111.9 FPS, and Ultra 83.4 FPS. The Ultra result, while playable, marks a clear step down from the 1080p experience. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 54%, consistent with the 1080p scaling, but the lower absolute values suggest the GPU is now the limiting factor rather than the CPU.

At 3840x2160, the picture changes dramatically. Low settings yield 96.1 FPS, Medium 67.1 FPS, High 61.1 FPS, and Ultra drops to 42.8 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K is the only configuration that dips below the 60 FPS threshold, making it marginal for smooth gameplay. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 4K is a 55% reduction, but the starting point is much lower, so the final result is borderline. The data shows that this combo is best suited for 1440p or lower, with 4K reserved for less demanding settings.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 2560x1440 with High settings delivers 111.9 FPS, which is smooth and visually detailed. Ultra at 1440p drops to 83.4 FPS, still playable, but High offers a better balance. 4K is only viable at Low settings (96.1 FPS) or Medium (67.1 FPS).

Q: Does the Intel Core i7-14700F bottleneck the Radeon RX 5700 XT in this game?

A: No. The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K shows a consistent GPU-bound pattern. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 285.8 FPS, which is far beyond what the GPU can sustain at higher resolutions, indicating the CPU is not the limiting factor.

Q: How does the RX 5700 XT compare to its nearest rivals in raw performance?

A: The RX 5700 XT’s average benchmark score is 24731, which is virtually identical to the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile (24763, deltaPct -0.1%) and the Intel Arc A350M (24647, deltaPct 0.3%). It trails the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile by 0.6% (24592) and leads the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 by 0.9% (24519).

Q: Is the i7-14700F’s performance competitive with current rivals?

A: The i7-14700F scores 54097 in average benchmarks, placing it in the 94th percentile. It is 0.6% behind the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X (54450) and 1.1% behind the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D (54681), but it leads the Intel Xeon Phi 7290 by 1.2% (53469) and the AMD EPYC 7313P by 1.7% (53206).

Q: What is the biggest FPS drop when moving from 1440p to 4K?

A: The largest drop is at Ultra settings, where the average FPS falls from 83.4 at 2560x1440 to 42.8 at 3840x2160, a 49% reduction. Low settings see a smaller relative drop, from 181.8 to 96.1 FPS, a 47% decrease.

*Q: Can the RX 5700 XT handle Ultra settings at any resolution in Barony?*

A: Yes, but with caveats. At 1080p Ultra, it delivers 130 FPS, which is excellent. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 83.4 FPS, still smooth. Only at 4K Ultra does it become problematic, with 42.8 FPS falling below the 60 FPS playability threshold.