Barony

# Barony with Intel Core i7-14700F + Intel Arc B570

The Intel Core i7-14700F paired with the Intel Arc B570 delivers a distinct performance profile in Barony, a roguelike where frame pacing can be as unpredictable as its dungeon layouts. The measured data reveals a system that scales dramatically with resolution and settings, showing a clear shift from CPU-bound behavior at 1080p to GPU-bound behavior at 4K. With a combo rank of 2344 out of 2935 tested combinations, this pairing sits in the lower-middle tier of the database, yet its raw FPS numbers tell a more nuanced story about where its strengths and limitations truly lie.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings, indicating that the Intel Arc B570 becomes the primary limiting factor as pixel count rises. At Low settings, the system produces 245 FPS at 1920x1080, 154 FPS at 2560x1440, and 81 FPS at 3840x2160. That represents a 37% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a further 47% reduction from 1440p to 4K, essentially halving performance at each major resolution step. This pattern strongly suggests that the GPU’s rendering throughput, not the CPU’s processing power, is what caps performance at higher resolutions.

The scaling behavior changes with quality presets. At High settings, the FPS goes from 156 at 1080p to 99 at 1440p to 52 at 4K—a 36% drop followed by a 47% drop, nearly identical percentages to the Low preset. At Ultra settings, the numbers are 112, 71, and 37 respectively, showing drops of 37% and 48%. The consistency of these percentage reductions across presets implies that resolution scaling in Barony is largely independent of the specific quality level chosen; the GPU’s fill rate and memory bandwidth are the dominant constraints once the resolution climbs.

However, the gap between Low and Ultra narrows as resolution increases. At 1080p, Ultra runs at 112 FPS versus 245 FPS on Low—a 54% performance penalty for maxing out settings. At 1440p, that penalty is 54% as well (71 vs 154). At 4K, the penalty grows to 54% (37 vs 81). This uniformity suggests that the game’s settings do not disproportionately affect the GPU at higher resolutions; instead, the resolution itself is the primary driver of the FPS decline.

What does this imply about the limiting component? At 1080p, the CPU’s 20 cores and 28 threads are likely not the bottleneck, given that even at Ultra the system holds 112 FPS. The GPU, with its 10 GB of GDDR6 memory and 380.0 GB/s bandwidth, appears to be the constraining factor at 4K, where even Low settings cannot surpass 81 FPS. The data indicates that users targeting 4K will need to accept lower framerates regardless of settings, while 1080p owners can afford to push quality higher without sacrificing smoothness.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Barony?

A: The data shows 1920x1080 provides the highest average FPS across all settings, ranging from 112 FPS at Ultra to 245 FPS at Low. At 2560x1440, the range is 71 to 154 FPS, while 3840x2160 drops to 37 to 81 FPS. For consistent 60+ FPS, 1440p at Medium or High settings appears viable, but 4K only reaches 60 FPS at Medium and falls below that at High and Ultra.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B570 compare to its closest GPU rivals?

A: The Arc B570 has an average benchmark score of 20556, placing it 0.1% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (20534) and 0.4% ahead of the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (20480), but 0.1% behind the Intel Arc A750 (20582) and 0.5% behind the AMD Radeon R9 M390X (20662). These deltaPct values indicate near-identical aggregate performance among these four GPUs.

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-14700F a strong CPU for this game?

A: The i7-14700F holds a 91st percentile ranking against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 53620. Its nearest rival, the Intel Xeon 6505P, scores 53701 (0.2% higher), while the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X scores 53288 (0.6% lower). This suggests the CPU is more than capable for Barony, especially since FPS drops at higher resolutions point to GPU limitation.

Q: What settings should I use for 4K gaming?

A: At 3840x2160, the Medium preset delivers 60 FPS average with a minimum of 51 FPS, which is the only settings level that maintains a 60 FPS average at 4K. High drops to 52 FPS, Low rises to 81 FPS, and Ultra falls to 37 FPS. If 60 FPS is the target, Medium is the recommended choice, though Low offers a smoother experience at the cost of visual fidelity.

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

A: This specific CPU-GPU pairing ranks 2344 out of 2935 tested combos in Barony, placing it in the 80th percentile from the bottom. Despite this low ranking, the measured FPS at 1080p and 1440p are respectable, indicating the rank may reflect the GPU’s limitations at higher resolutions rather than overall inadequacy.

Q: Does the GPU’s VRAM capacity affect performance?

A: The Arc B570 has 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus. Given that 4K Ultra produces only 37 FPS while 4K Low reaches 81 FPS, the VRAM size does not appear to be the primary bottleneck; rather, the GPU’s compute throughput and memory bandwidth (380.0 GB/s) are more likely limiting factors, as the FPS scales consistently with resolution and settings.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570 is the clear performance ceiling in this pairing, as evidenced by the FPS scaling patterns. Its 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 80 raster output units operate at a fixed 2500 MHz boost clock, with memory running at 2375 MHz (19 Gbps effective). The GPU’s 11.52 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 200.0 GPixel/s pixel rate provide the raw throughput that dictates framerates, and the measured data shows that this throughput is insufficient for high-refresh 4K gaming.

The GPU’s 10 GB of VRAM is adequate for Barony’s roguelike visuals, and the fact that 4K Low (81 FPS) outperforms 4K High (52 FPS) by 56% suggests that texture and shading complexity, not memory capacity, are the primary drains. The 380.0 GB/s bandwidth is a moderate figure, and at 4K Ultra, the system drops to 37 FPS, indicating that the GPU is heavily taxed by the combination of high resolution and maxed settings.

Notably, the Arc B570’s benchmark scores reveal a balanced profile: it scores 14195 in Passmark G3D, 2649 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, and 96844 in Geekbench Vulkan. These numbers place it in the 65th percentile of all GPUs, with an average score of 20556. Its nearest rivals include the RTX 3070 Mobile (0.1% faster) and the Arc A750 (0.1% slower), suggesting that the B570 is competitive with mid-range GPUs from previous generations, but it lacks the headroom to push 4K Ultra in this title.

The GPU’s memory subsystem, with a 160-bit bus and GDDR6 type, contributes to its bandwidth limitations. At 1080p, the GPU can deliver 245 FPS on Low, but this drops to 81 FPS at 4K Low—a 67% reduction that far exceeds what CPU limitations would cause. This confirms that the Arc B570’s compute and memory throughput are the limiting factors at higher resolutions, and users should not expect the CPU to compensate for GPU shortfalls in Barony.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest framerates across all settings. Low settings produce 245 FPS average, Medium reaches 182 FPS with a minimum of 155 FPS and maximum of 209 FPS, High achieves 156 FPS, and Ultra drops to 112 FPS. The 133 FPS gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p represents a 54% performance difference, but even the lowest figure remains well above 60 FPS, making 1080p the most comfortable resolution for this combo.

Moving to 2560x1440, the framerates scale down predictably. Low settings yield 154 FPS, Medium averages 115 FPS with a range of 98 to 132 FPS, High produces 99 FPS, and Ultra falls to 71 FPS. The Medium preset’s minimum of 98 FPS indicates that even under load, the system maintains high fluidity at 1440p, while Ultra’s 71 FPS still clears the 60 FPS threshold but leaves less headroom for demanding scenes.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops significantly. Low settings manage 81 FPS, Medium averages 60 FPS with a minimum of 51 FPS and maximum of 69 FPS, High delivers 52 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 37 FPS. The Medium preset is the only 4K option that averages 60 FPS, and its minimum of 51 FPS suggests occasional dips below that target. High and Ultra both fail to reach 60 FPS, indicating that 4K gaming with this combo requires sacrifices in visual quality.

The data also reveals that the gap between Medium and High is relatively consistent across resolutions: at 1080p, Medium is 26 FPS higher than High (182 vs 156); at 1440p, the gap is 16 FPS (115 vs 99); and at 4K, it is 8 FPS (60 vs 52). This narrowing gap at higher resolutions further supports the GPU-bound nature of 4K performance, where the additional rendering load of High settings has less absolute impact when the GPU is already saturated.

Settings Recommendations

For users prioritizing smooth gameplay, the Medium preset emerges as the most balanced choice across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers 182 FPS with a minimum of 155 FPS, providing a 27 FPS buffer over High’s 156 FPS and only a 63 FPS penalty versus Low’s 245 FPS. At 1440p, Medium’s 115 FPS average with a 98 FPS minimum offers excellent fluidity, while High’s 99 FPS and Ultra’s 71 FPS are also playable but with less margin.

At 4K, the recommendation narrows dramatically. Medium is the only preset that achieves a 60 FPS average, albeit with a 51 FPS minimum that could cause noticeable stutters in intense moments. Low settings at 81 FPS provide a smoother experience but sacrifice visual quality, while High (52 FPS) and Ultra (37 FPS) are below the 60 FPS target. For 4K users, the data suggests Medium is the sweet spot if visual fidelity matters, but Low is the safer choice for consistent high framerates.

The Ultra preset, while visually impressive, offers diminishing returns in this game. At 1080p, Ultra’s 112 FPS is still smooth, but it represents a 38% reduction from Medium’s 182 FPS. At 1440p, Ultra’s 71 FPS is just above 60 FPS, and at 4K, it drops to 37 FPS, which is likely too low for a roguelike where quick reactions matter. Given the minimal FPS difference between High and Ultra in some cases (e.g., 52 vs 37 at 4K), the data indicates that High provides a better performance-to-quality tradeoff than Ultra.

Overall, the recommended preset depends on resolution: Medium for 1080p and 1440p to balance FPS and visuals, and either Medium or Low for 4K depending on whether 60 FPS or higher framerates are prioritized. The measured minimums for Medium (155 FPS at 1080p, 98 FPS at 1440p, 51 FPS at 4K) provide a reliable floor, making it the most predictable choice for consistent gameplay.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F brings substantial processing power to this pairing, with 20 cores and 28 threads operating at a base clock of 2.10 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. Its 33 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB L2 per core provide ample resources for Barony’s procedural generation and AI logic. Benchmarks show strong multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35122 and a Passmark multithread score of 41317, placing the CPU in the 91st percentile of all CPUs.

The CPU’s single-thread performance is equally robust, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4958 and a Geekbench single-core score of 2429. This is crucial for Barony, a roguelike where game logic and entity updates often run on a single thread. The CPU’s 5.40 GHz boost clock likely prevents CPU bottlenecks at 1080p, where the GPU is capable of producing 245 FPS on Low—a figure that would strain many CPUs. However, the fact that FPS drops consistently with resolution suggests the CPU is not the limiting factor at any settings level.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in benchmark scores are the Intel Xeon 6505P (0.2% higher average score) and the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X (0.6% lower), indicating that the i7-14700F is competitively positioned among high-end desktop processors. Its 65 W TDP and LGA 1700 socket make it a practical choice, but its actual impact on Barony’s FPS appears minimal beyond 1080p, where the GPU takes over as the bottleneck. The data shows no evidence of CPU-induced frame drops, as even the minimum FPS values (e.g., 51 FPS at 4K Medium) are likely GPU-driven.

In roguelike games, CPU performance can matter for turn-based calculations and world generation, but the measured FPS suggests that Barony’s rendering load is the dominant factor. The i7-14700F’s 20 cores and 28 threads are overkill for this title, and its high single-thread performance ensures that even complex scenes do not cause CPU stalls. Users upgrading their GPU later would find this CPU has ample headroom to support faster graphics cards.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 2344 out of 2935 tested combinations places this pairing in the lower 20% of the database, which might seem disappointing given the respectable FPS numbers at 1080p and 1440p. However, this rank likely reflects the GPU’s limitations at 4K, where the system fails to maintain 60 FPS at High or Ultra settings. The rank is a composite measure that weights performance across all tested resolutions and settings, and the 4K results drag down the overall standing.

To contextualize the rank, consider that the Intel Arc B570 sits at the 65th percentile of all GPUs, while the i7-14700F sits at the 91st percentile of all CPUs. The combination of a high-end CPU with a mid-range GPU creates an imbalance: the CPU is capable of feeding a much faster GPU, but the Arc B570 cannot fully utilize that headroom at higher resolutions. This is evident in the FPS scaling, where 1080p Low (245 FPS) is 3x faster than 4K Ultra (37 FPS), a ratio that would be smaller if the GPU were the stronger component.

The rank also suggests that many other combos in the database achieve better 4K performance, likely with more powerful GPUs paired with similar or weaker CPUs. The i7-14700F’s high benchmark scores (53620 average, 91st percentile) are not the limiting factor; rather, the Arc B570’s 20556 average score and 65th percentile ranking cap the system’s overall capability. Users considering this combo should recognize that it excels at 1080p and 1440p gaming but is not designed for high-refresh 4K experiences.

Ultimately, the combo rank of 2344 out of 2935 is a fair assessment of this pairing’s overall performance in Barony. It indicates a system that is more than adequate for most gaming scenarios but falls short of top-tier status due to GPU constraints. The data shows that for roguelike enthusiasts who prioritize frame rate over resolution, this combo delivers excellent results at 1080p, making the rank less critical than the actual measured FPS in real-world usage.