Barony

The Intel Core i7-14700F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 delivers a performance profile in Barony that is defined by extreme resolution scaling and a pronounced CPU bottleneck at lower settings. This combination ranks in the 71st percentile of tested hardware configurations for this title, and the measured frame rates show that while the GPU is capable of handling 4K, the processor's strength dominates at 1080p.

FAQ

*Q: What is the overall performance ranking of this CPU-GPU combo in Barony?*

A: The combination of the Intel Core i7-14700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 ranks 1065 out of 3717 tested combos in Barony.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700F has an average benchmark score of 53620. This places it 0.2% behind the Intel Xeon 6505P, 0.3% ahead of the Intel Xeon Phi 7290, 0.6% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X, and 0.8% ahead of the AMD EPYC 7313P.

Q: What are the core and thread counts of the i7-14700F?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700F features 20 cores and 28 threads, with a base clock of 2.10 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz.

Q: What is the memory configuration of the RTX 3080, and how much VRAM does it have?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 has 10 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 320-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 760.3 GB/s.

Q: At which resolution and settings does the combo achieve its highest average frame rate?

A: The highest average frame rate is 449 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: Is there a significant frame rate difference between High and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: Yes, the difference is substantial. At 2560x1440, the High preset yields an average of 181 FPS, while the Ultra preset drops to an average of 130 FPS, a 51 FPS decrease.

How This Combo Ranks

The data places this specific configuration at rank 1065 out of 3717 possible combinations tested in Barony. This position, within the top 29% of all tested systems, indicates a strong overall capability for this roguelike title. The ranking reflects a balance between the CPU's substantial processing power and the GPU's high-end output, but it is not a top-tier result. The fact that this combo does not break into the top 1000 suggests that in Barony, other hardware pairings—likely those with even more powerful GPUs or different CPU architectures—manage to extract higher average frame rates.

However, the rank should be interpreted in the context of where the bottleneck lies. As the FPS breakdown will show, this combo is capable of producing very high frame rates at 1080p, but its rank is likely pulled down by the performance in more demanding GPU-bound scenarios at 4K Ultra. The i7-14700F's high percentile ranking (91st among all CPUs) and the RTX 3080's more modest percentile (68th among all GPUs) suggest that the GPU is the limiting factor in the most demanding settings, capping the overall combo's potential in the ranking.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is built on the Ampere architecture and features 8704 shading units, 272 texture mapping units, and 96 render output units. Its memory subsystem is a key asset for Barony, consisting of 10 GB of GDDR6X memory running at an effective speed of 19 Gbps across a 320-bit bus, which yields a bandwidth of 760.3 GB/s. This high bandwidth is critical for feeding the GPU's 68 ray tracing cores and 272 tensor cores, though the game's requirements may not fully utilize these advanced features.

The GPU's clock speeds are set at a base of 1440 MHz with a boost of 1710 MHz. These clocks, combined with the memory bandwidth, directly influence the frame rates observed at higher resolutions. The data shows a clear pattern where the GPU becomes the primary constraint as resolution increases. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS falls to 68, while at 1080p Low, it reaches 449 FPS. This disparity highlights that while the RTX 3080 is powerful, it is not sufficient to maintain the same performance level at 4K as the CPU can at 1080p. The GPU's benchmark scores support this, with a Passmark G3D score of 25086 and a percentile ranking of 68 compared to all GPUs, indicating it is a strong but not elite performer.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets.

At 1920x1080, the frame rates are exceptionally high. The Low preset achieves an average of 449 FPS. Moving to Medium, the average drops to 334 FPS, with a minimum of 284 and a maximum of 384 FPS. The High preset yields an average of 287 FPS. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, and the average drops to 206 FPS. Even the lowest of these figures is well above the refresh rate of most monitors, indicating a highly fluid experience at 1080p.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains strong but shows a clear scaling trend. The Low preset still delivers a very high average of 284 FPS. The Medium preset averages 211 FPS, with a range of 179 to 242 FPS. High settings produce an average of 181 FPS. The Ultra preset brings the average down to 130 FPS. This demonstrates that the RTX 3080 can handle 1440p with ease, even at higher quality settings.

At 3840x2160, the demands on the GPU become apparent. The Low preset still manages an average of 148 FPS, which is playable. The Medium preset averages 110 FPS, with a minimum of 94 and a maximum of 127 FPS. The High preset drops the average to 95 FPS. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, resulting in an average of 68 FPS. This is the only scenario where the frame rate approaches a level that might require a high-refresh-rate monitor to be fully utilized, and it is the only setting where the combo dips below 100 FPS on average.

Resolution Scaling

The data reveals a significant performance drop as resolution scales from 1080p to 4K, indicating a shift in the bottleneck from the CPU to the GPU.

At the Low setting, the average FPS goes from 449 at 1080p to 284 at 1440p, a 36.7% reduction. Scaling further to 4K yields 148 FPS, which is a 67.0% reduction from the 1080p figure. This steep decline suggests that even at low settings, the GPU's pixel throughput becomes a limiting factor at higher resolutions.

The Medium setting shows a similar trend. The average FPS is 334 at 1080p, dropping to 211 at 1440p (a 36.8% reduction) and then to 110 at 4K (a 67.1% reduction from 1080p). The High setting follows the pattern: 287 FPS at 1080p, 181 at 1440p (a 36.9% reduction), and 95 at 4K (a 66.9% reduction).

At the Ultra setting, the absolute numbers are lower but the scaling pattern is consistent. The average FPS is 206 at 1080p, 130 at 1440p (a 36.9% reduction), and 68 at 4K (a 67.0% reduction from 1080p).

This consistent percentage drop across all settings indicates that the RTX 3080's performance is scaling linearly with the pixel count. The fact that the frame rate at 4K is roughly one-third of the 1080p rate points to the GPU as the primary limiting component at high resolutions. Conversely, the very high frame rates at 1080p, even on Ultra settings, suggest that the CPU is not a limiting factor at that resolution.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, fabricated on a 10 nm process. Its base clock is 2.10 GHz, and it can boost up to 5.40 GHz. The CPU has a large cache hierarchy, including 33 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB of L2 cache per core. This configuration provides immense processing power, as evidenced by its benchmark scores. It achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35122 and a single-core score of 4958. Its Passmark multi-thread score is 41317, and its single-thread score is 4257.

In Barony, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p, where the frame rates are extremely high. The fact that the average FPS at 1080p Low (449) is more than double the frame rate at 4K Low (148) suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU far more frames than the GPU can render. The CPU's high single-thread performance, indicated by the Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4958, is likely crucial for the game's logic and physics calculations, which often rely on a few fast cores rather than many slower ones. The CPU's 91st percentile ranking among all CPUs reinforces its strength as a top-tier processor.

The data indicates that the i7-14700F is not a bottleneck in Barony. Even at 1080p Ultra, the combo achieves 206 FPS, a figure that is limited by the GPU's rendering capabilities rather than the CPU's processing speed. The CPU's performance is so robust that the system's overall frame rate is almost entirely dictated by the GPU's workload.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the target resolution and refresh rate.

For 1080p users with a 144Hz or 240Hz monitor, the High preset is an excellent choice, providing an average of 287 FPS. This setting offers a significant visual upgrade over Medium (334 FPS) while still delivering frame rates that far exceed the refresh rate of most displays. The Ultra preset, at 206 FPS, is also viable for those who prioritize image quality over maximum frame rate, as it still exceeds 200 FPS.

For 1440p gaming, the High preset is the sweet spot. It delivers an average of 181 FPS, which is smooth and responsive, while the Medium preset (211 FPS) offers diminishing visual returns for a relatively small FPS gain. The Ultra preset (130 FPS) is a good option for users with 144Hz monitors, as it remains above the 100 FPS mark, but the performance cost is noticeable.

For 4K gaming, the Medium preset is the most balanced choice, providing an average of 110 FPS with a minimum of 94 FPS. This ensures a consistently playable experience. The High preset (95 FPS) is also acceptable for those who prefer higher visual fidelity, but it is closer to the edge of the playable threshold. The Ultra preset (68 FPS) is only recommended for users with 60Hz displays who prioritize visual quality above all else, as the frame rate is below the 100 FPS threshold that many consider ideal for fast-paced action.

In summary, the High preset is the recommended starting point for this combo at 1080p and 1440p, while the Medium preset is the safest choice for 4K to maintain high frame rates.