Barony

# FAQ

Q: What is the combo rank of the Intel Core i7-14700F with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER in Barony?

A: This combo ranks 650th out of 3,717 tested combinations, placing it in the top 17.5% of all recorded system pairings for this roguelike title.

Q: Does the game favor the CPU or GPU at 1080p resolution?

A: At 1080p Low settings, the system delivers 522 FPS on average, while at 1080p Ultra it drops to 239 FPS. The massive gap between Low and Ultra (283 FPS difference) suggests the GPU becomes significantly more involved as visual fidelity increases, whereas the CPU has ample headroom at lower settings.

Q: What is the best-performing settings preset at 4K resolution?

A: Low settings at 3840x2160 yields 172 FPS average, which is the fastest 4K result. Medium follows at 128 FPS, High at 110 FPS, and Ultra at 79 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 SUPER compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile scores 43,667 on average, which is 1% higher than the RTX 4070 SUPER's 43,223 average. The Quadro M6000 24 GB sits 0.1% below, and the RTX 5050 Mobile is 0.1% behind as well.

Q: What is the CPU's percentile ranking among all processors?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700F sits in the 91st percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 53,620. Its nearest rival, the Intel Xeon 6505P, scores 53,701 — just 0.2% higher.

Q: Is there a measurable FPS drop when moving from 1080p to 4K at Medium settings?

A: Yes. At Medium settings, the average FPS falls from 388 at 1080p to 245 at 1440p, then to 128 at 4K. That represents a 67% reduction from 1080p to 4K, indicating the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

# CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F packs 20 cores and 28 threads, built on Intel's Raptor Lake-R architecture with a 10 nm process. Its base clock runs at 2.10 GHz, boosting up to 5.40 GHz when needed. This processor carries a 33 MB shared L3 cache, with 2 MB L2 per core and 80 KB L1 per core. The chip supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory through a dual-channel bus.

In Barony, the CPU's role is most apparent at lower resolutions and settings where the GPU isn't the bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the system hits 522 FPS — a figure that suggests the processor is feeding frames far faster than most displays can handle. The 28 threads provide substantial parallel processing capability, which matters for a roguelike where procedural generation, entity updates, and game logic can stress multiple cores simultaneously.

The CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35,122 points indicates strong sustained multi-threaded performance, while the single-core score of 4,958 shows capable per-thread speed. This combination is relevant because roguelikes often have a primary simulation thread that must keep up with the render thread. The PassMark single-thread score of 4,257 reinforces that the i7-14700F handles single-threaded workloads competently.

Interestingly, the CPU's 91st percentile ranking among all processors means it outperforms roughly 90% of CPUs on the market. Yet in Barony at 4K Ultra, the system drops to 79 FPS. This suggests that even with a top-tier processor, the GPU workload dominates at maximum settings and high resolutions. The data shows the CPU is rarely the limiting factor here; the FPS scaling from 522 at 1080p Low to 172 at 4K Low (a 67% drop) points to the GPU taking over as resolution increases.

The processor's TDP is listed at 65 watts, which is modest given its core count. This efficiency allows sustained boost clocks without excessive thermal throttling, helping maintain consistent frame delivery in longer play sessions. The L3 cache size of 33 MB shared across cores also assists with keeping frequently accessed game data close to the execution units, reducing memory latency penalties.

# Settings Recommendations

For players targeting maximum frame rates, Low settings at any resolution yields the highest FPS. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 522 FPS on average — far beyond any display's refresh rate. At 1440p Low, it still delivers 329 FPS, and even at 4K Low, it maintains 172 FPS. If competitive play or high refresh rate monitors are the priority, Low settings provide the smoothest experience.

For balanced visual quality and performance, Medium settings offer a compelling middle ground. At 1080p Medium, the system produces 388 FPS with a minimum of 330 and maximum of 446 FPS. Moving to 1440p Medium, it holds 245 FPS with a minimum of 208 FPS. At 4K Medium, it drops to 128 FPS with a 109 FPS minimum. These figures indicate that Medium settings maintain playable frame rates even at 4K, with the minimums staying above 100 FPS.

High settings provide a noticeable visual upgrade over Medium while still delivering excellent performance. At 1080p High, the system hits 333 FPS, and at 1440p High, it reaches 210 FPS. At 4K High, the average falls to 110 FPS — still smooth for most displays. The jump from Medium to High at 4K costs 18 FPS (from 128 to 110), which may be a worthwhile trade for improved textures and effects.

Ultra settings represent the most demanding configuration. At 1080p Ultra, the system manages 239 FPS — still very playable. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 151 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 79 FPS. This last figure approaches the lower boundary of what most gamers consider smooth, though it remains above 60 FPS. For 4K Ultra, players should accept some compromise or consider lowering specific options.

The data suggests that Medium settings at 4K or Ultra settings at 1440p provides the best balance of visual fidelity and frame rate for most users. The 4K Medium result of 128 FPS average with a 109 FPS minimum ensures consistent performance without frequent dips.

# How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-14700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER combination ranks 650th out of 3,717 tested system pairings in Barony. This places the combo in the top 17.5% of all configurations tested, indicating strong overall capability for this game.

Examining the CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks provides context for its contribution. The Intel Xeon 6505P scores 53,701, just 0.2% above the i7-14700F's 53,620. The Xeon Phi 7290 comes in at 53,469 (0.3% below), and the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X scores 53,288 (0.6% below). These tiny deltas suggest the i7-14700F sits in a tightly competitive performance cluster.

On the GPU side, the RTX 4070 SUPER's nearest rivals show a similarly close grouping. The RTX 4090 Mobile leads with 43,667 average (1% higher), the Quadro M6000 24 GB scores 43,262 (0.1% lower), and the RTX 5050 Mobile hits 43,268 (0.1% lower). This placement in the 83rd percentile of all GPUs indicates the graphics card is a solid performer, though not at the very top tier.

The combination's rank in Barony specifically — rather than in synthetic benchmarks — reveals how these components interact in a real gaming workload. The 650th position out of 3,717 is respectable but not elite, suggesting that while both components are strong individually, there may be system pairings that extract more performance in this particular title. The measured FPS data at various settings shows that the combo handles Barony with ease at most resolutions and presets, only showing strain at 4K Ultra where it still produces 79 FPS.

# GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER uses the AD104 chip built on TSMC's 5 nm process, containing 35,800 million transistors across a 294 mm² die. It features 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's boost clock reaches 2475 MHz, with 56 RT cores and 224 tensor cores supporting advanced rendering features.

In Barony, the GPU's role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution and settings rise. The memory capacity of 12 GB proves sufficient even at 4K Ultra, where the system maintains 79 FPS. The 504.2 GB/s bandwidth supports the texture streaming and asset loading demands of higher resolutions without apparent bottlenecks.

The GPU's compute capabilities — 35.48 TFLOPS FP32 and 224 texture mapping units — enable the effects processing that distinguishes Ultra from Low settings. The pixel rate of 198.0 GPixel/s and texture rate of 554.4 GTexel/s help explain why the system can push 110 FPS at 4K High despite the heavy fill rate requirements.

The RTX 4070 SUPER's PassMark G3D score of 29,995 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 4,627 position it in the 83rd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the RTX 4090 Mobile, is only 1% faster in average benchmark score. This close competition suggests the desktop RTX 4070 SUPER delivers performance comparable to a top-tier mobile GPU, which is notable given the power constraints of mobile parts.

At 1080p Low, the GPU delivers 522 FPS, indicating it's not the limiting factor at lower resolutions. At 4K Ultra, it produces 79 FPS, showing the GPU's workload scales significantly with resolution and settings. The transition from Low to Ultra at 4K costs 93 FPS (from 172 to 79), demonstrating how much headroom exists in the lower presets and how demanding the highest preset becomes.

# Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers exceptional performance across all settings. Low settings produce 522 FPS average, Medium 388 FPS (minimum 330, maximum 446), High 333 FPS, and Ultra 239 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 283 FPS, showing that even the most demanding preset at 1080p leaves substantial performance on the table.

At 2560x1440, frame rates remain high. Low settings yield 329 FPS, Medium 245 FPS (minimum 208, maximum 282), High 210 FPS, and Ultra 151 FPS. The reduction from 1080p to 1440p at each setting is consistent: Low drops 193 FPS, Medium 143 FPS, High 123 FPS, and Ultra 88 FPS. This pattern suggests resolution scaling has a larger absolute impact at lower settings.

At 3840x2160, performance remains playable but requires more careful settings selection. Low settings deliver 172 FPS, Medium 128 FPS (minimum 109, maximum 147), High 110 FPS, and Ultra 79 FPS. The minimum FPS at 4K Medium of 109 ensures that even in demanding scenes, the system stays comfortably above 60 FPS.

Comparing settings across resolutions reveals consistent scaling behavior. Medium settings at 1080p (388 FPS) outperform Low at 1440p (329 FPS), and Medium at 1440p (245 FPS) exceeds Low at 4K (172 FPS). This indicates that resolution has a more significant impact on performance than settings presets do — a player could run Medium at 1080p rather than Low at 1440p for better visuals and higher frame rates.

The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic drop from 1080p to 4K, falling from 239 FPS to 79 FPS — a 67% reduction. Low settings experience a similar relative drop from 522 FPS to 172 FPS (67% reduction), suggesting the scaling factor is roughly consistent across presets when resolution increases.

# Resolution Scaling

The FPS data from 1080p to 4K reveals how the system's workload shifts between CPU and GPU. At Low settings, performance drops from 522 FPS at 1080p to 329 FPS at 1440p (a 37% reduction), then to 172 FPS at 4K (a 48% further reduction from 1440p). The total drop from 1080p to 4K at Low is 67%.

At Medium settings, the progression is 388 FPS at 1080p, 245 FPS at 1440p (37% reduction), and 128 FPS at 4K (48% reduction from 1440p). The relative decreases mirror the Low settings pattern almost exactly, suggesting that resolution scaling is consistent regardless of the settings preset.

High settings show a similar trend: 333 FPS at 1080p, 210 FPS at 1440p (37% reduction), and 110 FPS at 4K (48% reduction from 1440p). Ultra settings follow with 239 FPS, 151 FPS (37% reduction), and 79 FPS (48% reduction from 1440p).

The consistency of these percentage drops — approximately 37% from 1080p to 1440p and 48% from 1440p to 4K across all settings — indicates that the limiting component scales predictably with resolution. The near-uniform scaling suggests that neither the CPU nor GPU becomes disproportionately stressed at any particular resolution. Instead, both components work in tandem, with the GPU handling the increased pixel workload while the CPU maintains its frame-feeding duties.

The fact that Low settings at 4K (172 FPS) still exceeds Ultra at 1080p (239 FPS) by a significant margin implies the system has substantial headroom. The GPU's 12 GB VRAM and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth appear sufficient even at 4K, as no extreme drop-off suggests memory capacity or bandwidth limitations.

The 4K Ultra result of 79 FPS represents the system's most demanding scenario, yet it still clears the 60 FPS threshold. This suggests that for Barony, the combination of the i7-14700F and RTX 4070 SUPER provides a well-balanced experience where neither component consistently bottlenecks the other. The scaling pattern indicates that players seeking higher frame rates at 4K should reduce settings rather than resolution, as the settings presets have a larger impact on FPS than resolution alone at the higher end.