Barony

Barony is a roguelike that scales unusually well on high-refresh displays, and the measured data for the Intel Core i7-14700F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti shows a combo capable of extreme frame rates across all tested resolutions. The dataset includes 12 measured FPS rows spanning 1080p, 1440p, and 4K, each with four settings tiers (Low, Medium, High, Ultra), providing a clear picture of how this hardware handles the game’s demands. The following analysis breaks down resolution scaling, ranking position, settings behavior, and the specific roles of the GPU and CPU based strictly on the provided facts.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K reveals a system that is heavily GPU-limited at higher resolutions but still delivers triple-digit averages everywhere. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 550 FPS average, which falls to 347 FPS at 1440p Low and then to 181 FPS at 4K Low. That represents a 67% reduction from 1080p to 4K at the lowest settings, indicating the GPU is the primary bottleneck as pixel count rises. The pattern holds across every settings tier: High settings go from 351 FPS at 1080p to 222 FPS at 1440p to 116 FPS at 4K, a 67% drop as well. Medium settings show 409 FPS at 1080p, 258 FPS at 1440p, and 135 FPS at 4K, a 67% decline. Ultra settings follow the same trajectory: 252 FPS at 1080p, 159 FPS at 1440p, and 83 FPS at 4K, again a 67% reduction.

The consistency of the percentage drop across settings is notable. Each resolution step roughly halves the pixel count (4K has four times the pixels of 1080p, 1440p has 1.78 times the pixels of 1080p), yet the FPS scaling is not linear. Moving from 1080p to 1440p costs about 37% of the frame rate on average across settings, while moving from 1440p to 4K costs about 48% on average. This suggests that at 1080p, the CPU and memory subsystem are able to feed the GPU sufficiently, but as resolution increases, the GPU’s shading and memory bandwidth become the limiting factor. The RTX 4070 Ti’s 504.2 GB/s memory bandwidth and 192-bit bus are adequate for Barony’s relatively simple geometry, but the sheer fill rate demand at 4K Ultra (83 FPS) shows the GPU nearing its ceiling.

The fact that 4K Ultra still averages 83 FPS indicates that Barony is not an exceptionally demanding title for this class of hardware. Even at the highest settings and resolution, the combo stays comfortably above 60 FPS. The largest absolute gap between settings at any single resolution occurs at 1080p: Low delivers 550 FPS versus Ultra’s 252 FPS, a difference of 298 FPS. At 4K, the same comparison yields 181 FPS versus 83 FPS, a difference of 98 FPS. This narrowing gap at higher resolutions reinforces the GPU-bound interpretation: when the GPU is less stressed (1080p), settings changes have a larger relative impact because the CPU can still push more frames; when the GPU is saturated (4K), the settings overhead compresses the range.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank in Barony is 514 out of 3717 tested combinations, placing it in the top 13.8% of all systems measured for this game. This rank reflects the combined strength of the CPU and GPU, but the data suggests the GPU is the more impactful component for Barony’s frame rates. The RTX 4070 Ti sits at the 84th percentile among all GPUs in the database’s average benchmark score, with an average score of 44795. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile (45152 score, -0.8% delta), AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT (45384 score, -1.3% delta), NVIDIA RTX A6000 (44075 score, +1.6% delta), and Intel Arc A730M (45592 score, -1.7% delta). The GPU’s percentile and rival deltas show it is a solidly upper-midrange part, but not a top-tier contender.

The Intel Core i7-14700F, meanwhile, achieves the 91st percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 53620. Its nearest rivals are the Intel Xeon 6505P (53701 score, -0.2% delta), Intel Xeon Phi 7290 (53469 score, +0.3% delta), AMD Ryzen 9 7900X (53288 score, +0.6% delta), and AMD EPYC 7313P (53206 score, +0.8% delta). The CPU is therefore slightly stronger relative to its peer group than the GPU is relative to its own peers. However, the measured FPS in Barony at 1080p Low (550 FPS) versus 4K Ultra (83 FPS) shows that the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution climbs. The combo rank of 514 out of 3717 is likely driven by the GPU’s ability to maintain high frame rates at 1440p and 4K, where the CPU’s 20 cores and 28 threads are less relevant.

Compared to the average tested combo, this system is clearly above the median. The rank of 514 means 3203 tested combinations performed worse, and only 513 performed better. For a game like Barony, which is a roguelike with procedural generation and potentially complex simulation logic, the CPU’s strong single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4958) helps maintain high minimum frame rates in chaotic scenes, but the measured data only provides average FPS, so direct min-FPS comparisons are limited.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows show a clear hierarchy: Low settings provide the highest frame rates, followed by Medium, then High, then Ultra. At every resolution, the step from Low to Medium costs a moderate amount of performance, while the step from High to Ultra is the most expensive. For example, at 1440p, Low averages 347 FPS, Medium averages 258 FPS (a 26% drop), High averages 222 FPS (a 14% drop from Medium), and Ultra averages 159 FPS (a 28% drop from High). The pattern is consistent across resolutions: Ultra is always the largest performance hit relative to High.

For players targeting 60 FPS, even 4K Ultra with 83 FPS average is more than sufficient. The data shows no measured row falls below 83 FPS, meaning every setting and resolution combination is playable on a standard 60 Hz monitor. However, for high-refresh displays, the choice of settings depends on the target refresh rate. At 1080p, all settings exceed 250 FPS, so even Ultra (252 FPS) supports a 240 Hz display. At 1440p, Low (347 FPS) and Medium (258 FPS) support 240 Hz, while High (222 FPS) falls slightly short of 240 Hz but still supports 144 Hz comfortably. At 4K, only Low (181 FPS) exceeds 144 Hz, while Medium (135 FPS) and High (116 FPS) are suitable for 120 Hz displays, and Ultra (83 FPS) is best for 60-75 Hz.

The optimal balance appears to be High settings at 1080p or 1440p for most users. High at 1080p delivers 351 FPS, which is within 8% of Medium’s 409 FPS but only 28% below Low’s 550 FPS. High at 1440p (222 FPS) is still fast enough for 144 Hz monitors and provides better visual fidelity than Medium (258 FPS) at a modest cost. At 4K, High (116 FPS) is the highest settings tier that stays above 100 FPS, making it the recommended choice for 4K users who want both quality and speed. Ultra should be reserved for players who prioritize image quality over frame rate, as it drops to 83 FPS at 4K but remains above 60 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings average 550 FPS, with Medium at 409 FPS (min 348, max 470), High at 351 FPS, and Ultra at 252 FPS. The Medium row includes min and max values, showing a spread of 122 FPS between min and max, which indicates some scene-to-scene variance but no severe drops. The average FPS values are all above 250, making 1080p the resolution for maximum refresh rates.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but drop significantly from 1080p. Low averages 347 FPS, Medium averages 258 FPS (min 219, max 297), High averages 222 FPS, and Ultra averages 159 FPS. The Medium min of 219 FPS is still well above 144 Hz, and the max of 297 FPS approaches the 1080p Low figure. This resolution is the sweet spot for high-refresh gaming, as even High settings maintain 222 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates become more moderate. Low averages 181 FPS, Medium averages 135 FPS (min 115, max 155), High averages 116 FPS, and Ultra averages 83 FPS. The Medium min of 115 FPS is the lowest recorded min across all rows, but it remains above 60 FPS. Ultra at 4K is the only row below 100 FPS, but 83 FPS is still smooth for most players.

The data shows that the gap between Low and Ultra widens as resolution decreases. At 1080p, the difference is 298 FPS; at 1440p, it is 188 FPS; at 4K, it is 98 FPS. This reinforces that the GPU is more stressed at higher resolutions, compressing the performance envelope between settings. The Medium rows with min/max data (at all three resolutions) provide the only insight into frame time consistency, and the min values are within 15-16% of the averages, suggesting stable performance without major hitches.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is the primary driver of Barony’s frame rates, especially at 1440p and 4K. Its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus provides 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for Barony’s textures and effects at all settings. The GPU’s boost clock of 2610 MHz and base clock of 2310 MHz, combined with 7680 shading units and 80 ROPs, deliver a pixel rate of 208.8 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 626.4 GTexel/s. These specifications explain why the GPU can handle 4K Ultra at 83 FPS: the pixel rate is high enough to fill 4K frames quickly, but the Ultra settings likely add post-processing and shadow effects that stress the shading units.

The GPU’s average benchmark score of 44795 places it at the 84th percentile, and its nearest rival deltas are all within ±1.7%, indicating tight competition in its performance class. The RTX 5090 Mobile is only 0.8% faster, while the RTX A6000 is 1.6% slower. In Barony specifically, the GPU’s role is evident from the resolution scaling: moving from 1080p to 4K at the same settings reduces FPS by roughly 67% consistently, which is the expected behavior for a GPU-bound workload. The GPU’s 12 GB VRAM is not a limiting factor at any measured setting, as even 4K Ultra does not show a disproportionate drop compared to lower settings.

The GPU’s Ada Lovelace architecture (5 nm, TSMC) with 35,800 million transistors on a 294 mm² die provides the computational headroom for high frame rates. The FP32 performance of 40.09 TFLOPS suggests strong raw compute, which Barony’s particle effects and lighting can utilize. However, the measured FPS at 1080p Low (550 FPS) likely approaches the CPU’s limit, as the GPU could theoretically render more frames if the CPU could feed it faster. At 4K Ultra (83 FPS), the GPU is clearly the bottleneck, as the frame rate is determined by pixel shading and memory throughput rather than CPU physics or AI.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo in Barony?

A: The highest average FPS is 550, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: Does this combo maintain 60 FPS at 4K Ultra settings?

A: Yes, the 4K Ultra setting averages 83 FPS, which is above 60 FPS. The lowest average across all measured rows is 83 FPS.

Q: How much faster is 1080p Low compared to 4K Ultra?

A: 1080p Low averages 550 FPS, while 4K Ultra averages 83 FPS. The 1080p Low result is 6.6 times higher than the 4K Ultra result.

Q: What is the combo’s rank among all tested combinations for Barony?

A: The combo ranks 514th out of 3717 tested combinations, placing it in the top 13.8% of systems.

Q: Which settings tier shows the smallest performance gap between 1080p and 4K?

A: Low settings show the smallest relative gap: 550 FPS at 1080p versus 181 FPS at 4K, a 67% reduction. Ultra settings show the same 67% reduction (252 to 83 FPS), so the relative gap is consistent across all settings.

Q: Does the GPU’s memory bandwidth limit performance at any resolution?

A: The data does not indicate a memory bandwidth limit, as the frame rate scaling from 1440p to 4K follows the expected GPU-bound pattern. The 504.2 GB/s bandwidth appears sufficient for all measured settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F provides the computational foundation for this combo, but its role in Barony is secondary to the GPU at higher resolutions. The CPU has 20 cores and 28 threads, with a base clock of 2.10 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. Its Raptor Lake architecture (10 nm process, 257 mm² die) includes 33 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB of L2 cache per core. These specifications contribute to strong multi-threaded performance, as evidenced by a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35122 and a Passmark multithread score of 41317.

The CPU’s single-thread performance is also high, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4958 and a Geekbench single-core score of 2429. This matters for Barony, which likely has a primary simulation thread for game logic. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (550 FPS) suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at very high frame rates, but the consistent 67% FPS drop from 1080p to 4K indicates that the GPU becomes the bottleneck before the CPU’s limits are reached. At 1080p Ultra (252 FPS), the CPU still has headroom, as the GPU is more heavily loaded by the higher settings.

The CPU’s average benchmark score of 53620 places it at the 91st percentile, with nearest rivals including the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X (53288 score, +0.6% delta) and Intel Xeon 6505P (53701 score, -0.2% delta). This shows the i7-14700F is competitive with high-end desktop and workstation CPUs. In Barony, the CPU’s role is to maintain consistent frame delivery, particularly in scenes with many entities or procedural generation. The lack of min-FPS data for most rows limits analysis, but the Medium settings rows at each resolution show min values that are 15-16% below the averages, indicating stable performance without severe CPU-related hitches.

The CPU supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration, and its 65 W TDP suggests efficient operation. The combo rank of 514 out of 3717 benefits from the CPU’s high single-thread performance, which prevents CPU bottlenecks at 1080p where the GPU is less stressed. At 4K, the CPU’s 20 cores are largely idle, as the GPU’s pixel throughput dominates. For players using this combo, the CPU is not a limiting factor in Barony at any measured setting, but its strong multi-core scores ensure smooth performance in other workloads.