Barony

Barony, a roguelike from 2015, is not the typical visual showcase used to stress modern hardware, yet the measured results for the Intel Core i7-14700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 combination reveal a system with immense headroom. The data shows a configuration that is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions but capable of extraordinary frame rates that far exceed the needs of the genre. This analysis breaks down the performance scaling, component roles, and optimal settings for this specific pairing based purely on the measured data.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K clearly illustrates where the bottleneck lies. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo produces an average of 320 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 drops that to 202 FPS, a 37% reduction in performance. The jump to 3840x2160 High sees a further significant decline to 105 FPS, which is a 48% drop from the 1440p result and a 67% drop from the 1080p figure. This steep, non-linear decline as resolution increases is the classic signature of a GPU-limited scenario at higher pixel counts.

The pattern holds across all settings presets. With Low settings, the system pushes 501 FPS at 1080p, 316 FPS at 1440p, and 165 FPS at 4K. Similarly, on Medium, the averages are 372, 235, and 123 FPS for 1080p, 1440p, and 4K respectively. The scaling factor from 1080p to 4K is remarkably consistent across these presets, hovering around a 67-70% performance loss. This consistency suggests that the RTX 5070's rendering workload is scaling predictably with pixel count, and the CPU is not introducing a variable ceiling that would flatten the curve at lower resolutions.

The most telling data point for CPU involvement is the difference between the Low and High presets at 1080p. At 1080p Low, the average is 501 FPS. At 1080p High, it drops to 320 FPS. While the GPU is still doing more work on High, the fact that the CPU can feed the GPU enough data to produce over 500 frames per second on Low indicates that the Intel Core i7-14700F is not a limiting factor even in this best-case scenario for the CPU. The 4K Ultra result of 76 FPS, compared to the 4K Low result of 165 FPS, reinforces that the GPU is the primary constraint as settings and resolution scale up. The data suggests that for players targeting 4K, the GPU is doing the heavy lifting, while at 1080p, the system is likely hitting a ceiling related to the game engine's draw call throughput or the CPU's single-thread performance, though even that ceiling is exceptionally high.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 is the clear driver of performance in this pairing. Its 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus provides 672.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for a game of Barony's visual complexity. The measured frame rates show that the GPU has significant headroom, as it is capable of producing over 500 FPS at 1080p Low settings. The GPU's boost clock of 2512 MHz and base clock of 2325 MHz, based on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture, deliver the raw processing power needed to achieve these numbers.

The performance difference between settings presets at the same resolution is substantial. At 1440p, the gap between Low (316 FPS) and Ultra (145 FPS) is a 54% difference, indicating that the GPU's shading units, texture mapping units, and render output units are heavily utilized by the higher-fidelity effects. The 30.87 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is clearly being leveraged by the game's rendering pipeline. The RTX 5070's percentile ranking of 82 among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 40377, puts it in the upper echelon of graphics cards, and the measured in-game results confirm this standing.

The GPU's memory configuration is also worth noting. While 12 GB is not the largest pool available, Barony is not a memory-hungry title in the same way as modern open-world games. The 672.0 GB/s of bandwidth is a more relevant metric for ensuring smooth texture streaming and effect rendering at high resolutions. The data shows no signs of memory capacity being a bottleneck, as the frame rates scale consistently with resolution and settings without any anomalous dips that would suggest the GPU is swapping data to system memory. The RTX 5070 is simply a very fast card for this workload, and its performance is the primary reason this combo achieves such high frame rates.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database of tested combinations, this pairing of the Intel Core i7-14700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 holds a position of 782 out of 3717 total combos for Barony. This places it in the top 21% of all tested systems, a strong showing but not the absolute top tier. The percentile ranking of the individual components supports this. The CPU is in the 91st percentile of all CPUs, and the GPU is in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs. The combo's rank of 782 is likely a reflection of the balance between these two components, as well as the fact that other high-end combos with more powerful GPUs or CPUs will naturally score higher.

The ranking suggests that while this system is exceptionally capable, there is a performance tier above it that achieves even higher frame rates in Barony. However, given the genre of the game, the difference between 782nd and, say, 200th place is likely to be imperceptible to the player, as both would be running at frame rates far beyond the refresh rate of most monitors. The data indicates a well-matched pair where the CPU's high single-threaded performance is sufficient to keep the GPU fed, allowing the combo to achieve results that are impressive for a mid-to-high-range system. The fact that it is not ranked higher is more proof of the extreme performance of top-tier components than any deficiency in this specific setup.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1440p with High settings for this combo?

A: The measured average FPS at 2560x1440 with High settings is 202 FPS.

Q: How much of a performance drop is there from 1080p to 4K on Ultra settings?

A: The average FPS drops from 229 at 1920x1080 Ultra to 76 at 3840x2160 Ultra, a reduction of 67%.

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-14700F or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 the limiting factor at 4K?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor. The frame rate drops significantly with increased resolution and settings, a pattern consistent with GPU-bound performance.

Q: What are the minimum and maximum FPS recorded at 1080p Medium settings?

A: The measured minimum FPS is 317, and the maximum FPS is 428, with an average of 372 FPS.

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

A: This combo ranks 782 out of 3717 total tested combinations.

Q: What is the GPU's average benchmark score and percentile ranking?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 has an average benchmark score of 40377 and is in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for optimizing the experience. For players with a 4K display, the choice is between High and Ultra settings. The difference in average frame rate is 105 FPS for High versus 76 FPS for Ultra, a 28% performance cost. Given that Barony is a roguelike where clarity of action and responsiveness are paramount, the High preset at 4K is the more sensible choice, as it maintains a comfortable margin above 60 FPS while still delivering a high level of visual fidelity. The Ultra preset, while playable, pushes the average closer to the minimum threshold where frame drops could become noticeable.

For 1440p users, the High preset at 202 FPS is an excellent sweet spot, offering a substantial visual upgrade over Medium (235 FPS) for a modest performance hit. However, the Ultra preset at 145 FPS is also a very strong option, as it still provides a frame rate far above what most high-refresh-rate monitors can display. The choice between High and Ultra at this resolution is more about personal preference for visual effects than performance, as both are exceedingly playable. The Low preset at 316 FPS is likely unnecessary unless the player is using a 360Hz or higher refresh rate monitor and prioritizes maximum frame rate above all else.

At 1080p, the system has such an abundance of performance that the settings choice is purely about visual quality. The Ultra preset at 229 FPS is the clear recommendation for any high-refresh-rate display, as it provides the best image quality without sacrificing the fluidity of the experience. The High preset at 320 FPS would only be relevant for competitive play on a monitor with an extreme refresh rate. The data suggests that the Medium preset, with its 372 FPS average, is a viable option for those who want a slight performance buffer, but there is little reason to sacrifice visual fidelity for a frame rate that exceeds the capabilities of most monitors. The best experience is to maximize settings while maintaining a frame rate that matches the display's refresh rate.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F plays a supporting but crucial role in this system. With 20 cores and 28 threads, it is a massively parallel processor, but its performance in Barony is more dependent on its high boost clock of 5.40 GHz and robust single-thread performance. The benchmark data supports this, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4958 and a Geekbench single-core score of 2429. These scores indicate that the CPU can process the game's simulation and logic threads with minimal delay, preventing it from becoming a bottleneck.

The CPU's 33 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache help maintain low latency access to frequently used data, which is critical for a game that may involve complex procedural generation and AI. The PassMark single-thread score of 4257 further confirms its strength in tasks that rely on a single core. While the CPU's multi-threaded performance is exceptional, as shown by its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35122, Barony likely does not scale perfectly across all 20 cores. The key is that the CPU's high frequency and strong single-thread capabilities are sufficient to keep the RTX 5070 saturated with work, even at frame rates exceeding 300 FPS.

The evidence for this is in the frame rate scaling. At 1080p Low, where the GPU load is minimized, the system still achieves 501 FPS. This high number suggests the CPU is capable of processing frames at a rate that exceeds the GPU's output at higher settings. The CPU's 91st percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 53620, places it as a high-end part that is well-matched to the RTX 5070. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X, has a delta of 0.6%, indicating nearly identical synthetic performance. In practical terms, the i7-14700F ensures that the system's performance ceiling is defined by the GPU, which is the ideal scenario for a gaming build.