Barony

The Intel Core i7-14700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 delivers a commanding performance profile in Barony, a roguelike title that scales dramatically across resolution and settings presets. The measured data reveals a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, yet transitions to a state where the CPU’s high single-thread throughput becomes the limiting factor at 1080p. This analysis walks through the measured FPS rows, contextualizes the combo’s rank against 3,716 other tested configurations, and examines the specific hardware characteristics that drive these results.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings presets, indicating that the rendering load scales heavily with pixel count. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 383 at 1920x1080 to 242 at 2560x1440, a reduction of 141 frames, and then to 126 at 3840x2160, a further drop of 116 frames. This pattern shows that the RTX 4080’s raw throughput is the primary constraint as resolution increases, with the GPU’s fill rate and memory bandwidth being taxed heavily.

The Low preset exhibits the most pronounced scaling behavior. At 1080p Low, the system hits 600 average FPS, which appears to be a ceiling imposed by either the game engine’s frame limiter or the CPU’s ability to feed the GPU. At 1440p Low, the average drops to 379, a 36.8% decrease, while at 4K Low it reaches 198, a 67% reduction from the 1080p figure. This large relative drop from 1080p to 1440p suggests that at Low settings, the GPU is no longer fully saturated at 1080p, but becomes increasingly utilized as resolution climbs.

Medium settings show a similar trajectory: 446 FPS at 1080p, 281 at 1440p, and 147 at 4K. The gap between 1440p and 4K here is 134 frames, which is larger than the 1080p-to-1440p gap of 165 frames, indicating that the 4K resolution imposes a disproportionately heavier load on the GPU’s pixel processing pipeline. The Ultra preset, which represents the highest visual fidelity, yields 274 FPS at 1080p, 173 at 1440p, and 91 at 4K, with the scaling from 1440p to 4K again being the most severe (a 47.4% drop).

The data demonstrates that this combo is GPU-limited at 1440p and 4K across all presets, as evidenced by the consistent FPS reductions that track with resolution. However, at 1080p Low, the 600 FPS average strongly suggests a CPU or engine-level bottleneck, as the RTX 4080 is capable of far higher frame rates than this in less demanding scenes. The i7-14700K’s boost clock of 5.60 GHz and its strong single-core performance, as shown by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2160, are likely the factors preventing higher frame rates at this low-resolution, low-settings configuration.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database of 3,717 tested CPU-GPU combinations for Barony, this specific pairing achieves a rank of 244. This places it in the top 6.6% of all tested combos, which is a strong showing given the game’s age and the wide variety of hardware configurations evaluated. The rank reflects the combined capability of the i7-14700K and RTX 4080 to sustain high frame rates across the board, but it is not the absolute top configuration, suggesting that other combos with more powerful GPUs or CPUs can push even higher.

The combo’s rank is likely influenced by the fact that the RTX 4080, while powerful, is not the absolute fastest GPU available. Its average benchmark score of 54,247 places it in the 86th percentile of all GPUs, with nearest rivals including the RTX 4080 SUPER (0.1% higher score) and AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB (2.6% lower). The i7-14700K, with an average benchmark score of 69,355 and a 94th percentile ranking, is a high-end CPU, but its nearest rivals show that it is not the definitive fastest either, with the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX scoring 0.7% higher.

In Barony, this rank of 244 out of 3,717 suggests that the combo is well-balanced for the game’s demands, but there is headroom for improvement. The data indicates that the GPU is the more limiting factor at higher resolutions, so a combo with a higher-performing GPU would likely rank better in this specific title. Conversely, at 1080p Low, the CPU becomes the bottleneck, meaning a faster CPU could theoretically unlock higher frame rates, though the 600 FPS average already exceeds most display refresh rates.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture and fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It features 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding a memory bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s. This ample memory capacity and bandwidth are crucial for Barony at 4K Ultra, where the average FPS of 91 suggests that texture and geometry data are being streamed efficiently without causing significant stutters, as the minimum FPS for 4K Medium is recorded at 125.

The GPU’s clock speeds are a base of 2205 MHz with a boost of 2505 MHz. These relatively high clocks contribute to its compute throughput of 48.74 TFLOPS FP32, which is more than sufficient for a roguelike title like Barony, even at maxed-out settings. The GPU’s 112 ROPs and 304 TMUs handle pixel and texture processing effectively, as seen in the 4K High average of 126 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

The RTX 4080’s performance in synthetic benchmarks, such as a Passmark G3D score of 34,457 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6,567, corroborates its strong real-world results in Barony. The GPU’s 86th percentile ranking among all GPUs is reflected in its ability to maintain high frame rates at 4K, where it is clearly the dominant component. The 16 GB VRAM capacity is particularly relevant for Barony as it allows for high-resolution textures without exceeding memory limits, ensuring that the measured frame rates are consistent rather than suffering from dips due to texture swapping.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal settings preset depends heavily on the target resolution and refresh rate. At 4K, the Ultra preset yields an average of 91 FPS, which is playable but may not fully utilize a 120 Hz or 144 Hz display. The High preset at 4K provides a substantial improvement to 126 FPS, a 38.5% increase over Ultra, making it the recommended choice for high-refresh-rate 4K monitors. The Medium preset offers 147 FPS at 4K, which is even better for competitive play, but the visual fidelity reduction from High to Medium may be noticeable.

For 1440p, the High preset delivers an average of 242 FPS, which is ideal for 240 Hz monitors. The Medium preset at 281 FPS is even higher, but the Low preset at 379 FPS exceeds the refresh rate of most displays, making it unnecessary unless chasing maximum frame times. The Ultra preset at 1440p produces 173 FPS, which is still excellent, but High offers a better balance of visual quality and performance given the 69 FPS difference.

At 1080p, all presets are playable, with even Ultra achieving 274 FPS. The Low preset caps at 600 FPS, which is likely a hard limit, but the High preset at 383 FPS is more than adequate for any 360 Hz or lower monitor. The Medium preset at 446 FPS provides a middle ground, but the High preset is recommended for its superior image quality with only a 63 FPS penalty compared to Medium. Overall, the data suggests that High settings are the sweet spot across all resolutions, offering a significant frame rate boost over Ultra while maintaining high visual fidelity.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the Low preset produces the highest average FPS at 600, with no minimum or maximum recorded, likely indicating a frame cap. The Medium preset follows with an average of 446 FPS, a minimum of 379, and a maximum of 513. High settings yield 383 FPS average, while Ultra drops to 274 FPS average. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a 54.3% decrease in performance, which is substantial but leaves all presets well above playable thresholds.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 379 FPS, a 36.8% drop from 1080p Low. Medium settings average 281 FPS with a minimum of 239 and maximum of 324. High settings produce 242 FPS average, and Ultra averages 173 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p for each preset is consistent, with Ultra suffering the largest percentage decrease at 36.9%, while Low sees the smallest relative drop at 36.8%, indicating that the GPU is becoming more of a bottleneck at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 198 FPS, a 47.7% drop from 1440p Low. Medium settings average 147 FPS with a minimum of 125 and maximum of 169. High settings yield 126 FPS average, and Ultra averages 91 FPS. The 4K resolution demonstrates the most significant performance degradation, with the Ultra preset falling below the 100 FPS mark. The minimum FPS recorded at 4K Medium is 125, suggesting that even in demanding scenes, the frame rate remains high, but the Ultra preset’s lower average FPS indicates that it may not maintain a consistent 60 FPS in all situations, though no minimum is recorded for it.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700K features 20 cores and 28 threads, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. It is built on a 10 nm process with a die size of 257 mm² and includes 33 MB of shared L3 cache, along with 2 MB of L2 cache per core and 80 KB of L1 cache per core. This configuration provides substantial multi-threaded capability, as evidenced by a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 33,440.5 and a Geekbench multi-core score of 20,767.

In Barony, the CPU’s role is most apparent at 1080p Low, where the 600 FPS average suggests a bottleneck. The i7-14700K’s single-core performance, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,160 and a Passmark single-thread score of 4,472, is critical for handling the game’s logic and draw calls. The boost clock of 5.60 GHz is among the highest available, which helps minimize frame time inconsistencies that could otherwise reduce average FPS.

The CPU’s 94th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 69,355, places it just behind the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (0.7% higher) and ahead of the AMD EPYC 9115 (0.1% higher). This high level of performance ensures that the CPU does not hinder the GPU in most scenarios, except at the lowest resolution and settings where the GPU’s frame output exceeds what the CPU can process. The 28 threads are more than adequate for Barony, which is not a heavily threaded title, but the high clock speeds are what truly matter for achieving the frame rates seen in the data.

FAQ

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

A: The highest average FPS is 600, recorded at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the combo rank compared to other tested configurations in this game?

A: The combo ranks 244th out of 3,717 tested combos, placing it in the top 6.6% of all configurations.

Q: At which resolution and settings does the combo drop below 100 FPS average?

A: The combo averages 91 FPS at 3840x2160 resolution with Ultra settings, which is the only measured configuration below 100 FPS.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded in any measured configuration?

A: The minimum FPS recorded is 125, which occurs at 3840x2160 resolution with Medium settings.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p Low settings?

A: The 600 FPS average at 1080p Low suggests a CPU or engine limit, as the GPU is capable of higher frame rates, indicated by the i7-14700K’s high single-core boost clock of 5.60 GHz.

Q: How does the RTX 4080's memory bandwidth support 4K performance?

A: The RTX 4080 has a memory bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s from its 16 GB GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, which supports the 126 FPS average at 4K High and 91 FPS at 4K Ultra without significant frame dips.