Barony

# Barony with Intel Core i7-14700K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti

The Intel Core i7-14700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti delivers exceptional frame rates across all tested settings in Barony, a roguelike title from 2015. At 1080p, the combo exceeds 264 FPS even at Ultra settings, while at 4K Ultra it still maintains an average of 86.2 FPS. The processor, with its 20 cores and 28 threads running at a 5.60 GHz boost clock, sits in the 96th percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU ranks in the 87th percentile among all GPUs. This combination produces a rank of 157 out of 1702 tested combos in this game, placing it firmly in the top tier of systems for Barony.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700K is a 20-core, 28-thread desktop processor built on Intel's 10 nm Raptor Lake-R architecture. Its base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.60 GHz, combined with 33 MB of shared L3 cache, make it a formidable partner for the RTX 5070 Ti. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44,534 and a single-core score of 6,287, with a Geekbench multi-core score of 18,896. The processor's average benchmark score of 70,074 places it at the 96th percentile of all CPUs, with its nearest rival being the Intel Core i7-14700KF at 70,104 (a 0% delta), followed by the AMD EPYC 9115 at 69,887 (a 0.3% delta) and the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X at 70,420 (a -0.5% delta).

For Barony, a roguelike game that does not demand extreme multi-threaded performance, the CPU's role is primarily to ensure the GPU is never starved of data. The measured frame rates show that at 1080p Low, the system reaches 575.8 FPS, which is so high that the CPU's single-thread performance becomes the limiting factor. The Cinebench R15 single-core score of 633 and PassMark single-thread score of 4,472 indicate robust single-core capability, which is critical for maintaining high minimum frame rates in a game where procedural generation can create CPU-bound scenarios. However, the data shows that even at 4K Ultra, the system remains GPU-bound, as the frame rate drops to 86.2 FPS—a pattern consistent with a game that scales primarily with GPU load at higher resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance on which preset offers the best experience. At 4K, the Ultra preset delivers 86.2 FPS, which is playable but noticeably lower than the High preset's 123.6 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K yields 141 FPS, while Low produces 192.5 FPS. Given that Barony is a roguelike where visual clarity can matter for reading the environment, the High preset at 4K represents the best balance, offering a 37.4 FPS improvement over Ultra while maintaining a smooth 123.6 FPS average.

At 1440p, the High preset delivers 231.5 FPS, which is already well above refresh-rate thresholds for most monitors. The Ultra preset at 1440p produces 163.8 FPS, which is still very smooth and offers the maximum visual fidelity. For 1080p users, even the Ultra preset achieves 264.4 FPS, so there is no reason to sacrifice quality at this resolution. The data indicates that the High preset is the optimal choice across all resolutions, as it provides a substantial frame rate advantage over Ultra (ranging from 37.4 FPS at 4K to 104.1 FPS at 1080p) while delivering nearly identical visual quality in most scenes. The Low preset, while offering the highest frame rates (575.8 FPS at 1080p), likely sacrifices too much visual detail for a game that relies on spatial awareness and item recognition.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the expected GPU-bound behavior. At High settings, the system produces 368.5 FPS at 1080p, which drops to 231.5 FPS at 1440p (a 37.2% reduction) and then to 123.6 FPS at 4K (a 46.6% reduction from 1440p). This pattern is consistent with a GPU that becomes increasingly stressed at higher resolutions, with the RTX 5070 Ti's 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus providing 896.0 GB/s of bandwidth—sufficient to avoid memory bottlenecks even at 4K.

The scaling at Ultra settings is steeper: 264.4 FPS at 1080p, 163.8 FPS at 1440p, and 86.2 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops between resolutions are 38.0% and 47.4%, respectively, indicating that the Ultra preset increases the GPU's workload per pixel more aggressively than High. Interestingly, the Low preset shows the most dramatic scaling: 575.8 FPS at 1080p drops to 361.1 FPS at 1440p (37.3% reduction) and then to 192.5 FPS at 4K (46.7% reduction). This consistency across presets suggests that the frame rate scaling is primarily driven by resolution and not by preset-specific optimizations.

The limiting component at lower resolutions is the CPU, as evidenced by the fact that even at 1080p Low, the system cannot exceed 575.8 FPS despite the GPU's capability. At 4K, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck, with the frame rate dropping by 66.6% from 1080p Low to 4K Low. For a game like Barony, where the action is fast-paced and reaction times matter, the 1440p High setting at 231.5 FPS provides an ideal combination of visual fidelity and responsiveness.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination of the Intel Core i7-14700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti ranks 157th out of 1,702 tested combos in Barony, placing it in the top 9.2% of all systems tested. The CPU's 96th percentile ranking among all processors and the GPU's 87th percentile ranking among all GPUs contribute to this strong overall position. The RTX 5070 Ti's average benchmark score of 52,086 places it essentially tied with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 (52,085, a 0% delta), while it is 2.5% ahead of the NVIDIA RTX A1000 (50,826) and 0.8% behind the AMD Radeon RX 7700S (52,505).

The processor's average benchmark score of 70,074 is nearly identical to the Intel Core i7-14700KF (70,104, 0% delta), and the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X at 70,420 is only 0.5% higher. This near-parity among top-tier CPUs suggests that the choice of processor has minimal impact on Barony's performance, as the game's frame rates are largely determined by the GPU at higher resolutions. However, the CPU's high single-thread performance (PassMark single-thread score of 4,472) ensures that even at 1080p where the frame rates exceed 500 FPS, the system does not suffer from CPU-induced stuttering.

The rank of 157 out of 1,702 combos indicates that this system outperforms the vast majority of configurations tested for Barony. The combination of a high-end 14th-generation Intel processor with a 50-series NVIDIA GPU provides ample headroom for both current gameplay and potential future content updates to the game.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest frame rate this combo achieves in Barony?

A: The highest measured frame rate is 575.8 FPS at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. Even at Ultra settings and 1080p, the system maintains 264.4 FPS.

Q: Is this combo capable of 4K gaming in Barony?

A: Yes, the system achieves 123.6 FPS at 4K with High settings and 86.2 FPS with Ultra settings. The 4K Medium preset delivers 141 FPS, which is well above typical display refresh rates.

Q: How does the RTX 5070 Ti compare to the RTX 4080 in overall GPU benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5070 Ti has an average benchmark score of 52,086, which is essentially identical to the RTX 4080's 52,085, representing a 0% difference in performance.

Q: What is the CPU's strongest synthetic benchmark result?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700K achieves its strongest result in Cinebench R23 multi-core with a score of 44,534. Its PassMark multithread score is 52,392, and its Geekbench multi-core score is 18,896.

Q: Does the frame rate drop significantly from 1080p to 4K?

A: Yes, at High settings the frame rate drops from 368.5 FPS at 1080p to 231.5 FPS at 1440p and then to 123.6 FPS at 4K. This represents a 66.5% reduction from 1080p to 4K, which is typical for GPU-bound workloads.

Q: What is the system's ranking among all tested combos in Barony?

A: This combo ranks 157th out of 1,702 total tested combinations, placing it in the top 9.2% of all systems. The CPU is in the 96th percentile of all processors, and the GPU is in the 87th percentile of all GPUs.