Barony

# How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-14700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D achieves the top spot in Barony, ranking 1st out of 2,935 tested combos in this database. This is a decisive result—the combination sits at the absolute pinnacle of measured performance for this roguelike title. The rank reflects the combined capability of both components working together, and the data indicates that no other tested CPU-GPU pairing has matched this combo's frame production in Barony. Given that the CPU holds a 94th percentile rank among all processors and the GPU sits at a 92nd percentile among all graphics cards, the synergy here pushes the pairing to the very top of the leaderboard.

The margin at the top matters. When examining the CPU's nearest rivals, the AMD EPYC 9115 scores nearly identically (0.1% higher average benchmark score), while the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X trails by 0.2%, the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX by 0.7%, and the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F by 0.9%. On the GPU side, the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT is 1.1% behind, while the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT leads by 1.6%, the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB by 2.1%, and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB by 2.4%. These small percentage differences in synthetic benchmarks translate into a real-world outcome where this specific Intel-NVIDIA pairing claims the number one position for Barony, suggesting that the game's engine responds particularly well to this hardware configuration.

# Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal experience in Barony depends on your display's refresh rate and resolution. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 724 FPS average, Medium hits 538 FPS, High reaches 462 FPS, and Ultra still manages 331 FPS. Even at Ultra, the frame rates are so far beyond typical 144Hz or 240Hz monitors that you could argue for maximum visual quality without sacrificing smoothness. However, if you're chasing the absolute highest refresh rates possible—such as on a 360Hz or 500Hz esports panel—the Low preset's 724 FPS provides headroom that no other setting can match. The Medium preset's minimum FPS of 458 at 1080p also ensures that even in the most demanding moments, you won't drop below the refresh rate of most high-end displays.

At 2560x1440, the picture changes slightly. Ultra delivers 209 FPS average, High produces 292 FPS, Medium hits 340 FPS, and Low reaches 457 FPS. For a 1440p 240Hz monitor, the High preset at 292 FPS offers a comfortable margin above the refresh ceiling, while Medium at 340 FPS gives even more headroom. Ultra at 209 FPS is still above 144Hz, making it viable for 144Hz panels with maximum eye candy. The Medium preset's minimum of 289 FPS at this resolution means no perceptible stutter even during intense gameplay sequences.

Moving to 3840x2160, the RTX 5090 D's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and massive bandwidth start to show their value. High delivers 152 FPS, Medium produces 178 FPS, Low hits 239 FPS, and Ultra drops to 109 FPS. For 4K gaming, the High preset at 152 FPS is the sweet spot for 144Hz displays, providing a solid margin above the refresh threshold. Medium at 178 FPS offers even more cushion if you prefer higher frame rates over slightly better visuals. Ultra at 109 FPS remains playable on 120Hz displays but may show occasional dips below the refresh rate. The Medium preset's minimum of 151 FPS at 4K is particularly impressive, indicating that even the heaviest scenes maintain near-144Hz performance.

For the best overall experience, the Medium preset at your native resolution is the recommended starting point. It consistently offers the best balance between visual fidelity and frame rate headroom, with the only measured minimum FPS values in the dataset—151 at 4K, 289 at 1440p, and 458 at 1080p—all remaining exceptionally high.

# Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals where the bottleneck lies in this configuration. At Low settings, the progression is 724 FPS at 1080p, 457 FPS at 1440p, and 239 FPS at 4K. That's a 36.9% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a 47.7% drop from 1440p to 4K. At High settings, the numbers are 462 FPS, 292 FPS, and 152 FPS—a 36.8% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, then a 48.0% reduction from 1440p to 4K. This pattern is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions, where the RTX 5090 D's raw compute is the limiting factor.

The Medium preset shows 538 FPS at 1080p, 340 FPS at 1440p, and 178 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 36.8% and 47.6%, respectively. Ultra settings produce 331 FPS at 1080p, 209 FPS at 1440p, and 109 FPS at 4K, with drops of 36.9% and 47.8%. The remarkable consistency of these scaling ratios—hovering around 37% for the first step and 48% for the second—indicates that the performance scaling is determined almost entirely by pixel count rather than by settings complexity. This is the signature of a GPU-limited configuration: as resolution increases, the pixel fill rate demand grows proportionally, and the frame rate drops accordingly.

The CPU's role in this scaling is minimal. The Intel Core i7-14700K's 20 cores and 28 threads, with boost clocks reaching 5.60 GHz, are more than sufficient to feed the GPU at 1080p, where the frame rates exceed 700 FPS. The fact that the scaling curve remains smooth and predictable across all settings presets suggests that the CPU never becomes a bottleneck, even at the lowest resolution where frame rates are highest. If the CPU were struggling, we would expect the 1080p-to-1440p drop to be smaller than the 1440p-to-4K drop, as the GPU would be less stressed at lower resolutions. Instead, the consistent scaling pattern confirms that the RTX 5090 D is the performance limiter across all tested configurations.

# Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080:

• Low: 724 FPS average
• Medium: 538 FPS average, 458 FPS minimum, 619 FPS maximum
• High: 462 FPS average
• Ultra: 331 FPS average

At 1080p, the RTX 5090 D is operating well below its saturation point. The difference between Low and Ultra is 393 FPS, showing that the GPU has enormous headroom even at maximum settings. The Medium preset's minimum of 458 FPS demonstrates that even the most demanding scenes at this resolution never dip below what would be considered extremely high performance.

2560x1440:

• Low: 457 FPS average
• Medium: 340 FPS average, 289 FPS minimum, 391 FPS maximum
• High: 292 FPS average
• Ultra: 209 FPS average

At 1440p, the frame rates remain exceptionally high. The Medium preset's minimum of 289 FPS is still above the refresh rate of virtually all gaming monitors. The spread between Low and Ultra narrows to 248 FPS, suggesting the GPU is starting to feel the increased pixel load but still has substantial reserves.

3840x2160:

• Low: 239 FPS average
• Medium: 178 FPS average, 151 FPS minimum, 204 FPS maximum
• High: 152 FPS average
• Ultra: 109 FPS average

At 4K, the RTX 5090 D's capabilities become fully engaged. The Medium preset's minimum of 151 FPS means that even in the worst-case scenarios, you're maintaining performance suitable for high-refresh 4K displays. Ultra at 109 FPS is the only setting that dips below the 144Hz threshold, but it remains perfectly playable on 120Hz panels. The 130 FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 4K reflects the GPU working harder to maintain frame rates under increasing pixel and shading demands.

# FAQ

Q: Is this combo the best for Barony according to the data?

A: Yes. The Intel Core i7-14700K with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D ranks 1st out of 2,935 tested combos for Barony.

Q: What FPS can I expect at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: The measured average is 331 FPS at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings. For comparison, Low settings produce 724 FPS, Medium produces 538 FPS, and High produces 462 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Core i7-14700K has an average benchmark score of 69,355. The AMD EPYC 9115 is 0.1% higher, the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X is 0.2% lower, the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX is 0.7% lower, and the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F is 0.9% lower.

Q: What is the minimum FPS at 4K Medium settings?

A: The measured minimum is 151 FPS at 3840x2160 with Medium settings, with an average of 178 FPS and a maximum of 204 FPS.

Q: Does the GPU bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data suggests the CPU is not the limiting factor at any resolution. The consistent FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K indicates the GPU becomes the bottleneck as resolution increases, but at 1080p the frame rates are so high (724 FPS on Low) that the CPU is keeping up adequately.

Q: What are the GPU's key specifications?

A: The RTX 5090 D features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth, 21,760 shading units, and a boost clock of 2407 MHz.

# CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700K is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process. It features a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, with a 125 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 33 MB of shared L3 cache. Memory support extends to both DDR4 and DDR5 in dual-channel configuration, with ECC support available. The processor uses the Intel Socket 1700 and supports PCIe Gen 5 with 16 CPU lanes.

In Barony, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with game state data, physics calculations, and AI logic. The 20-core configuration ensures that even the most demanding roguelike scenarios—which can involve complex procedural generation, entity tracking, and simulation logic—are handled without creating a bottleneck. The high boost clock of 5.60 GHz is particularly relevant for single-threaded game logic, while the 28 threads provide ample capacity for background tasks and multi-threaded engine systems.

The benchmark data supports this analysis. The CPU achieves a 94th percentile ranking among all processors, with strong synthetic scores across the board: 33,440.5 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, 2,160 in Cinebench R23 single-core, 20,767 in Geekbench multi-core, and 2,569 in Geekbench single-core. The PassMark multi-thread score of 52,392 and single-thread score of 4,472 further confirm the processor's balanced capabilities.

The nearest rival comparisons show how tightly contested the CPU market is at this level. The AMD EPYC 9115, a server-class processor, scores nearly identically, while the Ryzen 9 7950X, 7940HX, and 9700F all fall within 1% of the 14700K's average score. This indicates that the 14700K is not dramatically ahead of its competition in raw compute, yet the combo still achieves the top rank in Barony. This suggests that the game may benefit from the specific combination of high single-thread performance and the 20-core/28-thread configuration, which allows for efficient task distribution without the latency penalties associated with some other architectures.

The 5.60 GHz boost clock is the standout feature for a game like Barony, where frame times at 1080p exceed 700 FPS. At those speeds, the CPU must process game logic, generate frames, and submit draw calls within milliseconds. The 14700K's ability to sustain high boost clocks on its performance cores ensures that the GPU never starves for data, even at the extreme frame rates measured in this dataset.