Barony

The Intel Core i7-14700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER combination ranks 1057 out of 1702 tested combos in Barony. That places it in the lower-middle portion of the database — not a top-tier pairing, but far from the bottom. The ranking reflects a significant mismatch: the i7-14700KF is a flagship-tier CPU with a 96th percentile score against all processors, while the RTX 2070 SUPER sits at the 65th percentile among GPUs. In a roguelike like Barony, where the CPU often dictates frame pacing and minimums, this combo’s overall rank is dragged down by the GPU’s age, even though the processor is overqualified for the task. The data shows a system that can push very high frame rates at 1080p, but the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution climbs.

How This Combo Ranks

The comboRankInGame of 1057 out of 1702 means this pairing sits in the 62nd percentile of tested systems — better than roughly 6 out of 10, but well behind the top quartile. The CPU alone is elite: its average benchmark score of 70104 puts it within 0.3% of the Intel Core i7-14700K (70074) and within 0.4% of the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X (70420). The i7-14700KF essentially trades blows with those two, falling 1.3% behind the Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 (71056). In practical terms, the CPU is not what holds this combo back.

The GPU tells a different story. The RTX 2070 SUPER’s average score of 22206 is within 0.5% of the NVIDIA RTX A400 (22307), 0.9% above the GTX TITAN Z (22006), and 2.3% below the RTX 4060 Mobile (22729). It beats the AMD Radeon RX 5700 (21670) by 2.5%. These are mid-range results from 2019 hardware. In Barony, the measured FPS confirms this: the combo reaches 316.4 FPS at 1080p Low but only 47.6 FPS at 4K Ultra. That wide spread shows a GPU that can handle light loads easily but struggles under heavier settings, dragging the overall rank down despite the CPU’s strength.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data shows a clear sweet spot: Medium settings. At 1080p Medium, the combo hits 232.4 FPS — more than enough for any display and a 16% improvement over High’s 199.8 FPS. At 1440p Medium, it delivers 150.2 FPS, which keeps gameplay smooth while still looking substantially better than Low. The jump from Low to Medium is modest in cost: at 1080p, Low scores 316.4 FPS versus Medium’s 232.4 FPS, a 27% drop for a major visual upgrade. That trade is worth it in a roguelike where you’ll stare at the same dungeon tiles for hours.

Ultra is not recommended. At 1080p Ultra, the combo drops to 145.1 FPS — still playable, but a 38% loss from Medium. At 1440p Ultra, it falls to 88.5 FPS, and at 4K Ultra it collapses to 47.6 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold most builders consider the floor for action games. High settings sit between, but Medium offers the best balance: 232.4 FPS at 1080p and 150.2 FPS at 1440p, both well above refresh-rate territory for most monitors. For 4K, stick to Low (102.6 FPS) or Medium (79.9 FPS) — High’s 67.3 FPS works but leaves little headroom.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a GPU-bound system. At Medium settings, the combo drops from 232.4 FPS at 1080p to 150.2 FPS at 1440p (a 35% reduction) and then to 79.9 FPS at 4K (a 47% further drop). This is classic GPU-limited behavior — the CPU has massive headroom, but the RTX 2070 SUPER’s 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 9.062 TFLOPS of FP32 compute get saturated as pixel count rises.

At Low settings, the pattern is even more telling: 316.4 FPS at 1080p drops to 203.1 FPS at 1440p (36% less) and 102.6 FPS at 4K (49% less). The consistent ~35-50% drop per resolution step indicates the GPU is the bottleneck at every tier. If the CPU were limiting, you’d see smaller absolute drops at higher resolutions since the CPU work stays constant. The i7-14700KF’s 20 cores and 28 threads are nowhere near stressed in Barony; its PassMark multithread score of 52425 and single-thread score of 4480 are overkill for this title. The data strongly suggests that upgrading the GPU would yield far larger FPS gains than any CPU change.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo good enough for 1440p gaming in Barony?

A: Yes, at Medium or High settings. The measured data shows 150.2 FPS at 1440p Medium and 128.2 FPS at 1440p High, both comfortably above 60 FPS. Ultra is playable at 88.5 FPS, but you’ll get smoother performance at Medium.

Q: Can this system handle 4K in Barony?

A: Only at lower presets. At 4K Low, it averages 102.6 FPS; at Medium, 79.9 FPS; at High, 67.3 FPS. Ultra drops to 47.6 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target most players prefer. Stick to Medium or below for 4K.

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

A: The i7-14700KF’s average score of 70104 is within 0.3% of the i7-14700K (70074) and 0.4% of the Ryzen 9 9950X (70420). It trails the Xeon Platinum 8270 (71056) by 1.3%. These are effectively identical performance levels.

Q: How does the GPU stack up against its nearest competitors?

A: The RTX 2070 SUPER’s average score of 22206 is 0.5% below the RTX A400 (22307), 0.9% above the GTX TITAN Z (22006), 2.3% below the RTX 4060 Mobile (22729), and 2.5% above the RX 5700 (21670). It’s a solid mid-range performer.

Q: What’s the best settings preset for a 60 FPS target at 4K?

A: Medium is the safest choice at 79.9 FPS. High gives 67.3 FPS, which is above 60 but leaves less margin for dips. Low is the only preset that clears 100 FPS at 4K (102.6 FPS), but the visual hit may not be worth it.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this combo?

A: The GPU is clearly the bottleneck. The CPU ranks in the 96th percentile of all processors, while the GPU sits at the 65th percentile. Resolution scaling shows consistent FPS drops as pixel count rises, confirming GPU-bound performance.

GPU Role

The RTX 2070 SUPER brings 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock of 1605 MHz boosts to 1770 MHz, and the 2560 shading units produce 9.062 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. In Barony, these specs translate to solid 1080p and 1440p performance but clear limits at 4K. The measured data shows the GPU’s 8 GB VRAM is sufficient — no settings-related crashes or stutters appear in the frame rates, and even 4K Ultra holds 47.6 FPS without dropping to unplayable levels.

The GPU’s PassMark G3D score of 18169 places it in the 65th percentile of all GPUs, and its nearest rivals show how close the mid-range pack is. The RTX A400 (22307) is just 0.5% faster, while the GTX TITAN Z (22006) is 0.9% slower. The RTX 4060 Mobile (22729) leads by 2.3%, and the RX 5700 (21670) trails by 2.5%. In Barony, this means the 2070 SUPER performs exactly as its synthetic scores suggest: capable at lower resolutions, struggling at the top end. At 1080p Ultra, it still delivers 145.1 FPS, but the 47.6 FPS at 4K Ultra shows the Turing architecture’s age under heavy load.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF is a 20-core, 28-thread Raptor Lake Refresh part with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost of 5.60 GHz. Its 33 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache give it massive headroom for any game, but Barony doesn’t need it. The CPU’s PassMark single-thread score of 4480 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 6290 are top-tier, yet the measured FPS at 1080p Low (316.4) versus 4K Low (102.6) shows the GPU, not the CPU, deciding the frame rate.

The CPU’s benchmark scores place it in the 96th percentile of all processors, with an average score of 70104 that puts it in a dead heat with the i7-14700K (70074, 0% delta) and Ryzen 9 9950X (70420, -0.4% delta). It beats the EPYC 9115 (69887) by 0.3% and the Xeon Platinum 8270 (71056) by 1.3%. In Barony, where the roguelike genre often involves heavy procedural generation and entity tracking, the CPU’s 20 cores provide more than enough compute — but the data shows no scenario where the CPU becomes the limiting factor. Even at 1080p Low, the GPU is still the bottleneck, as evidenced by the sharp FPS drops when resolution increases at the same settings.