Barony

The Intel Core i9-14900K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER delivers a remarkably consistent high-refresh-rate experience in Barony, with the data showing that the game scales predictably with resolution and settings. Across all measured configurations, the average frame rates never dip below 80 FPS, indicating that this combination is more than capable of handling the roguelike's demands. The performance ceiling is exceptionally high, with the 1080p Low preset achieving a staggering 520.8 FPS, while the most demanding 4K Ultra preset still maintains a playable 80.7 FPS. This suggests a system that is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions, but also demonstrates enough CPU headroom to push massive frame counts at lower graphical loads.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario, particularly at higher settings. At the High preset, performance scales from 335.4 FPS at 1080p down to 208.4 FPS at 1440p and finally to 111 FPS at 4K. This represents a significant 66.9% performance reduction from 1080p to 4K, which is a typical curve for a game that relies heavily on pixel throughput. The RTX 4070 SUPER, with its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth, is clearly the limiting factor as resolution increases, though it remains powerful enough to keep 4K well above the 60 FPS threshold.

The scaling pattern shifts when examining the Low preset. At 1080p Low, the system produces 520.8 FPS, which drops to 331.4 FPS at 1440p and 175.2 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings is 66.4%, nearly identical to the High preset. This consistency indicates that the GPU's rendering pipeline is the primary bottleneck across all settings, rather than any CPU-side constraint. The i9-14900K's 24 cores and 32 threads, with a boost clock of 6.00 GHz, are more than sufficient to feed the GPU at even the most extreme frame rates.

Interestingly, the Medium preset shows a slightly different scaling curve. The drop from 1080p (386.5 FPS) to 1440p (247.5 FPS) is a 36% reduction, while the drop from 1440p to 4K (130.7 FPS) is a 47.2% reduction. This suggests that the Medium preset introduces a more balanced load between the CPU and GPU at lower resolutions, but the GPU still dominates as pixel count increases. The Ultra preset follows the expected pattern, with 238.3 FPS at 1080p, 151.6 FPS at 1440p, and 80.7 FPS at 4K, showing a 66.1% total reduction from the lowest to highest resolution.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achievable with this hardware combination?

A: The maximum measured average FPS is 520.8, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset. This indicates the system has substantial headroom for competitive or high-refresh-rate play.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Barony?

A: Yes, the data shows playable frame rates at 3840x2160 across all settings. The Ultra preset maintains an average of 80.7 FPS, while the High preset reaches 111 FPS, ensuring a smooth experience even at the highest resolution.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 SUPER compare to its nearest rivals in general benchmarks?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score of 42576 places it slightly below the NVIDIA RTX A6000, which scores 42653 with a deltaPct of -0.2%. It also trails the AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE by -0.3%, but leads the AMD Radeon Pro 580X by 1.4% and the NVIDIA Tesla M40 by 1.6%.

Q: What is the performance difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset delivers 331.4 FPS, while the Ultra preset drops to 151.6 FPS. This represents a 54.2% reduction in performance when moving from the lowest to the highest quality settings.

Q: Is the Intel Core i9-14900K a bottleneck for the RTX 4070 SUPER in this game?

A: The benchmark data suggests the CPU is not a limiting factor. Even at 1080p Low with 520.8 FPS, the system maintains high performance, and the CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 49872 places it in the 97th percentile among all CPUs.

Q: How does the i9-14900K's benchmark score compare to the Intel Core i9-14900KF?

A: The i9-14900K has an average benchmark score of 79824, while the i9-14900KF scores 79245. The deltaPct of 0.7% indicates the K-series model is slightly faster in aggregate synthetic tests.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER plays the dominant role in Barony's performance, as evidenced by the resolution scaling data. The GPU's 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus provides 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for the game's texture and geometry demands at 4K. The core clock operates at a base of 1980 MHz and boosts up to 2475 MHz, allowing the 7168 shading units to process the game's pixel-heavy roguelike visuals efficiently.

The GPU's position in the market is solid, with an 84th percentile ranking among all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 42576 is remarkably close to the NVIDIA RTX A6000's 42653, a difference of just -0.2%. This proximity in synthetic performance suggests that the 4070 SUPER is punching above its class in compute-heavy tasks, though its gaming performance is more specifically tailored to the 40-series architecture. The PassMark G3D score of 29995 further reinforces its capability for DirectX workloads.

In the context of Barony, the GPU's role is clearly defined by the settings presets. The jump from Medium to High at 1080p shows a 13.2% performance drop (386.5 to 335.4 FPS), while the jump from High to Ultra shows a 28.9% drop (335.4 to 238.3 FPS). This indicates that the Ultra preset introduces effects that heavily tax the GPU's rendering pipeline, likely related to shadow quality and post-processing. The RTX 4070 SUPER's 56 RT cores and 224 tensor cores may not be fully utilized in this roguelike, but its raw rasterization power is what drives the high frame rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the data shows a wide spread of performance across settings. The Low preset achieves an exceptional 520.8 FPS, while Medium drops to 386.5 FPS, a 25.8% reduction. High further reduces performance to 335.4 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 238.3 FPS. The total spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 282.5 FPS, demonstrating how much headroom the system has even at maximum quality.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain highly playable but show the expected decline. Low delivers 331.4 FPS, Medium reaches 247.5 FPS (a 25.3% drop from Low), and High maintains 208.4 FPS. Ultra at 1440p produces 151.6 FPS, which is still well above the 144 Hz refresh rate that many gaming monitors target. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at each setting shows a consistent 33-36% reduction, confirming the GPU-bound nature of the workload.

At 3840x2160, the performance is still impressive for a roguelike title. Low settings yield 175.2 FPS, Medium drops to 130.7 FPS, and High achieves 111 FPS. Ultra at 4K produces 80.7 FPS, which is the only configuration that falls below the 100 FPS threshold, though it remains comfortably above 60 FPS. The relative performance at 4K shows that the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual quality and speed, with a 61.6% performance advantage over Ultra while providing substantially better visuals than Low.

Settings Recommendations

For players prioritizing maximum frame rates, particularly for high-refresh-rate monitors at 1080p or 1440p, the Low preset is the clear choice. At 1080p, it delivers 520.8 FPS, which is 36.8% faster than the Medium preset and 118.7% faster than Ultra. Even at 1440p, Low maintains 331.4 FPS, which is more than sufficient for any competitive scenario. The i9-14900K's PassMark single-thread score of 4697 ensures that the CPU can keep up with these extreme frame rates without introducing stutter.

The Medium preset emerges as the recommended balance for most users. At 1440p, it provides 247.5 FPS, which is 19.2% faster than High and 63.2% faster than Ultra. This preset likely enables moderate shadow and texture quality improvements over Low without the significant performance penalty seen at High and Ultra. For 4K gaming, Medium at 130.7 FPS is the best option for those who want a smooth experience with enhanced visuals, as it is 25.3% faster than High and 61.9% faster than Ultra.

The High preset serves as a middle ground for users who want improved fidelity without the extreme cost of Ultra. At 4K, High achieves 111 FPS, which is 37.5% faster than Ultra. This suggests that Ultra's additional effects—possibly including more complex lighting or particle systems—are not worth the performance hit for this particular game. The Ultra preset, while technically playable at 80.7 FPS at 4K, is best reserved for users with G-SYNC or FreeSync displays who prioritize maximum visual quality over raw frame rate. Given that the data shows a 31.1% performance drop from High to Ultra at 1080p (335.4 to 238.3 FPS), most players will find the High preset offers the superior experience in Barony.