Barony

Barony, the roguelike from 2015, shows surprisingly demanding performance scaling at higher settings on this Intel Core Ultra 7 265K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 pairing. The measured data reveals a system capable of extremely high frame rates at 1080p but one that experiences significant drops as resolution and graphical fidelity increase, particularly under the Ultra preset.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1080p with High settings?

A: The combo produces an average of 247.4 FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings, indicating the game is exceptionally playable at this resolution.

Q: How much faster is Low settings compared to Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset achieves 242.3 FPS average, which is over double the 113.2 FPS average recorded for the Ultra preset at the same resolution.

Q: Does the RTX 3070 bottleneck the CPU at 4K?

A: The data suggests a GPU limitation at 3840x2160, as the average frame rate drops to 82.7 FPS on High settings, a substantial decline from the 157 FPS average seen at 2560x1440 with the same settings.

Q: What is the best-performing settings preset at 1080p?

A: The Low preset delivers the highest measured average at 1920x1080 with 386.4 FPS, while the Ultra preset still provides a very high 178.9 FPS average.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: It ranks 791st out of 1702 tested combos for Barony, placing it in the upper-middle portion of the performance spectrum.

Q: What is the difference in average FPS between High and Medium at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, the High preset averages 82.7 FPS, while the Medium preset achieves a higher 92.4 FPS average, a difference of roughly 10 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is the primary driver of frame rate variance in this data set. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus delivers 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which becomes a critical factor at higher resolutions. The GPU’s boost clock of 1725 MHz and 5888 shading units provide substantial compute throughput, as evidenced by the high scores in synthetic benchmarks like 3DMark Steel Nomad (3162) and PassMark G3D (22214).

The data shows a clear pattern: as resolution increases, the GPU’s workload scales significantly. At 1080p with High settings, the system hits 247.4 FPS, but this falls to 157 FPS at 1440p and further to 82.7 FPS at 4K. This performance curve indicates that the RTX 3070's capabilities are the limiting factor at higher resolutions. The GPU’s 72nd percentile ranking among all GPUs supports this, showing it is a capable but not top-tier card. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT, which it edges out by 0.9%, and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti, which it leads by 1%.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate data reveals a steep performance cliff as resolution climbs from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At the High preset, the average FPS drops from 247.4 at 1080p to 157 at 1440p, a 36.5% reduction. Moving from 1440p to 4K yields an even larger 47.3% drop, landing at 82.7 FPS. This indicates that the rendering load is scaling super-linearly with pixel count, putting immense pressure on the RTX 3070.

The scaling pattern is consistent across all settings presets. For the Low preset, performance goes from 386.4 FPS at 1080p to 242.3 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 129.2 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset follows the same trend, with 178.9 FPS at 1080p, 113.2 FPS at 1440p, and 55.5 FPS at 4K. This consistent pattern strongly suggests that the GPU is the bottleneck at higher resolutions, as the CPU’s performance remains constant regardless of resolution. The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K, with its 20 cores and 20 threads, is more than sufficient to feed the GPU at lower resolutions, as shown by the extremely high frame rates at 1080p. However, at 4K, the GPU’s pixel and texture fill rates become the limiting factors, causing the significant FPS drops.

Settings Recommendations

Analyzing the measured rows, the High preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance for most users. At 1080p, it delivers a smooth 247.4 FPS average, which is more than enough for any display. At 1440p, the High preset still maintains a highly playable 157 FPS average. Even at 4K, it produces an acceptable 82.7 FPS average, making it the only preset besides Low that stays above the 60 FPS threshold at that resolution.

The Ultra preset provides the highest visual fidelity but comes at a steep cost. At 4K, it averages just 55.5 FPS, which may be too low for fast-paced gameplay. At 1440p, the Ultra preset’s 113.2 FPS average is still very respectable, but the performance gap between High and Ultra is notable. The Medium preset serves as a middle ground, offering 286.3 FPS at 1080p and 92.4 FPS at 4K, but it does not provide the same visual uplift as High. The Low preset, while delivering the highest frame rates (386.4 FPS at 1080p), sacrifices too much visual detail for a game that can already run well above 100 FPS on higher settings. For the best experience, High settings are recommended, as they provide a strong combination of frame rate and visual quality across all tested resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 ranks 791st out of 1702 tested combos in Barony, placing it in the 46th percentile of all configurations. This mid-pack ranking is somewhat surprising given the high frame rates recorded, but it reflects the fact that many other combos likely use more powerful GPUs that can maintain higher minimum frame rates or better 4K performance.

The CPU itself is a top-tier performer, ranking in the 97th percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 79102. It sits very close to its nearest rivals: the Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF (deltaPct -0.2%), the Intel Core i9-14900KF (deltaPct -0.2%), and the Intel Core i9-14900K (deltaPct -0.9%). This indicates the CPU is not the limiting factor in this combo. The GPU, however, ranks in the 72nd percentile, suggesting it is the component that holds the combo back from a higher overall ranking. The RTX 3070's performance is comparable to the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT, which it beats by 0.9%, but it is also close to the older GTX 980 Ti, which it only surpasses by 1%. This data paints a picture of a balanced mid-range system that excels at 1080p and 1440p gaming but struggles to maintain high frame rates at 4K with maximum settings.