Barony

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 delivers a remarkably consistent performance profile in Barony, with the data showing a clear transition from CPU-bound to GPU-bound behavior as resolution increases. The measured frame rates across all twelve configurations indicate that this combo is exceptionally well-suited for high-refresh-rate displays at 1080p and 1440p, while still providing a comfortable experience at 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 reveals a predictable progression that highlights the GPU as the primary scaling factor at higher resolutions. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 298.1 FPS at 1080p to 190.6 FPS at 1440p, representing a 36% reduction, and then further to 101.8 FPS at 4K, a 47% drop from the 1440p figure. This pattern of roughly halving performance at each resolution step is characteristic of a system where the RTX 4070 becomes the limiting component as pixel count increases.

The Low settings row demonstrates even more extreme scaling behavior. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 469.2 FPS, which falls to 296.6 FPS at 1440p and then 153.5 FPS at 4K. The 4K figure represents less than a third of the 1080p performance, indicating that even at the lowest graphical preset, the GPU workload at 4K is substantial. Interestingly, the scaling from 1440p to 4K at Low settings shows a 48% performance drop, which is nearly identical to the High settings scaling of 47% between those same resolutions.

The Medium and Ultra settings rows follow similar trends but with different magnitudes. Medium settings scale from 350.3 FPS at 1080p to 219.8 FPS at 1440p (37% drop) and then 114.5 FPS at 4K (48% drop). Ultra settings produce 216.1 FPS at 1080p, 136.7 FPS at 1440p (37% drop), and 70.4 FPS at 4K (49% drop). The consistency of these percentage drops across all four settings presets suggests that resolution scaling is highly uniform for this game and hardware combination, with the RTX 4070's memory bandwidth and compute resources being the determining factor at higher resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070's specifications directly explain its behavior in Barony. With 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus delivering 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, the GPU has ample memory resources for this roguelike title, even at 4K resolution. The memory clock runs at 1313 MHz, which translates to 21 Gbps effective, and this bandwidth proves sufficient to maintain the frame rates observed in the measured data.

The GPU's base clock of 1920 MHz and boost clock of 2475 MHz on the AD104 chip provide the computational foundation for these results. The 5888 shading units and 184 texture mapping units work in concert to produce the pixel rates seen across all settings. The pixel rate of 158.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 455.4 GTexel/s are key metrics that correlate with the frame rates achieved at each resolution.

The RTX 4070's FP32 performance of 29.15 TFLOPS is particularly relevant for Barony's workload. The game's roguelike nature typically involves numerous on-screen entities and procedural effects, which benefit from the GPU's compute capabilities. The 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores are present but likely play a minimal role in this title, as the measured frame rates suggest a traditional rasterization workload. The 64 ROPs handle the final pixel output, and at 4K Ultra, the 70.4 FPS average indicates that the GPU is working near its limits with the most demanding settings.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data identifies Ultra settings as the most demanding configuration, producing 70.4 FPS at 4K, 136.7 FPS at 1440p, and 216.1 FPS at 1080p. For players using 4K displays, High settings at 101.8 FPS provide a more comfortable experience while still maintaining visual quality. The jump from High to Ultra at 4K costs 31.4 FPS, a 31% reduction, which is a substantial penalty for the additional visual features.

At 1440p, Medium settings at 219.8 FPS offer an excellent balance, with High settings at 190.6 FPS providing a modest improvement in visual fidelity for a 13% frame rate reduction. The data shows that 1440p High remains well above the 144 FPS threshold for high-refresh-rate monitors, making it the recommended choice for users with such displays.

For 1080p users, the choice is less constrained. Even Ultra settings at 216.1 FPS exceed the capabilities of most displays, meaning users can select the highest quality preset without sacrificing smoothness. However, Medium settings at 350.3 FPS and High at 298.1 FPS provide headroom for competitive play scenarios where maximum frame rates are prioritized over visual detail. The Low settings at 469.2 FPS represent the absolute ceiling for this combo at 1080p, suitable only for players seeking the highest possible frame rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full range of settings produces frame rates from 469.2 FPS at Low to 216.1 FPS at Ultra. The progression is 216.1 FPS (Ultra), 298.1 FPS (High), 350.3 FPS (Medium), and 469.2 FPS (Low). Each step down in settings yields a substantial improvement, with the largest jump occurring from Ultra to High at 82 FPS. The differences between consecutive settings are 82 FPS (Ultra to High), 52.2 FPS (High to Medium), and 118.9 FPS (Medium to Low), showing that Low settings provide diminishing visual returns but outsized performance gains.

The 2560x1440 results show a compressed range from 136.7 FPS at Ultra to 296.6 FPS at Low. The settings progression is 136.7 FPS (Ultra), 190.6 FPS (High), 219.8 FPS (Medium), and 296.6 FPS (Low). The gap between Ultra and High is 53.9 FPS, while High to Medium is 29.2 FPS, and Medium to Low is 76.8 FPS. The performance penalty for enabling Ultra at 1440p is 29% compared to High, which is a notable cost for the highest quality preset.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates range from 70.4 FPS at Ultra to 153.5 FPS at Low. The complete progression is 70.4 FPS (Ultra), 101.8 FPS (High), 114.5 FPS (Medium), and 153.5 FPS (Low). The Ultra to High gap is 31.4 FPS, High to Medium is 12.7 FPS, and Medium to Low is 39 FPS. At this resolution, even the most demanding settings remain playable, with Ultra staying above 60 FPS. The data shows that 4K High at 101.8 FPS is the most balanced configuration, offering smooth gameplay while maintaining substantial visual quality.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 achieves a combo rank of 419 out of 1702 tested combinations in Barony, placing it in the top 25% of all configurations. This ranking reflects the strong performance demonstrated across all measured settings and resolutions. The CPU's 20 cores and 20 threads, combined with the GPU's 12 GB of memory, create a balanced platform that handles this roguelike title with considerable headroom.

The CPU itself ranks in the 97th percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 79102. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF, scores 79240, representing a 0.2% difference, while the Intel Core i9-14900KF scores 79245 with a 0.2% delta. The Intel Core i9-14900K trails by 0.9% with a score of 79824, and the AMD EPYC 7413 leads this group at 80041 with a 1.2% delta. These margins are negligible in gaming scenarios, indicating that the CPU is not a limiting factor in Barony's performance.

The GPU's percentile ranking of 81 places it above the majority of graphics cards, with an average benchmark score of 37283. Its nearest rivals show mixed results: the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 scores 37507 with a 0.6% delta, the NVIDIA GeForce MX570 A scores 38008 with a 1.9% delta, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile scores 38135 with a 2.2% delta. The AMD Radeon RX 5300M trails at 36371 with a 2.5% delta. These comparisons reinforce that the RTX 4070 is a solid mid-to-high-tier performer, and its pairing with the high-end Ultra 7 265K in Barony produces the strong results captured in the combo ranking.