Don't Starve Together

Don't Starve Together is an odd case for high-end hardware. It’s a 2D survival title, yet the data for the Intel Core i7-14700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 shows that it scales heavily with both resolution and settings. At 1080p Low, the combo pushes 318.6 FPS, but at 4K Ultra, it drops to 62.2 FPS. That spread of over 250 FPS tells you that this game will happily consume whatever resources you throw at it, but the way it scales reveals a clear split between CPU and GPU bound scenarios.

Resolution Scaling

The most striking observation is the frame rate collapse as resolution climbs. At 1080p Low, the system delivers 318.6 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 220.8 FPS, a 30.7% reduction. At 4K Low, you’re at 131.6 FPS, which is still very playable but represents a 58.7% drop from the 1080p figure. This pattern—where Low settings at 4K still yield over 130 FPS—suggests that the GPU is not the hard limit even at the highest resolution when settings are minimized.

However, the picture changes dramatically when you raise the preset. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 146.9 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it falls to 99.6 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it hits 62.2 FPS. The difference between 1080p Ultra and 4K Ultra is a 57.7% drop, which is nearly identical to the percentage drop seen on Low settings. This consistency implies that the scaling factor is primarily resolution-driven, not settings-driven. The RTX 4070’s 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are likely the reason why 4K remains viable, but the data shows that the gap between Low and Ultra narrows as resolution increases.

Look at the 4K numbers specifically: Low is 131.6 FPS, Medium is 88.9 FPS, High is 74.5 FPS, and Ultra is 62.2 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium is a 32.4% loss, while the jump from High to Ultra is only a 16.5% loss. This suggests that the Medium preset is where the GPU starts to hit its stride, and the Ultra preset is pushing the chip to its limits. At 1080p, the same settings spread shows a different story: Low is 318.6 FPS, Medium is 216.4 FPS, High is 183.6 FPS, and Ultra is 146.9 FPS. The relative drops are more severe at 1080p, which points to the CPU being the bottleneck at lower resolutions. The i7-14700F’s 20 cores and 28 threads are doing heavy lifting, but the data indicates that at 1080p, the processor is feeding the GPU as fast as it can.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand scheme of tested combinations, this pairing sits at rank 368 out of 1667 combos for Don't Starve Together. That places it in the top 22% of all systems tested, which is respectable but not elite. The rank is a composite of both CPU and GPU performance, and given that the RTX 4070’s average benchmark score places it at the 81st percentile among all GPUs, while the i7-14700F sits at the 94th percentile among CPUs, the system is clearly well-balanced. The fact that it doesn’t crack the top 200 suggests that other combos with higher-tier GPUs, like the RTX 4080 or RX 7900 XTX, are pulling ahead in this specific title.

The nearest rivals for the CPU paint a telling picture. The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X scores 54,450 on average, which is just 0.6% higher than the i7-14700F’s 54,097 average. The Ryzen 9 9900X3D is 1.1% faster, and the Intel Xeon Phi 7290 is 1.2% slower. These are all within a rounding error of each other, meaning the i7-14700F is performing exactly where it should be for its class. The GPU’s nearest rivals are more mixed. The AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 is 0.6% slower, but the NVIDIA GeForce MX570 A is 1.9% faster in synthetic benchmarks. That’s odd because the MX570 A is a laptop part, but the data shows it scores higher in the average benchmark suite.

For this game specifically, the combo rank of 368 suggests that the system is not bottlenecked by a single component. If the CPU were weak, you’d expect a much lower rank given the RTX 4070’s capability. If the GPU were weak, the rank would be low despite the powerful CPU. The measured FPS at 1440p High (129.6 FPS) and 4K High (74.5 FPS) are strong numbers, indicating that this combo is well-suited for high-refresh-rate 1440p play and solid 4K performance.

GPU Role

The RTX 4070 is built on the AD104 chip with 5,888 shading units and 64 ROPs. The boost clock sits at 2475 MHz, and the memory runs at 1313 MHz, which translates to 21 Gbps effective on a 192-bit bus. That yields a bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s. For Don't Starve Together, which is not a texture-heavy game by modern standards, this is more than sufficient. The 12 GB VRAM is unlikely to be a limiting factor at any resolution tested, as the game’s art style doesn’t demand massive frame buffers.

The GPU’s synthetic scores back up the gaming performance. It hits 26,927 in Passmark G3D and 14720 in Passmark GPU Compute. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3,854 is solid but not exceptional. In practice, the 4K Ultra result of 62.2 FPS shows that the card is nearing its limit with everything maxed out. The fact that 4K High delivers 74.5 FPS suggests that dropping from Ultra to High is a more effective way to gain performance than dropping resolution, since the delta is about 16.5% improvement for what is likely a minor visual hit.

The RTX 4070’s 200 W TDP and 550 W suggested PSU are modest for a card in this class, and the dual-slot design with a 240 mm length means it fits in most cases. The 1x 16-pin power connector is standard for the 40-series. The GPU’s predecessor is the GeForce 30 series, and its successor is the GeForce 50 series, but the data shows this card is still competitive in this title.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo handle 4K at playable frame rates?

A: Yes, but only on lower presets. The data shows 4K Low at 131.6 FPS and 4K Medium at 88.9 FPS. At 4K High, it drops to 74.5 FPS, and 4K Ultra is 62.2 FPS.

Q: What is the best resolution for a 144Hz monitor?

A: 1440p is the sweet spot. At 1440p High, you get 129.6 FPS, and at 1440p Ultra, you get 99.6 FPS. Both are above 60 FPS, and the High preset is close to 144Hz.

Q: How does the i7-14700F compare to its closest CPU rival in synthetic tests?

A: The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X scores 54,450, which is 0.6% higher than the i7-14700F’s 54,097. The Ryzen 9 9900X3D is 1.1% higher, and the Intel Xeon Phi 7290 is 1.2% lower.

Q: Is the RTX 4070’s VRAM enough for this game?

A: The 12 GB of GDDR6X is more than adequate for Don't Starve Together. The highest tested preset (4K Ultra) does not appear to be VRAM-limited, as the average FPS of 62.2 is still above 60.

Q: What is the difference between 1080p and 4K performance on High settings?

A: At 1080p High, the combo delivers 183.6 FPS. At 4K High, it drops to 74.5 FPS. That is a 59.4% reduction in frame rate.

Q: Does the game scale better with a change in resolution or settings?

A: The data shows resolution changes have a larger impact. Moving from 1080p to 4K on Low settings reduces FPS by 58.7%, while moving from Low to Ultra at 1080p reduces FPS by 53.9%. Both are significant, but resolution is slightly more punishing.

Settings Recommendations

For 1440p gaming, the High preset is the best balance. It delivers 129.6 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold and within striking distance of 144Hz. The Ultra preset at 1440p drops to 99.6 FPS, which is still smooth but not as responsive. If you have a 144Hz monitor, High is the clear choice. If you’re on a 60Hz display, Ultra is acceptable, but the visual difference between High and Ultra in a game like this is likely minimal.

For 4K, the Medium preset is the safest bet. It provides 88.9 FPS, which is comfortably above 60. The High preset at 74.5 FPS is also playable, but the margin for error in demanding scenes is thinner. The Ultra preset at 62.2 FPS is borderline; it’s technically above 60, but any minor dip could make it feel stuttery. The Low preset at 4K (131.6 FPS) is overkill unless you’re chasing extreme frame rates on a high-refresh 4K panel, which is rare.

At 1080p, the system is almost certainly CPU-bound. The Low preset hits 318.6 FPS, but the Ultra preset still manages 146.9 FPS. For competitive play, the Low preset is ideal, but for visual fidelity, Ultra is fine. The i7-14700F’s boost clock of 5.40 GHz and 20 cores ensure that the CPU won’t be a limiting factor even at the highest settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on Raptor Lake Refresh. It has a base clock of 2.10 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, with 33 MB of shared L3 cache. The synthetic benchmarks are impressive: Cinebench R23 multicore scores 35,443, and single-core scores 5,003. Geekbench multicore is 16,571, and single-core is 2,711. These numbers place it at the 94th percentile among all CPUs.

In Don't Starve Together, the CPU’s role becomes evident when you compare 1080p and 1440p performance at the same settings. At 1080p High, the combo hits 183.6 FPS. At 1440p High, it hits 129.6 FPS. The difference is 29.4%, which is less than the resolution scaling would suggest if the GPU were the sole bottleneck. This implies that at 1080p, the CPU is the limiting factor, and the GPU has headroom to spare.

The Passmark scores reinforce this. The i7-14700F scores 41,765 in multithread and 4,261 in single-thread. The data compression score of 512,810 and integer math score of 157,242 are strong, indicating that the CPU can handle the game’s physics and logic without breaking a sweat. The nearest rivals are all within 1.7% of its average score, so there’s no meaningful performance gap between this CPU and its direct competitors.

The CPU’s 65 W TDP is low for a 20-core part, which means it runs cool and is easy to cool with a capable air cooler. It supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory, but the benchmark data does not specify which was used. The 16 PCIe Gen 5 lanes are more than enough for the RTX 4070, which uses PCIe 4.0 x16. Overall, the i7-14700F is a strong match for the RTX 4070 in this title, providing ample headroom for high frame rates at 1080p and ensuring that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions.