Pc Building Simulator

Pc Building Simulator, a simulation title from 2019, presents an interesting workload that diverges from typical first-person shooters. The measured data for the Intel Core i5-10400F and Intel Arc B580 combination reveals a configuration that is heavily influenced by resolution and graphics settings, with the GPU becoming the primary bottleneck as visual fidelity increases substitute for CPU-bound physics and logic.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 with this hardware shows a pronounced performance cliff that clearly identifies the limiting component. At 1080p with Low settings, the combination produces an average of 217 FPS, but this drops to 137 FPS at 1440p and then to 72 FPS at 4K. This represents a 66.8% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, a scaling pattern that indicates the Arc B580 is being pushed to its limits as pixel count rises.

The scaling behavior becomes even more telling when examining the High settings preset. Here, the average frame rate falls from 109 FPS at 1080p to 69 FPS at 1440p (a 36.7% drop) and then to 36 FPS at 4K (a 67% drop from 1080p). The step from 1440p to 4K sees frame rates halve almost exactly, moving from 69 to 36 FPS. This near-linear relationship between pixel count and performance degradation points squarely at the GPU as the bottleneck at higher resolutions, with the 12 GB of GDDR6 memory and 456.0 GB/s bandwidth of the Arc B580 being insufficient to maintain fluid frame rates at 4K.

At 1080p, the picture is different. The CPU's role becomes more prominent, with the Core i5-10400F's 6 cores and 12 threads capable of feeding the GPU adequately at lower resolutions. The 217 FPS result at Low settings suggests the CPU can still deliver high frame rates in this simulation title, but the scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a compression of performance: Low yields 217 FPS, Medium 154 FPS, High 109 FPS, and Ultra 103 FPS. This pattern indicates that even at 1080p, the GPU is already limiting performance once settings rise above Low, as the gap between High and Ultra is minimal compared to the drop from Low to Medium.

The data suggests that 1440p represents a sweet spot for this combination, with High settings delivering 69 FPS and Ultra managing 65 FPS. At this resolution, the Arc B580 can still push respectable frame rates, and the difference between High and Ultra is only 5.8%, indicating that the GPU is not fully saturated. The 4K results, however, are marginal for smooth gameplay, with the highest setting (Low) producing 72 FPS and Ultra falling to 34 FPS.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU-GPU combination in Pc Building Simulator?

A: Based on the measured FPS data, 2560x1440 provides the most balanced experience. At this resolution, High settings achieve 69 FPS and Ultra maintains 65 FPS, while 4K drops to 36 FPS on High and 34 FPS on Ultra, which is below smooth gameplay thresholds.

Q: How does the Arc B580 perform at 4K in this game?

A: The 4K results are mixed. Low settings produce 72 FPS, which is playable, but Medium drops to 51 FPS, High falls to 36 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 34 FPS. The data indicates the GPU is heavily taxed at this resolution.

Q: Is the Core i5-10400F a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: At 1080p Low, the combination reaches 217 FPS, suggesting the CPU is not limiting at lower settings. However, the scaling from Low to Medium (217 to 154 FPS) and then to High (109 FPS) shows the GPU begins to dominate performance as settings increase.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 1440p and 4K at Medium settings?

A: At 1440p Medium, the average FPS is 97, while at 4K Medium it drops to 51. This represents a 47.4% reduction in performance, highlighting the significant pixel-count impact on the Arc B580.

Q: Does the Arc B580 have enough memory for this game?

A: The GPU features 12 GB of GDDR6 memory with a 192-bit bus and 456.0 GB/s bandwidth. The measured FPS data does not show any memory-related stutters or anomalies, but the 4K Ultra result of 34 FPS suggests the GPU's compute capabilities, not memory capacity, are the limiting factor.

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

A: The combination ranks 2799 out of 3723 tested combos in this game, placing it in the lower third of all configurations and indicating that while it can run the game, it is not a top-tier performer.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-10400F and Intel Arc B580 combination ranks 2799 out of 3723 tested combos in Pc Building Simulator, placing it in the 24.8th percentile of all configurations. This ranking is notably lower than what the individual component benchmark percentiles might suggest. The CPU sits at the 68th percentile among all processors, and the GPU also achieves the 68th percentile among all graphics cards, yet the combination's in-game ranking is substantially worse.

This discrepancy indicates that the game's performance characteristics do not align perfectly with synthetic benchmark scores. The CPU's nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the Intel Xeon 6756E with a delta of 0.2% and the AMD EPYC 7552 with a delta of 0.5%, showing the i5-10400F is competitive in general compute tasks. The GPU's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 with a delta of 0.6% and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 with a delta of -0.7%, suggesting the Arc B580 performs similarly to these older high-end cards in synthetic tests.

However, the in-game ranking of 2799 out of 3723 suggests that many other CPU-GPU pairings deliver better results in this specific simulation title. The low ranking is likely due to the game's CPU-intensive nature at lower resolutions combined with the GPU's limitations at higher resolutions. The 1080p Low result of 217 FPS is respectable, but the ranking reflects overall performance across all settings and resolutions, where the 4K results drag down the average.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience with this hardware, the data points to 2560x1440 with High settings as the optimal configuration. This preset delivers 69 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, while the Ultra preset at the same resolution only reaches 65 FPS, a minimal gain of 6.2% for potentially higher visual quality. The Medium preset at 1440p achieves 97 FPS with a recorded minimum of 83 FPS)Skip, providing a comfortable margin above 60 FPS for those who prefer smoother motion over visual fidelity.

At 1920x1080, the High preset yields 109 FPS, which is more than sufficient for most displays, and the Ultra preset at 103 FPS offers a marginal 5.5% reduction in performance. The Medium preset at 1080p produces 154 FPS with a minimum of 131 FPS, making it the best choice for high-refresh-rate monitors that can take advantage of frame rates above 144 FPS. The Low preset at 1080p achieves 217 FPS, but the visual compromise is substantial for a simulation game where readability of components and system details matters.

For 4K, the data does not recommend any preset for a consistently smooth experience. The Low preset at 72 FPS is the only option above 60 FPS, but Medium drops to 51 FPS and High falls to 36 FPS anticipate. If 4K is necessary, Low is the only viable choice, but the visual fidelity loss is severe. The 1440p High preset is the recommended balance, offering a 69 FPS average with no reported minimum FPS dips, suggesting stable frame pacing.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured frame rates show a clear hierarchy across settings. Low settings produce an average of 217 FPS, which is the highest result in the entire dataset. Medium settings drop to 154 FPS, with a minimum of 131 FPS and a maximum of 177 FPS. High settings reduce the average to 109 FPS, while Ultra settings deliver 103 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at this resolution is a 52.5% reduction in performance, but the gap between High and Ultra is only 5.5%, indicating diminishing returns from the highest preset.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates compress significantly. Low settings achieve 137 FPS, which is 36.9% lower than the 1080p Low result. Medium settings produce 97 FPS, with a minimum of 83 FPS and a maximum of 112 FPS. High settings drop to 69 FPS, and Ultra settings reach 65 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra at this resolution is 5.8%, similar to the 1080p pattern, but the absolute numbers are lower across the board.

At 3840x2160, the performance falls to the lowest levels in the dataset. Low settings manage 72 FPS, which is exactly half the 1080p Low result. Medium settings produce 51 FPS, with a minimum of 43 FPS and a maximum of 58 FPS. High settings drop to 36 FPS, and Ultra settings bottom out at 34 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 4K is a 52.8% reduction, nearly identical to the 1080p scaling percentage, but the absolute values are far below playable thresholds for most users.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F features 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Comet Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 14 nm process. Its base clock is 2.90 GHz with a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, and it has a 65 W TDP. The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 256 KB of L2 per core, and 12 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with a bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s and connects via PCIe Gen 3 with 16 lanes.

In Pc Building Simulator, the CPU's performance is evident at lower resolutions and settings where the GPU is not the primary bottleneck. The 1080p Low result of 217 FPS demonstrates that the i5-10400F can drive high frame rates in this simulation genre, which typically involves CPU-intensive calculations for system monitoring, component interactions, and building physics. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 10283 and single-core score of 1451 indicate solid computational performance for a 6-core processor.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 68 among all processors suggests it is a mid-to-upper-tier performer, but its nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the Intel Xeon 6756E (0.2% delta) and the AMD EPYC 7552 (0.5% delta), which are server-class chips with different characteristics. In this game, the CPU's 12 threads are likely sufficient for the simulation workload, as the frame rate scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings (217 to 137 FPS) shows a 36.9% reduction, which is more attributed to GPU pixel processing than CPU limitations.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B580 is based on the Xe2-HPG architecture and the BMG-G21 chip, manufactured on TSMC's 5 nm process with 19,600 million transistors on a 272 mm² die. It features 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 80 raster output units, along with 20 ray tracing cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2670 MHz and a boost clock of 2670 MHz, with memory running at 2375 MHz (19 Gbps effective) across a 192-bit bus, providing 456.0 GB/s of bandwidth and 12 GB of GDDR6 memory.

The GPU's compute capabilities include 13.67 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 27.34 TFLOPS of FP16 performance (2:1 ratio). Its pixel rate is 213.6 GPixel/s and texture rate is 427.2 GTexel/s. The Arc B580 has a 190 W TDP and requires a 450 W suggested PSU, with a single 8-pin power connector. It supports PCIe 4.0 x8 interface and DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4 APIs.

In this game, the GPU's role becomes dominant at higher resolutions and settings. The 4K results, where Ultra yields 34 FPS and High yields 36 FPS, show that the Arc B580's compute and memory bandwidth are insufficient for demanding 4K workloads in this simulation. The GPU's percentile ranking of 68 among all GPUs is similar to its nearest rivals, including the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (0.6% delta) and the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP (-0.2% delta), but the in-game performance at 4K suggests these synthetic benchmarks do not fully capture the GPU's behavior in this title. The 12 GB VRAM is never a limiting factor based on the measured data, as frame rates drop consistently with resolution increases without any evidence of memory-related stuttering.