Pc Building Simulator

Pc Building Simulator is a simulation title that tasks players with assembling and troubleshooting PCs, and the measured frame rates for the Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER show a component pairing that is capable of smooth gameplay at 1080p but struggles to maintain playable performance at higher resolutions. The data indicates that while the CPU offers strong single-threaded performance for a simulation genre that often relies on it, the GPU’s memory configuration and compute capabilities become the primary bottleneck as resolution scales up, leading to a significant drop in frame rates that places this combination in the lower tier of tested systems.

FAQ

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

A: The average frame rate at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings is 82 FPS. This is the lowest average among the four settings tested at this resolution, with Low producing 173 FPS, Medium producing 123 FPS, and High producing 87 FPS.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K resolution?

A: At 3840x2160, the average frame rates drop significantly, with High settings producing 29 FPS and Ultra settings producing 27 FPS. Medium settings yield a slightly higher 40 FPS, while Low settings are the only playable option at 57 FPS.

Q: What is the rank of this CPU and GPU combination among all tested combos?

A: The combo ranks 3172 out of 3723 tested combinations, placing it in the lower percentile of systems. This ranking reflects its performance capabilities relative to other hardware pairings in the benchmark database.

Q: Does the CPU have integrated graphics?

A: No, the Intel Core i5-11400F does not have integrated graphics, as indicated by the "integratedGraphics": null field in the data. This means a discrete GPU is required for display output, which is fulfilled by the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER.

Q: What is the boost clock speed of the processor?

A: The Intel Core i5-11400F has a boost clock speed of 4.40 GHz, up from a base clock of 2.60 GHz. This boost capability is relevant for single-threaded tasks common in simulation games.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth of the GPU?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER has a memory bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s, utilizing 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus. This bandwidth is a critical factor in how the GPU handles texture-heavy scenes at higher resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER is the primary driver of frame rates in Pc Building Simulator, and its specifications reveal why performance degrades so sharply at higher resolutions. The GPU features a base clock of 1530 MHz and a boost clock of 1785 MHz, with 1408 shading units, 88 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units. The 6 GB of GDDR6 memory operates at an effective speed of 14 Gbps across a 192-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is sufficient for 1080p gaming but becomes a limiting factor when the rendering load increases at 1440p and 4K.

The GPU’s compute capabilities, rated at 5.027 TFLOPS for FP32, are modest by modern standards, and the benchmark results reflect this. At 1080p Ultra, the GPU produces an average of 82 FPS, which is acceptable for a simulation title, but at 4K Ultra, that figure plummets to 27 FPS. The data shows that the GTX 1660 SUPER’s 6 GB frame buffer is likely exhausted at 4K with high texture detail, forcing the GPU to rely on slower memory management. The pixel rate of 85.68 GPixel/s and texture rate of 157.1 GTexel/s further indicate that the GPU is designed for 1080p or light 1440p workloads, not for the pixel density of 4K displays.

The GPU’s percentile ranking of 53 versus all GPUs places it in the middle of the pack, with its average benchmark score of 12986 being close to rivals like the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile (12940) and AMD Radeon RX 580 (12928). In Pc Building Simulator specifically, the GPU’s role is amplified because the game’s rendering is not heavily threaded; it relies on raw fill rate and memory bandwidth, both of which are average for this card. The measured FPS data confirms that the GTX 1660 SUPER is the bottleneck at 1440p and 4K, as frame rates drop by nearly half when moving from 1080p to 1440p at the same settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-11400F and GTX 1660 SUPER combination ranks 3172 out of 3723 tested combos in Pc Building Simulator, placing it firmly in the bottom 15% of systems in the database. This ranking is a direct consequence of the GPU’s performance ceiling, as the CPU’s benchmark scores are more competitive. The combo’s rank suggests that the majority of tested systems in this game deliver higher average frame rates, particularly at lower resolutions where CPU performance often matters more.

To contextualize this rank, the CPU alone sits at the 71st percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 17177. Its nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7H12, which scores 17120 (0.3% higher), and the Intel Core i5-12450H, which scores 17239 (0.4% higher). This indicates the CPU is not the weak link in this pairing. Conversely, the GPU sits at the 53rd percentile, with an average score of 12986, and its nearest rivals—the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile (12940) and RX 580 (12928)—are within 0.4% of its performance. The GPU’s mid-tier standing drags the combo down in a game that appears to be GPU-bound at most settings.

The ranking data also shows that this combo is far from the top performers, which likely feature higher-end GPUs with more VRAM and faster memory. In Pc Building Simulator, the measured FPS at 1080p Ultra (82 FPS) is adequate, but the combo’s inability to maintain 60 FPS at 1440p Ultra (52 FPS) and 4K Ultra (27 FPS) explains its low rank. The combination is a balanced entry-level system for 1080p gaming, but it lacks the headroom required for higher resolutions, which is a key factor in its placement among the 3723 tested combos.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of how this system performs across resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers strong results: Low settings average 173 FPS, Medium settings average 123 FPS (with a minimum of 104 FPS and maximum of 141 FPS), High settings average 87 FPS, and Ultra settings average 82 FPS. These figures indicate that 1080p is the sweet spot for this hardware, with even Ultra settings remaining well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance drops become more pronounced. Low settings still deliver a playable 109 FPS, but Medium settings fall to 77 FPS (with a range of 66 to 89 FPS), High settings drop to 55 FPS, and Ultra settings dip below 60 FPS to 52 FPS. This suggests that 1440p is only viable at Low or Medium settings for a consistently smooth experience, as High and Ultra settings approach or breach the 60 FPS line.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain playability. Low settings average 57 FPS, which is just below the 60 FPS target, while Medium settings drop to 40 FPS (with a range of 34 to 47 FPS). High settings fall to 29 FPS, and Ultra settings bottom out at 27 FPS. These numbers show that 4K gaming is not a realistic option for this combo, as even Low settings fail to hit a solid 60 FPS, and the higher settings become nearly unplayable. The data also reveals a consistent pattern: the gap between Low and Ultra settings widens as resolution increases, with a 91 FPS difference at 1080p (173 vs. 82 FPS) versus a 30 FPS difference at 4K (57 vs. 27 FPS), indicating that GPU limits compress the settings range at higher resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling behavior of this combo is a textbook example of GPU-bound performance. From 1080p to 1440p at High settings, the average frame rate drops from 87 FPS to 55 FPS, a 37% reduction. At Ultra settings, the drop is from 82 FPS to 52 FPS, a 37% reduction as well, showing a consistent scaling penalty. From 1440p to 4K at High settings, the frame rate falls from 55 FPS to 29 FPS, a 47% drop, which is even steeper due to the pixel count quadrupling.

The limiting component is clearly the GTX 1660 SUPER, as the CPU’s performance metrics suggest it could handle more frames. The i5-11400F’s single-thread score of 2981 in Passmark and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2024 indicate strong per-core performance, which is typically sufficient for simulation games that often have a single main thread. However, the GPU’s memory bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s and 6 GB VRAM are insufficient to maintain frame rates as the render resolution increases, leading to the observed scaling pattern.

The data also shows that resolution scaling affects Low settings differently. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 173 FPS, but at 4K Low, it drops to 57 FPS—a 67% reduction. This suggests that even at Low settings, the GPU’s fill rate and memory bandwidth become bottlenecks at 4K, as the number of pixels to process quadruples from 1080p to 4K. In contrast, the CPU’s role in resolution scaling is minimal, as frame rates are not independent of resolution, confirming that the GPU is the primary limiter in this pairing.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F provides the computational foundation for this system, and its specifications are well-suited for Pc Building Simulator’s simulation mechanics. The CPU features 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. This boost capability is crucial for the game’s single-threaded tasks, as the processor can ramp up to higher frequencies when needed. The 12 MB of shared L3 cache and 512 KB of L2 cache per core help reduce memory latency, which is beneficial for the game’s physics and logic calculations.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-11400F scores 2024 in Cinebench R23 single-core, which is strong for a mid-range desktop processor. Its multi-core score of 14340 in the same test indicates that it can handle multi-threaded workloads, though Pc Building Simulator may not fully utilize all 12 threads. The processor’s TDP of 65 W is modest, and its 14 nm process node from Intel is older, but the architectural efficiency of Rocket Lake still delivers competitive performance.

The CPU’s role in this game is secondary to the GPU, as evidenced by the FPS data. At 1080p, where the GPU is less stressed, the CPU’s performance allows for high frame rates (173 FPS at Low). However, at 4K, the CPU’s contribution is masked by GPU limitations, as frame rates drop to 27-57 FPS regardless of CPU capability. The CPU’s nearest rivals, such as the AMD EPYC 7H12 (0.3% higher average score) and Intel Core i5-12450H (0.4% higher), suggest that it is a competitive processor for its class, but it cannot compensate for the GPU’s memory constraints at higher resolutions. Ultimately, the i5-11400F is a capable partner for the GTX 1660 SUPER at 1080p, but the pairing’s overall ranking is hampered by the GPU’s inability to scale with resolution demands.