Pc Building Simulator

The Intel Core i5-13400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER delivers a fundamentally balanced 1080p gaming experience in Pc Building Simulator, but the data shows a sharp performance cliff as resolution increases. This combo ranks 1572nd out of 1769 tested combinations, placing it in the lower percentile of systems, yet its performance profile reveals a clear bottleneck shift that is typical for a mid-range CPU paired with a last-generation GPU.

FAQ

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

A: The combo achieves an average of 83.3 FPS at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings. This is the most demanding 1080p preset tested, and while it remains playable, it is notably lower than the 86.2 FPS seen at High settings.

Q: How does the GTX 1660 SUPER compare to its closest GPU rivals?

A: The GPU’s average benchmark score of 14286 places it nearly identical to the AMD Radeon RX Vega 11, which scores 14314 (a delta of -0.2%). It is also within 0.5% of the AMD Radeon Vega 11 and 0.7% of the AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT, indicating performance parity in synthetic tests.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 4K resolution?

A: The data strongly suggests the GPU is the primary constraint at 3840x2160. At Ultra settings, the average FPS drops to 27.6, which is below the 30 FPS threshold typically considered playable. The CPU’s single-thread score of 960 in 3DMark is ample, but the GPU’s 6 GB VRAM and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth become saturated at this resolution.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the average FPS ranges from 109.2 on Low settings down to 49.4 on Ultra. This represents a 54.8% performance drop when moving from the lowest to the highest preset, showing that visual quality has a massive impact on this GPU.

Q: How does the i5-13400F rank against other CPUs in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The CPU’s average benchmark score of 25236 places it in the 82nd percentile of all CPUs. It is virtually tied with the Intel Core i7-13620H (25201, delta 0.1%) and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D (25365, delta -0.5%), showing it is competitive with mobile and older desktop parts.

Q: Does the combo achieve 60 FPS at 1440p High settings?

A: No, the average FPS at 2560x1440 with High settings is 56.4. This falls short of a smooth 60 FPS target, meaning users would need to drop to Medium settings (74.8 FPS) or lower the resolution to 1080p to consistently hit that mark.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER is built on the Turing architecture using the TU116 chip, fabricated on a 12 nm process at TSMC. It operates with a base clock of 1530 MHz and a boost clock of 1785 MHz, with memory running at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). The card has 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is critical for Pc Building Simulator, where texture loading and system simulation data can be demanding.

The GPU’s compute capabilities include 1408 shading units, 88 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units. It delivers 5.027 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and a pixel rate of 85.68 GPixel/s. In synthetic benchmarks, the card scores 12699 in Passmark G3D and 62664 in Geekbench OpenCL, with a 55th percentile ranking against all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX Vega 11, scores 14314, a negligible 0.2% difference, indicating that the GTX 1660 SUPER is firmly in the mid-range tier of graphics hardware.

For Pc Building Simulator, the GPU’s role is to handle the rendering of the workshop environment, PC components, and the simulation’s UI. The benchmark results show that at 1080p, the GPU is capable of pushing well over 100 FPS on Low and Medium settings, but it struggles as resolution and quality settings scale up. The 6 GB VRAM buffer is a limiting factor at 4K, where the average FPS at High settings is only 31, suggesting that the card cannot maintain the memory footprint required for high-resolution textures and effects.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At 1080p Low settings, the combo achieves 170.6 FPS, which is a strong result indicating the CPU and GPU are both capable of handling the simulation without major bottlenecks. However, at 4K Low settings, the average FPS drops to 55.9, a 67.2% reduction, showing that the GPU’s fill rate and memory bandwidth are overwhelmed by the 4x increase in pixel count.

The scaling is most pronounced at the highest quality presets. At 1080p Ultra, the average FPS is 83.3, but this falls to 49.4 at 1440p Ultra and 27.6 at 4K Ultra. This represents a 66.9% drop from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings, which is a much steeper decline than the 67.2% drop seen at Low settings. The data indicates that the GPU is the limiting component in all scenarios, as the CPU’s multi-threaded performance (21279 in Cinebench R23) is more than sufficient for a simulation game that is not heavily threaded.

The resolution scaling also highlights the diminishing returns of lowering settings at 4K. Going from Ultra to Low at 3840x2160 only improves the average FPS from 27.6 to 55.9, which is a 102.5% increase but still does not reach the smooth 60 FPS threshold. In contrast, at 1080p, the same settings change yields a jump from 83.3 to 170.6 FPS, a 104.8% increase, indicating that the GPU has more headroom at lower resolutions. This suggests that users targeting 4K should consider a more powerful GPU, as the GTX 1660 SUPER cannot consistently deliver playable frame rates regardless of settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its best performance. The average FPS is 170.6 on Low settings, 123.1 on Medium, 86.2 on High, and 83.3 on Ultra. The difference between High and Ultra is only 2.9 FPS, indicating that the Ultra preset adds visual effects that the GPU can handle without a significant penalty. All 1080p presets are well above the 60 FPS playability threshold, making this the optimal resolution for this hardware combination.

At 2560x1440, performance remains mostly playable but requires settings compromises. Low settings yield an average of 109.2 FPS, which is excellent, while Medium drops to 74.8 FPS. High settings are borderline at 56.4 FPS, and Ultra falls to 49.4 FPS. The data shows that users can achieve a smooth experience at 1440p by selecting Medium or Low presets, but High and Ultra will introduce visible stutter on displays with high refresh rates.

At 3840x2160, the combo is largely unsuitable for smooth gameplay. Low settings average 55.9 FPS, which is marginal, while Medium drops to 38.1 FPS, High to 31 FPS, and Ultra to 27.6 FPS. None of these results meet the 60 FPS standard, and even the lowest preset struggles to maintain a consistent frame rate. The data indicates that 4K is only viable for static screenshots or non-interactive scenes, as the GPU’s 6 GB VRAM and 192-bit memory bus are insufficient for the simulation’s demands at this resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank in Pc Building Simulator is 1572 out of 1769 tested combinations, placing it in the 11th percentile of all systems tested. This is a low ranking, reflecting the GPU’s age and the CPU’s mid-range positioning. The CPU, however, is a strong performer in its own right, with an 82nd percentile ranking against all CPUs. Its nearest rivals in synthetic tests are the Intel Core i7-13620H (delta 0.1%), AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D (delta -0.5%), AMD EPYC 9474F (delta 0.5%), and AMD Ryzen AI 5 PRO 340 (delta 0.5%), all of which score within 0.5% of the i5-13400F.

The GPU’s ranking is much lower, at the 55th percentile, with its closest competitors being the AMD Radeon RX Vega 11 (delta -0.2%), Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics (delta -0.2%), AMD Radeon Vega 11 (delta -0.5%), and AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (delta -0.7%). This indicates that the GTX 1660 SUPER is roughly equivalent to integrated graphics solutions from AMD, which explains why the combo ranks so poorly in the game’s overall standings.

The low combo rank is primarily driven by the GPU’s inability to deliver high frame rates at 1440p and 4K, as the CPU’s performance is not the limiting factor. At 1080p, the combo’s results are competitive with modern mid-range systems, but the lack of headroom for higher resolutions drags down its overall position. For a simulation game like Pc Building Simulator, which is not graphically intensive compared to AAA shooters, this combo can still provide a satisfactory experience at 1080p, but it is clear that the GPU is the weakest link in the system.