Pc Building Simulator

Pc Building Simulator places unusual demands on a system because its core loop involves rendering a detailed 3D workshop while simultaneously simulating the electrical, thermal, and performance characteristics of the components being assembled. The Intel Core i7-13700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti combination delivers a broad performance envelope across the tested resolutions and settings, but the data reveals a clear shift in bottleneck behavior as resolution scales.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows that this combo scales almost linearly with pixel count, but the rate of decline is steeper than what a purely GPU-bound scenario would typically produce. At 1080p with High settings, the combo produces 183 FPS. Moving to 1440p High reduces that to 115 FPS, a 37% drop. Pushing further to 4K High yields 60 FPS, which is a 48% reduction from the 1440p result and a 67% reduction from the 1080p baseline. This pattern indicates that the RTX 3080 Ti becomes the primary limiting component as resolution increases, but the CPU still has headroom to spare at lower resolutions.

The Low settings row provides the clearest view of CPU-bound behavior. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 366 FPS, which is an exceptionally high frame rate that suggests the simulation's game logic and the CPU's 16 cores are working in tandem without the GPU presenting a significant constraint. At 1440p Low, the frame rate drops to 231 FPS, and at 4K Low it falls to 121 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p Low is a 37% reduction, identical to the High setting drop, which is unusual because Low settings typically reduce GPU load and make the CPU the bottleneck at lower resolutions. Here, the fact that the percentage drop is consistent across settings suggests that the game's simulation thread is scaling with resolution, not just the rendering pipeline.

The Medium settings row includes min and max FPS values, which adds depth to the analysis. At 1080p Medium, the average is 259 FPS with a min of 220 and max of 298. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 163 FPS with a min of 139 and max of 188. At 4K Medium, the average is 85 FPS with a min of 73 and max of 98. The spread between min and max is approximately 30% of the average at each resolution, indicating that the frame pacing is consistent and that neither the CPU nor GPU is causing severe hitches. The min FPS values are never below 73, which is a strong result for a simulation game that can have complex scenes with many moving parts.

The Ultra settings represent the worst-case scenario for this combo. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 57, which is below the 60 FPS target that many users consider the minimum for smooth gameplay. The 1080p Ultra result of 174 FPS is notably lower than the High settings result of 183 FPS, showing that the Ultra preset adds a meaningful load that the GPU must process. The scaling from 1080p Ultra to 1440p Ultra is a 37% reduction (from 174 to 110 FPS), and from 1440p Ultra to 4K Ultra is a 48% reduction (from 110 to 57 FPS). These numbers point to the GPU being the sole constraint at Ultra settings, as the CPU has already demonstrated it can push well over 300 FPS in lighter loads.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo maintain 60 FPS at 4K Ultra?

A: No. The measured average at 3840x2160 Ultra is 57 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold. However, the Medium preset at 4K delivers an average of 85 FPS with a minimum of 73 FPS, so a moderate settings reduction achieves smooth performance.

Q: How does the CPU perform relative to its closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Core i7-13700K has an average benchmark score of 46881, which places it 0.2% behind the AMD Ryzen 9 5900 (score 46971) and 0.3% behind the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375 (score 47022). It is 0.5% ahead of both the AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX and the Intel Xeon w3-2535, which each have a score of 46654 and 46653 respectively.

Q: What is the GPU's performance percentile compared to all other GPUs?

A: The RTX 3080 Ti sits in the 83rd percentile for all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 41187. Its closest rival, the AMD Radeon Pro 5300, scores 40870, which is 0.8% lower. The NVIDIA Tesla M40 24 GB scores 41707, which is 1.2% higher.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 1080p Low settings?

A: The data strongly indicates the CPU is the limiting factor at 1080p Low, given the 366 FPS result. The GPU is capable of much higher frame rates at such low graphical load, but the game's simulation logic, which runs on the CPU, caps the output. The CPU's 16 cores and 24 threads are likely being utilized for the simulation, but the frame rate ceiling is still lower than what the GPU could theoretically produce.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to achieve a high refresh rate experience?

A: At 1440p High, the combo produces 115 FPS, which is suitable for a 120Hz monitor. At 1440p Medium, it reaches 163 FPS, which can drive a 165Hz display. The 1080p High setting produces 183 FPS, which is near the limit for 144Hz displays but not quite enough for 240Hz.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested combinations for this game?

A: The combo ranks 886 out of 3723 tested combos, placing it in the top 24% of all configurations. This is a strong result, but it indicates that there are many other combos that perform better, likely with more powerful GPUs or CPUs.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 886 out of 3723 places this configuration in the 76th percentile of all tested combos for Pc Building Simulator. This is a solid result, but it is not in the top tier. The ranking reflects the fact that the RTX 3080 Ti, while powerful, is not the fastest GPU available, and the Core i7-13700K, while strong, is not the top CPU. The data shows that the combo performs best at 1440p, where it can deliver high frame rates in the 110-163 FPS range across the High and Medium presets. At 4K, the combo is only viable at Medium settings or lower, as the Ultra preset falls below 60 FPS.

The rank of 886 suggests that there are 2,837 combos that perform worse than this one, which reflects the overall capability of the hardware. However, the top 886 combos likely include configurations with newer GPUs such as the RTX 5070, which is listed as a nearest rival to the RTX 3080 Ti with a score that is 2% higher. The gap between the 3080 Ti and the 5070 is small in synthetic benchmarks, but in actual gameplay, the difference may be more pronounced depending on the game's optimization.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data is comprehensive, covering three resolutions and four settings tiers. At 1920x1080, the results are as follows: Low averages 366 FPS, Medium averages 259 FPS (min 220, max 298), High averages 183 FPS, and Ultra averages 174 FPS. The progression from Low to Medium is a 29% reduction, from Medium to High is a 29% reduction, and from High to Ultra is a 5% reduction. This shows that the Ultra preset is only marginally more demanding than High at 1080p, suggesting that the added effects in Ultra do not significantly tax the GPU when the CPU is capable of feeding it frames at this rate.

At 2560x1440, the results are: Low averages 231 FPS, Medium averages 163 FPS (min 139, max 188), High averages 115 FPS, and Ultra averages 110 FPS. The drop from Low to Medium is 29%, from Medium to High is 29%, and from High to Ultra is 4%. The pattern is nearly identical to 1080p, but the absolute numbers are lower. The min FPS at Medium is 139, which is still well above 60 FPS, indicating that the combo can maintain smooth gameplay even during demanding scenes.

At 3840x2160, the results are: Low averages 121 FPS, Medium averages 85 FPS (min 73, max 98), High averages 60 FPS, and Ultra averages 57 FPS. The drop from Low to Medium is 30%, from Medium to High is 29%, and from High to Ultra is 5%. The min FPS at Medium is 73, which is the lowest recorded value across all resolutions and settings, but it is still above the 60 FPS threshold. The 4K Ultra result of 57 FPS is the only measured value that falls below 60 FPS, making it the sole data point where the combo fails to maintain a playable frame rate.

GPU Role

The RTX 3080 Ti is a high-end Ampere architecture GPU with 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 912.4 GB/s. The memory clock runs at 1188 MHz, which translates to 19 Gbps effective. The GPU has 10,240 shading units, 320 TMUs, and 112 ROPs, along with 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores. The base clock is 1365 MHz with a boost of 1665 MHz, and the pixel rate is 186.5 GPixel/s with a texture rate of 532.8 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance is 34.10 TFLOPS.

In Pc Building Simulator, the GPU's role is primarily to render the 3D workshop environment, which includes detailed PC components, case lighting, and cable management visuals. The 12 GB VRAM is more than sufficient for this game, as it does not feature large open worlds or high-resolution textures that would exhaust the memory pool. The 912.4 GB/s bandwidth ensures that texture streaming is not a bottleneck, even at 4K resolution. The GPU's 83rd percentile ranking and average benchmark score of 41187 indicate that it is a capable performer, but the measured FPS data shows that it becomes the limiting factor at 4K Ultra, where the 57 FPS result suggests that the 34.10 TFLOPS of compute power is insufficient to maintain high frame rates with the Ultra preset's added effects.

The GPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are all within a 2% margin, which indicates that the 3080 Ti is well-positioned in the mid-to-high end of the GPU market. The 2% advantage of the RTX 5070 in average score suggests that newer architectures offer slight improvements, but the 3080 Ti remains competitive. In this game, the GPU's impact is most visible when comparing the Low and High settings at the same resolution. At 1080p, the difference between Low (366 FPS) and High (183 FPS) is a 50% reduction, which shows that the GPU's rendering load is significant. At 4K, the difference between Low (121 FPS) and High (60 FPS) is also a 50% reduction, indicating that the GPU's scaling is consistent across resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for the optimal settings based on the target frame rate and resolution. For 4K, the Medium preset is the recommended choice. It delivers an average of 85 FPS with a minimum of 73 FPS, which is a smooth experience that stays well above the 60 FPS threshold. The High preset at 4K achieves exactly 60 FPS on average, but the lack of min FPS data means it could dip below that in demanding scenes. The Ultra preset at 4K is not recommended, as the 57 FPS average falls below the playable threshold.

For 1440p, the High preset is the best balance of visual quality and performance, delivering 115 FPS. This is suitable for 120Hz displays and provides a significant visual upgrade over the Medium preset, which runs at 163 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1440p runs at 110 FPS, which is only 5 FPS lower than High, so the Ultra setting is also viable for users who prioritize visual fidelity over a marginal frame rate difference. The Low preset at 1440p runs at 231 FPS, which is overkill for most monitors and does not provide a good visual experience.

For 1080p, the Ultra preset is the best choice, as it delivers 174 FPS while providing the highest visual quality. The High preset runs at 183 FPS, which is only 5% higher, so the Ultra setting is worth the small performance cost. The Medium preset at 259 FPS is only necessary for users with 240Hz monitors who want to maximize frame rates, but the visual quality reduction from Ultra to Medium is noticeable. The Low preset at 366 FPS is not recommended for normal play, as the visual quality is poor and the frame rate exceeds the refresh rate of most displays.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K is a 16-core, 24-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.40 GHz. It has 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 2 MB of L2 cache per core, and 30 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration, and it includes an integrated UHD Graphics 770 unit. The 125W TDP is relatively high, but the CPU's performance is exceptional for its class.

In Pc Building Simulator, the CPU's role is critical because the game involves simulating the electrical and thermal behavior of PC components. This simulation runs on the CPU and can be demanding, especially when multiple components are being tested simultaneously. The 16 cores and 24 threads provide ample parallel processing power for the simulation logic, which is likely why the combo can achieve 366 FPS at 1080p Low. The CPU's high boost clock of 5.40 GHz ensures that single-threaded tasks, such as the game's main logic loop, are executed quickly.

The CPU's synthetic benchmarks show strong multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 30745 and a single-core score of 2116. The Geekbench multi-core score is 19429, and the single-core score is 2529. The PassMark multi-thread score is 45887, and the single-thread score is 4333. The 3DMark 16-thread score is 10717, and the max-thread score is 12412. These numbers indicate that the CPU is well-suited for both multi-threaded workloads and single-threaded tasks.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 89th place among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 46881, places it in the top 11% of all processors. Its nearest rivals are all within a 0.5% margin, which shows that the 13700K is a competitive choice. The fact that the CPU can maintain over 230 FPS at 1440p Low and 121 FPS at 4K Low suggests that it is not a bottleneck in this game, even at lower graphical settings. The bottleneck shifts to the GPU as resolution and settings increase, which is the expected behavior for a balanced system. The CPU's 24 threads are particularly useful for the game's simulation aspects, as they allow for parallel processing of multiple component interactions without causing frame rate drops.