Pc Building Simulator

Pc Building Simulator presents an interesting case study in hardware scaling, as its simulation gameplay loop is typically less demanding than fast-paced shooters. The benchmark results for the Intel Core i9-14900K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER reveal a configuration where the GPU is the primary bottleneck, especially at higher resolutions. The data indicates a clear and predictable progression of frame rates as resolution decreases, moving from a nearly unplayable 37.9 FPS at 4K Ultra to a highly fluid 223.3 FPS at 1080p Low. This spread of 185.4 FPS across the resolution and settings matrix shows that the system's performance is heavily dictated by the graphics card's workload.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a stark contrast between 4K and 1080p performance. At the 3840x2160 resolution, the average frame rates are consistently below the threshold for smooth gameplay, with the Ultra preset hitting 37.9 FPS and the High preset at 39.4 FPS. This is a significant drop from the 1440p results, where the same High preset achieves 72.5 FPS. The transition from 1440p to 4K represents a 45.6% decrease in frame rate for the High preset, indicating that the GPU is being saturated by the pixel count. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is less dramatic but still substantial; for instance, the Medium preset drops from 158.3 FPS at 1080p to 99.4 FPS at 1440p, a reduction of 37.2%.

The most telling data point is the performance at 1080p, where the CPU's strength is allowed to shine. At this resolution, the Low preset produces 223.3 FPS, and even the Ultra preset maintains a respectable 106.6 FPS. This suggests that at lower resolutions, the system is not entirely bound by the GPU, allowing the high core count of the i9-14900K to push frame rates to very high levels. However, the gap between 1080p Low (223.3 FPS) and 1080p High (114.8 FPS) is nearly a 2x difference, highlighting that the graphics settings have a profound impact on the GPU's workload, even when the resolution is relatively low. The data clearly shows that the limiting component shifts from the CPU at 1080p to the GPU as the resolution increases.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is a Turing-architecture card with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. Its boost clock of 1650 MHz and a base clock of 1470 MHz define its processing speed. In this game, the GPU's role is critical, as evidenced by the performance collapse at 4K. The card's 7.181 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is insufficient to handle the pixel throughput required at 3840x2160, where even the Low preset only reaches 76.6 FPS. This is a significant finding, as it suggests the game is heavily dependent on raw pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth.

The GPU's 8 GB memory capacity appears adequate for the game's requirements, as the benchmark results do not show anomalies that would indicate memory swapping or stuttering. The average FPS figures are consistent, suggesting the frame buffer is not being exceeded. The RTX 2060 SUPER sits in the 63rd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 19774. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN and the RTX 2070, with the RTX 2070 being just 0.5% faster in aggregate benchmarks. This proximity in performance is reflected in the game, where the card is clearly positioned as a mid-range solution in 2019-era terms, struggling to maintain 60 FPS at 4K but providing a solid experience at 1440p. The data shows that for this game, the GPU is the definitive limiting factor at higher resolutions, and its performance characteristics are the primary driver of the FPS numbers seen in the 4K and 1440p data rows.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K is a 24-core, 32-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, with a boost clock of 6.00 GHz and a base clock of 3.20 GHz. It features a substantial 36 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB of L2 cache per core. In Pc Building Simulator, the CPU's role is most apparent at lower resolutions where the GPU is not the bottleneck. The difference between 1080p Low (223.3 FPS) and 1440p Low (139.1 FPS) is a 37.7% drop, which can be attributed to the GPU, but the sheer height of the 1080p numbers indicates that the i9-14900K is not holding the system back.

The CPU's benchmark scores are stellar, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 49872 and a single-core score of 7040, placing it in the 97th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7413 and the Intel Core i9-14900KF, with the i9-14900K being 0.7% faster than the 14900KF in aggregate benchmark scores. This processing power ensures that game logic, physics calculations, and AI routines are handled without issue. The data shows that even at 4K Ultra, where the GPU is heavily strained, the average FPS of 37.9 is not a result of CPU limitations, as the same CPU drives 106.6 FPS at 1080p Ultra. The i9-14900K's high core count and clock speeds guarantee that the CPU side of the equation is never the primary constraint in this simulation title, allowing the benchmark to accurately reflect the GPU's capabilities at each resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database of tested hardware combinations, this pairing of the Intel Core i9-14900K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER holds a combo rank of 1235 out of 1769 total combos. This places it in the lower third of all tested configurations, which is a direct consequence of the GPU's mid-range standing. The CPU is a top-tier component, ranking in the 97th percentile, but the GPU's 63rd percentile ranking pulls the overall combination down. The data indicates that this is a mismatched pairing, where the CPU's potential is largely untapped in this game at higher resolutions.

The ranking reflects a system that is balanced for 1080p gaming but becomes GPU-limited at 1440p and 4K. The 1235th rank out of 1769 combos suggests that there are many configurations that achieve higher frame rates in this game, primarily those with more powerful GPUs. The benchmark results show that the RTX 2060 SUPER's performance is only 0.3% higher than the older GeForce GTX TITAN, which illustrates the GPU's limited headroom. For the i9-14900K, which is 0.7% faster than the i9-14900KF, this pairing does not showcase its full capabilities. The combination is a clear example of a CPU-bound system at low settings and a GPU-bound system at high settings, with the overall rank being a compromise between these two states.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal experience for this hardware combination depends on the target resolution. For 4K gaming, the data shows that no preset provides a consistently smooth experience, as the Ultra preset manages only 37.9 FPS and the High preset 39.4 FPS. The Low preset at 4K yields 76.6 FPS, which is playable, but the visual compromise is significant. The data suggests that 4K is not a viable target for this GPU in this game, as even the Medium preset drops to 53.3 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold.

At 1440p, the High preset delivers 72.5 FPS, which is a solid frame rate for a simulation game, and the Medium preset provides 99.4 FPS for a smoother experience. The Ultra preset at 1440p falls to 67.2 FPS, which is still acceptable but shows a 7.3% drop from High. For the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, the High preset at 1440p is the recommended choice, as it maintains a frame rate above 60 FPS while offering improved visuals over Medium. At 1080p, all presets are playable, with the Ultra preset achieving 106.6 FPS. The data shows that the High preset at 1080p (114.8 FPS) offers only a marginal improvement over Ultra, whereas the Medium preset (158.3 FPS) provides a significant frame rate boost. For users prioritizing frame rate over maximum detail, the Medium preset at 1080p appears to be the sweet spot, offering a near-2x frame rate improvement over Ultra while likely retaining most of the visual quality.