Pc Building Simulator

Pc Building Simulator, a simulation title from 2019, presents an interesting case study with the Intel Core Ultra 7 265HX and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090. The data shows a combination that delivers exceptionally high frame rates, even at 4K, but the relationship between the CPU, GPU, and resolution scaling reveals a clear hierarchy in what limits performance.

FAQ

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

A: According to the measured FPS data, the best experience is at 2560x1440, where the average FPS exceeds 116 across all settings and reaches 244 at Low settings. While 1920x1080 offers higher frame rates (up to 386 avg FPS at Low), the drop to 4K is significant, making 1440p the sweet spot for balancing visual fidelity and smoothness.

Q: How much faster is this combo at 1080p compared to 4K?

A: At 1080p with Low settings, the average FPS is 386, while at 4K with Low settings, it drops to 127. This represents a roughly 3x reduction in frame rate when moving from 1080p to 4K, with the gap narrowing at higher settings where the GPU becomes the limiting factor.

Q: Does the Ultra preset provide a good experience in this game?

A: Yes, but with caveats. At 1080p, the Ultra preset delivers 184 avg FPS, and at 1440p, it delivers 116 avg FPS. However, at 4K, the Ultra preset drops to 61 avg FPS, which is still playable but falls below the 64 avg FPS achieved at High settings, making High the better choice at that resolution.

Q: Which component appears to be the bottleneck at lower resolutions?

A: At 1080p, the frame rates are so high (386 avg FPS at Low) that the CPU is likely the primary limiter, as the RTX 5090’s raw power cannot be fully utilized. The Intel Core Ultra 7 265HX, with its 20 cores and 20 threads, has a significant workload pushing these high frame rates.

Q: What is the performance difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 244 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 116 FPS. This is a 128 FPS difference, or roughly 2.1x, showing that the Ultra preset demands substantially more from the GPU, but the combo still remains highly playable.

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

A: The combo ranks 547th out of 3002 tested combos, placing it in the top 18% of all configurations. This high ranking is consistent with the strong measured FPS results, which show the hardware handling even the most demanding settings at 1440p without issue.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear picture of which preset offers the best experience at each resolution. At 1920x1080, the High preset achieves 193 avg FPS, which is only 9 FPS less than the Ultra preset’s 184 avg FPS. The High preset is the better choice here, as the difference between High and Ultra is minimal, and High likely offers a more stable experience given the lower overhead. At 2560x1440, the High preset delivers 122 avg FPS, which is a smooth experience for most users. The Ultra preset at 116 avg FPS is also viable, but the 6 FPS difference does not justify the extra strain on the system. The Medium preset at 173 avg FPS is the standout option for 1440p, providing a significant boost over High while maintaining excellent fluidity.

At 3840x2160, the situation changes dramatically. The High preset averages 64 FPS, while the Ultra preset drops to 61 FPS. The Medium preset, with an average of 90 FPS and a minimum of 77 FPS, is the clear winner for 4K gaming. It offers a 26 FPS improvement over High and a 29 FPS improvement over Ultra, making it the only preset that consistently stays above 75 FPS at 4K. The Low preset at 127 FPS is also viable for competitive play, but it sacrifices visual quality. For the best overall experience balancing visuals and smoothness, the Medium preset at 1440p or 4K is recommended, while High at 1080p provides a near-Ultra experience with better stability.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265HX is a 20-core, 20-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake-HX architecture, with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. In Pc Building Simulator, this CPU is clearly a powerhouse, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 40642 and single-core score of 5737. The CPU’s 30 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB per-core L2 cache provide ample bandwidth for the simulation’s logic, which likely involves managing numerous system components and their interactions.

The data suggests that the CPU is the primary limiter at 1080p. With a 386 avg FPS at Low settings, the frame rate is so high that the GPU is likely idle waiting for the CPU to deliver draw calls. The CPU’s Passmark multi-thread score of 47985 and integer math score of 126954 indicate strong computational throughput, which is essential for a simulation game that must track every component’s state. The CPU’s 93rd percentile ranking among all CPUs further confirms its high-end status, with rivals like the Intel Core i7-13790F scoring nearly identically (deltaPct of 0.1). This means the 265HX is performing exactly as expected for its class, with no unusual bottlenecks in this game.

At 1440p and 4K, the CPU’s role shifts as the GPU becomes more involved. The 244 avg FPS at 1440p Low still suggests some CPU limitation, but the drop to 127 FPS at 4K Low indicates the GPU is starting to take over. The CPU’s single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 5737) is crucial for the game’s main thread, which handles simulation logic and input processing. The high boost clock of 5.30 GHz ensures that the CPU can keep up with the game’s demands, even when managing complex builds with multiple components.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265HX and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 547th out of 3002 tested combos in Pc Building Simulator, placing it in the top 18.2% of all configurations. This is a strong ranking, but not at the very top, which is surprising given the hardware’s power. The ranking suggests that there are 546 combos that perform better in this specific game, likely due to faster CPU or GPU configurations that can push even higher frame rates at 1080p.

The combo’s ranking is influenced by the game’s CPU-intensive nature at lower resolutions. While the RTX 5090 is a top-tier GPU (92nd percentile among all GPUs), the CPU’s 93rd percentile ranking is slightly lower, which may explain why the combo doesn’t crack the top 100. The nearest rivals to the CPU, such as the AMD Ryzen AI 7 450G (deltaPct -0.2) and the Intel Core Ultra 7 255HX (deltaPct 0.7), show that the 265HX is in a tight performance cluster, meaning even small differences in CPU performance can affect the overall combo ranking. The GPU’s nearest rivals, including the Tesla P100 (deltaPct 0.3) and RX 6850M XT (deltaPct 1.1), are also closely matched, suggesting that the combo’s performance is well-balanced but not exceptional enough to break into the elite tier.

For a simulation game that rewards high frame rates, the 547th ranking is respectable, but the data implies that a faster CPU, perhaps one with higher single-thread performance, could push this combo higher. The measured FPS at 1080p (386 avg at Low) is already very high, so the ranking is likely limited by the combo’s performance at 4K, where the GPU’s raw power is more critical.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is a massive GPU with 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. Its 21760 shading units and 680 TMUs provide immense raw compute power, as reflected in its Passmark G3D score of 39650 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 18355. In Pc Building Simulator, the GPU’s role is primarily to render the 3D environment and handle visual effects, which becomes more demanding at higher resolutions and settings.

At 4K, the GPU is clearly the limiting factor. The data shows that at 3840x2160, the frame rate drops from 127 FPS at Low to 61 FPS at Ultra, a 2.1x reduction. This is a classic GPU-bound scenario, where the GPU’s rendering workload scales with resolution and settings. The RTX 5090’s boost clock of 2407 MHz and base clock of 2017 MHz are high, but the game’s visual complexity at 4K Ultra is too much for even this GPU to maintain high frame rates. The GPU’s 92nd percentile ranking is strong, but the measured FPS at 4K Ultra (61 avg) shows that even the best GPUs struggle with the most demanding settings at 4K.

The GPU’s memory bandwidth (1.79 TB/s) and 32 GB capacity are more than sufficient for this game, even at 4K with high-resolution textures. The GPU’s compute performance (104.8 TFLOPS FP32) is likely underutilized, as Pc Building Simulator is not a graphically intense game compared to modern AAA titles. Instead, the GPU’s role is to provide smooth frame rates, which it does admirably at 1440p and below. At 1440p, the GPU delivers 244 FPS at Low and 116 FPS at Ultra, showing that it can handle the game’s demands easily. The GPU’s nearest rivals, such as the Tesla P100 (deltaPct 0.3) and RX 6850M XT (deltaPct 1.1), are much older or lower-tier cards, but they score similarly on benchmarks, indicating that the RTX 5090’s performance is well above average.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers exceptional frame rates across all settings. The Low preset averages 386 FPS, the Medium preset averages 274 FPS with a minimum of 233 and maximum of 315, the High preset averages 193 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 184 FPS. These numbers show that the combo can easily handle 1080p gaming with any setting, even pushing well beyond the refresh rates of most monitors. The minimum FPS at Medium (233) is still higher than the Ultra average, indicating that the game is highly playable at all times.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show more variance. The Low preset averages 244 FPS, the Medium preset averages 173 FPS with a minimum of 147 and maximum of 199, the High preset averages 122 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 116 FPS. The step-down from 1080p is noticeable, with the High preset dropping from 193 to 122 FPS, a 37% reduction. However, even the Ultra preset at 116 FPS is smooth, making 1440p a viable resolution for this combo without needing to compromise on settings.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates drop significantly. The Low preset averages 127 FPS, the Medium preset averages 90 FPS with a minimum of 77 and maximum of 104, the High preset averages 64 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 61 FPS. The 4K Ultra average of 61 FPS is just below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, while the High preset at 64 FPS is barely above it. The Medium preset is the only one that provides a comfortable margin, with its 90 FPS average and 77 FPS minimum ensuring a stable experience. The data clearly shows that 4K is the resolution where the GPU’s limits are reached, and users should prefer Medium settings to maintain fluidity.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals how the combo scales from 1080p to 4K, providing insight into the limiting component. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 386 at 1080p to 244 at 1440p, a 36.8% reduction, and then to 127 at 4K, a 67.1% reduction from 1080p. This scaling pattern is typical of a CPU-bound scenario at 1080p, where the GPU is not fully utilized. The 36.8% drop from 1080p to 1440p is less than the pixel count difference (2.25x more pixels), indicating that the CPU is still a bottleneck at 1440p.

At Ultra settings, the FPS drops from 184 at 1080p to 116 at 1440p, a 37.0% reduction, and then to 61 at 4K, a 66.8% reduction from 1080p. The scaling is similar to Low settings, but the absolute numbers are lower. The fact that the percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p is nearly identical across settings (37% for Low, 37% for High, 37% for Ultra) suggests that the CPU is the primary limiter at 1080p and 1440p, while the GPU becomes more influential at 4K.

The transition from 1440p to 4K shows a more dramatic drop. At Low settings, the FPS drops from 244 to 127, a 48.0% reduction, while at Ultra settings, it drops from 116 to 61, a 47.4% reduction. These drops are closer to the 2.25x pixel increase, indicating that the GPU is now the limiting factor. The data implies that the RTX 5090’s performance at 4K is the bottleneck, as the CPU has enough headroom to keep up with the lower frame rates. For users seeking the highest frame rates, 1080p is the best choice, but for a balanced experience, 1440p offers the best combination of visual quality and performance, with the GPU and CPU working in harmony.