Steamworld Build

Steamworld Build pairs a 6-core, 12-thread AMD Ryzen 5 5600 with Intel’s Arc B570, a 10 GB GDDR6 graphics card built on the Xe2-HPG architecture. This combination lands in the 79th percentile of all tested combos for this city builder, ranking 2320 out of 2924. The measured frame rates show a clear pattern: the system is capable of strong 1080p performance, adequate 1440p playability, and only marginal 4K results. The CPU’s Zen 3 architecture and the GPU’s 2.5 GHz boost clock work together in a way that favors lower resolutions, where the 162 fps peak at 1080p Low demonstrates the pairing’s headroom.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Steamworld Build?

A: Based on the measured FPS data, 1920x1080 is the strongest resolution, with average frame rates ranging from 63 fps at Ultra settings to 162 fps at Low. At 2560x1440, the average drops to between 40 fps (Ultra) and 103 fps (Low), while 3840x2160 only reaches 55 fps at Low and falls to 21 fps at Ultra.

Q: How does the Arc B570’s memory configuration affect gameplay?

A: The GPU features 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus, delivering 380.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This capacity is sufficient for the textures used at 1080p and 1440p, as evidenced by the playable frame rates, but the 4K Ultra result of 21 fps suggests the memory bandwidth or capacity becomes a limiting factor at higher resolutions.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 5600 a bottleneck for the Arc B570?

A: The data does not indicate a significant CPU bottleneck at lower settings. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 162 fps, which is well above typical display refresh rates. The CPU’s 3.50 GHz base and 4.40 GHz boost clocks, combined with 32 MB of shared L3 cache, provide adequate single-thread performance for this genre, as shown by the Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2584.

Q: What settings preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance?

A: The Medium preset at 2560x1440 provides the most balanced experience, with an average of 79 fps and a minimum of 67 fps. This is the only preset/resolution combination with both a high average and a recorded minimum frame rate above 60 fps, indicating consistent performance.

Q: How does this combo rank relative to other tested configurations?

A: It ranks 2320 out of 2924 tested combos for Steamworld Build, placing it in the lower 21% of configurations. This is primarily due to the 4K results, where even the best settings only produce 55 fps average, pulling down the overall rank despite strong 1080p performance.

Q: Does the Arc B570 support modern graphics APIs needed for this game?

A: Yes, the GPU supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), Vulkan 1.4, and OpenGL 4.6. DirectX 12 is the relevant API for this title, and the PassMark DirectX 12 score of 72 indicates functional but not exceptional performance in this metric.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 2320 out of 2924 in Steamworld Build places it in the 79.4th percentile, meaning roughly one in five tested configurations performs worse. This is a modest result for a pairing that includes a CPU in the 74th percentile overall and a GPU in the 65th percentile. The discrepancy between component percentiles and the combo’s in-game rank suggests that Steamworld Build’s specific workload does not scale perfectly with these parts.

Examining the measured FPS data reveals why the rank is not higher. The 4K results are weak: 31 fps at High, 42 fps at Medium, and 21 fps at Ultra. These sub-30 and sub-45 frame rates drag down the overall score. At 1440p, the results are more respectable, with 59 fps at High and 79 fps at Medium, but the Ultra preset falls to 40 fps. Only at 1080p does the combo show clear strength, with 93 fps at High and 124 fps at Medium. The rank reflects this uneven performance profile, where the system excels at lower resolutions but fails to maintain playability at 4K.

The nearest rivals for the CPU, such as the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V (0.1% higher average score) and the AMD Ryzen 5 8500G (0.2% higher), show that the 5600 is competitively positioned in synthetic tests. Similarly, the Arc B570’s nearest GPU rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (0.1% higher) and the Intel Arc A750 (0.1% lower). These close margins in synthetic benchmarks do not translate into a high in-game rank, indicating that Steamworld Build’s engine has specific bottlenecks that neither component fully overcomes.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570 is the primary determinant of frame rates in this combo, especially at higher resolutions. Its 10 GB GDDR6 memory and 380.0 GB/s bandwidth provide the data throughput needed for city-building textures, but the 160-bit bus is narrower than what high-end cards use, which likely contributes to the 4K performance drop. The GPU’s 2500 MHz base and boost clocks are identical, indicating a fixed operating point that does not scale with thermal headroom.

The GPU’s architecture, Xe2-HPG on a 5 nm process, includes 2304 shading units and 80 ROPs. The pixel rate of 200.0 GPixel/s and texture rate of 360.0 GTexel/s are modest figures. In Steamworld Build, which relies on drawing many small objects like buildings and terrain details, the 80 ROPs become a limiting factor at 4K. The measured FPS data supports this: at 3840x2160, the difference between Low (55 fps) and Ultra (21 fps) is a 62% drop, a larger relative decrease than at 1080p, where Low (162 fps) to Ultra (63 fps) is a 61% drop in absolute terms but similar relative reduction.

The GPU’s PassMark G3D score of 14195 places it in the 65th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Arc A750, scores only 0.1% higher, indicating close generational performance. The Arc B570’s 11.52 TFLOPS FP32 compute is sufficient for this game’s DirectX 12 workload, but the memory bandwidth of 380.0 GB/s appears to be the ceiling for 4K performance, as the 31 fps average at High shows the card struggling to feed the render pipeline at that pixel count.

Settings Recommendations

For the best measured experience, the Medium preset at 2560x1440 is the clear choice. It delivers an average of 79 fps with a minimum of 67 fps and a maximum of 91 fps. This is the only preset across all resolutions that maintains a minimum frame rate above 60 fps, which is critical for a city builder where camera pans and zoom operations need to stay smooth. The 1440p Medium setting also leaves headroom for occasional simulation spikes, as the 67 fps minimum is only 12 fps below the average.

At 1080p, the High preset offers a robust 93 fps average, but no minimum frame rate is recorded for this setting. The Medium preset at 1080p provides a recorded minimum of 106 fps, which is more reassuring for consistency, though the 124 fps average is higher than necessary for most displays. If a user has a 144 Hz monitor, the 1080p Low setting’s 162 fps average would be the target, but this sacrifices visual quality for frame rate that exceeds what the genre typically requires.

For 4K, none of the presets are ideal. The Low preset’s 55 fps average is the only playable option, but the Medium preset’s 42 fps and High preset’s 31 fps would likely feel sluggish. The Ultra preset’s 21 fps is unplayable. Given that the 1440p Medium is the only preset with a recorded minimum frame rate above 60 fps, it stands out as the optimal balance of visual fidelity and performance stability.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo demonstrates its strongest performance. The Low preset achieves an average of 162 fps, which is the highest recorded value across all resolutions. Medium drops to 124 fps with a minimum of 106 and maximum of 143. High produces 93 fps, while Ultra falls to 63 fps. These numbers show a consistent scaling pattern, with each preset tier reducing frame rate by roughly 30-40 fps.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance drops notably. Low yields 103 fps, a 36% decrease from 1080p Low. Medium provides 79 fps with a minimum of 67 and maximum of 91, making it the most consistent high-refresh option. High achieves 59 fps, just below the 60 fps threshold, and Ultra drops to 40 fps. The transition from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 40-60% of the frame rate, depending on the preset.

At 3840x2160, the results are marginal. Low produces 55 fps, which is playable but not smooth. Medium delivers 42 fps with a minimum of 35 and maximum of 48, indicating significant frame time variance. High falls to 31 fps, and Ultra bottoms out at 21 fps. The 4K results show a clear ceiling: the GPU cannot maintain 60 fps at any preset, and only the Low setting stays above 30 fps consistently.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600 provides the computational foundation for this combo. Its 6 cores and 12 threads, based on Zen 3 architecture, are well-suited for Steamworld Build’s simulation logic, which typically runs on a few threads. The CPU’s 3.50 GHz base clock and 4.40 GHz boost clock offer sufficient single-thread performance, as reflected in the Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2584 and Geekbench single-core score of 1936.

The CPU’s cache hierarchy—64 KB L1 per core, 512 KB L2 per core, and 32 MB shared L3—helps reduce memory latency for the frequent small data accesses common in city builders. The 3DMark single-thread score of 882 and 2-thread score of 1737 indicate that the CPU can handle the main game thread plus auxiliary tasks. In contrast, the 3DMark 16-thread score of 5641 and max-thread score of 5659 show that scaling beyond 8 threads provides minimal gains, which is typical for this genre.

Comparing to its nearest rivals, the Ryzen 5 5600’s average benchmark score of 20468 is nearly identical to the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V (20454, 0.1% higher) and the AMD Ryzen 5 8500G (20425, 0.2% higher). This suggests that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this combo, as its synthetic performance is competitive. The CPU’s passmark single-thread score of 3256 further confirms its adequate single-core capability for the game’s main loop. At 1080p Low, where the GPU is less stressed, the CPU still allows 162 fps, indicating it is not holding back the system at lower resolutions. However, at 4K, the CPU’s role diminishes, and the GPU’s memory bandwidth becomes the primary constraint, as shown by the 21 fps Ultra result.