Steamworld Build

Steamworld Build, a city builder from late 2023, presents an interesting scaling profile for the AMD Ryzen 5 8400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 combination. The data shows this pairing is exceptionally powerful for this title, but the bottlenecks shift dramatically depending on the resolution and settings. At 1080p, the system is heavily CPU-bound, delivering frame rates well beyond what most displays can handle, while at 4K Ultra, the GPU becomes the primary limiter, with performance dropping to more moderate levels. This analysis breaks down the measured performance to explain where the limits lie and how to get the best experience.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial, but the pattern reveals a classic shift in system balance. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 228 FPS at 1920x1080 to 145 FPS at 2560x1440, a 36% reduction, and then to 77 FPS at 3840x2160, a 47% reduction from 1440p. This steep decline indicates that the RTX 4080 is being increasingly taxed as pixel count rises, but the absolute numbers at 1440p and 1080p suggest the CPU is holding things back at lower resolutions.

The most telling data point for CPU limitation is the Low preset. At 1080p Low, the system hits 327 FPS average. At 1440p Low, it still manages 253 FPS. These are extraordinarily high numbers for a city builder, where simulation logic often creates a CPU bottleneck. The fact that the 1080p Low score is only 23% higher than the 1440p Low score, despite a 78% increase in pixel count, strongly suggests that the Ryzen 5 8400F's six cores are maxing out before the GPU can be fully utilized at these lower resolutions.

The scaling from 1440p to 4K is where the GPU takes over. At High settings, moving from 1440p to 4K cuts performance by 47%, which is a larger relative drop than the 36% seen from 1080p to 1440p. This progressive increase in the performance penalty per pixel indicates that the RTX 4080's rendering capabilities are becoming the limiting factor at 4K. The gap between Low and Ultra settings at 4K is also revealing: 134 FPS at Low versus 52 FPS at Ultra is a 61% performance swing, showing that the GPU is highly sensitive to the graphical workload at this resolution.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, appears to be the limiting component at 1080p and, to a lesser extent, 1440p. Its boost clock of 4.70 GHz and base clock of 4.20 GHz provide solid single-thread performance, which is critical for the simulation and AI logic in city builders. The benchmark data supports this, showing a single-thread score of 951 in 3dmark and 3685 in Passmark. However, the multi-threaded scores, such as 6165 in 3dmark_max_threads and 24389 in Passmark, are moderate, suggesting that while the CPU is capable, it does not have the raw multi-core horsepower to feed the RTX 4080 at very high frame rates.

The evidence for a CPU bottleneck is clear when comparing the 1080p Low and 1080p Medium scores. The jump from Low to Medium only reduces performance from 327 FPS to 297 FPS, a modest 9% drop. This is a smaller penalty than what is seen at higher resolutions, where the GPU is doing more work. If the GPU were the sole limiter at 1080p, the difference between Low and Medium would be larger. Instead, the relatively small drop indicates that the CPU is struggling to keep up with the frame generation demands, regardless of the graphical load.

The CPU's position relative to its peers reinforces this analysis. In the database, the Ryzen 5 8400F scores 25005 on average, placing it in the 77th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F, scores 24964, a negligible 0.2% difference. This means the 8400F's performance is typical for its class. It is not a weak processor, but it is not a high-end, many-core monster like an EPYC or a top-tier Intel chip. For Steamworld Build, this means frame rates are capped at around 300 FPS in the most favorable conditions, but the experience remains smooth and highly playable.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance on the optimal settings for this hardware combination. For players with a 60 Hz or 144 Hz display, the High preset at 1440p is the sweet spot. The average frame rate of 145 FPS at 2560x1440 High exceeds the refresh rate of most monitors, providing a responsive and visually rich experience. The jump to Ultra at 1440p drops the average to 98 FPS, which is still playable but sacrifices some smoothness for marginal visual gains.

At 4K, the choice is more nuanced. The High preset delivers 77 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for a good experience but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes. The Medium preset at 4K offers 102 FPS average, which is a significant improvement, but the measured minimum of 87 FPS indicates there could be occasional stutters. For the best balance of visual fidelity and performance at 4K, the data suggests that High is the maximum viable setting, as Ultra drops to 52 FPS, which is below the standard 60 FPS target.

For players prioritizing maximum frame rates at 1080p, the Medium preset is the recommended choice. It provides a 297 FPS average with a minimum of 252 FPS, ensuring a consistently smooth experience on high-refresh-rate monitors. The Low preset offers 327 FPS, but the visual quality penalty is not worth the 10% performance gain. The Ultra preset at 1080p, while hitting 154 FPS, still benefits from the CPU limit, but the visual uplift over High is less impactful at this resolution. The data indicates that High settings at 1440p provides the best overall experience, balancing the GPU load and CPU capability perfectly.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand scheme of tested combinations, this pairing of the Ryzen 5 8400F and RTX 4080 is a strong performer. The combo rank for Steamworld Build is 271 out of 3706 tested combinations, placing it in the top 7.3% of all systems. This high rank is expected, given the RTX 4080's position as a top-tier GPU, but it also confirms that the CPU is not a significant drag on overall performance in this title.

The rank indicates that while the CPU is a bottleneck at lower resolutions, the overall system performance is still excellent. The 271st place out of 3706 means there are 270 combinations that perform better, likely featuring more powerful CPUs like the Ryzen 7 or Intel Core i7/i9 series. However, the vast majority of systems tested will perform worse than this combo. The high rank confirms the fact that, for a city builder, the RTX 4080's raw power is sufficient to overcome the CPU's limitations in most scenarios.

The GPU's own ranking reinforces this. The RTX 4080 sits in the 86th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54247. Its nearest rival, the RTX 4080 SUPER, scores 54209, a 0.1% difference, showing that the 4080 is essentially at the top of its class. The combination of a top-14% GPU with a top-23% CPU results in a system that is well-balanced for most games, but the data shows that Steamworld Build is particularly sensitive to CPU performance at high frame rates.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is the dominant component in this pairing for graphical fidelity. With 16 GB of GDDR6X memory and a 256-bit memory bus providing 716.8 GB/s of bandwidth, the GPU has ample resources to handle the detailed textures and complex scenes of Steamworld Build at high resolutions. The boost clock of 2505 MHz and the Ada Lovelace architecture with 9728 shading units ensure that the GPU is never the primary bottleneck except at the most demanding settings.

The data shows that the RTX 4080's performance is consistent with its specifications. At 4K Ultra, the average frame rate of 52 FPS is a direct reflection of the GPU's rendering load. The drop from 77 FPS at 4K High to 52 FPS at 4K Ultra is a 32% penalty, which is substantial and indicates that the Ultra preset includes effects that heavily tax the GPU, such as advanced shadows and ambient occlusion. The 16 GB VRAM is more than sufficient for this title at any resolution, so memory capacity is not a limiting factor.

The GPU's role becomes more apparent when comparing the 1440p and 4K results. At 1440p High, the system achieves 145 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's maximum output. At 4K High, the frame rate drops to 77 FPS, a 47% reduction. This shows that the GPU is scaling with resolution as expected, and its performance is the primary driver of the frame rate at 4K. The RTX 4080's strong showing in synthetic benchmarks, such as a Passmark G3D score of 34457, confirms its high-end positioning, but the real-world results in Steamworld Build show a capable but not unlimited GPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured frame rates provides a detailed picture of the system's behavior. At 1920x1080, the system delivers exceptional performance across all presets. The Low preset hits 327 FPS average, Medium achieves 297 FPS with a minimum of 252 and maximum of 342, High reaches 228 FPS, and Ultra drops to 154 FPS. These numbers are all well above the refresh rate of typical monitors, making 1080p a resolution where the CPU is the clear limiting factor.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains very strong. Low averages 253 FPS, Medium averages 194 FPS with a minimum of 165 and maximum of 223, High averages 145 FPS, and Ultra averages 98 FPS. The 1440p results show a more balanced system, where the GPU is starting to take on a larger share of the workload. The Medium preset's minimum of 165 FPS ensures a consistently smooth experience, even in busy scenes.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the dominant factor. Low averages 134 FPS, Medium averages 102 FPS with a minimum of 87 and maximum of 118, High averages 77 FPS, and Ultra averages 52 FPS. The 4K results demonstrate the RTX 4080's capability, but also its limits. The Ultra preset's 52 FPS average is below the 60 FPS target, making it a less desirable choice. Overall, the data shows that this combination is best suited for 1440p gaming, where it can maintain high frame rates with high visual quality, while 4K requires a trade-off between fidelity and smoothness.