Steamworld Build

This combo, pairing the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, delivers a fundamentally balanced 1080p and 1440p experience in Steamworld Build, with 4K Ultra demanding more than the GPU can comfortably sustain. The data shows the combination ranks 767th out of 1730 tested combos, placing it in the upper-middle tier of the database, and it clears the 60 FPS threshold at both 1080p and 1440p on High settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 767 out of 1730 tested configurations places it in the 44th percentile of all CPU-GPU pairings tested for Steamworld Build. This is not a top-tier enthusiast setup, but it sits comfortably above the median, which is consistent with its component mix: a high-endzen 4 CPU paired with a mid-range Ampere GPU. Ranking context matters here because the CPU is rated at the 91st percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU is at the 72nd percentile among all GPUs. That gap suggests the GPU is the more restrictive half of this pairing in this title.

Benchmark results indicate the CPU is a strong performer relative to its immediate rivals. Its average benchmark score of 40468 is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 9 7940H, which scores 40431, a difference of just 0.1%. It also edges out the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 by 0.5% (40262) and the Intel Core Ultra 5 235T by 1.2% (39995). However, the Intel Core i9-13905H comes out 0.6% ahead with a score of 40712. So, while the Ryzen 7 7700 is not the absolute leader in its immediate comparison group, the margins are razor-thin, all within a 1.8% band. In gameplay, this means CPU performance will rarely be the deciding factor between these chips.

The GPU’s standing among its rivals is less impressive. Its average benchmark score of 28238 is 0.6% behind the AMD FirePro S7150 (28409) and 1.1% behind the AMD Radeon R9 M295X (28541). It is 0.9% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT (27985) and 1% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (27956). These are all older or lower-tier cards, indicating the RTX 3070’s position has been supplanted by newer parts, but in this specific game, the measured FPS data shows it still delivers playable results at most settings.

GPU Role

The RTX 3070 is built on the Ampere architecture with an 8 nm process and uses the GA104 chip. It carries 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. The memory clock runs at 1750 MHz, translating to 14 Gbps effective. These memory specs are critical for Steamworld Build because city builders often involve large, detailed maps with many objects, which can stress memory bandwidth when zoomed out.

The GPU’s base clock is 1500 MHz, with a boost clock of 1725 MHz. It has 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units. The compute capabilities are substantial for its class: 20.31 TFLOPS for FP32 operations and a pixel rate of 165.6 GPixel/s. The texture rate is 317.4 GTexel/s. These specifications translate into the measured frame rates, where the GPU shows a clear pattern: at 1080p High, it delivers 146.6 FPS, but at 4K Ultra, it drops to 34.5 FPS.

The data indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 254.9 FPS, showing the CPU’s ability to feed the GPU is not a bottleneck at lower loads. The GPU’s percentile rank of 72 and its relatively low scores in newer API benchmarks like 3DMark Steel Nomad (3162) suggest it is better suited to the DirectX 11-style workloads that city builders often rely on, rather than the most demanding modern DX12 titles.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a predictable resolution scaling pattern, with performance dropping as pixel count rises. At High settings, the average FPS goes from 146.6 at 1080p, to 92 at 1440p, and down to 49.1 at 4K. This represents a 37% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 47% drop from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is not perfectly linear, which suggests that at 4K, the GPU is becoming increasingly saturated.

Looking at the Low settings results, the pattern is steeper. The combo produces 254.9 FPS at 1080p, 161.9 FPS at 1440p, and 85.5 FPS at 4K. The 4K Low result being above 60 FPS shows the GPU’s raw compute power is sufficient for the game’s lighter visual loads. However, at Ultra settings, the story changes. The FPS drops from 96.8 at 1080p, to 65.9 at 1440p, and finally to 34.5 at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is less than half of the 1080p Ultra result, indicating a significant bandwidth or compute limitation.

The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is stark: 85.5 FPS versus 34.5 FPS, a 60% performance hit. This suggests that the game’s Ultra settings introduce effects that are particularly taxing on the RTX 3070’s 8 GB frame buffer and memory subsystem. In contrast, at 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 254.9 FPS versus 96.8 FPS, showing that the CPU can keep up, but the GPU’s fill rate and shading power are the primary constraints as settings increase.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and setting combination for a smooth 60 FPS experience?

A: The data shows the combo achieves 60 FPS or above at 1440p Ultra (65.9 FPS) and at 1080p Ultra (96.8 FPS). For 4K, High settings are the only option, yielding 49.1 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the CPU performance compare to its closest rivals?

A: The Ryzen 7 7700’s average benchmark score of 40468 places it 0.1% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 7940H and 0.5% ahead of the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365, but it trails the Intel Core i9-13905H by 0.6%.

Q: Is the GPU a bottleneck at 4K resolution?

A: Yes, the data indicates this. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 34.5, and at 4K High it is 49.1. Even at 4K Low, the score of 85.5 FPS is significantly lower than the 254.9 FPS seen at 1080p Low, suggesting the GPU’s memory bandwidth and compute are limiting factors.

Q: What is the GPU’s memory configuration, and does it matter for this game?

A: The RTX 3070 has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth. This matters because the large performance drop from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings (96.8 to 34.5 FPS) suggests the memory capacity and bandwidth are stressed at higher resolutions.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 767th out of 1730 tested combinations for Steamworld Build, placing it in the upper-middle segment of the database.

Q: What are the CPU’s core and thread counts, and how does that affect performance?

A: The Ryzen 7 7700 has 8 cores and 16 threads. This is sufficient for the game, as evidenced by the high frame rates at 1080p Low (254.9 FPS), which suggests the CPU is not a limiting factor in less demanding scenes.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700 is an 8-core, 16-thread processor from the 7000 series, built on the Zen 4 architecture with a 5 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and a shared 32 MB L3 cache. This configuration is well-suited for a city builder like Steamworld Build, which often involves complex simulations and pathfinding that can utilize multiple threads.

The CPU’s benchmark scores reflect its strong multi-threaded performance. It scores 29302 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 12306 in Cinebench R20 multicore. Single-thread performance is also solid, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4136. These scores are relevant because Steamworld Build’s frame rate at lower resolutions often depends on the CPU’s ability to process game logic and draw calls. The measured 1080p Low FPS of 254.9 shows the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU far more frames than it can render at higher settings.

In the context of its nearest rivals, the Ryzen 7 7700’s average benchmark score of 40468 is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 9 7940H (40431), which is a mobile chip. This indicates that in a desktop setup, the Ryzen 7 7700 provides comparable computational throughput. The CPU’s percentile rank of 91 among all CPUs means it outperforms the vast majority of processors in the database, and the data shows that in this specific game, the CPU is not the bottleneck at any resolution, as evidenced by the consistent frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K being driven primarily by GPU load.