Steamworld Build

Steamworld Build is a city builder that typically does not demand extreme hardware, yet the measured data for this specific pairing reveals a heavily GPU-bound experience with significant variability across settings. The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F provides a high-end foundation, but the Intel Arc B390, functioning as an integrated GPU with system-shared memory, becomes the decisive factor in determining playability. Benchmark results indicate that the choice of graphics preset is not merely a visual preference but a binary switch between a fluid simulation and a stuttering slideshow.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data across the four presets and three resolutions provides a clear hierarchy for the best experience. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 106 FPS, which is the highest score recorded for this combo. This setting offers a decisive performance advantage, being 31% faster than the Medium preset’s 81 FPS and 76% faster than the High preset’s 60 FPS. For players prioritizing a consistently smooth simulation, the Low preset at 1080p is the only configuration that approaches the high refresh rate territory, ensuring that city management actions remain responsive.

The Medium preset at 2560x1440 yields an average of 51 FPS, with a minimum of 44 FPS and a maximum of 59 FPS. This represents a functional middle ground for users with 1440p displays, as it maintains a playable frame rate above the 30 FPS threshold while offering more visual fidelity than Low. However, the data shows that 1440p High drops to 38 FPS, and 4K High plunges to 20 FPS, making these presets unsuitable for a genre that benefits from steady camera panning and zooming.

For the highest visual quality, the Ultra preset is the only option, but it comes at a severe cost: 41 FPS at 1080p, 26 FPS at 1440p, and 14 FPS at 4K. These figures are below the playable threshold for a real-time strategy title, where rapid input and clear visual feedback are essential. Based on the measured rows, the optimal experience is achieved by selecting Low at 1080p for maximum fluidity, or Medium at 1440p for a balanced compromise between visual fidelity and performance. The data strongly suggests avoiding High and Ultra settings unless the user is willing to accept sub-30 FPS performance.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achievable with this hardware combination?

A: The maximum recorded average FPS is 106, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset. This is significantly higher than the next best score of 81 FPS at the Medium preset.

Q: Can this setup handle 4K resolution in Steamworld Build?

A: The data indicates that 4K performance is poor across all settings. The highest 4K average is 35 FPS on Low, but this drops to 27 FPS on Medium, 20 FPS on High, and 14 FPS on Ultra. These results suggest that 4K is not a viable resolution for smooth gameplay with this combo.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 1440p on the High preset?

A: At the High preset, the average FPS drops from 60 at 1920x1080 to 38 at 2560x1440. This represents a 37% reduction in frame rate, indicating that the GPU is heavily taxed by the increased pixel count.

Q: Is there a significant difference between the Low and Medium presets at 1440p?

A: Yes, the gap is substantial. The Low preset averages 67 FPS, while the Medium preset averages 51 FPS. This 24% difference suggests that the Medium preset’s additional visual effects have a notable impact on the integrated GPU’s workload.

Q: What are the minimum recorded frame rates on the Medium preset?

A: The measured minimum FPS for the Medium preset is 69 at 1080p, 44 at 1440p, and 23 at 4K. These minimums show that even the Medium preset can experience significant frame drops at higher resolutions, potentially causing stutter during complex city scenes.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to Low in terms of raw performance at 1080p?

A: The Ultra preset averages 41 FPS, which is 61% slower than the Low preset’s 106 FPS. This massive performance penalty makes Ultra the least efficient choice for this GPU, as it provides diminishing visual returns for a halving of frame rate.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is the primary bottleneck in this configuration. Its specifications, including a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz, are typical for an integrated graphics solution, but its memory configuration of "System Shared" and "System Dependent" bandwidth creates a severe limitation. The GPU has 1536 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 24 ROPs, which are modest numbers for handling the draw calls and asset streaming required by a city builder as the population grows.

The benchmark data for the GPU shows a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482, placing it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are all legacy NVIDIA parts, such as the GeForce GT 520MX (scoring 1463, a 1.3% delta) and the GeForce GT 710 (scoring 1443, a 2.7% delta). This places the Arc B390 in a performance tier that is fundamentally unsuited for high-fidelity 3D rendering. In Steamworld Build, this translates to the observed frame rates: the GPU struggles to maintain playable FPS at 1080p High (60 FPS), and its performance collapses at 4K, where even the Low preset only manages 35 FPS.

The 7.680 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power is theoretically capable, but the shared memory bandwidth and the lack of dedicated VRAM (using "System Shared" memory) severely hamper texture throughput. This is evident in the scaling between presets; dropping from High to Low at 4K improves performance by 75% (from 20 to 35 FPS), showing that the GPU is starved for memory bandwidth when handling higher-quality textures. The data suggests that the Arc B390 is a capable iGPU for office tasks or light 2D workloads, but for a 3D city builder like Steamworld Build, it requires the lowest settings to function adequately.

How This Combo Ranks

In the comprehensive database of tested hardware combinations for Steamworld Build, this pairing of the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and Intel Arc B390 ranks 2573rd out of 2924 combos. This places it in the bottom 12% of all tested systems, indicating that while the CPU is powerful, the GPU drags the overall experience down to a low tier. This ranking is a direct consequence of the GPU’s 9th percentile standing among all GPUs, which severely caps the system’s potential.

The CPU’s own performance metrics are excellent; it scores in the 94th percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 69996. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (scoring 69875, with a delta of -0.2%) and the Intel Core i7-14700KF (scoring 70163, with a delta of 0.2%), showing that the 9700F is competitively placed among high-end desktop processors. However, in a game like Steamworld Build, the CPU’s strong single-threaded and multithreaded capabilities (scores of 4691 and 36470 respectively) cannot compensate for the GPU’s inability to render frames quickly. The combo rank of 2573 reflects the reality that the system is only as strong as its weakest link, and here, the Intel Arc B390 is the limiting factor. Users with this combo should expect performance on par with systems using discrete GPUs from over a decade ago, based on the rival comparisons for the graphics card.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a predictable and steep decline in performance as resolution increases, confirming that the GPU is the primary limiting component. At the Low preset, the average FPS drops from 106 at 1080p to 67 at 1440p, a 37% decrease. Moving further to 4K, the average FPS falls to 35, representing a 67% drop from the 1080p baseline. This scaling is indicative of a GPU that is saturated by pixel fill-rate demands.

At the Medium preset, the trend continues: 81 FPS at 1080p drops to 51 FPS at 1440p (a 37% decrease) and then to 27 FPS at 4K (a 67% decrease from 1080p). The consistency of these percentage drops across Low and Medium presets suggests that the GPU’s rendering pipeline is uniformly stressed by the increasing number of pixels. The High preset shows a similar pattern, with 60 FPS at 1080p falling to 38 FPS at 1440p and 20 FPS at 4K.

These results point squarely at the Intel Arc B390 as the bottleneck. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect to see less severe FPS drops when increasing resolution, as the CPU’s workload (game logic, simulation) remains constant. Instead, the halving of frame rates at each resolution step (e.g., from 60 to 38 to 20 on High) demonstrates that the GPU’s fill rate and memory bandwidth are exhausted. The CPU, with its 8 cores and 16 threads, is likely idle waiting for the GPU to complete its frame rendering tasks.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured data provides a detailed view of the system’s capabilities. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 106 FPS, which is the peak performance for this combo. The Medium preset averages 81 FPS, with a minimum of 69 and a maximum of 93, showing a relatively stable range. High averages 60 FPS, and Ultra averages 41 FPS. This resolution is the only one where the system can deliver a consistently smooth experience, but only on the Low and Medium presets.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 67 FPS, which is still playable. Medium averages 51 FPS, with a minimum of 44 and a maximum of 59, indicating some stutter potential during intense scenes. High drops to 38 FPS, and Ultra falls to 26 FPS, making these presets marginal or unplayable. The data suggests that 1440p is only viable with Low or Medium settings.

At 3840x2160, performance is severely limited across all settings. Low averages 35 FPS, which is borderline playable for a city builder but not ideal. Medium averages 27 FPS, with a minimum of 23 and a maximum of 31, indicating frequent dips below the playable threshold. High averages 20 FPS, and Ultra averages 14 FPS, making both presets effectively unplayable. The 4K results confirm that this resolution is beyond the capabilities of the Intel Arc B390 in this title.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F is a high-end desktop processor based on the Zen 5 architecture, featuring 8 cores and 16 threads. Its base clock is 3.80 GHz, and it boosts up to 5.50 GHz, providing substantial processing power for game logic and simulation calculations. The CPU’s benchmark scores are strong, with a multithread score of 36470 and a single-thread score of 4691, placing it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs. Its L3 cache is 32 MB shared, which aids in keeping frequently accessed data close to the cores.

In Steamworld Build, a city builder, the CPU is responsible for simulating the population, resource flows, and AI behaviors. The 9700F’s 16 threads are well-suited for handling these parallel tasks, and its high boost clock ensures that single-threaded operations, such as UI responsiveness, remain snappy. However, the measured FPS data shows that the CPU’s potential is largely untapped. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 106 FPS, but this is likely limited by the GPU’s rendering speed, not the CPU’s simulation speed.

The CPU’s nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i7-14700K (scoring 69355, a 0.9% delta) and the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (scoring 69515, a 0.7% delta), show that the 9700F is competitively matched with other top-tier processors. In a system with a more powerful discrete GPU, this CPU would likely allow for much higher frame rates in Steamworld Build. However, with the Intel Arc B390, the CPU’s role is diminished to feeding a GPU that cannot keep up, resulting in the low combo rank and poor high-resolution performance observed in the data.