Steamworld Build

The Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 69th out of 1,730 tested combinations in Steamworld Build. This places the combo in the top 4% of all tested configurations, a notable result given the substantial mismatch between the entry-level processor and the flagship graphics card. The ranking reflects a system that can deliver high frame rates but whose overall position in the database is moderated by CPU performance in a genre that typically relies heavily on single-threaded processing for simulation logic.

How This Combo Ranks

The 69th position out of 1,730 combos represents a strong overall showing, but the gap to the top is instructive. The data shows this pairing outperforms the vast majority of tested systems, yet it is not near the top tier where combinations of high-end CPUs and GPUs dominate. The i3-12100F’s average benchmark score of 13,516 places it in the 72nd percentile of all CPUs, while the RTX 4090 sits in the 91st percentile of all GPUs. This asymmetry — a top-tier GPU with a mid-tier CPU — explains why the combo does not crack the top 50. The benchmark results indicate that in Steamworld Build, the CPU’s 4 cores and 8 threads are sufficient to avoid severe bottlenecks, but the processor’s single-thread score of 893 in 3DMark and 1,681 in Cinebench R23 suggest it is not the limiting factor in most scenarios. Instead, the combo’s rank is lifted by the GPU’s immense raw compute, which allows for high average frame rates even when the CPU cannot fully feed it.

GPU Role

The RTX 4090’s 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s, which is critical for Steamworld Build’s texture-heavy city-building environments. The memory clock runs at 1313 MHz, translating to 21 Gbps effective, and the GPU’s base clock of 2235 MHz boosts to 2520 MHz. These clocks, combined with 16,384 shading units and 128 RT cores, give the card a Passmark G3D score of 38,194 and a Passmark GPU Compute score of 26,613. In this game, the GPU’s role is primarily to handle the rendering of complex scenes with many buildings and dynamic lighting. The data shows that at 1080p Ultra, the combo hits 169.5 FPS, which is nearly 3x the 57.1 FPS at 4K Ultra. This scaling suggests the GPU is heavily utilized at higher resolutions, but at 1080p, the CPU begins to assert its influence. The GPU’s 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is more than sufficient for a city builder, and the benchmark results confirm that the card is never the primary constraint at 1080p, where frame rates exceed 300 FPS on low settings.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling. At Low settings, the average frame rate drops from 304.5 FPS at 1080p to 260.2 FPS at 1440p, then to 145.5 FPS at 4K. This represents a 52% reduction from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the GPU’s rendering load scales as expected with pixel count. At Ultra settings, the drop is more pronounced: 169.5 FPS at 1080p falls to 109 FPS at 1440p and then to 57.1 FPS at 4K — a 66% reduction from 1080p to 4K. The larger relative drop at Ultra settings is because the additional visual effects (shadows, reflections, draw distance) increase the per-pixel cost, making the GPU the clear bottleneck at 4K. Conversely, at 1080p Low, the frame rate of 304.5 FPS suggests that the CPU is nearing its limit, as the GPU is so powerful it can render frames faster than the processor can issue draw calls. The data indicates that the i3-12100F’s 4 cores are the limiting factor at 1080p low settings, while the RTX 4090 becomes the sole constraint at 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data provides a complete picture across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers 304.5 FPS on Low, 275.2 FPS on Medium, 248 FPS on High, and 169.5 FPS on Ultra. The 135 FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is substantial, but even the Ultra result remains highly playable. Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates are 260.2 FPS (Low), 217.2 FPS (Medium), 159.9 FPS (High), and 109 FPS (Ultra). The 1440p Ultra result of 109 FPS is still above the 60 FPS threshold, but the drop from 169.5 FPS at 1080p Ultra to 109 FPS at 1440p Ultra shows a 36% reduction. At 3840x2160, the numbers become more moderate: 145.5 FPS (Low), 114.9 FPS (Medium), 86.4 FPS (High), and 57.1 FPS (Ultra). The 4K Ultra result of 57.1 FPS is just below the common 60 FPS target, making it the only setting-resolution combination in the entire dataset that does not exceed 60 FPS. The pattern is consistent: each resolution step up reduces performance by a similar percentage across settings, confirming that the GPU is the dominant factor in all measured scenarios except the lowest-load 1080p cases.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows suggest that for most users, the 1440p High preset offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, delivering 159.9 FPS. This is more than double the 60 FPS target and leaves ample headroom for drops during busy city simulations. At 4K, the High preset at 86.4 FPS is the recommended choice, as it stays well above 60 FPS while providing most of the visual benefits of the Ultra preset. The Ultra preset at 4K is the only configuration that dips below 60 FPS, and the 57.1 FPS average indicates that players on 4K displays should either drop to High or accept the slight compromise. Conversely, the Low preset at any resolution produces frame rates above 145 FPS, but the visual quality reduction is unnecessary given the GPU’s capability. The data shows that the Medium preset at 4K (114.9 FPS) is a viable alternative to High if texture quality is less important, but the High preset’s 86.4 FPS is still comfortably smooth and represents the best overall value in the measured dataset.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F is a 4-core, 8-thread processor from the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. Its 12 MB of shared L3 cache and 80 KB L1 cache per core are modest by modern standards, but the single-thread performance is respectable: the Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1,681 and the 3DMark single-thread score of 893 indicate that the CPU can handle the simulation logic that city builders depend on. The multi-thread results — Cinebench R23 multi-core of 11,912 and Passmark multithread of 14,015 — show that the processor’s 4 cores are not a major liability in this game, as Steamworld Build’s engine appears to scale reasonably well with the 8 threads. The combo’s performance at 1080p Low (304.5 FPS) is the clearest evidence of CPU limitation: the RTX 4090 is capable of far higher frame rates, but the i3-12100F cannot issue commands fast enough to exceed this ceiling. However, at 4K Ultra, the CPU’s role diminishes, and the GPU becomes the bottleneck. The benchmark results indicate that the i3-12100F is a sufficient pairing for this game at 1440p and below, but users seeking absolute maximum frame rates at 1080p would benefit from a higher-core-count processor. The CPU’s 72nd percentile ranking among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 13,516, places it just 0.1% behind the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX (13,534) and 0.4% ahead of the Intel Core i7-1250U (13,462), though these rivals are not directly comparable in gaming workloads.