Steamworld Build

Steamworld Build is a city builder that leans heavily on simulation logic, and the data for the Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the Intel Arc B370 shows a combination that is severely constrained by the graphics solution at higher resolutions. The measured frames per second across the board indicate that this is not a combo for high-refresh or high-detail play, but the scaling pattern reveals exactly where the bottleneck lives and what settings can salvage a playable experience.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and tells a clear story about the limiting component in this system. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 95 FPS at 1920x1080 to 61 FPS at 2560x1440, then to 32 FPS at 3840x2160. That is a 66% reduction from 1080p to 4K, which is far steeper than what a CPU-bound scenario would produce. The Arc B370 is clearly the choke point here, as the simulation workload of a city builder does not typically scale that aggressively with pixel count unless the GPU is overwhelmed.

The pattern holds across all quality presets. At Medium settings, the average drops from 73 FPS at 1080p to 46 FPS at 1440p, and then to 25 FPS at 4K. At High settings, the numbers are 55 FPS, 35 FPS, and 18 FPS respectively. The Ultra preset is essentially unplayable above 1080p, with 37 FPS at 1080p, 23 FPS at 1440p, and just 12 FPS at 4K. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is particularly brutal, with the average frame rate often halving or nearly halving, which indicates that the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth (both system shared) are simply insufficient for 4K output.

What this means practically is that 4K is not a viable target for this combo under any settings. Even Low at 4K only manages 32 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth city-building interaction. The 1440p resolution is borderline, with Low hitting 61 FPS and Medium at 46 FPS, but anything above Medium falls into the low 30s or worse. The data suggests that the i5-10400F has enough headroom to feed the GPU at 1080p, but as resolution climbs, the Arc B370's limitations dominate the frame rate curve.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370 is a low-power integrated graphics solution, with a 25 W TDP and a base clock of 300 MHz that boosts to 2400 MHz. Its memory is system shared, meaning it draws from the same DDR4 pool as the CPU, with bandwidth described as "system dependent." The GPU has 1280 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 20 raster output units, which are modest numbers for any gaming workload. The measured benchmark score for this GPU is 1184 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, placing it in the 5th percentile of all GPUs.

The nearest rivals in the database underscore its position: the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 scores 1186 (a -0.2% delta), the ATI Radeon HD 5770 scores 1190 (-0.5%), and the AMD Radeon HD 7650M scores 1192 (-0.7%). The AMD FirePro M2000 is slightly slower at 1168, which is a 1.4% delta. This places the Arc B370 squarely in the company of decade-old discrete GPUs and older integrated solutions, which explains why Steamworld Build's frame rates crater at higher resolutions.

The pixel rate is 48.00 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 96.00 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance at 6.144 TFLOPS. These are not numbers that support high-resolution gaming, especially in a genre where the camera frequently pans over dense urban layouts. The 4K results confirm this: at Medium settings, the average FPS is 25 with a minimum of 21 and a maximum of 28, showing very tight frame pacing but at an unplayable level. The GPU's role in this combo is to be the limiting factor, and the evidence is unambiguous — the frame rate scales almost linearly with resolution, which is the hallmark of a GPU-bound scenario.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combos for Steamworld Build, this pairing of Intel Core i5-10400F and Intel Arc B370 ranks 3419 out of 3706 total combinations. That places it in the bottom 8% of all tested systems, which is consistent with the GPU's 5th percentile standing among all GPUs. The combo rank is a direct reflection of the Arc B370's weakness, as the CPU itself sits in the 68th percentile of all CPUs, indicating that the processor is not the primary drag on performance.

The i5-10400F's average benchmark score is 14185, with nearest rivals including the Intel Xeon 6756E at 14163 (0.2% delta), the Intel Core 7 160UL at 14232 (-0.3%), the AMD EPYC 7552 at 14115 (0.5%), and the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C at 14277 (-0.6%). These are all within a percentage point of each other, showing that the CPU is a mid-pack performer relative to the broader landscape. But when combined with a GPU that scores 1184 in a single DX12 benchmark, the overall combo rank sinks to near the bottom.

The takeaway is that the CPU has plenty of capability for this game's simulation logic, but the GPU cannot keep up with the rendering demands. If the same CPU were paired with a stronger graphics card, the combo rank would likely rise significantly. As measured, this is a combo for low-resolution, low-detail play, and the rank reflects that reality.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the results are the most playable. Low settings deliver an average of 95 FPS, which is smooth and responsive. Medium settings drop to 73 FPS, with a minimum of 62 and a maximum of 84, still well within playable territory. High settings yield 55 FPS, which is acceptable for a city builder where absolute frame rate is less critical than consistency. Ultra settings fall to 37 FPS, which is borderline but might be tolerable for slower-paced gameplay.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates take a noticeable hit. Low averages 61 FPS, which is still playable. Medium averages 46 FPS, with a minimum of 39 and a maximum of 53, which is workable but shows the GPU straining. High drops to 35 FPS, which is marginal for a genre that involves frequent camera movement and scrolling. Ultra falls to 23 FPS, which is below the comfort threshold for most players.

At 3840x2160, the results are largely unusable. Low averages 32 FPS, Medium averages 25 FPS (with a minimum of 21 and maximum of 28), High averages 18 FPS, and Ultra averages 12 FPS. None of these are acceptable for a game that requires continuous interaction with the simulation. The minimum FPS values at 4K are not reported for most presets, but the Medium preset's minimum of 21 FPS indicates that even the average is optimistic for real-world play.

The data shows a clear pattern: 1080p Low and Medium are the only settings that provide a consistently smooth experience, with 1440p Low being a viable alternative if the player needs higher resolution. Everything else is either borderline or unplayable.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the best experience is achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings, which produces an average of 95 FPS. This is the only configuration that approaches high-refresh territory, and it leaves enough headroom for the simulation to remain responsive even when the city grows large. Medium at 1080p is also a strong choice, with 73 FPS and a minimum of 62, which is smooth enough for most players and offers improved visual quality over Low.

For players who prioritize resolution over frame rate, 1440p Low is the only sensible option, with 61 FPS average. Medium at 1440p is playable at 46 FPS, but the minimum of 39 FPS suggests that busy scenes could cause noticeable stutter. High and Ultra at 1440p are not recommended, as they fall below 35 FPS, which is too low for comfortable camera control in a city builder.

At 4K, there is no recommended preset. Even Low at 32 FPS is below the playability threshold, and the visual fidelity gain does not justify the performance sacrifice. The combination of a 6-core CPU and a low-power integrated GPU is simply not designed for 4K gaming, and the data confirms that no settings adjustment can overcome this hardware limit.

The practical advice is to run Steamworld Build at 1080p with Low or Medium settings, depending on whether the player prefers frame rate or visual detail. For those with 1440p monitors, Low settings are the only safe bet. This is a classic case where the GPU dictates the experience, and the CPU's capabilities are largely irrelevant at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Comet Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. It has a 65 W TDP, 12 MB of shared L3 cache, and supports DDR4 memory with a dual-channel bus. Its benchmark scores are solid for a mid-range desktop CPU: Cinebench R23 multicore yields 10283, single-core yields 1451, and Geekbench multicore is 6257 with single-core at 1420. The 3DMark scores show scaling from 688 single-thread to 4748 with 16 threads, indicating that the CPU can handle multithreaded workloads reasonably well.

In Steamworld Build, which is a city builder that relies on simulation logic, the CPU's role is to manage the underlying game state — population, resources, building updates, and AI behaviors. The data from the measured FPS shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor at 1080p, where the frame rates are high enough to suggest that the GPU is the bottleneck even at Low settings. The fact that dropping from Low to Ultra at 1080p only reduces the average FPS from 95 to 37 — a 61% reduction — while the resolution scaling from 1080p to 4K at Low cuts FPS by 66%, further confirms that the GPU is the primary constraint.

The i5-10400F's percentile ranking of 68th among all CPUs means it is a capable processor for this genre. Its nearest rivals are all within a percentage point in average benchmark score, showing that it is a stable, predictable performer. The CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient for city builders, which typically do not scale beyond a handful of threads, and the 4.30 GHz boost clock provides adequate single-thread performance for the main simulation loop.

However, the CPU's memory bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s is shared with the GPU, which uses system memory for its frame buffer. This could exacerbate the GPU's limitations at higher resolutions, as the shared memory bandwidth becomes a contention point. But the dominant factor in this combo is the GPU, and the CPU's performance is largely untapped in this game. The data shows that the i5-10400F could support a much stronger graphics card without bottlenecking, but as paired with the Arc B370, it is effectively wasted capability at resolutions above 1080p.