Steamworld Build

Steamworld Build is a city builder that stresses the GPU heavily at higher settings and resolutions, but the measured data for this specific configuration—Intel Core i5-11400F with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070—shows a system that is well-balanced for 1440p and surprisingly capable at 4K on lower presets. The combo sits at rank 788 out of 1730 tested combinations, placing it in the upper-middle tier of all hardware pairings for this game. The RTX 3070, with its 8 GB GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which becomes a critical factor as resolution scales. The i5-11400F, a 6-core/12-thread Rocket Lake part with a 4.40 GHz boost clock, delivers enough single-thread performance to keep up with the GPU at lower resolutions, but the data suggests the GPU becomes the primary limiter as pixel count increases.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Steamworld Build with this hardware?

A: The sweet spot is 2560x1440. At High settings, the system produces 94.3 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth play. At 1920x1080, High settings reach 144.5 FPS, but the jump to 4K High drops to 46.9 FPS, indicating diminishing returns at higher resolutions.

Q: How does the RTX 3070 compare to its nearest rivals in this game?

A: The RTX 3070 sits between the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti in raw benchmark scores. It is 0.9% ahead of the RX 6600 XT and 1% ahead of the GTX 980 Ti, while trailing the AMD FirePro S7150 by 0.6% and the AMD Radeon R9 M295X by 1.1%. These are marginal differences, suggesting the 3070 is well-positioned in its class.

Q: Is the Core i5-11400F a bottleneck for the RTX 3070?

A: At 1080p Low, the system hits 255.7 FPS, which is extremely high. The CPU’s 6 cores and 12 threads, combined with a 4.40 GHz boost clock, handle the game’s simulation logic effectively. The data shows the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher settings, not the CPU.

Q: What FPS can I expect at 4K Ultra settings?

A: The measured average is 35.9 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay. This preset is not recommended for this configuration, as even High settings at 4K only manage 46.9 FPS.

Q: How much performance is lost when going from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: The average FPS drops from 144.5 at 1080p to 94.3 at 1440p, and then to 46.9 at 4K. This represents a 67.6% reduction from 1080p to 4K, indicating the GPU’s memory bandwidth and processing power are heavily taxed at higher resolutions.

Q: Does the game favor more cores or higher clocks for the CPU?

A: The i5-11400F’s single-thread score in Cinebench R23 is 2029, while its multicore score is 14372. In Steamworld Build, the difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p is 255.7 FPS versus 96.6 FPS, showing that GPU load changes more with settings than CPU load. The CPU’s 12 threads are sufficient for the city-building simulation.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience with this hardware, the measured data points to 2560x1440 with High settings as the optimal balance. This combination yields 94.3 FPS, which is smooth and allows for headroom during heavy city expansion. At 1080p, High settings deliver 144.5 FPS, making it ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors, but the visual fidelity upgrade at 1440p is worth the 50 FPS trade-off. Medium settings at 1440p provide 124.7 FPS, which could be preferred if the player wants extra headroom for large, complex cities that might cause frame dips.

At 4K, the choice becomes more constrained. The data shows that High settings at 3840x2160 produce 46.9 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for fast-paced actions. Dropping to Medium at 4K yields 62.6 FPS, crossing the 60 FPS threshold, while Low settings reach 87.3 FPS, making it the most practical 4K preset for this GPU. Ultra settings at any resolution are not recommended; even at 1080p, Ultra only achieves 96.6 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 35.9 FPS. The performance cost of Ultra over High is substantial—at 1440p, it drops from 94.3 to 62.8 FPS—so the visual gains are not worth the frame loss. For most players, 1440p High is the definitive recommendation, with 4K Medium as a viable alternative if resolution is the priority.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling. From 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 at High settings, the average FPS drops from 144.5 to 94.3, a 34.8% reduction. This is consistent with the pixel count increase of 77.8%, indicating that the RTX 3070’s 8 GB memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are being utilized efficiently. Moving from 1440p to 3840x2160, the FPS drops further to 46.9, a 50.3% reduction from the 1440p figure. This steeper decline suggests that the GPU is nearing its limits at 4K, with the memory bandwidth becoming a constraining factor.

The scaling pattern is similar across all settings. At Low, FPS goes from 255.7 at 1080p to 162.2 at 1440p (36.6% drop) and then to 87.3 at 4K (46.2% drop from 1440p). At Ultra, the numbers are 96.6, 62.8, and 35.9, with drops of 35.0% and 42.8% respectively. The consistent scaling across settings indicates that the game’s rendering pipeline is well-optimized and that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at all resolutions above 1080p. At 1080p, the CPU’s role becomes more significant, but the i5-11400F’s 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient to push the RTX 3070 to its full potential, as evidenced by the 255.7 FPS result at Low settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the configuration shows strong performance across all presets. Low settings produce 255.7 FPS, Medium hits 194.7 FPS, High reaches 144.5 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 96.6 FPS. The jump from Medium to High is a 25.8% reduction, while the jump from High to Ultra is a 33.2% reduction, showing that Ultra carries a heavy penalty. Moving to 2560x1440, the same pattern holds: Low delivers 162.2 FPS, Medium 124.7 FPS, High 94.3 FPS, and Ultra 62.8 FPS. The relative differences between settings are similar, but the absolute numbers are lower, confirming the GPU is the main driver of performance.

At 3840x2160, the data shows a more compressed range. Low settings achieve 87.3 FPS, which is still smooth, Medium drops to 62.6 FPS, High falls to 46.9 FPS, and Ultra is only 35.9 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium at 4K is 28.3%, which is smaller than the 31.4% gap at 1440p. This suggests that at 4K, the GPU is so heavily loaded that even lowering settings has diminishing returns. The 4K High result of 46.9 FPS is below the 60 FPS target, making Medium the highest playable preset at this resolution. At 1080p, all presets are playable, with even Ultra exceeding 60 FPS, but the data clearly shows that 1440p High is the best balance of visual quality and frame rate.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is the dominant component in this configuration for Steamworld Build. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is crucial for handling the game’s texture-heavy city-building visuals. The GPU’s boost clock of 1725 MHz and 5888 shading units deliver a raw FP32 compute of 20.31 TFLOPS, which is ample for this genre. The measured data confirms the GPU’s importance: at 4K, the difference between Low and Ultra settings is 51.4 FPS (87.3 vs 35.9), a direct result of the GPU’s rendering load varying with pixel count and effects.

The GPU’s 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores are present, but Steamworld Build does not appear to leverage them heavily, as the performance scaling is consistent with traditional rasterization. The RTX 3070 ranks in the 72nd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 28238. Compared to its nearest rivals, it is nearly identical to the AMD FirePro S7150 (0.6% behind) and the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT (0.9% ahead). This suggests that the 3070 is a well-balanced card for this game, offering no extreme advantages or disadvantages over its direct competitors. The 220 W TDP and PCIe 4.0 x16 interface are standard for this class, and the 8 GB memory is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K, the bandwidth becomes a limiting factor, as seen in the steep FPS drops.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F plays a supporting role in this configuration, providing enough processing power to keep the GPU fed. With 6 cores and 12 threads, it offers a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 14372 and a single-core score of 2029. The boost clock of 4.40 GHz is key for Steamworld Build, which relies on single-thread performance for simulation logic. The CPU’s 12 MB of shared L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth are adequate for the game’s data requirements. The CPU ranks in the 75th percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 17181, putting it in the same league as the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U (0% difference) and the Intel Core i7-1260P (0.2% behind).

In the measured FPS data, the CPU’s role becomes apparent at lower resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 255.7 FPS, which is near the practical limit for many displays, indicating that the CPU is not a bottleneck. At 1080p Ultra, the FPS drops to 96.6, but this is driven by the GPU’s workload, not the CPU. The fact that the FPS scales consistently with resolution and settings—rather than showing a plateau at high frame rates—confirms that the i5-11400F is sufficient for this game. The CPU’s 12 threads handle the game’s background simulation tasks without issue, as evidenced by the stable frame rates across all tested scenarios. For players with this CPU, the data shows there is no need to upgrade for Steamworld Build, as the GPU will always be the limiting factor first.