Steamworld Build

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data for Steamworld Build with the Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 shows a clear pattern across all three resolutions: the Medium preset delivers the most balanced experience between visual fidelity and frame rate. At 1920x1080, Medium produces 225.4 FPS, which is 31% higher than High's 172.2 FPS while remaining 18% below Low's 265.6 FPS. The gap from Medium to Ultra at 1080p is substantial—dropping to 114 FPS—which represents a 49% reduction in frame rate for the visual upgrade that Ultra provides.

Moving to 2560x1440, Medium maintains 144 FPS exactly, which is comfortably above the 105.4 FPS of High and the 73.5 FPS of Ultra. The Low preset at 1440p reaches 192.1 FPS, but the difference between Low and Medium (48.1 FPS) is smaller than the difference between Medium and Ultra (70.5 FPS). This suggests that the Medium preset captures most of the performance headroom while still offering meaningful visual improvements over Low.

At 3840x2160, the situation becomes more constrained. Medium delivers 73.5 FPS, which is playable, but High drops to 57.4 FPS and Ultra falls to 38.5 FPS. The Low preset at 4K reaches 97.4 FPS, indicating that even at this demanding resolution, the RTX 3080 has substantial headroom when settings are reduced. The data shows that Medium at 4K provides 91% of the frame rate of Low while likely offering noticeably better visual quality.

For the best experience per the measured rows, Medium is the recommended preset at every resolution. At 1080p and 1440p, it delivers frame rates well above typical display refresh rates. At 4K, Medium's 73.5 FPS is still smooth, whereas High and Ultra begin to approach or fall below the 60 FPS threshold. The measured data does not include any quality-of-life features like upscaling, so these numbers represent native rendering performance.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achieved by this combo?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 265.6, achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low preset. This is followed by Medium at 225.4 FPS and High at 172.2 FPS at the same resolution.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the combo achieves 38.5 FPS. This is below the 57.4 FPS of High and 73.5 FPS of Medium at the same resolution, indicating that Ultra presents a significant performance penalty in this city builder.

Q: Is this system more CPU-bound or GPU-bound in Steamworld Build?

A: The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K suggests GPU-bound behavior. At 1080p Medium, the combo produces 225.4 FPS, while at 4K Medium it drops to 73.5 FPS—a 67% reduction. If the system were CPU-bound, the resolution change would have a smaller impact on FPS.

Q: What is the combo's ranking among all tested configurations for this game?

A: The combo ranks 563rd out of 1730 tested combos, placing it in the top 32.5% of all configurations. This rank reflects the mid-range CPU paired with a high-end GPU.

Q: How much FPS difference exists between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low achieves 192.1 FPS while Ultra achieves 73.5 FPS. The difference is 118.6 FPS, meaning Ultra delivers only 38% of the frame rate of Low at this resolution.

Q: Does the combo maintain 60 FPS at 4K on any preset?

A: Yes, the combo exceeds 60 FPS at 4K on Low (97.4 FPS) and Medium (73.5 FPS). High at 57.4 FPS falls just below 60 FPS, and Ultra at 38.5 FPS is significantly lower.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. It belongs to the Rocket Lake architecture on a 14 nm process node. In the context of Steamworld Build, a city builder genre, the CPU handles simulation logic, pathfinding, and entity updates that scale with population and city complexity.

Benchmark results for this CPU show a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14372 and a single-core score of 2029. The single-thread performance is particularly relevant for city builders, which often rely on a primary simulation thread. The 3DMark single-thread score of 868 and the 3DMark 2-thread score of 1691 indicate that the processor provides strong performance in lightly-threaded workloads.

The CPU's 12 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth are adequate for the memory access patterns typical of simulation games. The processor's 75th percentile ranking among all CPUs suggests it is a competent mid-range part, but not a top-tier performer. In the measured FPS data, the system achieves 265.6 FPS at 1080p Low, which is far beyond typical display refresh rates, indicating that the CPU does not bottleneck the GPU at lower settings.

However, the frame rate differences between presets at the same resolution are substantial. At 1080p, the drop from Low to Ultra is 151.6 FPS (265.6 to 114), which suggests that the GPU is the primary limiting factor as settings increase. The CPU's role becomes more pronounced at lower settings where the GPU has less work to do, but even at 1080p Low, the system sustains 265.6 FPS, showing no obvious CPU ceiling in this scenario.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo of Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 ranks 563rd out of 1730 tested combinations for Steamworld Build. This places the configuration in the upper third of all tested systems, specifically at the 67.5th percentile of performance. The rank reflects the pairing of a mid-range 11th-gen CPU with a high-end 30-series GPU.

To contextualize this rank, the CPU's nearest rivals based on average benchmark scores include the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U with a delta of 0%, the Intel Core i7-1260P at -0.2%, and the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U at -0.2%. These rival CPUs are all within 0.2% of the i5-11400F's average benchmark score, indicating that the processor is competitive with a range of mobile and low-power desktop parts in synthetic tests.

On the GPU side, the RTX 3080's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon Pro Duo at -0.2%, the AMD Radeon 880M at +0.4%, and the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE at -0.9%. The RTX 3080 sits at the 80th percentile among all GPUs, which is notably higher than the CPU's 75th percentile. This imbalance suggests that the GPU is the stronger component in this pairing, which aligns with the observed performance scaling in the game.

The 563rd rank out of 1730 combos implies that there are 1167 tested configurations that perform worse and 562 that perform better. Given the GPU's high percentile ranking, the limiting factor for this combo's position is likely the CPU, which trails the very top processors in synthetic benchmarks. The measured FPS data confirms that the combo performs well in absolute terms, with the lowest result being 38.5 FPS at 4K Ultra, which is still playable for a city builder.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals how performance scales from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At Medium settings, the frame rate drops from 225.4 FPS at 1080p to 144 FPS at 1440p, a 36% reduction, and then to 73.5 FPS at 4K, a 49% reduction from 1440p. The total drop from 1080p to 4K at Medium is 151.9 FPS, representing a 67% decrease.

For High settings, the scaling is similar: 172.2 FPS at 1080p, 105.4 FPS at 1440p, and 57.4 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 39% from 1080p to 1440p and 46% from 1440p to 4K. At Low settings, the system produces 265.6 FPS at 1080p, 192.1 FPS at 1440p, and 97.4 FPS at 4K, with drops of 28% and 49% respectively.

The pattern indicates that the GPU becomes the limiting component as resolution increases. The pixel count roughly doubles from 1080p to 1440p and doubles again from 1440p to 4K, and the FPS drops roughly correspond to these pixel density increases. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would remain relatively constant across resolutions, especially at lower settings where the GPU has less work to do.

The Ultra preset shows the most severe scaling: 114 FPS at 1080p, 73.5 FPS at 1440p, and 38.5 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is only 34% of the 1080p Ultra frame rate, confirming that the RTX 3080's memory bandwidth and compute capacity are stretched to their limits at this resolution and settings combination. The data supports the interpretation that Steamworld Build is primarily GPU-limited on this hardware configuration.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers the following average FPS by settings: Low at 265.6 FPS, Medium at 225.4 FPS, High at 172.2 FPS, and Ultra at 114 FPS. The step from Low to Medium costs 40.2 FPS, from Medium to High costs 53.2 FPS, and from High to Ultra costs 58.2 FPS. Each settings tier imposes a progressively larger performance penalty, with Ultra representing the largest single drop.

At 2560x1440, the results are: Low at 192.1 FPS, Medium at 144 FPS, High at 105.4 FPS, and Ultra at 73.5 FPS. The deltas are 48.1 FPS from Low to Medium, 38.6 FPS from Medium to High, and 31.9 FPS from High to Ultra. Unlike at 1080p, the performance gaps narrow as settings increase at 1440p, suggesting that the GPU is becoming the limiting factor and the marginal cost of each settings tier decreases.

At 3840x2160, the measured values are: Low at 97.4 FPS, Medium at 73.5 FPS, High at 57.4 FPS, and Ultra at 38.5 FPS. The deltas here are 23.9 FPS from Low to Medium, 16.1 FPS from Medium to High, and 18.9 FPS from High to Ultra. The absolute differences between settings are smaller at 4K because the GPU is already heavily loaded even at Low settings.

Comparing across resolutions, the Medium preset at 1080p (225.4 FPS) outperforms the Low preset at 1440p (192.1 FPS) by 33.3 FPS. Similarly, the High preset at 1440p (105.4 FPS) is faster than the Medium preset at 4K (73.5 FPS) by 31.9 FPS. This shows that users prioritizing frame rate should reduce resolution before reducing settings, as the resolution change has a more predictable impact on performance in this game.