Steamworld Build

Steamworld Build, a city builder released on 2023-11-30, presents an interesting scaling profile for the Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 combination. The measured data shows a system that is heavily influenced by resolution and settings, with the GPU becoming the primary bottleneck at higher loads. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS, the roles of each component, and how this specific combo ranks against the broader test pool.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 reveals a classic GPU-bound scaling pattern, though the magnitude varies significantly with the quality preset. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 255 at 1080p to 162 at 1440p, and finally to 86 at 4K. This represents a 66% reduction from 1080p to 4K, indicating that even at the lowest settings, the pixel throughput demand at 4K is substantial.

At Medium settings, the scaling is more pronounced: 196 FPS at 1080p, 124 FPS at 1440p, and 66 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 4K is 66%, similar to Low, but the absolute values are lower, suggesting that additional shading and texture work are amplifying the GPU load. The High preset shows a similar relative pattern: 146 FPS at 1080p, 93 FPS at 1440p, and 49 FPS at 4K, a 66% reduction.

The Ultra preset presents the most dramatic scaling. At 1080p, the combo achieves 99 FPS, which drops to 63 FPS at 1440p and 33 FPS at 4K. This 67% reduction from 1080p to 4K is the largest relative drop among all presets. The data indicates that the Ultra preset introduces effects that disproportionately tax the GPU at higher resolutions.

The pattern across all settings shows that the RTX 3070 is the limiting component at 4K, particularly at Ultra where the average FPS falls below 60. At 1080p, however, even the most demanding preset maintains nearly 100 FPS, suggesting that the CPU, the Intel Core i5-12400, has sufficient headroom to feed the GPU at lower resolutions. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K (86 FPS vs. 33 FPS) is 2.6x, while at 1080p the same gap is 2.6x (255 FPS vs. 99 FPS), indicating that the relative cost of Ultra settings remains consistent across resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is the dominant factor in these results. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides a memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s, which is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming but becomes strained at 4K with higher presets. The GPU’s boost clock of 1725 MHz and base clock of 1500 MHz are standard for the Ampere architecture, and its FP32 performance of 20.31 TFLOPS indicates a strong compute capability.

The GPU’s benchmark scores reflect its mid-range position. It scores 22214 in Passmark G3D and 112821 in Geekbench OpenCL, with a percentile of 61 versus all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT, has an average score of 17083, a 0.7% delta, meaning the RTX 3070 is 0.7% faster. Other rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 with a 1% delta and the AMD Radeon HD 7970M with a 1.1% delta, all within a narrow performance band.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity is a critical factor for Steamworld Build at 4K. The data shows that at 4K High, the combo averages 49 FPS, while at 4K Medium it achieves 66 FPS, suggesting that the VRAM allocation or memory bandwidth is not the sole limiter, but rather the raw shading throughput. The GTX 690, a much older dual-GPU card, scoring within 1% of the RTX 3070 in average benchmarks, indicates that synthetic tests may not fully capture the modern rendering demands of a city builder.

The GPU’s DirectX 12 Ultimate support (12_2) aligns with the game’s requirements, and the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3162 provides a baseline for modern API performance. The RTX 3070’s 5888 shading units and 184 TMUs are well-suited for the geometry and texture work in city builders, but the 96 ROPs can become a bottleneck at 4K where fill-rate demands spike.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combos, the Intel Core i5-12400 and RTX 3070 pair ranks 1566 out of 3706 combinations. This places it in the 42nd percentile of all tested combos, meaning it outperforms 42% of systems but falls behind the majority. The rank is a composite measure, but the measured FPS data shows that this combo is more competitive at lower resolutions.

At 1080p, the combo delivers playable frame rates across all presets, with the Low preset hitting 255 FPS and High at 146 FPS. At 1440p, it remains strong, with High at 93 FPS and Ultra at 63 FPS. The 4K results are less impressive, with only the Low preset exceeding 60 FPS (86 FPS), while Medium (66 FPS) is borderline and High (49 FPS) and Ultra (33 FPS) are not ideal for smooth gameplay.

The rank of 1566 suggests that while this is a capable mid-range setup, it does not reach the top tier of performance. The CPU’s percentile of 72 versus all CPUs indicates it is a strong processor, but the GPU’s percentile of 61 is lower, meaning the GPU holds the combo back in more demanding scenarios. The data implies that for a city builder like Steamworld Build, which can become CPU-heavy in late-game simulations, the i5-12400’s 6 cores and 12 threads might be sufficient, but the GPU’s VRAM and compute limits become apparent at higher resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the combo’s performance. At 1920x1080, the results are:

• Low: 255 FPS average
• Medium: 196 FPS average, with a minimum of 166 FPS and maximum of 225 FPS
• High: 146 FPS average
• Ultra: 99 FPS average

At 2560x1440, the performance scales down:

• Low: 162 FPS average
• Medium: 124 FPS average, with a minimum of 106 FPS and maximum of 143 FPS
• High: 93 FPS average
• Ultra: 63 FPS average

At 3840x2160, the results show the GPU’s limits:

• Low: 86 FPS average
• Medium: 66 FPS average, with a minimum of 56 FPS and maximum of 76 FPS
• High: 49 FPS average
• Ultra: 33 FPS average

The Medium preset is the only one with min/max data, which shows a 20 FPS spread at 1080p (166-225), a 37 FPS spread at 1440p (106-143), and a 20 FPS spread at 4K (56-76). This suggests that frame pacing is relatively stable, though the 4K minimum of 56 FPS is close to the 60 FPS threshold for smoothness.

The scaling from Low to Ultra is consistent across resolutions: roughly a 2.6x reduction in FPS. This indicates that the Ultra preset’s additional effects (likely shadows, reflections, and draw distance) have a multiplicative cost on the GPU, rather than a fixed overhead.

Settings Recommendations

Given the measured data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and frame rate. For 1080p, the Ultra preset at 99 FPS average is entirely playable and offers the best visual quality. The High preset at 146 FPS provides a significant headroom for 144Hz monitors, while Medium at 196 FPS is suitable for 165Hz or 240Hz displays. The Low preset at 255 FPS is unnecessary for most users but demonstrates the combo’s ceiling.

At 1440p, the Ultra preset at 63 FPS average is just above the 60 FPS threshold, making it viable for 60Hz displays. The High preset at 93 FPS is the sweet spot for 1440p, offering a good balance of visual fidelity and smoothness. The Medium preset at 124 FPS is ideal for high refresh rate 1440p monitors, while Low at 162 FPS is acceptable for competitive play, though this genre does not require such high rates.

For 4K, the data shows that only the Low preset (86 FPS) provides a comfortable experience. The Medium preset at 66 FPS is playable, but the minimum of 56 FPS indicates occasional dips below 60. The High preset at 49 FPS and Ultra at 33 FPS are not recommended for a smooth experience. If 4K is the target, users should prioritize Medium settings with adjustments, or accept a lower frame rate.

The best overall experience per the measured rows is the High preset at 1440p, which delivers 93 FPS average. This provides a visual quality upgrade over 1080p while maintaining a frame rate well above the 60 FPS standard. For users with 1080p displays, the Ultra preset at 99 FPS is the best choice, as it maximizes visuals without compromising playability.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with High settings?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400 and RTX 3070 combo achieves an average FPS of 146 at 1920x1080 with High settings.

Q: Is this combo capable of 4K gaming in Steamworld Build?

A: At 4K, the combo averages 86 FPS on Low settings, 66 FPS on Medium, 49 FPS on High, and 33 FPS on Ultra. Only the Low and Medium presets are playable, with Medium dipping to a 56 FPS minimum.

Q: How does the RTX 3070 compare to its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT?

A: The RTX 3070 has an average benchmark score of 17208, which is 0.7% higher than the RX 7600 XT’s 17083, indicating a slight performance advantage.

Q: What is the combo’s rank among all tested systems?

A: This combo ranks 1566 out of 3706 tested combinations, placing it in the 42nd percentile of all systems in the database.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The only min FPS data available is for Medium settings: 166 FPS at 1080p, 106 FPS at 1440p, and 56 FPS at 4K.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU limit performance in this game?

A: The data shows the GPU is the primary limiter at 4K and High/Ultra settings, while the CPU has sufficient headroom at 1080p where even Ultra averages 99 FPS. The GPU’s 8 GB VRAM and compute throughput are the bottlenecks at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 plays a supporting role in Steamworld Build, but its specifications are relevant to the results. This 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Alder Lake architecture has a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 cache per core are typical for the 12th generation, and its 10 nm process node is a mature design.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-12400 scores 15989 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 2257 in single-core, with a Passmark multithread score of 18747. Its percentile of 72 versus all CPUs indicates it is a strong mid-range processor. The nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7643 with an average score of 18697 (a 0.1% delta) and the Intel Core i7-1355U at 18730 (a 0.3% delta), showing the i5-12400 is within 1% of these very different processors.

For Steamworld Build, a city builder that simulates numerous entities, the CPU’s 12 threads are beneficial for managing game logic and pathfinding. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 5873 and 8-thread score of 4745 suggest that the CPU can handle multi-threaded workloads effectively. However, the measured FPS data shows that even at 1080p Low (255 FPS), the CPU is not limiting the frame rate, as the GPU is still the bottleneck at higher settings.

The CPU’s memory support for both DDR4 and DDR5 is flexible, but the game’s performance is not directly tied to memory bandwidth in the measured results. The integrated UHD Graphics 730 is not used when the RTX 3070 is installed, but its presence does not affect discrete GPU performance. The CPU’s 65W TDP and Socket 1700 compatibility are standard for this generation, and its boost clock of 4.40 GHz provides sufficient single-thread performance for the game’s simulation loop.

The data suggests that the i5-12400 is more than adequate for Steamworld Build, as the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions. The CPU’s 18 MB L3 cache helps with data locality, but the game’s urban simulation complexity is likely more dependent on the GPU’s rendering throughput. In summary, the CPU provides a solid foundation, but the RTX 3070’s performance envelope defines the overall experience, especially at 4K.