Steamworld Build

Steamworld Build, a city builder released on 2023-11-30, presents a unique challenge for the Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 combination. With the measured data showing a clear transition from a CPU-bound scenario at lower resolutions to a GPU-bound one at 4K, this combo's performance profile is distinct. The analysis below breaks down the specific FPS figures, component roles, and how this pairing ranks against the broader database of tested configurations.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a steep and consistent performance drop as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 126.9 FPS at 1080p to 81.4 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 40.4 FPS at 4K. This represents a 68% reduction in FPS from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the rendering load scales heavily with pixel count. The pattern is consistent across all settings presets, but the magnitude of the drop varies. For instance, at Low settings, the transition from 1080p (224.2 FPS) to 4K (74.6 FPS) is a 67% decrease, while at Ultra settings, the drop from 89.1 FPS to 27.9 FPS is a 69% reduction. This uniformity suggests that resolution scaling is a primary performance factor, with the GPU becoming the limiting component at higher resolutions.

The data shows that at 1080p, the frame rates are exceptionally high, with even the Ultra preset achieving 89.1 FPS. This indicates that the CPU and GPU combination is well-balanced for this resolution, likely allowing the CPU to feed frames efficiently without bottlenecking. However, as resolution climbs to 1440p and 4K, the GPU’s workload increases significantly, pulling average FPS down to levels where the GPU’s rendering capabilities become the dominant constraint. The 4K Ultra result of 27.9 FPS is particularly telling, as it suggests that the RTX 4060, despite its capabilities, is heavily taxed by the game’s highest visual fidelity at this resolution. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings shows a 69% performance loss, which is consistent with the other presets, reinforcing that resolution, not settings, is the primary driver of performance variance in this configuration.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the benchmark database, this specific combination of the Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is ranked 989 out of 1730 tested combos for Steamworld Build. This places it in the 57th percentile of all tested pairings, indicating a mid-tier performance standing. The combo’s rank suggests that while it is not at the top of the charts, it outperforms a slight majority of other configurations. This ranking is influenced by both the CPU and GPU’s individual capabilities, as well as how they interact in this specific game engine.

The CPU itself has a percentile vs all CPUs of 77, and its average benchmark score of 19850 places it in close competition with the Intel Core i7-9700, which has an avgScore of 19831 and a deltaPct of 0.1, meaning the i5-12400 is only 0.1% faster. Similarly, it is 0.4% ahead of the Intel Core i5-11600K (avgScore 19771) and 0.2% behind the Intel Core i7-8700 (avgScore 19894). This indicates that the CPU is a solid performer relative to its peers, providing a strong foundation for gaming. The GPU, with a percentile vs all GPUs of 66, has an average benchmark score of 23181. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6600M, has an avgScore of 23321, placing the RTX 4060 0.6% behind. It is also 0.7% behind the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti (23338) but 0.7% ahead of the Intel Arc B580 (23021) and 0.8% ahead of the AMD Radeon 760M (22999). This GPU performance level, when combined with the CPU, yields the observed mid-pack ranking for this game.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process node and the AD107 chip. It features 3072 shading units, 96 TMUs, and 48 ROPs, along with 24 RT cores and 96 tensor cores. The GPU’s memory configuration consists of 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 272.0 GB/s. The base clock is 1830 MHz, with a boost clock of 2460 MHz, and the memory operates at 2125 MHz, which translates to 17 Gbps effective. These specifications contribute to a pixel rate of 118.1 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 236.2 GTexel/s, with an FP32 performance of 15.11 TFLOPS.

In Steamworld Build, the GPU’s role becomes increasingly critical at higher resolutions. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p, the GPU is capable of delivering high frame rates, but at 4K, its limitations become apparent. The 4K Ultra average of 27.9 FPS and 4K High average of 40.4 FPS indicate that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at this resolution, struggling to maintain playable frame rates with the highest settings. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is likely sufficient for this game at these resolutions, but the 128-bit memory bus and 272.0 GB/s bandwidth may constrain performance when large amounts of texture data need to be processed. The GPU’s boost clock of 2460 MHz provides a solid performance ceiling, but the data suggests that the rendering workload at 4K exceeds what the RTX 4060 can comfortably handle, particularly at Ultra settings where the frame rate drops below 30 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the combo achieves an average of 224.2 FPS at Low settings, 174.4 FPS at Medium, 126.9 FPS at High, and 89.1 FPS at Ultra. These numbers indicate that at 1080p, the system is highly capable, with even the most demanding Ultra preset delivering smooth gameplay well above 60 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at this resolution shows a 60% performance drop, which is expected as the GPU takes on more rendering work.

Moving to 2560x1440, the average FPS drops to 141.7 at Low, 106.9 at Medium, 81.4 at High, and 53.9 at Ultra. The 1440p results show a more pronounced impact on performance, with the Ultra preset falling below 60 FPS, indicating that the GPU is beginning to struggle with the increased pixel count. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at Ultra settings is 39%, while at Low settings it is 37%, showing a consistent reduction across presets.

At 3840x2160, the performance is significantly lower, with average FPS of 74.6 at Low, 61 at Medium, 40.4 at High, and 27.9 at Ultra. The 4K results clearly demonstrate the GPU’s limitations, as even the Medium preset fails to reach 60 FPS, and the Ultra preset is unplayable at under 30 FPS. The transition from 1440p to 4K at High settings results in a 50% performance drop, and at Ultra settings a 48% drop. This data shows that for a 4K gaming experience, the RTX 4060 is only suitable for the Low or Medium presets, with High and Ultra settings being too demanding for this hardware combination.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. It is based on the Alder Lake architecture and manufactured on a 10 nm process node. The CPU has an 18 MB shared L3 cache, with 1.25 MB L2 cache per core and 80 KB L1 cache per core. It supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration and has a TDP of 65 W. The CPU’s benchmark scores are robust, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 15935 and a single-core score of 2249. In Passmark, it achieves a multithread score of 18747 and a single-thread score of 3456.

In Steamworld Build, the CPU’s role is most evident at lower resolutions where the GPU is not the limiting factor. At 1080p, the high frame rates of 224.2 FPS at Low and 174.4 FPS at Medium suggest that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough data to maintain these performance levels. The 6 cores and 12 threads are well-suited for this game’s simulation and logic tasks, which are typical of city builders. The CPU’s boost clock of 4.40 GHz provides strong single-thread performance, which is crucial for game logic that is often single-threaded. The benchmark data shows that the CPU is competitive with its nearest rivals, being 0.1% faster than the Intel Core i7-9700 and 0.4% faster than the Intel Core i5-11600K. At 1440p, the CPU continues to provide adequate performance, but the GPU begins to take on more of the rendering load. By 4K, the CPU’s role is diminished, as the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. The data indicates that this CPU is not a limiting factor in this game, as even at 4K Ultra, the performance is constrained by the GPU rather than the processor. The CPU’s 3DMark scores, such as 5873 for 16 threads and 910 for single-thread, further support its capability to handle the game’s demands without causing a significant bottleneck.