Steamworld Build

# Steamworld Build with Intel Core i5-12400 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080

The combination of the Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 produces a system that is heavily GPU-limited in Steamworld Build, yet still delivers exceptional frame rates across all tested resolutions. At 1080p, the pairing reaches 307 FPS on Low settings, while at 4K Ultra it drops to 52 FPS, revealing a performance curve that scales predictably with resolution and preset. This combo ranks 303rd out of 3,706 tested combinations in this game, placing it in the top percentile of systems evaluated.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and consistent pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases, with the RTX 4080 being the primary bottleneck in most scenarios. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system achieves 307 FPS; moving to 2560x1440 Low drops this to 253 FPS (a 17.6% reduction), and at 3840x2160 Low the average falls to 134 FPS (a 47.1% reduction from 1080p). This steep decline at 4K indicates that the GPU's rendering workload scales dramatically with pixel count, which is expected given the RTX 4080's 16 GB of GDDR6X memory and 256-bit bus width.

Under High settings, the scaling pattern shifts. At 1080p High, the system produces 228 FPS, which rises to 145 FPS at 1440p (a 36.4% drop) and further to 77 FPS at 4K (a 46.9% drop from 1080p). The 1440p-to-4K transition for High settings shows a 46.9% reduction, which is proportionally similar to the Low settings drop but starts from a lower absolute baseline. This suggests that at higher presets, the CPU has more headroom to feed the GPU, but the GPU's fill-rate and shading capacity become the limiting factor as resolution climbs.

The Medium settings row provides additional insight through its min/max FPS data. At 1080p Medium, the average is 279 FPS with a minimum of 237 and maximum of 320. At 1440p Medium, the average is 194 FPS (min 165, max 223), and at 4K Medium, the average is 102 FPS (min 87, max 118). The spread between minimum and maximum FPS narrows as resolution increases—from an 83 FPS range at 1080p to a 31 FPS range at 4K—indicating that higher resolutions smooth out frame-time variance, likely because the GPU becomes consistently saturated rather than intermittently bottlenecked by CPU-side simulation logic.

Ultra settings produce the most dramatic scaling. The system delivers 154 FPS at 1080p Ultra, 98 FPS at 1440p Ultra (a 36.4% drop), and 52 FPS at 4K Ultra (a 66.2% drop from 1080p). The 1440p-to-4K transition for Ultra shows a 47% reduction, which is the largest proportional drop of any preset, suggesting that Ultra settings introduce effects that disproportionately tax the GPU at higher pixel counts. The data overall indicates that this combo is GPU-limited in nearly every configuration, with the CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads providing sufficient throughput to avoid becoming the primary constraint until very high frame rates are reached.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves in Steamworld Build?

A: The highest measured average is 307 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next highest is 279 FPS at 1080p Medium, followed by 253 FPS at 1440p Low.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4080 scores 54,247 on average benchmark tests, placing it 0.1% above the RTX 4080 SUPER (54,209) and 1.1% above the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X (54,828). It trails the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB by 2.6% and the AMD Radeon 8060S by 2.7%.

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

A: The only recorded minimum FPS values come from Medium settings: 237 FPS at 1080p, 165 FPS at 1440p, and 87 FPS at 4K. Other presets do not have min/max data available.

Q: How does the i5-12400 rank against other CPUs?

A: The i5-12400 has an average benchmark score of 18,683, placing it in the 72nd percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD EPYC 7643, scores 18,697 (0.1% higher), while the Intel Core i3-14100F scores 18,519 (0.9% lower).

Q: Is the RTX 4080's 16 GB VRAM sufficient for 4K Ultra in this game?

A: At 4K Ultra, the combo achieves 52 FPS, which is playable but below the 60 FPS threshold. The 16 GB GDDR6X memory with 716.8 GB/s bandwidth should provide adequate capacity, but the rendering load at Ultra settings reduces performance to roughly two-thirds of the 4K High result of 77 FPS.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings yield 253 FPS while Ultra yields 98 FPS, representing a 61.3% reduction in performance from the lowest to the highest preset.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12400 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 combination ranks 303rd out of 3,706 tested combos in Steamworld Build, placing it in the top 8.2% of all systems evaluated. This ranking reflects a pairing that is strongly weighted toward GPU performance, given that the RTX 4080 sits in the 86th percentile of all GPUs while the i5-12400 sits in the 72nd percentile of all CPUs.

The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks—the AMD EPYC 7643 (0.1% higher score), Intel Core i7-1355U (0.3% higher), and AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 (0.7% higher)—are all within a single percentage point of the i5-12400's average score of 18,683. This tight clustering suggests that the CPU's compute capabilities are not a differentiator in this game's ranking; instead, the GPU's dominance in the combo drives the overall position.

On the GPU side, the RTX 4080's nearest rival is the RTX 4080 SUPER with a delta of just 0.1%, meaning these two cards are effectively interchangeable in terms of raw benchmark performance. The AMD Radeon Pro W5700X sits 1.1% lower, while the RX 6750 GRE and Radeon 8060S are 2.6% and 2.7% lower respectively. This places the RTX 4080 in a competitive position where its ranking is primarily determined by the game's specific rendering demands rather than any synthetic benchmark advantage.

Given that the combo's rank of 303 out of 3,706 represents a strong showing, the data indicates that Steamworld Build rewards the RTX 4080's capabilities significantly more than the CPU's. The measured FPS at 4K High (77 FPS) and 4K Ultra (52 FPS) show that the GPU can handle high-resolution city-building simulation, but the 1080p results (up to 307 FPS) reveal that the CPU is not the limiting factor until frame rates approach the upper end of the spectrum.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest performance across all presets. Low settings produce 307 FPS average, which is the single highest measured result in the entire dataset. Medium settings yield 279 FPS with a minimum of 237 and maximum of 320, indicating that the frame time distribution is relatively tight despite the high average. High settings drop to 228 FPS, while Ultra settings bring the average down to 154 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a 49.8% total reduction, but even the Ultra result remains far above the refresh rates of typical monitors.

At 2560x1440, the performance scales down proportionally. Low settings produce 253 FPS (17.6% lower than 1080p Low), Medium yields 194 FPS with min/max of 165/223, High drops to 145 FPS, and Ultra falls to 98 FPS. The Medium settings at 1440p show a 58 FPS range between minimum and maximum, which is broader than the 83 FPS range at 1080p Medium when expressed as a percentage of the average—suggesting that the GPU's workload at 1440p creates more variable frame pacing.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops significantly. Low settings average 134 FPS, Medium averages 102 FPS with min/max of 87/118, High averages 77 FPS, and Ultra averages 52 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the only configuration that falls below 60 FPS, and it represents a 66.2% reduction from the 1080p Ultra score. The Medium settings at 4K show a 31 FPS range, which is the tightest of any resolution, suggesting that the GPU is consistently saturated at this pixel count.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 plays the dominant role in this combo's Steamworld Build performance. With 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, the card provides 716.8 GB/s of bandwidth, which is directly relevant to a city builder that must stream texture data and geometry for large, detailed settlements. The card's 48.74 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 76 RT cores provide substantial compute headroom, though the game's rendering demands appear to be more bandwidth- and fill-rate-sensitive than compute-bound.

The RTX 4080's clock behavior shows a base clock of 2205 MHz and a boost clock of 2505 MHz, with memory running at 1400 MHz (22.4 Gbps effective). The 9728 shading units and 304 TMUs contribute to the card's texture throughput of 761.5 GTexel/s, which is likely a key factor in maintaining high FPS at 1440p and above. The 112 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 280.6 GPixel/s, and the scaling from 1080p to 4K aligns with the pixel-count increase, confirming that rasterization throughput is the primary constraint.

The GPU's benchmark profile shows a PassMark G3D score of 34,457 and a Geekbench OpenCL score of 214,739, with a Vulkan score of 263,779. These synthetic results place the RTX 4080 in the 86th percentile of all GPUs, and its average benchmark score of 54,247 puts it within 0.1% of the RTX 4080 SUPER. In Steamworld Build specifically, the GPU's performance at 4K Medium (102 FPS) versus 4K High (77 FPS) indicates that the card has sufficient memory bandwidth to handle increased texture detail, but the shading complexity of High and Ultra presets creates a measurable performance penalty.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data suggests that Medium settings provide the most balanced experience across all resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the combo achieves 279 FPS with a minimum of 237, ensuring no frame drops below 200 FPS even in demanding scenes. At 1440p Medium, the 194 FPS average with an 165 FPS minimum comfortably exceeds the 144 Hz refresh rate common on high-end monitors. At 4K Medium, the 102 FPS average with an 87 FPS minimum stays above 60 FPS, making this the only preset at 4K that reliably maintains playable frame rates.

High settings are a viable alternative for users prioritizing visual fidelity over raw frame rates. At 1080p High, 228 FPS is still far above display refresh rates, and at 1440p High, 145 FPS remains suitable for 120 Hz or 144 Hz displays. However, at 4K High, the 77 FPS average falls below the 1440p Medium result, so users at 4K should consider whether the visual upgrade is worth the 24.5% performance reduction from Medium.

Ultra settings are not recommended for 4K gameplay, as the 52 FPS average falls below the 60 FPS threshold and would introduce noticeable stutter on standard 60 Hz displays. At 1440p Ultra, 98 FPS is playable but represents a 49.5% reduction from Medium settings, making it a poor trade-off for most users. The 1080p Ultra result of 154 FPS is the only Ultra configuration that provides both high visual quality and high frame rates, making it suitable for competitive play or high-refresh-rate monitors.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 serves as the supporting component in this combo, providing 6 cores and 12 threads with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. The CPU's 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 cache per core provide adequate memory locality for the simulation logic inherent to a city builder, where AI pathfinding, resource management, and population dynamics must be computed alongside rendering.

The CPU's benchmark results show a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 15,989 and a single-core score of 2,257, along with a Geekbench multi-core score of 8,564 and single-core score of 1,848. These scores place the i5-12400 in the 72nd percentile of all CPUs, and its average benchmark score of 18,683 is within 1% of several rivals including the AMD EPYC 7643 (18,697) and Intel Core i7-1355U (18,730). The 3DMark scores—5873 for 16 threads, 3012 for 4 threads, and 910 for single-thread—indicate that the CPU scales reasonably well with thread count but does not provide the raw multi-threaded throughput of higher-core-count processors.

In Steamworld Build, the CPU's role becomes apparent at high frame rates. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 307 FPS, which is likely approaching the point where CPU-side frame generation becomes a limiting factor. The fact that the 1440p Low result (253 FPS) is only 17.6% lower than 1080p Low, while the 4K Low result (134 FPS) is 47.1% lower, suggests that the CPU can maintain high frame rates until the GPU's rendering workload at 4K becomes the bottleneck. The i5-12400's 65 W TDP and dual-channel DDR4/DDR5 memory support provide a stable platform for feeding the GPU, and the 2.50 GHz base clock with 4.40 GHz boost ensures responsive single-threaded performance for game logic that may not scale perfectly across all 12 threads.