Steamworld Build

Steamworld Build, a city builder released in late 2023, presents a specific scaling profile when paired with the Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090. The benchmark data reveals a configuration that is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions but shows signs of CPU limitation at 1080p. This analysis breaks down the measured performance across resolutions and settings, interpreting what the numbers indicate about the system's balance and capability within this title.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent, indicating that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is the primary bottleneck as pixel count increases. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 251 FPS at 1920x1080 to 164 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 87 FPS. Moving to 3840x2160, the average drops further to 87 FPS, representing a 65.3% decrease from the 1080p figure. This pattern strongly suggests that the GPU's rendering workload is the limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the scaling is almost perfectly aligned with the increase in pixel count.

The scaling behavior changes slightly when examining the Low preset. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 307 FPS, which is only 36 FPS higher than the High preset at the same resolution. However, the gap widens dramatically at 4K, where Low produces 151 FPS compared to High's 87 FPS. This indicates that at 1080p, the CPU is beginning to cap the frame rate even on Low settings, preventing the GPU from fully stretching its legs. The fact that 1080p Low (307 FPS) is only 16.3% faster than 1080p High (251 FPS) while 4K Low (151 FPS) is 73.6% faster than 4K High (87 FPS) illustrates this point clearly.

The Medium preset shows a similar trend, with frame rates of 279 FPS at 1080p, 219 FPS at 1440p, and 116 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset, which is the most demanding, yields 174 FPS at 1080p, 111 FPS at 1440p, and 58 FPS at 4K. The data indicates that the RTX 5090's performance scales predictably with resolution, but the i5-12400's six cores and twelve threads become a more significant factor at lower resolutions where the GPU has less work to do per frame.

Settings Recommendations

For players targeting the highest visual fidelity while maintaining playable frame rates, the High preset at 1440p offers a strong balance, delivering 164 FPS. At 4K, the High preset still manages 87 FPS, which is smooth for a city builder genre that does not require twitch reflexes. The Ultra preset, however, presents a challenge at 4K with 58 FPS, which may feel less responsive for some users, though it remains technically playable.

The Medium preset represents the most efficient choice for 4K gaming, producing 116 FPS with a recorded minimum of 98 FPS and maximum of 133 FPS. This consistency in the frame time data, indicated by the min/max values, suggests a stable experience without major hitches. At 1440p, the Medium preset achieves 219 FPS, which exceeds the refresh rate of most high-end monitors, making it a sensible choice for competitive or fast-paced play.

For users with 1080p displays, the High preset at 251 FPS is more than sufficient, and even the Ultra preset at 174 FPS provides a substantial headroom above standard 144Hz monitors. The Low preset at 1080p produces 307 FPS, but the visual compromise is unlikely to be worthwhile given the already high performance at higher settings. The data suggests that most users should avoid Ultra at 4K and instead opt for High or Medium, as the frame rate cost of Ultra is significant, dropping from 87 to 58 FPS, a 33.3% reduction.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 combination ranks 158th out of 3706 tested combos in Steamworld Build. This places the configuration in the top 4.3% of all tested systems, reflecting the strength of the RTX 5090 as the dominant component in this pairing. The percentile ranking for the GPU alone is 92nd, meaning it outperforms 92% of all GPUs in the database, while the CPU sits at the 72nd percentile.

The rank of 158 suggests that while the GPU is exceptionally powerful, the CPU's mid-range positioning prevents the combo from achieving a higher placement. Many of the 157 combos ranked above this one likely pair the RTX 5090 with a higher-end processor that can better feed the GPU at lower resolutions. The CPU's nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7643, which scores 0.1% lower in average benchmarks, and the Intel Core i7-1355U, which scores 0.3% lower. This indicates that the i5-12400 is competitive with much more expensive server and mobile parts in synthetic tests, but its gaming performance in CPU-bound scenarios may lag behind dedicated high-core-count desktop CPUs.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the configuration delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. The Low preset averages 307 FPS, the Medium preset averages 279 FPS with a minimum of 237 and maximum of 320, the High preset averages 251 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 174 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 133 FPS, a 43.3% reduction, which is substantial but expected given the increased visual workload.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show a clear step down. Low averages 264 FPS, Medium averages 219 FPS with a minimum of 186 and maximum of 252, High averages 164 FPS, and Ultra averages 111 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 153 FPS, a 58% reduction, indicating that the Ultra preset imposes a heavier relative cost as resolution increases.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops become more pronounced. Low averages 151 FPS, Medium averages 116 FPS with a minimum of 98 and maximum of 133, High averages 87 FPS, and Ultra averages 58 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra here is 93 FPS, a 61.6% reduction. Notably, the 4K Ultra result of 58 FPS is the only measured average below 60 FPS across the entire dataset, marking it as the boundary of playability for this combination.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, providing 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is more than sufficient for Steamworld Build, which is not a memory-intensive title at these settings. The GPU's 21760 shading units and 680 texture mapping units contribute to its raw compute capability, with an FP32 performance of 104.8 TFLOPS.

The GPU's boost clock of 2407 MHz and base clock of 2017 MHz are relatively modest for such a large chip, but the massive core count compensates. In this game, the GPU's role becomes dominant at 4K, where the pixel fill rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s are fully utilized. The benchmark results show that the RTX 5090 can handle 4K High at 87 FPS, which is a demanding workload for most GPUs.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 79842 places it at the 92nd percentile, with nearest rivals including the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (0.3% lower) and AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (1.1% lower). This indicates that the RTX 5090 is near the top of the performance hierarchy, though its lead over the nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks is relatively small. In Steamworld Build specifically, the GPU's performance is clearly sufficient to drive high frame rates at 1440p, but the 4K Ultra preset tests its limits.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Steamworld Build?

A: Based on the measured data, 2560x1440 provides the best balance of visual quality and performance, with High settings delivering 164 FPS and Medium delivering 219 FPS. At 4K, High settings still achieve 87 FPS, but Ultra drops to 58 FPS.

Q: Is the RTX 5090 the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: No, the data suggests the CPU becomes a limiter at 1080p. The jump from Low to High at 1080p only reduces FPS from 307 to 251, while at 4K the same settings change reduces FPS from 151 to 87, indicating the GPU has more headroom at lower resolutions.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High at 4K?

A: Ultra at 4K produces 58 FPS average, which is 33.3% lower than High's 87 FPS. This is the largest settings penalty in the dataset, making High the recommended choice for 4K play.

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking?

A: The i5-12400 and RTX 5090 combination ranks 158th out of 3706 tested combos, placing it in the top 4.3% of all tested systems in Steamworld Build.

Q: Does the CPU hold back the GPU in this game?

A: At higher resolutions, no, as the GPU is the clear bottleneck. At 1080p with Low settings, the 307 FPS result suggests the CPU's six cores and twelve threads are nearing their limit, as the GPU could likely render more frames if given the opportunity.

Q: What is the minimum frame rate recorded?

A: The only min FPS data available is for Medium settings: 237 FPS at 1080p, 186 FPS at 1440p, and 98 FPS at 4K. These values indicate stable performance without significant frame drops.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 features six cores and twelve threads with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache provide adequate bandwidth for game logic and simulation tasks. The CPU's 65W TDP and Alder Lake architecture with a 10 nm process node make it a mainstream part, and its benchmark scores reflect this positioning.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-12400 achieves a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 15989 and single-core score of 2257. Its Geekbench multicore score is 8564 and single-core score is 1848. The Passmark multithread score of 18747 and single-thread score of 3456 place it at the 72nd percentile of all CPUs. These scores suggest that the CPU is competent for gaming, but its six cores are fewer than many modern high-end parts, which typically feature eight or more cores.

In Steamworld Build, the CPU's role is most apparent at 1080p, where the frame rates exceed 250 FPS on High settings. City builders often involve complex simulation calculations that can stress the CPU, but the data shows that the i5-12400 keeps pace with the RTX 5090 up to around 300 FPS. Beyond that point, the GPU's raw speed in lower-resolution scenarios may be bottlenecked by the CPU's single-thread performance, which is 2257 in Cinebench R23. The nearest CPU rivals include the Intel Core i3-14100F, which scores 0.9% higher in average benchmarks, and the AMD Ryzen AI 5 330, which scores 0.7% higher. These margins are small, indicating that the i5-12400 is well-matched to its peers in the same performance tier.