Steamworld Build

Steamworld Build is a city builder that scales heavily with resolution and settings, and the data for the Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the Intel Arc B570 shows a configuration that is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, with 4K requiring significant compromises. The measured frame rates reveal a clear hierarchy: this combo delivers playable performance at 1080p across all settings, becomes more demanding at 1440p, and struggles to maintain smooth gameplay at 4K except on the lowest settings. The Arc B570’s 10 GB of VRAM and 2500 MHz clock speed are central to understanding these results, as the GPU’s load increases with resolution, while the i5-12400F’s 6-core, 12-thread design provides ample processing power for the simulation aspects of the genre.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data clearly indicates that the Medium preset offers the best balance of performance and visual quality for this configuration. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers an average of 124 FPS, with a minimum of 106 FPS and a maximum of 143 FPS. This is a substantial improvement over High (93 FPS average) and Ultra (63 FPS average), while still being far smoother than Low (162 FPS average) which would sacrifice visual fidelity unnecessarily. The 106 FPS minimum ensures that even in busy city-building moments, frame pacing remains consistent, avoiding the stutters that can plague simulation games.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Medium preset again proves to be the sweet spot, producing an average of 79 FPS with a minimum of 67 FPS and a maximum of 91 FPS. This is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, whereas High drops to 59 FPS average and Ultra falls to 40 FPS average, making those settings less viable for consistent play. Low at 1440p does reach 103 FPS average, but the visual downgrade is significant for a genre where readability of the city layout matters.

At 3840x2160, no preset delivers a truly smooth experience except Low, which averages 55 FPS. Medium at 4K averages 42 FPS with a minimum of 35 FPS, which is borderline playable but will show noticeable slowdowns in complex scenes. High (31 FPS) and Ultra (21 FPS) are not recommended for any serious gameplay, as they fall below the minimum threshold for interactive responsiveness. For users with 4K displays, the data suggests either playing at Low settings or dropping to 1440p with Medium for a better experience.

The measured numbers also show that the gap between Low and Medium is relatively small at each resolution (162 to 124 FPS at 1080p, 103 to 79 FPS at 1440p, 55 to 42 FPS at 4K), while the jump from Medium to High is more costly (124 to 93 FPS at 1080p, 79 to 59 FPS at 1440p). This indicates that the Medium preset efficiently uses the GPU’s resources without overloading them, making it the recommended choice for most users.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570 plays a decisive role in this combo’s performance, particularly as resolution increases. The GPU features 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus, providing 380.0 GB/s of bandwidth. In Steamworld Build, a city builder that renders detailed environments and many on-screen objects, this memory capacity is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p at Medium settings, where the measured FPS remains high. However, at 4K, the combination of higher pixel count and more complex scenes pushes the GPU harder, as evidenced by the sharp drop from 55 FPS at Low to 42 FPS at Medium.

The GPU’s clock speed is listed as a base and boost of 2500 MHz, which is a relatively high frequency for its class. This helps the card maintain performance in CPU-bound scenarios at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the i5-12400F with its 6 cores and 12 threads likely keeps the GPU well-fed, as seen in the 162 FPS average at Low settings. The GPU’s 2304 shading units and 144 texture mapping units contribute to its ability to handle the game’s rendering workload, though the data shows that Ultra settings, which likely enable additional effects like shadows and reflections, cause a significant performance hit across all resolutions.

The Arc B570’s 18 ray tracing cores are present, but Steamworld Build’s visual style does not appear to rely heavily on ray-traced effects based on the FPS numbers. Instead, the primary bottleneck shifts to the GPU at higher resolutions. The 4K results—31 FPS at High and 21 FPS at Ultra—indicate that the GPU’s raw compute power (11.52 TFLOPS FP32) is insufficient for the highest settings at that pixel count. The 150 W TDP and PCIe 4.0 x8 interface are adequate for this workload, and the data suggests that the GPU is the limiting component at 4K, whereas the CPU is more relevant at 1080p.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Steamworld Build with this CPU and GPU combo?

A: Based on the measured FPS, 1920x1080 provides the most comfortable experience, with an average of 124 FPS at Medium settings and 93 FPS at High. 2560x1440 is also viable, especially at Medium (79 FPS average), but 4K should only be used with Low settings (55 FPS average).

Q: How does the Intel Arc B570’s VRAM affect performance in this game?

A: The 10 GB of GDDR6 memory with 380.0 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p at all tested settings, as shown by the 103 FPS average at 1440p Low. At 4K, the higher memory demands likely contribute to the performance drop, but the data does not indicate VRAM exhaustion since even Low at 4K achieves 55 FPS.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-12400F a bottleneck for the Arc B570 in this game?

A: At 1080p, the CPU appears capable of driving the GPU to high frame rates, as evidenced by the 162 FPS average at Low settings. The 6-core, 12-thread processor with a boost clock of 4.40 GHz provides sufficient single-thread and multi-thread performance for a city builder, and the 18 MB L3 cache helps with simulation data.

Q: What is the difference between Medium and High settings at 1440p?

A: The measured data shows Medium at 79 FPS average (67 min, 91 max) versus High at 59 FPS average. This 20 FPS gap represents a meaningful performance penalty for what is likely a modest visual improvement, making Medium the better choice for maintaining smooth gameplay.

Q: Can this combo handle Ultra settings at any resolution?

A: Ultra settings are only playable at 1080p, where the average FPS is 63. At 1440p, Ultra drops to 40 FPS average, and at 4K it falls to 21 FPS, both of which are below acceptable thresholds for a responsive experience.

Q: How does the combo rank compared to other tested configurations?

A: This combo ranks 2320 out of 2924 tested combinations, placing it in the lower third of all systems. This suggests that while it can run the game, many other CPU-GPU pairings deliver higher frame rates, particularly at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12400F and Intel Arc B570 combination ranks 2320 out of 2924 tested combos for Steamworld Build, placing it in the 21st percentile of all systems. This low ranking reflects the GPU’s mid-range positioning—the Arc B570 sits at the 65th percentile among all GPUs but is paired with a CPU that ranks at the 73rd percentile among all CPUs. The data suggests that this pairing is not optimized for this game, as many other combos achieve higher frame rates.

Looking at the GPU’s nearest rivals, the Arc B570’s average benchmark score of 20556 is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (20534, 0.1% delta) and the Intel Arc A750 (20582, -0.1% delta). This means the Arc B570 performs similarly to those cards in synthetic tests, but in Steamworld Build, the actual measured FPS shows that the game’s demands may favor different architectures. The CPU’s nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS (19047 avg score, 0% delta) and the Intel Core 3 201E (19056, -0.1% delta), indicating the i5-12400F’s processing power is on par with those chips.

The ranking of 2320 out of 2924 suggests that for a city builder like Steamworld Build, which can be CPU-intensive due to simulation logic, the i5-12400F’s 6 cores are adequate but not exceptional. Other combos with more powerful CPUs or GPUs will naturally rank higher. The measured FPS data shows that this combo’s best result—162 FPS at 1080p Low—is decent, but the drop to 21 FPS at 4K Ultra highlights its limitations. Users seeking higher rankings would need to consider a more powerful GPU, as the CPU’s performance is sufficient for the game’s logic but the GPU struggles at higher resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling data shows a clear pattern of diminishing returns as pixel count increases. At 1920x1080, the combo achieves 162 FPS at Low, 124 FPS at Medium, 93 FPS at High, and 63 FPS at Ultra. Moving to 2560x1440, those numbers drop to 103 FPS (Low), 79 FPS (Medium), 59 FPS (High), and 40 FPS (Ultra). At 3840x2160, the results are 55 FPS (Low), 42 FPS (Medium), 31 FPS (High), and 21 FPS (Ultra).

These figures indicate that the performance cost of each resolution step is roughly consistent across settings, but the percentage drops are telling. From 1080p to 1440p, the FPS decreases by approximately 36% at Low (162 to 103), 36% at Medium (124 to 79), 37% at High (93 to 59), and 37% at Ultra (63 to 40). From 1440p to 4K, the drops are more severe: 47% at Low (103 to 55), 47% at Medium (79 to 42), 47% at High (59 to 31), and 48% at Ultra (40 to 21).

This pattern suggests that the GPU is the primary limiting component as resolution increases. The 4K results, particularly at High and Ultra, fall well below playable thresholds, indicating that the Arc B570’s compute power is insufficient for that pixel count. The CPU’s role becomes less significant at higher resolutions, as the GPU’s rendering workload dominates. At 1080p, the high frame rates (162 FPS at Low) suggest the CPU can keep up with the GPU, but at 4K, the GPU is clearly the bottleneck.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The full dataset provides a comprehensive view of this combo’s performance across all tested scenarios.

1920x1080:

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

At 1080p, all settings are playable, with even Ultra maintaining a 63 FPS average. The Medium preset’s 106 FPS minimum ensures no noticeable stutters, making this the recommended setting for the smoothest experience.

2560x1440:

• Low: 103 FPS average
• Medium: 79 FPS average, 67 FPS minimum, 91 FPS maximum
• High: 59 FPS average
• Ultra: 40 FPS average

At 1440p, the Medium preset remains above 60 FPS, but High dips just below that threshold. Ultra is not recommended at this resolution due to the 40 FPS average, which will feel sluggish during city expansion.

3840x2160:

• Low: 55 FPS average
• Medium: 42 FPS average, 35 FPS minimum, 48 FPS maximum
• High: 31 FPS average
• Ultra: 21 FPS average

At 4K, only Low achieves a playable frame rate. Medium’s 35 FPS minimum will cause noticeable slowdowns in dense areas, while High and Ultra are effectively unplayable. The data clearly indicates that 4K is beyond this combo’s comfortable range.

The progression from 1080p to 4K shows that the combo is best used at 1080p with Medium to High settings, or at 1440p with Medium. For users with 4K displays, dropping to 1440p or using Low settings is the only way to maintain a smooth experience. The Arc B570’s 10 GB VRAM and 2500 MHz clock are sufficient for the lower resolutions, but the GPU’s overall performance ceiling is reached at 4K, making this combo a solid 1080p performer rather than a 4K solution.