Steamworld Build

Steamworld Build is a city builder where the pace of simulation and the density of on-screen construction determine playability. The benchmark data for the Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 provides a clear picture of how this specific hardware combination handles the game across different visual loads. The results show a system that is capable of smooth play at mainstream resolutions but begins to struggle when pushed to the highest settings.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows for this combination reveal a clear hierarchy of performance across the four tested presets: Low, Medium, High, and Ultra. At 1080p, the average frame rates are 200 FPS for Low, 153 FPS for Medium, 115 FPS for High, and 77 FPS for Ultra. The jump from Low to Medium costs 47 FPS, while the jump from Medium to High costs 38 FPS, and the leap from High to Ultra costs another 38 FPS. This indicates that each tier of visual fidelity extracts a significant toll, but all presets remain well above the threshold for smooth gameplay.

At 1440p, the same pattern holds, but the margins between presets widen in absolute terms. Low delivers 127 FPS, Medium drops to 97 FPS, High settles at 73 FPS, and Ultra falls to 49 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra here is 24 FPS, which is substantial, but the more critical observation is that Medium retains a 97 FPS average, keeping the experience fluid. The 1440p Low preset is particularly fast, suggesting that the CPU has headroom to push far beyond display refresh rates when the GPU load is light.

At 4K, the picture changes dramatically. Low produces 67 FPS, Medium drops to 52 FPS, High falls to 39 FPS, and Ultra plummets to 26 FPS. The data suggests that the best experience for this combo is the Medium preset at 1440p, as it provides a 97 FPS average with a recorded minimum of 83 FPS and maximum of 112 FPS, offering a stable and responsive simulation. For users prioritizing visual quality over raw speed, the High preset at 1080p is also viable, with a 115 FPS average. However, the Ultra preset at any resolution is not recommended for consistent play, as the 4K Ultra result of 26 FPS falls below the threshold for smooth interaction, and even 1080p Ultra at 77 FPS leaves less headroom for complex city layouts that could cause dips.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 is the primary driver of frame rate scalability in these results. The GPU’s 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 320.0 GB/s, which is adequate for the texture loads typical of a city builder. The measured FPS scaling from 200 FPS at 1080p Low to 26 FPS at 4K Ultra demonstrates that the GPU’s rendering throughput, backed by its 2560 shading units and 32 ROPs, is the limiting factor at higher resolutions and quality settings.

Examining the GPU’s clock behavior, the base clock of 2317 MHz and boost clock of 2572 MHz indicate a capable mid-range part. The benchmark scores for the RTX 5050 show a Passmark G3D score of 17326 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2502. The GPU’s percentile ranking of 66 among all GPUs places it in the upper-middle tier, which aligns with the observed performance in Steamworld Build where it handles 1080p and 1440p with ease but struggles with 4K Ultra. The data shows that the GPU’s memory configuration, while sufficient for the game’s assets, does not compensate for the raw compute demands of the Ultra preset, which likely introduces heavier post-processing and draw distances.

The performance delta between presets is more pronounced at higher resolutions, confirming that the GPU’s fill rate and shader work are the bottlenecks. For instance, the 4K Medium score of 52 FPS is nearly double the 4K Ultra score of 26 FPS, a 100% improvement solely from lowering the preset. This indicates that the GPU is highly sensitive to the specific shader and texture changes between Medium and Ultra, and that the 8 GB VRAM capacity is not the issue, as the frame rate drops are consistent with compute-bound workloads rather than memory swapping.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the expected pattern of GPU-bound performance. At the Low preset, the average FPS drops from 200 at 1080p to 127 at 1440p (a 36.5% reduction) and then to 67 at 4K (a 47.2% reduction from 1440p). This steep decline is characteristic of a GPU that is being saturated by pixel count, as the RTX 5050’s 13.17 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is spread thinner with each resolution increase.

For the Medium preset, the progression is 153 FPS at 1080p, 97 FPS at 1440p, and 52 FPS at 4K. The resolution scaling here is more linear, with the 1440p score representing 63.4% of the 1080p score, and the 4K score representing 53.6% of the 1440p score. This suggests that the Medium preset has a balanced load where the GPU’s memory bandwidth and compute resources are being utilized proportionally, without any one bottleneck dominating.

The High preset shows a similar trend: 115 FPS at 1080p, 73 FPS at 1440p, and 39 FPS at 4K. The 4K result is notably low, indicating that the High preset’s additional effects (likely better shadows and reflections) are disproportionately expensive at high pixel counts. The Ultra preset is the most punishing, with 77 FPS at 1080p, 49 FPS at 1440p, and 26 FPS at 4K. The data indicates that the limiting component is the GPU, as the CPU’s performance is constant across resolutions. The i5-12400F’s single-thread score of 909 in 3DMark and multi-thread score of 5912 suggest it has ample headroom to feed the GPU, but the GPU cannot maintain high frame rates when the pixel workload quadruples from 1080p to 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combination demonstrates strong performance across all presets. The Low preset achieves an average of 200 FPS, which is exceptionally high and suggests the game is lightly threaded at this setting. Medium delivers a solid 153 FPS average with a minimum of 130 FPS and maximum of 176 FPS, showing good frame pacing. High reduces the average to 115 FPS, still well above 60 FPS. Ultra brings the average down to 77 FPS, which is playable but begins to approach the boundary where rapid camera movement in a dense city could cause noticeable hitches.

At 2560x1440, the performance is still respectable for most presets. Low runs at 127 FPS, maintaining a fluid experience. Medium averages 97 FPS with a min of 83 and max of 112, offering a very stable experience that is ideal for prolonged play. High falls to 73 FPS, which is still smooth but leaves less margin for simulation spikes. Ultra drops to 49 FPS, which is a noticeable step down and may feel less responsive for players who are accustomed to higher refresh rates.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. Low achieves 67 FPS, which is playable but not exceptional for a 4K display. Medium averages 52 FPS with a min of 44 and max of 59, indicating that even the medium preset is on the edge of comfortable playability, as the minimum dips below 50 FPS. High drops to 39 FPS, which is marginal for a real-time strategy title where smooth scrolling is important. Ultra is effectively unplayable at 26 FPS, as the simulation will feel sluggish and the frame time variance will be high.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 2560x1440 with the Medium preset provides the best balance, with an average of 97 FPS, a minimum of 83 FPS, and a maximum of 112 FPS. This offers high detail with a comfortable frame rate margin.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Steamworld Build?

A: At 4K, the Low preset averages 67 FPS, which is playable, but the Medium preset averages 52 FPS with a minimum of 44 FPS, making it borderline. The High and Ultra presets are not recommended, with averages of 39 FPS and 26 FPS respectively.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High in terms of performance cost?

A: At 1080p, Ultra averages 77 FPS versus High’s 115 FPS, a 33% reduction. At 1440p, Ultra averages 49 FPS versus High’s 73 FPS, a 33% reduction. At 4K, Ultra averages 26 FPS versus High’s 39 FPS, a 33% reduction. The cost is consistent across resolutions, indicating a uniform increase in shader complexity.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The benchmark results indicate the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions. The CPU’s 3DMark max threads score of 5912 and Passmark single thread score of 3481 are sufficient to drive high frame rates at 1080p Low (200 FPS), but the GPU cannot sustain those rates at 4K, with scores dropping to 67 FPS on Low.

Q: What is the frame rate variance like on the Medium preset?

A: The Medium preset has recorded min and max values. At 1080p, the range is 130 to 176 FPS around a 153 average. At 1440p, the range is 83 to 112 around a 97 average. At 4K, the range is 44 to 59 around a 52 average. The variance is tighter at lower resolutions.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested systems for this game?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400F with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 ranks 2273 out of 3706 tested combinations, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database for Steamworld Build performance.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, running on the Intel Socket 1700 platform. Its base clock of 2.50 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz are supported by a 18 MB shared L3 cache. The CPU’s benchmark scores indicate solid single-thread and multi-thread performance, with a Passmark single thread score of 3481 and a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 12380.

In Steamworld Build, the CPU’s role is to manage the game’s simulation logic, including resource paths, worker AI, and building construction queues. The data shows that the CPU is not a bottleneck at 1080p, as the Low preset achieves 200 FPS, which is far above the refresh rate of most displays. The CPU’s 3DMark 2-thread score of 1699 and 4-thread score of 3067 suggest that the game engine is likely utilizing more than a few threads, but the CPU has enough headroom to keep up with the GPU’s output.

The CPU’s performance relative to its nearest rivals is noteworthy. It is essentially tied with the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS (0% delta) and the Intel Core i5-1335U (0.3% delta), while slightly behind the Intel Core 3 201E (-0.1% delta). This places the i5-12400F in a competitive position, but its value is more evident in gaming scenarios where the GPU is the limiting factor, as evidenced by the frame rate scaling in this game. The CPU’s 73rd percentile ranking among all CPUs confirms it is a robust performer, but it does not drive the differences between the measured FPS values, which are consistently tied to resolution and preset changes.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 combination holds a rank of 2273 out of 3706 tested combos for Steamworld Build, placing it in the 61st percentile of all tested systems. This rank reflects a system that is capable of delivering a good experience at 1080p and 1440p but is not optimized for 4K or ultra-high settings. The GPU’s percentile ranking of 66 among all GPUs is higher than the combo’s overall rank, suggesting that the CPU’s performance is slightly holding the system back in this specific title, even though the CPU is not the primary bottleneck at high resolutions.

Comparatively, the GPU’s nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT, which has an average score 1.6% higher, and the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile, which is 1.6% lower. The CPU’s rivals are tightly clustered, with the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS matching its score exactly. This indicates that the combo’s rank is largely determined by the GPU’s mid-tier positioning. The data shows that in a city builder like Steamworld Build, where simulation speed is tied to frame rate, this combo provides a competent foundation, but users seeking high-refresh-rate 4K play would need to consider a stronger GPU, as the current setup’s 4K Ultra average of 26 FPS is a clear indicator of its limits.