Steamworld Build

Steamworld Build, a city builder from 2023, places distinct demands on the Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 combination. The measured data reveals a configuration that scales predictably with resolution, showing where each component's influence peaks. The benchmark results provide a clear picture of performance across three resolutions and four quality presets, with the system landing at rank 359 out of 1730 tested combos, placing it in the top percentile of configurations for this title.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep, but the pattern is not uniform across settings. At Low settings, the game runs at 306.5 FPS on 1920x1080, which drops to 211.2 FPS at 2560x1440, and further to 111.9 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 63.5% performance retention from 1080p to 4K, indicating that at lower graphical loads, the CPU still has headroom to feed the GPU, but the GPU becomes the primary limiter as pixel count rises.

The Medium preset shows a similar trajectory. From 255.6 FPS at 1080p, it falls to 164.1 FPS at 1440p and then to 86 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1440p to 4K is particularly pronounced at 47.6%, suggesting that the RTX 5070's memory bandwidth and processing power are being taxed heavily by the higher pixel count. At High settings, the pattern continues: 190.9 FPS at 1080p, 119.4 FPS at 1440p, and 63 FPS at 4K. The 4K figure here is notably close to the 60 FPS threshold, which matters for smooth gameplay in a city builder where camera panning and zooming are frequent.

Ultra settings present the most demanding scenario. The system delivers 132.8 FPS at 1080p, which drops to 80.2 FPS at 1440p, and then plummets to 40.5 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is below the playable threshold for many users, and the drop from 1440p to 4K is a 49.5% reduction. This data indicates that at 4K, the GPU is the limiting component for all presets. At 1080p, however, the CPU's role becomes more significant, as the frame rates exceed 300 FPS at Low, which is a domain where the i5-12400F's 12 threads and 18 MB of L3 cache provide sufficient instruction throughput.

FAQ

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-12400F perform in synthetic benchmarks relative to its nearest rivals?

A: The i5-12400F has an average benchmark score of 19221, placing it at the 77th percentile among all CPUs. It sits 0.1% above the Intel Core i7-8700K (19210) and 0.3% above the Intel Core i5-1335U (19167), while being 0.7% below the AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS (19364) and 1.3% above the AMD EPYC 7773X (18979).

Q: What is the RTX 5070's standing among GPUs based on its average benchmark score?

A: The RTX 5070 achieves an average benchmark score of 41687, placing it at the 83rd percentile of all GPUs. It outperforms the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 (41610) by 0.2% and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 (41441) by 0.6%, while trailing the NVIDIA Tesla M40 (41897) by 0.5% and the AMD Radeon Pro 580X (41991) by 0.7%.

Q: Which resolution and preset combination delivers the highest measured frame rate?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 306.5, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is followed by 255.6 FPS at 1920x1080 with Medium settings, indicating that the 1080p resolution is where the system's performance ceiling is reached.

Q: Is the 4K Ultra preset playable with this hardware?

A: No, the measured 4K Ultra average is 40.5 FPS, which is below the commonly accepted 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The 4K High setting at 63 FPS is the minimum preset that maintains playability at this resolution.

Q: How does the combo rank in Steamworld Build compared to other tested systems?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400F with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 ranks 359th out of 1730 tested combinations for this game. This places the configuration in the top 20.8% of all tested combos, indicating strong performance relative to the broader hardware landscape.

Q: What is the CPU's single-threaded performance in Cinebench R23?

A: The i5-12400F scores 2332 in Cinebench R23 single-core, which is relevant for city builders where simulation logic often runs on a single thread. This is complemented by a multicore score of 16518 in the same test.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a 5 nm process, containing 31,100 million transistors on a 263 mm² die. Its 12 GB of GDDR7 memory operates across a 192-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 672.0 GB/s. The GPU's base clock is 2325 MHz with a boost clock of 2512 MHz, and memory runs at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). These specifications translate to a pixel rate of 201.0 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 482.3 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance rated at 30.87 TFLOPS.

In Steamworld Build, the GPU's role becomes evident when examining the FPS scaling. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra settings is 173.7 FPS (from 306.5 to 132.8), showing that the GPU has ample headroom to process visual effects. The 12 GB VRAM is sufficient for this game's textures and geometry, as no memory-related bottlenecks appear in the data. At 4K, the GPU's limits are clearer: the gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 71.4 FPS (from 111.9 to 40.5), indicating that the rendering pipeline is saturated. The RTX 5070's 80 ROPs and 192 TMUs are key to handling the pixel and texture fill rates required at higher resolutions, and the 48 RT cores, while not heavily utilized in a city builder, contribute to the overall compute capacity.

The GPU's benchmark scores align with its in-game performance. A Passmark G3D score of 29137 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5077 reflect its capability. The percentile ranking of 83 among all GPUs confirms that this is a high-tier part, and the measured FPS data supports this, with 4K High achieving 63 FPS, which is a solid result for a simulation game.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 achieves rank 359 out of 1730 tested combos in Steamworld Build. This rank places the system in the upper quintile of all configurations tested, which is a strong result for a mid-range CPU paired with a high-end GPU. The CPU's percentile ranking of 77 and the GPU's percentile ranking of 83 suggest that the two components are well-matched for this game, with neither being a significant bottleneck at most settings.

The ranking reflects the system's ability to maintain high frame rates across the board. At 1440p, which is often considered the sweet spot for this class of hardware, the system delivers 164.1 FPS at Medium and 119.4 FPS at High, both well above the 60 FPS threshold. The 4K performance, while weaker, still offers 63 FPS at High, which is respectable for a city builder. The rank of 359 suggests that while many systems outperform this combo, a substantial majority (1371 combos) fall below it. The data indicates that the i5-12400F's 6 cores and 12 threads, with a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, provide enough processing power to keep the RTX 5070 fed, particularly at resolutions above 1080p where the GPU's workload dominates.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers 132.8 FPS, which is more than sufficient for smooth gameplay, and the High preset at 190.9 FPS offers additional headroom for demanding scenes with many entities on screen. The Medium preset at 255.6 FPS is excessive for most displays and offers no practical benefit over High.

For 2560x1440, the High preset at 119.4 FPS is the recommended choice, as it balances visual quality with performance. The Ultra preset at 80.2 FPS is also playable, but the 39.2 FPS drop from High to Ultra may not justify the visual gains. The Medium preset at 164.1 FPS provides a comfortable margin for users with high-refresh-rate monitors.

At 3840x2160, the High preset at 63 FPS is the only viable option for maintaining playability. The Medium preset at 86 FPS offers even better performance, but the visual compromise may be noticeable. The Ultra preset at 40.5 FPS is below the playable threshold and should be avoided. The Low preset at 111.9 FPS is an option for users who prioritize frame rate over visual fidelity, but the High preset provides a better balance for most players. Overall, the data supports using High settings for 4K, High or Ultra for 1440p, and any preset above Low for 1080p.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system achieves its highest performance. Low settings produce an average of 306.5 FPS, which drops to 255.6 FPS at Medium, 190.9 FPS at High, and 132.8 FPS at Ultra. The progression shows a consistent 20-25% reduction in FPS for each step up in quality, with the Ultra preset representing a 56.7% reduction from Low.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates decrease across the board. Low settings deliver 211.2 FPS, Medium achieves 164.1 FPS, High reaches 119.4 FPS, and Ultra drops to 80.2 FPS. The relative differences between settings are similar to 1080p, but the absolute numbers are lower, confirming the GPU's growing influence.

At 3840x2160, the results show significant scaling. Low settings produce 111.9 FPS, Medium achieves 86 FPS, High delivers 63 FPS, and Ultra falls to 40.5 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra at 4K is 71.4 FPS, which is the largest absolute gap across all resolutions. The 4K Ultra result is the only measured configuration that falls below 60 FPS, and the 4K High result at 63 FPS is the closest to the threshold among the playable options. These numbers illustrate the GPU's capability at 1080p and 1440p, while highlighting its limitations at 4K with the most demanding settings.