Steamworld Build

FAQ

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-12600KF compare to its closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i5-12600KF posts an average benchmark score of 27799, placing it 0.3% behind the Intel Core i9-10900K and AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D, while sitting 0.3% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 8500GE. The differences are negligible, with all four processors separated by less than 1% in average score.

Q: What is the performance percentile ranking of the Intel Arc B370 GPU?

A: The Arc B370 sits in the 5th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 1184 from the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test. It trades blows with legacy parts like the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1186, 0.2% ahead) and the ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1190, 0.5% ahead), while edging out the AMD FirePro M2000 by 1.4%.

Q: What is the best playable setting at 1920x1080 for Steamworld Build?

A: The data indicates that Low settings deliver the highest average framerate at 95 FPS, while Medium provides a strong balance at 73 FPS with a minimum of 62 FPS. High settings drop to 55 FPS average, and Ultra falls to 37 FPS, making Medium the recommended preset for consistent performance.

Q: How does the GPU's memory configuration affect Steamworld Build?

A: The Intel Arc B370 uses System Shared memory with a System Dependent bandwidth, meaning it draws from the system's main memory rather than dedicated VRAM. Its base clock is 300 MHz, boosting to 2400 MHz, and it features 1280 shading units, 40 TMUs, and 20 ROPs.

Q: What is the combo's ranking among all tested configurations for this game?

A: The Intel Core i5-12600KF paired with the Intel Arc B370 ranks 2683 out of 2924 tested combos in Steamworld Build, placing it in the bottom 8% of all configurations tested for this title.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance compare to its single-threaded performance?

A: The i5-12600KF shows strong scaling, with a 3DMark max-threads score of 7952 versus 1016 for single-thread. In Cinebench R23, the multicore score reaches 23391 while single-core hits 3302, and Geekbench shows 12137 multicore against 2157 single-core.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data for Steamworld Build reveals a clear hierarchy across settings presets, with the optimal choice depending heavily on target resolution. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 95 FPS average, which is the highest framerate recorded across all configurations in the dataset. However, the Medium preset offers a more compelling balance: 73 FPS average with a minimum of 62 FPS and a maximum of 84 FPS. The minimum framerate of 62 FPS ensures that the experience stays consistently above the 60 FPS threshold, which is critical for a city builder where camera panning and zooming are frequent. High settings drop to 55 FPS average, which is playable but introduces noticeable dips during busy scenes, while Ultra falls to 37 FPS, making it unsuitable for smooth play at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the picture changes substantially. Low settings produce 61 FPS average, which is the only preset at this resolution that maintains playable performance. Medium drops to 46 FPS with a minimum of 39 FPS, which may cause stutter during heavy simulation moments. High falls to 35 FPS, and Ultra drops to 23 FPS, both of which are below comfortable playability thresholds. For 1440p gaming, the data suggests that Low is the only viable preset, while Medium could be acceptable for players who prioritize visual fidelity over smoothness.

At 3840x2160, none of the presets achieve playable framerates. Low settings yield 32 FPS average, Medium produces 25 FPS with a minimum of 21 FPS, High drops to 18 FPS, and Ultra falls to 12 FPS. The 4K resolution is effectively out of reach for this combination, regardless of settings adjustments.

The best experience per the measured rows is at 1920x1080 with Medium settings. This preset provides a 73 FPS average with a 62 FPS minimum, which represents the highest minimum framerate among all presets that still offer moderate visual quality. The step from Low to Medium improves visual fidelity while only sacrificing 22 FPS on average, whereas the step from Medium to High sacrifices 18 FPS for a marginal visual gain. For players who prioritize framerate above all else, Low at 1080p offers the smoothest experience at 95 FPS, but the Medium preset provides the best balance of performance and visual quality.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370 is the primary bottleneck in this configuration, as evidenced by its 5th percentile ranking among all GPUs. The GPU's architecture is Xe3-LPG on a 3 nm process, featuring 1280 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 20 raster output units. The pixel rate is 48.00 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 96.00 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance at 6.144 TFLOPS and FP16 at 12.29 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio). The GPU operates at a base clock of 300 MHz, boosting to 2400 MHz, and is rated at a 25 W TDP.

The memory configuration is a significant consideration for Steamworld Build, as the game is a city builder that requires substantial memory bandwidth for texture streaming and simulation data. The Arc B370 uses System Shared memory, meaning it has no dedicated VRAM and instead accesses system memory with bandwidth that is System Dependent. This architecture places the GPU at a disadvantage for memory-intensive titles, as the shared memory bus must compete with CPU and system operations for bandwidth.

The GPU's benchmark results confirm its limited capabilities. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1184 places it in the 5th percentile, with nearest rivals including ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1186, 0.2% ahead), ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1190, 0.5% ahead), AMD Radeon HD 7650M (1192, 0.7% ahead), and AMD FirePro M2000 (1168, 1.4% behind). These comparisons illustrate that the Arc B370 performs at a level consistent with mid-range GPUs from over a decade ago, which directly explains the low framerates observed in Steamworld Build.

The GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support and Vulkan 1.4 compatibility are modern features, but they do not compensate for the raw compute and memory bandwidth limitations. In Steamworld Build, which is a CPU-light but GPU-dependent city builder at higher resolutions, the Arc B370's constraints become apparent as resolution increases. The GPU's 20 ROPs and 40 TMUs are insufficient for high-resolution rendering, leading to the dramatic framerate drops observed when moving from 1080p to 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive picture of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the framerates range from 37 FPS at Ultra to 95 FPS at Low. The Medium preset delivers 73 FPS average with a minimum of 62 FPS and a maximum of 84 FPS, while High produces 55 FPS average. The gap between Low and Medium is 22 FPS, while the gap between Medium and High is 18 FPS, and the gap between High and Ultra is another 18 FPS. This linear degradation suggests the GPU is consistently saturated, with each settings tier imposing a similar performance cost.

At 2560x1440, the framerates drop significantly. Low produces 61 FPS average, which is 34 FPS lower than the same preset at 1080p. Medium delivers 46 FPS with a minimum of 39 FPS and a maximum of 53 FPS, representing a 27 FPS drop from the 1080p Medium result. High falls to 35 FPS, a 20 FPS drop, and Ultra reaches only 23 FPS, a 14 FPS drop. The diminishing absolute drops at higher settings indicate that the GPU is becoming increasingly overwhelmed, with the settings overhead consuming a larger proportion of the limited headroom.

At 3840x2160, the results are uniformly poor. Low produces 32 FPS, Medium delivers 25 FPS with a minimum of 21 FPS and a maximum of 28 FPS, High reaches 18 FPS, and Ultra drops to 12 FPS. The 4K resolution represents a 66% reduction in framerate compared to 1080p across most presets, with the Low preset falling from 95 FPS to 32 FPS, a 63 FPS absolute drop. The minimum framerate of 21 FPS at Medium 4K highlights the severe performance limitations.

The data reveals that the GPU's performance scales roughly linearly with pixel count, which is typical for a fill-rate-bound GPU. The Arc B370's 48.00 GPixel/s pixel rate is the limiting factor, as higher resolutions require exponentially more pixel processing. The 20 ROPs are insufficient for 4K rendering, leading to the 12-18 FPS results observed at Ultra and High settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12600KF paired with the Intel Arc B370 ranks 2683 out of 2924 tested combos in Steamworld Build, placing it in the bottom 8.3% of all configurations. This ranking reflects the GPU's severe performance limitations, as the CPU is a capable mid-range processor that would rank significantly higher with a more powerful GPU.

The combo ranking of 2683 out of 2924 indicates that this configuration is among the least capable for Steamworld Build. The 5th percentile GPU ranking is the dominant factor, as the GPU's average benchmark score of 1184 is comparable to GPUs from the early 2010s. The CPU's 79th percentile ranking among all CPUs demonstrates that the processor is not the limiting factor in this configuration.

The disparity between the CPU and GPU performance is stark. The i5-12600KF achieves a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 23391, which places it in the upper tier of desktop processors, while the Arc B370's 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1184 places it in the bottom tier of GPUs. This imbalance means that the CPU is severely underutilized in Steamworld Build, as the GPU cannot render frames fast enough to challenge the CPU's processing capabilities.

The ranking data suggests that this combination is suitable for low-resolution, low-settings gaming at best. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 95 FPS, which is playable, but the experience degrades rapidly with any increase in resolution or settings. The 2683rd rank out of 2924 combos indicates that most other tested configurations outperform this setup, making it a poor choice for Steamworld Build players who expect smooth performance at moderate settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12600KF is a 10-core, 16-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process with a die size of 215 mm². Its base clock is 3.70 GHz, boosting to 4.90 GHz, with a TDP of 125 W. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB L1 per core, 1.25 MB L2 per core, and 20 MB shared L3 cache. The processor supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration, with PCIe Gen 4 providing 20 CPU lanes.

The CPU's benchmark performance is strong across the board. In Cinebench R23, it scores 23391 multicore and 3302 single-core. Geekbench shows 12137 multicore and 2157 single-core. 3DMark results include 7956 for 16 threads, 1995 for 2 threads, 3806 for 4 threads, 6128 for 8 threads, 7952 for max threads, and 1016 for single thread. PassMark scores include 27575 multithread, 3925 single-thread, 87830 integer math, 67074 floating point math, and 343231 data compression.

The 3DMark results reveal excellent thread scaling, with the 16-thread score of 7956 nearly matching the max-threads score of 7952, indicating that the processor efficiently utilizes all available threads. The 2-thread score of 1995 represents approximately 25% of the 16-thread score, which is expected for a 10-core processor with 16 threads. The single-thread score of 1016 confirms that the processor's boost clock of 4.90 GHz delivers competitive single-threaded performance.

In Steamworld Build, the CPU's role is secondary to the GPU, as the game is not heavily CPU-dependent at the settings and resolutions tested. The CPU's 79th percentile ranking places it well above the GPU's 5th percentile, meaning the GPU is the clear bottleneck. However, the CPU's strong multi-threaded performance ensures that simulation and AI calculations do not introduce additional framerate drops, even at low GPU framerates.

The CPU's nearest rivals include the Intel Core i9-10900K (avg score 27872, 0.3% ahead), AMD Ryzen 5 8500GE (27712, 0.3% behind), AMD Ryzen 7 6800U (27887, 0.3% ahead), and AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D (27896, 0.3% ahead). These comparisons show that the i5-12600KF performs on par with flagship processors from previous generations, confirming that the CPU is not the weak link in this configuration.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling data reveals a clear picture of the GPU's limitations. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440, the average framerate drops by approximately 36% across all settings. The Low preset falls from 95 FPS to 61 FPS, a 34 FPS drop; Medium falls from 73 FPS to 46 FPS, a 27 FPS drop; High falls from 55 FPS to 35 FPS, a 20 FPS drop; and Ultra falls from 37 FPS to 23 FPS, a 14 FPS drop. The decreasing absolute drops at higher settings indicate that the GPU is already near its limits at 1080p with those presets.

Moving from 2560x1440 to 3840x2160, the framerate drops further. Low falls from 61 FPS to 32 FPS, a 29 FPS drop; Medium falls from 46 FPS to 25 FPS, a 21 FPS drop; High falls from 35 FPS to 18 FPS, a 17 FPS drop; and Ultra falls from 23 FPS to 12 FPS, an 11 FPS drop. The percentage drops are consistent at approximately 45-50% from 1440p to 4K, which aligns with the pixel count increase from 3.7 million to 8.3 million pixels.

The scaling behavior indicates that the GPU is fill-rate limited, as the framerate drops proportionally to the pixel count increase. From 1080p to 4K, the pixel count increases by 4x, and the framerate drops by approximately 66-70% across presets. This is less than the theoretical 75% drop expected from a pure fill-rate bottleneck, suggesting some headroom exists in the GPU's compute capabilities, but the trend clearly points to the GPU as the limiting component.

The data also shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor at any resolution. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect framerate to remain constant as resolution increases, but the consistent drops across all resolutions confirm that the GPU is the constraining component. The CPU's 79th percentile ranking and strong multi-threaded performance provide ample headroom for the game's simulation logic, but the GPU's 5th percentile ranking prevents the system from achieving playable framerates at higher resolutions.

The practical implication is that this combination is suitable for 1080p gaming at Low or Medium settings, with 1440p requiring Low settings for playable performance, and 4K being effectively unplayable regardless of settings. The resolution scaling analysis confirms that players should target 1080p for the best experience with this hardware combination.