Steamworld Build

Steamworld Build’s measured performance with the Intel Core i5-12600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 shows a configuration that scales predictably across resolutions, with the GPU becoming the clear limiting factor as pixel count rises. The data indicates a playable experience at 1080p across all presets, a solid 1440p showing, and a demanding 4K environment where only lower settings maintain high frame rates.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 is steep and reveals a GPU-bound workload at higher resolutions. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 136.0 at 1080p to 88.3 at 1440p, a 35.1% reduction, and then to 48.0 at 4K, a further 45.6% drop from the 1440p figure. This pattern is consistent across all presets, indicating that the RTX 5060’s rendering throughput is the primary constraint as resolution increases.

At Low settings, the scaling is even more dramatic: 236.8 FPS at 1080p drops to 150.3 FPS at 1440p (a 36.5% decrease) and then to 79.7 FPS at 4K (a 47.0% decrease from 1440p). The relative performance loss from 1080p to 4K at Low is 66.3%, compared to a 64.7% loss at High settings. This suggests that even when the render load is lighter, the GPU’s memory bandwidth and shading capacity are still the bottleneck, rather than the CPU.

The delta between Medium and High at each resolution is relatively small compared to the jump from Medium to Ultra. For instance, at 2560x1440, Medium averages 118.9 FPS and High averages 88.3 FPS, a 25.7% gap, while Ultra plummets to 56.2 FPS, a 36.4% drop from High. This indicates that the Ultra preset introduces effects that disproportionately tax the GPU, likely related to advanced lighting or shadow computations, making it a less efficient scaling step.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achieved by this combo?

A: The highest measured average is 236.8 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings, demonstrating the RTX 5060’s headroom for esports-style play in this city builder.

Q: Does the combo maintain 60 FPS at 4K?

A: The data shows that only the Low preset at 3840x2160 exceeds 60 FPS, averaging 79.7. Medium averages 63.1, while High (48.0) and Ultra (32.9) fall below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the CPU’s multi-threaded performance compare to its closest rivals?

A: The Core i5-12600KF scores 27,827 in the average benchmark, which is virtually identical to the Intel Core i9-10900K (27,829, 0% delta) and the Intel Core i5-12600K (27,851, -0.1% delta), indicating parity in overall processing power.

Q: Is the GPU’s benchmark score competitive with its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 5060’s average benchmark score is 30,109, which is nearly equal to the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT (30,097, 0% delta) and slightly ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla M60 (29,969, 0.5% delta), suggesting similar raw compute capability.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Medium and High at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, Medium averages 180.7 FPS while High averages 136.0 FPS, a difference of 44.7 FPS, showing that the High preset costs roughly 24.7% performance over Medium.

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

A: The combination places at rank 839 out of 1,730 total tested combos, placing it in the middle of the database’s performance distribution for Steamworld Build.

Settings Recommendations

For a balance of visual quality and frame rate at 1920x1080, the High preset is the optimal choice. It delivers an average of 136.0 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS target and only 44.7 FPS slower than Medium. The jump from High to Ultra costs 42.6 FPS (down to 93.4), a 31.3% performance penalty that may not justify the visual gains in a genre where map readability matters more than fine texture detail.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset offers the best experience, averaging 118.9 FPS. High is still playable at 88.3 FPS, but the data shows that Ultra drops to 56.2 FPS, which is below the ideal smoothness threshold for a simulation game that requires constant panning and zooming. Medium provides a comfortable margin over 60 FPS while retaining moderate visual fidelity.

For 3840x2160, the Low preset is the only sensible option for smooth gameplay, averaging 79.7 FPS. Medium at 63.1 FPS is technically above 60, but the margin is thin and may lead to noticeable stutters during complex city-building moments. High and Ultra are not recommended for 4K, as their averages of 48.0 and 32.9 FPS respectively fall short of acceptable playability for this genre.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the frame rates are as follows: Low averages 236.8 FPS, Medium averages 180.7 FPS, High averages 136.0 FPS, and Ultra averages 93.4 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra represents a 60.6% reduction in frame rate, with the largest single drop occurring between Medium and High (a 24.7% loss) and between High and Ultra (a 31.3% loss).

At 2560x1440, the averages are 150.3 FPS for Low, 118.9 FPS for Medium, 88.3 FPS for High, and 56.2 FPS for Ultra. The performance gap between Medium and High is 25.7%, while the gap between High and Ultra is 36.4%, showing that Ultra’s overhead grows with resolution.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 79.7 FPS for Low, 63.1 FPS for Medium, 48.0 FPS for High, and 32.9 FPS for Ultra. The drop from Medium to High is 23.9%, and from High to Ultra is 31.5%. The 4K Ultra result is less than half of the 1080p Ultra result, confirming that the RTX 5060’s 8 GB memory and 128-bit bus are heavily stressed at this resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 839th out of 1,730 tested combinations for Steamworld Build, placing it squarely in the middle of the database. This mid-tier ranking is consistent with the hardware’s specifications: the CPU sits at the 84th percentile among all processors, while the GPU is at the 73rd percentile among all graphics cards. The ranking suggests that while this setup is capable of running the game well at 1080p and 1440p, it is not optimized for extreme 4K or Ultra settings.

The CPU’s nearest rival, the Intel Core i9-10900K, has an identical average benchmark score (27,829 vs. 27,827), yet the i5-12600KF’s newer architecture and higher boost clock of 4.90 GHz may contribute to its slightly lower deltaPct of 0 against the i9. Similarly, the GPU’s closest competitor, the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT, has a nearly identical average score (30,097 vs. 30,109), indicating that the RTX 5060 offers comparable raw performance but may differ in driver optimizations for specific titles.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12600KF features 10 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. Its benchmark scores show strong multi-threaded capability: a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 23,444 and a Passmark multithread score of 27,575. For Steamworld Build, a city builder that relies on simulation logic and pathfinding, these multi-threaded results are relevant because the game’s background AI calculations can utilize multiple cores.

The 16 threads allow the CPU to handle the game’s simulation thread alongside rendering tasks without becoming a bottleneck at lower resolutions. At 1080p with Low settings, the average FPS of 236.8 suggests that the CPU is not limiting performance, as the GPU is still producing very high frame rates. However, the single-thread score of 1,016 in 3DMark and 3,309 in Cinebench R23 indicates that the CPU’s per-core performance is adequate for the game’s primary logic thread, which often cannot be fully parallelized.

The CPU’s 20 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel memory support for DDR4 and DDR5 provide sufficient bandwidth for the game’s asset streaming. The 84th percentile ranking among all CPUs confirms that this processor is above average, and its 0% deltaPct against the Core i9-10900K shows that it is not a limiting factor in this configuration. The data suggests that the RTX 5060 is the primary determinant of frame rates, especially at 1440p and 4K, where the GPU’s compute and memory resources are fully engaged.