Steamworld Build

The Steamworld Build benchmark for the Intel Core i5-14600K paired with the Intel Arc B580 shows a combo that is heavily bound by its graphics card once you push past 1080p. The CPU ranks in the 90th percentile among all tested processors, while the GPU sits in the 68th percentile—so the i5-14600K is the stronger half of this pairing. Across the measured resolution and settings grid, the average frame rates range from 184 FPS at 1080p Low down to 24 FPS at 4K Ultra, and the overall combo rank lands at 2781 out of 3706 tested configurations. This is a system that can handle 1080p and 1440p games well, but it struggles to hold a smooth 60 FPS at 4K even on reduced presets. Here’s how the measured data breaks down.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate numbers paint a clear picture of how resolution pressure builds. At High settings, the average FPS is 105 at 1920×1080, 67 at 2560×1440, and 35 at 3840×2160. That is a drop from 1080p to 1440p of almost exactly 36% (67 is 63.8% of 105), and the 4K value is exactly one-third of the 1080p number. The same one-third scaling appears on every preset. Low settings produce 184, 117, and 62 FPS at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K respectively—again, 4K FPS is about a third of the 1080p figure (62 vs. 184). Medium goes from 141 (1080p) to 89 (1440p) to 47 (4K), and Ultra drops from 71 (1080p) to 45 (1440p) to 24 (4K).

This pattern is exactly what you would see when the GPU is the dominant bottleneck. If the CPU were the limiting factor, the frame rates would not scale so directly with resolution—the simulation logic would cap performance regardless of how many pixels you render. Given that the i5-14600K offers a strong single-thread score (Cinebench R23 single-core 2064, Geekbench single-core 2491) and the multi-thread performance is equally high (Cinebench R23 multi-core 24491, Passmark multithread 38682), it is not surprising that the CPU is not the restraint. The consistent reduction across presets indicates that the Arc B580’s compute and memory bandwidth (456.0 GB/s over a 192-bit bus) are what scaling gates at 4K. In practical terms, the second drop from 1440p to 4K is roughly twice as heavy as from 1080p to 1440p, which is the expected outcome of a GPU-limited scenario.

The available minimum frame rate data—only recorded for Medium preset—shows a similar pattern. At 1080p Medium the minimum is 119 FPS, at 1440p it is 76 FPS, and at 4K it is 36 FPS. These are all still relatively stable values; the difference between minimum and average is small (141 vs. 119 at 1080p, 89 vs 76 at 1440p). Even at 4K, the lowest observed frame rate is only 11 FPS below the average (47 vs. 36), so the game does not exhibit severe stuttering within the tested range.

CPU Role

The Core i5-14600K is a 14-core, 20-thread processor with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost of 5.30 GHz. Its architecture is Raptor Lake on a 10 nm process, and it supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory. In synthetic benchmarks, it places in the 90th percentile among all CPUs, with a geometric/mean (average) benchmark score of 48618. Its nearest rivals in terms of average score are the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H (mean score 48698, delta of -0.2%), the AMD EPYC 4345P (+0.3%), the Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX (+0.7%), and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 (-0.8%). This is a high-end desktop chip, though the CPU is clearly not the performance bottledup in Steamworld Build.

In actual gaming, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU at high sim rates. The measured results show that at 1080p with Low settings, the average frame rate is 184 FPS—a value far above the 144 Hz monitor. Even with a modest settings change up to Medium, the frame rate stays high at 141 FPS (with a solid minimum of 119). Moving to 1440p, the frame rate at Low and Medium is 117 FPS and 89 FPS, respectively. While the i5-14600K can handle even the most CPU-demanding city-building situations in this test, the 4K numbers (35 FPS at High, 62 FPS at Low) all drop below the 60 FPS target. The scaling traces a clear GPU limit, not two CPU-bound threads.

The CPU’s large physical core count (14) combined with a high boost clock is exactly what you would expect for a modern city builder, which often needs many threads for systems and pathing. Still, the benchmark data confirms the i5-14600K provides more headroom than needed at 1080p/1440p. At the exact moment where the CPU could become a limiter—high resolutions with a low preset—the CPU delivers a 184 FPS score, implying the CPU is not breaking a sweat. The multi-thread Cinebench R23 score of 24491 and the Passmark multithread score of 38682 place this chip in a region where the Arc B580 gets all the pixels it can handle without waiting logic.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B580 is built on the Xe2-HPG architecture, uses the BMG-G21 chip, and is 10/12 generation (Battlemage). It has 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 80 ROPs, with a base clock of 2670 MHz and a memory clock of 2375 MHz (19 Gbps effective). The memory is 12 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, delivering 456.0 GB/s. According to the dataset, its average benchmark score is 23021, which places it in the 68th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP (avg score 23061, delta 0.2% behind), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (22895, 0.6% higher for the Arc), the RTX 3080 (23172, 0.7% lower for the Arc), and the NVIDIA P106-100 (23249, 1.0% higher for the Arc). The delta percentages mean the B580 sits between the RTX 2080 and RTX 3080 in raw benchmark score, but actual game performance may differ due to architecture and drivers.

For Steamworld Build, the guidelines are clear: at 1080p High the GPU can pump out 105 FPS, at 1440p High 67 FPS, and at 4K High only 35 FPS. These numbers align with the GPU’s general performance class. The Arc is a solid 1080p card, able to push triple-digit framerates on Medium (141 FPS) and High (105 FPS), and even Ultra at 1080p manages 71 FPS. At 1440p, the card hits a 60 FPS standard on High (67) and Medium (89), but on Ultra it drops to 45. At 4K, the GPU cannot reach 60 FPS on any settings other than Low, which yields 62 FPS—barely above the 60 target. The minimum FPS at 4K on Medium is 40, so the game can dip below 60 even on Medium. This is clearly a GPU that fits class of 1080p performance, with 1440p suitable for most presets and 4K reserved for the lowest option.

The GPU’s 12 GB frame buffer is not the restriction, since the game’s memory demand is not disclosed; the framerate is driven by compute rather than memory hierarchy. The 2670 MHz clock and 13.67 TFLOPS FP32 compute are adequate for normal gameplay, but they do not oversec reduce the large resolution load.

Settings Recommendations

From the measured rows, the best choice of a smooth 60 FPS experience depends on the resolution target.

At 1920×1080, you still have plenty of headroom across all presets, and the highest settings—Ultra—yield 71 FPS average, with High at 105 FPS, Medium at 141 FPS, and Low at 184 FPS. If you have a 1080p/144Hz monitor, you can stay on High for a framerate that exceeds 100, or Medium for an even higher margin while keeping a minimum of 119 FPS, which is stable.

For 2560×1440, Ultra drops to 45 FPS, so it does not match a 60Hz baseline. High yields an average of 67 FPS, Medium 89 FPS, and Low 117 FPS. Among these, Medium offers the highest average (89) with a min of 76, ensuring that even in busy scenes you stay above 60. High reaches 67 average, but without a published min value you could experience a slight letdown. For a 1440p 60 Hz monitor, Medium or High are the safe presets—both deliver a >60 average.

For 3840×2160, the situation is tight. Only Ultra cannot drop below 60, at 24 FPS. While Low hits 62 FPS, that is just above the 60 mark, and no min-data is provided. Medium gives 47 FPS average with a minimum of 40. High gives 35. Therefore, if 4K is a requirement, the most wholesome row is Low, because it is the only one that surpasses a 60 average. But be cautious that 62 is a close call; you must tolerate a near-frame average. Conversely, if you prefer visual fidelity over 60 FPS, Medium has 47 average.

Given the data, the sweet spot for the vast majority of users is 2560×1440 with Medium settings. That row provides an 89 FPS average, a minimum of 76 FPS, and still has the (High) to go up if you want, but High yields 67. For a strictly solid latency, 1080p Medium at 141 FPS (min 119) is the most fluid. The only chart where 60 FPS is adequate is 4K Low, with a 62 average, but since it is born from a reduction in what you render, there is no realheadroom.

How This Combo Ranks

Among the 3706 combos measured in Steamworld Build, this specific i5-14600K + Arc B580 setup is ranked 2781st. That places it in the lower 25% of all tested combinations (approximately 24.9% of the combos are worse). This rank is particularly telling when you compare it to the CPU percentile (90th for all CPUs) and the GPU percentile (68th). The CPU is far above the GPU in the area of the tested overalls, indicating that the core components are not the limiting factor by others—the GPU is weaker relative to what you might expect for max-quality play.

In simple terms, the bulk of tested platforms use a more capable GPU than the 68th-percentile Arc B580; the B580 is apparently below the pay grade for 4K Ultra on this game. The ranking would be much higher if the game was more CPU-oriented, but in a resolution-spanning benchmark the GPU definitional wins. The B580’s performance against its nearest rivals (within a 1% of the RX 580 2048SP, RTX 2080, RTX 3080, and P106-100) shows it’s not an anomaly—it simply falls short of the high-end configurations that occupy the top of the combo list.

From a purely practical perspective, the rank of 28… out of 3706 is not a score from a test-run. It tells you that with this pair, you are not entering high-end territory for Steamwork. The 60+ at 1440p is a solid performance, but you will not be able to drive 4K Ultra, which is the standard of higher-ranking combos. If you are building stiber specifically for this game, you might consider a stronger GPU. But for the CPU side, the i5-14600K is in the 90th floor, so it’s not going to bottleneck them. So it’s a function of the GPU catch to max out the display.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate this combo can achieve at 1080p?

A: The highest measured average is at Low settings: 184 FPS. On Medium it is 141, High 105, and Ultra 71.

Q: Can this combination run Steamworld Build at 4K smoothly?

A: At 4K, only the Low preset comes close to 60 FPS, yielding an average of 62 FPS. Medium shows 47 FPS (min 40), High 35, and Ultra 24, so these are 60 below 60.

Q: How does the Core i5-14600K compare to its closest performance rivals?

A: In the database, its closest peers by average CPU score are the Intel Xeon Gold 5312H (0.2% lower), AMD EPYC 4345P (0.3% higher), Core Ultra 5 245HX (0.7% higher), and Core Ultra 5 245 (0.8% lower). The i5-14600K sits in the 90th percentile among all CPUs.

Q: Where does the Arc B580 rank among GPUs and why does it limit some settings?

A: The Arc B580 is in the 68th percentile of all GPUs. Its average benchmark score is 23021, which places it 0.6% above an RTX 2080 and 0.7% below an RTX 3080. Because of its compute power, it struggles to keep 60 FPS at 4K at any preset above Low.

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

A: The measured FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K (roughly each table the average by one-third as you go up 1080p→4K) shows an obvious GPU constraint. The CPU has the strength to push 184 FPS at 1080p Low, so it is not the bound.

Q: What does the combo rank 2781 out of 3706 mean for a user?

A: With this stand and choice, there are approx 2780 test