Steamworld Build

Steamworld Build is a city builder where the pace of your growing steampunk settlement is ultimately dictated by how smoothly the simulation runs. With the Intel Core i5-14600K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, the data shows a configuration that is overwhelmingly capable, delivering high frame rates even at demanding resolutions. The measured FPS across the board indicates that this pairing is far more likely to be limited by the engine's simulation logic than by raw pixel-pushing power, especially when the settings are cranked up.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear picture of where the bottleneck lies for this hardware combination. At 1080p with Low settings, the average frame rate is 379 FPS, which is an exceptionally high number that typically indicates the CPU is doing the heavy lifting to feed the GPU. Moving to 1440p, that average drops to 253 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 134 FPS. This shows that even at 4K, the system is not remotely GPU-bound at the lowest settings, as the frame rate remains well above what any display can likely refresh.

The scaling pattern shifts significantly when we look at the more demanding presets. With High settings, the frame rate drops from 228 FPS at 1080p to 145 FPS at 1440p, and then to 77 FPS at 4K. The reduction from 1080p to 1440p is a 36% decrease, while the step from 1440p to 4K is a 47% decrease. This steeper decline at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU is starting to become a more significant factor, although the absolute numbers are still very strong. At the Ultra preset, the trend becomes even more pronounced: 154 FPS at 1080p, 98 FPS at 1440p, and 52 FPS at 4K. Here, the 4K result is nearly half of the 1080p result, showing a more traditional GPU-bound scaling curve.

This data suggests that in Steamworld Build, the RTX 4080 only begins to feel genuine load at 4K with the highest presets. The difference between 1080p Low and 1440p Low is a 33% drop in FPS, but the difference between 1080p Ultra and 1440p Ultra is a 36% drop. The consistency of these percentages across settings, despite the massive difference in absolute FPS, points to a simulation that is well-optimized for multi-threaded CPUs but still presents a considerable challenge to the GPU as pixel count and visual complexity rise. The 4K Ultra result of 52 FPS is the only point where the system dips below the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that the limiting component at that extreme setting is the GPU's ability to process the increased shader and fill-rate demands.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K is a 14-core processor with 20 threads, built on the Raptor Lake architecture. It boasts a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, with 24 MB of shared L3 cache. In CPU-intensive workloads like city builders, these specifications are crucial for maintaining a stable simulation tick rate. The benchmark results for the CPU, such as a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 24491 and a Geekbench single-core score of 2491, show a processor with both substantial multi-threading capability and strong single-thread performance.

The data from the measured FPS suggests that the CPU is the primary driver of performance in many scenarios, particularly at lower resolutions and settings. The fact that the system can achieve 379 FPS at 1080p Low indicates that the CPU is capable of processing the game's logic far faster than the GPU can render frames at that resolution. The percentile rank of 90 for the CPU versus all other processors reinforces that this is a top-tier part for handling the kind of complex, entity-heavy calculations found in city builders.

The nearest rivals to the i5-14600K in terms of average benchmark score include the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245, with the i5-14600K being just 0.2% behind the Xeon and 0.8% behind the Core Ultra 5 245. This places it in a performance band where it trades blows with high-end workstation and newer mainstream chips. In the context of Steamworld Build, this level of CPU performance means that the game's simulation is unlikely to be the primary cause of frame rate drops, except perhaps in the most extreme late-game scenarios with massive populations and complex logistical networks, which are not fully represented in these average FPS figures.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy for the best experience across different resolutions. At 1080p, the Ultra preset delivers an average of 154 FPS, which is exceptionally smooth and leaves substantial headroom for any display. However, the jump from High to Ultra at 1080p costs 74 FPS (from 228 to 154), a 32% performance hit for what is likely a marginal visual improvement in a genre where high frame rates are not as critical as in fast-paced action games. For most players at 1080p, the High preset offers a perfect balance, providing 228 FPS and ensuring the simulation runs without any perceivable stutter.

At 1440p, the recommendation shifts. The High preset provides an average of 145 FPS, which is more than sufficient for a smooth experience on high-refresh-rate monitors. The Medium preset offers 194 FPS, but the visual quality difference is likely noticeable. The Ultra preset at 1440p drops to 98 FPS, which is still playable but shows diminishing returns for the performance cost. The data indicates that High at 1440p is the sweet spot, delivering a high frame rate while maintaining solid visual fidelity for a city builder where you are often zoomed out and observing large areas.

For 4K gaming, the choices become more critical. The High preset at 4K yields an average of 77 FPS, which is a very good result for a demanding resolution and provides a smooth experience on a standard 60Hz display. The Ultra preset drops to 52 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target and could be noticeable in terms of smoothness, especially when panning the camera. The Medium preset at 4K offers 102 FPS, which is excellent, but the visual compromise from High to Medium might not be worth it. The recommendation for 4K is to stick with the High preset, as it provides the best balance between image quality and performance, ensuring the game remains fluid without requiring a significant sacrifice in graphical detail.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Steamworld Build at 4K with maximum settings?

A: Yes, but not at a consistently high frame rate. The data shows an average of 52 FPS at 4K with the Ultra preset. While this is playable, it is below the 60 FPS threshold, and the High preset at 4K provides a much smoother 77 FPS average.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-14600K or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 the main bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The CPU is the primary limiting factor at 1080p. The extremely high frame rates at Low and Medium settings (379 FPS and 304 FPS, respectively) suggest that the CPU is capable of generating frames much faster than the GPU can render them at that resolution, making the CPU the ceiling for performance.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 compare to its closest rival, the RTX 4080 SUPER?

A: The data shows they are virtually identical in performance. The RTX 4080 has an average benchmark score of 54247, while the RTX 4080 SUPER scores 54209, making the RTX 4080 just 0.1% faster in this comparison.

Q: What is the performance difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: The Ultra preset provides an average of 98 FPS, while the Low preset provides 253 FPS. This represents a 61% decrease in frame rate when moving to the highest visual quality settings.

Q: Is a 700W power supply sufficient for this system?

A: The suggested PSU for the RTX 4080 is 700W, and the CPU has a TDP of 125W. The fact pack indicates that a 700W power supply is the suggested requirement for the GPU, which should be adequate for this configuration.

Q: Does the game show any signs of being CPU-bound at 4K?

A: At 4K, the GPU becomes the dominant bottleneck. The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K is much more pronounced at higher settings, indicating that the GPU's rendering capabilities are the limiting factor at this resolution, not the CPU.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is a high-end graphics card built on the Ada Lovelace architecture, featuring 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s. It has a base clock of 2205 MHz and a boost clock of 2505 MHz, with 9728 shading units. The GPU's benchmark scores, such as a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6567 and a Passmark G3D score of 34457, confirm its position as a top-tier performer, with a percentile rank of 86 versus all GPUs.

In Steamworld Build, the GPU's role becomes more prominent as resolution and settings increase. The data shows that at 1080p, the GPU is rarely the limiting factor, as frame rates are extremely high. However, at 4K with the Ultra preset, the GPU is clearly the bottleneck, with the average FPS dropping to 52. This is a significant reduction from the 154 FPS at 1080p Ultra, demonstrating the card's workload scaling with pixel count. The RTX 4080 is closely matched with the RTX 4080 SUPER, being just 0.1% faster in average benchmark scores, and it significantly outperforms the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB, which is 2.6% slower.

The 16 GB of VRAM is a substantial amount for a city builder, likely preventing any texture-related stuttering even at 4K with the High preset, where the average FPS is a solid 77. The GPU's compute capabilities, evidenced by a Passmark GPU Compute score of 20671, also suggest it can handle any physics or particle effects the game might throw at it. The data indicates that while the CPU is the star for simulation logic, the RTX 4080 provides ample graphical headroom for most situations, only being truly challenged by the most extreme combination of 4K resolution and maximum visual fidelity.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following is the complete set of measured average frame rates for the Intel Core i5-14600K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 combination in Steamworld Build.

At 1080p, the performance is exceptionally high across the board. The Low preset achieves an average of 379 FPS. The Medium preset averages 304 FPS, with a minimum of 259 FPS and a maximum of 350 FPS. The High preset delivers an average of 228 FPS. The Ultra preset, while still very fast, drops to an average of 154 FPS.

At 1440p, the frame rates remain very strong. The Low preset averages 253 FPS. The Medium preset averages 194 FPS, with a minimum of 165 FPS and a maximum of 223 FPS. The High preset provides an average of 145 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 98 FPS.

At 4K, the scaling becomes more apparent. The Low preset averages 134 FPS. The Medium preset averages 102 FPS, with a minimum of 87 FPS and a maximum of 118 FPS. The High preset delivers a solid 77 FPS average. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, averaging 52 FPS. This data illustrates a system that is overkill for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but which still provides a very good 4K experience, particularly when settings are managed appropriately.