Steamworld Build

Steamworld Build is a city builder where the interaction between a powerful CPU and an upper-tier GPU determines the experience. The benchmark data for the Intel Core i5-14600K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 reveals a configuration that is heavily front-end limited at lower resolutions, with the scaling behavior providing clear insight into where the bottleneck shifts as pixel count increases.

Resolution Scaling

The measured average FPS across the three tested resolutions shows a textbook example of a GPU that is underutilized at 1080p and progressively more engaged as resolution climbs. At 1080p with High settings, the combo delivers 255.9 FPS. Moving to 1440p drops this to 160.5 FPS, a 37% reduction. The leap to 4K further reduces the average to 83.4 FPS, which is another 48% decrease from the 1440p result. This pattern indicates that at 1080p, the rendering pipeline is likely stalling on CPU-side game logic and draw calls, given the city builder genre’s reliance on simulation and entity updates.

The data strongly suggests the limiting component shifts. At 1080p Low, the system produces 377.2 FPS, which is exceptionally high and far beyond the refresh rate of most displays. This is a clear indicator that the CPU is the primary limiter at this resolution; the GPU is capable of far more work but is being fed frames faster than the processor can calculate the next simulation state. When the resolution increases to 4K, the GPU's workload becomes the dominant factor. The 4K Ultra figure of 56.7 FPS is less than half of the 4K High figure of 83.4 FPS, showing that the RTX 4090’s fill rate and shading capacity are directly influencing the result at the highest pixel density.

The scaling from 1440p to 4K is particularly steep. For instance, the High preset drops from 160.5 FPS to 83.4 FPS, a 48% performance reduction. This is a larger relative drop than the 37% reduction seen when moving from 1080p to 1440p. This nonlinear scaling is characteristic of a system that becomes more GPU-bound at higher resolutions, where the sheer number of pixels being processed dwarfs the CPU’s per-frame cost. The i5-14600K’s strong single-thread performance, evidenced by its 4642 score in Cinebench R23 single-core, is sufficient to keep the GPU well-fed at 1080p, but the RTX 4090’s raw compute power is the deciding factor at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for Steamworld Build, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i5-14600K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 holds a combo rank of 17 out of 1730 tested combos. This places the configuration in the top 1% of all tested systems for this game. The ranking is a strong indicator that the combination is exceptionally well-suited for high-refresh-rate and high-resolution play, but the data also shows that it is not the absolute peak configuration.

The CPU itself, while powerful, is not the top performer in the database. It sits at the 93rd percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 49166. Its nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and the Intel Core i5-14600KF, are extremely close in overall performance. The i5-14600K is only 0.2% ahead of the Ryzen 9 5950X and 0.4% behind the i5-14600KF. This suggests that the CPU is not the differentiating factor for the top combo spots; rather, the specific interaction with the GPU and the game’s engine is what pushes some configurations above this one. The GPU’s percentile ranking is 91, with an average score of 66473, and its nearest rivals are all professional-grade cards with similar overall scores, indicating that the RTX 4090 is at the apex of consumer gaming performance.

Given the rank of 17, the data indicates that there are 16 other combinations that achieve higher average FPS in Steamworld Build. These likely include CPUs with even higher single-threaded performance or configurations that better balance the memory subsystem. The fact that this combo is not number one, despite having a top-tier GPU, reinforces the conclusion that the game is heavily dependent on CPU performance for maximum frame rates. The 14-core, 20-thread Raptor Lake architecture is excellent, but the game likely benefits from slightly higher clock speeds or different cache hierarchies found in other processors.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090’s role in this configuration is critical, particularly at higher resolutions. With 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, the card provides 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. This is a massive amount of memory throughput, which is beneficial for a city builder that may need to stream large textures and handle numerous on-screen objects. The memory clock is listed at 1313 MHz, with an effective data rate of 21 Gbps, which is a key factor in maintaining high frame rates when the viewport is dense with buildings and units.

The GPU’s compute capabilities are substantial, with 16384 shading units and an FP32 performance of 82.58 TFLOPS. This raw compute power translates directly to the high average FPS numbers seen in the 1080p and 1440p measurements. For example, at 1440p High, the combo achieves 160.5 FPS, a figure that is far beyond what a mid-range GPU could produce. The boost clock of 2520 MHz, combined with a base clock of 2235 MHz, allows the card to sustain high performance under load. The architecture supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, which is the relevant API for modern games like Steamworld Build.

The data shows that the GPU’s performance is not the bottleneck until the resolution is set to 4K with the Ultra preset. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 56.7 FPS, which is still playable but represents a significant performance cost. This is where the GPU’s pixel fill rate becomes the primary limiting factor. The card’s pixel rate is 443.5 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 1,290.2 GTexel/s, but the demands of 4K Ultra settings on a simulation-heavy title are immense. The difference between the 4K High (83.4 FPS) and 4K Ultra (56.7 FPS) results, a 32% performance hit, is a direct consequence of the increased shader complexity and texture filtering required at the Ultra preset.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal experience depends heavily on the target resolution. For 1080p displays, the High preset at 255.9 FPS is an excellent choice, as it provides a 48% improvement over the Ultra preset’s 172.9 FPS while likely offering nearly identical visual quality in a game of this type. The Low preset’s 377.2 FPS is excessive for any standard monitor and indicates a CPU limit, so it is not recommended as a playable setting due to the substantial loss of visual fidelity for no perceivable benefit.

For 1440p, the High preset at 160.5 FPS is the sweet spot. It is 44% faster than Ultra (111.1 FPS) and still provides a high level of detail. The Medium preset at 216.9 FPS is also viable for users with 240Hz monitors, but the jump from Medium to High is a 26% reduction in FPS, which may not be worth the visual improvement for competitive play. The Ultra preset at 1440p, with 111.1 FPS, is perfectly playable on a 120Hz display and offers the best image quality, but the data shows that High provides a far more comfortable margin above the 100 FPS threshold.

At 4K, the situation is more delicate. The High preset at 83.4 FPS is the only setting that provides a smooth, high-refresh experience. The Medium preset at 114.4 FPS is even better, offering a 37% improvement over High and ensuring that the frame rate stays well above 100 FPS. The Ultra preset at 56.7 FPS is the most demanding and should be avoided unless the user prioritizes visual fidelity over frame rate stability. The data clearly identifies the Medium preset as the best choice for 4K, as it balances the GPU’s workload to avoid the steep performance cliff seen when moving to High and Ultra. The Low preset at 146.7 FPS is not recommended for 4K because the visual downgrade on a large, high-resolution panel is likely to be very noticeable.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Steamworld Build?

A: The data shows that 1440p with the High preset (160.5 FPS) offers an excellent balance of visual quality and performance. For 4K, the Medium preset (114.4 FPS) is the recommended setting to maintain a high frame rate.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The benchmark results indicate the CPU is the limiting factor at 1080p. The Low preset achieves 377.2 FPS, which is far beyond the capabilities of most displays, suggesting the Intel Core i5-14600K is the primary constraint at this resolution.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to others?

A: The Intel Core i5-14600K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination ranks 17th out of 1730 tested combos for this game, placing it in the top 1% of configurations.

Q: What is the performance difference between 1080p and 4K on the High preset?

A: The measured average FPS drops from 255.9 at 1080p to 83.4 at 4K, representing a 67% reduction in frame rate when moving to 4K resolution.

Q: Why is the 4K Ultra setting so much slower than High?

A: The data shows a 32% performance drop from 83.4 FPS at 4K High to 56.7 FPS at 4K Ultra. This is due to the substantial increase in GPU workload from the Ultra preset’s enhanced effects, which taxes the RTX 4090’s shading and fill rate capabilities.

Q: Does the RTX 4090’s 24 GB of memory matter for this game?

A: The 24 GB VRAM allocation provides a 1.01 TB/s memory bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for Steamworld Build. The high bandwidth helps to maintain consistent frame rates when rendering complex cityscapes, but the data suggests that raw compute power, not memory capacity, is the limiting factor at 4K Ultra.