Steamworld Build

Steamworld Build is a city builder that scales unusually well across resolutions, and the data for the Intel Core i5-14600K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 shows a configuration that is rarely the bottleneck. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo posts a massive 338.5 FPS average, which drops to 256.8 FPS at Medium and 194.5 FPS at High. The gap between Low and High at 1080p is 144 FPS, indicating that the GPU is handling the lighter loads with enormous headroom. Moving to 1440p, the Low preset still delivers 213.7 FPS, while High drops to 119.8 FPS; the scaling here is steeper, showing the GPU beginning to feel the resolution increase.

At 4K, the picture changes dramatically. The High preset at 3840x2160 yields 66.6 FPS, which is a 46% reduction from the 1440p High result. The Low preset at 4K still manages 112.6 FPS, but the Ultra preset falls to 44.6 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold that many consider playable. The data shows that the limiting component shifts from the CPU at lower resolutions to the GPU at 4K Ultra. The RTX 5070’s 12 GB of GDDR7 memory and 672.0 GB/s of bandwidth are sufficient for the High preset at 4K, but Ultra settings appear to demand more than the card can efficiently deliver, likely due to the increased memory pressure and shading complexity. The 4K Ultra score of 44.6 FPS is only 67% of the 4K High score, suggesting that the Ultra preset introduces a significant rendering cost that this GPU cannot fully absorb.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K is a 14-core, 20-thread processor with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. Its architecture, Raptor Lake-R, is built on a 10 nm process, and it features 24 MB of shared L3 cache. In Steamworld Build, a genre that typically relies on single-threaded game logic and simulation updates, the CPU’s high boost clock is critical. The data supports this: at 1080p Low, the combo reaches 338.5 FPS, a figure that is almost certainly CPU-limited, as the GPU is nowhere near its maximum capacity at that resolution and preset. The processor’s Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4642 and multi-core score of 32881 indicate strong raw performance, but it is the single-core throughput that likely drives the high minimum frame rates in a city builder where entity updates can serialize.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, which scores 0.2% higher on average, and the Intel Core i5-14600KF, which scores 0.4% lower. This places the i5-14600K in a tight performance band, but the 14600K’s advantage in single-threaded tasks (a Geekbench single-core score of 2803) helps it keep the game’s logic flowing smoothly even when the GPU is under load. The L2 cache is 2 MB per core, which is ample for the game’s data structures, and the 20 threads ensure that background simulation threads do not starve the main game thread. At 1440p Low, the 213.7 FPS result shows the CPU still has headroom; the drop from 1080p Low to 1440p Low is 37%, which is less than the resolution’s pixel increase, indicating that the GPU is starting to take over the limiting role. The CPU’s 93rd percentile ranking among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 49166, confirms that it is a top-tier part for this workload, but the game’s data shows that it is rarely the primary constraint once resolution or settings increase.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a 5 nm process and features 6144 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, and 80 raster output units. Its 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus provides 672.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is a significant factor in Steamworld Build’s texture-heavy environments. The GPU’s base clock is 2325 MHz with a boost clock of 2512 MHz, and it achieves an FP32 performance of 30.87 TFLOPS. In the measured data, the GPU’s role becomes evident when comparing settings at the same resolution. At 1080p, the jump from Low to Medium is 256.8 FPS versus 338.5 FPS, a 24% drop; from Medium to High, it drops another 24% to 194.5 FPS. This linear scaling suggests that the GPU is still comfortably within its limits at 1080p, with the CPU providing the ceiling.

At 1440p, the GPU takes over as the primary limiter. The High preset delivers 119.8 FPS, which is a 38% reduction from the 1080p High result. At 4K High, the 66.6 FPS result is only 34% of the 1080p High score, showing that the GPU’s pixel throughput is the dominant factor. The 4K Ultra result of 44.6 FPS is particularly telling: the RTX 5070’s 80 ROPs and 201.0 GPixel/s pixel rate are being saturated by the Ultra preset’s additional effects. The GPU’s average benchmark score of 41687 places it in the 83rd percentile, and its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, which scores 0.6% higher, and the AMD Radeon Pro 580X, which scores 0.7% lower. This suggests that the RTX 5070 is a solid performer, but the 12 GB VRAM capacity may become a constraint at 4K Ultra if the game’s textures and buffers exceed that allocation. The data does not show VRAM-specific metrics, but the steep drop from High to Ultra at 4K (66.6 to 44.6 FPS) hints that the card is hitting a memory bandwidth or capacity wall, not just a compute limit.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal balance of performance and visual quality for this combo is the High preset at 1440p. The data shows 119.8 FPS at 1440p High, which is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold and provides a smooth experience for a city builder where camera panning and zooming are frequent. At 1080p High, the 194.5 FPS result is excessive for most displays, and the extra frames do not add practical value unless the user has a 240 Hz monitor. The 4K High preset at 66.6 FPS is playable, but it leaves little headroom for complex scenes with many buildings and citizens, which can cause frame dips in simulation-heavy games.

The Low preset is not recommended for this configuration, as it leaves significant performance on the table; at 1080p Low, the 338.5 FPS result indicates that the CPU is the bottleneck, and the visual fidelity loss is not justified. The Medium preset at 1440p (165.6 FPS) is a viable alternative for users who prioritize frame rate over shadows and textures, but the High preset offers a more balanced experience. The Ultra preset should be avoided at 4K, as the 44.6 FPS result falls below the playable threshold, and even at 1440p Ultra (80.6 FPS), the performance is acceptable but not ideal. The data suggests that High is the sweet spot: it delivers 119.8 FPS at 1440p and 66.6 FPS at 4K, making it the only preset that offers a playable experience across all tested resolutions without dropping below 60 FPS at 4K. For users with 1080p displays, the High preset at 194.5 FPS is the best choice, as it provides a high frame rate with good visual quality and avoids the diminishing returns of Ultra settings.

How This Combo Ranks

In the benchmark database, this specific combination of the Intel Core i5-14600K and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 ranks 297th out of 1730 tested combos in Steamworld Build. This places it in the top 17% of all configurations tested for this game, which is a strong result given the data’s measured performance across resolutions. The ranking reflects the combo’s ability to maintain high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, while still being capable at 4K on High settings. The 297th rank out of 1730 combos indicates that there are 296 configurations that perform better, likely featuring higher-end GPUs like the RTX 5090 or RX 7900 XTX, or CPUs with higher single-thread performance, but the i5-14600K + RTX 5070 combo is clearly above the median.

The CPU’s nearest rivals show that the i5-14600K is not the limiting factor in this ranking; its average benchmark score of 49166 is within 1% of the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H. The GPU’s nearest rivals, including the RTX 3090, show that the RTX 5070 is also competitively positioned. The combo’s rank is likely driven by the GPU’s performance at higher resolutions, where the RTX 5070’s 12 GB VRAM and 192-bit bus may be outpaced by cards with larger memory pools or wider buses. At 1080p and 1440p, the combo is likely near the top of the rankings, but the 4K Ultra result of 44.6 FPS drags the overall score down, as the database’s rank likely weighs all tested resolutions and settings equally. The data shows that this combo is a strong 1440p performer, a capable 4K High performer, but not a 4K Ultra machine, and the 297th rank reflects that balance. For users targeting high-refresh 1440p gaming, this combination is well above average; for 4K enthusiasts, it sits in the upper-middle tier, and the measured FPS data provides a clear picture of where its strengths and weaknesses lie.