Steamworld Build

Steamworld Build, a city builder released in late 2023, presents a unique workload that scales dramatically with both resolution and graphics presets. The benchmark data for the Intel Core i5-14600K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 reveals a configuration that is exceptionally powerful at lower resolutions but becomes increasingly GPU-bound as the pixel count and visual complexity rise. The measured frame rates show that this combo is capable of delivering extremely high refresh rates at 1080p, yet the demands of 4K Ultra settings will test the limits of even this high-end hardware.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K clearly illustrates where the bottleneck lies in this configuration. At 1080p with Low settings, the system produces an average of 378.7 FPS, which is an extraordinarily high figure that indicates the CPU and GPU are both operating with significant headroom. Moving to 2560x1440 at Low settings yields 267.5 FPS, a drop of approximately 29% from the 1080p result. By the time the resolution reaches 3840x2160 at Low, the average FPS settles at 138.6, which represents a 63% reduction from the 1080p baseline. This substantial scaling penalty at Low settings shows that even with minimal visual demands, the sheer number of pixels at 4K begins to saturate the render pipeline.

The scaling pattern becomes even more pronounced when examining the High preset. At 1080p High, the combo delivers 239.1 FPS, which is a strong result for a city builder. At 1440p High, the average drops to 153.6 FPS, a 36% decrease. The transition to 4K High yields 81.6 FPS, which is a 66% drop from the 1080p figure. This consistent scaling behavior across presets indicates that Steamworld Build's rendering engine scales almost linearly with pixel count when the CPU is not the limiting factor. The fact that the percentage drops from 1080p to 4K are similar across Low and High presets (63% vs 66%) suggests that the GPU is the primary constraint at 4K, regardless of the visual complexity being rendered.

The jump from 1440p to 4K is particularly punishing. For instance, at Medium settings, the 1440p result of 204.8 FPS drops to 107.8 FPS at 4K, a 47% reduction. At Ultra settings, the 1440p score of 101.1 FPS falls to 54.2 FPS at 4K, which is a 46% decrease. These numbers indicate that 4K resolution effectively halves the performance at any given preset, making it a significant hurdle even for the RTX 5080. Interestingly, the data suggests that the CPU is rarely the limiting factor above 1080p, as the frame rates scale consistently with resolution rather than hitting a CPU-imposed ceiling.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the benchmark database, this specific combination of components ranks 45th out of 1730 tested combos for Steamworld Build. This places the configuration in the top 2.6% of all tested systems, an impressive standing that reflects the strength of both the Core i5-14600K and the RTX 5080 for this particular game title. The percentile ranking for the CPU alone is 93, meaning it outperforms 93% of all tested processors, while the GPU sits in the 89th percentile among all graphics cards. These individual strengths combine to create a system that is well above the median for gaming performance in this title.

The nearest rivals for the CPU provide context for its standing. The Core i5-14600K achieves an average benchmark score of 49166, which is a mere 0.2% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X with a score of 49062. It trails the Intel Core i5-14600KF by 0.4% (49367 score) and the AMD EPYC 4345P by 0.9% (49595 score). The Intel Xeon Gold 5318H sits 1% behind with a score of 48698. These tight margins indicate that the i5-14600K is positioned squarely in a competitive cluster of high-end processors, with no single rival holding a decisive advantage in synthetic benchmarks.

For the GPU, the RTX 5080's average benchmark score of 59188 places it 1.6% ahead of the Intel Arc A570M (58239 score) and 2.5% ahead of the Intel Arc A580 (57756 score). It trails the Intel Arc Pro A60 by 1.9% (60326 score) and the AMD Radeon Pro W5500X by 2.6% (57661 score). The close margins between these GPUs underscore that the RTX 5080 is competing at the upper echelon of graphics hardware, though the deltaPct values are small enough to suggest that real-world gaming performance can vary significantly depending on the specific workload and optimizations.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the optimal experience for this combo depends heavily on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, even the Ultra preset produces an average of 161.7 FPS, which is well above the threshold for smooth gameplay on high refresh rate monitors. The data shows that 1080p Ultra offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, since the system has enough headroom to run the most demanding preset without dropping below playable frame rates. The Medium preset at 1080p yields 324.5 FPS, but the additional visual quality from Ultra is worth the performance trade-off when the frame rate remains this high.

At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset still delivers a respectable 101.1 FPS, which is sufficient for most gaming scenarios including those with 144Hz displays. The High preset at 1440p produces 153.6 FPS, offering a comfortable margin above the Ultra setting while still providing strong visual quality. For users prioritizing maximum visual detail, 1440p Ultra is viable, but the High preset is recommended for those who want to ensure consistent frame pacing during complex city-building scenes with many entities on screen.

The 3840x2160 resolution presents the greatest challenge. At 4K, the Ultra preset drops to 54.2 FPS, which may be considered borderline for a smooth experience in a genre that requires constant camera panning and zooming. The High preset at 4K achieves 81.6 FPS, which is a more acceptable target for most players. Given that the Medium preset at 4K reaches 107.8 FPS, the recommendation for 4K users is to select the High preset as the default, with Medium available as a fallback if frame rate consistency becomes an issue. Those with 120Hz or 144Hz 4K displays should consider the Medium preset to stay closer to their display's refresh rate.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured results provides a clear picture of the system's capabilities across all tested configurations. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves 378.7 FPS, Medium reaches 324.5 FPS, High produces 239.1 FPS, and Ultra delivers 161.7 FPS. These figures demonstrate that the CPU-GPU combo has substantial performance headroom at 1080p, with even the most demanding preset exceeding 160 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Low preset yields 267.5 FPS, Medium produces 204.8 FPS, High reaches 153.6 FPS, and Ultra drops to 101.1 FPS. The 1440p results show a more pronounced performance gap between presets, with the difference between Low and Ultra being 166.4 FPS. This spread indicates that the rendering workload scales heavily with visual settings at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the performance envelope tightens considerably. The Low preset achieves 138.6 FPS, Medium delivers 107.8 FPS, High produces 81.6 FPS, and Ultra falls to 54.2 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 84.4 FPS, which is proportionally smaller than at lower resolutions but still significant. The 4K Ultra result of 54.2 FPS is the only measured configuration that falls below the 60 FPS threshold, suggesting that this is the absolute limit of the combo's capability in this title.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 plays a critical role in determining the frame rates at higher resolutions and presets. The card features 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is well-suited for a city builder like Steamworld Build, which may need to stream large amounts of texture data as the player zooms in and out of densely populated areas. The GPU's base clock of 2295 MHz and boost clock of 2617 MHz, combined with 10752 shading units, allow it to handle the geometry and draw calls typical of the genre.

The RTX 5080's memory clock of 1875 MHz (30 Gbps effective) contributes to the high bandwidth figure, which becomes increasingly important at 4K resolution where the demand for texture bandwidth grows. The card's 84 RT cores and 336 tensor cores provide additional compute resources, though their direct impact on Steamworld Build's frame rates is not explicitly measured in this dataset. The GPU's 112 ROPs and 336 TMUs are the primary drivers of fill rate and texture processing, which directly influence the scaling behavior observed across presets.

The GPU's performance relative to its nearest rivals, as indicated by the average benchmark scores, shows that it is in a tight competitive band. The RTX 5080's score of 59188 places it just 1.6% ahead of the Intel Arc A570M and 2.5% ahead of the Intel Arc A580, while trailing the Intel Arc Pro A60 by 1.9%. These small margins suggest that while the RTX 5080 is a high-performing card, the differences between it and its closest competitors in synthetic benchmarks do not fully predict its in-game performance, which can be influenced by driver optimizations and specific game engines. The measured FPS data for this combo demonstrates that the GPU is more than capable of driving high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, with 4K being the only resolution where its limitations become apparent at the highest settings.