Steamworld Build

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER delivers a mid-pack performance tier for Steamworld Build, securing rank 1296 out of 1730 tested combinations. This places the combo in the 25th percentile of all tested systems, indicating that while it handles the game, a substantial portion of the test pool outperforms it. The CPU’s 50th percentile ranking among all processors and the GPU’s 63rd percentile ranking among all graphics cards suggest the pairing is balanced but not exceptional; the data shows the system is capable of smooth gameplay at lower settings but will struggle to maintain high frame rates at maximum quality presets.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 1296 within a field of 1730 tested configurations places it firmly in the lower half of the performance spectrum for Steamworld Build. This is a notable result for a combination featuring a mid-range Turing GPU and a six-core Coffee Lake CPU. The RTX 2060 SUPER, which holds a 63rd percentile standing against all GPUs, performs only slightly better than its nearest rivals; for instance, it edges out the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 by a margin of 0.5% in average benchmark score. Similarly, the i5-9400, with a 50th percentile CPU rank, sits within a 0.6% performance delta of the Intel Core i7-8809G and a 0.2% delta from the Intel Core i3-10305. These tight margins indicate that the hardware is not a standout in raw compute, and the final in-game rank reflects this mediocrity.

Benchmark results indicate that the system’s overall position is constrained by both components working in tandem. At 1080p, the combination can push well past 100 FPS, but this headroom evaporates quickly as resolution increases. The measured FPS data shows a clear pattern: the RTX 2060 SUPER is the primary driver of frame rate, but the i5-9400’s six threads limit the ceiling in less demanding scenarios. For a city builder, which often involves complex simulations, this CPU configuration is adequate but not overprovisioned. The rank suggests that users seeking higher-tier performance would need both a stronger GPU and a CPU with more threads, as the current setup leaves little margin for future game updates that may increase simulation load.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with High settings?

A: The measured average frame rate is 108.7 FPS, which is sufficiently high for smooth gameplay, though it drops significantly when moving to Ultra settings.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K resolution?

A: At 3840x2160, the average FPS ranges from 23.4 on Ultra to 63.8 on Low, indicating that 4K is only playable at reduced quality presets.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1440p?

A: Data shows the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 1440p; the FPS drops from 120 on Low to 50.1 on Ultra, a reduction of over 58%, which aligns with the GPU’s compute limits rather than CPU constraints.

Q: What is the difference in performance between High and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: The average FPS drops from 108.7 on High to 73.8 on Ultra, a decrease of approximately 32%, showing that Ultra settings impose a significant rendering load on the RTX 2060 SUPER.

Q: Does the i5-9400’s single-core performance affect results?

A: The CPU’s Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1125 is modest, but in this game, the FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K indicates that the GPU becomes the bottleneck earlier, so single-core limits are less impactful at higher resolutions.

Q: How does this combo compare to its nearest GPU rival?

A: The RTX 2060 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 19774, which is 0.5% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070, a negligible difference that does not translate into a distinct FPS advantage in this title.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a steep performance curve as resolution increases, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound workload. At 1080p with High settings, the system achieves 108.7 FPS. Moving to 1440p drops this to 68.3 FPS, a reduction of 37%. At 4K, the average falls to 33.4 FPS, which is a 69% decrease from the 1080p result. This scaling pattern indicates that the RTX 2060 SUPER’s memory bandwidth and compute throughput are the limiting factors at higher resolutions.

The trend is consistent across all quality presets. For instance, at Low settings, the system runs at 181.9 FPS in 1080p, 120 FPS in 1440p, and 63.8 FPS in 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K is roughly 65% at Low, which is similar to the 69% drop at High. This uniformity suggests that the game’s rendering pipeline scales predictably with pixel count, and the CPU’s role diminishes as resolution rises. The i5-9400’s six cores and 4.10 GHz boost clock are sufficient to feed the GPU at 1080p, but at 4K, the GPU’s pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth become the dominant constraints.

The data shows that 1440p is the practical ceiling for this combo at High settings, with 68.3 FPS being playable but not ideal for fast-paced action. At 4K, only Low settings yield a playable frame rate above 60 FPS, which compromises visual fidelity. This resolution scaling analysis confirms that the combo is best suited for 1080p gaming, where it can deliver high frame rates across all settings, and is adequate for 1440p at lower presets.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo shows strong performance across all settings. Low settings yield an average of 181.9 FPS, which indicates a high degree of headroom and suggests the CPU is not bottlenecking at this resolution. Medium settings drop to 146.7 FPS, High to 108.7 FPS, and Ultra to 73.8 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra represents a 59% reduction in frame rate, which is a significant cost for the visual enhancements of Ultra presets.

Moving to 2560x1440, the FPS figures decrease substantially. Low settings produce 120 FPS, which is still smooth, but Medium falls to 90.7 FPS, High to 68.3 FPS, and Ultra to 50.1 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is now 58%, similar to the 1080p result, but the absolute numbers are lower, reflecting the increased pixel load. At this resolution, the GPU’s 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are being utilized more heavily, as evidenced by the frame rate drops.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain high frame rates. Low settings average 63.8 FPS, which is just above the playable threshold, while Medium drops to 49.9 FPS, High to 33.4 FPS, and Ultra to 23.4 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K is effectively unplayable, and even High settings are below 60 FPS. The data shows that the RTX 2060 SUPER, with its 7.181 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, is not designed for 4K gaming at high quality presets. The measured results across resolutions and settings provide a clear picture of the combo’s capabilities: it excels at 1080p, is acceptable at 1440p, and is only viable at 4K with reduced settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a six-core, six-thread processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. Its 9 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support at 42.7 GB/s provide adequate bandwidth for gaming workloads. In Steamworld Build, a city builder genre that often involves simulation logic, the CPU’s role is to manage game state and AI, while the GPU handles rendering.

Benchmark results for the i5-9400 show a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 7969 and a single-core score of 1125. These scores place it in the 50th percentile of all CPUs, meaning it performs at the median level. The nearest rival, the Intel Core i3-10305, has an average score of 2300, which is 0.2% higher than the i5-9400’s average of 2305. This indicates that the CPU is not a performance outlier, and its six threads are a limiting factor in multi-threaded scenarios.

In the measured FPS data, the CPU’s influence is most apparent at 1080p with Low settings, where the system achieves 181.9 FPS. This high frame rate suggests that the CPU can keep up with the GPU’s output at lower resolutions. However, at 4K with Ultra settings, the frame rate drops to 23.4 FPS, and the GPU is clearly the bottleneck. The CPU’s single-core performance, with a Cinebench R20 score of 472, is sufficient for the game’s logic, but its lack of hyper-threading means it may struggle with background tasks or heavily populated city simulations. Overall, the i5-9400 provides a stable foundation for this GPU, but its six threads and 2.90 GHz base clock are not exceptional, and the data shows that the combo’s performance is more often limited by the RTX 2060 SUPER than by the CPU, especially at higher resolutions.