Steamworld Build

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS for this combo at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings?

A: The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 delivers an average of 97.3 FPS at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings. This is the most demanding setting tested at this resolution.

Q: How does the RTX 3070 compare to its closest rival in raw GPU compute benchmarks?

A: The RTX 3070's average benchmark score is 28238, which places it 0.9% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT (score 27985) and 1% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (score 27956). It trails the AMD FirePro S7150 by 0.6% (score 28409).

Q: What is the CPU's multi-core performance in Cinebench R23?

A: The Intel Core i5-9400 scores 7969 points in Cinebench R23 multi-core, with a single-core score of 1125. Its average benchmark score across all tests is 2305, which places it at the 50th percentile among all CPUs.

Q: Which resolution provides the largest FPS gap between Low and Ultra settings?

A: At 2560x1440, the gap between Low (159 FPS) and Ultra (63.4 FPS) is 95.6 FPS, which is the largest absolute difference across all tested resolutions. At 3840x2160, the difference is 54.9 FPS (86.4 vs 31.5 FPS), and at 1920x1080 it is 87.4 FPS (184.7 vs 97.3 FPS).

Q: What is the GPU's memory bandwidth and how does it affect high-resolution performance?

A: The RTX 3070 has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This bandwidth is a key factor in the 3840x2160 results, where the average FPS drops to 52 at High settings and 31.5 at Ultra.

Q: How does the CPU's boost clock relate to its single-core benchmark scores?

A: The i5-9400 has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. Its Cinebench R20 single-core score is 472, and its Cinebench R15 single-core score is 113, indicating modest single-thread performance relative to its six physical cores.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is built on the Ampere architecture using Samsung's 8 nm process, with a die size of 392 mm² housing 17,400 million transistors. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1500 MHz and a boost clock of 1725 MHz, with memory clocked at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is substantial for a card in this performance class. The RTX 3070 features 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output pipelines, along with 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores.

In Steamworld Build, the GPU's role is primarily to handle rendering overhead as the city grows in complexity. The measured FPS data shows that the RTX 3070 scales predictably with settings changes. At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 184.7 at Low settings to 97.3 at Ultra, a 47% performance reduction from the lowest to the highest preset. At 2560x1440, the range is 159 FPS at Low down to 63.4 FPS at Ultra, representing a 60% drop. At 3840x2160, the range narrows to 86.4 FPS at Low and 31.5 FPS at Ultra, a 64% reduction, indicating that the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

The RTX 3070's percentile ranking of 72 among all GPUs, combined with an average benchmark score of 28238, places it comfortably above the midrange segment. Its nearest rivals in the database include the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT (score 27985, deltaPct 0.9) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (score 27956, deltaPct 1). The GPU's FP32 performance of 20.31 TFLOPS and texture rate of 317.4 GTexel/s provide ample compute for a city builder, where draw calls and texture streaming are more important than complex shader work.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a six-core, six-thread processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 14 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz, with 64 KB L1 cache per core, 256 KB L2 per core, and 9 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR4 memory in a dual-channel configuration, providing 42.7 GB/s of memory bandwidth. It uses PCIe Gen 3 with 16 lanes and includes Intel UHD 630 integrated graphics, though these are irrelevant for gaming with a discrete GPU.

In Cinebench R23, the i5-9400 scores 7969 multi-core and 1125 single-core. Its Cinebench R20 scores are 3346 multi-core and 472 single-core, while Cinebench R15 shows 803 multi-core and 113 single-core. The average benchmark score is 2305, placing the CPU at the 50th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals are the Intel Core i3-10305 (score 2300, deltaPct 0.2), Intel Core i3-1125G4 (score 2299, deltaPct 0.2), Intel Xeon E-2134 (score 2295, deltaPct 0.4), and Intel Core i7-8809G (score 2319, deltaPct -0.6).

For Steamworld Build, the CPU's role is significant because city builders typically involve simulation logic, pathfinding, and entity management that scale with population and building count. The i5-9400's six cores without hyper-threading may become a bottleneck in heavily populated cities, but the measured FPS data suggests that at 1920x1080, the CPU is not severely limiting. At 1080p Low settings, the average FPS of 184.7 indicates that the CPU can keep up with the GPU's output. However, at 3840x2160 Ultra, where the GPU load is highest, the average FPS drops to 31.5, suggesting the GPU is the primary constraint.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers three resolutions and four settings presets, providing 12 data points for this combo.

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers high frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 184.7 FPS, Medium yields 165.3 FPS, High drops to 148.3 FPS, and Ultra settles at 97.3 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra represents a 47% reduction, with the largest single-step drop occurring between High and Ultra (51 FPS). This suggests that Ultra settings introduce effects that are disproportionately expensive on the GPU.

At 2560x1440, the average FPS values are 159 at Low, 121.4 at Medium, 92 at High, and 63.4 at Ultra. The step from High to Ultra (28.6 FPS) is smaller than at 1080p, but the overall scaling from Low to Ultra is 60%. The 1440p results show that the RTX 3070 maintains playable frame rates even at High settings, with 92 FPS, which is well above typical 60 FPS targets for city builders.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly stressed. Low settings yield 86.4 FPS, Medium produces 66.8 FPS, High drops to 52 FPS, and Ultra falls to 31.5 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra is 64%, and the step from High to Ultra (20.5 FPS) is significant. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS of 31.5 is below the 60 FPS threshold commonly desired for smooth gameplay, indicating that users should either reduce resolution or settings.

Across all resolutions, the Medium preset consistently provides a balance between visual quality and performance, with FPS values of 165.3 (1080p), 121.4 (1440p), and 66.8 (4K). The data shows that for 4K gaming, High settings (52 FPS) are the practical maximum for this combo, while 1440p Ultra (63.4 FPS) remains viable.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-9400 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 combination ranks 872 out of 1730 tested combos in Steamworld Build, placing it near the median of all configs in the database. This ranking reflects the balance between the CPU's modest single-thread performance and the GPU's strong rasterization capabilities.

The CPU's 50th percentile ranking among all CPUs is a limiting factor. Its nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i3-10305 (deltaPct 0.2) and Intel Core i3-1125G4 (deltaPct 0.2), have nearly identical average scores, indicating that the i5-9400 sits in a crowded performance tier. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 7969 is adequate for a city builder, but its single-core score of 1125 suggests that simulation-heavy scenarios may not scale well beyond six threads.

The GPU's 72nd percentile ranking is notably higher, with an average score of 28238. The RTX 3070 outperforms the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT by 0.9% and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti by 1%, while trailing the AMD FirePro S7150 by 0.6%. This places the GPU in the upper-midrange segment, capable of delivering high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, but struggling at 4K Ultra.

The combo's rank of 872 out of 1730 indicates that many other combinations perform better in this game, likely due to CPUs with higher single-thread performance or GPUs with more memory bandwidth. The 4K Ultra result of 31.5 FPS is a clear indicator of the GPU's limits, while the 1080p Low result of 184.7 FPS shows that the combo can excel when not constrained by resolution. Overall, this pairing is best suited for 1440p gaming, where it delivers 92 FPS at High settings and 63.4 FPS at Ultra, providing a smooth experience for a city builder.