Steamworld Build

Steamworld Build, a city builder from late 2023, presents an interesting challenge for the Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 pairing. The benchmark data reveals a system that is highly capable at mainstream resolutions but struggles to maintain smooth performance at 4K Ultra. The measured results show a clear pattern of GPU dependency at higher settings, while the CPU's strong multi-threading capabilities provide a solid foundation for the simulation-heavy genre.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1920x1080 is the only resolution where all settings presets maintain playable frame rates. At 2560x1440, the High preset achieves an average of 63.8 FPS, but the Ultra preset drops to 40.8 FPS, indicating a significant performance cliff.

Q: How does the RTX 2060's raw compute performance compare to its closest rivals?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score is 16074, placing it just 0.5% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7600S (15996) and 1.8% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (15786). It sits 1.7% behind both the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M and AMD Radeon Pro 5700, which each score 16351.

Q: Is the i7-12700K a bottleneck for the RTX 2060?

A: The data does not suggest a CPU bottleneck. At 1920x1080 Low, the system hits 173.3 FPS, which is well beyond the GPU's limits at higher settings. The CPU's multi-threaded score of 34404 in PassMark and its 89th percentile ranking among all CPUs indicate it has ample headroom for this game's logic.

Q: What is the expected performance drop from 1080p to 1440p at Medium settings?

A: At Medium settings, the average frame rate falls from 132.1 FPS at 1920x1080 to 83.6 FPS at 2560x1440. This represents a 36.7% reduction in performance, highlighting the GPU's role in rendering resolution-dependent details.

Q: How does the CPU's benchmark score compare to the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845?

A: The i7-12700K has an average benchmark score of 35684, which is 0.3% lower than the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845's score of 35802. This makes the two processors statistically equivalent in synthetic testing.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Steamworld Build?

A: The data shows 4K performance is marginal. At 3840x2160, the High preset averages 31.8 FPS and Ultra drops to 22.4 FPS. Only the Low preset at 55.9 FPS approaches smoothness, but this requires significant visual compromises.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data indicates that the optimal experience balances visual fidelity with playable frame rates. For a 60 FPS target, the 1920x1080 High preset delivers an average of 99.9 FPS, offering a substantial margin above the threshold. This is the recommended starting point for most users, as it provides a smooth experience while maintaining reasonable graphical quality.

At 2560x1440, the High preset achieves 63.8 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS target. However, the Medium preset at 83.6 FPS offers a more comfortable buffer for demanding city-building scenarios where entity counts can spike. The data suggests that Medium at 1440p is the most stable option for players who prioritize consistency over maximum detail.

For 4K resolution, none of the presets provide a consistently smooth experience. The High preset at 31.8 FPS and Ultra at 22.4 FPS are below acceptable thresholds for a city builder where camera movement and zooming require fluidity. The Low preset at 55.9 FPS is playable but sacrifices significant visual quality. The data implies that 4K should be avoided for this combo unless the player accepts Low settings.

The Ultra preset is only viable at 1920x1080, where it averages 68.5 FPS. This setting should be reserved for users with 1080p displays who want maximum graphical fidelity. The performance gap between High and Ultra at 1080p (99.9 FPS to 68.5 FPS) suggests that the Ultra preset imposes a heavy rendering load that may not justify the visual improvement.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060's specifications directly influence the measured results. With 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, the card provides 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the 4K data suggests the 6 GB capacity may be limiting at higher resolutions and settings.

The GPU's boost clock of 1680 MHz and its 1920 shading units deliver a peak FP32 performance of 6.451 TFLOPS. This compute capability is reflected in the benchmark scores, where the card achieves 14111 in PassMark G3D and 71278 in Geekbench OpenCL. The card's percentile rank of 58 among all GPUs places it in the mid-range tier.

The RTX 2060's ray tracing cores (30) and tensor cores (240) are present but not heavily utilized in Steamworld Build, which is not a ray-traced title. The data shows that the GPU's traditional rasterization performance is the primary factor in the measured FPS. The 12 nm process node and 160 W TDP indicate the card operates within a moderate power envelope, though the benchmark results suggest it is the limiting component at 4K Ultra.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset reveals a consistent pattern across all resolutions. At 1920x1080, the average frame rates are: Low at 173.3 FPS, Medium at 132.1 FPS, High at 99.9 FPS, and Ultra at 68.5 FPS. These numbers show a clear linear scaling from Low to Medium, followed by a steeper drop at High and Ultra.

At 2560x1440, the performance hierarchy shifts: Low averages 112 FPS, Medium 83.6 FPS, High 63.8 FPS, and Ultra 40.8 FPS. The gap between Medium and High narrows compared to 1080p, while the Ultra preset falls significantly behind. This suggests that the GPU's memory bandwidth becomes a limiting factor at higher resolutions.

The 3840x2160 results are the most demanding: Low averages 55.9 FPS, Medium 42.5 FPS, High 31.8 FPS, and Ultra 22.4 FPS. Every preset at 4K remains below the 60 FPS target, with even Low settings failing to maintain smoothness in complex scenes. The progression from Medium to High at 4K shows a 25.2% drop, while High to Ultra drops another 29.6%.

These numbers indicate that the RTX 2060's sweet spot is 1080p, where it can handle all presets. The 1440p High preset is borderline playable, and 4K should be considered a non-viable option for this game with this GPU.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-12700K and RTX 2060 combination ranks 1415 out of 1730 tested combos in Steamworld Build. This places it in the lower 18% of all tested configurations, which is a surprising result given the CPU's strong benchmark scores. The ranking suggests that the GPU is the primary constraint, as the CPU's percentile rank of 89 is much higher than the GPU's percentile of 58.

The CPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 (35802 average score, 0.3% higher) and the Intel Core i7-13700T (35468, 0.6% lower). These processors are all within 1% of each other's performance, indicating that the CPU choice has minimal impact on this game's frame rates. The GPU's rivals, such as the AMD Radeon RX 7600S (15996, 0.5% lower) and AMD Radeon Pro 5700 (16351, 1.7% higher), similarly bracket the RTX 2060's performance.

The low combo rank of 1415 out of 1730 reflects the RTX 2060's age and mid-range positioning. For a game like Steamworld Build, which relies heavily on draw calls and object rendering, the GPU's 6 GB memory and 192-bit bus are insufficient for high-end settings at higher resolutions. The data implies that upgrading the GPU would yield a much larger performance improvement than upgrading the CPU.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K's specifications provide substantial multi-threading capability for a city builder. With 12 cores and 20 threads, the processor can handle the complex simulation logic and pathfinding calculations that Steamworld Build requires. The boost clock of 5.00 GHz ensures strong single-threaded performance, as evidenced by the 3DMark single-thread score of 1043 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4128.

The CPU's L3 cache of 25 MB shared across all cores helps reduce memory latency for frequently accessed game data. The PassMark multi-thread score of 34404 and Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 29241 demonstrate the processor's ability to handle parallel workloads. This is critical for a city builder where thousands of entities (workers, goods, buildings) must be simulated simultaneously.

However, the measured FPS data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this game. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 173.3 FPS, which is far above the GPU's capability at higher settings. The CPU's 89th percentile ranking among all CPUs confirms that it is a high-performance part. The game's frame rates at 4K Ultra (22.4 FPS) are clearly GPU-bound, as the CPU would be capable of processing far more frames per second than the GPU can render.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drops from 1080p to 4K reveal the GPU's limitations. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 173.3 FPS at 1080p to 112 FPS at 1440p (a 35.4% drop), then to 55.9 FPS at 4K (a 50.1% drop from 1440p). This scaling pattern is typical for a GPU where memory bandwidth and pixel fill rate become increasingly strained at higher resolutions.

At High settings, the scaling is more dramatic: 99.9 FPS at 1080p drops to 63.8 FPS at 1440p (36.1% drop), then to 31.8 FPS at 4K (50.2% drop). The Ultra preset shows the worst scaling: 68.5 FPS at 1080p falls to 40.8 FPS at 1440p (40.4% drop), then to 22.4 FPS at 4K (45.1% drop). These consistent drops of roughly 35-40% between resolutions indicate that the GPU's 336.0 GB/s bandwidth is the limiting factor.

The data suggests that the RTX 2060 is operating at its memory bandwidth ceiling at 1440p and above. The 192-bit bus and 6 GB GDDR6 memory cannot sustain the fill rates required by 4K rendering with high-detail textures. This is confirmed by the fact that the CPU's performance does not scale with resolution, meaning the system is entirely GPU-limited at 4K. For players seeking higher resolutions, the data strongly suggests that a GPU with more memory bandwidth and capacity would be necessary to achieve playable frame rates.