Steamworld Build

FAQ

Q: How does the Intel Core i7-12700KF compare to its closest rival in overall benchmark performance?

A: The i7-12700KF has an average benchmark score of 35355. This places it 0.1% ahead of the Intel Core i5-14400, and 0.2% behind the Intel Core i7-13800H. In practical terms, these processors are nearly indistinguishable in multi-threaded workloads.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all tested graphics cards?

A: The Intel Arc B580 sits at the 66th percentile among all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 23021 is 0.7% below the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060, and 0.1% above the AMD Radeon 760M, indicating it competes directly with those mainstream cards.

Q: What is the best playable setting at 1080p according to the measured data?

A: At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers 105.5 average FPS, while Ultra drops to 69.0 average FPS. Since the game remains fluid at both, the most visually rich option that still clears 60 FPS is the Ultra preset at 69.0 FPS.

Q: How severe is the performance drop from 1080p to 4K on the High preset?

A: On High settings, the system delivers 105.5 FPS at 1080p, 64.9 FPS at 1440p, and 37.0 FPS at 4K. This represents a 64.9% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K, showing a steep scaling curve as resolution increases.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU appear to be the limiting factor in this game?

A: The data suggests the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 183.3 FPS, which likely approaches the CPU's limit for this title. However, at 4K Ultra, the frame rate collapses to 20.7 FPS, indicating the GPU struggles heavily with the combined load of high resolution and demanding settings.

Q: What is the launch MSRP of the Intel Arc B580?

A: The Intel Arc B580 had a launch MSRP of 249 USD. This places it in the mainstream graphics card segment, competing with the likes of the RTX 4060 based on benchmark scores.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700KF is a 12-core, 20-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture. It carries a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, with a 125 W TDP. The chip features 25 MB of shared L3 cache, along with 1.25 MB of L2 cache per core and 80 KB of L1 cache per core. Built on Intel's 10 nm process, the CPU supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory through a dual-channel interface.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i7-12700KF demonstrates strong multi-threaded capability. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score reaches 28979, while the single-core score hits 4091. The Geekbench multicore score is 13596, and Passmark's multithread test shows 34092. These figures position the CPU at the 89th percentile among all processors, meaning it outperforms the vast majority of desktop chips.

When compared to its immediate rivals, the i7-12700KF shows remarkable consistency. It is 0.1% faster than the Core i5-14400, 0.2% slower than the Core i7-13800H, and 0.2% faster than the Core i9-12900HX. The differences are negligible, suggesting that in CPU-bound scenarios, these processors would deliver nearly identical frame rates.

For Steamworld Build, a city builder that relies on simulation logic and AI pathfinding, the CPU's multi-threaded performance is crucial. The 20 threads allow the game to distribute simulation tasks across multiple cores, which becomes especially important as the player's city grows in population and complexity. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 9282 and max-thread score of 9983 indicate that the processor maintains strong scaling when all cores are active.

The single-thread performance, shown by the 3DMark single-thread score of 1043 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4091, matters for the game's main loop and UI responsiveness. City builders often have a primary simulation thread that cannot be fully parallelized, so the 5.00 GHz boost clock helps keep that thread running smoothly even with many entities on screen.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B580 is built on the Xe2-HPG architecture, specifically the Battlemage generation, using TSMC's 5 nm process. The GPU contains 19,600 million transistors on a 272 mm² die, with a transistor density of 72.1M per mm². It operates at a base and boost clock of 2670 MHz, with memory running at 2375 MHz (19 Gbps effective). The 12 GB of GDDR6 memory uses a 192-bit bus, providing 456.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

The GPU specification sheet shows 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 80 render output units. It also includes 20 ray tracing cores and delivers 13.67 TFLOPS of FP32 compute performance. The pixel rate is 213.6 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 427.2 GTexel/s. The card has a 190 W TDP and requires a 450 W power supply, connected via a single 8-pin power connector.

In benchmark terms, the Arc B580 achieves a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3068, a Geekbench Vulkan score of 109672, and a Passmark G3D score of 15748. Its average benchmark score of 23021 places it at the 66th percentile among all GPUs. The closest rival is the RTX 4060, which scores 23181 and is 0.7% faster, while the AMD Radeon 760M scores 22999 and is 0.1% slower.

For Steamworld Build, the GPU's role becomes apparent when examining the measured frame rates across resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 183.3 FPS, which suggests the GPU is not limiting at that setting. However, as resolution increases to 4K, the frame rate falls sharply. The 12 GB VRAM buffer is sufficient for the game's textures, but the raw compute power of the GPU determines how well it handles higher resolutions.

The Arc B580's memory bandwidth of 456.0 GB/s becomes relevant at 4K, where the amount of data needed per frame increases substantially. The 192-bit bus and 12 GB capacity provide ample room for the game's assets, but the GPU's overall throughput limits the achievable frame rates at ultra-high resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-12700KF and Intel Arc B580 ranks 1334 out of 1730 tested combos in Steamworld Build. This places it in the lower-middle portion of the database, meaning that while individual components are strong, the pairing does not yield top-tier results in this specific title.

This ranking is somewhat surprising given the CPU's 89th percentile standing and the GPU's 66th percentile position. The discrepancy suggests that either the game is heavily GPU-bound at the settings tested, or that the Intel Arc B580 does not scale as well in this particular title as its synthetic benchmarks would indicate.

The measured data shows that at 1080p Ultra, the combo achieves 69.0 FPS, which is a playable result. However, at 4K Ultra, the frame rate drops to 20.7 FPS, making the game nearly unplayable at that resolution and settings combination. The median position of 1334 out of 1730 indicates that many other CPU-GPU pairings deliver better performance, particularly those with more powerful GPUs.

The CPU's strong multi-threaded performance does not translate into a high ranking for this combo, reinforcing that the GPU is the limiting factor. The Arc B580's 66th percentile standing among GPUs means that roughly a third of tested graphics cards outperform it, and those cards paired with similar CPUs would naturally rank higher in this game.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance on the optimal settings for different resolutions. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers 69.0 average FPS, which is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The High preset offers 105.5 FPS, providing a significant headroom that could benefit players with high-refresh-rate monitors.

At 2560x1440, the High preset achieves 64.9 FPS, making it the best choice for a balance between visual fidelity and performance. The Medium preset runs at 87.3 FPS, which is also viable, but High offers better image quality without sacrificing playability. The Ultra preset at 45.7 FPS falls below the ideal threshold and may introduce noticeable stutter in a city builder where camera movement is frequent.

For 3840x2160, the High preset manages 37.0 FPS, which is borderline for a slow-paced genre like city building but may feel sluggish. The Medium preset at 46.5 FPS is a better option, providing a more responsive experience while still showing reasonable detail. The Low preset at 62.5 FPS is the only 4K option that clears 60 FPS, but it sacrifices significant visual quality.

The optimal recommendation depends on the player's priority. For the best visual experience at a playable frame rate, 1080p Ultra at 69.0 FPS is the standout choice. For those with 1440p monitors, High at 64.9 FPS is the sweet spot. At 4K, players should either accept Medium at 46.5 FPS or drop to Low at 62.5 FPS for smoother gameplay.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers four settings presets across three resolutions, providing a comprehensive view of the combo's performance.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset delivers 62.5 average FPS. The Medium preset drops to 46.5 FPS, a 25.6% reduction from Low. High further decreases to 37.0 FPS, representing a 40.8% reduction from Low. The Ultra preset falls to 20.7 FPS, a 66.9% reduction from Low. These figures show a steep decline as settings increase, with each preset level costing roughly 15-20% performance.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset achieves 119.0 FPS. Medium runs at 87.3 FPS, a 26.6% reduction. High delivers 64.9 FPS, a 45.5% reduction. Ultra drops to 45.7 FPS, a 61.6% reduction. The pattern is similar to 4K, but the absolute values are substantially higher, showing that resolution has a major impact.

At 1920x1080, the Low preset reaches 183.3 FPS. Medium runs at 142.7 FPS, a 22.1% reduction. High delivers 105.5 FPS, a 42.4% reduction. Ultra drops to 69.0 FPS, a 62.4% reduction. The consistency of the percentage reductions across resolutions suggests that the performance scaling is governed primarily by the GPU's processing capability rather than any memory or bandwidth constraint.

Comparing the same settings across resolutions reveals the resolution penalty. On High, moving from 1080p to 1440p reduces FPS from 105.5 to 64.9, a 38.5% drop. Moving from 1440p to 4K reduces further to 37.0, a 43.0% drop. On Low, the progression is 183.3 to 119.0 to 62.5, representing 35.1% and 47.5% drops respectively.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling curve reveals important insights about the system's bottleneck. From 1080p to 1440p, the average FPS across all settings drops by approximately 37%. From 1440p to 4K, the average drop is approximately 45%. This increasing penalty at higher resolutions is characteristic of a GPU-limited scenario.

The data shows that the CPU is not the primary constraint at higher resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 183.3 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's maximum for this game. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see similar frame rates at higher resolutions, since the CPU workload does not change significantly with resolution. Instead, the frame rate drops dramatically, confirming that the GPU's fill rate and shading capacity are the limiting factors.

The Intel Arc B580's 13.67 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 213.6 GPixel/s pixel rate determine how many pixels can be processed per second. At 1080p, the GPU has enough headroom to render the game at high frame rates. At 4K, the pixel count quadruples, and the GPU's throughput becomes the limiting factor, leading to the observed 37.0 FPS on High and 20.7 FPS on Ultra.

The memory bandwidth of 456.0 GB/s also plays a role. At 4K, the game must stream more texture data and larger frame buffers, which increases memory traffic. The 192-bit bus, while adequate for 1080p and 1440p, may not provide sufficient bandwidth for smooth 4K operation at higher settings.

The scaling pattern suggests that players should prioritize either resolution or settings, but not both simultaneously. A 1080p Ultra experience at 69.0 FPS offers a rich visual presentation, while a 4K Low experience at 62.5 FPS provides sharpness at the cost of detail. The 1440p High preset at 64.9 FPS represents the best compromise, delivering both reasonable resolution and visual quality.