Steamworld Build

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data for Steamworld Build with the Intel Core i7-12700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 reveals a pronounced scaling curve as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 254.6 FPS, which drops to 165.2 FPS at 1440p and further to 89.1 FPS at 4K. That represents a 35% decline from 1080p to 1440p and a 46% decline from 1440p to 4K, indicating the GPU becomes progressively more stressed as pixel count rises.

The High preset tells a similar story: 147.6 FPS at 1080p, 93 FPS at 1440p, and 49.7 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 37%, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 47%. This pattern — where the percentage loss accelerates at higher resolutions — is a classic sign that the RTX 3070's 8 GB GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are increasingly the bottleneck as the framebuffer demands grow.

At Ultra settings, the resolution scaling becomes even more dramatic. The combo delivers 97.6 FPS at 1080p, 64.8 FPS at 1440p, and only 32 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is a 67% reduction from the 1080p Ultra figure. This steep cliff suggests that the game's Ultra preset introduces effects that are particularly memory-intensive, and the RTX 3070's 8 GB VRAM capacity appears to be a limiting factor at 4K with the highest settings.

Interestingly, the Low preset at 1080p (254.6 FPS) versus the Low preset at 4K (89.1 FPS) shows a 65% drop — nearly identical to the Ultra scaling. This consistency across presets implies that resolution itself, not just settings complexity, drives the performance penalty. The data points to a GPU-bound scenario at 4K across all settings, while at 1080p the high frame rates suggest the CPU has ample headroom.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

For players targeting 60 FPS as a smooth baseline, the measured rows indicate that Medium settings at 4K deliver 63.3 FPS — just above the threshold. High at 4K falls to 49.7 FPS, which may feel less fluid for a city builder where camera panning and zooming are frequent. Ultra at 4K, at 32 FPS, is likely too demanding for consistent play.

At 1440p, the situation is more comfortable. High settings produce 93 FPS, Medium reaches 122.4 FPS, and even Ultra holds at 64.8 FPS. For a balance of visual fidelity and performance, High at 1440p appears to be the sweet spot, offering a 43% improvement over Ultra while maintaining a frame rate well above 60. Medium at 1440p (122.4 FPS) could be preferred for users with high-refresh-rate monitors, as it more than doubles the 4K Ultra result.

At 1080p, all presets exceed 97 FPS, with Low reaching 254.6 FPS. Ultra at 1080p (97.6 FPS) is the only preset that dips below 100, but it still provides a smooth experience. The data suggests that Ultra is only viable at 1080p or 1440p, and even then, the 1440p Ultra result (64.8 FPS) is close to the 60 FPS minimum. For the best experience per the measured rows, Medium at 4K or High at 1440p offers the strongest combination of visual quality and playable frame rates.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The Intel Core i7-12700KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 ranks 778th out of 1,730 tested combos in Steamworld Build. This places the configuration in the upper-middle tier of the database, meaning roughly 55% of tested combos perform better in this specific game. Given that the CPU sits at the 89th percentile among all processors and the GPU at the 72nd percentile among all GPUs, the combo's rank suggests that Steamworld Build is more sensitive to GPU performance than CPU prowess.

Looking at the CPU's nearest rivals, the i7-12700KF's average benchmark score of 35,355 is nearly identical to the Intel Core i5-14400 (35,336, deltaPct 0.1) and the Intel Core i9-12900HX (35,289, deltaPct 0.2). It trails the Intel Core i7-13800H by a negligible 0.2%. These sub-1% differences indicate that swapping among these CPUs would have minimal impact on Steamworld Build's frame rates. The GPU's nearest rivals show more variance: the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT (27,985, deltaPct 0.9) and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (27,956, deltaPct 1) are close, but the AMD FirePro S7150 (28,409, deltaPct -0.6) and AMD Radeon R9 M295X (28,541, deltaPct -1.1) are slightly ahead in raw scores.

The rank of 778 out of 1,730 combos implies that while this pair is competent, there are many faster configurations in the database. The data does not show whether those higher-ranked combos use newer GPUs or more powerful CPUs, but the GPU's 72nd percentile suggests that upgrading the graphics card would likely improve the rank more than a CPU swap.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The measured FPS data provides 12 distinct data points across three resolutions and four settings levels. At 1920x1080, the combo achieves 254.6 FPS on Low, 197.1 FPS on Medium, 147.6 FPS on High, and 97.6 FPS on Ultra. The spread from Low to Ultra is 157 FPS, indicating that the Ultra preset imposes nearly a 62% performance penalty compared to Low.

At 2560x1440, the results are 165.2 FPS on Low, 122.4 FPS on Medium, 93 FPS on High, and 64.8 FPS on Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 100.4 FPS, but the relative penalty remains similar at 61%. This consistency suggests that the settings scaling is resolution-independent in relative terms.

At 3840x2160, the numbers drop to 89.1 FPS on Low, 63.3 FPS on Medium, 49.7 FPS on High, and 32 FPS on Ultra. The Low-to-Ultra spread is 57.1 FPS, and the relative penalty is 64% — slightly steeper than at lower resolutions. Notably, the 4K Ultra result (32 FPS) is less than half of the 1080p Ultra result (97.6 FPS), highlighting how the combination of high resolution and max settings overwhelms the GPU.

The data also reveals that Medium at 1440p (122.4 FPS) outperforms High at 1080p (147.6 FPS) by a smaller margin than expected, while Medium at 4K (63.3 FPS) is nearly identical to High at 1440p (93 FPS) only when accounting for resolution differences.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock runs at 1500 MHz with a boost clock of 1725 MHz. The GPU is built on Samsung's 8 nm process with 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die, giving it a transistor density of 44.4M per mm².

In Steamworld Build, the GPU's memory subsystem appears critical. The 4K Ultra result of 32 FPS — the lowest in the dataset — suggests that the 8 GB VRAM capacity is a ceiling at that resolution with max settings. The 4K Medium result of 63.3 FPS versus 4K High at 49.7 FPS indicates a 21% performance jump from High to Medium, which may reflect reduced texture streaming pressure on the 8 GB buffer.

The GPU's compute capabilities, rated at 20.31 TFLOPS FP32, are substantial, yet the game's performance at 4K Ultra (32 FPS) suggests that memory bandwidth or capacity, not raw compute, is the limiting factor. The 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is shared across the 256-bit bus, and at 4K the pixel throughput demands (165.6 GPixel/s) may saturate the memory interface.

The RTX 3070's 5888 shading units and 184 texture mapping units provide ample geometry and texture processing power, as evidenced by the strong 1080p results. However, the 96 ROPs, while adequate for lower resolutions, may struggle with the fill-rate demands of 4K Ultra in a city builder with dense on-screen elements.

FAQ

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

A: Based on the measured FPS, 1440p with High settings (93 FPS) offers a good balance. At 4K, only Medium (63.3 FPS) stays above 60 FPS, while at 1080p all settings exceed 97 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 3070 compare to its nearest rivals in benchmark scores?

A: The RTX 3070's average benchmark score is 28,238. It trails the AMD FirePro S7150 by 0.6% (28,409) and the AMD Radeon R9 M295X by 1.1% (28,541), but leads the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT by 0.9% (27,985) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti by 1% (27,956).

Q: Is the i7-12700KF a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The 1080p Low result of 254.6 FPS suggests the CPU can drive very high frame rates. The CPU's 89th percentile ranking and Cinebench R23 multicore score of 28,979 indicate strong multi-threaded performance, so it is unlikely to bottleneck at lower resolutions.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 4K Ultra?

A: The measured 4K Ultra average is 32 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold. This is the lowest result in the dataset, indicating that 4K Ultra is not playable with this combo.

Q: How does the combo rank overall in this game?

A: It ranks 778th out of 1,730 tested combos, placing it in the upper-middle tier. This means about 45% of tested combinations perform worse, while 55% perform better.

Q: Does the GPU's 8 GB VRAM affect performance?

A: The data suggests yes. The steep drop from 4K High (49.7 FPS) to 4K Ultra (32 FPS) — a 36% penalty — likely reflects the 8 GB VRAM being exceeded at Ultra settings with 4K resolution.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i7-12700KF is a 12-core, 20-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, with 25 MB of shared L3 cache. This is a desktop part with a 125 W TDP, designed for Socket 1700.

In Steamworld Build, a city builder that likely benefits from single-threaded performance for game logic and multi-threaded performance for simulation updates, the i7-12700KF's dual nature is relevant. Its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4,091 and multi-core score of 28,979 show strong capabilities in both domains. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 9,282 and max-thread score of 9,983 indicate that scaling beyond 16 threads yields diminishing returns — a common pattern in games that do not fully utilize 20 threads.

The CPU's nearest rivals — the i5-14400, i7-13800H, i9-12900HX, and i5-13600T — all have average benchmark scores within 0.3% of the i7-12700KF. This suggests that in Steamworld Build, any of these CPUs would produce nearly identical frame rates when paired with the same GPU. The 0.1% delta to the i5-14400 (35,336) is negligible in real-world gameplay.

The CPU's 89th percentile ranking among all processors, combined with its high single-thread performance, explains why the combo achieves 254.6 FPS at 1080p Low — a scenario where the GPU is less stressed and the CPU's capabilities come to the fore. However, the combo's rank of 778 out of 1,730 in this game indicates that the CPU is not the limiting factor; the GPU's 72nd percentile is the more significant constraint on overall performance.