Steamworld Build

The Intel Core i7-13700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 delivers a robust performance profile in Steamworld Build, a city builder where frame rates scale dramatically with both resolution and graphical presets. The measured data shows a system capable of high refresh rate play at 1080p and smooth 60 FPS experiences at 4K, though the demands of the Ultra preset reveal the limits of this combination. This analysis breaks down the resolution scaling, optimal settings, GPU-specific behaviors, and how this pairing ranks among the 1,730 tested configurations.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial, indicating a shift in the bottleneck from the CPU to the GPU as pixel count increases. At the High preset, the average frame rate falls from 170.3 FPS at 1920x1080 to 110.3 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 60 FPS, and then further to 57.7 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 66% decrease in average FPS from 1080p to 4K, a clear sign that the rendering load is scaling heavily with resolution.

The pattern is consistent across all presets, but the severity of the drop is most pronounced at the lower settings. At Low preset, the system produces 301 FPS at 1080p, which falls to 187.4 FPS at 1440p and then to 101.6 FPS at 4K. This steep decline suggests that at 1080p Low, the CPU is the limiting factor, as the frame rate is exceptionally high, while at 4K, the GPU becomes the primary constraint. The Medium preset follows a similar trajectory: 229.7 FPS at 1080p, 145.8 FPS at 1440p, and 77.4 FPS at 4K.

The Ultra preset shows the most significant scaling challenge. It starts at 117.4 FPS at 1080p, drops to 76.1 FPS at 1440p, and plummets to 39.1 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is the only measured configuration that dips below the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that this setting is too demanding for the RTX 3080 at high resolutions. The data suggests that the i7-13700K, with its 16 cores and 24 threads, provides ample headroom for this city builder, as the frame rate scaling is almost entirely dictated by the GPU's ability to fill pixels at higher resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, the High preset is the clear recommendation for this hardware combination. At 1920x1080, High delivers 170.3 FPS, which is more than sufficient for any display, while at 2560x1440 it maintains a very smooth 110.3 FPS. Even at 3840x2160, the High preset achieves 57.7 FPS, which is close to the 60 FPS target and playable for a city builder genre where absolute frame rates are less critical than in fast-paced action titles.

The Medium preset offers a significant performance boost over High, with 229.7 FPS at 1080p and 145.8 FPS at 1440p. At 4K, Medium delivers 77.4 FPS, which is a 34% improvement over High and provides a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS line. This makes Medium the preferable choice for 4K users who prioritize smoothness over maximum detail. The Low preset, while producing 301 FPS at 1080p and 101.6 FPS at 4K, sacrifices too much visual quality for a marginal benefit in a game that is not competitive in nature.

The Ultra preset is not recommended for this combination. While it produces a playable 117.4 FPS at 1080p, the 76.1 FPS at 1440p is acceptable, but the 39.1 FPS at 4K falls well below the standard for a smooth experience. The performance cost of Ultra is steep, and the visual uplift over High is typically not worth the 34% frame rate penalty observed at 1440p (76.1 vs 110.3 FPS). For most users, High at 1440p or Medium at 4K represents the sweet spot for this GPU.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080's role is defined by its 10 GB of GDDR6X memory and a 320-bit memory bus, which provides a bandwidth of 760.3 GB/s. In a city builder like Steamworld Build, where the scene complexity grows with the number of structures and entities, this memory capacity is likely sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K Ultra results suggest that the 10 GB frame buffer may be a limiting factor at the highest settings.

The GPU's clock speeds are 1440 MHz base and 1710 MHz boost, with memory running at 1188 MHz (19 Gbps effective). These clocks, combined with the 8704 shading units and 272 texture mapping units, produce a texture rate of 465.1 GTexel/s and a pixel rate of 164.2 GPixel/s. The benchmark results show that the RTX 3080 is capable of handling the game's demands, but the 4K Ultra score of 39.1 FPS indicates that the card is being pushed to its limits.

The GPU's percentile rank of 80 among all GPUs places it in a strong position, and its average benchmark score of 35787 is within 0.9% of the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE, which is its nearest rival. The data shows that the RTX 3080 is not the bottleneck at lower resolutions, but at 4K Ultra, the combination of pixel count and settings is too much for its 10 GB memory and 320-bit bus. The fact that the frame rate drops from 117.4 FPS at 1080p Ultra to 39.1 FPS at 4K Ultra highlights the GPU's scaling behavior, which is typical for a card of this class.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU/GPU combo to achieve 60 FPS?

A: The data shows that the High preset achieves 57.7 FPS at 3840x2160, just below the 60 FPS target. For a guaranteed 60 FPS, the Medium preset at 4K delivers 77.4 FPS, or the High preset at 2560x1440 provides 110.3 FPS.

Q: Is the Ultra preset playable at 1440p with this hardware?

A: Yes, the Ultra preset at 2560x1440 produces an average of 76.1 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold and provides a smooth experience for a city builder.

Q: How does the RTX 3080 compare to its nearest rival in terms of average benchmark score?

A: The RTX 3080 has an average benchmark score of 35787, which is 0.9% lower than the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE's score of 36101. It is also 0.2% lower than the AMD Radeon Pro Duo's 35860.

Q: What is the frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K at the High preset?

A: The average FPS drops from 170.3 at 1920x1080 to 57.7 at 3840x2160, representing a 66% decrease in performance.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at any resolution?

A: The data suggests that at 1080p Low, the CPU may be the limiting factor, as the frame rate reaches 301 FPS. At higher resolutions and settings, the GPU's load increases, and the frame rate scales accordingly.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: The Low preset at 2560x1440 achieves 187.4 FPS, while the Ultra preset achieves 76.1 FPS, a difference of 111.3 FPS, indicating a significant performance cost for maximum visual effects.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-13700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 ranks 487th out of 1,730 tested combos in Steamworld Build, placing it in the top 28% of all configurations. This ranking is respectable, given that the RTX 3080 is an older generation GPU, but it is not at the top tier for this game. The CPU's strong performance, with a percentile rank of 93 among all CPUs and a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 39000, ensures that processing power is not a limiting factor.

The GPU's percentile rank of 80 among all GPUs is the more significant contributor to the overall ranking. The combo's position at 487 suggests that while it is a very capable pairing, there are 486 other configurations that deliver higher average frame rates in this specific title. The data indicates that the RTX 3080's 10 GB of memory and 320-bit bus are sufficient for most scenarios, but the 4K Ultra result of 39.1 FPS shows that it is not among the elite for this game's highest demands. The ranking reflects a system that offers excellent 1080p and 1440p performance, with playable 4K at moderate settings, but it is not the top performer for enthusiasts seeking maximum frame rates at the highest resolution and preset combination.