Steamworld Build

Resolution Scaling

Steamworld Build’s performance scaling across resolutions tells a clear story about where this combo’s bottleneck lives. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the Intel Core i7-13700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 deliver 226 FPS. That number collapses to 77.6 FPS at 3840x2160 Low, a reduction of roughly 66% from the 1080p figure. This dramatic drop indicates that the GPU becomes the limiting factor as pixel count rises, which is expected for a card with an 8 GB GDDR6 frame buffer and a 128-bit memory bus.

The scaling pattern is consistent across all settings tiers. At Medium, the combo produces 174.9 FPS at 1080p, 110.9 FPS at 1440p, and 59.8 FPS at 4K. The step from 1440p to 4K at Medium is particularly steep — a 51 FPS loss — reinforcing that the RTX 4060’s memory bandwidth of 272.0 GB/s is being saturated by the higher resolution. High settings follow the same trajectory: 128.6 FPS at 1080p, 82.2 FPS at 1440p, and 45 FPS at 4K. Ultra settings, meanwhile, push the card to its limit, with 89.1 FPS at 1080p but only 30 FPS at 4K.

The data suggests that 1080p and 1440p are the sweet spots for this pairing. At 1080p Ultra, the 89.1 FPS average remains playable, while 1440p High’s 82.2 FPS shows the CPU still has headroom to feed the GPU. At 4K, however, every settings level except Low dips below 60 FPS, with Ultra hitting just 30 FPS. The 4K Low result of 77.6 FPS is the only 4K figure that clears the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that users targeting 4K must make substantial visual compromises.

Resolution scaling also reveals how the game’s city-building simulation loads the hardware differently than typical shooters. The fact that 1080p Low reaches 226 FPS — far beyond most display refresh rates — suggests the CPU’s 16 cores and 24 threads are not the primary constraint at lower resolutions. Instead, the RTX 4060’s pixel throughput becomes the ceiling, particularly as texture and shading complexity rises with each settings tier.

GPU Role

The RTX 4060’s role in Steamworld Build is defined by its 8 GB GDDR6 memory and 128-bit bus. With a bandwidth of 272.0 GB/s, the card provides enough throughput for 1080p and 1440p gaming but struggles to maintain high frame rates at 4K, especially under Ultra settings. The GPU’s boost clock of 2460 MHz and base clock of 1830 MHz are standard for the Ada Lovelace architecture, yet the card’s 15.11 TFLOPS FP32 compute is better suited to mid-range resolutions.

VRAM capacity is a notable factor in this game’s results. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 30, and while the game does not report explicit VRAM usage in the measured data, the steep performance cliff between Medium (59.8 FPS) and Ultra (30 FPS) at 4K suggests that memory capacity or bandwidth is being exceeded. The card’s 8 GB frame buffer is adequate for 1080p and 1440p, where the combo maintains playable frame rates across all settings, but 4K Ultra appears to push beyond what the memory subsystem can efficiently handle.

The GPU’s benchmark scores place it in the 66th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 23181. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6600M (23321, deltaPct -0.6), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti (23338, deltaPct -0.7), the Intel Arc B580 (23021, deltaPct 0.7), and the AMD Radeon 760M (22999, deltaPct 0.8). These deltas are all within one percentage point, indicating that the RTX 4060 sits in a tightly contested performance cluster. In Steamworld Build specifically, the card’s 4K Ultra result of 30 FPS aligns with its mid-range positioning — it can handle the game at high settings at mainstream resolutions, but 4K Ultra is beyond its comfort zone.

The GPU’s 5 nm process node and 18,900 million transistors contribute to its efficiency, but the 128-bit memory interface remains the primary constraint in resolution-heavy scenarios. The card’s pixel rate of 118.1 GPixel/s and texture rate of 236.2 GTexel/s are competitive for its class, yet the measured FPS data shows that these capabilities diminish rapidly as resolution increases.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achieved by this combo in Steamworld Build?

A: The highest recorded average FPS is 226, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: Can this combo maintain 60 FPS at 4K in Steamworld Build?

A: Only at Low settings, where it averages 77.6 FPS. At Medium it drops to 59.8 FPS, High yields 45 FPS, and Ultra falls to 30 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 4060 compare to its nearest GPU rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4060 (avg score 23181) trails the AMD Radeon RX 6600M by 0.6% and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti by 0.7%, while leading the Intel Arc B580 by 0.7% and the AMD Radeon 760M by 0.8%.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 1080p and 1440p at High settings?

A: At 1080p High, the combo averages 128.6 FPS. At 1440p High, it averages 82.2 FPS, a decrease of 46.4 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 1080p Low settings?

A: The data shows 226 FPS at 1080p Low, which is far beyond typical display refresh rates. This suggests the GPU is still the limiting factor, as the CPU’s 16 cores and 24 threads are not being fully utilized at this resolution and settings level.

Q: What is the combo’s rank among all tested combinations in Steamworld Build?

A: The combo ranks 948th out of 1730 tested combinations, placing it in the middle of the pack.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-13700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 combination ranks 948th out of 1730 tested combos in Steamworld Build. This places it slightly above the median, reflecting a pairing that is competent but not exceptional for this particular game. The CPU itself is a strong performer — its average benchmark score of 47282 puts it in the 93rd percentile among all CPUs — but the GPU’s 66th percentile standing drags the overall combo ranking down.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are all within 0.5% of its score. The Intel Core i7-13700KF (47334, deltaPct -0.1), AMD EPYC 4364P (47131, deltaPct 0.3), Intel Core i9-12900F (47081, deltaPct 0.4), and AMD Ryzen 9 PRO 5945 (47527, deltaPct -0.5) all cluster tightly around the i7-13700K’s performance. This means that swapping to any of these CPUs would yield negligible differences in Steamworld Build’s frame rates, provided the GPU remains the same.

The GPU’s rivals similarly show minimal performance gaps. The RTX 4060’s average benchmark score of 23181 is within one percentage point of all four nearest rivals, making synthetic benchmark scores nearly indistinguishable. However, in actual game performance, the measured FPS data shows that the RTX 4060’s 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit bus are the limiting factors at higher resolutions, which would likely impact any of these rival GPUs in a similar fashion.

Given that the combo sits at 948th out of 1730, there is substantial room for improvement. Upgrading the GPU to a higher-tier card would likely push the combo significantly higher in the rankings, as the CPU has demonstrated it can feed frame rates well above 200 FPS at 1080p Low. The data suggests that the CPU is not the bottleneck in this pairing — the GPU’s resolution scaling limitations are what keep this combo in the middle of the pack.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for Steamworld Build with the Intel Core i7-13700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 covers three resolutions and four settings tiers, providing a complete picture of performance scaling.

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest results. Low settings produce an average of 226 FPS, which is the highest figure recorded in the entire dataset. Medium settings yield 174.9 FPS, High settings drop to 128.6 FPS, and Ultra settings settle at 89.1 FPS. All 1080p results exceed 60 FPS, with even the most demanding Ultra setting maintaining a comfortable margin above that threshold.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance penalty is noticeable but manageable. Low settings average 141.8 FPS, representing a 37% drop from the 1080p Low result. Medium settings produce 110.9 FPS, High settings reach 82.2 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 56.2 FPS. The Ultra result at 1440p is the first instance where the combo dips below 60 FPS, indicating that this resolution and settings combination begins to stress the GPU’s memory bandwidth.

At 3840x2160, the GPU’s limitations become pronounced. Low settings average 77.6 FPS, which remains playable but is less than half of the 1080p Low figure. Medium settings drop to 59.8 FPS, High settings yield 45 FPS, and Ultra settings bottom out at 30 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is exactly half of the 1440p Ultra figure, highlighting how severely the resolution increase impacts performance when all visual features are enabled.

The full FPS table reads as follows: 1080p Low 226, 1080p Medium 174.9, 1080p High 128.6, 1080p Ultra 89.1; 1440p Low 141.8, 1440p Medium 110.9, 1440p High 82.2, 1440p Ultra 56.2; 4K Low 77.6, 4K Medium 59.8, 4K High 45, 4K Ultra 30. Across all settings, the scaling from 1080p to 4K averages a reduction of roughly 65-70%, with the steepest drops occurring between 1440p and 4K. This data confirms that the RTX 4060 is best utilized at 1080p or 1440p, while 4K gaming requires significant settings reductions to maintain acceptable frame rates.