Steamworld Build

Steamworld Build, a city builder released in late 2023, presents an interesting workload profile for the Intel Core i7-13700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 combination. The benchmark data shows a configuration that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, yet increasingly CPU-limited as resolution drops and frame rates climb into very high territory. This analysis examines the measured FPS data to characterize the performance envelope of this specific pairing.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a classic resolution scaling curve, with frame rates dropping significantly as pixel count increases. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo produces an average of 382.3 FPS, which falls to 266.4 FPS at 2560x1440 and further to 142.6 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 62.7% drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, indicating that the GPU is becoming a more significant bottleneck as resolution increases.

The scaling behavior shifts notably across settings presets. At Ultra settings, the frame rate goes from 163.9 FPS at 1080p to 103.4 FPS at 1440p, then down to 56 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is only 34.2% of the 1080p Ultra frame rate, which is a steeper relative decline than the Low preset's scaling. This suggests that the combination of high resolution and high graphical settings places a substantial load on the RTX 5080, with the 16 GB of GDDR7 memory and 960.0 GB/s bandwidth being exercised heavily.

At 1080p, the data points to CPU limitation becoming more prevalent. The jump from Medium to High at 1080p shows a drop from 319.6 FPS to 242 FPS, while the jump from High to Ultra reduces frames to 163.9 FPS. The i7-13700K, with its 16 cores and 24 threads, delivers strong single-thread performance as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 5505, but the sheer frame rates at 1080p Low (382.3 FPS) suggest that even this processor's capabilities are being approached.

GPU Role

The RTX 5080's specifications play a defining role in these results. With a boost clock of 2617 MHz and 10752 shading units, the card delivers 56.28 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. The 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is critical for a city builder where large numbers of entities and detailed textures are common.

The GPU's performance percentile versus all GPUs is 89, and its average benchmark score of 59188 places it near the Intel Arc A570M (58239, deltaPct 1.6) and the Intel Arc Pro A60 (60326, deltaPct -1.9). This positioning in synthetic benchmarks translates to strong real-world performance in Steamworld Build, particularly at 1440p where the combo achieves 152.6 FPS on High settings.

The VRAM capacity appears sufficient for this game across all tested configurations. At 4K Ultra, the 56 FPS average indicates that the GPU's compute and memory subsystems are being fully utilized, but the absence of min FPS data prevents a full assessment of frame time consistency. The 4K Low result of 142.6 FPS versus the 1080p Low result of 382.3 FPS demonstrates that the RTX 5080's fill rate and texture throughput are the primary determinants of performance at higher resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the performance difference between 1080p and 4K at High settings?

A: At 1920x1080 High, the combo averages 242 FPS, while at 3840x2160 High, it drops to 81 FPS. This is a 66.5% reduction in frame rate, indicating that the GPU is the limiting component at 4K.

Q: How does the RTX 5080 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5080 has an average benchmark score of 59188, which is 1.6% higher than the Intel Arc A570M (58239) and 1.9% lower than the Intel Arc Pro A60 (60326). The card sits at the 89th percentile among all GPUs.

Q: Is the Core i7-13700K a bottleneck at any tested resolution?

A: At 1080p Low, the 382.3 FPS average suggests the CPU is approaching its limit, as the i7-13700K's 3DMark max threads score is 12412 and its single-thread score is 1136. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings (382.3 to 266.4 FPS) indicates the GPU becomes more influential as resolution increases.

Q: What is the frame rate at 1440p Ultra settings?

A: The combo achieves 103.4 FPS on average at 2560x1440 with Ultra settings. This is a playable frame rate for a city builder, where the genre typically benefits from stability over extreme refresh rates.

Q: How does the i7-13700K rank against its closest competitors?

A: The i7-13700K has an average benchmark score of 47282, placing it at the 93rd percentile of all CPUs. It is 0.1% behind the Intel Core i7-13700KF (47334) and 0.3% ahead of the AMD EPYC 4364P (47131).

Q: What is the performance gap between Medium and Ultra at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, Medium settings produce 106.8 FPS, while Ultra settings drop to 56 FPS. This 48.7% reduction shows that the Ultra preset imposes a substantial additional load on the RTX 5080.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-13700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 combination ranks 44th out of 1730 tested combos in Steamworld Build. This places the pairing in the top 2.5% of all configurations tested, reflecting the strong synergy between the CPU and GPU.

The ranking is notable given the CPU's position relative to its rivals. The i7-13700K scores 47282 on average, which is 0.1% lower than the Core i7-13700KF (47334) and 0.4% higher than the Core i9-12900F (47081). The 13700K's 16 cores and 24 threads, combined with a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, provide the computational headroom needed to feed the RTX 5080 at lower resolutions.

The GPU's contribution to this ranking is substantial. The RTX 5080's 89th percentile standing among all GPUs, coupled with its 56.28 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, ensures that the combo remains competitive even at 4K Ultra, where the 56 FPS result is still within the playable range for a city builder. The 44th rank out of 1730 combos indicates that only a small fraction of tested systems deliver higher frame rates in this game, typically those with more powerful GPUs or CPUs operating at even higher clocks.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080:

• Low: 382.3 FPS average
• Medium: 319.6 FPS average
• High: 242 FPS average
• Ultra: 163.9 FPS average

2560x1440:

• Low: 266.4 FPS average
• Medium: 202.5 FPS average
• High: 152.6 FPS average
• Ultra: 103.4 FPS average

3840x2160:

• Low: 142.6 FPS average
• Medium: 106.8 FPS average
• High: 81 FPS average
• Ultra: 56 FPS average

The data shows a consistent pattern where each settings tier at a given resolution reduces frame rate by roughly 20-30%. From Low to Medium at 1080p, the drop is 62.7 FPS (16.4%); from Medium to High, it is 77.6 FPS (24.3%); and from High to Ultra, it is 78.1 FPS (32.3%). This progression indicates that the Ultra preset is disproportionately more demanding, likely due to increased draw distances and shadow complexity.

At 4K, the absolute frame rates are lower but the relative scaling is similar. The drop from Medium to High is 25.8 FPS (24.2%), while the drop from High to Ultra is 25 FPS (30.9%). The 4K Ultra result of 56 FPS is the only measured configuration that falls below the 60 FPS threshold, suggesting that users targeting 4K with maximum settings may need to adjust their expectations or enable upscaling technologies.

For users with high refresh rate displays, the 1440p results are particularly strong. The 152.6 FPS at High settings and 103.4 FPS at Ultra both exceed standard 144Hz refresh rates, making this combo well-suited for smooth gameplay at 1440p. The 1080p results are exceptionally high, with even Ultra settings producing 163.9 FPS, which is sufficient for 165Hz and 240Hz displays.