Steamworld Build

Steamworld Build with the Intel Core i7-14700K and Intel Arc B570 presents a clear performance profile that shifts dramatically depending on your target resolution and visual settings. The data shows a classic scenario where the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, while the powerful CPU ensures headroom at lower settings. This analysis breaks down the measured results to help you decide where this combo shines and where it struggles.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K with this combo reveals a steep performance cliff that points directly at the Intel Arc B570 as the limiting factor. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the average frame rate is 93 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same High preset drops the average to 59 FPS, a 36.5% reduction. Stepping up to 3840x2160 High yields only 31 FPS, which is a 66.7% drop from the 1080p figure. This scaling pattern indicates that the CPU, with its 20 cores and 28 threads, is far from being the constraint at these settings; the GPU's rendering load is what's driving the frame rate down.

The scaling on Low settings tells a similar story but with different absolute numbers. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 162 FPS. At 1440p Low, it drops to 103 FPS, a 36.4% reduction. At 4K Low, the average falls to 55 FPS, which is a 66% drop from the 1080p baseline. The consistency of these percentage drops across High and Low presets strongly suggests that the GPU's raw throughput is the deciding factor; the settings change the starting point but not the rate at which performance degrades with resolution.

For Ultra settings, the pattern becomes even more pronounced. The combo hits 63 FPS at 1080p Ultra, which is already below the 1440p High result. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 40 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it falls to a nearly unplayable 21 FPS. The gap between 1080p Ultra and 4K Ultra is a 66.7% reduction, mirroring the scaling seen on other presets. This uniformity indicates that the Arc B570's memory bandwidth of 380.0 GB/s and its 10 GB of GDDR6 memory are simply not sufficient to maintain playable frame rates at 4K, regardless of the CPU's capability.

The data suggests that this combo is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming. At 4K, even the Low preset only manages 55 FPS, which might be acceptable for a city builder but is far from smooth. The measured FPS at 4K Medium shows a minimum of 35 FPS and a maximum of 48 FPS, with an average of 42 FPS, indicating noticeable frame time variance at that resolution. The i7-14700K has the compute headroom to push higher frame rates, but the GPU cannot keep pace as the pixel count increases.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide a clear hierarchy for balancing visual fidelity against frame rate. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers an average of 63 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for a genre where camera panning and zooming are frequent. The High preset at 1080p offers 93 FPS, a substantial improvement that makes the game feel noticeably smoother. The Medium preset at 1080p jumps to 124 FPS, with a minimum of 106 FPS and a maximum of 143 FPS, providing a very fluid experience without the sharpness of High. Given that the visual difference between High and Ultra is often marginal in city builders, the High preset at 1080p appears to be the sweet spot for a mixed experience of quality and responsiveness.

At 2560x1440, the situation changes. The High preset produces 59 FPS, which is right at the edge of smooth gameplay. The Medium preset at 1440p yields 79 FPS, with a minimum of 67 FPS, making it a more comfortable choice for consistent frame pacing. The Low preset at 1440p reaches 103 FPS, which is excellent for a high refresh rate monitor, but the visual quality trade-off might be too severe for some players. The data suggests that for 1440p, Medium is the recommended starting point, with High being acceptable if you prefer sharper textures and don't mind occasional dips below 60 FPS.

For 3840x2160, the options are limited. The Low preset averages 55 FPS, which is the only preset that comes close to being playable. Medium averages 42 FPS, which is borderline, and High dips to 31 FPS, which is too sluggish for comfortable play. The Ultra preset at 4K is effectively unusable at 21 FPS. Based on the measured rows, 4K play should be confined to Low settings, and even then, expect the frame rate to fluctuate. The 10 GB VRAM on the Arc B570 appears to be a limiting factor at 4K, as the higher presets likely exceed the memory capacity, causing performance to tank.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's position in the database for Steamworld Build is rank 2320 out of 2924 tested combinations. This places it in the bottom 21% of all tested hardware pairings for this specific game. This ranking is surprising given the CPU's high benchmark scores, but it underscores how heavily this game is influenced by GPU performance. The Intel Core i7-14700K ranks in the 94th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 69355, putting it near the top of the pack. The Intel Arc B570, however, ranks in the 65th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 20556. The GPU's mid-tier standing drags the overall combo ranking down, as Steamworld Build's frame rates are so dependent on the graphics card.

The CPU's nearest rivals show that the i7-14700K is in a tight grouping at the top of the performance charts. It is 0.1% ahead of the AMD EPYC 9115, 0.2% behind the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, 0.7% behind the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX, and 0.9% behind the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F. These deltas are negligible in real-world gaming, meaning the CPU choice is not the differentiator here. The GPU's nearest rivals, on the other hand, include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile, which it matches at 0.1% delta, and the Intel Arc A750, which it trails by 0.1%. The Arc B570 also sits close to the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M and AMD Radeon R9 M390X, which are much older parts. This indicates the Arc B570 is a solid mid-range GPU, but it is not positioned to deliver high-end frame rates in a demanding title like Steamworld Build.

The rank of 2320 out of 2924 suggests that for this game, a pairing with a less powerful CPU and a more powerful GPU would likely achieve a higher rank. The i7-14700K is overkill for the Arc B570's capabilities in this title, as the GPU is consistently the bottleneck. The data implies that the combo is unbalanced for this specific workload, with the CPU's potential largely untapped while the GPU struggles to keep up.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full range of settings shows the combo's capability. Low settings produce an average of 162 FPS. Medium settings produce 124 FPS, with a minimum of 106 FPS and a maximum of 143 FPS. High settings produce 93 FPS. Ultra settings produce 63 FPS. The step from Low to Medium is a 23.5% drop, from Medium to High is a 25% drop, and from High to Ultra is a 32.3% drop. This shows diminishing returns as you push toward Ultra, but all presets are playable at 1080p.

At 2560x1440, the averages are lower but still manageable. Low settings produce 103 FPS. Medium settings produce 79 FPS, with a minimum of 67 FPS and a maximum of 91 FPS. High settings produce 59 FPS. Ultra settings produce 40 FPS. The transition from High to Ultra at 1440p is a 32.2% drop, which is significant. The Medium preset's minimum of 67 FPS indicates that even in busy scenes, the frame rate stays above 60 FPS, making it the most reliable choice at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the numbers become difficult for smooth gameplay. Low settings produce 55 FPS. Medium settings produce 42 FPS, with a minimum of 35 FPS and a maximum of 48 FPS. High settings produce 31 FPS. Ultra settings produce 21 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium at 4K is a 23.6% drop, and the jump from Medium to High is another 26.2% drop. The minimum FPS of 35 at 4K Medium shows that the game can stutter under load, which is detrimental to the city builder experience where you often zoom out to view large areas. The 4K Ultra result of 21 FPS is below the threshold for a playable experience.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570's specifications directly explain the measured performance. It has 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus, providing 380.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's base and boost clocks are both 2500 MHz, and it has a pixel rate of 200.0 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 360.0 GTexel/s. Its FP32 compute is rated at 11.52 TFLOPS. These figures place it as a mid-range part, which aligns with its 65th percentile ranking among all GPUs.

In Steamworld Build, the GPU's role is critical. The game's city builder nature means it renders many objects, shadows, and effects, which taxes the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth. At 1080p, the 10 GB VRAM is sufficient, and the GPU can push high frame rates. At 1440p, the memory bandwidth becomes a larger factor, and the frame rates drop accordingly. At 4K, the GPU is clearly overmatched, as the 380.0 GB/s bandwidth cannot feed the pixel shaders fast enough to maintain high frame rates. The 21 FPS at 4K Ultra is a direct result of the GPU being saturated.

The GPU's architecture, Xe2-HPG on a 5 nm process, is modern, but its performance in this game is limited by its hardware. The tensor cores are not listed, and the ray tracing cores at 18 are present but not relevant to this title's typical rendering workload. The GPU's nearest rival, the Intel Arc A750, is only 0.1% faster in average benchmark scores, which suggests the B570 is a slight incremental improvement. The data shows that for this game, the GPU is the component that determines playability, and its mid-range status means you must adjust settings and resolution to get a smooth experience.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Steamworld Build with this combo?

A: Based on the measured FPS, 1920x1080 is the best resolution. All presets are playable, with High offering 93 FPS and Ultra offering 63 FPS. At 2560x1440, you can play on Medium for 79 FPS, but High drops to 59 FPS. At 3840x2160, only Low is playable at 55 FPS, so 1080p is recommended.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: The data shows an average of 21 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. This is not a playable experience. The minimum FPS is not listed for this preset, but the average is below the threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-14700K the bottleneck in this game?

A: No. The CPU ranks in the 94th percentile among all CPUs and is within 0.9% of its nearest rivals. The bottleneck is the GPU. The measured FPS drops consistently across resolutions, indicating that the Intel Arc B570's performance is the limiting factor.

Q: Should I use the Medium or High preset at 1440p?

A: The data suggests Medium is the safer choice. Medium yields 79 FPS with a minimum of 67 FPS. High yields 59 FPS with no minimum FPS listed, which could dip lower in demanding scenes. Medium provides a more consistent experience.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B570 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score is 20556. It is 0.1% faster than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile and 0.1% slower than the Intel Arc A750. It also sits within 0.5% of the AMD Radeon R9 M390X, which is an older part, showing its mid-range standing.

Q: What does the combo's rank of 2320 out of 2924 indicate?

A: It indicates that this pairing is in the bottom 21% of tested combos for Steamworld Build. This is due to the GPU's performance, not the CPU. The CPU's strong benchmark scores are not fully utilized because the GPU holds back frame rates.