Steamworld Build

Steamworld Build is a city builder where the pace of simulation and the smoothness of camera movement matter more than raw frame rate extremes. For the Intel Core i7-14700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 combination, the data shows a clear sweet spot. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers 178.1 FPS, while Ultra drops to 123.1 FPS. The jump from High to Ultra costs about 55 FPS, a significant 31% performance hit for visual gains that are often subtle in a genre focused on top-down management. The Medium preset, at 236.7 FPS, is overkill for the genre's typical 60 Hz displays and sacrifices visual fidelity for frames the monitor likely cannot show. At 2560x1440, High produces 115.9 FPS, which is still well above the threshold for a fluid experience, making it the most balanced choice for high-refresh-rate 1440p panels. For 4K, the decision changes; High yields 58.5 FPS, just shy of a locked 60 FPS, while Medium offers 78 FPS. Given the CPU's headroom, the best experience across all resolutions is the High preset, as it provides the optimal balance between visual quality and performance headroom without the steep cost of Ultra.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark results indicate that the High preset is the optimal choice for this hardware pairing. At 1080p, High delivers 178.1 FPS, which is more than sufficient for a city builder and leaves headroom for large, populated cities that can strain the CPU. Moving to Ultra only increases the visual load on the GPU, dropping the frame rate to 123.1 FPS, a reduction of 55 FPS. This difference is significant in percentage terms, but the practical benefit of Ultra settings in a genre where you are often zoomed out is minimal. At 1440p, High maintains 115.9 FPS, which is ideal for a 120 Hz monitor. The Medium preset at 152.4 FPS is viable but does not offer the same level of detail as High. At 4K, the data shows High at 58.5 FPS, which is very close to the 60 FPS target. If you have a 60 Hz 4K display, High is the correct choice. If you prioritize frame rate stability over fidelity, Medium at 78 FPS provides a larger buffer. However, the data suggests that High is the best overall experience, as it is the highest settings tier that maintains a playable frame rate at 4K and excellent performance at lower resolutions. The Ultra preset, with its 37.8 FPS at 4K, is not recommended for this game, as the performance cost is too high for the marginal visual improvement.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is the primary driver of the visual experience in Steamworld Build. Its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory is a key asset for a city builder, as these games often load many textures and assets for buildings and terrain. The memory bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s and the 192-bit bus width provide sufficient throughput for high-resolution textures. The GPU's core configuration, with 5888 shading units and 184 texture mapping units, is well-suited for the draw calls and texture work common in this genre. The boost clock of 2475 MHz ensures that the card can maintain high utilization when the camera is panned over a dense city.

The performance data shows the GPU's scaling under load. At 1080p, the RTX 4070 is likely not the limiting factor, as evidenced by the high frame rates across all settings. However, the drop from 313.3 FPS at Low to 123.1 FPS at Ultra demonstrates the GPU's workload scaling. At 4K, the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck. The frame rate drops from 104.2 FPS at Low to 37.8 FPS at Ultra, a reduction of 66.4 FPS. This indicates that the 4K resolution, especially with higher settings, pushes the pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth to their limits. The data suggests that the RTX 4070 is a capable card for this game at 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K, it requires a compromise on settings, such as using the High preset, to maintain a fluid simulation. The GPU's 81st percentile ranking among all GPUs and its average benchmark score of 37283 position it as a solid mid-to-high-tier performer, but the measured results show that Steamworld Build's Ultra settings at 4K are a heavy workload.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF plays a critical, yet secondary, role in Steamworld Build. As a city builder, the game's simulation logic—tracking resources, workers, and building states—is heavily dependent on the CPU. The processor's 20 cores and 28 threads provide substantial parallel processing power, which is essential for handling the complex simulation of a large city. The high boost clock of 5.60 GHz on its performance cores ensures that single-threaded tasks, such as pathfinding and UI updates, are responsive.

Benchmark results for the CPU show its strength in multi-threaded workloads. A Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44557 and a Passmark multithread score of 52425 indicate that this processor can handle the game's background simulation without becoming a bottleneck. The data supports this, as frame rates at 1080p are exceptionally high (e.g., 313.3 FPS at Low), suggesting the CPU is not limiting the GPU at lower resolutions. However, the CPU's role becomes more apparent when considering the frame rate consistency. While the GPU handles the rendering, the CPU must maintain the game's logic tick. The i7-14700KF, with its 96th percentile ranking among all CPUs, is more than capable of this task.

The CPU's cache hierarchy, with 33 MB of shared L3 cache, helps keep frequently accessed simulation data close to the cores, reducing latency. The data shows that the CPU is not the primary constraint in this game, even at high frame rates. The bottleneck shifts to the GPU at 4K, as evidenced by the significant frame rate drops when increasing settings. The processor's performance is so strong that it allows the GPU to be the sole determinant of visual fidelity, which is the ideal scenario for a balanced system. The i7-14700KF ensures that no matter how complex the city becomes, the simulation will not drag down the frame rate, allowing the RTX 4070 to work at its full potential.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable with this hardware at 1080p?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 313.3 FPS, achieved at the Low preset. This indicates that the CPU and GPU combination is overkill for the game at this resolution and setting.

Q: How does the GPU's performance compare to its nearest rivals in the database?

A: The RTX 4070 has an average benchmark score of 37283. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56, has an average score of 37507, which is 0.6% higher. The NVIDIA GeForce MX570 A scores 38008, which is 1.9% higher. The data shows a very tight grouping among these cards.

Q: Is the Ultra preset playable at 1440p?

A: Yes, the Ultra preset at 2560x1440 yields an average FPS of 74.8. This is a playable frame rate for a city builder, though lower than the High preset's 115.9 FPS.

Q: What is the performance difference between the High and Ultra presets at 4K?

A: The High preset at 3840x2160 produces an average of 58.5 FPS. The Ultra preset at the same resolution produces 37.8 FPS. This represents a difference of 20.7 FPS, or roughly 35% lower performance on Ultra.

Q: Does the CPU have enough processing power for this game's simulation?

A: The data indicates yes. The Core i7-14700KF scores 44557 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 52425 in Passmark multithread. These high scores, combined with its 96th percentile ranking, suggest it has ample headroom for this game's simulation logic.

Q: What is the lowest frame rate recorded for this combination?

A: The lowest average FPS is 37.8, which occurs at the 4K Ultra preset. This is the only preset and resolution combination that falls below 50 FPS.

Resolution Scaling

The performance data reveals a clear pattern in how Steamworld Build scales with resolution. At 1080p, the system is heavily GPU-limited, but the RTX 4070 is so powerful that it still produces very high frame rates. The average FPS at High settings is 178.1. Moving to 1440p, the average FPS at High drops to 115.9, a reduction of 62.2 FPS, or about 35%. This is a significant drop, indicating that the increase in pixel count from 2.07 million to 3.69 million has a substantial impact. The trend continues at 4K, where the same High preset yields 58.5 FPS, a further drop of 57.4 FPS from 1440p.

This scaling pattern points to the GPU as the primary limiting component. The CPU, with its high multi-threaded performance, does not show signs of bottlenecking at these frame rates. If the CPU were the limit, we would expect to see a smaller difference between resolutions, as the CPU workload would remain constant while the GPU workload changes. Instead, the frame rate drops proportionally with the increase in pixel count, which is the classic signature of a GPU-bound scenario. The data shows that the RTX 4070's memory bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s and its compute power are stretched at 4K, especially on higher presets. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 66.4 FPS, while at 1080p, the difference is 190.2 FPS. This compression of the frame rate range at higher resolutions confirms that the GPU is hitting its limits. For the best experience, players should prioritize the High preset, as it offers the best compromise between visual quality and maintaining a playable frame rate across all resolutions, particularly at 4K where the GPU's performance ceiling is reached.