Steamworld Build

Steamworld Build, a city builder released in late 2023, presents a unique workload that is neither purely GPU-bound nor strictly CPU-limited. The benchmark data for the Intel Core i9-14900K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 reveals a configuration capable of exceptional frame rates, yet the scaling across settings and resolutions indicates a complex balance between the processor's high single-thread performance and the GPU's massive rendering throughput. This analysis examines the measured FPS data to provide guidance on optimal settings, resolution behavior, and component roles.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 4K with Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the combination produces an average of 61.2 FPS. This is the most demanding preset tested, and the only one that falls below the 88.3 FPS average seen at High settings for the same resolution.

Q: How does the i9-14900K's multi-core performance compare to its closest rival?

A: The i9-14900K has an average benchmark score of 79,824. Its closest rival is the AMD EPYC 7413, which scores 80,041, a delta of -0.3%, placing the Intel chip effectively on par with that server processor in synthetic multi-threaded tests.

Q: What is the performance difference between the RTX 5090 and its nearest rival?

A: The RTX 5090's average benchmark score is 84,306. The closest competitor is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D, which scores 84,241, a deltaPct of 0.1%. This indicates the standard RTX 5090 is essentially identical in performance to the "D" variant in this database.

Q: What is the frame rate jump from 1080p High to 1440p High?

A: At 1920x1080 with High settings, the average FPS is 260.4. Moving to 2560x1440 at High settings, the average drops to 167.3 FPS. This represents a significant 35.8% decrease in frame rate when increasing resolution.

Q: Does the GPU's memory bandwidth play a role in this game's performance?

A: The RTX 5090 features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s. Given the game's scaling from 1080p to 4K, this substantial bandwidth is likely sufficient to feed the GPU's rendering cores, as the performance drop is consistent with pixel throughput demands.

Q: What is the Intel Core i9-14900K's percentile ranking among all CPUs?

A: The i9-14900K is in the 97th percentile of all CPUs, indicating it is among the highest-performing processors in the database. Its multi-threaded benchmark scores, such as 49,872 in Cinebench R23, support this high ranking.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy of performance across the four presets. At 4K, the Ultra preset delivers an average of 61.2 FPS, which is playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes common in city builders. The High preset at 4K offers a substantial improvement, with an average of 88.3 FPS, a 44.3% increase over Ultra. This makes High the optimal choice for 4K, as it provides a significantly smoother experience while presumably maintaining high visual fidelity.

For users with 1440p displays, the Medium preset yields an average of 219.4 FPS, which is exceptionally high for this genre. However, the High preset at 167.3 FPS still offers a very fluid experience and is likely the better recommendation for visual quality, as the jump from Medium to High is typically more noticeable than from High to Ultra. At 1080p, even the Ultra preset achieves 176.3 FPS, so users can select the highest settings without concern for performance limitations. The data suggests that the "High" preset offers the best balance of visual quality and frame rate across all resolutions, as it shows a substantial FPS advantage over "Ultra" while remaining well above the refresh rates of most monitors.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a system that is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions, but potentially CPU-limited at 1080p. At High settings, the transition from 1920x1080 (260.4 FPS) to 2560x1440 (167.3 FPS) results in a 35.8% performance drop. Scaling further to 3840x2160 (88.3 FPS) represents another 47.2% drop from the 1440p result. This heavy decline with resolution is classic evidence of GPU limitation; as the pixel count increases, the RTX 5090's rendering workload grows, and the CPU has plenty of headroom to feed it.

However, the 1080p results tell a different story. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 416.4 FPS, which is an extraordinarily high value. The fact that the frame rate at 1080p Low is more than double the 4K High result suggests that at lower resolutions and settings, the game's frame rate is likely constrained by the CPU's single-thread performance. The i9-14900K's boost clock of 6.00 GHz provides excellent performance, but even that has limits. The data indicates that the i9-14900K is the limiting component at 1080p, particularly on Low settings, while the RTX 5090 becomes the limiting factor as resolution and settings increase.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i9-14900K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 2nd out of 1,730 tested combos in Steamworld Build. This places it in the 99.9th percentile of configurations, demonstrating that this pairing is among the absolute best for this game. The only combination ranking higher is not listed, but the data confirms that this setup is near the top of the performance hierarchy.

The high ranking is not surprising given the components' individual standings. The i9-14900K is in the 97th percentile of all CPUs, and the RTX 5090 is in the 94th percentile of all GPUs. When paired, their combined performance for this specific game's workload pushes them to the number 2 spot. This suggests that Steamworld Build is well-optimized to take advantage of both the CPU's high clock speeds and the GPU's raw compute power, resulting in a top-tier experience that only a handful of other configurations can match.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 plays a critical role in this combination, particularly as resolution and settings increase. The GPU's architecture, Blackwell 2.0, is built on a 5 nm process and features 21,760 shading units. These units operate at a boost clock of 2407 MHz, enabling a peak FP32 performance of 104.8 TFLOPS. This raw compute power is what allows the GPU to maintain playable frame rates at 4K Ultra, where it averages 61.2 FPS.

The GPU's memory subsystem is equally impressive. With 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, it achieves a bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s. This is crucial for a city builder where large amounts of texture and geometry data need to be streamed as the city grows. The 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die provide ample resources for the game's rendering demands. The benchmark results show that the RTX 5090 is the primary driver of performance at 4K, as the frame rates drop significantly from 1080p, indicating that the GPU's pixel throughput is the limiting factor. The GPU's high texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s ensure that it can handle the detailed environments and UI elements typical of the genre without becoming a bottleneck until the highest settings are applied.