Steamworld Build

# Steamworld Build with Intel Core Ultra 7 265 + Intel Arc B370

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 paired with the Intel Arc B370 integrated graphics produces a highly constrained gaming experience in Steamworld Build, a city builder that leans heavily on CPU simulation but still demands functional GPU throughput. The data shows this combo ranks 2683 out of 2924 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 9th percentile of all system configurations. This is a system that can run the game at playable framerates only at lower resolutions and settings, with the integrated Arc B370 acting as the primary bottleneck across all tested scenarios.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo capable of running Steamworld Build at 4K resolution?

A: At 4K, the system achieves playable results only on Low settings, with an average of 32 FPS. Medium settings drop to 25 FPS, High falls to 18 FPS, and Ultra becomes effectively unplayable at 12 FPS. The 4K Medium row shows a minimum of 21 FPS and maximum of 28 FPS, indicating notable frame pacing instability.

Q: How does the CPU's processing power compare to its closest rivals?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 has an average benchmark score of 64,640, sitting within 0.7% of the AMD EPYC 7343 (64,202) and within 0.3% of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265F (64,438). It trails the AMD EPYC 9124 (65,104) by 0.7% and slightly leads the AMD EPYC 4464P (64,823) by 0.3%.

Q: What is the performance gap between this GPU and its nearest competitors?

A: The Intel Arc B370's average benchmark score of 1,184 places it within 0.2% of the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1,186) and within 0.5% of the ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1,190). It leads the AMD FirePro M2000 (1,168) by 1.4% but trails the AMD Radeon HD 7650M (1,192) by 0.7%.

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this hardware?

A: The 1080p Low preset delivers the highest average framerate at 95 FPS, while 1080p Medium provides 73 FPS with a recorded minimum of 62 FPS. For a balance of visual quality and responsiveness, 1440p Low at 61 FPS is the only higher-resolution option that maintains a stable playable experience.

Q: How does the system scale when moving from 1080p to 1440p and 4K?

A: At High settings, dropping from 1080p to 1440p reduces average FPS from 55 to 35, a 36% decrease. Moving from 1440p High to 4K High further drops to 18 FPS, a 49% decrease. The scaling pattern at Medium settings shows 73 to 46 to 25 FPS across the three resolutions, indicating diminishing returns as resolution increases.

Q: Does the CPU's multi-threaded performance compensate for the GPU's weaknesses?

A: The CPU scores 42,216 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 5,960 in single-core, placing it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs. However, the GPU sits in the 5th percentile of all GPUs, and the measured game results show that this strong CPU cannot overcome the GPU's fundamental throughput limitations in Steamworld Build.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370 is an integrated graphics solution based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, built on Intel's 3 nm process with a Panther Lake chip design. Its clock speeds range from a 300 MHz base to a 2,400 MHz boost, with system-shared memory meaning bandwidth is entirely dependent on the host platform's DDR5 configuration. The GPU provides 1,280 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, 20 raster output units, and 10 ray tracing cores, with a peak FP32 throughput of 6.144 TFLOPS and a pixel rate of 48.00 GPixel/s.

In Steamworld Build, the GPU's role is surprisingly modest given the game's city-builder genre, yet the measured results reveal that this integrated solution becomes the limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 95 FPS, suggesting the CPU is doing most of the heavy lifting for game logic and simulation. However, as resolution increases, the GPU's limited fill rate and memory bandwidth quickly become apparent. The 20 ROPs and 96.00 GTexel/s texture rate are simply insufficient for higher pixel counts, causing framerates to crater at 4K resolutions.

The Arc B370's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1,184 places it in the 5th percentile of all GPUs, which aligns with its positioning near decade-old discrete parts like the ATI Radeon HD 5770. The system-shared memory architecture means the GPU draws from the same DDR5 pool as the CPU, and the 102.4 GB/s memory bandwidth of the Core Ultra 7 265's dual-channel configuration is split between both workloads. This shared-resource design explains why the game's performance degrades so sharply at higher resolutions — the GPU cannot access dedicated high-bandwidth VRAM, so every frame requires competing with CPU operations for memory access.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and Intel Arc B370 ranks 2683 out of 2924 tested combos in Steamworld Build, placing it in the bottom 8.2% of all configurations. This low ranking is almost entirely attributable to the GPU, which sits in the 5th percentile of all graphics processors. The CPU, by contrast, ranks in the 93rd percentile of all processors, creating one of the most extreme CPU-GPU performance imbalances in the database.

The data suggests that this combo is fundamentally mismatched for gaming workloads. While the Core Ultra 7 265's 20 cores and 20 threads provide ample simulation headroom for city-building mechanics, the Arc B370's integrated nature caps the system's graphical output at levels comparable to GPUs from over a decade ago. The nearest GPU rivals — the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570, ATI Radeon HD 5770, and AMD Radeon HD 7650M — all belong to an era before modern game engines expected dedicated graphics memory, and Steamworld Build's measured results reflect this hardware generation gap.

At the CPU level, the Core Ultra 7 265's nearest rivals are all server-class EPYC processors plus its own 265F variant, with deltas under 1% across the board. This indicates that the CPU is not the factor limiting performance in this pairing. If the same CPU were paired with a more capable discrete GPU, the combo's ranking would likely improve dramatically, as the CPU has demonstrated strong multi-threaded and single-threaded scores (42,216 and 5,960 in Cinebench R23, respectively) that far exceed what this game requires.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its only consistently playable results. Low settings produce an average of 95 FPS, which represents the best-case scenario for this hardware. Medium settings yield 73 FPS average with a minimum of 62 FPS and maximum of 84 FPS, providing a smooth experience with some headroom for simulation-heavy moments. High settings drop to 55 FPS average, which remains playable but begins to show the GPU's limitations. Ultra settings fall to 37 FPS, which is marginal for a city builder where camera panning and zooming need responsive framerates.

At 2560x1440, performance degrades noticeably across all presets. Low settings still manage 61 FPS, which is acceptable for gameplay. Medium settings drop to 46 FPS with a minimum of 39 FPS and maximum of 53 FPS, creating occasional stutter during busy city scenes. High settings fall to 35 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 23 FPS — both of which are below the threshold for smooth interaction in a simulation-heavy genre.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles across the board. Low settings achieve 32 FPS, which is technically playable but far from smooth. Medium settings average 25 FPS with a minimum of 21 FPS and maximum of 28 FPS, making the experience feel consistently sluggish. High settings drop to 18 FPS, and Ultra becomes nearly unplayable at 12 FPS. None of the 4K presets provide a framerate that could be recommended for extended play sessions.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling behavior reveals a system that is heavily GPU-limited at higher pixel counts. From 1080p High to 1440p High, the average framerate drops from 55 to 35 FPS, a 36% reduction. From 1440p High to 4K High, the drop is from 35 to 18 FPS, a 49% reduction. The Medium preset follows a similar pattern: 73 to 46 to 25 FPS across the three resolutions, representing a 37% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 46% drop from 1440p to 4K.

These scaling factors are steeper than what would be expected if the CPU were the limiting component. A CPU-bound scenario would show relatively flat performance across resolutions, since the simulation workload stays constant regardless of pixel count. Instead, the framerate nearly halves with each resolution step, which is the signature of a GPU that cannot keep up with increasing pixel fill requirements. The 4K Low preset at 32 FPS versus 1080p Low at 95 FPS represents a 66% reduction, demonstrating that even the lowest graphical settings cannot compensate for the raw pixel count at 4K.

The shared memory architecture compounds this issue. With system-shared VRAM, the GPU's memory bandwidth is dependent on the host CPU's dual-channel DDR5 configuration, which provides 102.4 GB/s. At higher resolutions, the GPU needs to access more texture and frame buffer data, but it must compete with CPU operations for the same memory bus. This creates a bottleneck that does not exist with discrete GPUs that have dedicated VRAM, explaining why the scaling curve is so aggressive at 4K.

Settings Recommendations

For this hardware combination, the 1080p Medium preset offers the best overall experience. The 73 FPS average with a 62 FPS minimum ensures that even during the busiest city simulation moments, the game remains responsive. The jump from Low to Medium provides meaningful visual improvements in texture quality and shadow detail without the steep performance penalty seen at High or Ultra settings. The 62 FPS minimum recorded in the Medium row indicates that frame pacing remains stable, avoiding the dips below 60 FPS that would be noticeable during camera movement.

If visual fidelity is a priority over raw framerate, 1440p Low at 61 FPS is a viable alternative. The higher resolution provides sharper UI elements and better text readability, which is valuable in a city builder where players frequently read tooltips and management panels. However, the 1080p Medium preset will look better overall due to higher quality textures and effects, even at a lower resolution.

Players seeking the smoothest possible experience should use 1080p Low at 95 FPS. This preset is useful for late-game scenarios with massive cities where simulation load increases significantly, as the extra headroom can absorb performance hits from population growth and complex pathfinding. The High preset at 1080p (55 FPS) is acceptable for players who cannot tolerate Medium's visual compromises, but it does not offer enough framerate margin for comfortable long sessions. Ultra settings should be avoided entirely — the 37 FPS at 1080p and 23 FPS at 1440p are below the playability threshold for a genre that requires constant camera interaction.