Rust

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9060 delivers a playable Rust experience across most common resolutions, but the data shows clear limits at 4K. The measured frame rates from the FACT PACK indicate that this combo is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, with 4K requiring significant setting compromises to stay above the 60 FPS threshold. The benchmark results are measured, not estimated, and the playable threshold is defined as 60 FPS in the data.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, the only settings preset that maintains an average of 60 FPS or higher is Low, which achieves an average of 62 FPS. The High preset drops to 35 FPS average, Medium to 41 FPS, and Ultra to 27 FPS. This means that at 4K resolution, users must accept the lowest visual quality preset to keep the game fluid, and even then, the margin above 60 FPS is only 2 frames.

At 2560x1440, the situation improves markedly. The Medium preset achieves an average of 70 FPS, which is the best playable option at this resolution. The Low preset runs at 104 FPS average, but Medium is the highest quality setting that stays above the 60 FPS threshold. High falls just short at 59 FPS average, while Ultra drops to 45 FPS. The Medium preset also shows a minimum of 59 FPS and a maximum of 80 FPS in the measured data.

At 1920x1080, all four settings presets are playable. The Ultra preset delivers an average of 65 FPS, making it the best settings choice at this resolution. High runs at 86 FPS average, Medium at 102 FPS, and Low at 151 FPS. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 86 FPS and a maximum of 117 FPS. Since Ultra clears the 60 FPS bar, it is the recommended preset for 1080p gaming with this hardware combination.

CPU and GPU Roles

The scaling between resolutions and presets reveals how the workload shifts between the Ryzen 5 8400F and the Radeon RX 9060. The 8400F has a 6-core, 12-thread design based on Zen 4 architecture, with a boost clock of 4.70 GHz and a 16 MB shared L3 cache. The RX 9060 uses the Navi 44 chip with RDNA 4.0 architecture, 1792 shading units, and 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus.

At 1920x1080, the combination of Low settings producing 151 FPS average while Ultra produces 65 FPS suggests that the GPU is the primary limiter when raising quality. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 86 FPS, which is a substantial range. The Ryzen 5 8400F's single-thread performance, shown by a 3DMark single-thread score of 951 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2943, appears sufficient to feed the GPU even at lower settings where frame rates are highest.

Moving to 2560x1440, the pattern continues with Low at 104 FPS and Ultra at 45 FPS. The Medium preset at 70 FPS average with a 59 FPS minimum indicates that this resolution is more demanding on the GPU, but the CPU still keeps pace. The 1440p Medium result of 70 FPS is closer to the 1080p High result of 86 FPS than to the 1080p Medium result of 102 FPS, showing the expected resolution scaling penalty.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the dominant constraint. The Low preset at 62 FPS average is the only playable option, and the drop from 1440p Low (104 FPS) to 4K Low (62 FPS) represents a 40% reduction in frame rate. The High preset at 4K produces only 35 FPS, which is less than half of the 1440p High result of 59 FPS. The RX 9060's 288.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 21.43 TFLOPS FP32 performance are simply not enough for 4K at higher quality settings in Rust.

The data shows that at 1080p, the CPU and GPU are reasonably balanced, with the CPU able to push high frame rates at Low settings. At 1440p, the GPU workload increases but the combo still performs well. At 4K, the GPU is clearly the bottleneck, and the CPU's capabilities are underutilized.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured results show a clear progression. Low settings produce an average of 151 FPS. Medium settings average 102 FPS, with a minimum of 86 FPS and a maximum of 117 FPS. High settings average 86 FPS. Ultra settings average 65 FPS. All presets at this resolution remain above the 60 FPS playable threshold, with even the most demanding preset maintaining a 5 FPS margin.

At 2560x1440, the results step down. Low settings average 104 FPS. Medium settings average 70 FPS, with a minimum of 59 FPS and a maximum of 80 FPS. High settings average 59 FPS, which is just 1 FPS below the playable threshold. Ultra settings average 45 FPS. The Medium preset is the best playable option, and its minimum of 59 FPS indicates that frame pacing is tight but acceptable.

At 3840x2160, the results show a significant drop. Low settings average 62 FPS, which barely clears the 60 FPS threshold. Medium settings average 41 FPS, with a minimum of 35 FPS and a maximum of 47 FPS. High settings average 35 FPS. Ultra settings average 27 FPS. Only the Low preset is playable at 4K, and the margin is minimal.

The data shows that the RX 9060's performance degrades predictably as resolution increases. The 1080p Medium result of 102 FPS drops to 70 FPS at 1440p, a 31% reduction. The 1440p Medium result of 70 FPS drops to 41 FPS at 4K, a 41% reduction. This scaling is consistent with a GPU that has 8 GB of memory and a 128-bit bus, where bandwidth becomes a limiting factor at higher resolutions.

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run Rust at 60 FPS on Ultra settings at any resolution?

A: Yes, only at 1920x1080. The Ultra preset at 1080p averages 65 FPS. At 2560x1440, Ultra averages 45 FPS, and at 3840x2160, Ultra averages 27 FPS.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 2560x1440?

A: Medium is the best playable preset at 1440p, with an average of 70 FPS. The High preset falls short at 59 FPS average, which is below the 60 FPS playable threshold.

Q: How does the RX 9060 compare to the RTX 3060 Ti in benchmark scores?

A: The RX 9060 has an average benchmark score of 16014, while the RTX 3060 Ti scores 16129. The delta is -0.7%, meaning the RTX 3060 Ti is slightly ahead in average benchmark performance.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 8400F a bottleneck for this GPU in Rust?

A: The data does not indicate a CPU bottleneck at any resolution. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 151 FPS, and at 4K Low, it reaches 62 FPS. The frame rate scaling between presets and resolutions suggests the GPU is the limiting factor, especially at higher resolutions.

Q: What minimum FPS can be expected at 1080p Medium settings?

A: The measured minimum at 1080p Medium is 86 FPS, with an average of 102 FPS and a maximum of 117 FPS. This preset never drops below the playable threshold.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested hardware combinations for Rust?

A: The combo ranks 2190 out of 3723 tested combinations, placing it in the lower half of all tested hardware. The CPU ranks in the 77th percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU ranks in the 59th percentile among all GPUs.

Similar Performance Alternatives

For the AMD Ryzen 5 8400F, the nearest rival is the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F, with an average benchmark score of 24964 compared to the 8400F's 25005. The delta is 0.2%, meaning the 8400F is marginally ahead. The Intel Core i7-11850H scores 24935, a 0.3% delta, and the Intel Core i7-13620H scores 24911, a 0.4% delta. The AMD EPYC 9474F scores 25103, a -0.4% delta, meaning it is slightly ahead of the 8400F. Any of these CPUs would behave similarly in Rust, with performance differences of less than half a percent.

For the AMD Radeon RX 9060, the nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, with an average score of 16129 compared to the RX 9060's 16014. The delta is -0.7%, meaning the RTX 3060 Ti is slightly ahead. The AMD Radeon R9 370X scores 15862, a 1% delta, and the AMD Radeon RX 7700 scores 15852, also a 1% delta. The AMD Radeon Pro W5500 scores 15679, a 2.1% delta. The RX 9060 is within 2.1% of all these rivals, so users with any of these GPUs would see nearly identical frame rates in Rust. The RTX 3060 Ti would be the closest match, with the RX 7700 also being a very similar performer.

The combination of the Ryzen 5 8400F with any of these rival GPUs would produce similar results to the RX 9060 pairing. Similarly, the RX 9060 paired with any of the rival CPUs would perform nearly the same as with the 8400F. The benchmark deltas are all within 2.1%, which is within the margin of run-to-run variation for most games.

The Verdict

The verdict by resolution is clear from the measured data. At 3840x2160, only the Low preset is playable, with an average of 62 FPS. This is the best settings option at 4K, but the margin above the 60 FPS threshold is only 2 frames, so frame drops below 60 FPS are possible. The data does not include a minimum FPS value for the 4K Low preset, only the average.

At 2560x1440, the playable settings are Low and Medium. The best settings option is Medium, with an average of 70 FPS. This provides a 10 FPS margin above the playable threshold. The Medium preset has a measured minimum of 59 FPS, which is just below 60 FPS, so occasional dips below the threshold are possible, but the average is solid.

At 1920x1080, all four settings presets are playable. The best settings option is Ultra, with an average of 65 FPS. This provides a 5 FPS margin above the threshold. The High preset at 86 FPS, Medium at 102 FPS, and Low at 151 FPS all offer substantial margins. The 1080p Ultra preset is the recommended configuration for this combo.

This PC can run Rust, but the experience depends heavily on the chosen resolution. For 1080p gaming, the combo handles maximum settings. For 1440p, Medium settings are the ceiling. For 4K, only Low settings are viable, and even then, the performance is marginal. The data indicates that this is a capable 1080p gaming system for Rust, a decent 1440p system, and a limited 4K system.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 2190 out of 3723 tested combinations for Rust. This places it in the 41st percentile of all tested hardware, meaning about 59% of tested combos perform better. The Ryzen 5 8400F itself ranks in the 77th percentile among all CPUs, which is strong. The Radeon RX 9060 ranks in the 59th percentile among all GPUs, which is also above average.

The discrepancy between the CPU and GPU percentile rankings explains the overall combo rank. The CPU is a strong performer, but the GPU is more modest, and Rust appears to be GPU-limited at higher resolutions. The 1080p results, where the combo reaches 151 FPS at Low settings, show that the CPU is capable of driving high frame rates. The 4K results, where the combo struggles to reach 62 FPS at Low settings, show that the GPU is the limiting factor.

The rank of 2190 out of 3723 is consistent with a mid-range GPU paired with a strong CPU. Combos with similar GPUs but weaker CPUs would likely rank similarly, while combos with stronger GPUs would rank higher. The benchmark data shows that this is a balanced pairing for 1080p gaming, with the CPU having headroom for future GPU upgrades. The percentile data for the individual components indicates that the CPU is not the weak link in this system.