Rust

The Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER delivers a playable Rust experience at 1080p and 1440p, but it falls short of the 60 FPS threshold at 4K. At 1920x1080, this combo handles the Ultra preset at 60.8 FPS average, making it fully capable of maxing out the game’s visual settings. At 2560x1440, the Medium preset is the highest playable option, achieving 65.2 FPS average. The data shows a clear performance ceiling at 3840x2160, where even the Low preset only reaches 56.5 FPS average, leaving no playable settings at that resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The recorded measurements cover three resolutions and four quality presets, providing a complete picture of how this hardware handles Rust.

1920x1080 (1080p)

• Low: 135.6 FPS average
• Medium: 90.5 FPS average
• High: 76.8 FPS average
• Ultra: 60.8 FPS average

At 1080p, the performance spread is substantial. The Low preset delivers 135.6 FPS average, which is more than double the Ultra preset’s 60.8 FPS average. The step from Low to Medium costs 45.1 FPS, while the step from Medium to High costs 13.7 FPS. The final step to Ultra costs another 16.0 FPS, showing that the Ultra preset is the most demanding relative to High.

2560x1440 (1440p)

• Low: 93.7 FPS average
• Medium: 65.2 FPS average
• High: 51.6 FPS average
• Ultra: 41.9 FPS average

Moving to 1440p, the performance drops are consistent across all presets. The Low preset still provides a comfortable 93.7 FPS average, but the Medium preset falls to 65.2 FPS average, which remains above the playable threshold. The High preset drops below 60 FPS at 51.6 FPS average, and Ultra falls further to 41.9 FPS average. The scaling from Low to Ultra shows a 51.8 FPS difference, indicating that the GPU is becoming the limiting factor at this resolution.

3840x2160 (4K)

• Low: 56.5 FPS average
• Medium: 40.3 FPS average
• High: 30.9 FPS average
• Ultra: 24.7 FPS average

At 4K, no preset reaches the 60 FPS playable threshold. The Low preset comes closest at 56.5 FPS average, which is 3.5 FPS short of playable. The Medium preset drops to 40.3 FPS average, High falls to 30.9 FPS average, and Ultra bottoms out at 24.7 FPS average. This resolution clearly exceeds what this combination can handle, with even the lowest settings failing to maintain smooth gameplay.

Best Settings per Resolution

The database identifies the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS average for each resolution.

1920x1080: The best playable setting is Ultra, achieving 60.8 FPS average. This means the full visual experience is available at 1080p, with all four presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) meeting the playable threshold. The Ultra preset at 60.8 FPS average is just 0.8 FPS above the threshold, so there is minimal headroom, but it is technically playable.

2560x1440: The best playable setting is Medium, achieving 65.2 FPS average. The playable settings at this resolution are Low and Medium. High and Ultra both fall below 60 FPS average, at 51.6 FPS and 41.9 FPS respectively. The Medium preset provides 5.2 FPS of headroom over the threshold, making it a stable choice for 1440p gameplay.

3840x2160: There are no playable settings at this resolution. The closest option is Low at 56.5 FPS average, which is 3.5 FPS below the playable threshold. Users targeting 4K would need to accept sub-60 FPS performance or consider different hardware.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark data reveals how the balance between CPU and GPU shifts across resolutions and presets.

At 1080p, the CPU plays a more significant role in determining performance. The Intel Core i5-10400F, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, provides enough processing power to keep the GPU fed at lower resolutions. The evidence for this is the large performance gap between presets: from Low at 135.6 FPS average to Ultra at 60.8 FPS average, a 74.8 FPS difference. This wide spread indicates that the GPU workload scales heavily with visual quality, while the CPU can maintain higher frame rates when the GPU is not bottlenecked.

At 1440p, the GPU begins to take on a more dominant role. The performance drop from 1080p is consistent across all presets, but the relative differences between presets remain similar. The Low preset drops from 135.6 FPS to 93.7 FPS, a 31% reduction, while the Ultra preset drops from 60.8 FPS to 41.9 FPS, a 31% reduction as well. This proportional scaling suggests that the GPU is now the primary constraint, as the additional pixel count impacts all settings equally.

At 4K, the GPU is clearly the limiting factor. The performance falls dramatically across all presets, with the Low preset at 56.5 FPS average being the only option close to playable. The scaling from 1440p to 4K shows a 40% reduction in FPS for the Low preset (93.7 to 56.5 FPS) and a 41% reduction for the Ultra preset (41.9 to 24.7 FPS). This consistent percentage drop indicates that the RTX 2060 SUPER’s 8 GB GDDR6 memory and 256-bit bus are overwhelmed by the 4K pixel count, regardless of quality settings.

The CPU’s synthetic benchmarks support this interpretation. The i5-10400F scores 10,283 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 1,451 in single-core, placing it in the 68th percentile of all CPUs. These scores suggest the processor is capable of handling Rust’s simulation and physics workloads, but the GPU becomes the bottleneck at higher resolutions.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The nearest rivals for the CPU and GPU provide context for what other hardware would behave similarly in this game.

CPU Rivals: The Intel Core i5-10400F has an average benchmark score of 14,185, with the closest alternatives being:

• Intel Xeon 6756E: 14,163 average score (0.2% slower)
• Intel Core 7 160UL: 14,232 average score (0.3% faster)
• AMD EPYC 7552: 14,115 average score (0.5% slower)
• AMD Ryzen 3 7320C: 14,277 average score (0.6% faster)

These alternatives are within 0.6% of the i5-10400F’s performance, meaning they would produce nearly identical frame rates in Rust. The AMD Ryzen 3 7320C is the closest rival in terms of score, but its different core configuration could affect gaming workloads differently. The Intel Xeon 6756E and AMD EPYC 7552 are server-class chips that may have different power characteristics but similar compute performance.

GPU Rivals: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 18,093, with the closest alternatives being:

• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile: 18,159 average score (0.4% faster)
• AMD Radeon Pro 5700: 18,189 average score (0.5% faster)
• AMD Radeon RX 460: 18,373 average score (1.5% faster)
• Intel Arc A770M: 18,383 average score (1.6% faster)

These GPU alternatives are within 1.6% of the RTX 2060 SUPER, so they would deliver nearly identical FPS in Rust. The RTX 3060 Mobile is the closest desktop-equivalent rival, while the Intel Arc A770M is the most distant at 1.6% faster. The AMD Radeon RX 460 is an older architecture, but its benchmark score places it in the same performance tier.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-10400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER combination ranks 2,702 out of 3,723 tested combos in the database for Rust. This places it in the lower-middle portion of all tested configurations, specifically at the 72.6th percentile from the bottom (or 27.4th percentile from the top).

This ranking reflects the hardware’s age and position in the market. The i5-10400F is a 10th-generation Core processor from 2020, and the RTX 2060 SUPER is a Turing-era GPU from 2019. While both components were solid mid-range options at launch, newer hardware has pushed this combo down the rankings. The 4K performance gap is the primary reason for the lower ranking, as many newer combos can handle 4K at playable frame rates.

At 1080p, this combo performs well relative to its ranking, with the Ultra preset hitting 60.8 FPS average. At 1440p, the Medium preset at 65.2 FPS average is also respectable. The ranking is dragged down by the 4K results, where no preset reaches the playable threshold.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Rust at 1080p with maximum settings?

A: Yes. At 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, the combo achieves 60.8 FPS average, which is above the 60 FPS playable threshold. All four presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) at 1080p are playable.

Q: What is the highest playable setting at 1440p?

A: The Medium preset is the highest playable setting at 2560x1440, achieving 65.2 FPS average. The High preset drops to 51.6 FPS average, which is below the playable threshold.

Q: Is 4K playable with this hardware?

A: No. At 3840x2160, the Low preset achieves 56.5 FPS average, which is 3.5 FPS below the 60 FPS threshold. The Medium preset drops to 40.3 FPS average, and Ultra falls to 24.7 FPS average.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: It ranks 2,702 out of 3,723 tested combos in the database for Rust. This places it in the lower-middle portion of all configurations.

Q: Which is the limiting factor at 4K, the CPU or GPU?

A: The GPU is the limiting factor at 4K. The performance drops consistently by roughly 40% from 1440p to 4K across all presets, indicating the RTX 2060 SUPER’s memory bandwidth and processing power are insufficient for that resolution.

Q: What GPU would perform similarly to the RTX 2060 SUPER?

A: The closest GPU rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile (0.4% faster), AMD Radeon Pro 5700 (0.5% faster), AMD Radeon RX 460 (1.5% faster), and Intel Arc A770M (1.6% faster). These would produce nearly identical frame rates in Rust.