Rust

The Intel Core i5-14400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER delivers a robust but resolution-dependent experience in Rust, with the data showing a clear trajectory from effortless high-refresh 1080p gameplay to a more precarious position at 4K Ultra. This combination, ranking 582nd out of 3,723 tested combos, demonstrates that while it is a top-tier performer, the most demanding settings at the highest resolution will require adjustments to stay fluid.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo is overwhelmingly powerful, never dipping below the triple-digit range regardless of preset. The Low preset produces an average of 219.9 FPS, which is nearly 3.7 times the 60 FPS playable threshold. Moving to Medium yields 170.9 FPS, still a massive margin of headroom. The High preset averages 142.3 FPS, and even the most demanding Ultra setting holds an average of 107.9 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra represents a drop of 112 FPS, indicating that the GPU is the primary limiter for the most extreme frames at this resolution, though even the worst case is far beyond smooth.

Stepping up to 2560x1440, the performance remains excellent but shows the expected cost of additional pixels. The Low preset hits 171.6 FPS, followed by Medium at 117.8 FPS, and High at 97 FPS. The Ultra preset still clears the 60 FPS bar comfortably with an average of 71.5 FPS, retaining a playable margin. The performance delta between Low and Ultra here is 100.1 FPS, slightly smaller in percentage terms than at 1080p, suggesting that both the CPU and GPU are beginning to share the workload more evenly as the resolution climbs.

At 3840x2160, the picture changes significantly. The Low preset produces 100.5 FPS, which is still a strong result. The Medium preset averages 66.7 FPS, just above the playable threshold, while High drops to 56.8 FPS — a clear miss for 60 FPS gameplay. The Ultra preset falls further to 47 FPS, making it the only tested configuration across all resolutions that fails to reach the playable mark. The spread from Low to Ultra at 4K is 53.5 FPS, a much smaller absolute gap than at lower resolutions, which confirms that at 4K, the GPU is operating near its saturation point and the frame rate is heavily constrained by pixel throughput rather than CPU headroom.

CPU and GPU Roles

The data reveals a classic transition in bottleneck behavior across the resolution spectrum. At 1920x1080, the massive frame rates (219.9 FPS on Low) indicate that the Intel Core i5-14400F is feeding the RTX 4070 SUPER with abundant draw calls, but the GPU is still the primary determinant of the final frame rate, as evidenced by the large FPS drop from Low to Ultra (112 FPS). If the CPU were the limit, the frame rates would plateau across presets; instead, they scale consistently with graphical load.

As resolution increases to 2560x1440, the balance shifts. The absolute FPS values drop across all presets (e.g., Low from 219.9 to 171.6), which is a direct consequence of more pixels being rendered. However, the relative scaling between presets remains similar, indicating that the GPU is still the limiting factor, but the CPU's role in maintaining high average frames is becoming more prominent — it must prepare more frames per second than the GPU can render at lower resolutions, but the gap narrows.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is unambiguously the dominant constraint. The frame rates are much lower (e.g., High at 56.8 FPS), and the performance difference between Low and Ultra is compressed to just 53.5 FPS, compared to 112 FPS at 1080p. This compression suggests that the RTX 4070 SUPER is spending nearly all its time on pixel shading and texture fill, leaving the CPU with idle cycles. The i5-14400F’s strong single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3055) ensures it is not the bottleneck here; rather, it is waiting on the GPU to finish each frame. In practical terms, for 4K gaming, the GPU choice is the sole determinant of playability, whereas at 1080p, the CPU’s ability to issue draw calls allows the GPU to reach its full potential.

Best Settings per Resolution

The playable threshold is defined as an average of at least 60 FPS. For 3840x2160, the most demanding preset that achieves this is Medium, which averages 66.7 FPS. The High preset falls to 56.8 FPS, a 3.2 FPS shortfall that would likely be noticeable in fast-paced scenes. The Low preset is also playable at 100.5 FPS, but Medium offers a better visual fidelity while retaining a 6.7 FPS safety margin above the threshold.

At 2560x1440, the best playable setting is Ultra, which averages 71.5 FPS. This is a comfortable margin of 11.5 FPS above the threshold, allowing for minor frame dips without dropping below 60. All presets — Low (171.6 FPS), Medium (117.8 FPS), and High (97 FPS) — are also playable, but Ultra provides the highest image quality without sacrificing smoothness.

For 1920x1080, the best setting is also Ultra, with an average of 107.9 FPS. This leaves a substantial 47.9 FPS of headroom over the threshold, meaning the system can handle even the most demanding visual effects with ease. The High preset (142.3 FPS) and Medium (170.9 FPS) offer even higher frame rates for competitive play, but Ultra is the optimal choice for visual quality while staying well above 60 FPS.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Looking at the CPU’s nearest rivals, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U has an average benchmark score of 32233, which is a 0.1% difference from the i5-14400F’s 32279. This means the Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U would behave nearly identically in CPU-bound scenarios. The Intel Core i9-11900 scores 32226, a 0.2% delta, making it effectively indistinguishable in gaming workloads. On the other side, the AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS scores 32354, which is -0.2% relative to the i5-14400F, again a negligible difference. The Intel Core i7-12800H scores 32121, a 0.5% delta, indicating it would be slightly slower but within a margin that is imperceptible in most games. For Rust, where CPU single-core performance matters for physics and entity updates, any of these rivals would produce frame rates within a few FPS of the i5-14400F.

For the GPU, the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB has an average score of 43262, a -0.1% delta from the RTX 4070 SUPER’s 43223. This suggests the Quadro M6000 24 GB would offer near-identical rasterization performance, though it lacks modern features like DLSS or ray tracing acceleration. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile scores 43268, a -0.1% delta, implying similar raw FPS but with lower power efficiency and likely thermal constraints in a desktop context. The NVIDIA Quadro M6000 (non-24GB version) scores 43301, a -0.2% delta, meaning it would also be a close match. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile scores 43667, a -1% delta, indicating it would be about 1% faster in this game’s GPU-bound scenarios, which translates to roughly 1-2 FPS in the 4K Ultra preset.

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run Rust at 4K with max settings?

A: No. At 3840x2160 with the Ultra preset, the average FPS is 47, which is below the 60 FPS playable threshold. The best playable setting at 4K is Medium, which averages 66.7 FPS.

Q: What is the highest preset that maintains 60 FPS at 1440p?

A: The Ultra preset at 2560x1440 averages 71.5 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold. All lower presets (High, Medium, Low) also exceed 60 FPS, but Ultra is the most demanding that remains playable.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 1440p at High settings?

A: At 1080p High, the average FPS is 142.3. At 1440p High, it drops to 97, a decrease of 45.3 FPS (about 31.8% lower). This shows the significant cost of additional pixels on the GPU.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more important for high FPS at 1080p?

A: The data suggests the GPU is the primary limiter. The FPS drops from 219.9 on Low to 107.9 on Ultra at 1080p, indicating that the GPU’s workload scales with settings. The CPU’s strong single-core score (Cinebench R23 single-core 3055) ensures it can feed the GPU fast enough.

Q: Does the RTX 4070 SUPER have enough VRAM for Rust at 4K Ultra?

A: The GPU has 12 GB of GDDR6X memory, and the measured 47 FPS at 4K Ultra is below the playable threshold. While VRAM capacity is not directly cited as the cause, the low frame rate indicates the GPU is compute-limited rather than memory-limited, so additional VRAM would not improve the FPS in this case.

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

A: It ranks 582nd out of 3,723 combos, placing it in the top 15.6% of all systems tested for Rust. This is a strong showing, but not the absolute top tier.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 582 out of 3,723 tested systems places it in the upper 16% of all combinations. This means it outperforms the vast majority of PCs tested for Rust, but there are still 581 combinations ahead. Given that the RTX 4070 SUPER sits at the 83rd percentile among all GPUs and the i5-14400F is also at the 83rd percentile among CPUs, the rank is consistent with a high-end pairing. However, the rank is lower than the individual component percentiles might suggest, which implies that Rust’s particular engine demands — likely heavy on single-threaded CPU performance and GPU rasterization — are well-served but not perfectly optimized for this hardware. For context, the GPU’s nearest rival, the RTX 4090 Mobile, is only -1% faster on average, but in Rust’s 4K Ultra scenario, that 1% could be the difference between 47 FPS and a hypothetical 47.5 FPS, still below the threshold. The rank indicates that while this is a premium setup, pushing Rust to its absolute limits at 4K will require a more powerful GPU.

The Verdict

This PC can absolutely run Rust. At 1920x1080, it is overkill: even the Ultra preset averages 107.9 FPS, and the Low preset reaches 219.9 FPS. At 2560x1440, it remains fully playable at all settings, with Ultra averaging 71.5 FPS. The only caveat is 3840x2160, where the High preset (56.8 FPS) and Ultra preset (47 FPS) fail to meet the 60 FPS threshold. For 4K, the Medium preset is the recommended ceiling, averaging 66.7 FPS. In summary, the Intel Core i5-14400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER combo provides a fluid experience for 1080p and 1440p gamers with room to spare, and only falls short of the highest fidelity at 4K.