Rust

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for this CPU and GPU combo at 1920x1080?

A: The highest preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, which delivers an average of 67.5 FPS. Lower presets are also playable: High averages 85.6 FPS, Medium averages 102.4 FPS, and Low averages 144.1 FPS.

Q: Can this system run Rust at 2560x1440?

A: Yes, at 2560x1440 the playable settings are Low and Medium. Medium is the best choice, averaging 70.6 FPS. High drops to 56.9 FPS and Ultra falls to 45.4 FPS, both below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: Is 3840x2160 playable with this hardware?

A: No. At 4K, none of the tested presets reach 60 FPS. The closest is Low at 59.4 FPS, just under the threshold. Medium averages 42.6 FPS, High averages 34.4 FPS, and Ultra averages 24.6 FPS.

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

A: This combination ranks 2273 out of 3723 tested combos, placing it in the lower half of the database for this game. The rank reflects the overall measured performance across all resolutions and presets.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking versus all GPUs?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER sits at the 65th percentile among all GPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 20282. This indicates it outperforms a majority of recorded graphics cards.

Q: What is the CPU's percentile ranking versus all CPUs?

A: The Intel Core i5-9400 sits at the 47th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 2254. This places it slightly below the median of all processors in the database.

CPU and GPU Roles

The recorded FPS data for Rust shows a clear pattern: the GPU becomes the dominant factor as resolution increases, while the CPU's contribution is most visible at lower resolutions where frame rates are higher.

At 1920x1080, the difference between Low and Ultra presets is substantial. Low averages 144.1 FPS, while Ultra averages 67.5 FPS. That is a drop of 76.6 FPS, or about 53%, when moving from the least to the most demanding preset. The CPU, with its 6 cores and 6 threads, is capable of feeding the RTX 2070 SUPER at these frame rates. The GPU's raw throughput, 9.062 TFLOPS, is sufficient to handle the load even at Ultra settings, which is why the combo still clears 60 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the GPU begins to show its limits. Low averages 102.2 FPS, Medium averages 70.6 FPS, but High drops to 56.9 FPS and Ultra to 45.4 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra here is steeper in percentage terms than at 1080p. The gap between Low and Ultra is 56.8 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls well below the playable threshold. This indicates that the GPU, with its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 256-bit bus, is the limiting factor at higher settings, not the CPU.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly the bottleneck. Even Low settings only reach 59.4 FPS, just short of the 60 FPS target. Medium drops to 42.6 FPS, High to 34.4 FPS, and Ultra to 24.6 FPS. The CPU's role diminishes further because frame rates are lower, meaning less frequent draw calls and less CPU work per second. The GPU's memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s is insufficient to maintain smooth performance at 4K with this game's demands.

The data shows that the RTX 2070 SUPER is the component that determines playability at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the CPU keeps up easily, and the GPU has enough headroom for Ultra settings. At 1440p, the GPU becomes the limiting factor for High and Ultra. At 4K, the GPU is overwhelmed across all presets. The CPU, with a boost clock of 4.10 GHz and 9 MB of shared L3 cache, is not the primary constraint in any of these scenarios; the GPU's performance ceiling is what gates the frame rate.

How This Combo Ranks

The database ranks this combination at 2273 out of 3723 tested combos for Rust. This places it in the 61st percentile of all recorded systems, meaning roughly 61% of tested combos perform better. The rank is based on measured FPS across all resolutions and presets, weighted toward the playable threshold of 60 FPS.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 20282 puts it at the 65th percentile among all GPUs, which is higher than the combo's overall rank. This suggests that the CPU, at the 47th percentile, drags the system down relative to what the GPU alone could achieve. In other words, pairing the RTX 2070 SUPER with a stronger processor would likely improve the combo's position in the rankings.

The nearest GPU rivals in the database are the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (20480, 1% higher), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (20534, 1.2% higher), the Intel Arc B570 (20556, 1.3% higher), and the Intel Arc A750 (20582, 1.5% higher). These are all within 1.5% of the RTX 2070 SUPER's score, so any of them would behave nearly identically in Rust. The nearest CPU rivals are the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (2259, 0.2% higher), the Intel Core i7-10710U (2248, 0.3% lower), the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (2246, 0.4% lower), and the Intel Core i3-10305 (2264, 0.4% higher). These processors are effectively tied with the i5-9400 in average score.

The combo rank of 2273 out of 3723 indicates a mid-pack result. It is not a top-tier system for Rust, but it is also far from the bottom. The data shows that this configuration is capable of playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p with appropriate settings, which aligns with its percentile positioning.

The Verdict

This PC can run Rust, but the playable range depends heavily on resolution and settings. The verdict from the database is clear: at 1920x1080, all four presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) are playable, with Ultra averaging 67.5 FPS. At 2560x1440, Low and Medium are playable, with Medium averaging 70.6 FPS. At 3840x2160, no preset reaches the 60 FPS threshold; the best is Low at 59.4 FPS, which is just below the mark.

For a 1080p monitor, this combo is fully capable of running Rust at the highest settings. The 67.5 FPS average on Ultra provides a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS target. For a 1440p monitor, Medium is the recommended ceiling, with 70.6 FPS. High and Ultra are not playable at this resolution, as they fall to 56.9 FPS and 45.4 FPS respectively. For a 4K monitor, the system cannot maintain 60 FPS on any preset, so users would need to lower the resolution or accept sub-60 performance.

The data indicates that this is a solid 1080p and entry-level 1440p gaming combo for Rust. It is not suitable for high-refresh-rate 1440p or 4K play. The GPU's 8 GB of memory and the CPU's 6-core configuration are enough for the game's survival mechanics, but the RTX 2070 SUPER's compute throughput is the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080

• Low: average 144.1 FPS
• Medium: average 102.4 FPS
• High: average 85.6 FPS
• Ultra: average 67.5 FPS

All presets at 1080p are above the 60 FPS playable threshold. The scaling from Low to Ultra is consistent, with each step down in settings yielding a noticeable FPS gain. The margin between Low and Ultra is 76.6 FPS, which means users have significant flexibility to trade visual quality for frame rate.

2560x1440

• Low: average 102.2 FPS
• Medium: average 70.6 FPS
• High: average 56.9 FPS
• Ultra: average 45.4 FPS

At 1440p, Low and Medium are playable, while High and Ultra are not. The drop from Medium to High is 13.7 FPS, pushing the system below the threshold. The drop from High to Ultra is 11.5 FPS, further reducing performance. The data shows that the GPU's capabilities are exhausted between Medium and High at this resolution.

3840x2160

• Low: average 59.4 FPS
• Medium: average 42.6 FPS
• High: average 34.4 FPS
• Ultra: average 24.6 FPS

At 4K, no preset reaches 60 FPS. Low is the closest at 59.4 FPS, missing the target by just 0.6 FPS. Medium is 17.4 FPS below the threshold, and the gap widens to 25.4 FPS for High and 35.4 FPS for Ultra. The frame rate drops are roughly proportional to the increase in settings, confirming that the GPU is fully saturated at this resolution.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, with an average of 67.5 FPS. This is the recommended setting for 1080p users who want maximum visual quality while keeping frame rates above the playable threshold.

At 2560x1440, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Medium, with an average of 70.6 FPS. High falls to 56.9 FPS and is not playable, so Medium is the highest viable option.

At 3840x2160, there is no preset that reaches 60 FPS. The best recorded value is Low at 59.4 FPS, which is just below the threshold. The database records no playable settings for this resolution, meaning the system should not be used for 4K Rust play.

These recommendations are based solely on the measured averages. The data does not include minimum or maximum frame times, so the analysis relies on average FPS as the playability metric.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The nearest rivals for the Intel Core i5-9400 are all within 0.4% of its average benchmark score of 2254. The Intel Core i7-1068NG7 scores 2259 (0.2% higher), the Intel Core i7-10710U scores 2248 (0.3% lower), the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 scores 2246 (0.4% lower), and the Intel Core i3-10305 scores 2264 (0.4% higher). In practical terms, any of these CPUs would produce nearly identical frame rates in Rust when paired with the same GPU. The i7-1068NG7 and i3-10305 are marginally faster, while the i7-10710U and Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 are marginally slower, but the differences are within measurement noise.

The nearest rivals for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER are also tightly clustered. The NVIDIA Quadro M4000M scores 20480 (1% higher), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile scores 20534 (1.2% higher), the Intel Arc B570 scores 20556 (1.3% higher), and the Intel Arc A750 scores 20582 (1.5% higher). All of these GPUs are within 1.5% of the RTX 2070 SUPER's average score of 20282. For Rust specifically, swapping the RTX 2070 SUPER for any of these cards would result in nearly identical FPS at each resolution and preset. The RTX 3070 Mobile and Arc A750 are slightly faster on paper, but the delta is small enough that the playable settings at each resolution would remain the same.

When considering a system with the i5-9400 and RTX 2070 SUPER, users could expect similar performance from any of these four CPU alternatives and any of these four GPU alternatives. The combination's rank of 2273 out of 3723 would shift only marginally with these swaps, likely staying within a few dozen positions. The data shows that the i5-9400 and RTX 2070 SUPER sit in a crowded performance band where many parts deliver comparable results.