Rust

# Rust Performance Analysis: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER

The data for Rust with the AMD Ryzen 5 2600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER shows a combo ranking 615th out of 1,717 tested combinations. This pairing of a 2018-era six-core processor with a 2024 Ada Lovelace GPU produces a wide spread of frame rates across presets and resolutions, from a playable 45.3 FPS at Ultra 4K to a smooth 133.1 FPS at Low 1080p. The benchmark results reveal a system where the CPU is the primary limiter at lower resolutions, while the GPU's 12 GB of VRAM and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth become increasingly relevant as resolution climbs. The measured data provides a clear picture of how settings and resolution trade off against each other for this specific hardware combination.

Settings Recommendations

For 1080p displays, the Low preset delivers the highest measured average at 133.1 FPS, which is 17% ahead of the High preset's 105.9 FPS and 39% faster than Ultra's 95.9 FPS. However, the Medium preset at 114.2 FPS offers a more balanced experience, sitting 7.8% below Low but providing substantially better visual quality than the minimum settings. High at 105.9 FPS remains fully playable and is only 7.3% slower than Medium, making it a strong candidate for users who prioritize visual fidelity without sacrificing responsiveness.

Moving to 1440p, the Low preset again leads with 116.6 FPS, but the gap narrows considerably. Medium produces 100.7 FPS, which is 13.6% slower than Low, while High trails at 92.1 FPS. The Ultra preset drops to 72.4 FPS, which is still above the 60 FPS threshold but represents a 38% reduction from Low. For 1440p gaming, Medium appears to be the sweet spot, delivering 100.7 FPS while maintaining reasonable graphical detail.

At 4K, the situation changes dramatically. High produces 60.4 FPS, which is exactly at the standard playability baseline, while Medium manages 69.3 FPS. Low jumps to 99.1 FPS, a 64% improvement over High, and Ultra falls to 45.3 FPS, which dips below smooth gameplay expectations. The data indicates that for 4K, Low is the only preset that provides comfortable headroom, while Medium offers a playable alternative at 69.3 FPS. The Ultra preset at 45.3 FPS is best reserved for static scenes or screenshot purposes rather than active gameplay.

GPU Role

The RTX 4070 SUPER carries 12 GB of GDDR6X memory across a 192-bit bus, delivering 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration proves adequate for Rust's demands at all tested resolutions, as evidenced by the fact that even the most demanding 4K Ultra setting maintains 45.3 FPS rather than collapsing due to VRAM exhaustion. The GPU's 56 RT cores and 224 tensor cores are present but largely unused in Rust, which is not a ray-tracing-focused title.

The card's boost clock of 2475 MHz and base clock of 1980 MHz, combined with its 7168 shading units, provide substantial raw compute capability. This is reflected in the PassMark G3D score of 29,995, which places the GPU in the 84th percentile of all GPUs. The nearest rivals in the GPU benchmark database are the NVIDIA RTX A6000 at 42,653 (0.2% higher) and the AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE at 42,723 (0.3% higher), indicating that the 4070 SUPER's average benchmark score of 42,576 is statistically tied with these competitors.

In Rust specifically, the GPU's role becomes more pronounced at higher resolutions and settings. The transition from 1080p Ultra at 95.9 FPS to 4K Ultra at 45.3 FPS represents a 53% drop, which is consistent with the increased pixel count taxing the GPU's fill rate of 198.0 GPixel/s and texture rate of 554.4 GTexel/s. The card's 220 W TDP and dual-slot design suggest it can sustain these workloads without thermal throttling, though the 1x 16-pin power connector requires a compatible power supply.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals where the bottleneck lies. At Low settings, the progression is 133.1 FPS at 1080p, 116.6 FPS at 1440p, and 99.1 FPS at 4K. This represents only a 26% drop from 1080p to 4K, which is remarkably mild and indicates that the CPU is heavily limiting performance at all resolutions when graphical load is minimal. The Ryzen 5 2600, with its 6 cores and 12 threads at 3.90 GHz boost, appears to be the constraining factor in these low-setting scenarios.

At High settings, the scaling is steeper: 105.9 FPS at 1080p, 92.1 FPS at 1440p, and 60.4 FPS at 4K. The 4K result is 43% lower than 1080p, showing that the GPU begins to take on a more significant role as settings increase. The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling: 95.9 FPS at 1080p, 72.4 FPS at 1440p, and 45.3 FPS at 4K — a 53% total reduction. This pattern suggests that at 1080p, even with Ultra settings, the CPU still holds the system back, while at 4K Ultra, the GPU becomes the primary limiter.

The crossover point appears to be around 1440p with High or Ultra settings, where neither component is fully saturated. The data shows that the 4070 SUPER's performance headroom is best utilized at 1440p, where it can deliver 92.1 FPS at High and 72.4 FPS at Ultra, while the CPU still keeps frame pacing consistent. At 4K, the GPU's 12 GB VRAM and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient, but the sheer pixel throughput required by 3840x2160 resolution pushes the card to its limits.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are: Low 133.1, Medium 114.2, High 105.9, and Ultra 95.9. The spread from Low to Ultra is 37.2 FPS, or 28% of the Low value. The step from Low to Medium costs 18.9 FPS (14%), while moving from Medium to High costs only 8.3 FPS (7.3%). The final step to Ultra costs another 10.0 FPS (9.4%). This non-linear scaling suggests that the Medium to High transition offers the smallest performance penalty for the visual upgrade.

At 2560x1440, the values are: Low 116.6, Medium 100.7, High 92.1, and Ultra 72.4. The total spread is 44.2 FPS, representing a 38% drop from Low to Ultra. The step from Medium to High is 8.6 FPS (8.5%), while High to Ultra is a steep 19.7 FPS (21.4%). This indicates that the Ultra preset at 1440p imposes a disproportionately heavy load, likely due to increased draw distances and shadow complexity that tax both the CPU and GPU.

At 3840x2160, the results are: Low 99.1, Medium 69.3, High 60.4, and Ultra 45.3. The spread is 53.8 FPS, or 54% of the Low value. The drop from Low to Medium is 29.8 FPS (30%), which is the largest single-step penalty in the entire dataset. High to Ultra costs 15.1 FPS (25%), showing that the Ultra preset at 4K is particularly punishing. The 4K Medium result of 69.3 FPS is notable as it exceeds the 4K High result by 14.7%, suggesting that Medium provides the best balance of visual quality and performance at this resolution.

The combo's rank of 615 out of 1,717 places it in the upper third of tested configurations. For context, the CPU's average benchmark score of 19,616 is within 1% of the Intel Core i5-1345U (19,691, -0.4%) and the AMD Ryzen 5 7530U (19,508, 0.6%), while the GPU's average score of 42,576 is statistically tied with the NVIDIA RTX A6000 (42,653, -0.2%) and AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE (42,723, -0.3%). These relative positions explain why the combo performs well at 1080p and 1440p but struggles to maintain high frame rates at 4K Ultra.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for 1440p gaming with this hardware?

A: The Medium preset at 1440p delivers 100.7 FPS average, which is 14% higher than High (92.1 FPS) and 39% higher than Ultra (72.4 FPS). Given that Low only reaches 116.6 FPS, Medium offers the best balance between visual fidelity and frame rate for most players.

Q: Is the Ultra preset ever playable at 4K?

A: The 4K Ultra average is 45.3 FPS, which falls below the standard 60 FPS playability threshold. For comparison, 4K Medium achieves 69.3 FPS and 4K High reaches 60.4 FPS. Players seeking 4K should use Medium or High, reserving Ultra for non-action scenarios.

Q: How does the CPU bottleneck manifest in the benchmark results?

A: At Low settings, the frame rate only drops from 133.1 FPS at 1080p to 99.1 FPS at 4K, a 26% reduction despite a 4x increase in pixel count. This shallow scaling indicates the Ryzen 5 2600 limits performance regardless of resolution when graphical load is low.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between High and Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, High averages 105.9 FPS while Ultra averages 95.9 FPS, a difference of 10.0 FPS or 9.4%. This is the smallest relative penalty among all resolutions for the Ultra upgrade, making 1080p Ultra a viable option.

Q: Does the 12 GB VRAM cause any issues at 4K?

A: No. The 4K Ultra preset maintains 45.3 FPS without signs of VRAM exhaustion. The memory bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s over a 192-bit bus is sufficient for Rust's 4K textures, with performance limited by compute rather than memory capacity.

Q: How does this combo compare to the nearest rival configurations?

A: The CPU's average benchmark score of 19,616 is within 0.7% of the Intel Core i7-10700F (19,485) and 0.6% of the AMD Ryzen 5 7530U (19,508). The GPU's score of 42,576 is within 0.3% of the AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE (42,723) and 1.6% of the AMD Radeon Pro 580X (41,991), indicating closely matched overall system performance.