Rust

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER combination delivers a highly playable Rust experience at 1080p, but struggles to maintain smooth frame rates at higher resolutions. Benchmark data shows this pairing ranks 1504th out of 1717 tested combos, placing it in the lower half of the database. The CPU, a 6-core, 12-thread Zen 2 part with a 3.60 GHz base and 4.20 GHz boost clock, pairs with a GPU that has 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus. The measured results reveal a system that is capable at 1080p but quickly becomes GPU-limited as resolution increases.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Rust?

A: The data shows 1920x1080 is the only resolution where the combo consistently exceeds 60 FPS, with an average of 105.6 FPS at Low settings and 60.2 FPS at High settings. At 2560x1440, the average drops to 71.3 FPS at Low and 40.7 FPS at High, while 3840x2160 only reaches 44.6 FPS at Low.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Ryzen 5 3600 has an average benchmark score of 18129, which places it within 0.3% of the Intel Core i5-11400 (18150) and the AMD Ryzen 5 1600 (18158). It is slightly ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS (18101) by 0.2%.

Q: What is the GPU's performance percentile?

A: The GTX 1660 SUPER sits at the 55th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 14286. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX Vega 11, scores 14314, a difference of -0.2%.

Q: Does the Ultra preset provide higher frame rates than High?

A: No. The data shows Ultra settings produce the lowest average FPS at every resolution. At 1920x1080, Ultra averages 48.7 FPS compared to 60.2 FPS on High, and at 2560x1440, Ultra drops to 30.9 FPS versus 40.7 FPS on High.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU the limiting factor at 4K?

A: The sharp drop in performance from 1080p to 4K indicates the GPU is the primary bottleneck. At 3840x2160, even Low settings only yield 44.6 FPS, while the CPU's 12 threads are sufficient for lower resolution workloads.

Q: What is the launch MSRP for the CPU and GPU?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 had a launch MSRP of $199, and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER had a launch MSRP of 229 USD.

GPU Role

The GTX 1660 SUPER is the central component in this combo's Rust performance, and its specifications directly explain the observed frame rates. The GPU operates with a base clock of 1530 MHz and a boost clock of 1785 MHz, which are modest figures by modern standards. More critical is the 6 GB of GDDR6 memory running at 1750 MHz with an effective data rate of 14 Gbps. This memory configuration provides a bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s across a 192-bit bus, which is sufficient for 1080p gaming but becomes a limiting factor at higher resolutions where texture data demands more bandwidth.

The GPU's compute capabilities, measured at 5.027 TFLOPS for FP32 and 10.05 TFLOPS for FP16, are reflected in its benchmark scores. The PassMark G3D score of 12699 and the Geekbench OpenCL score of 62664 indicate a mid-range part that is 0.2% behind the AMD Radeon RX Vega 11 (14314) and 0.7% behind the AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (14389). In Rust, this translates to a GPU that can handle the game's physics and rendering at 1080p, but the 4K results show it running out of headroom.

The relationship between VRAM and settings is evident in the measured data. At 1920x1080, the 6 GB frame buffer is adequate, allowing the GPU to push 60.2 FPS at High settings. However, at 2560x1440, the same settings produce only 40.7 FPS, and at 3840x2160, High settings fall to 21.5 FPS. This pattern suggests the GPU's memory bandwidth and capacity are stretched as pixel count increases, making it the dominant constraint in this pairing.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear scaling pattern that identifies the bottleneck. From 1920x1080 to 2560x1440, the average FPS at High settings drops from 60.2 to 40.7, a reduction of roughly one-third. Moving to 3840x2160, the High preset averages just 21.5 FPS, which is less than half of the 1440p result. This non-linear decline is characteristic of a GPU-limited scenario, where the rendering load grows faster than the hardware can compensate.

The Low settings provide the clearest view of this scaling. At 1920x1080, the combo achieves 105.6 FPS, which drops to 71.3 FPS at 2560x1440 and then to 44.6 FPS at 3840x2160. The consistent degradation across all settings indicates that the GPU's raw throughput and memory bandwidth are the limiting factors, not the CPU. The Ryzen 5 3600, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, does not appear to be the constraint at lower resolutions, as the frame rates scale inversely with pixel load.

This behavior is typical of a system where the GPU is maxed out before the CPU. The 1650 SUPER's 1408 shading units and 48 ROPs are simply insufficient for the pixel fill requirements of 4K gaming. The data shows that users seeking higher resolutions would need to reduce settings or lower the resolution, as the scaling pattern suggests diminishing returns from CPU overclocking or core allocation.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo demonstrates its best performance across all settings. Low settings deliver an average of 105.6 FPS, which is well above the threshold for smooth gameplay. Medium settings average 72.2 FPS, and High settings average 60.2 FPS, both of which are playable. Ultra settings, however, drop to 48.7 FPS, indicating that the most demanding preset pushes the GPU to its limits even at 1080p.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates show a significant decline. Low settings average 71.3 FPS, which remains playable, but Medium drops to 50.2 FPS and High to 40.7 FPS. Ultra settings average just 30.9 FPS, which is below the 30 FPS target for playability but still represents a playable experience for some users. The gap between Low and Ultra is 40.4 FPS, highlighting the GPU's sensitivity to graphical fidelity.

At 3840x2160, the combo struggles to maintain playable frame rates. Low settings average 44.6 FPS, which is acceptable for slower gameplay, but Medium drops to 28.6 FPS and High to 21.5 FPS. Ultra settings average 21.9 FPS, which is effectively unplayable for most users. The data shows that 4K gaming is not viable with this hardware, as even the lowest settings cannot consistently hit 60 FPS.

The pattern across resolutions reveals that the GTX 1660 SUPER is the primary driver of performance. At 1080p, the CPU has enough headroom to allow the GPU to reach 105.6 FPS at Low settings, but the GPU's limitations become apparent as resolution increases. The Ultra preset at 4K produces a lower average FPS than High at 4K, which is counterintuitive but consistent with the GPU's memory bandwidth constraints.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 1504 out of 1717 tested combinations places it in the lower 12% of the database. This ranking reflects the hardware's age and performance class, as both the CPU and GPU are mid-range parts from previous generations. The Ryzen 5 3600's percentile of 76 among all CPUs and the GTX 1660 SUPER's percentile of 55 among all GPUs indicate that the pairing is balanced but not competitive with modern high-end systems.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 18129 places it 0.1% behind the Intel Core i5-11400 (18150) and 0.2% behind the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS (18101). The GPU's average score of 14286 is 0.2% behind the AMD Radeon RX Vega 11 (14314) and 0.7% behind the AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (14389). These small deltas suggest that the combo is performing as expected for its components, with no significant bottlenecks or anomalies.

In the context of Rust specifically, the rank of 1504 out of 1717 indicates that most other tested combos achieve higher frame rates. This is likely due to the game's demanding nature at higher resolutions and the GPU's limited memory bandwidth. The data shows that the combo is best suited for 1080p gaming, where it can deliver playable frame rates across most settings. For users seeking higher resolutions, the ranking suggests that a more powerful GPU would be necessary to improve the overall experience.