Rust

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows for Rust with the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 reveal a clear pattern: the Low preset delivers the highest frame rates at every resolution, while Ultra consistently produces the lowest. At 1920x1080, Low hits 148.4 FPS, which is 38.3 FPS higher than Ultra's 110.1 FPS at the same resolution. The gap widens at 2560x1440, where Low reaches 132.4 FPS versus Ultra's 95.9 FPS—a difference of 36.5 FPS. At 3840x2160, Low still manages 112.7 FPS, while Ultra drops to 54.9 FPS, a staggering 57.8 FPS deficit.

Medium and High sit between these extremes, but their positioning shifts with resolution. At 1080p, Medium (126.9 FPS) edges out High (121.6 FPS) by 5.3 FPS. At 1440p, the margin narrows to 6.9 FPS (Medium at 114.9, High at 108). At 4K, Medium (88.5 FPS) maintains a 15.8 FPS lead over High (72.7 FPS). This suggests that the visual quality jump from Medium to High carries a steeper performance cost than the step from Low to Medium, particularly at higher resolutions.

For the best experience per the measured data, the Medium preset at 1440p appears to be the sweet spot. It delivers 114.9 FPS, which is comfortably above the 1080p High result of 121.6 FPS but with better visual fidelity than Low. The 1440p Medium result is only 11.5 FPS behind 1080p Medium, indicating that the resolution upgrade costs relatively little in this setting tier. At 4K, Medium's 88.5 FPS is playable, but the jump to High costs 15.8 FPS, making High less attractive unless visual fidelity is prioritized over smoothness.

Ultra is difficult to recommend at any resolution. Even at 1080p, it only reaches 110.1 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 54.9 FPS—below the 60 FPS threshold that most players consider the minimum for responsive gameplay. The data implies that Ultra's additional graphical effects in Rust extract a heavy toll on this combination, and the modest resolution scaling from Medium to Ultra does not justify the performance loss.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 brings 6 cores and 12 threads to this pairing, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz. Its benchmark profile shows a single-thread score of 696 in 3dmark_single_thread and a max-thread score of 4603 in 3dmark_max_threads, which places it in the 76th percentile among all CPUs. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 15045 and single-core score of 2124 further characterize its capabilities.

In Rust, the CPU's role becomes evident when examining the FPS scaling across resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system produces 148.4 FPS. When resolution increases to 1440p Low, FPS drops to 132.4, and at 4K Low it falls to 112.7. The relatively modest decline from 1080p to 4K at Low settings—a 24% reduction—suggests that the CPU is not the primary bottleneck at this setting tier. However, the Ryzen 5 3600's single-thread performance, which ranks below the Intel Core i5-11400 by 0.1% in average benchmark score, may cap maximum frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios.

The data shows that at Ultra settings, the FPS drops more dramatically with resolution: from 110.1 at 1080p to 95.9 at 1440p, then to 54.9 at 4K. This 50% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Ultra indicates that the GPU becomes increasingly dominant as settings increase, but the CPU's 6-core/12-thread configuration still needs to feed the RTX 4090's massive throughput. The Ryzen 5 3600's 32 MB shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support (with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth) are adequate for Rust's survival gameplay, where player counts and base-building physics can stress multiple threads.

The benchmark data suggests that the CPU's 12 threads provide enough parallelism for Rust's simulation and networking layers, as the measured FPS at 1080p Low (148.4) exceeds what a purely GPU-limited scenario would produce. Yet the single-thread score of 696 in 3dmark_single_thread, relative to the 4605 score in 3dmark_16_threads, indicates that Rust may not fully utilize all cores, leaving headroom on the multi-threaded front but potentially limiting peak FPS in lightly-threaded sections.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achieved by this combo in Rust?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 148.4, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next best results are 132.4 at 2560x1440 Low and 126.9 at 1080p Medium.

Q: How does the CPU's benchmark score compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 has an average benchmark score of 18129, which is 0.1% lower than the Intel Core i5-11400 (18150) and 0.2% higher than the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS (18101). It also trails the AMD Ryzen 5 1600 by 0.2% and the AMD EPYC 9274F by 0.3%.

Q: Does the RTX 4090's 24 GB VRAM matter for Rust at 4K?

A: The data shows that at 3840x2160, the combo achieves 112.7 FPS on Low, 88.5 on Medium, 72.7 on High, and 54.9 on Ultra. The 24 GB GDDR6X memory with 1.01 TB/s bandwidth is not exhausted based on these results, but the FPS drop from Low to Ultra at 4K (57.8 FPS) indicates that GPU compute, not memory capacity, is the limiting factor.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 339th out of 1717 tested combinations in Rust, placing it in the top 20% of all tested systems.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 3600 or the RTX 4090 more responsible for performance in Rust?

A: The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K suggests a GPU-bound scenario at higher settings. At Low settings, FPS drops from 148.4 at 1080p to 112.7 at 4K (a 24% reduction), while at Ultra it drops from 110.1 to 54.9 (a 50% reduction). This indicates that the GPU dominates at Ultra, but the CPU's single-thread performance (696 in 3dmark_single_thread) still matters at lower settings.

Q: Does the 1440p Medium setting offer better FPS than 1080p High?

A: Yes. At 2560x1440 Medium, the combo produces 114.9 FPS, which is 6.7 FPS lower than 1080p High (121.6) but 4.9 FPS higher than 1440p High (108). The 1440p Medium result is also 3.8 FPS higher than 1080p Ultra (110.1), making it a strong alternative to higher settings at lower resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination holds the 339th position out of 1717 tested combos in Rust. This places the system in the upper quintile of all configurations tested, which is notable given the CPU's age (released in 2019) relative to the GPU (released in 2022). The rank reflects a balance: the RTX 4090's compute capabilities (82.58 TFLOPS FP32, 16384 shading units) are among the fastest available, but the Ryzen 5 3600's single-thread performance (696 in 3dmark_single_thread, 76th percentile) may hold back the system in CPU-sensitive titles like Rust.

The data indicates that the combo's rank is not purely GPU-driven. Systems with newer CPUs paired with the RTX 4090 would likely rank higher, as the CPU's 6 cores/12 threads and 4.20 GHz boost clock may not fully saturate the GPU's 512 TMUs and 176 ROPs in all scenarios. The 0.1% delta to the Intel Core i5-11400 in average benchmark score highlights that the Ryzen 5 3600 is competitive with modern mid-range CPUs, but the gap to top-tier processors would be more pronounced.

The 339th rank out of 1717 means that approximately 338 tested combos outperform this pairing in Rust's measured FPS. This is a strong result considering the CPU's market position, but it also signals that the GPU is not being fully utilized. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (148.4) is likely below what the RTX 4090 could achieve with a faster CPU, given that the GPU's benchmark scores (38194 in passmark_g3d, 91st percentile) far exceed the CPU's percentile ranking.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data across resolutions reveals how this combo behaves under varying load. At Low settings, the transition from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 costs 16 FPS (from 148.4 to 132.4, a 10.8% reduction), while the jump from 1440p to 3840x2160 costs another 19.7 FPS (from 132.4 to 112.7, a 14.9% reduction). This gradual decline suggests that at Low settings, the system is partially CPU-limited, as the GPU has ample headroom to handle the increased pixel count.

At Medium settings, the scaling is steeper: 126.9 FPS at 1080p, 114.9 at 1440p (a 9.5% drop), and 88.5 at 4K (a 23% drop from 1440p). This indicates that as settings increase, the GPU becomes more of a limiting factor. At High settings, the pattern continues: 121.6 at 1080p, 108 at 1440p (an 11.2% drop), and 72.7 at 4K (a 32.7% drop from 1440p). The accelerated decline at 4K High points to the GPU's rendering load dominating.

The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling: 110.1 at 1080p, 95.9 at 1440p (a 12.9% drop), and 54.9 at 4K (a 42.8% drop from 1440p). This 4K Ultra result—less than half of the 1080p Ultra FPS—demonstrates that the RTX 4090's 24 GB VRAM and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth are sufficient, but the compute demands of Ultra effects at 4K overwhelm even this GPU's 82.58 TFLOPS capability. The scaling pattern across all settings indicates that the RTX 4090 is the primary limiter at 4K, while the Ryzen 5 3600's 12 threads play a larger role at 1080p and lower settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are: Low at 148.4, Medium at 126.9, High at 121.6, and Ultra at 110.1. The spread from Low to Ultra is 38.3 FPS, with the largest single-step drop occurring between Low and Medium (21.5 FPS). The Medium-to-High step costs only 5.3 FPS, while High-to-Ultra costs 11.5 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the results are: Low at 132.4, Medium at 114.9, High at 108, and Ultra at 95.9. The total spread is 36.5 FPS. The Low-to-Medium drop is 17.5 FPS, Medium-to-High is 6.9 FPS, and High-to-Ultra is 12.1 FPS. The relative performance between settings is consistent with 1080p, but the absolute values are lower.

At 3840x2160, the data shows: Low at 112.7, Medium at 88.5, High at 72.7, and Ultra at 54.9. The spread widens to 57.8 FPS. The Low-to-Medium drop is 24.2 FPS, Medium-to-High is 15.8 FPS, and High-to-Ultra is 17.8 FPS. The increasing gaps at 4K indicate that each settings tier imposes a proportionally larger burden on the GPU. The 4K Low result (112.7 FPS) is still higher than 1440p Ultra (95.9 FPS), suggesting that players seeking high frame rates at 4K should prefer Low settings over lower resolutions with Ultra.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the dominant component in this pairing, with 24 GB of GDDR6X memory, a 384-bit bus, and 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. Its clock speeds are 2235 MHz base and 2520 MHz boost, with memory running at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). The GPU's 16384 shading units, 512 TMUs, and 176 ROPs provide substantial raw throughput, reflected in its 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 443.5 GPixel/s pixel rate.

In Rust, the GPU's role becomes more pronounced at higher settings and resolutions. The measured data shows that at 4K Ultra, the combo produces 54.9 FPS, while at 4K Low it reaches 112.7 FPS. This 57.8 FPS difference is entirely attributable to the GPU's workload, as the CPU (Ryzen 5 3600) remains constant across all measurements. The RTX 4090's 128 ray tracing cores and 512 tensor cores do not appear to provide a specific advantage in Rust, as the game's survival mechanics typically rely on traditional rasterization.

The GPU's memory configuration—24 GB GDDR6X on a 384-bit bus—is more than sufficient for Rust at any resolution, as evidenced by the fact that even at 4K Ultra, the FPS is limited by compute rather than memory bandwidth. The 1.01 TB/s bandwidth is overkill for this title, but it ensures that texture streaming and large base-building scenes do not cause stutter. The GPU's 91st percentile ranking among all GPUs (with an average benchmark score of 66473) confirms its high-end status, but the FPS data shows that it is not fully utilized at 1080p, where the CPU's 12 threads likely cap performance.

The RTX 4090's 450 W TDP and 16-pin power connector are consistent with its performance class, and the 5 nm process node from TSMC (with 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die) explains its efficiency relative to predecessor architectures. In Rust, the GPU's compute capability is the primary determinant of FPS at Medium and above, while its memory capacity ensures that even the most complex scenes at 4K Ultra do not exceed the 24 GB VRAM allocation.