Rust

# CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 5 7400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor built on the Zen 4 architecture (Raphael) using TSMC's 5 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU features 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 1 MB of L2 cache per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache. Memory support is DDR5 through a dual-channel interface, delivering 83.2 GB/s of bandwidth, and the processor supports ECC memory. It connects via PCIe Gen 5 with 24 lanes.

In synthetic benchmarks, the Ryzen 5 7400F achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21,765 and a single-core score of 3,072. Its PassMark multithread score is 25,645, while single-thread performance sits at 3,689. The processor's average benchmark score is 32,750, placing it in the 83rd percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rivals in aggregate performance include the Intel Core i5-14600T (avg score 32,707, delta 0.1%), the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H (32,697, delta 0.2%), the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H (32,812, delta -0.2%), and the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 360 (32,662, delta 0.3%). These deltas are all within a fraction of a percent, indicating the 7400F sits in a tightly contested performance band.

For Rust, a survival game with complex world simulation and frequent entity updates, the 6-core/12-thread configuration is relevant. The game's server-side logic and client-side entity tracking can utilize multiple threads, but single-thread performance often dictates minimum frame pacing in populated areas. The 7400F's single-core scores (Cinebench R23 single-core 3,072, PassMark single-thread 3,689) are strong for its class, which helps maintain consistent frame delivery when the game's simulation thread becomes a bottleneck.

The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo reaches 212 FPS average, which suggests the CPU can feed the GPU adequately at lower resolutions where the GPU is less stressed. At 1080p Ultra, the average drops to 91 FPS, indicating that higher settings shift more load onto the graphics pipeline, but the CPU still keeps up. The Ryzen 5 7400F's 32 MB L3 cache is also beneficial for Rust's asset streaming and procedural map generation, as those tasks benefit from larger on-die caches to reduce memory latency.

# GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture (Navi 48 chip) using a 4 nm process at TSMC. It features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 644.6 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The GPU's base clock is 1330 MHz, with a boost clock of 2520 MHz and a game clock of 2070 MHz. Memory runs at 2518 MHz (20.1 Gbps effective). The card has 3,584 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, 128 ROPs, and 56 ray tracing cores. It delivers 36.13 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and a pixel rate of 322.6 GPixel/s, with a texture rate of 564.5 GTexel/s. The TDP is 220 W, requiring a 550 W suggested PSU and two 8-pin power connectors.

In GPU benchmarks, the RX 9070 scores 6,290 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, 131,539 in Geekbench OpenCL, and 58,705 in Geekbench Vulkan. Its PassMark G3D score is 25,381, with a GPU compute score of 14,737. The GPU's average benchmark score is 23,877, placing it in the 69th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z (avg score 23,736, delta 0.6%), the AMD Radeon RX 6800S (24,063, delta -0.8%), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile (23,628, delta 1.1%), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER (24,170, delta -1.2%). These rivals are within a narrow margin, though the RX 9070's modern architecture and 16 GB VRAM provide advantages in memory-heavy scenarios.

For Rust, the 16 GB VRAM is a significant asset. Rust's large open world, with its procedural terrain and numerous player-built structures, can consume substantial video memory at higher settings. The 644.6 GB/s memory bandwidth ensures that texture streaming and draw calls are handled efficiently, especially at 4K resolution where the measured FPS drops from 86 at Low to 37 at Ultra. The RX 9070's 16 GB capacity prevents VRAM overflow in dense scenes, which would otherwise cause stuttering. The boost clock of 2520 MHz helps sustain high frame rates at 1080p, where the combo achieves 212 FPS on Low settings, indicating the GPU is not a limiting factor at that resolution.

# Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Examining the measured FPS across all resolutions and settings, the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience. At 1080p, Medium delivers 142 FPS average with a minimum of 121 FPS and a maximum of 164 FPS. This is a substantial drop from Low's 212 FPS average, but the visual quality improvement is significant, and the frame rate remains well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. At 1440p, Medium yields 98 FPS average (min 83, max 113), which is still highly playable on high-refresh monitors. At 4K, Medium produces 58 FPS average (min 49, max 67), which is borderline for competitive play but acceptable for exploration and building.

The High preset is a viable alternative for users prioritizing visual fidelity. At 1080p, High achieves 120 FPS average, while 1440p drops to 83 FPS, and 4K falls to 49 FPS. The step from Medium to High costs roughly 15-20% performance at each resolution, but the gains in shadow quality, texture detail, and draw distance are noticeable in Rust's large environments. For users with 60 Hz displays, High at 1440p is a strong choice, as 83 FPS exceeds the refresh rate.

The Ultra preset is the most demanding, with 91 FPS at 1080p, 63 FPS at 1440p, and 37 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is below the 40 FPS playability threshold for many users, making it unsuitable for smooth gameplay. However, at 1080p, Ultra's 91 FPS is still playable, though the performance cost over High (120 FPS) is steep for the incremental visual improvements. Low settings are only recommended for maximum frame rates, such as in competitive scenarios where 212 FPS at 1080p or 146 FPS at 1440p could benefit high-refresh displays.

The data suggests that Medium is the sweet spot for this combo. It provides consistent frame times (as evidenced by the min/max range at each resolution) and maintains playable frame rates even at 4K. For users with 144 Hz monitors, Medium at 1440p (98 FPS) is the optimal pairing, as it balances visual quality with the refresh rate headroom. For 4K gaming, Medium's 58 FPS average is the highest playable preset, as High and Ultra dip below 50 FPS.

# How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 7400F and AMD Radeon RX 9070 ranks 781st out of 2,953 tested combos in Rust. This places it in the top 26.5% of all tested system configurations, indicating solid mid-to-upper-tier performance. The rank reflects the balance between the CPU's 83rd percentile standing and the GPU's 69th percentile, with the overall system landing slightly above the median of tested hardware.

Given the CPU's near-parity with its nearest rivals (all within 0.3% delta), the ranking is heavily influenced by the GPU's performance. The RX 9070's 69th percentile is lower than the CPU's 83rd percentile, suggesting that the GPU is the limiting factor in most scenarios. This is corroborated by the measured FPS data, where the combo's performance scales more strongly with resolution changes (indicating GPU-bound behavior) than with CPU-bound workloads.

At 1080p, the combo achieves 212 FPS on Low, which is exceptional for Rust and indicates that the CPU can push very high frame rates when the GPU is not constrained. However, at 4K Ultra, the 37 FPS result shows the GPU's limitations at high resolutions. The 781st rank out of 2,953 combos means there are 780 configurations that perform better in Rust, likely featuring higher-tier GPUs such as the RTX 4080 or RX 7900 XTX, but the Ryzen 5 7400F's strong single-thread performance ensures it does not hold back the system in CPU-light scenarios.

# FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with Medium settings?

A: The combo achieves 142 FPS average at 1080p Medium, with a minimum of 121 FPS and a maximum of 164 FPS.

Q: How does the RX 9070's VRAM capacity affect Rust performance?

A: The 16 GB GDDR6 memory with 644.6 GB/s bandwidth ensures that Rust's large textures and world data are handled without VRAM overflow, which would cause stuttering. This is particularly important at 4K where the GPU is more stressed.

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

A: Medium is recommended at 1440p, delivering 98 FPS average (min 83, max 113). High drops to 83 FPS, while Ultra falls to 63 FPS, making Medium the best balance of visual quality and frame rate.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 7400F a bottleneck for the RX 9070 in Rust?

A: The data shows the CPU ranks in the 83rd percentile, while the GPU is in the 69th percentile. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 212 FPS, indicating the CPU is not limiting at lower settings. However, at 4K Ultra (37 FPS), the GPU is clearly the bottleneck.

Q: How does this combo compare to its nearest GPU rivals in Rust?

A: The RX 9070's nearest rivals (GTX TITAN Z, RX 6800S, RTX 3080 Mobile, RTX 2080 SUPER) all have average benchmark scores within 1.2% of the RX 9070, but the RX 9070's modern architecture and 16 GB VRAM likely provide an edge in Rust's demanding scenes.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 4K with High settings?

A: The combo delivers 49 FPS average at 4K High, which is below the 60 FPS threshold but still playable for slower-paced gameplay. Medium at 4K improves to 58 FPS.

# Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers the following average FPS across settings: Low 212, Medium 142 (min 121, max 164), High 120, Ultra 91. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 57% drop in frame rate, with the largest single-step decrease occurring from Low to Medium (70 FPS loss) and from High to Ultra (29 FPS loss). The Medium preset's min/max range (121-164) indicates consistent frame pacing, while the other presets lack min/max data.

At 2560x1440, the average FPS results are: Low 146, Medium 98 (min 83, max 113), High 83, Ultra 63. The step from Low to Medium costs 48 FPS, while Medium to High costs 15 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 20 FPS. The Medium preset's min/max range (83-113) shows a 30 FPS spread, which is wider than at 1080p, suggesting slightly less consistent frame times at higher resolution.

At 3840x2160, the average FPS results are: Low 86, Medium 58 (min 49, max 67), High 49, Ultra 37. The Low to Medium step costs 28 FPS, Medium to High costs 9 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 12 FPS. The Medium preset's min/max range (49-67) shows an 18 FPS spread, which is tighter than at 1440p, indicating that the GPU is becoming the dominant factor at 4K and frame times stabilize.

Comparing the same settings across resolutions, 1080p Low (212 FPS) to 1440p Low (146 FPS) represents a 31% drop, while 1440p Low to 4K Low (86 FPS) represents a 41% drop. For Ultra, the progression is 1080p 91 FPS, 1440p 63 FPS (31% drop), and 4K 37 FPS (41% drop). This consistent scaling pattern across settings indicates that the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth are the primary constraints at higher resolutions.

# Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The resolution scaling behavior reveals a clear GPU-bound system. From 1080p to 1440p, the average FPS drops by approximately 31-32% across all settings: Low from 212 to 146, Medium from 142 to 98, High from 120 to 83, and Ultra from 91 to 63. From 1440p to 4K, the drop is consistently around 41%: Low from 146 to 86, Medium from 98 to 58, High from 83 to 49, and Ultra from 63 to 37. The uniformity of these percentage drops across all settings is a strong indicator that the GPU is the limiting component, as CPU performance would not scale with resolution in this manner.

The total performance loss from 1080p to 4K is 59-60% depending on the preset. For Low, the drop is from 212 to 86 FPS (59% loss), while Ultra drops from 91 to 37 FPS (59% loss). This consistent scaling suggests that the RX 9070's rendering pipeline, including its 128 ROPs and 644.6 GB/s memory bandwidth, is being saturated as pixel count increases. The 16 GB VRAM does not appear to be a bottleneck, as the scaling remains linear without sudden dips that would indicate memory pressure.

The fact that Medium at 4K (58 FPS) is nearly as fast as Ultra at 1440p (63 FPS) further confirms the GPU-bound nature. The CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads, with a boost clock of 4.70 GHz, are sufficient to feed the GPU even at 1080p Low where the combo reaches 212 FPS. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect to see diminishing returns at lower resolutions, where frame rates would plateau regardless of GPU load. Instead, the consistent 31% and 41% drops with each resolution step indicate that the RX 9070's compute and memory throughput are the primary determinants of performance in Rust. The Ryzen 5 7400F's strong single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core 3,072) ensures that it stays ahead of the GPU's demands, even in the game's most CPU-intensive moments, such as large player gatherings or complex base raids.