Rust

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X pairs an 8-core, 16-thread Zen 2 design with a 3.60 GHz base clock and a 4.40 GHz boost clock. This processor is built on TSMC's 7 nm process and features a 32 MB L3 cache, which is substantial for a game like Rust that frequently streams in large world data. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU posts a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 19087 and a single-core score of 2694, alongside a Geekbench multi-core result of 8083. The single-thread performance is particularly relevant for Rust's primary game thread, and the data shows a PassMark single-thread score of 2656 and a PassMark physics score of 1181, the latter indicating how well the processor handles the game's simulation and object interactions.

The Ryzen 7 3700X's 16 threads provide ample parallel processing capacity for background tasks, asset decompression, and the numerous AI entities that populate Rust's servers. The PassMark data compression score of 296379 and data encryption score of 18900 suggest strong throughput for server-side and client-side data management. The processor's percentile ranking (85th) places it in the upper tier of all CPUs, and its average benchmark score of 28631 is nearly identical to its nearest rivals, being only 0.1% behind the Intel Core i5-12600 and 0.1% behind the Intel Core i5-12600H, while being 0.1% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600XT. In Rust, the CPU's role is to maintain a stable frame delivery, and the measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low settings, the combo reaches 152.7 FPS, suggesting the CPU can feed the GPU efficiently when graphical load is light.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is a Turing-architecture GPU with 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. It operates at a base clock of 1605 MHz and a boost clock of 1770 MHz, with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's memory configuration is critical for Rust, as the game's large maps and high-resolution textures demand significant VRAM capacity. The 8 GB framebuffer is sufficient for the tested settings, with the data showing no indication of memory capacity throttling even at 4K Ultra.

The RTX 2070 SUPER's compute capabilities are reflected in its PassMark G3D score of 18169 and its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1651. The GPU's 65th percentile ranking versus all GPUs places it as a mid-to-high-tier part. Its average benchmark score of 22206 is 0.5% higher than the NVIDIA RTX A400 and 0.9% higher than the GTX TITAN Z, while being 2.3% lower than the RTX 4060 Mobile and 2.5% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 5700. In Rust, the GPU's role becomes dominant as resolution and settings increase. The measured FPS reveals a clear pattern: at 1080p Low, the average FPS of 152.7 is likely CPU-bound, but as settings climb to Ultra at 1080p, the average drops to 67.1 FPS, indicating the GPU is now the limiting factor. The GPU's 40 RT cores and 320 tensor cores are not directly leveraged by Rust's current renderer, but the raw FP32 performance of 9.062 TFLOPS handles the game's lighting and shadow calculations.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data across resolutions illustrates a predictable scaling pattern that shifts the bottleneck from the CPU to the GPU. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 152.7 FPS, which is a strong indicator that the Ryzen 7 3700X is capable of feeding high frame rates. Moving to 1440p Low, the average drops to 103.7 FPS, a 32.1% reduction, while at 4K Low, it falls to 59.5 FPS, a 61.0% reduction from the 1080p baseline. This steep decline at lower settings emphasizes that the GPU's fill rate and bandwidth are being saturated as pixel count increases.

The scaling at High settings shows a similar but less dramatic trend. At 1080p High, the average is 84.1 FPS, which drops to 61.3 FPS at 1440p High (a 27.1% reduction) and 37.1 FPS at 4K High (a 55.9% reduction from 1080p). The Ultra preset is the most demanding, with 1080p Ultra yielding 67.1 FPS, 1440p Ultra yielding 45.8 FPS, and 4K Ultra yielding 27.7 FPS. The data shows that the step from 1440p to 4K is the most punishing, suggesting that the RTX 2070 SUPER's 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is the limiting factor at 4K, as the pixel throughput requirement outpaces the memory subsystem's capacity. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is a 53.4% performance drop (59.5 to 27.7 FPS), indicating that the GPU is so heavily loaded at 4K that even reducing settings cannot fully compensate for the resolution's demands.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER ranks 1021st out of 1717 tested combos in Rust, placing it in the 59.5th percentile of all pairings. This rank is modest, reflecting that while neither component is a slouch, the pairing does not represent a top-tier configuration for this specific title. The rank suggests that there are 696 combos that deliver higher average FPS in Rust, likely featuring newer CPUs with higher single-thread performance or GPUs with more raw bandwidth.

The combo's performance in Rust is characterized by its consistency across settings. The data shows that the combo can achieve playable frame rates at 1080p across all presets, with even Ultra settings hitting 67.1 FPS. At 1440p, the combo remains viable for High and Medium settings, with 61.3 FPS and 71.4 FPS respectively, but dips below 60 FPS at Ultra (45.8 FPS). At 4K, the combo is only suitable for Low settings (59.5 FPS), as Medium (39.8 FPS), High (37.1 FPS), and Ultra (27.7 FPS) all fall below the fluidity threshold. The rank of 1021st indicates that this is a middle-of-the-pack pairing, where the CPU's 85th percentile ranking is dragged down by the GPU's 65th percentile ranking, creating a system that is well-balanced for 1080p and entry-level 1440p gaming but not for high-refresh 1440p or 4K play.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average FPS this combo achieves in Rust?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 152.7, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 3700X compare to its closest rival in raw performance?

A: The Ryzen 7 3700X has an average benchmark score of 28631, which is 0.1% lower than the Intel Core i5-12600's average score of 28654, making them effectively equal in synthetic performance.

Q: Is the RTX 2070 SUPER better than the AMD Radeon RX 5700?

A: Yes, the RTX 2070 SUPER's average benchmark score is 22206, which is 2.5% higher than the RX 5700's average score of 21670.

Q: What resolution and settings yield the lowest FPS for this combo?

A: The lowest average FPS is 27.7, which occurs at 3840x2160 resolution with Ultra settings.

Q: Does the combo maintain 60 FPS at 1440p with High settings?

A: Yes, the measured average FPS at 2560x1440 with High settings is 61.3, which is just above the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the GPU's performance rank relative to all tested GPUs?

A: The RTX 2070 SUPER is in the 65th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 22206, placing it 2.3% behind the RTX 4060 Mobile and 0.9% ahead of the GTX TITAN Z.