Rust

Rust presents a demanding workload that scales significantly with both resolution and graphical presets. The measured data for the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER combination reveals a system that is exceptionally fast, yet its performance character shifts from being CPU-bound at lower resolutions to GPU-bound at 4K. This analysis breaks down the recorded frame rates, the role of each component, and what the numbers indicate about the bottleneck in this specific title.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 produces a dramatic change in frame rates, highlighting the increasing burden placed on the graphics card as pixel count rises. At the High settings preset, the average frame rate drops from 160.4 FPS at 1080p to 109.4 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 63.8 FPS at 4K. This represents a substantial 60.2% reduction in performance from 1080p to 4K, a clear indicator that the RTX 4080 SUPER is being pushed to its limits at the highest resolution.

The scaling pattern is even more pronounced at the Ultra preset. Here, the average frame rate falls from 122.4 FPS at 1080p to 87.6 FPS at 1440p, and then plummets to 48 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is less than half of the 1080p Ultra figure, demonstrating that this settings combination is exceptionally taxing. This sharp drop-off suggests that while the GPU has ample headroom at lower resolutions, the sheer pixel count at 4K, combined with the high detail settings, overwhelms the rendering pipeline.

Conversely, the Low preset shows a different scaling trend. The average frame rate at 1080p is 248.2 FPS, which only drops to 198.4 FPS at 1440p, and then to 117.7 FPS at 4K. While still a significant decline, the percentage drop from 1080p to 4K is 52.6%, which is less severe than at High settings. This indicates that at Low settings, the CPU has a more dominant role in determining performance, as the GPU is less constrained by complex shading and effects. The data clearly shows that the limiting component shifts decisively to the GPU as resolution and settings increase.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1440p with High settings?

A: The benchmark data records an average of 109.4 FPS for the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER combination at 2560x1440 resolution with the High preset.

Q: How much faster is the Low preset compared to Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 248.2 FPS, while the Ultra preset achieves 122.4 FPS. This makes the Low preset 125.8 FPS faster, or more than double the frame rate of Ultra.

Q: Is this system capable of 4K gaming in Rust?

A: Yes, but with caveats. At 3840x2160 with High settings, it records an average of 63.8 FPS. However, at the Ultra preset, the average drops to 48 FPS, suggesting that players may need to adjust settings for a smoother experience at this resolution.

Q: What is the highest average frame rate recorded across all tests?

A: The highest average frame rate is 248.2 FPS, which was achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset.

Q: How does the 1440p Medium preset compare to the 4K High preset?

A: The 1440p Medium preset delivers an average of 129.4 FPS, which is significantly higher than the 63.8 FPS average seen at 4K High. This indicates a substantial performance cost for the resolution increase.

Q: What is the lowest average frame rate recorded in the dataset?

A: The lowest average frame rate is 48 FPS, which occurs at 3840x2160 resolution with the Ultra settings preset.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X is an 8-core, 16-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, code-named Raphael. It operates on the AMD Socket AM5 platform and features a base clock of 4.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. The processor’s cache hierarchy includes a 32 MB shared L3 cache, which is critical for game performance by reducing memory latency. With a TDP of 105 W, it is a high-performance desktop part.

In Rust, the CPU's influence is most apparent at lower resolutions and settings. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 248.2 FPS, a figure that is likely constrained by the CPU's ability to process game logic and draw calls. The 3DMark benchmarks show strong single-threaded performance with a score of 1090, and multi-threaded scaling is also robust, with scores of 8859 for 16 threads and 8852 for max threads. This strong performance is corroborated by a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 30325 and a single-core score of 4281.

The processor's standing among rivals is tight. Its average benchmark score of 34313 places it 0.4% ahead of the Intel Core i5-13500 and 0.5% ahead of the Intel Core i7-12800HX. It trails the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H and AMD EPYC 4244P by 0.8%. These narrow margins suggest that while the 7700X is a top-tier gaming CPU, its performance is closely matched by other modern processors. In Rust, the data indicates that the CPU can push frame rates well above 200 FPS at 1080p Low, but the scaling to 4K Ultra demonstrates that the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck, with the CPU having ample headroom to feed frames.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset provides a clear picture of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets.

At 1920x1080, the system is exceptionally fast. The Low preset leads with an average of 248.2 FPS. The Medium preset follows with 189.3 FPS, and the High preset achieves 160.4 FPS. The Ultra preset, while still very playable, drops to an average of 122.4 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 125.8 FPS, illustrating the significant cost of high-detail settings.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show a clear decline. The Low preset averages 198.4 FPS, which is still an excellent result. The Medium preset records 129.4 FPS, and the High preset achieves 109.4 FPS. The Ultra preset falls to an average of 87.6 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is most punishing at the Ultra preset, which loses 34.8 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is heavily taxed. The Low preset is the only one to maintain a high refresh rate experience, with an average of 117.7 FPS. The Medium preset averages 79 FPS, and the High preset drops to 63.8 FPS. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, with an average of only 48 FPS. This shows a consistent and significant performance penalty for each step up in settings at 4K, making the Ultra preset a challenging target for smooth gameplay on this hardware.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is a high-end graphics card built on the Ada Lovelace architecture and the AD103 chip. It features 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 736.3 GB/s. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2295 MHz and a boost clock of 2550 MHz. Its processing power is substantial, with 10240 shading units and a FP32 performance of 52.22 TFLOPS. The card also includes 80 RT cores and 320 Tensor cores, though these are not directly relevant to the measured FPS data.

The GPU's role is decisive in determining the performance ceiling at higher resolutions. The data shows that from 1440p to 4K, the frame rate drops significantly for all settings, indicating that the GPU's rendering capacity is the primary constraint. For instance, at High settings, the drop from 109.4 FPS at 1440p to 63.8 FPS at 4K is a 41.7% reduction. This is a direct consequence of the 4K resolution requiring the GPU to process four times as many pixels as 1080p.

The GPU's benchmark scores support its high-end positioning. Its average benchmark score of 53610 places it 0.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT and 0.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M. It is 2.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7700S and 2.9% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti. In Rust, the 4080 SUPER's capabilities are evident at 1080p and 1440p, where it is able to deliver very high frame rates. However, at 4K with Ultra settings, the 48 FPS average shows that even this powerful GPU is not immune to the demands of the game, and users will need to compromise on settings to achieve higher refresh rates.