Rust

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F paired with the Intel Arc B390 produces a severely GPU-bound experience in Rust, where the CPU’s substantial processing power is largely left unused by the integrated graphics solution. The data shows a combination that ranks in the bottom 12% of all tested setups, making it unsuitable for smooth play at high resolutions or demanding presets, though it can achieve playable frame rates at 1080p with lower settings.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data indicates that the Low preset is the only viable option for achieving a playable experience, and even then, performance is marginal at higher resolutions. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 76 FPS, which is the only configuration in the entire dataset that clears the 60 FPS threshold. This represents a 49% performance increase over the Medium preset at the same resolution, which averages 51 FPS. The gap between Low and High at 1080p is even more pronounced, with High producing only 43 FPS, a 43% reduction from Low. For the best experience per the measured rows, users should select the Low preset at 1920x1080, as it is the only combination that provides a consistently smooth frame rate.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset drops to 53 FPS average, which is technically playable but below the ideal 60 FPS mark. The Medium preset at this resolution yields 35 FPS, while High produces 30 FPS and Ultra falls to 23 FPS. None of these higher presets at 1440p come close to the Low preset’s performance. The data strongly suggests that attempting to raise quality settings at 1440p results in a disproportionately large FPS loss, confirming that the graphics component is the primary bottleneck. The Ultra preset at any resolution is essentially unplayable, with the best Ultra result being 33 FPS at 1080p and dropping to 13 FPS at 4K.

For users who prioritize visual quality over frame rate, the Medium preset at 1080p offers a compromise, with a 51 FPS average and a minimum of 44 FPS. This is the highest quality setting that maintains a minimum frame rate above 40 FPS. However, the benchmark results clearly indicate that Rust’s performance ceiling with this combo is defined by the Low preset, and any deviation from that setting comes with a severe performance penalty. The recommendation is unambiguous: use Low settings, and if the resolution must be lowered to maintain frame rate, the 1080p Low configuration is the optimal measured point.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F is a high-end desktop processor with 8 cores and 16 threads, based on the Zen 5 architecture on a 4nm process. It features a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, with a 65W TDP. The processor’s benchmark scores place it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs, indicating strong overall compute capability. Its Passmark multithread score is 36,470, and its single-thread score is 4,691, which are robust figures for gaming workloads. The CPU’s nearest rivals in overall benchmark scores include the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX, which is 0.2% faster, and the Intel Core i7-14700KF, which is 0.2% slower, showing that the 9700F is competitive with top-tier processors from the same generation.

In the context of Rust, the CPU’s role is theoretically significant, as the game is known for its complex simulation and entity tracking. However, the measured FPS data reveals that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this combo. The evidence lies in the resolution scaling: as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K, the average FPS at Low settings drops from 76 to 31, a 59% reduction. This steep decline is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario, where the CPU has ample headroom to feed frames but the graphics processor cannot keep up with the increased pixel count. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would remain relatively flat across resolutions, as the CPU workload is largely independent of resolution.

The CPU’s 32 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth provide a solid foundation for gaming, but these advantages are not realized in this pairing. The fact that the processor sits in the 94th percentile while the GPU sits in the 9th percentile of all hardware (based on their respective benchmark scores) creates a massive imbalance. The Ryzen 7 9700F could easily drive a much more powerful discrete GPU, but the Intel Arc B390’s integrated nature prevents it from ever utilizing the CPU’s full potential. The benchmark results show that even at 1080p Low, the combo only achieves 76 FPS, which is far below what the CPU alone is capable of supporting in less GPU-constrained scenarios. The data indicates that the CPU is essentially idle waiting for the GPU to complete its work.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics processor based on the Xe3-LPG architecture on a 3nm process, designed for mobile or compact systems. It operates with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz, with 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster output units. The GPU has 12 ray tracing cores and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.4, and OpenGL 4.6. Critically, the GPU uses System Shared memory, meaning it has no dedicated VRAM and relies on the system’s main memory, with bandwidth described as "System Dependent." This is a fundamental limitation for a game like Rust, which is memory-intensive and benefits greatly from dedicated graphics memory.

The GPU’s performance metrics are extremely low. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 1,482, which places it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. The nearest rivals in terms of benchmark scores are the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, which is 1.3% faster, and the NVIDIA GeForce 800M, which is 1.5% faster. These are ancient, low-end mobile GPUs from over a decade ago, which contextualizes the Arc B390’s performance level. The GPU’s pixel rate is 60.00 GPixel/s and its texture rate is 120.0 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance of 7.680 TFLOPS. These figures are adequate for basic desktop tasks but are wholly insufficient for modern gaming at high settings.

In Rust, the GPU’s role is to render the game world, including terrain, structures, and dynamic lighting. The measured FPS data shows that the GPU is the definitive bottleneck across all tested configurations. At 1920x1080, the difference between Low and Ultra is a 57% performance drop (76 FPS to 33 FPS), which indicates that the GPU simply does not have enough raw throughput to handle the increased shader complexity and texture detail of higher presets. The System Shared memory configuration is particularly detrimental, as Rust’s large maps and numerous entities require substantial memory bandwidth, and sharing system memory with the CPU creates contention. The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the combo manages only 13 FPS, which is essentially a slideshow. The GPU’s low clock speed of 300 MHz at base is also telling, as it suggests the chip is designed for power efficiency rather than peak performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank for this pairing in Rust is 2601 out of 2953 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 11.9% of all setups. This ranking is unsurprising given the massive disparity between the CPU and GPU capabilities. The Ryzen 7 9700F ranks in the 94th percentile of CPUs, while the Intel Arc B390 ranks in the 9th percentile of GPUs. This creates a situation where the system is severely hampered by its weakest component, and the overall gaming experience in Rust is determined almost entirely by the GPU’s limitations.

The rank of 2601 out of 2953 means that 2600 other hardware combinations deliver better performance in Rust, and only 352 combos are worse. This places the combo in the company of older or entry-level systems, despite the presence of a high-end 2025 CPU. The data suggests that the combo is more representative of an integrated graphics laptop than a desktop gaming rig, which aligns with the GPU’s IGP slot width and lack of power connectors. The combo’s performance is so dominated by the GPU that the CPU’s excellent benchmark scores (Passmark multithread of 36,470 and single-thread of 4,691) are effectively irrelevant in this game.

Comparing to the CPU’s nearest rivals, the Intel Core i7-14700K is 0.9% faster in overall CPU benchmarks, and the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X is 0.7% faster. However, these differences are negligible in the context of this combo, as the GPU bottleneck would produce virtually identical FPS regardless of which of these CPUs were paired with the Arc B390. The ranking primarily reflects the GPU’s position in the 9th percentile, and no amount of CPU performance can compensate for that. The data makes it clear that this combo is unsuitable for serious Rust play, and users should consider it only for very low-end or portable use cases where graphical fidelity is not a priority.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling data reveals a classic GPU-bound pattern, with FPS dropping sharply as resolution increases. At Low settings, the average FPS goes from 76 at 1920x1080 to 53 at 2560x1440 (a 30% drop) and then to 31 at 3840x2160 (a 59% drop from 1080p). This is a textbook example of a system where the GPU’s pixel throughput is the limiting factor. The resolution increase from 1080p to 1440p represents a 78% increase in pixel count, but the FPS only dropped by 30%, suggesting that the GPU is not purely pixel-bound at lower resolutions. However, the jump to 4K represents a 125% increase in pixel count from 1440p, and the FPS dropped by 42%, which is more in line with a pixel-bound scenario.

The Medium preset shows a similar trend: 51 FPS at 1080p, 35 FPS at 1440p (a 31% drop), and 21 FPS at 4K (a 59% drop from 1080p). The High preset follows the same pattern: 43 FPS at 1080p, 30 FPS at 1440p (a 30% drop), and 18 FPS at 4K (a 58% drop from 1080p). The consistency of these percentage drops across presets strongly indicates that the scaling is resolution-driven rather than settings-driven. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would remain relatively flat as resolution increases, because the CPU workload (game logic, physics, entity updates) does not change with resolution. The fact that FPS drops by roughly 30% from 1080p to 1440p and then another 40-50% from 1440p to 4K confirms that the GPU is doing all the heavy lifting and failing at it.

The data also shows that the minimum FPS values, where available, are close to the averages. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 44 FPS against an average of 51, a 14% variance. At 1440p Medium, the minimum is 30 FPS against an average of 35, a 14% variance. At 4K Medium, the minimum is 18 FPS against an average of 21, a 14% variance. This consistency suggests that the GPU is delivering a relatively stable frame rate, but that frame rate is simply too low. The resolution scaling analysis points unambiguously to the GPU as the limiting component, and any attempts to improve performance must focus on reducing the GPU’s workload, either by lowering resolution or settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS data for this combo across all resolutions and settings is as follows. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 76 FPS. The Medium preset averages 51 FPS, with a minimum of 44 and a maximum of 59. The High preset averages 43 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 33 FPS. These four data points show a clear hierarchy, with Low being the only playable option and each successive quality level costing a significant amount of performance.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 53 FPS. The Medium preset averages 35 FPS, with a minimum of 30 and a maximum of 41. The High preset averages 30 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 23 FPS. At this resolution, even Low falls below the 60 FPS ideal, and all other presets are firmly in the unplayable range for a fast-paced survival game. The gap between Low and Medium at 1440p is 18 FPS, which is a 34% reduction, slightly worse than the 33% reduction at 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 31 FPS. The Medium preset averages 21 FPS, with a minimum of 18 and a maximum of 24. The High preset averages 18 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 13 FPS. At 4K, no preset reaches 60 FPS, and even Low is below 32 FPS, making the game effectively unplayable at this resolution. The minimum FPS at 4K Medium is 18, which is barely above a slideshow, and the maximum is 24, indicating that the GPU is consistently struggling.

Comparing the best and worst measured results, the difference between 1080p Low (76 FPS) and 4K Ultra (13 FPS) is a 83% performance reduction. The data shows that this combo is only viable at 1080p with Low settings, and even then, users may experience occasional dips below 60 FPS in demanding scenes, given that the Medium preset’s minimum was 44 FPS and the Low preset has no recorded minimum. The measured data provides a complete picture: this is a low-end gaming experience, and users should set their expectations accordingly. The performance is consistent with the GPU’s 9th percentile ranking, and the CPU’s 94th percentile ranking does nothing to elevate the gaming experience in Rust.