Rust

The Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 represents a high-refresh-rate 1080p and 1440p-capable configuration for Rust, though the data reveals a significant CPU limitation at lower resolutions. The combo ranks 1281st out of 3723 tested combinations, placing it in the 65.6th percentile of all systems evaluated for this survival title. While the RTX 3080 provides substantial raw graphics power, the i5-10400F's six cores and 12 threads become the primary constraint as resolution drops, capping performance well below what the GPU alone could deliver.

FAQ

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

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 149 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the only setting/resolution combination that exceeds 144 FPS, indicating that achieving maximum refresh rates requires the lowest graphical preset.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i5-10400F has an average benchmark score of 14185, placing it within 0.6% of the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (14277). It sits 0.2% above the Intel Xeon 6756E (14163) and 0.5% above the AMD EPYC 7552 (14115), showing very tight clustering among these processors.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all tested graphics cards?

A: The RTX 3080 falls in the 68th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 23172. Its closest rival, the NVIDIA P106-100, scores 23249, which is 0.3% higher, while the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16 and Radeon RX 6600M are each 0.3% and 0.4% lower respectively.

Q: Does the game run better at 1080p or 1440p with this hardware?

A: At 1080p, average FPS ranges from 93 (Ultra) to 149 (Low), while at 1440p the range is 64 (Ultra) to 131 (Low). The 1440p High setting delivers 84 FPS, which is 30% higher than the 1080p Ultra setting's 93 FPS, suggesting that dropping from Ultra to High at a higher resolution can yield better frame rates.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded in the measured data?

A: The lowest minimum FPS recorded is 50 at 3840x2160 with Medium settings, where the average is 59 FPS and the maximum is 68 FPS. This shows that 4K Medium can dip to a playable but not smooth 50 FPS.

Q: How much VRAM does the RTX 3080 have and what is its memory bandwidth?

A: The RTX 3080 features 10 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 320-bit bus, providing 760.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock runs at 1188 MHz, with 19 Gbps effective speed.

GPU Role

The RTX 3080 serves as the primary rendering engine in this configuration, built on the Ampere architecture with the GA102 chip. Its 8704 shading units, 272 texture mapping units, and 96 ROPs provide substantial pixel throughput, rated at 164.2 GPixel/s and 465.1 GTexel/s. The GPU's FP32 performance of 29.77 TFLOPS indicates strong raw compute capability that scales with resolution, as evidenced by the measured FPS differences between 1080p and 4K.

Memory bandwidth plays a critical role in Rust's open-world rendering. The 760.3 GB/s bandwidth, achieved through 10 GB of GDDR6X on a 320-bit interface, allows the GPU to stream textures and geometry efficiently. At 4K Ultra, the combo averages 38 FPS, while 4K Low reaches 88 FPS, showing that texture and shading complexity heavily influence GPU load. The GPU's 68 RT cores and 272 tensor cores are present but not directly tested in this game's benchmark data.

The RTX 3080's clocks scale from a 1440 MHz base to a 1710 MHz boost, providing headroom for sustained loads. With a 320W TDP and dual-slot cooler, the card maintains performance under extended sessions. The PCIe 4.0 x16 interface (backward compatible with the i5-10400F's Gen 3 lanes) ensures adequate bandwidth for data transfer. The GPU's 28,300 million transistors on an 8 nm Samsung process give it a transistor density of 45.1M per mm², which contributes to its efficiency at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F provides six cores and 12 threads, running at a 2.90 GHz base clock with a 4.30 GHz boost. Built on the Comet Lake architecture with a 14 nm process, this CPU has a 12 MB shared L3 cache and 256 KB L2 per core. Its dual-channel DDR4 memory support yields 42.7 GB/s of bandwidth, which is modest compared to the GPU's 760.3 GB/s but sufficient for feeding the graphics card in most scenarios.

The CPU's synthetic benchmarks reveal its strengths and limitations. In Cinebench R23, the multicore score is 10283, while the single-core score is 1451. PassMark multithread results show 12115, with single-thread at 2541. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 4748 versus the single-thread score of 688 illustrates that the CPU benefits from multi-threaded workloads but has limited per-core performance. This is critical for Rust, which often exhibits single-thread bottlenecks.

The data shows that at 1080p, the CPU becomes the limiting factor. The FPS difference between Low (149) and Ultra (93) is 56 FPS, but the jump from 1080p Low to 1440p Low (131 FPS) is only 18 FPS, indicating that the CPU cannot feed the GPU faster than 149 FPS regardless of resolution. The 3DMark 2-thread score of 1350 and 4-thread score of 2560 suggest that Rust's primary thread usage may not fully utilize all 12 threads, capping performance at lower resolutions. The CPU's 65W TDP and Intel Socket 1200 compatibility make it a mainstream part that ranks in the 68th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 14185.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of i5-10400F and RTX 3080 ranks 1281st out of 3723 tested combos in Rust, positioning it in the 65.6th percentile of all systems evaluated. This ranking reflects a balanced but not top-tier configuration, as the CPU's mid-range standing (68th percentile) and GPU's mid-range standing (68th percentile) combine to produce results that are solidly above average but far from the top 10% of systems.

The ranking suggests that many other combinations achieve higher FPS in Rust, likely those with newer CPUs offering better single-thread performance. The CPU's percentile of 68 means it outperforms 68% of all processors, but the remaining 32% includes chips that could better feed the RTX 3080 at lower resolutions. The GPU's 68th percentile is similarly mid-pack, as the RTX 3080 has been surpassed by newer generations. The combo's rank of 1281 out of 3723 indicates that 2542 other combinations perform worse, but 1280 perform better, showing that this setup is competent yet not exceptional for Rust's specific demands.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling across resolutions reveals a clear pattern of CPU limitation at 1080p and GPU limitation at 4K. From 1080p Low (149 FPS) to 1440p Low (131 FPS), the drop is 12%, which is modest. However, from 1440p Low to 4K Low (88 FPS), the drop is 33%, showing the GPU struggling with the pixel count. This divergence indicates that the CPU is the bottleneck at 1080p, while the GPU becomes the constraint at 4K.

At High settings, the progression is 121 FPS (1080p), 84 FPS (1440p), and 50 FPS (4K). The percentage drops are 31% from 1080p to 1440p and 40% from 1440p to 4K. These larger drops compared to Low settings suggest that High settings add GPU-intensive effects that scale with resolution. The Medium preset shows a similar pattern: 128 FPS at 1080p, 100 FPS at 1440p, and 59 FPS at 4K, with drops of 22% and 41% respectively.

The Ultra preset exhibits the most dramatic scaling: 93 FPS at 1080p, 64 FPS at 1440p, and 38 FPS at 4K. The 31% drop from 1080p to 1440p and 41% drop from 1440p to 4K indicate that Ultra settings place the heaviest load on the GPU. Interestingly, the 1080p Ultra score of 93 FPS is lower than the 1440p High score of 84 FPS, suggesting that at 1080p, the CPU is not the limiting factor since the GPU is heavily loaded with Ultra effects.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers an average of 149 FPS on Low, 128 FPS on Medium, 121 FPS on High, and 93 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset has a minimum of 109 FPS and maximum of 147 FPS, showing a 38 FPS range. The High preset averages 121 FPS, which is 28 FPS below Low, while Ultra is 56 FPS below Low, indicating that each settings tier has a significant impact on performance.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 131 FPS (Low), 100 FPS (Medium), 84 FPS (High), and 64 FPS (Ultra). The Medium preset ranges from 85 to 115 FPS, a 30 FPS spread. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 18 FPS for Low, 28 FPS for Medium, 37 FPS for High, and 29 FPS for Ultra. These reductions show that Medium and High settings are more resolution-sensitive than Low, likely due to shadow and texture quality.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 88 FPS (Low), 59 FPS (Medium), 50 FPS (High), and 38 FPS (Ultra). The Medium preset shows a minimum of 50 FPS and maximum of 68 FPS, a range of 18 FPS. The transition from 1440p to 4K results in FPS drops of 43 (Low), 41 (Medium), 34 (High), and 26 (Ultra). The smaller absolute drop for Ultra (26 FPS) compared to Low (43 FPS) indicates that at 4K Ultra, the GPU is already near its limit, whereas Low settings still have headroom to scale.

Settings Recommendations

For 1080p gaming, the High preset at 121 FPS provides the best balance of visual quality and performance, as it stays above 120 FPS while offering better fidelity than Low or Medium. The Ultra preset at 93 FPS is playable but sacrifices 28 FPS for marginal visual improvements over High. The Medium preset at 128 FPS offers 7 FPS more than High but with reduced detail, making High the preferred choice for most players.

At 1440p, the High preset at 84 FPS is the recommended option, as it maintains smooth gameplay while providing solid visual quality. The Medium preset at 100 FPS offers 16 FPS more but with noticeable quality reductions, while Ultra at 64 FPS dips below the 70 FPS threshold that many players consider acceptable. The Low preset at 131 FPS is suitable for competitive play but lacks the visual polish of High.

For 4K, the Low preset at 88 FPS is the only option that exceeds 60 FPS, making it the default recommendation for 4K displays. The Medium preset at 59 FPS is borderline, with a minimum of 50 FPS that may cause stutter in demanding scenes. The High preset at 50 FPS and Ultra at 38 FPS are not recommended for smooth gameplay, as they fall below the 60 FPS target. The data suggests that players with 4K monitors should use Low settings to maximize frame rate, while those prioritizing visual quality should consider 1440p with High settings for the best overall experience.