Rust

The Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER delivers a robust performance profile in Rust, with benchmark results showing a clear progression of frame rates as resolution and graphical fidelity change. The data reveals a system that is well-balanced across the board, though the limiting factors shift predictably between the CPU and GPU depending on the workload.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a pronounced scaling curve from 1080p to 4K, highlighting the increasing burden placed on the GPU at higher resolutions. At the High preset, the system delivers 123.6 FPS at 1920x1080, which drops to 97.7 FPS at 2560x1440, and further to 59.4 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 52% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the RTX 4070 SUPER is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, as the pixel count quadruples while the CPU workload remains relatively static.

The scaling pattern becomes more informative when examining the Low preset. At 1920x1080, the system achieves 151.7 FPS, while at 2560x1440 it maintains 131.4 FPS, and at 3840x2160 it still produces 101.4 FPS. The smaller relative drop between 1440p and 4K (from 131.4 to 101.4 FPS, a 23% reduction) compared to the High preset suggests that at Low settings, the CPU begins to play a more significant role in limiting performance, particularly at lower resolutions where the GPU is less taxed. This is a classic sign of a CPU-bound scenario at 1080p with lighter settings.

The Medium preset shows a similar trend, with 128.5 FPS at 1080p, 110.9 FPS at 1440p, and 65.6 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset, however, exhibits the steepest drop-off, going from 110.7 FPS at 1080p to 75.2 FPS at 1440p and finally to 46.7 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result of 46.7 FPS is the only measured configuration that falls below the 60 FPS threshold, suggesting that this combination is not ideal for maximum fidelity at 4K without adjusting settings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process node and houses 7,168 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 80 render output units. Its memory subsystem consists of 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1980 MHz with a boost clock of 2475 MHz, and the memory runs at an effective speed of 21 Gbps. This configuration yields a pixel rate of 198.0 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 554.4 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance rated at 35.48 TFLOPS.

The GPU's benchmark scores underscore its capability in this game. It achieves a Passmark G3D score of 29,995 and a Passmark GPU Compute score of 17,108. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 4,627. These figures place the RTX 4070 SUPER in the 84th percentile among all GPUs tested. The data shows that the GPU's memory bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s is likely sufficient for Rust's asset streaming, as the frame rates at 4K High (59.4 FPS) remain playable, though the Ultra preset's 46.7 FPS indicates that the sheer fill rate demand at 4K Ultra can overwhelm even this capable card.

The VRAM allocation of 12 GB appears adequate for Rust, as the game's open-world environments with numerous player-built structures can consume significant memory. The measured results do not show any signs of stuttering or frame drops that would indicate VRAM exhaustion, even at 4K Ultra where the game rendered at 46.7 FPS. This suggests that the RTX 4070 SUPER's memory configuration is well-matched to Rust's requirements at this resolution and settings level.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Comet Lake architecture, manufactured on a 14 nm process. It operates at a base clock of 2.90 GHz and boosts up to 4.30 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The processor features 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 256 KB of L2 cache per core, and a shared 12 MB L3 cache. Its memory bandwidth is rated at 42.7 GB/s over a dual-channel DDR4 interface.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-10400F posts a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 10,297 and a single-core score of 1,453. It achieves a Geekbench multicore score of 5,783 and a single-core score of 1,454. The Passmark multithread score is 12,115, with a single-thread score of 2,541. These results place the CPU in the 73rd percentile among all CPUs tested, with an average benchmark score of 14,168. Its nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7552 (0.4% higher), AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (0.8% higher), and Intel Core i5-8500 (1.1% higher), indicating that the i5-10400F sits in a competitive range for its class.

The CPU's influence on Rust performance is evident when examining the scaling at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system produces 151.7 FPS, which is the highest recorded in any configuration. The difference between 1080p Low (151.7 FPS) and 1440p Low (131.4 FPS) is 20.3 FPS, while the difference between 1440p Low and 4K Low (101.4 FPS) is 30 FPS. This pattern suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is managing the game's simulation and entity tracking tasks, while the GPU has spare capacity. The CPU's 12 threads are effectively utilized by Rust's multi-threaded architecture, as evidenced by the strong 3DMark 16-thread score of 4,748 and max-thread score of 4,735.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations, this specific pairing holds a rank of 478 out of 1,717 total combos. This places it in the upper quartile of all tested systems, indicating that the i5-10400F and RTX 4070 SUPER form a solid foundation for Rust. The CPU's 73rd percentile ranking and the GPU's 84th percentile ranking combine to produce a system that is better equipped for this game than the majority of alternatives.

The rank position reflects the balance between the two components. The GPU's high percentile score (84th) relative to the CPU's (73rd) suggests that the graphics card is the stronger contributor to overall performance in this title. This is consistent with Rust's nature as a visually demanding game with complex rendering requirements, particularly at higher resolutions. The system's ability to maintain above 60 FPS at 1440p High (97.7 FPS) and 4K High (59.4 FPS) demonstrates that the combination is well-suited for competitive play at mainstream resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS across all resolutions and settings, the optimal configuration balances visual quality with frame rate stability. At 1920x1080, the High preset provides 123.6 FPS, which is well above the threshold for smooth gameplay, while the Ultra preset delivers 110.7 FPS. The difference of 12.9 FPS between these two settings may not justify the extra visual load for most players, making High the recommended choice at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset yields 110.9 FPS, which is a strong result, while High produces 97.7 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1440p drops to 75.2 FPS, which is still playable but shows diminishing returns. For a 1440p monitor, the High preset offers the best balance between fidelity and performance, staying comfortably above 60 FPS with headroom for dips.

For 3840x2160, the situation is more constrained. The Low preset achieves 101.4 FPS, but this sacrifices visual quality significantly. The Medium preset produces 65.6 FPS, which is close to the 60 FPS target, while High delivers 59.4 FPS. The Ultra preset at 46.7 FPS is not recommended for consistent gameplay. The data suggests that 4K players should choose Medium at 65.6 FPS or accept slightly lower fidelity with High at 59.4 FPS, depending on preference for smoothness versus detail.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system produces the following average FPS: Low at 151.7, Medium at 128.5, High at 123.6, and Ultra at 110.7. The spread of 41 FPS between Low and Ultra demonstrates the GPU's headroom at this resolution, with even the most demanding settings maintaining a high frame rate.

At 2560x1440, the results are: Low at 131.4, Medium at 110.9, High at 97.7, and Ultra at 75.2. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is most pronounced in the Ultra preset, which loses 35.5 FPS, while the Low preset only loses 20.3 FPS. This indicates that the GPU becomes progressively more stressed as settings increase.

At 3840x2160, the results are: Low at 101.4, Medium at 65.6, High at 59.4, and Ultra at 46.7. The Low preset remains above 100 FPS, showcasing the RTX 4070 SUPER's raw compute power, but the higher presets show a steep decline. The gap between Medium and High at 4K is 6.2 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is 12.7 FPS, suggesting that the Ultra preset's additional effects impose a significant cost at this resolution.