Rust

Rust’s measured performance with the Intel Core i5-10400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 shows a configuration that is heavily influenced by resolution and quality presets. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 147.8 FPS, but this drops to 119.9 FPS at High, a decline of 27.9 FPS. The scaling continues at 1440p, where Low produces 132.5 FPS and High yields 108.9 FPS. At 4K, the trend intensifies: Low settings deliver 111.4 FPS, while High drops to 71.8 FPS. The data indicates that the RTX 5080’s raw throughput is substantial, but the older Comet Lake CPU begins to constrain performance at lower resolutions where frame rates are higher.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic shift in bottleneck behavior. At 1080p Low, the system produces 147.8 FPS, which is the highest measured result across all configurations. Moving to 1440p Low, the average falls to 132.5 FPS, a reduction of 15.3 FPS. At 4K Low, the frame rate drops further to 111.4 FPS. This pattern shows that even at Low settings, resolution scaling exacts a toll, but the percentage decline from 1080p to 4K is roughly 24.6%, which is modest compared to the GPU-heavy workload at higher presets.

When quality settings are raised, the resolution impact becomes more pronounced. At High settings, the system goes from 119.9 FPS at 1080p to 108.9 FPS at 1440p, and then to 71.8 FPS at 4K. The 4K High result is 40.1% lower than the 1080p High figure, indicating that the GPU is the primary limiter at this resolution and preset combination. The Ultra preset tells a similar story: 109.2 FPS at 1080p, 92.1 FPS at 1440p, and 54.2 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra score is roughly half of the 1080p Ultra score, which strongly suggests that the RTX 5080’s memory bandwidth and shader throughput are being saturated.

The data implies that at 1080p and 1440p, the CPU plays a significant role in limiting performance, particularly at Low and Medium settings where frame rates exceed 120 FPS. The i5-10400F’s six cores and twelve threads, with a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, are adequate for Rust’s simulation logic, but the frame rate ceiling appears to be around 147.8 FPS. At 4K, the GPU becomes the dominant constraint, as the resolution increase demands more pixel throughput than the CPU can influence. The 4K Low result of 111.4 FPS versus 4K High at 71.8 FPS highlights how the GPU’s workload scales with quality settings, while the CPU’s contribution remains relatively constant.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Comet Lake architecture, fabricated on Intel’s 14 nm process. Its base clock is 2.90 GHz, with a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, and it has 12 MB of shared L3 cache. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU scores 10297 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 1453 in single-core, which places it in the 73rd percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7552, which scores 14115 (0.4% higher), and the Intel Core i5-8500, which scores 14332 (1.1% higher). These results indicate that the i5-10400F is a mid-range processor that performs slightly below some older desktop chips but remains competitive for gaming workloads.

In Rust, the CPU’s role is evident in the frame rate differences between Low and High settings at the same resolution. At 1080p, Low yields 147.8 FPS, while High yields 119.9 FPS, a gap of 27.9 FPS. This difference is not purely GPU-driven; the CPU must handle additional draw calls and physics calculations at higher settings, but the core simulation load is similar. The fact that 1080p Low reaches 147.8 FPS suggests that the CPU is capable of feeding the RTX 5080 at this level, but the frame rate ceiling is likely due to single-thread performance. The 3DMark single-thread score of 688 and Geekbench single-core score of 1454 show that the CPU’s single-thread capability is modest by modern standards, which can limit performance in games that rely heavily on one or two threads.

Rust is known for its complex entity interactions and server-side computation, which often stresses CPU performance. The i5-10400F’s 12 threads help with multi-threaded tasks, as evidenced by its 3DMark 16-thread score of 4748 and PassMark multi-thread score of 12115. However, at 4K Ultra, the frame rate falls to 54.2 FPS, which is likely GPU-bound, but at 1080p, the CPU’s limitations become more apparent. The data shows that the combo ranks 350th out of 1717 tested combinations, which is above the median but not exceptional. This ranking reflects that the CPU is a mid-tier component that pairs well with a high-end GPU, but it does not fully unlock the RTX 5080’s potential in CPU-limited scenarios.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is a high-end graphics card based on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture, built on TSMC’s 5 nm process. It features 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU has 10752 shading units, 336 texture mapping units, and 112 ROPs, with a boost clock of 2617 MHz. Its FP32 performance is 56.28 TFLOPS, and it scores 36565 in PassMark G3D, placing it in the 89th percentile of all GPUs. The nearest rivals include the Intel Arc A570M, which scores 58239 (1.6% higher), and the Intel Arc Pro A60, which scores 60326 (1.9% lower). These numbers confirm that the RTX 5080 is a top-tier GPU, but its performance in Rust is tempered by the CPU.

The GPU’s role in Rust becomes dominant at 4K resolutions. At 4K Low, the average FPS is 111.4, but this drops to 82.6 at Medium and 71.8 at High. The Ultra preset at 4K yields only 54.2 FPS, which is a 51.3% reduction from the Low preset. This scaling indicates that the RTX 5080’s memory bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s is being heavily utilized, and the GPU’s compute resources are the limiting factor. In contrast, at 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 38.6 FPS (147.8 vs. 109.2), which is less severe, suggesting that the CPU is capping performance at lower resolutions.

The RTX 5080’s 16 GB VRAM is more than sufficient for Rust’s textures and assets, even at Ultra settings, but the GPU’s raw power is constrained by the i5-10400F at lower resolutions. The PassMark GPU Compute score of 21789 and Geekbench OpenCL score of 264461 show that the GPU excels at parallel workloads, but Rust’s frame pacing is influenced by the CPU’s ability to submit draw calls. The data suggests that the RTX 5080 is underutilized at 1080p, where the CPU is the bottleneck, but fully engaged at 4K, where the GPU’s shading units and memory bandwidth determine performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-10400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 ranks 350th out of 1717 tested combos in Rust, placing it in the top 20.4% of all configurations. This ranking is notable because the CPU is a 2020 mid-range part, while the GPU is a 2025 flagship. The data indicates that the combo performs well overall, but the CPU prevents it from reaching higher ranks. The i5-10400F’s 73rd percentile among CPUs and the RTX 5080’s 89th percentile among GPUs suggest a mismatch in tier, where the GPU is significantly stronger than the CPU.

Compared to other combos, this pairing delivers solid frame rates across all resolutions, but it is not optimized for maximum performance. The 4K Ultra result of 54.2 FPS is playable but not smooth on high-refresh-rate displays, while 1080p Low at 147.8 FPS is excellent for competitive play. The ranking reflects that the system is balanced toward GPU-heavy workloads, and users who prioritize high frame rates at 1080p might benefit from a stronger CPU. However, the data shows that the combo is not a weak performer; it sits above the median and is capable of handling Rust at high settings in most scenarios.

The nearest rivals for the CPU and GPU provide context for the combo’s performance. The CPU’s deltaPct against the AMD EPYC 7552 is 0.4%, meaning the i5-10400F is marginally slower, while the GPU’s deltaPct against the Intel Arc A570M is 1.6%, showing the RTX 5080 is slightly slower in average benchmark scores. These small differences in synthetic tests do not translate to large FPS gaps in Rust, but they indicate that the combo’s ranking is influenced by the CPU’s mid-tier status.

FAQ

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

A: The highest measured average FPS is 147.8 at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 54.2, which is the lowest recorded figure.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the primary bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data suggests the CPU is the limiter at 1080p, as frame rates range from 109.2 to 147.8 FPS, and the i5-10400F’s single-thread performance (688 in 3DMark) restricts higher output.

Q: What is the combo’s rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 350th out of 1717 tested combos in Rust, placing it above the median.

Q: How does the RTX 5080’s memory bandwidth affect 4K performance?

A: The 960.0 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for Rust, but at 4K High and Ultra, the GPU’s workload leads to 71.8 and 54.2 FPS, respectively, indicating that the GPU is the dominant constraint.

Q: What is the difference between 1080p Low and 4K Low FPS?

A: The difference is 36.4 FPS, with 1080p Low at 147.8 FPS and 4K Low at 111.4 FPS, showing that resolution scaling impacts even low-quality settings.