Rust

The Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT delivers a robust Rust experience, with the data clearly indicating that the Low preset is the optimal choice for competitive play, while Medium offers the best balance for those prioritizing visual fidelity alongside playable frame rates. The measured rows show that Rust is a demanding title at higher settings, particularly at 4K, where the Ultra preset drops to an average of 42 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold many players target. At 1080p, the Low preset yields an average of 175 FPS, a figure that drops to 150 FPS on Medium and 137 FPS on High, showing a clear hierarchy. For a smooth experience with minimal stutter, the Low preset is the most effective, as it consistently provides the highest average frame rates across all resolutions, while the Medium preset at 1440p remains viable with an average of 112 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

The data indicates that the Low preset provides the best overall experience for this combination, particularly for players who prioritize high and consistent frame rates. The measured FPS rows show a clear pattern: at 1920x1080, Low averages 175 FPS, which is 25 FPS higher than Medium’s 150 FPS and 38 FPS higher than High’s 137 FPS. This margin grows at higher resolutions; at 2560x1440, Low averages 154 FPS compared to Medium’s 112 FPS and High’s 95 FPS. At 3840x2160, the gap is even more pronounced, with Low hitting 99 FPS while Medium falls to 66 FPS and High to 56 FPS.

For players on high-refresh-rate monitors, the Low preset is the only option that consistently approaches or exceeds 144 FPS at 1080p and 1440p, making it ideal for fast-paced gameplay. The Medium preset, however, offers a compelling middle ground for those who want better visuals without sacrificing playability; it maintains an average above 60 FPS at all resolutions, including a 66 FPS average at 4K. The High preset is less recommended, as it drops below 60 FPS at 4K (56 FPS) and produces only a marginal visual improvement over Medium in practice. The Ultra preset is not advisable for this setup, as it yields the lowest frame rates across all resolutions—42 FPS at 4K, 72 FPS at 1440p, and 105 FPS at 1080p—indicating that the GPU is heavily taxed by the highest settings.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database of tested combinations, this pairing of the Intel Core i5-11400F and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT holds a rank of 788 out of 3723 combos for Rust. This places it in the top 21.2% of all tested systems, indicating a strong performer overall. The percentile for the CPU alone is 71, meaning it outperforms 71% of all tested processors, while the GPU’s percentile is 55, which is more modest. This discrepancy suggests that while the CPU is a solid mid-range performer, the GPU’s raw benchmark scores are not as exceptional, yet the combination still manages to rank highly in Rust specifically.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the AMD EPYC 7H12, which is 0.3% faster, and the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U, which is 0.6% slower. The GPU’s nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon 660M, which is 0.5% faster, and the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT, which is 1.5% faster. These deltas are small, indicating that the components are well-matched to their peers, but the high combo rank suggests that the pairing excels in Rust’s specific workload, which often favors strong single-thread and multi-thread performance from the CPU combined with adequate GPU throughput.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT is a critical component in this setup, and the data shows it is the primary bottleneck at higher settings and resolutions. The GPU features 20 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 320-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 800.0 GB/s, which is substantial for handling high-resolution textures. Its boost clock is listed at 2394 MHz, with a game clock of 2025 MHz, and it contains 5376 shading units, 336 texture mapping units, and 192 raster operations units. These specifications allow it to push significant pixel and texture rates, but Rust’s engine appears to be particularly sensitive to the Ultra preset, which likely increases draw distances and shadow complexity.

The benchmark results show that the GPU’s performance drops sharply as settings increase. At 4K, the average FPS falls from 99 on Low to 66 on Medium, then to 56 on High, and finally to 42 on Ultra. This pattern indicates that the GPU’s compute resources are quickly saturated by the more demanding settings. The measured FPS for the Medium preset at 4K includes a minimum of 56 FPS and a maximum of 76 FPS, showing some variance. The GPU’s passmark G3D score is 29009, which is a strong result, but its percentile of 55 suggests it is not at the top of the hierarchy, which explains why Ultra settings at 4K struggle to maintain smooth gameplay.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the data shows the following average frame rates: Low averages 175 FPS, Medium averages 150 FPS, High averages 137 FPS, and Ultra averages 105 FPS. The Medium preset has a recorded minimum of 128 FPS and a maximum of 173 FPS, indicating that even in demanding scenes, the frame rate stays above the 120 FPS threshold. This resolution is clearly CPU-bound at lower settings, as the i5-11400F’s 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient to feed the GPU.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages are: Low at 154 FPS, Medium at 112 FPS, High at 95 FPS, and Ultra at 72 FPS. The Medium preset’s minimum is 95 FPS with a maximum of 129 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is significant, with Low falling by 21 FPS and Medium by 38 FPS, showing that the GPU begins to play a larger role at this resolution. At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low at 99 FPS, Medium at 66 FPS, High at 56 FPS, and Ultra at 42 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K has a minimum of 56 FPS and a maximum of 76 FPS, which is the only 4K setting with recorded variance data. These numbers clearly show that 4K gaming is only feasible on the Low preset, which maintains an average close to 100 FPS.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for high refresh rate gaming at 1080p?

A: The Low preset provides the highest average FPS at 1920x1080, with a measured average of 175 FPS, which is ideal for 144Hz or higher monitors. The Medium preset averages 150 FPS, which is also viable, but Low offers the greatest headroom.

Q: Can this combo run Rust at 4K with playable frame rates?

A: At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 99 FPS, which is playable. The Medium preset averages 66 FPS, which is still above 60 FPS, but High (56 FPS) and Ultra (42 FPS) fall below the standard threshold for smooth gameplay.

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

A: The Intel Core i5-11400F has an average benchmark score of 17177. It is 0.3% faster than the AMD EPYC 7H12, 0.6% faster than the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U, and 0.4% slower than the Intel Core i5-12450H, showing it is a competitive mid-range processor.

Q: What is the GPU’s memory configuration and how does it affect performance?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT has 20 GB of GDDR6 memory with a 320-bit bus, providing 800.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This large memory pool helps maintain performance at high resolutions, but the data shows it is still not sufficient to keep Ultra settings above 60 FPS at 4K.

Q: Which resolution shows the smallest performance gap between Low and Medium settings?

A: At 1920x1080, the gap between Low and Medium is 25 FPS (175 vs 150). At 2560x1440, the gap widens to 42 FPS (154 vs 112), and at 3840x2160, the gap is 33 FPS (99 vs 66). The smallest gap is at 1080p, suggesting the CPU is more of a limiting factor at this resolution.

Q: Is the Ultra preset ever recommended for this setup?

A: The data shows Ultra consistently produces the lowest average FPS: 105 at 1080p, 72 at 1440p, and 42 at 4K. While 105 FPS at 1080p is playable, the visual gains over High are minimal, and the performance cost is significant, making it a poor choice for most players.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. It has a 12 MB shared L3 cache and supports DDR4 memory with a dual-channel bus, providing 51.2 GB/s of bandwidth. In synthetic benchmarks, it achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14340 and a single-core score of 2024, indicating strong multi-threaded capability for a mid-range chip. Its passmark multithread score is 16908, with a single-thread score of 2981.

In Rust, the CPU’s role is significant, especially at lower resolutions. The data shows that at 1080p, the frame rate difference between Low (175 FPS) and Medium (150 FPS) is 25 FPS, which is smaller than the 38 FPS drop from Medium to High (137 FPS). This suggests that the CPU is able to keep up with the GPU at lower settings, but as settings increase, the GPU becomes the bottleneck. The CPU’s percentile of 71 versus all CPUs indicates it is better than average, and its nearest rival, the AMD EPYC 7H12, is only 0.3% faster, showing that the i5-11400F is well-positioned for gaming workloads that rely on a mix of single and multi-thread performance.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a clear and consistent pattern of frame rate drops as resolution increases, which is typical for a system where the GPU becomes more dominant at higher pixel counts. From 1920x1080 to 2560x1440, the average FPS decreases by 21 FPS on Low (175 to 154), 38 FPS on Medium (150 to 112), 42 FPS on High (137 to 95), and 33 FPS on Ultra (105 to 72). This indicates that the transition from 1080p to 1440p has a significant impact, particularly on Medium and High settings, which lose over 30% of their performance.

From 2560x1440 to 3840x2160, the drops are even more pronounced: Low falls by 55 FPS (154 to 99), Medium by 46 FPS (112 to 66), High by 39 FPS (95 to 56), and Ultra by 30 FPS (72 to 42). This pattern reveals that at 4K, the GPU is heavily taxed, and the frame rate scales almost linearly with the pixel count increase. The fact that Low settings at 4K (99 FPS) perform better than Ultra at 1440p (72 FPS) suggests that the GPU’s raw compute power is sufficient, but the additional workload from higher settings at 4K overwhelms it. The limiting component at 4K is clearly the GPU, as the CPU’s performance headroom is not fully utilized; the 1080p results show higher frame rates that are likely closer to the CPU’s maximum capability.