Rust

The Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER delivers a playable, though not flawless, experience in Rust, with performance heavily dictated by both resolution and quality presets. The data shows a system that is well-balanced for 1080p and 1440p gaming but struggles to maintain high frame rates at 4K, particularly when settings are raised. This combination ranks in the 59th percentile of all tested combos for this title, indicating it sits slightly above the median performer in the database.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates reveal a classic pattern of GPU-bound scaling as resolution increases. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 149.6 FPS, which drops to 103.6 FPS at 2560x1440 and further to 61.9 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 31% performance hit from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 40% drop from 1440p to 4K. The scaling suggests that at 1080p, the system is not fully GPU-limited, allowing the CPU to push higher frame rates.

When moving to High settings, the same resolution progression shows 87.4 FPS at 1080p, 59.6 FPS at 1440p, and 35.6 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1440p to 4K at High settings is a significant 40% reduction, emphasizing that the RTX 2070 SUPER’s 8 GB of VRAM and memory bandwidth become increasingly strained at higher pixel counts. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, with 68 FPS at 1080p, 46.1 FPS at 1440p, and just 26.9 FPS at 4K. These numbers indicate that 4K Ultra is not a viable target for this combination, as the average frame rate falls below the 30 FPS threshold often considered the minimum for playable performance.

The scaling between Low and Ultra settings at each resolution also tells a story. At 1080p, the difference between Low (149.6 FPS) and Ultra (68 FPS) is a 55% reduction, while at 4K, the same settings gap results in a 57% reduction (61.9 FPS to 26.9 FPS). This consistency suggests that the GPU is the primary bottleneck across all quality presets at 4K, whereas at 1080p, the CPU’s 6 cores and 12 threads are better able to keep up with the lower graphical load, allowing the GPU to operate more freely.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is built on the Turing architecture with a TU104 chip, featuring 2560 shading units and 64 ROPs. Its base clock of 1605 MHz and boost clock of 1770 MHz provide the raw throughput needed for Rust’s demanding environments. The GPU is equipped with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration appears to be a critical factor in the game’s performance, as Rust’s expansive maps and numerous entities place significant pressure on VRAM capacity and bandwidth.

At 4K resolution, the data shows that the GPU becomes the limiting component. The transition from High (35.6 FPS) to Ultra (26.9 FPS) at 3840x2160 represents a 24% performance drop, indicating that the additional graphical effects at Ultra are taxing the GPU’s compute resources and memory subsystem. The fact that Low settings at 4K yield 61.9 FPS, while High settings only produce 35.6 FPS, suggests that the GPU’s texture fill rate and pixel rate are being pushed to their limits. The pixel rate of 113.3 GPixel/s and texture rate of 283.2 GTexel/s are respectable for the 20-series, but Rust’s heavy draw call overhead and large draw distances can overwhelm these specifications at higher resolutions.

The GPU’s FP32 performance of 9.062 TFLOPS is adequate for the game’s lighting and shadow calculations, but the benchmark results indicate that the card is not powerful enough to maintain high frame rates at 4K with quality settings above Medium. The RTX 2070 SUPER’s 65th percentile ranking among all GPUs in the database reflects its position as a mid-to-high-end part from the 2019 era, and the Rust data confirms that it is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming rather than 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER achieves a rank of 1018 out of 1717 tested combos in Rust, placing it in the 59th percentile. This means that roughly 41% of all tested system combinations deliver higher average frame rates in this game, while the majority of systems perform worse. The ranking suggests that while this is a capable pairing, it is not at the top of the performance hierarchy for Rust.

The combo’s position is influenced by both components. The CPU, with its 75th percentile ranking among all processors, is a relatively strong performer, while the GPU’s 65th percentile ranking is slightly lower. The combination of a high-percentile CPU with a mid-range GPU results in a system that is well-matched for gaming at 1440p, but the GPU becomes the limiting factor at 4K, preventing the combo from climbing higher in the rankings. In the context of the database, this setup is solidly mid-pack, offering consistent performance that will handle Rust at 1080p with high settings and 1440p with medium to high settings, but it will not compete with higher-end combinations that feature more powerful GPUs.

When compared to other tested combos, the rank indicates that users with this pairing should expect a playable experience at 1440p, where the average frame rates across all settings (46.1 to 103.6 FPS) are within acceptable ranges. The 4K results, however, are below 60 FPS for all settings except Low, which aligns with the combo’s mid-pack ranking.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Rust with this combo?

A: The data shows that 2560x1440 provides the best balance, with average frame rates ranging from 46.1 FPS at Ultra to 103.6 FPS at Low. At 1920x1080, all settings exceed 68 FPS, but the higher resolution offers a better visual experience.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Rust?

A: Yes, but only at lower settings. At 3840x2160, the average frame rates are 61.9 FPS at Low, 42.4 FPS at Medium, 35.6 FPS at High, and 26.9 FPS at Ultra. The Ultra preset falls below 30 FPS, making it not recommended.

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 17181, which is essentially tied with the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U (17189) and the Intel Core i7-1260P (17212). It trails the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U by 0.2% and leads the Intel Core i5-1240U by 0.2%.

Q: What is the GPU’s performance relative to similar cards?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 22206. It is 0.5% behind the NVIDIA RTX A400, 0.9% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z, 2.3% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile, and 2.5% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 5700.

Q: What is the difference in performance between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 149.6 FPS, while the Ultra preset delivers 68 FPS. This represents a 55% reduction in frame rate when moving to the highest quality settings.

Q: Does the combo perform better at 1080p or 1440p relative to 4K?

A: The combo performs significantly better at 1080p and 1440p. At 1080p High, the average is 87.4 FPS, and at 1440p High, it is 59.6 FPS. At 4K High, the average drops to 35.6 FPS, indicating a substantial performance penalty at the highest resolution.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F features 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. This configuration, based on the Rocket Lake architecture, provides strong single-threaded and multi-threaded performance for Rust, which is known to be sensitive to CPU speed due to its complex simulation and physics systems. The CPU’s 12 MB of shared L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s of memory bandwidth are sufficient to feed the RTX 2070 SUPER without creating a significant bottleneck at most settings.

The benchmark data for the CPU shows a single-thread score of 868 in 3DMark and 2029 in Cinebench R23, indicating robust per-core performance. In multi-threaded workloads, the CPU achieves 5652 in 3DMark max threads and 14372 in Cinebench R23 multicore, demonstrating that its 6-core/12-thread design can handle the parallel tasks that Rust requires, such as world generation and entity updates. The Passmark single-thread score of 2981 and multithread score of 16908 further confirm the CPU’s capability.

In Rust specifically, the CPU’s role becomes more apparent at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 149.6 FPS, which is likely near the CPU’s limit for this game. The fact that the frame rate drops to 103.6 FPS at 1440p Low and 61.9 FPS at 4K Low shows that the GPU is becoming the limiting factor as resolution increases. The CPU’s 75th percentile ranking among all CPUs suggests that it provides adequate headroom for the RTX 2070 SUPER, and the system is not severely CPU-bound in most scenarios. The benchmark results indicate that this processor is a solid match for the GPU, delivering consistent performance that scales appropriately with graphical demands.