Rust

The Intel Core i5-13400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT delivers a playable yet demanding experience in Rust, with performance varying dramatically based on resolution and quality settings. The measured data shows a system that is capable of high refresh rates at 1080p but struggles to maintain smooth frame rates at 4K, particularly on higher presets. This analysis breaks down the benchmark results across the four tested resolutions and presets, examining the roles of the CPU and GPU, and providing specific recommendations based on the measured FPS.

FAQ

Q: What is the best performing settings preset at 1080p?

A: The Low preset achieves the highest average frame rate at 1920x1080, with a measured average of 139.8 FPS. This is significantly ahead of the Medium preset, which averages 91.4 FPS, and the High preset, which averages 79.9 FPS. The Ultra preset is the slowest at 1080p, with an average of 58.7 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU benchmark compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Intel Core i5-13400F has an average benchmark score of 25236, which places it in the 82nd percentile of all CPUs. Its closest rival, the Intel Core i7-13620H, scores 25201, making the i5-13400F 0.1% faster. It also leads the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D by 0.5% (which scores 25365) and trails the AMD EPYC 9474F by 0.5% (which scores 25103).

Q: What is the GPU's relative standing among all graphics cards?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT falls into the 71st percentile of all GPUs, based on its average benchmark score of 27985. Among its nearest rivals, it is essentially tied with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (score 27956), performing 0.1% better. It is 0.9% slower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 (score 28238).

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 96.7 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 44.1 FPS. This represents a significant 52.6 FPS drop when moving from the lowest to the highest quality settings, indicating a substantial performance cost for the visual enhancements in Rust.

Q: Is the system more limited by the CPU or GPU in Rust?

A: The data suggests a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions and settings. For instance, at 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 21.7, while at 1080p Low, it jumps to 139.8. The CPU's strong multi-threaded score (21279 in Cinebench R23) appears sufficient to feed the GPU at lower resolutions, where the GPU becomes the limiting factor.

Q: What is the combined performance rank of this specific hardware configuration in Rust?

A: The combination of the Intel Core i5-13400F and AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT ranks 1149 out of 1717 total tested combos for Rust. This places the system in the lower-mid range of all tested hardware pairings for this specific game.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT, based on the RDNA 2.0 architecture, is the primary driver for frame rate in Rust, especially as resolution and settings increase. It features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s. The card's game clock is 2359 MHz, with a boost clock up to 2589 MHz. This configuration allows for a pixel rate of 165.7 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 331.4 GTexel/s.

The measured FPS data shows a clear correlation between the GPU's workload and performance. At 1080p with Low settings, the GPU is less stressed, resulting in an average of 139.8 FPS. However, as settings increase to Ultra, the frame rate falls to 58.7 FPS. This trend is amplified at 4K, where the Ultra preset yields only 21.7 FPS. The GPU's performance percentile (71st) and its benchmark scores, such as 16461 in Passmark G3D, indicate it is a mid-range card that can handle 1080p gaming well but is overburdened by 4K Ultra settings in Rust.

The VRAM capacity becomes a factor at higher resolutions. At 3840x2160, the demand for memory bandwidth and capacity increases. The 8 GB frame buffer, while sufficient for 1080p, can become a bottleneck at 4K with high-resolution textures, contributing to the significant FPS drop observed from the Low preset (58.4 FPS) to the High preset (31.7 FPS). In this context, the GPU is the dominant performance limiter at 4K and at any resolution with Ultra settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F provides the processing foundation for the system. It is a 10-core, 16-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. It has 20 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU's benchmark results, including a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21279 and a single-core score of 3004, place it in the 82nd percentile of all CPUs, indicating strong overall processing capability.

In Rust, a game known for its significant CPU load due to entity management and world simulation, the i5-13400F's multi-threaded performance is crucial. The high multi-threaded scores suggest it can handle the game's simulation overhead, allowing the GPU to operate more freely at lower resolutions. The data supports this: at 1080p Low, where the CPU is often the limiting factor in other games, the system achieves 139.8 FPS, demonstrating that the CPU is not holding back performance at this level.

However, the CPU's role changes as resolution increases. At 4K, the GPU becomes the bottleneck, and the CPU's performance becomes less critical to the final frame rate. The drop from 1080p Low (139.8 FPS) to 4K Low (58.4 FPS) is a 58.3% decrease, which is much larger than the drop from 1080p High (79.9 FPS) to 1440p High (56.8 FPS), which is a 28.9% decrease. This pattern confirms that the CPU is a capable partner, but the GPU's limits are reached first at higher resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a detailed view of performance across all combinations of resolution and settings.

At 1920x1080, the system is most comfortable. The Low preset averages 139.8 FPS, providing a very smooth experience. Medium settings see a drop to 91.4 FPS, while High settings average 79.9 FPS. The Ultra preset, which taxes the GPU heavily, still manages an average of 58.7 FPS, which is playable but not optimal for high refresh rate monitors.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance cost of the higher resolution is clear. Low settings average 96.7 FPS, still a strong result. Medium and High presets average 65.9 FPS and 56.8 FPS respectively. The Ultra preset drops to 44.1 FPS, which may feel less smooth, especially in fast-paced combat scenarios.

At 3840x2160, the RX 6600 XT is clearly over its intended limit. Only the Low preset achieves a playable average of 58.4 FPS. The Medium preset drops to 37.1 FPS, and the High preset falls to 31.7 FPS. The Ultra preset is effectively unplayable, with an average of just 21.7 FPS. This is the only resolution where even the High preset fails to reach a stable 60 FPS threshold.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K shows a clear trend of the GPU becoming the primary bottleneck. For the Low preset, the average FPS drops from 139.8 at 1080p to 96.7 at 1440p, a 30.8% decrease. Going from 1440p to 4K, the FPS drops from 96.7 to 58.4, a 39.6% decrease. The total drop from 1080p to 4K is 58.3%.

For the Ultra preset, the scaling is even more severe. The average FPS drops from 58.7 at 1080p to 44.1 at 1440p, a 24.9% decrease. From 1440p to 4K, the FPS falls from 44.1 to 21.7, a 50.8% decrease. The total drop from 1080p to 4K is 63.0%.

This data indicates that the GPU's performance scales poorly with resolution, particularly at higher settings. The 128-bit memory bus and 8 GB VRAM are likely contributing factors, as the data throughput required at 4K exceeds what the card can efficiently handle. In contrast, the frame rate differences between Low and Ultra at a given resolution (e.g., 139.8 vs 58.7 FPS at 1080p) show the significant cost of graphical fidelity, further confirming the GPU is the limiting component.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend heavily on the target resolution and the user's preference for frame rate versus visual quality.

For 1920x1080, the High preset is recommended. It provides an average of 79.9 FPS, which is a good balance between visual quality and smoothness. The Medium preset (91.4 FPS) is a viable alternative if a higher frame rate is preferred, but the jump to High offers a more significant visual upgrade for the 12.5 FPS cost. The Ultra preset is not recommended, as the 58.7 FPS average is below the 60 FPS threshold and the visual difference from High is often marginal in a game like Rust.

For 2560x1440, the Medium preset is the best choice. It balances a playable average of 65.9 FPS with good visual fidelity. The High preset averages 56.8 FPS, which might be acceptable for some, but the Medium preset provides a more comfortable margin above 60 FPS. The Low preset, while faster at 96.7 FPS, compromises visual quality too much for a survival game where spotting distant details is important.

For 3840x2160, only the Low preset is recommended for a playable experience, with an average of 58.4 FPS. This is marginally below 60 FPS but is the only setting that provides a near-smooth experience. All other presets at 4K produce average frame rates below 40 FPS, which is generally considered too low for a responsive gaming experience. The data strongly suggests that this hardware combination is not suitable for 4K gaming in Rust with higher quality settings.