Rust

The Intel Core i5-13400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT delivers a highly capable Rust experience, with performance scaling that clearly shifts from a CPU-bound state at lower resolutions to a GPU-bound state at 4K. The measured data across three resolutions and four quality presets reveals a system that can comfortably handle competitive frame rates, though the Ultra preset demands significant sacrifices. This analysis breaks down the resolution scaling, component roles, ranking position, and optimal settings based strictly on the provided benchmark results.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K demonstrates a pronounced dependency on resolution, particularly at lower settings. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 206.8 at 1920x1080 to 146.7 at 2560x1440, a reduction of 60.1 FPS, and then falls further to 83 at 3840x2160. This represents a 59.9% decrease from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the GPU is being increasingly taxed as pixel count rises. The scaling from 1440p to 4K at Low settings shows a 63.7 FPS drop, which is nearly identical to the 1080p-to-1440p drop, suggesting a linear relationship between resolution and workload at this preset.

At High settings, the pattern shifts. The average FPS goes from 117.6 at 1080p to 83.4 at 1440p, a 34.2 FPS decrease, and then to 48.1 at 4K, another 35.3 FPS decrease. The consistency of these drops indicates that the RX 6800 XT is the primary limiter at High settings across all resolutions, as the frame rate scales almost perfectly with the pixel count increase. The 4K High result of 48.1 FPS is below the 60 FPS threshold, meaning users targeting that resolution will need to lower quality settings.

Medium settings reveal a similar pattern, with 142 FPS at 1080p, 95.8 at 1440p, and 55.6 at 4K. The drop from 1440p to 4K is 40.2 FPS, which is larger than the 46.2 FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p, hinting that the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute capacity are becoming saturated at 4K. Ultra settings show the steepest curve, with 88.1 FPS at 1080p, 65.1 at 1440p, and 35.7 at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is less than half of the 1080p Ultra result, confirming that Ultra is not viable at higher resolutions with this hardware.

The data suggests that at 1080p and 1440p with Low or Medium settings, the CPU is likely the limiting component, as the frame rates exceed what the GPU would typically sustain. However, at 4K across all settings, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck, with frame rates dropping below 60 FPS even at Medium. The 1080p Low result of 206.8 FPS indicates headroom in the CPU, but the 4K Ultra result of 35.7 FPS shows the GPU's limits.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT, built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with a 7 nm process, brings substantial resources to Rust. It features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 512.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is particularly relevant for Rust, as the game's large world and texture streaming can benefit from ample VRAM. The GPU's 4608 shading units, 288 TMUs, and 128 ROPs handle the game's geometry and pixel work, while 72 ray accelerators provide additional compute capabilities.

The GPU's clock speeds are 1825 MHz base and 2250 MHz boost, with a game clock of 2015 MHz. These clocks contribute to a pixel rate of 288.0 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 648.0 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance of 20.74 TFLOPS indicates strong raw compute power, which helps with the game's physics and particle effects. The GPU's 300 W TDP and dual-slot design with 2x 8-pin power connectors suggest it is a power-hungry component, but the performance metrics justify this.

In the measured results, the GPU's role becomes evident at 4K. At 4K Low, the RX 6800 XT delivers 83 FPS, which is respectable but shows that even a high-end GPU struggles with 4K in Rust. The gap between 4K Low and 4K High is 34.9 FPS, indicating that the GPU's shading units are heavily utilized at higher quality settings. The 4K Ultra result of 35.7 FPS is the lowest measured, showing that the GPU's limits are reached when all effects are enabled.

The GPU's benchmark percentile of 87 versus all GPUs places it in the upper tier. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER, has an average score that is 2.6% lower, while the Intel Arc A550M is 0.5% higher. This indicates the RX 6800 XT is competitive with modern mid-to-high-end GPUs. The 16 GB VRAM is a significant advantage for Rust at 4K, as the game can use large textures without hitting memory limits.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F, part of the Raptor Lake-S family, provides 10 cores and 16 threads with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and boost clock of 4.60 GHz. This configuration is well-suited for Rust's multi-threaded server and entity update logic. The CPU's 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 cache per core help with data locality, reducing latency for frequently accessed game data.

The CPU's benchmark scores show strong multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21279 and a single-core score of 3004. The Geekbench multi-core score of 10971 and single-core score of 2301 further confirm this. The Passmark multi-thread score of 25032 and single-thread score of 3634 indicate balanced performance. The CPU's percentile versus all CPUs is 82, placing it above average.

In Rust, the CPU's role is most apparent at 1080p and 1440p with lower settings. At 1080p Low, the frame rate of 206.8 FPS suggests the CPU can feed the GPU adequately, though this is likely near the CPU's limit. The 1440p Low result of 146.7 FPS shows a steeper drop than the 1080p Low result, indicating that the GPU is starting to become more involved. However, the gap between 1080p Low and 1440p Low (60.1 FPS) is larger than the gap between 1440p Low and 4K Low (63.7 FPS), which is unusual and may reflect CPU limitations at lower resolutions.

The CPU's nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-13620H with a deltaPct of 0.1% and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D with a deltaPct of -0.5%. This indicates the i5-13400F is essentially on par with these alternatives. The CPU's 10 cores and 16 threads are adequate for Rust's simulation, but the game does not appear to scale perfectly with more cores, as evidenced by the 3dMark max threads score of 7307 versus the 16-thread score of 7314, showing minimal gains beyond 16 threads.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-13400F and AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT ranks 537 out of 1717 tested combos in Rust, placing it in the 68.7th percentile of all tested systems. This rank reflects a solid mid-to-upper tier position, indicating that the combo provides a good balance of CPU and GPU power for this game. The rank of 537 means there are 536 combos that perform better, but there are also 1180 combos that perform worse.

Given the CPU's percentile of 82 and the GPU's percentile of 87, the combo rank of 537 out of 1717 suggests that while both components are individually strong, the overall system performance in Rust is slightly limited by the pairing. The GPU's higher percentile suggests it is the stronger component, and at higher resolutions it becomes the primary driver of performance. The CPU's lower percentile, while still above average, means it may hold back the GPU at lower resolutions.

The combo rank can be interpreted in the context of the measured FPS. At 1080p High, the combo delivers 117.6 FPS, which is above the 100 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. At 1440p High, it delivers 83.4 FPS, which is still playable. At 4K High, it drops to 48.1 FPS, which is below 60 FPS. This suggests that the combo is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, with 4K requiring lower settings.

The rank also indicates that users with this combo should not expect competitive 4K Ultra performance, as the 35.7 FPS result at 4K Ultra is below the playable threshold for most users. However, the combo's ability to exceed 200 FPS at 1080p Low shows significant headroom for competitive play or high-refresh-rate monitors.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the target resolution and frame rate. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers 142 FPS, which is excellent for competitive play and smooth gameplay. The High preset at 117.6 FPS is also solid, offering improved visual quality with a minor FPS cost. The Low preset at 206.8 FPS is only recommended for users with very high refresh rate monitors, as the visual quality loss is significant. The Ultra preset at 88.1 FPS is playable but may cause noticeable frame drops in busy areas.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset provides 95.8 FPS, which is ideal for most users seeking a balance between visual quality and performance. The High preset at 83.4 FPS is acceptable, but users may notice occasional drops below 60 FPS in heavy scenes. The Low preset at 146.7 FPS is overkill for most monitors, while the Ultra preset at 65.1 FPS is borderline, with users potentially experiencing stutter. For 1440p, Medium is the recommended preset.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset at 83 FPS is the only setting that consistently exceeds 60 FPS. The Medium preset at 55.6 FPS is playable but may dip below 60 FPS during intense moments. The High preset at 48.1 FPS is not recommended for smooth gameplay, and the Ultra preset at 35.7 FPS is only suitable for screenshots or single-player exploration. For 4K, users should stick to Low or Medium settings.

The data indicates that the Medium preset offers the best experience across all resolutions, providing a 45.4% FPS improvement over High at 4K (55.6 vs 48.1) and a 42.8% improvement over Ultra at 4K (55.6 vs 35.7). At 1080p, Medium is 20.7% faster than High and 61.1% faster than Ultra, making it the most balanced choice.

FAQ

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

A: The highest measured average FPS is 206.8 at 1920x1080 with Low settings, indicating the combo can handle high-refresh-rate gaming at this resolution.

Q: Is the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT sufficient for 4K gaming in Rust?

A: At 4K, the GPU delivers 83 FPS on Low settings and 55.6 FPS on Medium, but drops to 48.1 FPS on High and 35.7 FPS on Ultra, suggesting 4K is only viable with lower presets.

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-13400F compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The i5-13400F has an average benchmark score of 25236, which is 0.1% higher than the Intel Core i7-13620H and 0.5% higher than the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D, showing it is on par with these alternatives.

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking among tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 537 out of 1717 tested combos in Rust, placing it in the upper 68.7% of all systems tested.

Q: Which settings preset provides the best balance of FPS and visual quality at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Medium preset delivers 95.8 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold and provides a good visual experience, making it the recommended choice.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU limit performance at 1080p with Low settings?

A: At 1080p Low, the 206.8 FPS result is likely limited by the CPU, as the GPU has more headroom, but at 4K the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck with frame rates dropping below 60 FPS on most presets.