Rust

The Intel Core i5-13400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 combination delivers a playable, though not universally smooth, experience in Rust. The data shows a system that is capable of high refresh rates at 1080p with lower settings, but which becomes increasingly GPU-bound and demanding as resolution and graphical fidelity increase. The measured results reveal a clear hierarchy where the GPU is the primary scaling factor from 1440p upward, while the CPU provides a robust foundation for the game's simulation-heavy workload.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 produces a significant and consistent drop in average frame rates across all settings, indicating a system heavily influenced by rendering resolution. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 82 at 1080p to 57 at 1440p, a reduction of 25 frames, and then further down to 33 at 4K, representing a total decline of approximately 60% from the 1080p baseline. This scaling pattern is characteristic of a GPU that is being pushed to its limits, as the pixel throughput demand at 4K is substantially higher than at 1080p.

The Low preset shows a similar trend, with average FPS dropping from 145 at 1080p to 100 at 1440p, and finally to 59 at 4K. The fact that the Low preset at 4K achieves a higher average FPS (59) than the High preset at 1440p (57) highlights that the settings level has a more pronounced impact on performance than the resolution step between those two points. This suggests that while resolution is a major factor, the graphical workload per pixel is equally critical for this GPU.

Analyzing the Medium preset, which is the only one with complete min/max data, provides further insight into scaling. At 1080p, the average is 97 FPS with a minimum of 83. Moving to 1440p, the average drops to 67 FPS (a 31% decrease), and the minimum falls to 57. At 4K, the average plummets to 40 FPS, with a minimum of 34 and a maximum of 45. The narrow range between minimum and maximum FPS at 4K (34 to 45) indicates that the frame time is relatively consistent, but the overall performance is low, pointing to a sustained, heavy load on the GPU rather than sporadic spikes.

The data strongly suggests that the RTX 5050 is the limiting component at 1440p and 4K. The consistent frame rate drops that roughly correlate with the increase in pixel count (from 2.1 million pixels at 1080p to 3.7 million at 1440p, and 8.3 million at 4K) are a classic sign of GPU-bound performance. At 1080p, the system is less constrained, but the differences between presets still show the GPU's workload scaling with settings, indicating it is never entirely idle. The overall pattern is one of a capable 1080p performer that can handle 1440p at moderate settings, but which struggles to maintain playable frame rates at 4K.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 is the central component in determining the visual performance ceiling for this combination in Rust. Its role is defined by its memory capacity and clock speeds, which directly influence how many frames can be rendered at a given resolution and quality setting. The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 320.0 GB/s. This bandwidth is a critical resource for a game like Rust, which often involves large, detailed environments and many on-screen entities.

The base clock of 2317 MHz and boost clock of 2572 MHz allow for substantial processing throughput, with the GPU's FP32 performance rated at 13.17 TFLOPS. This raw compute power is what drives the shading and geometry processing. However, the 8 GB VRAM capacity is a potential constraint at higher resolutions. As the resolution increases from 1080p to 4K, the demand for texture storage and frame buffer memory grows. The data shows a severe performance drop at 4K, with average FPS falling to 33 on High and 25 on Ultra, which suggests that the GPU may be exceeding its memory capacity or hitting a bandwidth wall, leading to reduced performance.

The relationship between the GPU's memory and clocks is evident in the scaling from Medium to Ultra settings. At 1440p, the average FPS goes from 67 on Medium to 43 on Ultra, a 36% reduction. At 4K, the same settings change results in a drop from 40 to 25 FPS, a 37.5% reduction. This consistent percentage drop indicates that the GPU's computational units are scaling predictably with the increased workload, but the absolute numbers are low because the base performance is being limited by memory bandwidth or capacity. The GPU's benchmark scores, such as a Passmark G3D score of 17326, place it in the 66th percentile of all GPUs, showing it is a mid-range part that is not designed for extreme 4K gaming.

The RTX 5050's performance is further contextualized by its rivals. It sits near the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT, which has an average score of 20713, with the RTX 5050 being 1.6% ahead. It also compares closely to the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL (deltaPct -0.6) and the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile (deltaPct -1.6). This positioning confirms that its performance is in the upper-mid-range tier, and the measured FPS in Rust is consistent with that classification. The GPU's 8 GB memory is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the 4K results in this data set indicate a hard limit for high-fidelity play.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal balance between visual quality and performance for this combo is found at the High preset at 1920x1080, which delivers an average of 82 FPS. This is a significant improvement over the Medium preset's 97 FPS, but the jump to Ultra only yields 62 FPS, a 24% reduction from High. For players prioritizing a smooth experience, the Medium preset at 1080p offers the highest average FPS at 97, but the High preset provides a more visually rich experience while still maintaining a frame rate that is well above the 60 FPS threshold for most displays.

At 2560x1440, the High preset produces an average of 57 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for competitive scenarios. The Medium preset at this resolution yields 67 FPS, making it the recommended choice for a smoother experience, albeit with reduced visual fidelity. The Low preset at 1440p achieves 100 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate monitors, but the visual downgrade may be too significant for some users. The data shows that the Ultra preset at 1440p (43 FPS) and 4K (25 FPS) is not a viable option for consistent gameplay.

For 4K resolution, the data suggests that the system is not well-suited for high settings. The Low preset at 4K achieves an average of 59 FPS, which is technically playable, but the Medium preset drops to 40 FPS, and High falls to 33 FPS. The Ultra preset is effectively unplayable at 25 FPS. Therefore, if 4K is a requirement, the Low preset is the only sensible option. In general, the best experience per the measured rows is achieved by using the High preset at 1080p, as it offers a strong balance of visual quality and performance. For users with 1440p monitors, the Medium preset is the most reliable choice to maintain frame rates above 60 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a detailed look at performance across three resolutions and four settings. At 1920x1080, the system shows its strength, with the Low preset hitting an average of 145 FPS. The Medium preset averages 97 FPS, with a minimum of 83 and a maximum of 112. High settings reduce the average to 82 FPS, while the Ultra preset brings it down to 62 FPS. This range of 62 to 145 FPS demonstrates that the RTX 5050 has ample headroom at 1080p, allowing users to choose between maximum frame rates and maximum visual detail.

At 2560x1440, the performance drops noticeably. The Low preset averages 100 FPS, which is still very smooth. The Medium preset averages 67 FPS, with a minimum of 57 and a maximum of 77, placing it right at the edge of the 60 FPS threshold. High settings average 57 FPS, which is below the ideal mark, and Ultra settings drop further to 43 FPS. This resolution shows the first signs of the GPU becoming a bottleneck, as the gap between Low and Ultra (57 FPS) is larger than at 1080p (83 FPS).

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly the limiting factor. The Low preset averages 59 FPS, which is the only setting at this resolution to approach a playable level. The Medium preset averages 40 FPS, with a minimum of 34 and a maximum of 45, making it a choppy experience. High settings average 33 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to a mere 25 FPS. This data shows a steep decline in performance, with the difference between Low and Ultra being 34 FPS. The minimum frame rates at 4K Medium (34 FPS) are lower than the average frame rates at 1440p High (57 FPS), illustrating the severe impact of 4K on this hardware.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for Rust, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i5-13400F and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 holds a rank of 1772 out of 2953 total combos. This places the system in the 60th percentile of all tested configurations, indicating that it performs better than the majority of systems but is not near the top tier. This ranking is consistent with the hardware's specifications, as the CPU is in the 77th percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU is in the 66th percentile of all GPUs.

The combo rank suggests that while the CPU is a relatively strong component, the GPU holds the system back from achieving a higher overall position. The gap between the CPU's percentile (77) and the GPU's percentile (66) indicates a slight imbalance, where the processor has more headroom than the graphics card can utilize, particularly at higher resolutions. In the context of the 2953 tested combos, a rank of 1772 means there are 1181 other configurations that deliver better performance in Rust.

This ranking is not surprising given the measured FPS. The system's ability to hit high frame rates at 1080p with low settings (145 FPS) shows its potential, but its struggle at 4K (25-59 FPS) keeps it from climbing higher in the ranks. The data implies that users with this combo will have a positive experience at 1080p and a moderate experience at 1440p, but they will be disappointed by 4K performance. The ranking is a holistic view that incorporates all these factors, placing it just above the midpoint of the field.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F serves as the foundation for this system, and its specifications suggest it is well-equipped to handle Rust's demanding CPU workload. With 10 cores and 16 threads, it offers substantial parallel processing capability, which is crucial for a game like Rust that simulates a persistent world with many entities, building components, and player interactions. The base clock of 2.50 GHz and boost clock of 4.60 GHz provide strong single-thread performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3191 and Geekbench single-core score of 1996.

The CPU's multi-threaded performance is also robust, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 22604 and a Passmark multithread score of 25032. These numbers suggest that the CPU can handle the background simulation tasks without becoming a bottleneck. However, the measured FPS data shows that the CPU is not the primary limiter in most scenarios. At 1080p, the difference in FPS between Low (145) and Ultra (62) is 83 FPS, which is a GPU-driven change. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would be more consistent across settings.

The CPU's 20 MB of shared L3 cache and support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory are adequate for feeding the GPU with data. Its percentile ranking of 77th among all CPUs indicates it is a solid performer, and its nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D (deltaPct -0.3) and the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS (deltaPct 0), show it is in good company. The data shows that the CPU is capable of pushing the GPU to its limits at 1440p and 4K, as the FPS drops are more attributable to the GPU's rendering limits than to CPU stalls. At 1080p, the CPU is also not the main constraint, as the high FPS numbers on Low settings demonstrate its ability to process game logic quickly.

FAQ

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

A: The highest average frame rate is 145 FPS, which is achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: Is this system capable of 4K gaming in Rust?

A: The data shows it is not well-suited for 4K. At 4K Ultra settings, the average FPS is 25, and at High settings it is 33. Only the Low preset at 4K reaches a playable average of 59 FPS.

Q: Which settings preset offers the best balance of performance and visual quality at 1080p?

A: The High preset at 1920x1080 offers the best balance, with an average of 82 FPS. It provides a significant visual upgrade over Medium (97 FPS) while maintaining a frame rate well above 60 FPS.

Q: How does the GPU's memory capacity affect performance in Rust?

A: The RTX 5050 has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory. The data suggests this is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but the severe performance drop at 4K (e.g., 33 FPS on High) indicates that the GPU may be hitting memory capacity or bandwidth limits at that resolution.

Q: What is the combo's ranking among all tested systems in Rust?

A: This pairing ranks 1772 out of 2953 tested combinations, placing it in the 60th percentile of all systems tested for Rust.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the main bottleneck at 1440p?

A: The GPU is the main bottleneck at 1440p. The average FPS drops from 100 on Low to 57 on High, a change driven by graphical settings, which indicates the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU has enough headroom to feed the GPU at this resolution.