Rust

# CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i5-13400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor built on Intel's Raptor Lake architecture, fabricated on a 10 nm process. Its base clock runs at 2.50 GHz, with a boost clock reaching 4.60 GHz. The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and a shared 20 MB L3 cache. This configuration places the chip in the 77th percentile among all CPUs in the benchmark database, with an average benchmark score of 25,292.

In Rust, the measured FPS data reveals how this CPU interacts with the game's demands. At 1080p Low settings, the combo achieves 192 FPS average. Dropping to 4K Low, it still manages 142 FPS. This indicates that even at the lowest graphical settings, the i5-13400F provides enough processing headroom to sustain high frame rates. The CPU's multi-threaded performance is substantial — its Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 22,604, while the single-core score is 3,191. Rust's simulation and entity-update systems benefit from both strong single-threaded performance and multi-core scaling, and the 16 threads allow the game's background processes to run without stealing cycles from the main render thread.

Looking at nearest rivals, the i5-13400F sits within a tight performance cluster. The AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS has an average score of 25,284 (0% delta), the Intel Core 5 120 scores 25,362 (-0.3% delta), the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D scores 25,365 (-0.3% delta), and the AMD Ryzen 7 6800H scores 25,201 (0.4% delta). This means the i5-13400F is statistically indistinguishable from these processors in aggregate benchmarks, but Rust's specific threading patterns may favor the Intel chip's hybrid architecture of 6 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores.

The 65 W TDP and dual-channel DDR4/DDR5 memory support indicate a mainstream power envelope, yet the benchmark results show the CPU is not the limiting factor in most tested configurations. At 1080p Ultra, the combo still produces 133 FPS, and the gap between Low and Ultra is only 59 FPS at 1080p. This relatively narrow spread suggests the GPU handles most of the graphical load, while the CPU maintains consistent frame delivery across settings.

FAQ

Q: How does the i5-13400F compare to its closest CPU rivals in overall benchmark scores?

A: The i5-13400F averages 25,292 points. The AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS scores 25,284 (0% delta), the Intel Core 5 120 scores 25,362 (-0.3% delta), the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D scores 25,365 (-0.3% delta), and the AMD Ryzen 7 6800H scores 25,201 (0.4% delta). The differences are within 0.4%, making these CPUs effectively equivalent in aggregate performance.

Q: What is the peak FPS recorded for this combo in Rust?

A: The highest average FPS across all measured configurations is 192 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The maximum single-frame value recorded is 202 FPS, observed at 1080p Medium settings (with a minimum of 149 FPS).

Q: Does the CPU hold back performance at 1080p compared to 4K?

A: At 1080p Low, the combo hits 192 FPS, while at 4K Low it drops to 142 FPS. The 50 FPS difference is attributable to the increased pixel load on the GPU rather than CPU limits. At 1080p Ultra (133 FPS) versus 4K Ultra (79 FPS), the 54 FPS gap further confirms GPU-bound scaling as resolution increases.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested CPU-GPU pairings in Rust?

A: This combination of Intel Core i5-13400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 162nd out of 3,723 combos tested in Rust, placing it in the top 4.4% of all configurations.

Q: How does the CPU's single-threaded performance influence Rust's frame rates?

A: The i5-13400F achieves a Cinebench R20 single-core score of 1,255 and a Geekbench single-core score of 1,996. These scores indicate strong per-thread performance, which is critical for Rust's main game loop and physics calculations. The 3DMark single-thread score of 960 corroborates this capability.

Q: Is the RTX 5090's 32 GB VRAM necessary for Rust at high settings?

A: Rust's measured FPS at 4K Ultra (79 FPS) and 4K High (83 FPS) shows playable performance, but the 32 GB GDDR7 memory provides ample headroom for texture streaming and large bases. The GPU's 1.79 TB/s bandwidth ensures no memory bottleneck at any tested resolution.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience across all resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the combo delivers 175 FPS average with a minimum of 149 FPS and maximum of 202 FPS. Moving to 1440p Medium yields 149 FPS average (127 min, 172 max), while 4K Medium maintains 110 FPS average (94 min, 127 max). These figures show that Medium settings provide a substantial frame rate cushion above the 60 FPS threshold, even at 4K.

The Low preset pushes frame rates higher — 192 FPS at 1080p, 179 FPS at 1440p, and 142 FPS at 4K — but sacrifices visual fidelity. The High preset sits between Medium and Ultra: 139 FPS at 1080p, 112 FPS at 1440p, and 83 FPS at 4K. Ultra settings are the most demanding, with 133 FPS at 1080p, 107 FPS at 1440p, and 79 FPS at 4K.

For players prioritizing smoothness over visuals, Medium is the recommended preset. It delivers at least 94 FPS at 4K, which is comfortably above typical refresh rates, while retaining visual quality improvements over Low. The 127 FPS maximum at 4K Medium also shows there is headroom for occasional frame spikes without dropping below playable levels. At 1080p, Medium's 175 FPS average makes it ideal for high-refresh-rate displays, while the 149 FPS minimum ensures consistent frame pacing.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-13400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 achieves a combo rank of 162 out of 3,723 tested combinations in Rust. This top 4.4% placement reflects the strength of both components, but the ranking also reveals that the CPU is not the absolute fastest option available. The i5-13400F's 77th percentile CPU standing is offset by the RTX 5090's 92nd percentile GPU standing, resulting in a combined position that exceeds either component's individual percentile.

The measured frame rates confirm this ranking. At 4K Ultra, the combo produces 79 FPS, which is respectable but not class-leading. The RTX 5090's nearest GPU rivals — the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (0.3% higher average score), Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (0.6% higher), AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (1.1% higher), and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X (-1.4% lower) — do not directly translate to Rust performance, as the RTX 5090's architectural advantages in ray tracing and modern APIs are not fully captured by raw benchmark scores.

The rank of 162 indicates that several hundred other combos perform better in Rust, likely featuring higher-tier CPUs such as the Core i7 or i9 series, or AMD Ryzen 7/9 processors with larger L3 caches. However, the i5-13400F's 20 MB shared L3 cache and 10-core/16-thread configuration provide sufficient resources for Rust's demanding simulation, as evidenced by the 142 FPS at 4K Low.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the expected GPU-bound behavior as resolution increases. At Low settings, the combo drops from 192 FPS at 1080p to 142 FPS at 4K — a 26% reduction. At Medium settings, the drop is from 175 FPS at 1080p to 110 FPS at 4K — a 37% reduction. At High settings, the drop is from 139 FPS at 1080p to 83 FPS at 4K — a 40% reduction. At Ultra settings, the drop is from 133 FPS at 1080p to 79 FPS at 4K — a 41% reduction.

This scaling pattern indicates that the RTX 5090 is the limiting component at higher resolutions. The GPU must render four times the pixels at 4K compared to 1080p, and the frame rate does not quarter but rather degrades by roughly 26-41% depending on settings. The smaller percentage drop at Low settings (26%) suggests that even at 4K, the GPU has enough bandwidth and compute to handle less demanding shaders, while the larger drop at Ultra (41%) shows the pixel fill rate becoming a bottleneck.

The CPU's role in this scaling is minimal. If the i5-13400F were the bottleneck, the FPS would remain relatively flat across resolutions. Instead, the consistent FPS reductions with increasing resolution point to the GPU as the primary constraint. This is expected, given that the RTX 5090 has a pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s, which are substantial but still finite resources when rendering 8.3 million pixels per frame at 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers the following average FPS by settings:

• Low: 192 FPS
• Medium: 175 FPS (minimum 149, maximum 202)
• High: 139 FPS
• Ultra: 133 FPS

At 2560x1440:

• Low: 179 FPS
• Medium: 149 FPS (minimum 127, maximum 172)
• High: 112 FPS
• Ultra: 107 FPS

At 3840x2160:

• Low: 142 FPS
• Medium: 110 FPS (minimum 94, maximum 127)
• High: 83 FPS
• Ultra: 79 FPS

The data shows a clear pattern: each settings tier costs roughly 10-20% in frame rate, and each resolution jump costs another 10-30%. The Medium preset provides the only complete min/max data across all resolutions, which allows for precise frame time analysis. At 1080p Medium, the 149 FPS minimum versus 202 FPS maximum creates a 53 FPS spread, suggesting some scenes are significantly more demanding. At 1440p Medium, the spread is 45 FPS (127 to 172), and at 4K Medium, the spread narrows to 33 FPS (94 to 127).

The narrowest relative spread occurs at 4K, indicating that the GPU's workload becomes more uniform at higher resolutions. Conversely, at 1080p, the CPU has more influence on frame pacing, and the 16 threads of the i5-13400F may not always be fully utilized, causing occasional dips. The 202 FPS maximum at 1080p Medium suggests the GPU has enough headroom to exceed 200 FPS in less demanding scenes, but the CPU limits sustained performance.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with the GB202 chip, fabricated on a 5 nm process by TSMC. It contains 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die, with a transistor density of 122.9M per mm². The GPU operates at a base clock of 2017 MHz and a boost clock of 2407 MHz, with memory running at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). Its 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus provides 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth.

The RTX 5090's compute resources are substantial: 21,760 shading units, 680 TMUs, 176 ROPs, 170 ray tracing cores, and 680 tensor cores. This configuration yields a pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s, a texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s, and 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. The GPU sits in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 79,842.

In Rust, the RTX 5090's role becomes evident at higher resolutions and settings. At 4K Ultra, the combo produces 79 FPS, which is the lowest measured value but still playable. The GPU's 32 GB VRAM ensures that texture-heavy environments — such as large player-built bases with many unique assets — do not cause memory swapping or stuttering. The 1.79 TB/s bandwidth allows rapid texture streaming, which is crucial for Rust's open-world where new areas load as players traverse the map.

The GPU's nearest rivals in benchmark scores — the Tesla P100 variants and Radeon RX 6850M XT — have lower memory capacities (16 GB or 12 GB) and are not designed for gaming workloads. The RTX 5090's architectural advantages, including DirectX 12 Ultimate support and Vulkan 1.4, provide modern API optimizations that benefit Rust's rendering pipeline. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (192 FPS) approaches the GPU's maximum output, while at 4K Ultra (79 FPS), the GPU is clearly the limiting factor, as the CPU's performance remains constant across resolution changes.