Rust

The Intel Core i5-14400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT delivers a wide performance envelope in Rust, scaling from highly playable 1080p framerates to challenging 4K conditions. The data indicates a system where the graphics card is the primary performance governor at higher resolutions, while the processor’s strong single-threaded showing ensures high ceiling at lower settings. The measured results reveal a clear hierarchy of presets and resolutions that defines the optimal user experience.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 produces a substantial framerate drop across all settings, confirming that Rust becomes increasingly GPU-bound as pixel count rises. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 115 at 1080p to 79 at 1440p, a 31% reduction, and then to 47 at 4K, a 59% reduction from the 1080p baseline. This scaling pattern indicates that the RX 7800 XT's rendering throughput is the limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the demanded pixel fill rate outpaces what the GPU can deliver.

The Low preset exhibits the most dramatic scaling, with average FPS dropping from 203 at 1080p to 140 at 1440p (31% decline) and then to 83 at 4K (59% decline). This consistent percentage drop across presets suggests that resolution scaling is independent of graphical complexity in this title; the GPU's workload scales proportionally with pixel count. However, the absolute deltas are larger at lower settings because the starting framerate is higher, leaving more room for the GPU to become the bottleneck.

At Medium settings, the measured data includes minimum and maximum framerates, providing deeper insight into frame pacing. At 1080p Medium, the average is 137 FPS with a minimum of 116 and maximum of 157, a 30% spread. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 94 FPS with a minimum of 80 and maximum of 108, maintaining a similar 30% spread. At 4K Medium, the average is 55 FPS with a minimum of 47 and maximum of 64, a 31% spread. This consistent variance across resolutions indicates that frame time consistency scales with average framerate, not resolution-specific behavior.

The scaling from 1440p to 4K is particularly steep, suggesting that the RX 7800 XT's memory bandwidth of 624.1 GB/s becomes a critical constraint at 4K. The 59% framerate drop from 1080p to 4K at every preset is a strong indicator that the GPU's shading units and texture rate — 583.2 GTexel/s — are saturated when rendering at 4K, regardless of the graphical complexity of the scene.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data supports a clear recommendation: Medium preset offers the best balance of framerate and visual fidelity. At 1080p Medium, the system achieves 137 FPS average, which is well above the 88 FPS at Ultra and the 203 FPS at Low. The Medium preset provides an 82% improvement over Ultra while sacrificing only 33% of the Low preset's raw speed. This positions Medium as the sweet spot for competitive play where responsiveness matters but visual quality remains acceptable.

At 1440p, Medium delivers 94 FPS average, which remains smooth for most gameplay scenarios. The High preset drops to 79 FPS, a 16% reduction, while Ultra falls to 60 FPS exactly. The 1440p Medium setting with its 80 FPS minimum ensures that even demanding scenes with multiple players or complex structures will maintain playable framerates without dipping below 60 FPS.

At 4K, the situation changes fundamentally. Medium preset produces 55 FPS average, which is marginally playable but the 47 FPS minimum suggests occasional stutters in busy environments. High preset drops to 47 FPS average, which falls below the 60 FPS threshold many users consider smooth. Low preset at 83 FPS average is the only 4K option that maintains consistent playability, though it sacrifices most visual enhancements.

For users prioritizing visual quality without major framerate penalties, High preset at 1440p (79 FPS) provides a superior experience to Ultra at 1080p (88 FPS) due to higher resolution clarity. The data indicates that the system is best utilized at 1080p Medium for maximum responsiveness, 1440p Medium for balanced play, and 4K Low for resolution-focused sessions.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT is the dominant performance component in this system for Rust, as evidenced by the resolution scaling patterns. The GPU's 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for all tested resolutions but becomes strained at 4K. The memory configuration ensures that texture streaming and asset loading are not bottlenecks at 1080p or 1440p, as evidenced by the consistent framerate scaling.

The GPU's boost clock of 2430 MHz and game clock of 2124 MHz contribute to its 37.32 TFLOPS of FP32 compute performance. In Rust, this compute throughput directly translates to the pixel and texture rates of 233.3 GPixel/s and 583.2 GTexel/s respectively. The measured framerates at 1080p High (115 FPS) indicate that the GPU is not fully saturated at this resolution, leaving headroom for higher refresh rate displays.

The RX 7800 XT's 60 ray tracing cores are present but not directly relevant to Rust's rasterization-based rendering. The GPU's percentile rank of 51 among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 11627, places it in the middle of the pack. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660, scores 11680, a difference of only 0.5%, which is surprising given the architectural generational gap.

At 4K Ultra, the GPU produces only 36 FPS average, indicating that this preset exceeds the card's practical capabilities for smooth gameplay. The 4K Low preset at 83 FPS shows that the GPU can handle 4K when graphical complexity is reduced, but the 59% scaling drop from 1080p to 4K at all presets confirms that pixel throughput is the fundamental limitation.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its best performance across all presets. Low preset achieves 203 FPS average, which represents the highest measured framerate in the entire dataset. Medium preset produces 137 FPS average with a minimum of 116 and maximum of 157, providing both high speed and consistent frame delivery. High preset reaches 115 FPS average, offering a strong visual-to-performance ratio. Ultra preset drops to 88 FPS average, which remains playable but represents a 23% reduction from High.

At 2560x1440, the framerates settle into a more moderate range. Low preset achieves 140 FPS average, which is still excellent for high refresh rate gaming. Medium preset produces 94 FPS average with a minimum of 80 and maximum of 108, maintaining smooth performance. High preset reaches 79 FPS average, which is sufficient for most display setups. Ultra preset drops to 60 FPS average, exactly at the standard smoothness threshold, but with no minimum data, frame consistency remains unverified.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain high framerates. Low preset achieves 83 FPS average, which is the only 4K preset above 60 FPS. Medium preset produces 55 FPS average with a minimum of 47 and maximum of 64, indicating that frame rates will drop below 60 FPS during demanding scenes. High preset reaches 47 FPS average, which falls below the smoothness threshold. Ultra preset drops to 36 FPS average, making it unsuitable for anything but static screenshots.

The progression from 1080p Low to 4K Ultra shows a framerate collapse from 203 FPS to 36 FPS, an 82% reduction. This dramatic drop highlights the GPU's inability to maintain performance as both resolution and graphical complexity increase simultaneously.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-14400F and AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT combination ranks 1207 out of 3723 tested combos in Rust, placing it in the 68th percentile of all tested configurations. This ranking is respectable but not exceptional, indicating that while the system performs well, there are many combinations that achieve higher framerates in this title.

The CPU's percentile rank of 83 among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 32279, is notably higher than the GPU's percentile rank of 51. This discrepancy suggests that the processor has more headroom relative to its peers than the graphics card does. The CPU's nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U, scores 32233, a negligible 0.1% difference, while the Intel Core i9-11900 scores 32226, a 0.2% difference.

The GPU's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 with a score of 11680 (0.5% higher), the AMD Radeon Pro 5500M with 11528 (0.9% lower), and the NVIDIA Tesla K20c with 11479 (1.3% lower). These comparable scores indicate that the RX 7800 XT's average benchmark performance is close to much older or lower-tier cards, which is unusual for a modern GPU.

In Rust specifically, the combo's rank of 1207 out of 3723 suggests that the game's optimization favors other hardware combinations. The measured data shows that the system achieves solid framerates at 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K performance drags down its overall standing relative to combos with more powerful GPUs.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F provides 10 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. This processor configuration is well-suited for Rust, which benefits from strong single-threaded performance for game logic and physics calculations. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3055 and multi-core score of 21645 indicate balanced performance across both metrics.

The CPU's L3 cache of 20 MB shared across all cores helps with data locality in Rust's open-world environment, where terrain and entity data are frequently accessed. The 80 KB L1 cache per core and 1.25 MB L2 cache per core provide fast access to frequently used data structures. The processor's 10 nm process node and 215 mm² die size contribute to its 65 W TDP, which is modest for a 10-core design.

The measured framerates at 1080p Low (203 FPS) demonstrate that the CPU is not a bottleneck at lower graphical settings. The high framerate ceiling suggests that the processor can feed the GPU with sufficient draw calls and game state updates. However, at 4K Ultra (36 FPS), the CPU has ample headroom, as the GPU is clearly the limiting factor.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 32279 and percentile rank of 83 indicate that it performs well above average compared to all tested CPUs. Its nearest rivals, including the AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS with a score of 32354 (0.2% higher) and the Intel Core i7-12800H with 32121 (0.5% lower), show that the i5-14400F is competitive with mobile high-end processors.

In Rust, the CPU's role is to maintain consistent frame delivery, especially in multiplayer scenarios with many entities. The 1080p Medium measured minimum of 116 FPS suggests that the processor maintains stable frame pacing even under load. The combination of high single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3055) and adequate multi-threading (Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21645) ensures that the system handles both game logic and background tasks without contention.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this system in Rust based on the data?

A: The measured data shows 2560x1440 at Medium settings provides 94 FPS average with an 80 FPS minimum, making it the highest resolution where the system maintains consistently smooth framerates above 60 FPS.

Q: Does this system struggle at 4K resolution?

A: Yes. At 4K, only Low settings produce a playable 83 FPS average. Medium drops to 55 FPS average with a 47 FPS minimum, High falls to 47 FPS, and Ultra produces just 36 FPS average.

Q: How does the RX 7800 XT compare to its nearest GPU rival?

A: The RX 7800 XT has an average benchmark score of 11627, while its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660, scores 11680, putting the RX 7800 XT 0.5% behind in average benchmark performance.

Q: What is the CPU's single-threaded performance relative to its multi-threaded performance?

A: The CPU scores 3055 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 21645 in multi-core, representing a 7:1 ratio that indicates strong multi-threading capability while maintaining competitive single-thread speed.

Q: At 1080p, what is the framerate difference between Low and Ultra settings?

A: Low settings produce 203 FPS average, while Ultra produces 88 FPS average. This represents a 57% reduction in framerate when switching from Low to Ultra at 1080p.

Q: What is the minimum framerate recorded at 1440p Medium settings?

A: The measured minimum framerate at 2560x1440 with Medium settings is 80 FPS, with a maximum of 108 FPS and an average of 94 FPS, indicating consistent frame delivery.