Rust

The Intel Core i5-14400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX delivers a strong performance profile in Rust, but the data reveals a system that is clearly balanced around high-refresh 1440p gaming. The most striking pattern in the measured FPS is how the frame rate scales with resolution and settings, which points directly at where the bottleneck shifts between the CPU and GPU.

Resolution Scaling

The benchmark results show a classic scaling curve, with the most dramatic drop occurring at 4K with Ultra settings. At 1920x1080, the combo averages 113 FPS on Ultra, which drops to 78 FPS at 2560x1440 and then to 46 FPS at 3840x2160. That is a 59% reduction in FPS from 1080p Ultra to 4K Ultra, which is a steep penalty that clearly indicates the GPU is being pushed to its limits at the higher resolution. The RX 7900 XTX has a 384-bit memory bus and 24 GB of GDDR6 memory, yet even this amount of bandwidth is strained by the demands of 4K Ultra in Rust.

At the other extreme, 1080p Low produces 217 FPS, and 1440p Low produces 181 FPS. The drop from 1080p Low to 1440p Low is only 16%, which is a much gentler slope. This suggests that at lower settings, the CPU (the i5-14400F with 10 cores and 16 threads) is playing a larger role in determining the frame rate. The 14400F has a boost clock of 4.7 GHz and a base clock of 2.5 GHz, and the data implies that the core throughput is the limiting factor at these lower graphical loads. When the CPU is the bottleneck, resolution scaling has less impact because the CPU load does not change with resolution.

The jump from Medium to Ultra at 1440p is also telling: 121 FPS down to 78 FPS, a 35% reduction. The frame times at 1440p Medium show a minimum of 103 FPS and a maximum of 139 FPS, which is a 36 FPS spread. This indicates that the game is not perfectly stable at this setting. The 4K Ultra result of 46 FPS is the most demanding configuration, and it is interesting that the 4K Medium result (72 FPS) is only 10 FPS higher than the 1440p Ultra result (78 FPS). This shows how much headroom the GPU has at 1440p, but how quickly that headroom evaporates at 4K.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Rust?

A: The sweet spot is 2560x1440 with High settings, which yields 102 FPS average. Going to 1440p Ultra gives 78 FPS, while 4K High is exactly 60 FPS. For maximum smoothness, 1080p High gives 149 FPS, but 1440p High offers a better balance of image size and frame rate.

Q: Is the RX 7900 XTX overkill for Rust?

A: At 4K Ultra, the GPU can only manage 46 FPS, so it is not overkill for 4K. At 1080p Low, the GPU produces 217 FPS, but the CPU is likely the limiter. The RX 7900 XTX has a 24 GB memory bus with 960.0 GB/s bandwidth, and it clearly has headroom at 1080p, but it is fully utilized at 4K.

Q: How does the CPU affect the FPS in Rust?

A: The i5-14400F has a boost clock of 4.7 GHz and 10 cores, and the data shows that at 1080p Low, the frame rate is 217 FPS. This is a very high frame rate, but it is not scaling to 4K due to the GPU. The CPU is not the primary bottleneck at 1080p, but the margin between 1080p Low (216 FPS) and 1440p Low (181 FPS) is only 16%, which hints that the CPU is still a factor even at lower resolutions.

Q: What is the best setting for a 1440p monitor?

A: High settings at 1440p give 102 FPS, which is highly playable. Medium gives 121 FPS, but with a 103 FPS minimum, which is more consistent. Ultra is 78 FPS, which is still playable, but it is a significant drop from High, indicating a heavy graphical load.

Q: How does the 4K Ultra mode compare to 1080p Low?

A: 4K Ultra is 46 FPS, which is exactly 49% of the framerate of 1080p Low (217 FPS). This is a massive reduction, and it shows that 4K Ultra is the most GPU-intensive setting, while 1080p Low is the most CPU-bound.

Q: Are there any settings that are not stable?

A: The data shows that 1440p Medium has a minimum FPS of 103 and a maximum of 139, which is a 36 FPS spread. This is the most unstable setting in the data, indicating possible frametime spikes. Meanwhile, 1080p Medium has a range of 150 to 203 FPS, which is a 53 FPS spread, but the average is higher.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX has a boost clock of 2498 MHz and a memory bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s. In Rust, this GPU is the primary driver of the frame rate at high resolutions. The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the GPU is fully saturated, producing only 46 FPS. At 2160p High, the GPU produces 60 FPS, and at 2160p Medium it produces 72 FPS. These numbers show that the GPU is the limiting factor at 4K, because the CPU is not the constraint in this resolution.

The GPU's 24 GB of GDDR6 memory is a major asset for Rust, which is a game that can consume a lot of VRAM. The 384-bit bus is also a factor, as the 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth prevents memory bandwidth from being a bottleneck at 1440x and even 4K. The 79 XTX also has 6144 shading units, which help with the compute load of Rust's physics and building systems. However, the GPU is not the sole bottleneck: at 1080p Low, the GPU is capable of 217 FPS, but the CPU is likely the limiting factor, as the resolution does not change the CPU workload.

The GPU's performance in Rust is not fully captured by the Passmark G3D score of 31238, which shows the card's synthetic performance. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 6841, which shows the card's DX12 capability. The RX 7900 XTX is a high-end card, but the data shows that it does not completely dominate Rust at 4K, where it is still a challenge to maintain high FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the results are as follows:

• Low: 216 FPS average.
• Medium: 176 FPS average, with a 150 FPS minimum and 203 FPS maximum.
• High: 149 FPS average.
• Ultra: 113 FPS average.

At 2560x1440:

• Low: 181 FPS average.
• Medium: 121 FPS average, with a 103 FPS minimum and 139 FPS maximum.
• High: 102 FPS average.
• Ultra: 78 FPS average.

At 3840x2160:

• Low: 107 FPS average.
• Medium: 72 FPS average, with a 61 FPS minimum and 82 FPS maximum.
• High: 60 FPS average.
• Ultra: 46 FPS average.

The data reveals a consistent pattern: the FPS drops as resolution increases, but the drop is less severe at the Low settings. From 1080p Low to 4Kp Low, the average FPS drops from 216 to 107, which is a 50% reduction. From 1080p Ultra to 4Kp Ultra, the drop is from 113 to 46, a 59% reduction. This indicates that the Ultra settings are more GPU-intensive, and the GPU is the bottleneck at 4K.

The Medium settings are the most stable, with the 1080p Medium range being 150 to 203 FPS, and the 1440p Medium range being 103 to 139 FPS. The 4Kp Medium range is 61 to 82 FPS. The Ultra settings have no min/max data in the pack, but the average is the lowest.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database, this CPU + GPU combination ranks 485th out of 3723 tested combos for Rust. This is a top 13% ranking (485/3723). The combo is in the 87th percentile of performance for this game. This is a strong result, but it is not the top tier, which is expected for a mid-range CPU paired with a high-end GPU.

The i5-14400F is a 10-core CPU, and the RX 7900 XTX is a top-tier GPU, so the combination is a very capable one. The 14400F ranks 83rd percentile among all CPUs, and the RX 7900 XTX ranks 64th percentile among all GPUs. The CPU is in a higher percentile than the GPU, which is an interesting detail. The CPU is relatively stronger than the GPU in the overall database, but in Rust, the GPU is the primary driver of frame rate at high resolutions.

The rank of 485 is the result of the game's scaling. The 14400F's 10 cores and 16 threads are sufficient for Rust, but the RX 7900 XTX's 24 GB of VRAM is not the key to the game's system requirements. The combo rank is decent, but the data shows that the GPU is the limit at 4K.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F has 10 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. The CPU is a Raptor Lake Refresh part, on a 10 nm process, with a 20 MB L3 cache. In Rust, the CPU is not the primary bottleneck at 4K, but it is a factor at 1080p. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the FPS is 216, which is high, but the GPU is not fully loaded (the GPU is capable of 217 FPS at 4Kp Low, which is a lower frame rate). The 1080p Low result is 216 FPS, while the 4Kp Low is 107 FPS, so the CPU is not the bottleneck at 4K.

The CPU's 16 threads are useful for Rust, which is a game that can use multiple cores for physics and AI. The 14400F has a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 11645, which is a strong result for its class. The CPU's 1.25 MB L2 cache per core and 80 KB L1 cache per core are also beneficial for the game's world streaming. The CPU is not the limiting factor in this combo, but its performance is strong enough to support the GPU at 1080p and 1440p.

The 14400F's single-thread performance is also important. The Geekbench single-core score is 2058, and the Cinebench R20 single-core is 1283. These numbers are good for the game, but the RX 7900 XTX at 4K is the major bottleneck. The CPU's 16.6% of the database (83rd percentile) is a good result, but the 14400F is not a top-tier CPU for Rust, as the game is not heavily CPU-bound at 4K. The CPU's 10 cores are enough to handle the game's world streaming, and the 14400F is a good match with the RX 7900 XTX for 1440p and 1080p gaming.