Rust

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Rust with the Intel Core i5-14400F and AMD Radeon RX 9070 shows a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo delivers 210.6 FPS, which drops to 144.3 FPS at 1440p and further to 87.1 FPS at 4K. This represents a 58.7% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, indicating that the workload becomes progressively more GPU-bound as pixel count rises.

Looking at the High settings tier, the pattern is similar but with lower absolute values. The combo achieves 118.2 FPS at 1080p, 80.7 FPS at 1440p, and 47.9 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p is 31.7%, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 40.6%. This steeper decline at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU is the primary limiting factor when settings are elevated, as the RX 9070's rendering workload scales directly with pixel throughput.

The Medium settings tier shows 144.8 FPS at 1080p, 97.7 FPS at 1440p, and 55.8 FPS at 4K. The Ultra settings tier, which represents the most demanding configuration, delivers 92.6 FPS at 1080p, 64.3 FPS at 1440p, and 38.8 FPS at 4K. Across all settings, the 1080p-to-4K drop ranges from 58.1% (Low) to 58.7% (High), which is a remarkably consistent scaling pattern. This consistency indicates that Rust's rendering pipeline responds uniformly to resolution changes regardless of the quality preset.

The data suggests that at 1080p, particularly with Low settings, the CPU can keep up with the GPU's output, as evidenced by the 210.6 FPS figure. However, the gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 118 FPS, which narrows to 48.3 FPS at 4K. This compression of the settings spread at higher resolutions is a hallmark of GPU-bound scenarios, where the pixel fill rate becomes the dominant constraint.

How This Combo Ranks

In the benchmark database, this specific combination of the Intel Core i5-14400F and AMD Radeon RX 9070 achieves a rank of 510 out of 1717 tested combos in Rust. This places the combo in the 70th percentile of all tested configurations, meaning it outperforms roughly 70% of the combinations in the database for this game. The rank reflects the combined contribution of both components, with neither being a clear bottleneck across the tested resolution and settings matrix.

The combo's ranking is notable given the individual component percentiles. The CPU sits in the 88th percentile among all processors, while the GPU sits in the 79th percentile among all graphics cards. The slightly lower GPU percentile suggests that the RX 9070 may be the more limiting factor in this pairing, though the 510th rank out of 1717 combos still represents a strong overall result.

When interpreting the rank, it is important to consider that Rust is a survival game with known CPU sensitivity in certain gameplay scenarios. The combo's position in the upper-middle portion of the rankings indicates that it handles the game's demands well, but there is headroom for improvement by pairing either component with a stronger counterpart. The rank data does not specify the exact distribution of combos above and below, but the percentile position is consistent with the measured FPS figures showing playable performance at most settings and resolutions.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 brings substantial memory resources to this pairing, with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus. The memory bandwidth is 644.6 GB/s, which is critical for Rust's asset streaming and texture loading during world exploration. The GPU's memory clock is listed as 2518 MHz with 20.1 Gbps effective speed, providing the bandwidth needed to feed the 3584 shading units.

The GPU's clock behavior shows a base clock of 1330 MHz, a game clock of 2070 MHz, and a boost clock of 2520 MHz. The game clock is the more relevant figure for sustained gaming workloads, and it sits notably lower than the boost clock, which is typically reserved for lighter scenes. In Rust, where the camera frequently pans across complex environments, the GPU will likely spend most time near the game clock rather than the boost clock.

The 4K Ultra result of 38.8 FPS indicates that the RX 9070 is pushed to its limits at the highest settings and resolution. The 4K High result of 47.9 FPS is barely above the 30 FPS playability threshold, while the 4K Medium result of 55.8 FPS offers a more comfortable margin. The 4K Low result of 87.1 FPS shows that even at 4K, the GPU can deliver smooth frame rates when settings are reduced.

The GPU's 56 ray tracing cores and DirectX 12 Ultimate support are present in the spec sheet, but the measured FPS data does not include ray tracing-specific benchmarks, so their impact on Rust's performance cannot be quantified from this data. The 128 ROPs and 224 TMUs contribute to the pixel and texture fill rates, which are listed as 322.6 GPixel/s and 564.5 GTexel/s respectively.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this CPU-GPU pairing in Rust?

A: The 1440p Medium setting delivers 97.7 FPS, which provides a smooth experience with good visual quality. The 1080p High setting achieves 118.2 FPS, while the 1440p Low setting reaches 144.3 FPS, both offering faster frame rates.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K resolution?

A: At 4K, the combo ranges from 38.8 FPS on Ultra settings to 87.1 FPS on Low settings. The Medium preset yields 55.8 FPS, and High yields 47.9 FPS, with only the Low preset providing a consistently smooth experience at this resolution.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this pairing?

A: The data shows that the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions, as evidenced by the shrinking performance gap between Low and Ultra settings from 1080p to 4K. At 1080p Low, the 210.6 FPS result suggests the CPU can keep up, but the GPU's rendering capacity caps performance at higher resolutions.

Q: What is the combo's ranking among all tested combinations?

A: This combo ranks 510th out of 1717 tested combinations in Rust, placing it in the 70th percentile of all tested systems.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 1440p?

A: The performance loss varies by settings. At Low settings, the drop from 210.6 FPS to 144.3 FPS represents a 31.5% reduction. At Ultra settings, the drop from 92.6 FPS to 64.3 FPS represents a 30.6% reduction.

Q: Does the GPU's 16 GB memory capacity affect Rust performance?

A: The 16 GB GDDR6 memory with 644.6 GB/s bandwidth provides ample capacity for Rust's memory demands, and the measured FPS figures at 4K suggest that memory bandwidth is not a bottleneck, as the performance scales consistently with resolution changes.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are as follows: Low settings deliver 210.6 FPS, Medium settings deliver 144.8 FPS, High settings deliver 118.2 FPS, and Ultra settings deliver 92.6 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 118 FPS, representing a 56% reduction when moving from the least to most demanding preset.

At 2560x1440, the values are: Low settings deliver 144.3 FPS, Medium settings deliver 97.7 FPS, High settings deliver 80.7 FPS, and Ultra settings deliver 64.3 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 80 FPS, which is a 55.4% reduction, closely mirroring the 1080p ratio.

At 3840x2160, the values are: Low settings deliver 87.1 FPS, Medium settings deliver 55.8 FPS, High settings deliver 47.9 FPS, and Ultra settings deliver 38.8 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra at 4K is 48.3 FPS, which is a 55.5% reduction, showing remarkable consistency across all resolutions.

The incremental setting transitions show specific patterns. Moving from Low to Medium at 1080p costs 65.8 FPS, while the same transition at 1440p costs 46.6 FPS and at 4K costs 31.3 FPS. Moving from Medium to High costs 26.6 FPS at 1080p, 17 FPS at 1440p, and 7.9 FPS at 4K. Moving from High to Ultra costs 25.6 FPS at 1080p, 16.4 FPS at 1440p, and 9.1 FPS at 4K. The diminishing absolute cost of each setting tier at higher resolutions reinforces the GPU-bound nature of 4K rendering.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F features 10 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. The processor is built on Intel's Raptor Lake architecture using a 10 nm process node, and it supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 20 MB of shared L3 cache.

The CPU's benchmark scores provide context for its gaming performance. In Cinebench R23, it achieves 21914 points in multi-core and 3093 points in single-core. In Geekbench, it scores 11209 multi-core and 2333 single-core. The PassMark multithread score is 25783, and the single-thread score is 3723. These figures place the CPU in the 88th percentile among all tested processors.

For Rust specifically, the CPU's role is evident in the 1080p Low result of 210.6 FPS. This high frame rate indicates that the 10-core, 16-thread configuration can process game logic and draw calls efficiently at lower resolutions where the GPU is not saturated. The 16 threads allow for parallel processing of Rust's simulation tasks, which include entity updates, physics calculations, and network synchronization in multiplayer environments.

The CPU's boost clock of 4.70 GHz is particularly relevant for single-threaded workloads, and the single-core benchmark scores suggest strong per-thread performance. In Rust, where certain tasks may be serialized, this single-thread capability helps maintain consistent frame times. The 20 MB of shared L3 cache provides a large pool for frequently accessed game data, reducing the need for slower memory accesses.

The processor's 65 W TDP indicates efficient power consumption, and its compatibility with Intel Socket 1700 allows for broad motherboard support. The CPU's 88th percentile ranking among all processors, combined with the GPU's 79th percentile ranking, suggests that the CPU has slightly more headroom than the GPU in this pairing, which aligns with the observed GPU-bound behavior at higher resolutions.