Rust

FAQ

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-14400F compare to its closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The CPU's average benchmark score of 32508 places it in the 88th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-12800H, scores 32513, which is a 0% delta, making them effectively identical. The AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 trails by 0.2%, while both the AMD Ryzen 7 250 and Intel Core i7-13705H lead by 0.2%.

Q: What is the GPU's performance percentile and how does it stack up against nearby competitors?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 sits in the 80th percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 35787. The AMD Radeon Pro Duo is 0.2% faster, while the AMD Radeon 880M is 0.4% slower. The AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE leads by 0.9%, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Mobile trails by 1%.

Q: What is the best average FPS this combo achieves at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo reaches 215.4 FPS average. This is the highest measured FPS across all tested resolutions and settings. Medium settings yield 143.1 FPS, High settings produce 120.8 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 93.8 FPS.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations for Rust?

A: This pairing ranks 468th out of 1717 total tested combos for Rust. That places it in the top 27% of all configurations tested. The data suggests a strong but not elite position within the broader benchmark database.

Q: What is the FPS difference between 4K Ultra and 4K Low settings?

A: At 3840x2160, Ultra settings average 40.7 FPS, while Low settings average 85.7 FPS. That is a 45.0 FPS difference, representing more than a doubling of performance when dropping from Ultra to Low. Medium lands at 59.3 FPS, and High achieves 50.8 FPS.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU appear to be the limiting factor at lower resolutions?

A: At 1080p Low, the combo hits 215.4 FPS, while at 4K Low it drops to 85.7 FPS. The relatively small FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings (215.4 to 149.9) followed by a larger drop to 4K indicates the GPU becomes increasingly dominant as resolution scales, while the CPU sustains high frame rates at lower resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is built on the Ampere architecture with a GA102 chip fabricated on Samsung's 8 nm process. It packs 8704 shading units, 272 texture mapping units, and 96 ROPs. The memory subsystem consists of 10 GB of GDDR6X on a 320-bit bus, delivering 760.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's base clock runs at 1440 MHz with a boost clock of 1710 MHz, while memory operates at 19 Gbps effective.

In Rust, the GPU's role becomes clearly visible when examining the measured FPS across settings. At 4K resolution, the spread between Low (85.7 FPS) and Ultra (40.7 FPS) is substantial, showing how heavily the graphics card is taxed by higher quality presets. The RTX 3080's 10 GB VRAM appears sufficient for Rust's demands at these settings, as the benchmark data shows consistent frame rates without signs of memory-related stuttering or crashes.

The GPU's 29.77 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 465.1 GTexel/s texture rate provide ample raw compute for Rust's rendering workload. The 68 RT cores and 272 tensor cores, while not specifically highlighted in the measured FPS data, contribute to the GPU's overall capability. The card's DirectX 12 Ultimate support ensures compatibility with modern rendering paths, though Rust's performance seems more dependent on traditional rasterization given the significant FPS swings between presets.

The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 4407 and Passmark G3D score of 25086 provide context for the GPU's general capability. When paired with the i5-14400F, the RTX 3080 demonstrates it can push well beyond 200 FPS at 1080p Low, indicating headroom for competitive play. The GPU's 320 W TDP and dual-slot design suggest a power-hungry component, though the benchmark data does not correlate power draw with in-game performance.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F features 10 cores and 16 threads based on the Raptor Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process. It operates with a 2.50 GHz base clock and boosts up to 4.70 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB L1 per core, 1.25 MB L2 per core, and 20 MB shared L3. This processor supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory through a dual-channel interface and connects via PCIe Gen 5 with 16 lanes.

The CPU's benchmark results show strong single-threaded performance with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3093 and multi-core score of 21914. Geekbench results show 2333 single-core and 11209 multi-core. These synthetic results translate to Rust performance where the CPU must manage game logic, entity updates, and network synchronization. The 1080p Low result of 215.4 FPS demonstrates the i5-14400F's ability to feed the RTX 3080 with minimal bottleneck at lower resolutions.

The Passmark multithread score of 25783 and physics score of 1594 indicate robust multi-threaded capability, which matters for Rust's server-side simulation and player interactions. The 10-core configuration provides ample parallelism for background tasks while maintaining high single-thread performance for game logic. The CPU's 88th percentile ranking among all CPUs places it above most mainstream processors, though its nearest rivals show that the performance envelope is tight at this level.

The processor's boost clock of 4.70 GHz is particularly relevant for Rust, which historically favors high single-thread performance. The 20 MB L3 cache helps maintain data locality for frequently accessed game assets. The i5-14400F's memory controller supporting both DDR4 and DDR5 provides flexibility, though the benchmark data does not specify which memory type was used in testing.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-14400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 achieves a rank of 468 out of 1717 tested combos for Rust. This places the pairing in the upper 27% of all configurations, which is respectable given the wide range of hardware tested. The rank reflects the balance between the CPU's 88th percentile standing and the GPU's 80th percentile position.

This ranking suggests that while neither component is at the absolute top of their respective categories, their combination produces a well-rounded experience for Rust. The data shows that the combo outperforms many configurations with newer or more expensive components, likely due to Rust's sensitivity to both CPU and GPU performance. The 1080p Ultra result of 93.8 FPS indicates the combo can handle max settings at full HD, while 1440p High at 87.1 FPS offers a solid high-refresh experience.

The rank of 468 out of 1717 also implies that roughly 73% of tested combos perform worse in Rust. This positions the i5-14400F + RTX 3080 as a strong mid-to-high tier option. The gap between this combo and top-ranked systems likely comes from both newer CPUs with higher single-thread performance and GPUs with more VRAM or bandwidth. However, the measured data shows this pairing still delivers playable frame rates even at 4K Ultra with 40.7 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers 215.4 FPS on Low, 143.1 FPS on Medium, 120.8 FPS on High, and 93.8 FPS on Ultra. These numbers show a clear progression where each preset step down from Ultra increases performance substantially. The jump from Ultra to High at 1080p yields 27.0 FPS improvement, while dropping from High to Medium adds another 22.3 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the measured results are 149.9 FPS on Low, 97.6 FPS on Medium, 87.1 FPS on High, and 64.3 FPS on Ultra. The 1440p Low result remains above 144 FPS, making it viable for high-refresh monitors. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at each setting is significant but not catastrophic, with the largest relative loss occurring at Ultra (93.8 to 64.3, a 31.4% reduction).

At 3840x2160, the results drop to 85.7 FPS on Low, 59.3 FPS on Medium, 50.8 FPS on High, and 40.7 FPS on Ultra. The 4K Low result is still playable, but anything above Medium falls below 60 FPS. The scaling from 1440p to 4K shows a substantial performance penalty, with the 4K Low being 42.8% slower than 1440p Low, and 4K Ultra being 36.7% slower than 1440p Ultra.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data suggests that for competitive play, 1080p Low at 215.4 FPS is the optimal choice, offering well above the refresh rate of most gaming monitors. For a balanced experience at 1080p, High settings at 120.8 FPS provide good visual quality while maintaining smooth gameplay. Ultra at 1080p drops to 93.8 FPS, which is still playable but sacrifices some smoothness for marginal visual gains.

At 1440p, Low settings at 149.9 FPS offer excellent performance for fast-paced gameplay, while Medium at 97.6 FPS provides a solid middle ground. High at 87.1 FPS is acceptable for most players, but Ultra at 64.3 FPS may feel less fluid during intense moments. The data indicates that 1440p Medium strikes the best balance between visual fidelity and performance for this resolution.

At 4K, only Low settings at 85.7 FPS deliver consistently smooth gameplay. Medium at 59.3 FPS borders on acceptable, but High at 50.8 FPS and Ultra at 40.7 FPS may result in noticeable stuttering during action-heavy sequences. Players prioritizing frame rate should stick to 1080p or 1440p, while those wanting 4K should accept Low settings as the practical ceiling for this combo.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals important insights about the bottleneck characteristics of this combo. At Low settings, performance drops from 215.4 FPS at 1080p to 149.9 FPS at 1440p (a 30.4% reduction), then to 85.7 FPS at 4K (a 42.8% reduction from 1440p). This pattern indicates that at Low settings, the CPU maintains high frame rates at lower resolutions, but the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases.

At Ultra settings, the scaling shows a different pattern: 93.8 FPS at 1080p, 64.3 FPS at 1440p (31.4% reduction), and 40.7 FPS at 4K (36.7% reduction from 1440p). The more consistent percentage drops at Ultra suggest that the GPU is the primary bottleneck across all resolutions when higher quality presets are selected. This is expected given the RTX 3080's 10 GB VRAM and 760.3 GB/s bandwidth being taxed more heavily at higher settings.

The data implies that at 1080p, the CPU's performance ceiling allows the GPU to stretch its legs, particularly at Low settings where the 215.4 FPS result shows the i5-14400F can keep pace with high frame rates. However, as resolution increases, the GPU's workload grows exponentially, and the RTX 3080's limitations become more apparent. The 4K Ultra result of 40.7 FPS suggests that this combo is not ideal for 4K gaming with maximum settings, but it remains viable for lower presets or for players who prioritize visual quality over raw frame rate.