Rust

The Intel Core i5-14400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER delivers a strong 1080p and 1440p experience in Rust, but the data reveals a significant performance cliff at 4K Ultra settings. This combination ranks in the top tier of tested systems, though the gap between Low and Ultra presets highlights the game's demanding nature and the balance between CPU and GPU workloads.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with High settings?

A: The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings is 142.3, which places this combo well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-core performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The i5-14400F scores 21,914 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, placing it within 0.2% of the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 and Ryzen 7 250, and essentially tied with the Intel Core i7-12800H and i7-13705H.

Q: What is the best preset for 4K gaming according to the data?

A: At 3840x2160, the Low preset achieves 100.5 FPS, while Medium drops to 66.7 FPS, High to 56.8 FPS, and Ultra falls to 47 FPS. The Low preset is the only 4K option that maintains a consistently smooth frame rate.

Q: What is the GPU's memory bandwidth and how does it relate to performance?

A: The RTX 4070 SUPER features 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. This bandwidth is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but the 47 FPS result at 4K Ultra suggests a potential VRAM or bandwidth bottleneck.

Q: What is the combo's overall rank among tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 247th out of 1,717 tested combinations in Rust, placing it in the top 15% of all tested systems.

Q: How does the CPU's boost clock influence single-threaded performance?

A: With a boost clock of 4.70 GHz, the i5-14400F scores 3,093 in Cinebench R23 single-core, indicating strong per-core performance that is crucial for Rust's simulation and physics tasks.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear hierarchy of presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset yields 219.9 FPS, Medium 170.9 FPS, High 142.3 FPS, and Ultra 107.9 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium costs roughly 49 FPS, while the jump from High to Ultra costs about 34 FPS. For competitive play or high-refresh-rate monitors, Low at 1080p is the optimal choice, as it maximizes frame rate above all else. For a balanced visual experience, High at 1080p is recommended, as it maintains a 142.3 FPS average while providing significantly better visuals than Low.

At 2560x1440, the pattern shifts. Low delivers 171.6 FPS, Medium 117.8 FPS, High 97 FPS, and Ultra 71.5 FPS. Here, Medium is the sweet spot, offering a 117.8 FPS average that exceeds the 100 FPS threshold while keeping visual fidelity much higher than Low. High at 1440p is also viable at 97 FPS, but it is closer to the edge of what is comfortable for fast-paced gameplay. Ultra at 1440p, at 71.5 FPS, is playable but not ideal for competitive scenarios.

At 3840x2160, the data tells a different story. Low is the only preset that remains fluid at 100.5 FPS. Medium drops to 66.7 FPS, High to 56.8 FPS, and Ultra to a marginal 47 FPS. For 4K, the Low preset is the only recommendation, as the visual trade-off is necessary to maintain a playable frame rate. The 1440p Medium preset offers the best overall balance of visual quality and performance across all resolutions, making it the default recommendation for most users.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture. Its base clock of 2.50 GHz and boost clock of 4.70 GHz provide a wide operating range. Single-threaded performance, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 score of 3,093, is critical for Rust's core game logic, which is heavily dependent on a single primary thread for entity updates and server-side simulation. The multi-threaded score of 21,914 indicates robust parallel processing capability, which assists with background tasks like world generation and physics calculations.

The data suggests that the CPU is a limiting factor at lower resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the frame rate of 219.9 FPS is exceptionally high, but it is lower than what the GPU could theoretically deliver if the CPU were not the bottleneck. This is corroborated by the fact that lowering the resolution from 1440p to 1080p at Low settings only increases FPS from 171.6 to 219.9, a 28% improvement, whereas the GPU workload should scale more significantly. The CPU's 20 MB of shared L3 cache helps mitigate latency for frequently accessed data, but the 65W TDP suggests power delivery is not a primary constraint. The benchmark scores place the CPU in the 88th percentile of all CPUs, and its nearest rivals are all within 0.2% performance, indicating that it is a well-balanced mid-range processor that does not represent a weak link in this combo.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo of the i5-14400F and RTX 4070 SUPER ranks 247th out of 1,717 tested combinations in Rust. This places it in the top 14.4% of all systems tested. The rank is a composite measure that accounts for both CPU and GPU performance in the context of this specific game. Given that the GPU is in the 84th percentile and the CPU is in the 88th percentile of their respective categories, the combo's overall rank of 247 suggests that Rust is a balanced workload, where neither component fully dominates the other. The data indicates that this combo outperforms a significant majority of systems, but it does not reach the top 10%, likely due to the CPU's mid-range positioning. The rank implies that for Rust specifically, this pairing is well-matched, as the CPU's strong single-thread performance complements the GPU's capabilities. The 247th rank out of 1,717 is a strong result, indicating that users with this setup will have a competitive advantage over most other players, particularly at 1440p and below.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is a high-end graphics card built on the Ada Lovelace architecture. It features 7,168 shading units and 56 RT cores, with a base clock of 1980 MHz and a boost clock of 2475 MHz. The 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus provides 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's PassMark G3D score of 29,995 places it in the 84th percentile of all GPUs, with its nearest rival, the NVIDIA RTX A6000, being only 0.2% faster.

The GPU's role is most evident at higher resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the GPU is not the primary constraint, as the CPU limits performance. However, at 4K Ultra, the GPU is clearly the bottleneck. The 47 FPS result at 4K Ultra is significantly lower than the 107.9 FPS at 1080p Ultra, a drop of 56%. This indicates that the GPU's memory bandwidth and processing power are insufficient to handle the increased pixel count and shading complexity at 4K with Ultra settings. The 12 GB VRAM capacity is likely a contributing factor, as 4K textures and effects can exceed this amount, leading to potential memory swapping or reduced performance. The GPU's 504.2 GB/s bandwidth is also a limiting factor at 4K, where the demand for texture data is much higher. In contrast, at 1440p and below, the GPU provides ample performance, with the 1440p High preset achieving 97 FPS and the 1080p Ultra preset achieving 107.9 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured FPS ranges from a low of 107.9 at Ultra to a high of 219.9 at Low. The Medium preset delivers 170.9 FPS, while High delivers 142.3 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a consistent decline, with each step up in quality costing approximately 30-40 FPS. The 1080p results are all above 100 FPS, making this resolution highly playable across all settings.

At 2560x1440, the FPS drops correspond to the increased resolution. Low delivers 171.6 FPS, Medium 117.8 FPS, High 97 FPS, and Ultra 71.5 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium costs 53.8 FPS, while the jump from High to Ultra costs 25.5 FPS. All presets at 1440p remain playable, with even Ultra staying above 70 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops significantly. Low delivers 100.5 FPS, Medium 66.7 FPS, High 56.8 FPS, and Ultra 47 FPS. The drop from Low to Medium is 33.8 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 9.8 FPS. At 4K, only the Low preset maintains a frame rate above 100 FPS, while Ultra falls below 50 FPS, which is often considered the minimum for a playable experience.

The data shows a clear trend: the higher the resolution and the higher the settings, the more the GPU becomes the limiting factor. At 1080p, the CPU limits performance at Low settings, but at 4K Ultra, the GPU is the bottleneck.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K reveals critical information about the system's bottleneck. At Low settings, the average FPS is 219.9 at 1080p, 171.6 at 1440p, and 100.5 at 4K. This represents a 22% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a 54% drop from 1080p to 4K. At Ultra settings, the average FPS is 107.9 at 1080p, 71.5 at 1440p, and 47 at 4K. This is a 34% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a 56% drop from 1080p to 4K.

The scaling pattern indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. The percentage drop from 1440p to 4K is much larger than the drop from 1080p to 1440p, which is characteristic of a GPU-limited scenario where the rendering workload increases disproportionately with pixel count. At Low settings, the CPU is more involved, which explains the relatively smaller drop from 1080p to 1440p (22%) compared to the drop from 1440p to 4K (41%). This suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is still able to feed the GPU, but as resolution increases, the GPU's workload becomes the dominant factor. The 4K Ultra result of 47 FPS is particularly telling, as it is less than half the 1080p Ultra result, indicating that the GPU's resources are exhausted at this resolution and preset. The data implies that for 4K gaming, the RTX 4070 SUPER is adequate only for Low settings, and that a more powerful GPU would be needed to achieve higher frame rates at 4K Ultra.