Rust

# Rust: Intel Core i5-9400 + NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti — Benchmark Analysis

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti produces a combination that lands near the bottom of the tested field in Rust, ranking 1686th out of 1717 tested combos. The CPU holds a 50th percentile standing among all tested processors, while the GPU sits at just the 30th percentile among all GPUs — a pairing that consistently struggles to deliver playable frame rates except at the lowest settings and resolution. The measured data reveals a system that is heavily GPU-limited at higher resolutions, yet also constrained by the modest 4 GB VRAM buffer when settings are pushed upward.

FAQ

Q: What is the best average FPS this combo achieves in Rust?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 52.3 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the only configuration in the measured data that exceeds 50 FPS.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations in Rust?

A: It ranks 1686th out of 1717 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 2% of all tested configurations. This reflects the GTX 1050 Ti's 30th percentile standing among all GPUs.

Q: What is the worst measured performance for this combo?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS drops to 6.5. This is the lowest measured value across all resolution and settings combinations.

Q: Does lowering resolution from 1440p to 1080p help meaningfully at Low settings?

A: Yes. At 2560x1440 Low, the average is 37.3 FPS; at 1920x1080 Low, it rises to 52.3 FPS — a 40% improvement from reducing resolution alone.

Q: How does the GTX 1050 Ti compare to its nearest GPU rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The GTX 1050 Ti's average benchmark score of 5316 is essentially tied with the NVIDIA GeForce 930A (5317, 0% delta) and 0.4% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce 940M (5297). The AMD Radeon R7 240 trails by 0.7%.

Q: What is the CPU's synthetic benchmark position relative to its nearest rivals?

A: The i5-9400 scores 2305 on average, which is 0.2% ahead of the Intel Core i3-10305 (2300) and 0.2% ahead of the Intel Core i3-1125G4 (2299). The Intel Core i7-8809G is 0.6% faster at 2319.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti operates with a base clock of 1291 MHz and a boost clock of 1392 MHz, built on the GP107 chip using the Pascal architecture at 14 nm. Its 4 GB of GDDR5 memory runs at 1752 MHz (7 Gbps effective) across a 128-bit bus, yielding 112.1 GB/s of bandwidth. With 768 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs, the card delivers 2.138 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and a pixel rate of 44.54 GPixel/s.

In Rust, the GPU's role becomes the dominant constraint as resolution climbs. The measured data shows a clear pattern: at 1920x1080 Low, the combo reaches 52.3 FPS, but at 2560x1440 Low, it falls to 37.3 FPS, and at 3840x2160 Low, it drops to 20.8 FPS. This scaling behavior indicates the GPU is the limiting component across all tested configurations — the CPU's six cores and 9 MB shared L3 cache are not the bottleneck here, as evidenced by the consistent FPS drops that track with pixel count increases.

The 4 GB VRAM capacity also plays a role at higher settings. At 3840x2160 Ultra, the average FPS collapses to 6.5, while 2560x1440 Ultra manages 14.8 FPS and 1920x1080 Ultra reaches 25.5 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra settings widens dramatically at 4K (20.8 vs 6.5 FPS, a 14.3 FPS difference) compared to 1080p (52.3 vs 25.5 FPS, a 26.8 FPS difference), suggesting that the VRAM buffer and memory bandwidth become increasingly inadequate as texture and shading demands grow.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 1686 out of 1717 tested combinations places it in the 1.8th percentile of all tested systems in Rust. This is a remarkably low position, driven primarily by the GPU's 30th percentile standing among all GPUs. The CPU, at the 50th percentile, is comparatively stronger — its average benchmark score of 2305 sits between the Intel Core i3-10305 (2300, 0.2% slower) and the Intel Core i7-8809G (2319, 0.6% faster).

The GPU's synthetic benchmarks reinforce its weak position. The GTX 1050 Ti scores 6340 in Passmark G3D, 20638 in Geekbench OpenCL, and 19851 in Geekbench Vulkan. Its nearest rivals in the GPU benchmark database are all within 0.8% of its average score of 5316 — the NVIDIA GeForce 930A (5317), NVIDIA GeForce 940M (5297), AMD Radeon R7 240 (5280), and AMD Radeon R7 M445 (5361). These are all entry-level or mobile-class parts, confirming that the GTX 1050 Ti sits at the very bottom of the desktop GPU hierarchy.

In the context of Rust specifically, the rank of 1686 out of 1717 means that 99.4% of tested combos outperform this pairing. The measured FPS data supports this: even at the most favorable tested configuration (1080p Low), the combo only achieves 52.3 FPS, which is marginal for a competitive survival game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo produces its most viable results. Low settings yield 52.3 FPS, Medium drops to 37.4 FPS, High falls to 32.7 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 25.5 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 26.8 FPS, indicating that each settings tier costs roughly 6-8 FPS on average.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance degrades considerably. Low settings deliver 37.3 FPS, Medium manages 25.4 FPS, High reaches 22.6 FPS, and Ultra drops to 14.8 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 22.5 FPS, but every configuration falls below the 1080p equivalents by 14-15 FPS at the same settings tier.

At 3840x2160, the results become largely unplayable. Low settings produce 20.8 FPS, Medium falls to 11.5 FPS, High manages 13.9 FPS, and Ultra collapses to 6.5 FPS. Notably, High (13.9 FPS) outperforms Medium (11.5 FPS) at 4K, a non-monotonic result that suggests the Medium preset may engage certain memory-heavy effects that disproportionately hurt the 4 GB VRAM buffer.

The data shows that the combo's performance envelope spans from 6.5 FPS (4K Ultra) to 52.3 FPS (1080p Low). No tested configuration exceeds 60 FPS, and only one configuration (1080p Low) exceeds the 30 FPS playability threshold by a comfortable margin.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K reveals a nearly linear relationship with pixel count, confirming the GPU as the primary bottleneck. From 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 (a 1.78x pixel increase), Low settings fall from 52.3 to 37.3 FPS — a 28.7% drop. From 2560x1440 to 3840x2160 (a 2.25x pixel increase), Low settings fall from 37.3 to 20.8 FPS — a 44.2% drop.

At higher settings, the scaling is even more punishing. Ultra settings drop from 25.5 FPS at 1080p to 14.8 FPS at 1440p (a 42% reduction), then to 6.5 FPS at 4K (a further 56% reduction). The 4K Ultra result of 6.5 FPS represents just 12.4% of the 1080p Low score, illustrating how poorly the GTX 1050 Ti handles the combined load of high resolution and high graphics settings.

The resolution scaling indicates that the CPU is not the limiting factor. If the i5-9400 were the bottleneck, we would expect to see smaller FPS differences between resolutions, especially at Low settings where the GPU load is lighter. Instead, the consistent and steep FPS declines with each resolution step point squarely at the GPU's limited pixel throughput (44.54 GPixel/s) and memory bandwidth (112.1 GB/s) as the constraints.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the only configuration that approaches acceptable playability is 1920x1080 with Low settings, which delivers 52.3 FPS. This is the sole tested setup that clears 40 FPS, and it should be considered the baseline for any playable session. Medium settings at 1080p (37.4 FPS) and High at 1080p (32.7 FPS) are borderline — they hover near the 30 FPS threshold but may feel inconsistent during heavy scenes.

For users who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate, 1920x1080 High at 32.7 FPS is the best compromise between image quality and playability, as it avoids the steep penalties seen at 1440p and 4K. However, the data strongly suggests that the combo cannot handle 2560x1440 or 3840x2160 in any settings configuration. At 1440p, even Low settings (37.3 FPS) barely exceed 30 FPS, and every other 1440p preset falls below 26 FPS. At 4K, no preset exceeds 20.8 FPS, making the resolution effectively unusable for this pairing.

The non-monotonic result at 4K — where High (13.9 FPS) outperforms Medium (11.5 FPS) — suggests that the Medium preset may trigger specific rendering features that are disproportionately costly on the 4 GB VRAM buffer. Users forced into 4K should prefer High over Medium, but the practical recommendation is to avoid 4K entirely with this combo. For the best experience, the data points unambiguously to 1080p Low, with 1080p Medium as an acceptable alternative for those who can tolerate sub-40 FPS.