Rust

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti produces a distinctive performance profile in Rust, a survival title where frame rates shift dramatically based on graphical presets. Benchmark data shows this combination ranks 611th out of 1,717 tested combos, placing it in the upper-middle tier of the database. The RTX 3080 Ti, with its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 912.4 GB/s bandwidth, provides substantial graphical headroom, but the Core i5-9400’s six cores and six threads without hyper-threading create a notable bottleneck at lower resolutions and settings. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS data across three resolutions and four quality presets, contextualizing each result against the hardware’s theoretical capabilities.

FAQ

Q: What is the best average frame rate achieved by this combo in Rust?

A: The highest measured average is 141.4 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This represents the peak of the combo’s performance envelope, where the GPU is least stressed and the CPU’s single-thread performance becomes the limiting factor.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS drops to 40.6. This is the most demanding configuration tested, and the result indicates that the RTX 3080 Ti’s 34.10 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is heavily taxed by Rust’s Ultra preset at this resolution.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset yields 126 FPS on average, while Ultra drops to 68.7 FPS. This represents a 45% reduction in frame rate when moving from the least to most demanding visual settings, showing how sensitive Rust is to quality presets.

Q: Does the combo maintain playable frame rates at 4K?

A: Yes, but with caveats. At 3840x2160, the High preset averages 51.3 FPS, and Medium averages 63.3 FPS. Low settings push this to 91 FPS. All four presets exceed 40 FPS, but only Low and Medium achieve the smoothness typically associated with competitive play.

Q: How does this combo rank relative to other tested configurations?

A: It ranks 611th out of 1,717 combos, placing it in the 64th percentile of all tested systems. This is a solid mid-pack position, reflecting the imbalance between a high-end GPU and a mid-range CPU from an older generation.

Q: What is the CPU’s benchmark percentile compared to all processors?

A: The Intel Core i5-9400 sits at the 50th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 2,305. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i3-10305, scores 2,300, a delta of only 0.2%, indicating near-identical compute performance.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications explain much of the measured performance. The GPU operates with a base clock of 1365 MHz and a boost clock of 1665 MHz, built on Samsung’s 8 nm process with 28,300 million transistors on a 628 mm² die. Memory is a critical factor for Rust: the 12 GB of GDDR6X on a 384-bit bus delivers 912.4 GB/s of bandwidth, which is ample for the game’s large world streaming and texture loads.

Benchmark results confirm the GPU’s strength. It holds the 83rd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 41,224. Its closest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, scores 41,441, a delta of -0.5%, meaning the RTX 3080 Ti trails the flagship by less than half a percent. This near-parity is reflected in Rust’s 4K results: at 3840x2160 High, the combo averages 51.3 FPS, while Medium yields 63.3 FPS and Low jumps to 91 FPS. The scaling from Medium to Low at 4K is a 44% improvement, showing that the GPU’s rasterization throughput (532.8 GTexel/s texture rate and 186.5 GPixel/s pixel rate) is the primary driver at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the GPU’s role shifts. High settings produce 90.3 FPS, Medium 107.1 FPS, and Low 126 FPS. The gap between Low and High is 28%, which is narrower than at 4K, suggesting that the CPU begins to exert influence as resolution drops. The RTX 3080 Ti’s 10,240 shading units and 80 RT cores are underutilized at 1440p Low, where the frame rate ceiling is likely governed by the processor. Nevertheless, the GPU’s 34.10 TFLOPS FP32 compute ensures that even Ultra settings at 1440p (68.7 FPS) remain playable, evidence of its raw power.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 611 out of 1,717 tested systems positions it within the top 36% of all configurations. This is a respectable standing, but it understates the GPU’s capability while overstating the CPU’s contribution. The RTX 3080 Ti alone sits at the 83rd GPU percentile, meaning the combo’s overall rank is dragged down by the Core i5-9400’s 50th CPU percentile.

Rival GPU comparisons provide context. The RTX 3080 Ti’s average score of 41,224 is only 1.1% lower than the RTX 5070’s 41,687, and 1.6% lower than the Tesla M40’s 41,897. These deltas are small, indicating that within the GPU hierarchy, the 3080 Ti is competitive with newer and workstation-class parts. However, the CPU’s rivals tell a different story: the Core i7-8809G scores 2,319, which is 0.6% higher than the i5-9400’s 2,305, while the Xeon E-2134 trails by 0.4% at 2,295. These margins are negligible, confirming that the CPU is a mid-pack performer.

In Rust specifically, the 611th rank suggests that many combos with stronger CPUs achieve better frame rates, even with weaker GPUs. The data implies that at 1080p and 1440p, the i5-9400’s six threads become a constraint, preventing the RTX 3080 Ti from fully expressing its potential. The 1717 total combos tested means there are 1,106 configurations ranked higher, many likely featuring newer eight-core processors.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest results. Low settings average 141.4 FPS, Medium 121.8 FPS, High 112.6 FPS, and Ultra 94.7 FPS. The progression from Ultra to Low is a 49% increase, but even Ultra exceeds 90 FPS, making this resolution the sweet spot for the pairing. The narrow gap between High and Medium (9.2 FPS) suggests that the CPU is beginning to saturate at these frame rates, as the GPU has ample headroom.

Moving to 2560x1440, the pattern shifts. Low averages 126 FPS, Medium 107.1 FPS, High 90.3 FPS, and Ultra 68.7 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 45%, and the delta between High and Medium is 16.8 FPS, a wider spread than at 1080p. This indicates that the GPU’s workload is increasing, but the CPU still maintains control at Low settings where 126 FPS is achieved.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the unequivocal bottleneck. Low averages 91 FPS, Medium 63.3 FPS, High 51.3 FPS, and Ultra 40.6 FPS. The 4K Low result is particularly telling: 91 FPS is higher than the 1440p Ultra score of 68.7 FPS, demonstrating that Rust’s quality presets have a more pronounced effect on frame rate than resolution alone. The Ultra preset at 4K, with its 40.6 FPS average, is the only configuration that dips below 40 FPS, but it remains technically playable.

Across all resolutions, the scaling from Low to Ultra is consistent: 1080p shows a 33% reduction, 1440p shows a 45% reduction, and 4K shows a 55% reduction. This monotonic increase in sensitivity to settings as resolution rises confirms that the RTX 3080 Ti’s memory bandwidth and compute resources are the limiting factor at 4K, while the CPU’s six cores cap performance at lower resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a six-core, six-thread processor from the Coffee Lake Refresh generation, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. It lacks hyper-threading, which is a critical limitation for Rust, a game known for its server-side simulation and large player counts that can spawn many threads. The CPU’s 9 MB of shared L3 cache and 64 KB L1 cache per core are modest by modern standards, and its 42.7 GB/s memory bandwidth on a dual-channel DDR4 interface is a potential bottleneck for the RTX 3080 Ti’s 912.4 GB/s of GPU memory bandwidth.

Benchmark data quantifies the CPU’s standing. In Cinebench R23, it scores 7,969 multi-core and 1,125 single-core. The single-core score is particularly relevant for Rust, which relies heavily on single-thread performance for game logic and physics. The CPU’s 50th percentile ranking among all processors means it is exactly average, and its nearest rivals are all within 0.6% of its average score of 2,305. The Intel Core i3-10305 and i3-1125G4 both score 2,300 (0.2% delta), while the Xeon E-2134 scores 2,295 (0.4% delta). These are effectively identical performers, indicating that the i5-9400 offers no meaningful compute advantage over cheaper or mobile parts.

In Rust, the CPU’s role is most evident at 1080p Low, where the combo hits 141.4 FPS. Given that the RTX 3080 Ti can exceed 200 FPS in many titles at this setting, the 141.4 FPS ceiling strongly suggests CPU limitation. Similarly, at 1440p Low, the 126 FPS result is only 11% lower than 1080p Low, despite a 78% increase in pixel count, implying that the CPU is holding the frame rate steady regardless of resolution. The six threads without hyper-threading mean that background tasks, server communication, and the game’s main thread compete for the same execution resources, which can cause frame time spikes not visible in average FPS data.

The boost clock of 4.10 GHz provides adequate single-core performance, as evidenced by the 112.6 FPS at 1080p High, but the lack of additional threads prevents the GPU from being fully fed at lower settings. This is a classic mid-range CPU pairing with a high-end GPU: the i5-9400 delivers consistent, playable performance across all tested configurations, but it leaves a significant portion of the RTX 3080 Ti’s capability unused, particularly in scenarios where frame rates exceed 120 FPS.