Rust

Rust is a demanding survival title that stresses both CPU and GPU, and the measured results for the Intel Core i9-14900K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER show a configuration that is heavily dependent on settings and resolution. The data indicates that this combo ranks in the 1244th position out of 1717 tested combinations, placing it in the lower-middle tier of all tested systems. Across the three tested resolutions, the frame rates range from a playable 135.4 FPS at 1080p Low to a sluggish 25.9 FPS at 4K Ultra, revealing that the RTX 2060 SUPER is often the limiting factor, while the i9-14900K’s high single-thread performance helps maintain high frame rates at lower resolutions and settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this hardware?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 with Low settings delivers the highest average frame rate at 135.4 FPS. For a balance of visual quality and performance, 2560x1440 on Medium settings provides 65.3 FPS, which is a more playable experience than the 4K options.

Q: How does the i9-14900K perform relative to its closest rivals?

A: The CPU’s average benchmark score is 79824, which is 0.3% lower than the AMD EPYC 7413 and 0.7% higher than both the Intel Core i9-14900KF and the Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF. It also sits 0.9% above the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K.

Q: Is the RTX 2060 SUPER capable of running Rust at 4K?

A: The measured results show that at 3840x2160, the best average FPS is 53.6 on Low settings. On High settings, it drops to 34.2 FPS, and on Ultra it falls to 25.9 FPS, indicating that 4K is only viable at the lowest preset.

Q: What is the GPU's performance standing compared to other graphics cards?

A: The RTX 2060 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 19774 and sits in the 63rd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070, scores 0.5% higher, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN is 0.3% lower.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance compare to its single-threaded performance?

A: The i9-14900K shows a strong multi-threaded result with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 49872, while its single-core score is 7040. The PassMark multi-thread score is 58674, and the single-thread score is 4697, highlighting its capability in both areas.

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

A: At 2560x1440, the average frame rate on Low settings is 94.4 FPS. Moving to Ultra settings reduces this to 41.1 FPS, a significant drop of 53.3 FPS, which shows the heavy impact of the Ultra preset on this GPU.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of how this combo responds to different presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 135.4 FPS, which is ideal for high-refresh-rate displays and competitive play. The Medium preset still delivers a very smooth 91.7 FPS, offering a substantial visual upgrade over Low for a 43.7 FPS reduction. High settings at 78 FPS remain playable, but the jump to Ultra drops the frame rate to 59.3 FPS.

For users targeting 2560x1440, the Low preset maintains a high 94.4 FPS, but the Medium preset at 65.3 FPS provides the best balance of detail and smoothness. The High preset at 55.2 FPS is still acceptable, but Ultra at 41.1 FPS begins to feel less fluid. At 3840x2160, all presets struggle; Low is the only setting that reaches a playable 53.6 FPS, while Medium (36.2 FPS), High (34.2 FPS), and Ultra (25.9 FPS) all fall below the threshold for a comfortable experience.

The optimal experience for this configuration is the Medium preset at 2560x1440, which offers a solid frame rate of 65.3 FPS without sacrificing too much visual fidelity. If maximum performance is the priority, the Low preset at 1920x1080 with 135.4 FPS is the clear choice. The data shows that the Ultra preset should be avoided at all resolutions with this GPU, as it incurs a severe performance penalty.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is built on the Turing architecture with a TU106 chip, featuring 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, which provides a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. Its base clock is 1470 MHz with a boost clock of 1650 MHz, and the memory runs at an effective speed of 14 Gbps. The GPU’s average benchmark score is 19774, placing it in the 63rd percentile of all GPUs, and it sits just 0.5% behind the RTX 2070 in average score.

The benchmark results across Rust’s presets clearly show that the GPU is the primary bottleneck in this pairing, especially at higher resolutions. At 3840x2160, the frame rate drops from 53.6 FPS on Low to 25.9 FPS on Ultra, a decline of 27.7 FPS. This scaling indicates that the 8 GB VRAM and the GPU’s compute power are insufficient for the demands of 4K Ultra settings in Rust. Even at 2560x1440, the frame rate falls from 94.4 FPS on Low to 41.1 FPS on Ultra, showing that the card is heavily taxed by the more demanding presets.

At 1920x1080, the GPU manages to keep up better, with a range from 135.4 FPS on Low to 59.3 FPS on Ultra. The data suggests that the RTX 2060 SUPER performs best at 1080p, where it can deliver high frame rates on lower presets, but it lacks the headroom for high-refresh-rate gaming at 1440p or any playable experience at 4K with this title. The 8 GB of VRAM and the 7.181 TFLOPS of FP32 compute are the key specifications that limit its performance in Rust’s more graphically intensive modes.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i9-14900K and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER achieves a rank of 1244 out of 1717 tested combos in Rust, placing it in the 28th percentile of all systems tested. This is a low ranking for a CPU that sits in the 97th percentile of all processors, which clearly indicates that the GPU is dragging down the overall performance of the system.

The i9-14900K’s average benchmark score of 79824 is comparable to its nearest rivals, but the RTX 2060 SUPER’s average score of 19774 is far below what a high-end CPU would typically be paired with. This mismatch is reflected in the measured FPS, where the system struggles to maintain high frame rates at higher resolutions. The data shows that this combo performs closer to a mid-range gaming PC than a high-end one, despite the presence of a flagship CPU.

The ranking suggests that the CPU’s potential is largely untapped in Rust, as the GPU becomes the limiting factor in most scenarios. At 1080p Low, the system can reach 135.4 FPS, which is respectable, but the ranking indicates that many other combinations deliver better overall performance. The 1717 tested combos include systems with more balanced pairings, and this particular setup’s performance is constrained by the older GPU architecture.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K is a 24-core, 32-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.20 GHz and a boost clock of 6.00 GHz. It features 36 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB of L2 cache per core, along with a 125 W TDP. Its benchmark scores are strong, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 49872 and a single-core score of 7040, placing it in the 97th percentile of all CPUs.

In Rust, the CPU’s high single-thread performance is crucial, as the game is known to be sensitive to single-core speed. The data supports this, as the system achieves its highest frame rates at lower resolutions and settings where the GPU is less of a bottleneck. At 1920x1080 Low, the system hits 135.4 FPS, which suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU effectively at that level.

However, the CPU’s multi-threaded capabilities, while impressive in synthetic benchmarks, do not translate into higher frame rates in Rust once the GPU is saturated. The PassMark multi-thread score of 58674 and the Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 49872 show that the CPU has plenty of headroom, but the measured FPS at 4K and 1440p Ultra are limited by the GPU. The CPU’s boost clock of 6.00 GHz and 24 cores ensure that it will not be the limiting factor in most gaming scenarios, but with the RTX 2060 SUPER, the system’s overall performance is capped by the graphics card.