Rust

Rust’s demanding survival sandbox places a heavy load on both CPU and GPU, and the measured results for the Intel Core Ultra 5 135H paired with the AMD Radeon 8060S reveal a balanced but resolution-dependent experience. This combination ranks in the 56th percentile among all tested combos in this game, placing it firmly in the mid-to-upper tier of systems capable of running Rust at playable framerates. The data shows a system that excels at 1080p and 1440p, yet struggles to maintain smooth performance at 4K, with the choice of graphical preset proving critical to the overall experience.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows provide a clear picture of how each preset impacts performance across the three resolutions tested. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers an average of 151 FPS, which is the highest measured result in the entire dataset for this combo. This makes Low the only setting that provides a framerate significantly beyond the 144Hz refresh rate territory, offering headroom for competitive play or for maintaining smoothness during heavy base-building and PvP encounters. The Medium preset at 1080p yields 102 FPS, which is still exceptionally smooth and represents a more balanced visual compromise, while High drops to 86 FPS and Ultra falls to 65 FPS.

Moving to 1440p, the pattern shifts. The Low preset still provides a very playable 104 FPS, but the Medium preset at 70 FPS becomes the recommended choice for most users. This setting balances visual fidelity with a framerate that remains well above the 60 FPS threshold, ensuring responsive gameplay. The High preset at 59 FPS is borderline, dipping just below the 60 FPS mark, while Ultra at 45 FPS begins to show noticeable stutter in fast-paced situations. For a smooth experience at 1440p, Medium is the clear winner, as it maintains a solid 70 FPS average with a minimum of 59 FPS, indicating that even the worst-case frames remain playable.

At 4K, the situation becomes more constrained. The Low preset is the only option that achieves a truly playable framerate, averaging 62 FPS. This is the recommended setting for 4K, as the Medium preset drops to 41 FPS, High falls to 35 FPS, and Ultra becomes nearly unplayable at 27 FPS. While 62 FPS at 4K is not exceptionally high, it is sufficient for a survival game where reaction times matter less than in competitive shooters. For users prioritizing visual quality over raw performance, the Medium preset at 41 FPS is the highest fidelity option that remains technically playable, but the data strongly suggests that Low is the optimal choice for a consistent 4K experience.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon 8060S is an integrated graphics processor based on the RDNA 3.5 architecture, built on a 4 nm process node. Its performance characteristics are defined by a boost clock of 2900 MHz and a base clock of 1295 MHz, with memory bandwidth that is system-dependent due to its shared memory architecture. The GPU has no dedicated VRAM, instead relying on system memory, which impacts performance at higher resolutions where memory bandwidth becomes a bottleneck. The benchmark data shows the GPU achieves a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2162, placing it in the 87th percentile among all GPUs, a strong showing for an integrated solution.

The GPU's role in Rust is evident in the framerate scaling across settings. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 86 FPS (from 151 to 65), which indicates that the GPU is heavily taxed by the higher-detail settings. The Radeon 8060S's 2560 shading units and 64 ROPs are sufficient for 1080p gaming, but the shared memory system limits its ability to handle the increased texture and shadow workloads at Ultra. The pixel rate of 185.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 464.0 GTexel/s provide theoretical limits, but the actual performance is constrained by the system memory bandwidth, which is listed as system dependent.

At 4K, the GPU's limitations become more pronounced. The framerate drops from 151 FPS at 1080p Low to 62 FPS at 4K Low, a reduction of 59%. This scaling is typical of a GPU that is reaching its fillrate limits, as the pixel count quadruples while the GPU's processing power remains constant. The Radeon 8060S compares favorably to dedicated GPUs in its nearest rivals list, with an average benchmark score of 55757, just 0.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB and 2.8% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080. This indicates that the integrated GPU is a capable performer, but its shared memory architecture and lack of dedicated VRAM prevent it from achieving the sustained performance of a high-end discrete card at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 135H and AMD Radeon 8060S ranks 1665 out of 2953 tested combos in Rust, placing it in the 56th percentile. This rank indicates that the system performs better than the majority of tested configurations, but it is not in the top tier. The CPU itself is responsible for a significant portion of this ranking, as it sits in the 81st percentile among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 29093. This score is nearly identical to its nearest rivals, being just 0.1% below the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X and 0.6% below the Intel Core i5-13500HX, while being 0.5% above the AMD Ryzen 5 5600XT.

The GPU's 87th percentile ranking is notably higher than the combined system's 56th percentile, suggesting that the CPU is the limiting factor in some scenarios. This is particularly true at lower resolutions where the GPU has headroom but the CPU's single-threaded performance becomes the bottleneck. The CPU's PassMark single-thread score of 3521 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1700 indicate capable but not exceptional single-threaded performance, which is critical for Rust's game logic and physics calculations. The combo rank of 1665 reflects a system that is well-balanced for 1080p and 1440p gaming but falls short of the top-tier configurations that feature higher-end CPUs and discrete GPUs.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across all settings and resolutions. At 1080p, the results are as follows: Low averages 151 FPS, Medium averages 102 FPS with a range of 86 to 117 FPS, High averages 86 FPS, and Ultra averages 65 FPS. The variance at Medium, with a 31 FPS spread between minimum and maximum, indicates that the framerate is not entirely stable, likely due to CPU-bound moments during intense gameplay. At 1440p, the averages are: Low at 104 FPS, Medium at 70 FPS with a range of 59 to 80 FPS, High at 59 FPS, and Ultra at 45 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 59 FPS matches the High preset's average, showing that the jump from Medium to High has a significant impact on performance.

At 4K, the data shows: Low at 62 FPS, Medium at 41 FPS with a range of 35 to 47 FPS, High at 35 FPS, and Ultra at 27 FPS. The 4K Medium preset's minimum of 35 FPS is identical to the 4K High average, indicating that the GPU is struggling to maintain consistent frame times at this resolution. The step-down from Low to Medium at 4K represents a 34% performance loss, while the step from Medium to High represents a 15% loss, and High to Ultra a 23% loss. This non-linear scaling suggests that the Medium preset at 4K may be hitting a memory bandwidth ceiling, as the shared system memory becomes a limiting factor.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the system's performance characteristics. At Low settings, the framerate drops from 151 FPS at 1080p to 104 FPS at 1440p (a 31% reduction) and then to 62 FPS at 4K (a 40% reduction from 1440p). This scaling is steeper than the pixel count increase would suggest, indicating that the GPU is becoming the primary bottleneck as resolution increases. At Medium settings, the drop is from 102 FPS at 1080p to 70 FPS at 1440p (a 31% reduction) and then to 41 FPS at 4K (a 41% reduction). The High settings show a similar pattern: 86 FPS at 1080p, 59 FPS at 1440p (a 31% reduction), and 35 FPS at 4K (a 41% reduction).

The consistent 31% reduction from 1080p to 1440p across all settings suggests that the GPU is the limiting component in this resolution range. However, the 40-41% reduction from 1440p to 4K is more pronounced, indicating that the system memory bandwidth is becoming a critical constraint. The CPU's role in this scaling is evident in the 1080p results, where the framerates are high enough that CPU limitations would typically emerge. The fact that the 1080p Low preset achieves 151 FPS while the CPU's PassMark multi-thread score is 22422 suggests that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at this resolution, but the GPU's shared memory system prevents it from maintaining higher framerates at 4K.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset to use at 1440p for a balance of visuals and performance?

A: The Medium preset at 1440p is the recommended choice, averaging 70 FPS with a minimum of 59 FPS. This provides a smooth experience while maintaining higher visual fidelity than Low, which averages 104 FPS but sacrifices significant graphical detail.

Q: How does the AMD Radeon 8060S compare to its nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score?

A: The Radeon 8060S has an average benchmark score of 55757, which is 0.1% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB, 1.7% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X, and 2.8% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, while being 0.6% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080.

Q: Is 4K gaming viable with this CPU and GPU combination?

A: 4K gaming is only viable at Low settings, which averages 62 FPS. The Medium preset drops to 41 FPS, and High and Ultra fall to 35 FPS and 27 FPS respectively, making them less suitable for consistent gameplay.

Q: What is the CPU's percentile ranking and how does it compare to the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 135H is in the 81st percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 29093. This is 0.1% below the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X's score of 29123, indicating near-identical performance.

Q: How does the framerate at 1080p Low compare to the framerate at 4K Low?

A: The 1080p Low preset averages 151 FPS, while the 4K Low preset averages 62 FPS. This represents a 59% reduction in framerate, highlighting the significant performance cost of increasing resolution.

Q: What is the combined system's rank among all tested combos in Rust?

A: The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 135H and AMD Radeon 8060S ranks 1665 out of 2953 tested combos, placing it in the 56th percentile of all configurations tested in Rust.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 135H is a 14-core, 18-thread processor based on the Meteor Lake architecture, built on a 7 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz, with a TDP of 28 watts. The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 112 KB of L1 cache per core, 2 MB of L2 cache per core, and 18 MB of shared L3 cache. This configuration provides robust multi-threaded performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 11875.5 and PassMark multi-thread score of 22422.

In Rust, the CPU's role is critical due to the game's heavy reliance on single-threaded performance for its simulation and physics calculations. The CPU's PassMark single-thread score of 3521 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1700 are indicative of its capability in this regard. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 151 FPS, which suggests that the CPU is able to keep up with the GPU at this resolution. However, the framerate at 1080p Ultra is 65 FPS, which is a 57% reduction from Low, indicating that the GPU becomes the bottleneck when graphical settings are increased.

The CPU's nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score include the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X (29123, deltaPct -0.1), Intel Xeon Phi 7210 (29245, deltaPct -0.5), AMD Ryzen 5 5600XT (28940, deltaPct 0.5), and Intel Core i5-13500HX (29270, deltaPct -0.6). These scores show that the Core Ultra 5 135H is extremely competitive with these desktop-class processors, despite being a mobile chip. The CPU's 81st percentile ranking among all CPUs confirms that it is a strong performer, but its 28-watt TDP and mobile form factor limit its ability to sustain high clocks under sustained loads, which can affect framerate stability in Rust's long gaming sessions.