Rust

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT pairing in Rust produces a wide spread of frame rates that depends almost entirely on the graphics preset chosen. At 1080p Low, the combo averages 209 FPS, which is more than double the 4K High result of 48 FPS. Dropping from 1080p to 1440p with Low settings reduces the average from 209 FPS to 144 FPS, a 31% decline. Moving from 1440p to 4K at Low settings further drops the average to 85 FPS, representing another 41% reduction. This pattern indicates that even at the lowest preset, resolution scaling has a pronounced effect on performance, suggesting the GPU is the primary limiting factor across most of the tested configurations.

The scaling behavior becomes more telling when comparing settings within each resolution. At 1080p, the jump from Low (209 FPS) to Medium (140 FPS) is a 33% performance hit, while the transition from Medium to High (119 FPS) costs another 15%. The gap between High and Ultra (90 FPS) is 24%. At 1440p, the same progression shows Low at 144 FPS, Medium at 97 FPS, High at 82 FPS, and Ultra at 62 FPS. The percentage drops between consecutive settings at 1440p are 33%, 15%, and 24% respectively, mirroring the 1080p pattern almost exactly. This consistency suggests that the relative cost of each quality tier is stable regardless of resolution.

At 4K, the scaling is more dramatic. Low delivers 85 FPS, Medium drops to 57 FPS (a 33% reduction), High falls to 48 FPS (a 16% drop from Medium), and Ultra bottoms out at 37 FPS (a 23% reduction from High). The 4K results reveal a clear ceiling: even at Low settings, the combo cannot maintain 90 FPS, and at Ultra it falls below 40 FPS. The frame rate curve from 1080p to 4K at any given setting shows that the RX 6800 XT’s rendering throughput is the dominant constraint, as the CPU’s performance headroom at lower resolutions does not translate into proportional gains at higher pixel counts.

The data indicates that for competitive or high-refresh play, 1080p Low or Medium settings are the only configurations that approach or exceed the 144 Hz mark. At 1080p Medium, the average of 140 FPS with a minimum of 119 FPS and maximum of 162 FPS shows decent consistency. The 1440p Low result of 144 FPS is also notable, as it matches the 1080p Medium average despite the higher pixel count. This suggests that the GPU has enough bandwidth to handle 1440p Low at high frame rates, but the 4K results show a hard limit where even Low settings cannot reach 90 FPS.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with the Navi 21 chip, manufactured on a 7 nm process at TSMC. It carries 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 512.0 GB/s. The GPU’s base clock is 1825 MHz, with a game clock of 2015 MHz and a boost clock of 2250 MHz. The memory operates at 2000 MHz, which translates to 16 Gbps effective. These specifications place the card in the 85th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 48477. Its nearest rivals in aggregate benchmarks include the NVIDIA RTX A1000 Mobile (1.5% higher score), the Intel Arc A550M (2.5% lower), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti (3% lower), and the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 (3% lower).

In Rust specifically, the RX 6800 XT’s 16 GB frame buffer is not a limiting factor at any tested resolution or setting. The game’s memory footprint at 4K Ultra remains well within the available VRAM, as evidenced by playable (albeit low) frame rates. The GPU’s 4608 shading units and 128 ROPs provide substantial fill rate, with a pixel rate of 288.0 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 648.0 GTexel/s. The FP32 throughput of 20.74 TFLOPS supports the compute demands of Rust’s dynamic environment, which includes procedural terrain and player-built structures.

The clock behavior of the RX 6800 XT is worth noting in the context of Rust’s results. The boost clock of 2250 MHz is 23% higher than the base clock, and the measured frame rates suggest that the GPU sustains high clocks under load. At 1080p Low, the average of 209 FPS indicates that the GPU is not fully saturated, as the CPU may be limiting the frame rate. However, at 4K Ultra, the average of 37 FPS shows the GPU is heavily burdened, likely running at or near its boost clock to maintain any playability. The 16 Gbps effective memory speed and 512.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient to feed the GPU’s compute units at lower resolutions, but at 4K, the memory bandwidth becomes a more significant factor in the frame rate ceiling.

The GPU’s DirectX 12 Ultimate support (12_2) and 72 ray tracing cores are present in the hardware, but Rust’s rendering pipeline does not appear to leverage ray tracing in the measured results. The Vulkan 1.4 and OpenGL 4.6 API support also do not change the fundamental performance characteristics observed. The card’s power delivery requirements — a 300 W TDP with two 8-pin connectors and a suggested 700 W PSU — are consistent with its high-end positioning, but these figures do not directly correlate with the frame rates in Rust.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT ranks 817th out of 2953 tested combos in Rust. This places the pairing in the top 27.7% of all configurations in the database. The rank reflects the aggregate performance across all measured settings and resolutions, giving a single metric for comparison. Being in the 817th position out of 2953 means that roughly 72% of tested combos perform worse, while 28% perform better. This is a solid mid-to-upper tier ranking, but it is not exceptional for a GPU that sits in the 85th percentile among all GPUs.

The combo’s rank is influenced by the CPU’s position in the broader market. The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 has an average benchmark score of 36938, placing it in the 85th percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F (deltaPct 0), the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D (deltaPct -0.2), the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 (deltaPct -0.4), and the Intel Core i9-12900T (deltaPct -0.5). These rivals have nearly identical average scores, with the Core Ultra 5 225 essentially tied with the Ryzen 5 5600F. This means that swapping the CPU for any of these rivals would likely produce very similar Rust performance, as the CPU is not the bottleneck in most configurations.

The GPU’s nearest rivals in aggregate benchmarks are the NVIDIA RTX A1000 Mobile (1.5% higher score), Intel Arc A550M (2.5% lower), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti (3% lower), and AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 (3% lower). The RX 6800 XT’s score of 48477 is notably higher than the RTX 5070 Ti’s 49957? No, the deltaPct shows the RTX 5070 Ti has a 3% lower score, meaning the RX 6800 XT actually outperforms it slightly. Wait, the deltaPct is negative for the RTX 5070 Ti (-3), which means the RX 6800 XT is 3% ahead of the RTX 5070 Ti in the aggregate benchmark. This is an unexpected result given the generational gap, but it is what the data shows. The RX 6800 XT also leads the RX Vega 64 by 3% and the Arc A550M by 2.5%, while trailing the RTX A1000 Mobile by 1.5%.

In Rust specifically, the combo’s rank of 817 out of 2953 is a meaningful data point because it represents the actual measured performance of this exact CPU-GPU pair. The rank does not directly correspond to the GPU’s percentile, as the CPU can influence results at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, where the CPU may be a limiting factor, the combo’s performance could be lower than what the GPU alone would achieve. At 4K Ultra, the GPU is clearly the bottleneck, and the rank likely reflects the GPU’s capabilities more accurately. The fact that the combo ranks in the top 28% suggests that while the RX 6800 XT is a strong GPU, the Core Ultra 5 225 does not boost the pairing into the top tier of Rust performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers three resolutions (1920x1080, 2560x1440, 3840x2160) and four settings (Low, Medium, High, Ultra). At 1080p, the results are as follows: Low averages 209 FPS, Medium averages 140 FPS with a minimum of 119 FPS and maximum of 162 FPS, High averages 119 FPS, and Ultra averages 90 FPS. The 1080p Medium results show a reasonable frame time consistency, with the minimum 15% below the average and the maximum 16% above. The other settings at 1080p do not have min/max data, so the average alone indicates the general performance level.

At 1440p, Low averages 144 FPS, Medium averages 97 FPS with a minimum of 82 FPS and maximum of 111 FPS, High averages 82 FPS, and Ultra averages 62 FPS. The 1440p Medium spread shows a minimum 15% below average and a maximum 14% above average, nearly identical to the 1080p Medium pattern. This suggests that the game’s frame time variance is consistent across these two resolutions. The 1440p Low result of 144 FPS is exactly the same as the 1080p Medium average, indicating that the GPU can handle a higher pixel count when the settings are lowered.

At 4K, Low averages 85 FPS, Medium averages 57 FPS with a minimum of 49 FPS and maximum of 66 FPS, High averages 48 FPS, and Ultra averages 37 FPS. The 4K Medium results show a wider relative spread: the minimum is 14% below average and the maximum is 16% above average, similar to the other resolutions. However, the absolute values are much lower, meaning that any frame time spike at 4K Medium could drop the experience below 50 FPS. The 4K Ultra average of 37 FPS is the lowest recorded value in the entire dataset, indicating that this setting is not suitable for smooth gameplay.

Comparing across resolutions at the same setting reveals the GPU scaling. For Low settings, the progression is 209 FPS at 1080p, 144 FPS at 1440p, and 85 FPS at 4K. This represents a 31% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 41% drop from 1440p to 4K. For Medium settings, the averages are 140 FPS, 97 FPS, and 57 FPS, with drops of 31% and 41% respectively. High settings show 119 FPS, 82 FPS, and 48 FPS, with drops of 31% and 41%. Ultra settings show 90 FPS, 62 FPS, and 37 FPS, with drops of 31% and 40%. The consistency of these percentage drops across all settings indicates that Rust’s rendering load scales predictably with pixel count, and the GPU’s performance scales accordingly.

The highest average FPS recorded is 209 FPS at 1080p Low, which is the only result above 200 FPS. The lowest average is 37 FPS at 4K Ultra. The median result across all 12 configurations is approximately 89.5 FPS, which falls between the 4K Low (85 FPS) and 4K High (48 FPS) results. This median highlights that the combo is capable of high frame rates at lower resolutions, but struggles at 4K with higher settings. For a game like Rust, where survival gameplay often involves large open environments with many entities, the 4K Ultra result of 37 FPS may be too low for comfortable play, while 1080p Medium at 140 FPS offers a smooth experience.

FAQ

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

A: The highest average FPS is 209 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

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

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the combo averages 37 FPS. This is the lowest average across all tested configurations.

Q: What is the frame rate consistency at 1440p Medium?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the combo averages 97 FPS, with a minimum of 82 FPS and a maximum of 111 FPS. The spread of 29 FPS between minimum and maximum indicates moderate variance.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more likely to be the bottleneck at 1080p Low?

A: The 209 FPS average at 1080p Low is the highest result, and the CPU’s performance is sufficient to feed the GPU at this resolution. The GPU’s aggregate benchmark percentile (85th) is the same as the CPU’s percentile (85th), but the frame rate drop to 144 FPS at 1440p Low (a 31% reduction) suggests the GPU becomes more limiting as resolution increases.

Q: How does the combo rank compared to other tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 817th out of 2953 tested combos in Rust, placing it in the top 27.7% of all configurations.

Q: What is the difference in average FPS between 1080p Medium and 1440p Low?

A: The average FPS is identical: 140 FPS at 1080p Medium and 144 FPS at 1440p Low. The 1440p Low result is actually 4 FPS higher, despite the higher resolution.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 is a 10-core, 10-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, manufactured on a 3 nm process at TSMC. It has a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz, with a TDP of 65 W. The CPU supports DDR5 memory on a dual-channel bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s. It includes 20 MB of shared L3 cache, along with 192 KB of L1 cache per core and 3 MB of L2 cache per core. The processor is built on the Intel Socket 1851 and integrates Arc Xe-LPG Graphics with 16 execution units, though this iGPU is not relevant for gaming with a discrete GPU.

In benchmark tests, the Core Ultra 5 225 achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 25891 and a single-core score of 3655. The PassMark multi-thread score is 30459, with a single-thread score of 4412. The CPU’s average benchmark score is 36938, placing it in the 85th percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rivals in aggregate benchmarks are the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F (deltaPct 0), AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D (deltaPct -0.2), AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 (deltaPct -0.4), and Intel Core i9-12900T (deltaPct -0.5). All of these rivals have average scores within 0.5% of the Core Ultra 5 225, indicating that the CPU’s overall performance is virtually identical to these alternatives.

In Rust, the CPU’s role varies by resolution and settings. At 1080p Low, the average FPS of 209 is likely approaching the CPU’s limit, as the GPU has enough headroom to render frames faster if the CPU could supply them. The fact that the 1080p Low result is 45% higher than the 1080p Medium result (209 vs 140 FPS) shows that the CPU can handle lower graphical loads with ease. However, at 4K Ultra, the CPU’s performance is less relevant because the GPU is the bottleneck; the 37 FPS average is far below any CPU-driven limit.

The CPU’s memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s is ample for Rust’s data access patterns, which involve streaming large world data and handling many entities. The 20 MB L3 cache helps reduce memory latency, which can be important in a game with many simultaneous objects. The 10 cores and 10 threads provide sufficient parallelism for Rust’s simulation and AI tasks, though the game is unlikely to fully utilize all cores. The Cinebench R20 multi-core score of 6317 and single-core score of 891 indicate strong per-thread performance, which is beneficial for games that rely on a few primary threads.

The CPU’s boost clock of 4.90 GHz is high, and the measured Rust performance suggests that the processor sustains high clocks under load. The PassMark physics score of 2342 and integer math score of 65345 reflect the CPU’s ability to handle physics calculations and game logic, which are relevant to Rust’s survival mechanics. The floating point math score of 92038 also supports the game’s procedural generation and world simulation. Overall, the Core Ultra 5 225 provides a solid foundation for the RX 6800 XT in Rust, though the combo’s ranking of 817th out of 2953 suggests that other CPU-GPU pairings may offer better performance in this specific title. The CPU’s percentile (85th) matches the GPU’s percentile (85th), but the combo’s rank in Rust (top 27.7%) is slightly lower than what either component’s percentile might suggest, indicating that Rust’s specific workload does not perfectly align with the strengths of this pairing.