Rust

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows for Rust with the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 show a clear hierarchy of performance versus visual load. For the smoothest experience, the Low preset delivers the highest average frame rates across all resolutions, but the data suggests that Medium is often the better compromise when considering frame-time stability. At 1920x1080, Low produces an average of 145 FPS, while Medium drops to 98 FPS with a minimum of 83 FPS and a maximum of 112 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is significant, but Medium still provides a comfortable margin above typical display refresh rates and includes the min/max range that indicates more consistent frame pacing than the High or Ultra presets, which lack reported minimums.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset averages 67 FPS with a minimum of 57 FPS, which remains playable for most scenarios, while High averages 57 FPS and Ultra drops to 43 FPS. At 3840x2160, Medium averages 40 FPS with a minimum of 34 FPS, which is borderline for smooth gameplay, while Low averages 59 FPS and High averages 33 FPS. Given the data, the Medium preset at 1080p is the recommended starting point for a balanced experience, as it retains a substantial performance cushion while offering improved visual fidelity over Low. For users prioritizing maximum frame rates, Low at 1080p is the only preset that consistently exceeds 144 FPS, but the 98 FPS average of Medium is still robust for most monitors. The Ultra preset, while visually demanding, yields sub-60 FPS averages at all resolutions and is only advisable for users who prioritize image quality over responsiveness and have hardware capable of tolerating the lower frame rates.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a chip designated AD107, manufactured on a 5 nm process. The GPU features 3072 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units. Its base clock is 1830 MHz, and it boosts to 2460 MHz, with memory running at 2125 MHz (17 Gbps effective). The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory operates across a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 272.0 GB/s. These specifications position the card with a PassMark G3D score of 19545 and a percentile rank of 61 against all GPUs. In the nearest rival comparison, the RTX 4060 sits close to the AMD Radeon HD 7790, which scores 17666, a delta of -0.2 percent, and the AMD Radeon 780M, which scores 17588, a delta of 0.3 percent. This indicates the RTX 4060 performs roughly on par with these older or integrated solutions in synthetic benchmarks, but the measured FPS data in Rust shows a more nuanced story.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity is a critical factor for Rust, as the game’s open-world survival mechanics often rely on large texture pools and long draw distances. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 25, which suggests the GPU is heavily taxed, but the VRAM may also be a limiting factor given the high-resolution assets. The memory bandwidth of 272.0 GB/s is moderate for a modern GPU, and the 128-bit bus width limits the data throughput compared to wider-memory designs. The pixel rate of 118.1 GPixel/s and texture rate of 236.2 GTexel/s indicate the GPU can handle complex shading, but the measured results show that at 4K, even the Low preset only achieves 59 FPS, implying the GPU’s compute resources are the primary constraint rather than memory alone. The RTX 4060’s 15.11 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is respectable for a mobile-oriented card, but Rust’s engine, which is known for heavy CPU draw calls, may not fully utilize these resources at lower resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of scaling from 1080p to 4K. At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 145 FPS, while Medium averages 98 FPS, High averages 82 FPS, and Ultra averages 63 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440, these numbers drop to 100 FPS (Low), 67 FPS (Medium), 57 FPS (High), and 43 FPS (Ultra). At 3840x2160, the averages fall to 59 FPS (Low), 40 FPS (Medium), 33 FPS (High), and 25 FPS (Ultra). The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial: Low goes from 145 to 59 FPS, a reduction of approximately 59 percent; Medium goes from 98 to 40 FPS, a reduction of roughly 59 percent; High goes from 82 to 33 FPS, a reduction of about 60 percent; and Ultra goes from 63 to 25 FPS, a reduction of approximately 60 percent. This consistent decline across all presets indicates that the GPU is the limiting component as resolution increases, with the frame rate dropping nearly linearly with the pixel count.

The data also shows that the scaling between 1080p and 1440p is less severe, with average FPS reductions ranging from about 31 percent (Low: 145 to 100) to 32 percent (Medium: 98 to 67). The transition from 1440p to 4K is steeper, with reductions of about 41 percent (Low: 100 to 59) and 40 percent (Medium: 67 to 40). This suggests that at 1440p, the CPU still has some headroom to keep frames flowing, but at 4K, the GPU’s pixel throughput becomes the dominant bottleneck. The min/max data for the Medium preset shows tighter frame ranges at lower resolutions—83 to 112 FPS at 1080p, 57 to 77 FPS at 1440p, and 34 to 46 FPS at 4K—which indicates that frame-time consistency degrades as resolution increases. For users targeting a stable 60 FPS experience, the data suggests that 1080p Medium or 1440p Low are the viable options, while 4K is only playable on the Low preset.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers the highest average FPS at 145, which is more than double the Ultra preset’s 63 FPS. Medium averages 98 FPS with a minimum of 83 FPS and a maximum of 112 FPS, providing a stable experience for high-refresh monitors. High averages 82 FPS, which is a 16 percent drop from Medium, and Ultra averages 63 FPS, which is a 23 percent drop from High. The data shows that the gap between Low and Medium is 47 FPS, while the gap between Medium and High is 16 FPS, and between High and Ultra is 19 FPS. This suggests that the Medium preset offers a significant performance advantage over High while only sacrificing a modest amount of visual quality.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 100 FPS, which is still above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. Medium averages 67 FPS with a minimum of 57 FPS, which is close to the 60 FPS line but may experience occasional dips. High averages 57 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target, and Ultra averages 43 FPS, which is only suitable for slower-paced gameplay. The min/max data for Medium shows a range of 57 to 77 FPS, indicating a spread of 20 FPS, which is wider than the 29 FPS spread at 1080p (83 to 112 FPS). This wider range at 1440p suggests that the GPU is working harder and frame delivery becomes less consistent.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 59 FPS, which is just below the 60 FPS target, while Medium averages 40 FPS with a minimum of 34 FPS and a maximum of 46 FPS. High averages 33 FPS, and Ultra averages 25 FPS. The data clearly shows that 4K is not a practical resolution for this combo unless the user is willing to accept sub-60 FPS averages. The Low preset at 4K is the only option that approaches playability, but it still falls short of a locked 60 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K has a min of 34 FPS, which would result in noticeable stuttering during intense moments. Overall, the measured FPS breakdown indicates that this combo is best suited for 1080p gaming, with 1440p being a secondary option for users who prefer higher resolution over maximum frame rates.

FAQ

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

A: The highest measured average FPS is 145, achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low preset. The next highest is 100 FPS at 2560x1440 with Low, and 98 FPS at 1920x1080 with Medium.

Q: Can this combo maintain a stable 60 FPS at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 100 FPS, and Medium averages 67 FPS with a minimum of 57 FPS. High averages 57 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target, so Medium is the highest preset that comes close to maintaining 60 FPS, though the minimum may dip slightly.

Q: Is 4K gaming viable with this hardware?

A: At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 59 FPS, which is just below 60 FPS, while Medium averages 40 FPS and Ultra averages 25 FPS. Only the Low preset approaches playability, and the Medium preset’s minimum of 34 FPS may cause noticeable stutter.

Q: How does the RTX 4060 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4060 has a PassMark G3D score of 19545, which is 0.2 percent lower than the AMD Radeon HD 7790 (17666) and 0.3 percent higher than the AMD Radeon 780M (17588). It also outperforms the AMD Radeon Pro 560 (17551) by 0.5 percent and the AMD Radeon Pro 460 (17509) by 0.7 percent.

Q: What is the frame-time consistency like at different resolutions?

A: For the Medium preset, the min/max spread at 1080p is 83 to 112 FPS (a 29 FPS range), at 1440p it is 57 to 77 FPS (a 20 FPS range), and at 4K it is 34 to 46 FPS (a 12 FPS range). The narrowing range at higher resolutions indicates more consistent frame delivery, but the lower average FPS makes dips more noticeable.

Q: How does the CPU’s performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX has an average benchmark score of 67469, which is 0.3 percent lower than the Intel Xeon w5-3525 (67673) and 0.5 percent lower than the AMD EPYC 4484PX (67822). It is also 0.6 percent lower than the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5955WX (67868) and 0.7 percent higher than the Intel Xeon 6515P (67006).

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX is a 24-core, 24-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, manufactured on a 3 nm process by TSMC. It has a base clock of 2.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, with a TDP of 55 W. The CPU features a large cache hierarchy, including 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 36 MB of shared L3 cache. Its memory support includes dual-channel DDR5 with a bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s, and it connects via PCIe Gen 5 with 20 lanes. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU scores 35589 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2204 in single-core, with a Geekbench multi-core score of 20795 and a single-core score of 2458. Its PassMark multi-thread score is 55759, and it ranks in the 94th percentile against all CPUs.

The nearest rivals show that the Ultra 9 275HX is closely matched with several server and workstation processors. It trails the Intel Xeon w5-3525 by 0.3 percent, the AMD EPYC 4484PX by 0.5 percent, and the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5955WX by 0.6 percent, while leading the Intel Xeon 6515P by 0.7 percent. In Rust, the CPU’s high core count and boost clock are crucial because the game is known for its heavy server-side simulation and draw-call processing. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 145 FPS, which is likely limited by the GPU, but at 1080p Ultra, the FPS drops to 63, indicating that the GPU is the primary bottleneck even at lower resolutions. However, the CPU’s single-core performance, as evidenced by its 2204 Cinebench R23 score, is sufficient to feed the RTX 4060 without causing major frame drops in typical gameplay scenarios.

The CPU’s 24 threads may not be fully utilized by Rust, which tends to favor a few strong cores, but the high boost clock of 5.40 GHz ensures that the game’s primary simulation thread has ample headroom. The 36 MB of L3 cache also helps reduce memory latency for frequently accessed game data. The data does not explicitly show CPU-bound behavior in Rust, but the consistent FPS scaling across resolutions suggests that the CPU is not the limiting factor at 1080p, as the frame rates drop proportionally when resolution increases. This implies that the Ultra 9 275HX provides a solid foundation for the RTX 4060, allowing the GPU to be the main determinant of performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 ranks 1756 out of 2953 tested combos in Rust, placing it in the bottom 40 percent of all combinations. This rank reflects the mid-range nature of the RTX 4060, which is the primary performance limiter in this pairing, despite the high-end CPU. The combo’s percentile position suggests that while the CPU is in the top 6 percent of all processors (94th percentile), the GPU’s 61st percentile ranking drags the overall gaming performance down. In Rust, which is more demanding on the GPU at higher resolutions, this combination is best suited for 1080p gaming, where it can deliver high frame rates on lower presets.

The rank of 1756 indicates that there are 1755 other combos that perform better in this game, likely featuring more powerful GPUs such as higher-tier RTX 40-series cards or AMD Radeon equivalents. However, the combo still outperforms the bottom 1197 combos, which may include older or entry-level hardware. In the context of the measured FPS data, the combo’s rank aligns with its ability to maintain 60+ FPS at 1080p Medium and 1440p Low, but it falls short of maintaining high frame rates at 4K. The Ultra 9 275HX’s strong synthetic scores do not translate into top-tier gaming performance because the RTX 4060’s 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus are modest for modern game demands.

The combo’s rank also reflects the balance between CPU and GPU. With a CPU that scores 35589 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and a GPU that scores 19545 in PassMark G3D, the system is heavily skewed towards compute-heavy tasks, but Rust’s real-time rendering requires a more balanced approach. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 145 FPS, which is respectable, but the rank suggests that many other combos with similar or lower CPU performance but stronger GPUs would achieve higher frame rates. For users seeking a better ranking, upgrading the GPU would yield more significant gains in Rust than upgrading the CPU, as the current CPU already has ample headroom for this game’s requirements.