Rust is a multiplayer survival simulator. Developed by the British studio Facepunch Studios. The release took place in 2018, and the game was sold in Early Access from 2014.
A year after the successful start of sales, the developers decided to transfer their project to a more modern Unity engine. Only by 2020 did the game really become more comfortable and much more playable.
From the very start of sales, the game gained colossal popularity for a project of this genre. A huge achievement is that it was able to not lose it over the time of its life. Currently, it ranks among the top 10 most popular games on the Steam platform, yielding only to such giants as CS:GO, Dota 2, PUBG, GTA 5, Apex Legends, Team Fortress 2, and ARK: Survival Evolved. As a result, Rust ranks 9th in terms of the number of unique players, being the absolute champion in its genre.
Gameplay
Rust is a classic survival game where you have to gather resources, craft tools, weapons, create housing, and develop skills. That's how it was conceived and how it was after the release. Then the developers decided to slightly change the direction of the game's development and added a lot of firearms. Now elements of shooter and clan wars predominate over harsh survival. The danger of catching a bullet is much higher than dying of hunger or dehydration.
As of 2022, the game is more like a large-scale clan Battle Royale than survival, and this is the charm of this project. Just surviving and peacefully building your house will not be allowed by numerous clans that have previously divided the server territory and regularly patrol it. And the constant struggle for life and resources is a challenging mission.
In addition to the official classic servers, there are also custom ones with a focus on a certain concept. For example, there are servers with double experience, role-playing servers, creative ones, and many other varieties.
Surviving alone is possible either with incredible luck or after a server reboot, when everything is reset, and each player is busy building their own base, accumulating weapons, gathering resources, etc.
Among such a number of difficulties, there are significant pluses: huge space for replayability and a field for group interaction, because survival with friends is fun.
Game Trailer
Graphics
The picture looks good, despite Unity, which is usually used for mobile and lightweight console toys. The structure of the engine is such that it is very difficult to optimize the game, FPS jumps, lags, long server loading – only a small part of the technical shortcomings of Unity.
Therefore, a computer for Rust needs to be assembled with a margin, so you can smooth out performance drops. Long loads, despite the modest weight of the game, definitely need to be accelerated using an SSD drive, making gameplay more pleasant.
RUST System Requirements
Like other games on this engine, Rust requires a lot of RAM and a high-performance processor. Low-resolution textures allow the use of graphics cards with a small amount of memory, but the card's performance must be high, with a good core frequency.
Poor optimization is the main issue, requiring about 20-30% performance reserve. With modern components, this problem no longer exists, as the latest series of processors and graphics cards easily handle the game even at maximum settings.
Minimum
With such computer specifications in Rust, you will get 40-50 FPS on minimum settings in FullHD resolution. It's practically impossible to play; pain and suffering will follow you everywhere, as any skirmish will drop the frames to slideshow levels.
Processor
Intel Core i5 or AMD Ryzen 5
Graphics Card
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650
RAM
8 GB DDR4 at 3200 MHz
Disk Space
20 GB on SSD
Recommended
Such equipment is more realistic; you can turn all graphics settings to high and achieve 60 FPS on FullHD, but there will still be drops. A slight compromise on anti-aliasing quality can yield more stable 60 frames.
Processor
Intel Core i5 or AMD Ryzen 5
Graphics Card
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050
RAM
16 GB DDR4 at 3600 MHz
Disk Space
20 GB on SSD
Realistic
Developers often underestimate the requirements of their game to increase accessibility, as players can always change the graphics settings. For comfortable and smooth gameplay, a computer for Rust should be assembled with modern components. With such hardware, you can play your favorite game at 90+ FPS in FullHD resolution.
Processor
Intel Core i5 or AMD Ryzen 5
Graphics Card
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070
RAM
16 GB DDR4 at 3600 MHz
Disk Space
20 GB on SSD
Maximum
FullHD is gradually fading, being replaced by 2K and widescreen monitors with a vertical resolution of 1440 pixels. To ensure comfortable 90+ FPS on them, powerful equipment is needed. Such a setup far exceeds the system requirements for Rust, but it is the optimal build for playing without significant drops and on a large monitor, whether it's widescreen or standard 16:9 with a vertical resolution of 1440 pixels.
Processor
Intel Core i7 or AMD Ryzen 7
Graphics Card
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080
RAM
16 GB DDR4 at 3600 MHz
Disk Space
20 GB on SSD
How to Choose a Computer for Rust
The main downside of the game is poor optimization. For any Unity engine project, you will need a high-performance processor and plenty of RAM. Despite the game's modest size of only 20 Gb, server loading times are very long; SSD and Gigabit Ethernet can help eliminate this problem.
Regarding the graphics card, modern top solutions from NVIDIA will allow you to play Rust without any limitations. If a computer for Rust is assembled from new parts, there will be no performance issues.
Graphics Card
To help you make a choice, we've compiled a table with the test results of computers with different NVIDIA GeForce RTX graphics cards in FullHD, 2K, and 4K resolution. In the UltraHD column, performance noticeably drops, but the ability to play at 60+ frames with excellent graphics and high-quality textures is available in most cases.
Testing was conducted at maximum graphics settings with conditionally sufficient power of other components, eliminating FPS drops due to processor, RAM, hard drive, etc.
Frames Per Second (FPS)
1920x1080 (FullHD)
2560x1440 (QuadHD)
3840x2160 (UltraHD)
GeForce RTX 3060
90
63
33
GeForce RTX 3060 Ti
97
75
42
GeForce RTX 3070
113
83
55
GeForce RTX 3070 Ti
120
100
65
GeForce RTX 3080
147
130
73
GeForce RTX 3080 Ti
160
145
85
GeForce RTX 3090
165
147
93
FPS indicators are averaged and serve to demonstrate the relative performance of the system at maximum graphics settings.
As you can see, most graphics cards comfortably handle the game at all resolutions. If you compromise on graphics settings, you can achieve astronomical FPS values on any graphics card.
Processor
Modern processors effortlessly handle any game on the Unity engine.
The Intel Core i5-12400(F) has 6 cores and 12 threads with a frequency of 2500 MHz and up to 4400 MHz in Turbo Boost mode. Since most modern games use up to 12 threads, and on the Unity engine often only 4, this is enough for any AAA project and even has a reserve. This is a good processor for a gamer using FullHD/2K monitors.
The Intel Core i7-12700K(F) is a more advanced model with 12 cores and 20 threads, operating at a frequency of 3600 MHz and overclocking up to 5000 MHz. This CPU is suitable for gamers who plan to stream and run their own blog. The i7-12700K(F) has enough performance for video recording, processing, streaming, and active use of VR with top headsets.
RAM
An excess of RAM does not increase computer performance, but its shortage is sharply felt. The computer compensates for it using the swap file, which is located on the storage drive. Storage drives are much slower than RAM, and if you use an SSD, it can quickly fail if used so actively.
According to Rust's requirements, the optimal amount of memory for a computer in 2022 is 16 GB. If you plan to play VR games, stream, and record videos, it's better to have 32 GB on board.
The frequency of memory determines its speed; the higher the frequency, the faster the game and programs will run. The upper limit in DDR4 is 4266 MHz, but it is rarely used in desktop PCs, the optimal frequency being 3200-3600 MHz, which is gaming memory with increased performance.
Storage
Classic HDDs have too low read/write speeds, which significantly slows down the operation of programs, the system, and games. In modern gaming computers, a combination of HDD and SSD is more often used. The SSD is used for the system, necessary programs, and a set of games, all of which will operate several times faster, while the hard drive acts as a voluminous storage.
SSDs come in two types of connections - classic SATA and m.2. M.2 SSDs are mounted directly to the motherboard without wires, which significantly increases the data transfer speed. Top models from Samsung and Kingston can develop read/write speeds of up to 5-7 GB/s, which is approximately 10 times higher than any SATA device.
Solutions from HYPERPC – January 2025
Ready-made configurations from HYPERPC will give you confident gameplay in Rust and many other modern games. And if you have difficulty choosing, our experienced managers will help you select a computer with optimal configuration.
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