Rust - Help with video settings

[knuckledonkey]

Hi folks, trying to play Rust and I am having issues with the video.

I understand it's in Alpha and there are discussions about video performance.

I just want to make sure I have my settings dialed in as good as I can get them as I am experiencing some issues.

First, my specs:

Lenovo IdeaPad Y580
2.30 gigahertz Intel Core i7-3610QM 64 bit
8GB DDR3 RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M

I've run the [B]Can I Run It[/B] test at [url]http://systemrequirementslab.com[/url] and I got the green light (although, they want me to upgrade to Windows 8)

This laptop also has Intel integrated video, which seems to be the default. CPU-Z doesn't seem to recognize the NVIDIA board.
[IMG]http://www.chbx.net/rust/cpuz.gif[/IMG]

I did try to set the default video card for the rust.exe application in NVIDIA control panel.
[IMG]http://www.chbx.net/rust/nvidia.gif[/IMG]

There are 3 different issues I am exeriencing.

First, the one called artifacts. I followed the instructions in this post (-force-d3d9) and they helped a lot.
[url]http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1321844[/url]

Next, a sort of "digital snow" appears consistently throughout game play. I did my best to record some of this, but it doesn't show up well on YouTube, although it is perceptible.
[url]http://youtu.be/xeX-DS3ev1s[/url]

Finally, the whole game periodically freezes. I can only get out of it with a ctrl-alt-del.

Any help or suggestions is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.