Rust

The Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 delivers a playable, though not exceptional, experience in Rust, with performance heavily dependent on resolution and settings. Benchmark data shows the combination achieves its best results at 1080p, where it can exceed 120 FPS on Low settings, but struggles to maintain smooth frame rates at 4K Ultra. The measured FPS across all resolutions indicates a system where the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, while the CPU's 4 cores and 8 threads are sufficient for the game's demands at lower graphical loads.

FAQ

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

A: The highest measured average FPS is 126, which occurs at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is significantly higher than the 71 FPS average at the same resolution with High settings.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K resolution?

A: At 3840x2160, the average FPS ranges from 22 on Ultra settings to 51 on Low settings. The Medium preset yields an average of 34 FPS with a minimum of 29 and maximum of 39, indicating that only the Low preset approaches a consistently playable frame rate at this resolution.

Q: What is the CPU's ranking relative to other processors?

A: The Intel Core i3-12100F has a percentile rank of 68 among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 13494. Its closest rival is the Intel Core 3 N355 with an average score of 13492, showing a 0% difference, while the Intel Core 5 120UL scores 13594, which is 0.7% higher.

Q: What is the GPU's performance percentile?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 falls in the 58th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 15290. Its nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 with a score of 15283, a 0% difference, while the AMD Radeon 680M scores 15270, just 0.1% lower.

Q: What are the minimum FPS values recorded for this combo?

A: The data includes minimum FPS only for Medium settings. At 1920x1080, the minimum is 72 FPS, at 2560x1440 it is 49 FPS, and at 3840x2160 it is 29 FPS. No minimum FPS values are provided for Low, High, or Ultra settings.

Q: How many total combinations does this setup rank against in Rust?

A: This specific CPU and GPU combination ranks 2936 out of 3723 total tested combos in Rust. This places it in the lower portion of the ranking, indicating that a substantial number of other hardware configurations deliver higher performance in this game.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data clearly indicates that the Low settings preset provides the most consistently smooth experience across all resolutions. At 1920x1080, Low settings yield an average of 126 FPS, which is 42 FPS higher than Medium and 55 FPS higher than High. This substantial margin suggests that Low settings allow the hardware to operate without significant bottlenecks, providing headroom for demanding gameplay moments.

For players prioritizing visual fidelity over raw frame rate, Medium settings at 1080p offer a balanced compromise with an 84 FPS average and a minimum of 72 FPS. This minimum value is still above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, making Medium a viable option at this resolution. However, at 2560x1440, the Medium preset drops to a 58 FPS average with a 49 FPS minimum, which may result in noticeable stuttering during intense scenes.

The High and Ultra presets are only recommended at 1080p for users who accept lower performance. High settings produce a 71 FPS average, while Ultra drops to 54 FPS. At higher resolutions, these presets become increasingly problematic, with 1440p Ultra averaging just 37 FPS and 4K Ultra falling to 22 FPS. The data suggests that for the best overall experience, Low settings at 1080p or Medium at 1080p are the only presets that consistently maintain frame rates above 60 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F is a 4-core, 8-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. It features 12 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory. In benchmark tests, it scores 11860 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 1674 in single-core, with a PassMark multi-thread score of 14015 and a single-thread score of 3444.

In the context of Rust, the CPU's performance appears to be sufficient for the game's computational demands, particularly at lower resolutions where the GPU is not the limiting factor. The 3DMark scores show a significant scaling from 2 threads (1659) to 4 threads (2859), but minimal improvement from 8 threads (4026) to max threads (4023), indicating that the processor's performance peaks at around 4-8 threads. This suggests Rust is likely utilizing the available threads effectively, but the CPU does not bottleneck the system at 1080p, as evidenced by the high FPS at Low settings.

The processor's 58W TDP and 10nm process node contribute to its efficiency, but the data does not indicate any thermal or power-related performance limitations in Rust. The CPU's percentile rank of 68 places it in the upper third of all processors, and its average benchmark score of 13494 is nearly identical to the Intel Core 3 N355 (13492) and slightly above the Intel Core i5-9500 (13452, 0.3% lower). This positions the i3-12100F as a mid-range performer that handles Rust's CPU load without becoming the primary constraint at most settings.

How This Combo Ranks

This hardware combination ranks 2936 out of 3723 tested combos in Rust, placing it in the bottom 21% of all configurations. This ranking reflects the overall performance ceiling of the i3-12100F and RTX 2060 pairing, which shows its limitations particularly at higher resolutions and settings. The rank becomes more understandable when considering the measured FPS data, which shows the combo excels at 1080p Low but falls below 60 FPS at 4K for all settings.

The combo's ranking is influenced by both components. The CPU's 68th percentile among all processors indicates it is not a top-tier performer, while the GPU's 58th percentile similarly shows it is a mid-range graphics card. When combined, these components produce a system that is competitive in less demanding scenarios but cannot match higher-end configurations in Rust's more graphically intensive modes. The substantial drop from 126 FPS at 1080p Low to 22 FPS at 4K Ultra demonstrates the hardware's diminishing capability as resolution increases.

Compared to other tested combos, this setup is clearly positioned for 1080p gaming rather than high-resolution play. The ranking suggests that users with this hardware should expect to compromise on either resolution or settings to achieve acceptable performance. The data does not provide direct comparisons to other specific CPU-GPU pairings, but the rank relative to 3723 total combos offers a broad perspective on where this configuration stands in the overall performance hierarchy.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is built on the Turing architecture with a TU106 chip manufactured on a 12nm process at TSMC. It features 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU has a base clock of 1365 MHz and a boost clock of 1680 MHz, with 1920 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. Its compute capabilities include 6.451 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 12.90 TFLOPS of FP16 performance.

In Rust, the GPU's role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution rises. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra settings is 72 FPS (126 vs 54), indicating that the GPU has significant headroom at lower settings. However, at 4K, the same settings range produces only a 29 FPS difference (51 vs 22), showing that the GPU reaches its limits much faster at higher resolutions. The 6 GB VRAM capacity appears adequate for the measured settings, though the data does not indicate any memory-related performance degradation.

The GPU's PassMark G3D score of 14111 and 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1242 reflect its mid-range positioning. Its percentile rank of 58 among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 15290, places it slightly above average. The nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (15283, 0% difference) and the AMD Radeon 680M (15270, 0.1% lower), indicating that the RTX 2060's raw performance is closely matched by older and integrated solutions in synthetic benchmarks, though its feature set and driver support may differ in real-world gaming scenarios.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured FPS data shows a clear progression across settings. Low settings average 126 FPS, Medium averages 84 FPS with a minimum of 72 and maximum of 97, High averages 71 FPS, and Ultra averages 54 FPS. This represents a 57% decrease from Low to Ultra, demonstrating the significant impact of graphical quality on performance at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages drop substantially. Low settings produce 86 FPS, Medium averages 58 FPS with a minimum of 49 and maximum of 67, High averages 49 FPS, and Ultra falls to 37 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 57% (86 vs 37), suggesting that the GPU becomes more of a limiting factor at this resolution. The Medium preset's minimum of 49 FPS indicates potential frame drops below the 60 FPS threshold.

At 3840x2160, performance is markedly lower across all settings. Low averages 51 FPS, Medium averages 34 FPS with a minimum of 29 and maximum of 39, High averages 29 FPS, and Ultra averages 22 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 57% (51 vs 22), consistent with the percentage drop at other resolutions. However, only the Low preset achieves an average above 50 FPS, and even that is below the ideal 60 FPS mark for smooth gameplay.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial and consistent across all settings. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 126 at 1080p to 86 at 1440p (a 32% decrease) and further to 51 at 4K (a 60% decrease from 1080p). For Ultra settings, the progression is from 54 at 1080p to 37 at 1440p (31% decrease) and 22 at 4K (59% decrease). This pattern indicates that the performance penalty for increasing resolution scales similarly regardless of the settings preset.

The data suggests that the GPU is the primary limiting component as resolution increases. At 1080p, the CPU's 4 cores and 8 threads appear capable of feeding the GPU sufficiently, as evidenced by the high frame rates at Low settings. However, the rapid decline in FPS at 1440p and 4K points to the RTX 2060's bandwidth and compute limitations becoming the dominant constraint. The 336.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 6.451 TFLOPS of FP32 performance are simply insufficient to maintain high frame rates at these resolutions.

The scaling behavior also reveals that the gap between Low and Ultra settings remains relatively constant at each resolution, around 57%. This consistency suggests that the relative cost of enabling higher graphical features does not change with resolution, but the absolute performance level does. For users targeting 60 FPS, the data indicates that 1080p with Medium settings (84 FPS average) is the highest combination that reliably achieves this target, while 1440p requires Low settings (86 FPS) and 4K cannot reach 60 FPS on any preset.