Rust

The Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 combination produces a playable but constrained experience in Rust, with frame rates that scale predictably across resolutions and settings. The data shows this pairing sits near the bottom of the database’s tested configurations, ranking 1415 out of 1717 combos, placing it in the 18th percentile of all tested systems. This is a mid-range pairing that struggles to deliver high-refresh gameplay at higher quality presets, though it remains viable for competitive settings at 1080p.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i5-12400 provides six cores and twelve threads, running at a base clock of 2.50 GHz and boosting to 4.40 GHz. This Alder Lake-S architecture, built on Intel’s 10 nm process, delivers a solid foundation for Rust’s simulation-heavy workload, which relies heavily on single-thread performance for world ticking and physics calculations. The CPU’s 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache help reduce memory latency, which is critical in a game where large numbers of entities and building parts must be tracked simultaneously.

Benchmark data confirms the i5-12400’s position as a competent but not exceptional processor. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 15935 and single-core score of 2249 place it in the 77th percentile of all CPUs tested. In Rust, this translates to a CPU that can feed the RTX 2060 adequately at lower resolutions but becomes less relevant as the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck at higher settings.

The comparison to nearest rivals is telling. The i5-12400 scores within 0.1% of the Intel Core i7-9700 and 0.2% of the Intel Core i7-8700 in average benchmarks, indicating that this modern six-core part trades blows with older eight-core and six-core designs. More importantly, it trails the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5995WX by only 0.4% in average score, though that processor’s 64 cores are largely irrelevant for gaming. The i5-12400’s 3dmark single-thread score of 910 shows strong per-core performance, which matters for Rust’s main thread.

At 1080p with Low settings, the combination reaches 123.6 FPS, suggesting the CPU can push well beyond 120 frames per second when the GPU isn’t heavily loaded. However, the i5-12400’s 12 threads are not fully utilized by Rust, and the game’s engine tends to favor fewer, faster cores. The CPU’s 65 W TDP and dual-channel memory support provide enough bandwidth for the game, but the lack of an unlocked multiplier means no overclocking headroom to squeeze out additional performance.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

The measured data reveals a stark trade-off between visual fidelity and frame rate. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers 123.6 FPS, which is ideal for competitive play and high refresh rate monitors. This is 50% faster than the High preset’s 68.6 FPS and more than double the Ultra preset’s 53.2 FPS. For players prioritizing smoothness, Low at 1080p is the clear choice, offering the only preset that comfortably exceeds 120 FPS.

The Medium preset at 1080p produces 82.4 FPS, which is still respectable and represents a 33% improvement over High while maintaining better visual quality than Low. This is the recommended balance for most players, as it stays above 60 FPS with room to spare. High preset at 1080p drops to 68.6 FPS, which is playable but leaves little headroom for the frame drops common in Rust’s busy servers. Ultra at 1080p is barely playable at 53.2 FPS, and the visual gains over High are marginal relative to the 22% performance loss.

At 1440p, Medium becomes the most viable option at 57.2 FPS, while High drops to 50 FPS and Low remains the only preset above 60 FPS at 87.6 FPS. Ultra at 1440p falls to 35.8 FPS, which is too inconsistent for a survival game where reaction time matters. At 4K, no preset reaches playable levels: Low yields 53 FPS, Medium 33.2 FPS, High 31.3 FPS, and Ultra 20.4 FPS. The data suggests that 1080p Medium or 1440p Low are the most sensible choices, with 1080p Low being the only option that fully leverages the system’s potential.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The frame rate scaling across resolutions reveals a GPU-bound system at higher settings, but a more balanced profile at lower presets. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 123.6 at 1080p to 87.6 at 1440p, a 29% reduction, and then to 53 at 4K, a 57% drop from 1080p. This pattern indicates that even at Low settings, the RTX 2060 becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases, though the CPU still has enough headroom to maintain playable frame rates.

At High settings, the scaling is steeper: 68.6 FPS at 1080p falls to 50 FPS at 1440p (27% drop) and then to 31.3 FPS at 4K (54% drop). The Ultra preset shows the most severe degradation, with 53.2 FPS at 1080p dropping to 35.8 FPS at 1440p and 20.4 FPS at 4K. This consistent pattern across presets confirms that the RTX 2060’s 6 GB of GDDR6 memory and 192-bit bus are insufficient for 4K rendering in Rust, which requires substantial memory bandwidth for its large open world and texture streaming.

The data shows that the i5-12400 is not the primary constraint at any resolution above 1080p. The 29% drop from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings is consistent with GPU-bound scaling, as is the 57% drop to 4K. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rate would remain relatively flat across resolutions at Low settings, which is not the case. The RTX 2060’s 336.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 6.451 TFLOPS of FP32 performance are simply not enough to sustain high frame rates at 1440p and above, regardless of preset.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This combination ranks 1415 out of 1717 tested combos in Rust, placing it in the bottom 18% of all systems in the database. This ranking reflects the RTX 2060’s age and limited VRAM rather than any deficiency in the i5-12400, which is a capable mid-range processor. The GPU’s percentile of 58 against all GPUs is notably lower than the CPU’s 77th percentile, indicating that the graphics card is the weaker link in this pairing.

The RTX 2060’s nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the AMD Radeon RX 7600S (0.5% higher), AMD Radeon Pro 5600M (1.7% higher), and AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (1.8% lower). These deltas are all within 2%, suggesting the RTX 2060 performs in a tight band around its peers. However, in Rust specifically, the 6 GB VRAM capacity is a significant disadvantage, as the game’s texture streaming can exceed this limit at higher resolutions, causing stuttering and reduced frame rates.

The combo’s low ranking does not mean the system is unusable; rather, it indicates that most other tested configurations deliver higher average frame rates. For context, the i5-12400 pairs well with faster GPUs, but the RTX 2060 holds it back in Rust’s demanding scenarios. The measured data shows that this combination is best suited for 1080p gaming, where it can achieve competitive frame rates at Low and Medium presets, but it cannot compete with systems featuring newer mid-range or high-end GPUs.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is built on the TU106 chip using TSMC’s 12 nm process, with 10,800 million transistors on a 445 mm² die. It operates at a base clock of 1365 MHz and boosts to 1680 MHz, with 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus providing 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU’s 1920 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 48 ROPs deliver 6.451 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, which is modest by modern standards but sufficient for 1080p gaming.

In Rust, the RTX 2060’s 6 GB VRAM capacity is the most critical limitation. At 1080p High, the game requires substantial memory for textures, and the GPU manages 68.6 FPS, but the frame rate drops sharply at higher resolutions. The 4K results of 31.3 FPS at High and 20.4 FPS at Ultra strongly suggest VRAM capacity and bandwidth are the bottlenecks, as the GPU’s compute power alone would otherwise predict higher frame rates. The 14 Gbps effective memory speed and 192-bit bus provide adequate bandwidth for 1080p, but the 6 GB capacity is insufficient for 4K texture loads.

The GPU’s 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores are largely unused in Rust, which does not implement ray tracing or DLSS. This means the RTX 2060’s Turing architecture advantages are wasted in this title, and it performs closer to a pure rasterization GPU. The 58th percentile ranking against all GPUs reflects this, as the card’s overall benchmark scores are dragged down by its age and limited VRAM. The RTX 2060’s nearest rivals, including the AMD Radeon RX 7600S and Radeon Pro 5700, show that the card sits in a crowded mid-range segment, but Rust’s specific requirements expose its weaknesses more than synthetic benchmarks do.

The data indicates that the RTX 2060 is the primary constraint on this system’s performance in Rust. At 1080p Low, the CPU can push 123.6 FPS, but the GPU cannot maintain that pace at higher settings. The 29% frame rate drop from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings, compared to the 27% drop at High settings, shows that the GPU’s memory bandwidth becomes saturated as resolution increases. For this reason, the RTX 2060 is best utilized at 1080p with Medium or Low presets, where it can deliver smooth gameplay without exceeding its VRAM limits.