Rust

The Intel Core i5-12400 pairs a 6-core, 12-thread Alder Lake-S design with a 2.50 GHz base clock and a 4.40 GHz boost clock, backed by an 18 MB shared L3 cache. In synthetic workloads, the chip posts a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 15935 and a single-core score of 2249, placing it at the 77th percentile among all tested CPUs. Its aggregate benchmark average of 19850 sits within a razor-thin margin of its nearest rivals: the Intel Core i7-9700 (19831, 0.1% behind), the Intel Core i7-8700 (19894, 0.2% ahead), the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5995WX (19928, 0.4% ahead), and the Intel Core i5-11600K (19771, 0.4% behind). For Rust, a survival title with heavy server-side simulation and frequent world updates, the CPU’s multi-threaded throughput is the dominant factor in maintaining frame pacing. The data supports this: at 1080p Low, the combo delivers 151.6 FPS, but at 1080p Ultra, it falls to 65.1 FPS—a drop of 86.5 FPS that cannot be attributed to resolution alone, since the GPU is not fully taxed at 1080p. The 12-thread count ensures the game’s background entity processing and physics ticks have headroom, but the modest 2.50 GHz base clock means sustained all-core loads will rely heavily on boost behavior. The 3dmark_16_threads score of 5873 versus the 3dmark_max_threads score of 5890 indicates that scaling beyond 12 threads is negligible, which is typical for Rust’s engine. In practical terms, the i5-12400 provides enough single-thread strength (PassMark single-thread: 3456) to avoid bottlenecking the GPU at lower settings, while its multi-core aggregate (PassMark multithread: 18747) keeps average frame rates stable in crowded server environments. The CPU’s 65 W TDP and 163 mm² die size on Intel’s 10 nm process suggest sustained boost clocks are thermally feasible with a capable air cooler, though the benchmark data does not include thermal throttling metrics.

CPU Role

The i5-12400’s core configuration—6 physical cores with hyper-threading for 12 threads—directly influences Rust’s performance, as the game’s simulation layer benefits from parallel processing but does not scale infinitely. The Cinebench R20 multi-core score of 6692 and R15 multi-core score of 1606 show a consistent 4-5x improvement over single-core results (944 and 226, respectively), which indicates efficient thread utilization up to the CPU’s thread count. In Rust, the server’s tick rate and the client’s entity updates are partially serialized, meaning the 4.40 GHz boost clock is more consequential for minimum FPS than raw core count. The PassMark physics score of 1105 is notably low relative to the integer math score of 58366, suggesting that the i5-12400’s floating-point and physics workloads—which Rust’s building destruction and projectile calculations rely on—are not its strongest suit. However, the 3dmark_2_threads score of 1692 demonstrates strong dual-thread performance, which is relevant for Rust’s main render thread. Compared to its nearest CPU rival, the i7-9700, the i5-12400 is virtually identical in aggregate (0.1% delta), meaning the extra 4 threads of the i7-9700 (8 cores) do not provide a measurable advantage in this game’s CPU-bound segments. The L3 cache of 18 MB shared across all cores is sufficient for Rust’s working set, but the lack of v-cache or additional L3 means that extremely dense bases with thousands of entities may see minor hitches. The 10 nm process and 65 W TDP are not performance metrics, but they contextualize why the CPU can maintain its 4.40 GHz boost under typical gaming loads. Data from the 3dmark_8_threads score of 4745 versus the 4-thread score of 3012 shows that Rust’s multi-threaded usage can indeed leverage 8 threads, justifying the 12-thread allocation.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER, built on the TU104 chip with a 12 nm process and 13,600 million transistors, provides 8 GB of GDDR6 memory across a 256-bit bus for a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. Its base clock of 1605 MHz boosts to 1770 MHz, with memory running at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). In Rust, the GPU’s role escalates with settings because the game’s draw distance, shadow quality, and texture streaming directly impact VRAM usage and fill rate. The 8 GB capacity is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p at all tested settings, but at 4K Ultra, the memory bandwidth becomes a limiter—the 448.0 GB/s figure is modest by modern standards. The GPU’s pixel rate of 113.3 GPixel/s and texture rate of 283.2 GTexel/s explain the scaling pattern observed in the data: at 1080p Low, the GPU is underutilized, allowing the CPU to push 151.6 FPS, but at 4K Ultra, the combination of higher pixel throughput and texture fetch demands caps performance at 28.5 FPS. The Turing architecture’s 40 RT cores and 320 tensor cores are not specifically leveraged by Rust (which uses DirectX 12, as supported by the GPU’s 12 Ultimate API), so those resources remain idle. The passmark_g3d score of 18169 puts the RTX 2070 SUPER at the 65th percentile among all GPUs, with its nearest rival being the NVIDIA RTX A400 (22307, 0.5% ahead) and the AMD Radeon RX 5700 (21670, 2.5% behind). This percentile ranking indicates that while the GPU is not top-tier, it is far from a bottleneck at 1080p and 1440p High settings, where it delivers 87.7 FPS and 61.8 FPS respectively. The 9.062 TFLOPS FP32 compute is sufficient for Rust’s deferred rendering, but the GPU’s 64 ROPs become the limiting factor at 4K Ultra, where the 28.5 FPS result aligns with the 113.3 GPixel/s ceiling. The 12 nm process node and 215 W TDP are thermal parameters, but the benchmark data suggests the GPU is not thermally constrained in this pairing, as frame rates scale predictably with resolution.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS across three resolutions and four settings reveals a clear CPU-to-GPU handoff. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 151.6 FPS, which is the highest result recorded. This indicates the CPU is the primary driver at this setting, as the GPU has ample headroom. Moving to 1440p Low, FPS drops to 101.7—a 32.9% reduction—which is more than the pixel count increase (2.25x), suggesting the GPU is now becoming more involved. At 4K Low, FPS falls to 63.5, which is 41.9% lower than 1440p Low, confirming that the GPU is the limiting component at this resolution. The scaling from 1080p High (87.7 FPS) to 1440p High (61.8 FPS) is a 29.5% drop, while the 4K High result of 37.2 FPS is 39.8% lower than 1440p High. This pattern—where the percentage drop accelerates at higher resolutions—indicates that the GPU’s 448.0 GB/s bandwidth and 113.3 GPixel/s fill rate are the binding constraints at 4K. At 1080p Ultra, the 65.1 FPS result is 57% lower than the 1080p Low result, which is a larger drop than the resolution scaling alone would predict. This suggests that Ultra settings increase GPU workload disproportionately, likely due to higher shadow resolutions and texture filtering. The Medium settings across resolutions (102.7 FPS at 1080p, 72.4 FPS at 1440p, 40.0 FPS at 4K) show a more linear scaling, with each resolution step reducing FPS by roughly 30-45%. The data implies that for 1080p gaming, the i5-12400 is the bottleneck at Low and Medium settings, but the RTX 2070 SUPER becomes the limiter at High and Ultra. At 1440p, the GPU is the consistent limiter across all settings, while at 4K, the GPU is overwhelmingly dominant in determining FPS. The lack of min/max FPS data means frame-time consistency cannot be assessed, but the average FPS trends point to a balanced pairing for 1080p and 1440p play, with 4K being viable only at Low settings (63.5 FPS).

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER ranks 1015th out of 1717 tested combos in Rust, placing it in the 41st percentile of all pairings. This rank reflects the CPU’s 77th percentile standing and the GPU’s 65th percentile standing, with the combo ranking lower than either component’s individual percentile due to the game’s specific demands. The rank indicates that while this is a mid-pack setup, it outperforms roughly 59% of all tested combinations. The CPU’s nearest rival, the i7-9700, has a nearly identical aggregate score (0.1% delta), so swapping CPUs would not meaningfully change the combo’s rank. Similarly, the GPU’s nearest rival, the RTX A400, is only 0.5% faster on average, which translates to negligible FPS differences in Rust. The combo’s rank of 1015 suggests that there are 702 combinations that perform better, which likely include newer GPUs with higher VRAM or more powerful CPUs with higher boost clocks. However, the data shows that this combo delivers 151.6 FPS at 1080p Low, which is competitive for competitive play, and 87.7 FPS at 1080p High, which is smooth for most gamers. At 1440p, the combo’s 61.8 FPS High result is playable, but the 45.1 FPS Ultra result dips below the 60 FPS threshold. The rank is not a judgment of quality but a positional metric: it tells us that in the broader landscape of tested hardware, this pairing sits just above the median. The deltaPct values for the CPU’s rivals (ranging from -0.4% to 0.4%) and the GPU’s rivals (ranging from -2.3% to 2.5%) show that this combo is in a tightly contested performance band, where small architectural differences can shift the rank by a handful of positions. For Rust specifically, the combo’s rank is likely influenced by the CPU’s 6-core/12-thread config, which is sufficient but not exceptional for the game’s simulation workload, and the GPU’s 8 GB VRAM, which is adequate for 1080p and 1440p but not for 4K texture-heavy scenes.

FAQ

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

A: The highest recorded average FPS is 151.6, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: Is this combo better suited for 1080p or 1440p gaming in Rust?

A: The data shows 1080p High delivers 87.7 FPS, while 1440p High delivers 61.8 FPS. For smooth 60+ FPS, 1080p is the safer choice, though 1440p High remains playable.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival in terms of aggregate score?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400 has an average benchmark score of 19850, which is 0.1% higher than the Intel Core i7-9700 (19831) and 0.2% lower than the Intel Core i7-8700 (19894).

Q: What is the GPU’s VRAM capacity and does it limit performance at 4K?

A: The RTX 2070 SUPER has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory. At 4K Ultra, the combo achieves only 28.5 FPS, indicating that both VRAM capacity and memory bandwidth (448.0 GB/s) are insufficient for high-settings 4K play.

Q: At which resolution and settings does the FPS drop below 60 FPS?

A: The combo falls below 60 FPS at 1440p Ultra (45.1 FPS), 4K High (37.2 FPS), 4K Medium (40.0 FPS), and 4K Ultra (28.5 FPS). It also drops below 60 FPS at 1080p Ultra (65.1 FPS is above 60, but the next data point is 4K High).

Q: How does the GPU rank against its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 2070 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 22206, which is 0.5% lower than the NVIDIA RTX A400 (22307) and 2.5% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 5700 (21670).