Rust

The Intel Core i5-12400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 delivers a robust, high-refresh-rate experience in Rust, though the data reveals a clear balance of power between the six-core CPU and the Ampere flagship. Across the measured resolutions, this combo demonstrates a predictable scaling pattern that highlights the GPU as the primary bottleneck at higher pixel counts, while the CPU’s strong single-thread performance keeps frame rates competitive at 1080p. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS data, contextualizes the combo’s rank among 1,717 tested configurations, and examines the specific roles of the processor and graphics card in shaping Rust’s performance profile.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data indicates a steep and consistent performance drop as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At the lowest settings, the average frame rate falls from 205.9 FPS at 1080p to 145.6 FPS at 1440p, then to 85.8 FPS at 4K. This represents a 58.3% reduction in average FPS from 1080p to 4K, which is a substantial decline that points directly to the RTX 3080’s rendering limits being reached. The pattern is even more pronounced at Ultra settings, where the average drops from 94.3 FPS at 1080p to 62.3 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 37.1 FPS at 4K—a 60.7% loss. These scaling ratios are typical for a GPU-bound scenario, as the pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K, demanding significantly more fill-rate and memory bandwidth from the graphics card.

The data suggests that at 1080p, the combination of the i5-12400 and RTX 3080 is not fully GPU-limited, particularly at lower settings. The jump from 205.9 FPS at Low to 123.5 FPS at High is a 40% performance hit, which is less severe than the 48% drop seen when moving from Low to High at 1440p (145.6 to 84 FPS). This indicates that at 1080p, the CPU’s capability—evidenced by its 3DMark single-thread score of 910 and PassMark single-thread score of 3456—begins to assert itself, as the GPU has more headroom to render frames quickly. Conversely, at 4K, the RTX 3080’s 10 GB of GDDR6X memory and 760.3 GB/s bandwidth become the limiting factors, as evidenced by the relatively narrow gap between Low (85.8 FPS) and High (48.9 FPS) settings—a 43% difference that underscores the GPU’s workload dominance.

The scaling behavior reveals that the RTX 3080 is the primary limiting component at resolutions above 1080p. The i5-12400, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, provides sufficient throughput to keep up with the GPU’s output at 1440p and 4K, as the FPS drops are almost entirely attributable to pixel count and graphics settings. However, at 1080p with Low settings, the 205.9 FPS average suggests the CPU may be nearing its practical limit, as the GPU is capable of far higher output in lighter scenes. This is a classic sign of a balanced mid-range pairing, where the processor prevents the graphics card from being fully utilized at lower resolutions, but the GPU takes over as the definitive bottleneck once resolution increases.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with High settings?

A: The measured average frame rate for the Intel Core i5-12400 with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 at 1920x1080 with High settings is 123.5 FPS.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS drops to 37.1, which is below the 60 FPS threshold typically desired for smooth gameplay, indicating a heavy GPU load at this resolution and quality level.

Q: What is the largest FPS difference between settings at a single resolution?

A: The largest delta is observed at 1080p, where the difference between Low (205.9 FPS) and Ultra (94.3 FPS) settings is 111.6 FPS, a 54.2% reduction in average performance.

Q: Is the RTX 3080’s VRAM sufficient for Rust at 4K?

A: The RTX 3080 features 10 GB of GDDR6X memory. The data shows playable average FPS at 4K Medium (60.9 FPS) and High (48.9 FPS), suggesting that 10 GB is adequate for this game at these settings, though Ultra (37.1 FPS) indicates a performance ceiling.

Q: How does the i5-12400’s single-thread performance compare to its multi-thread performance?

A: The CPU’s 3DMark single-thread score is 910, while its max-threads score is 5890. This ratio indicates strong per-core efficiency, which is critical for Rust’s core-heavy workload, but the multi-thread score shows the 12-thread capacity is also well-utilized.

Q: What is the combo’s rank among all tested configurations in Rust?

A: The combo ranks 481st out of 1,717 tested combos in Rust, placing it in the top 28% of all configurations tested for this game.

How This Combo Ranks

In the comprehensive benchmark database, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 achieves a combo rank of 481 out of 1,717 tested combinations in Rust. This places the configuration in the upper 28% of all tested systems, indicating that it delivers above-average performance for this title. The rank reflects the balance between the CPU and GPU, as the i5-12400’s average benchmark score of 19,850 places it near the Intel Core i7-9700 (19,831) and slightly behind the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5995WX (19,928), while the RTX 3080’s average score of 35,787 sits close to the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE (36,101) and ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Mobile (35,435).

The rank of 481 indicates that while this combo is not at the absolute top tier, it outperforms a significant majority of systems. The data suggests that the RTX 3080, which sits at the 80th percentile among all GPUs, is the primary driver of this ranking, as its performance is far above the 77th percentile of the CPU. The i5-12400’s nearest rivals show minimal performance deltas—just 0.1% ahead of the i7-9700 and 0.4% ahead of the i5-11600K—meaning that the CPU is not a differentiator in this ranking. Instead, the GPU’s strong 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 4,407 and PassMark G3D score of 25,086 likely contribute most to the combo’s position. Given that Rust is a survival game with complex base-building and entity interactions, the CPU’s 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 2.50 GHz base clock (4.40 GHz boost) provide solid foundation, but the data shows the GPU’s raw throughput determines the overall ranking.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data presents a clear picture of performance across three resolutions and four settings tiers. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers an average of 205.9 FPS at Low settings, which is the highest recorded frame rate in the dataset. This drops to 148.1 FPS at Medium, 123.5 FPS at High, and 94.3 FPS at Ultra. The scaling from Low to Ultra represents a 54.2% reduction, showing that each settings tier imposes a significant load on the system. At 2560x1440, the averages are 145.6 FPS (Low), 102.8 FPS (Medium), 84 FPS (High), and 62.3 FPS (Ultra). The drop from Low to Ultra here is 57.2%, slightly steeper than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is becoming more stressed as resolution increases. At 3840x2160, the averages fall to 85.8 FPS (Low), 60.9 FPS (Medium), 48.9 FPS (High), and 37.1 FPS (Ultra). The Low-to-Ultra reduction is 56.8%, consistent with the other resolutions, but the absolute numbers are much lower, confirming the GPU is the bottleneck.

The 1080p High setting average of 123.5 FPS is notably above the 60 FPS standard, providing a smooth experience for most displays. The 1440p High average of 84 FPS remains highly playable, while the 4K High average of 48.9 FPS is below the 60 FPS target but still usable for slower-paced gameplay. The data shows that the difference between Medium and High settings at each resolution is relatively small—at 1080p, the delta is 24.6 FPS (148.1 to 123.5), while at 4K, it is 12 FPS (60.9 to 48.9). This suggests that the High settings tier is not disproportionately demanding compared to Medium, but the Ultra tier imposes a significant penalty—at 1080p, the drop from High to Ultra is 29.2 FPS (123.5 to 94.3), and at 4K, it is 11.8 FPS (48.9 to 37.1). These numbers indicate that players seeking the highest frame rates should favor High settings over Ultra, especially at 1440p and above.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 plays a dominant role in this combo’s Rust performance, as evidenced by the FPS scaling patterns. The GPU’s 10 GB of GDDR6X memory, operating on a 320-bit bus with 760.3 GB/s bandwidth, provides ample data throughput for Rust’s large textures and draw distances. At 4K Ultra, the 37.1 FPS average indicates that the GPU’s 28,300 million transistors and 8704 shading units are fully saturated, as the game demands maximum pixel throughput. The GPU’s boost clock of 1710 MHz (base 1440 MHz) allows for dynamic frequency scaling, but the data shows that at higher resolutions, the memory bandwidth becomes the constraining factor. The RTX 3080’s PassMark G3D score of 25,086 places it at the 80th percentile among all GPUs, and its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE, scores 36,101—a 0.9% delta that confirms the 3080 is a high-end performer.

The GPU’s role is particularly evident in the Low settings data. At 1080p Low, the 205.9 FPS average is likely close to the CPU’s limit, as the i5-12400’s PassMark single-thread score of 3,456 cannot keep up with the GPU’s potential output. However, at 4K Low, the 85.8 FPS average shows the GPU is still the limiting factor, as the pixel count overwhelms the GPU’s 164.2 GPixel/s pixel rate. The RTX 3080’s 68 RT cores and 272 tensor cores are not directly relevant to Rust, which does not rely on ray tracing or DLSS in this dataset, but the GPU’s raw FP32 performance of 29.77 TFLOPS drives the standard rasterization workload. The fact that the GPU’s average benchmark score of 35,787 is nearly double the CPU’s 19,850 underscores that the RTX 3080 is the performance centerpiece, with the i5-12400 serving as a competent but secondary component in this pairing.