Rust

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

The Intel Core i5-12400 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Alder Lake-S family, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its multi-threaded capabilities are solid for a mainstream desktop part, as evidenced by a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 15935 and a 3DMark max-threads score of 5890. Single-thread performance is comparatively strong, with a 3DMark single-thread score of 910 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2249, which matters in Rust’s simulation-heavy gameplay.

In the context of this game, the CPU’s 12 threads handle the world simulation, entity updates, and physics calculations that Rust continuously runs, even when the GPU is idle. The data shows that at 1080p Low settings, the combo achieves 203 FPS average, which is the highest measured result across all tested configurations. This suggests that at lower graphical loads, the i5-12400 is not the primary constraint; instead, the GPU or engine-level frame pacing takes over. However, the processor’s 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache help maintain consistent frame delivery in complex scenes, though the measured data does not break down frame-time variance.

Relative to its nearest rivals, the i5-12400 posts an average benchmark score of 19850, sitting essentially tied with the Intel Core i7-9700 (19831, deltaPct 0.1) and the Intel Core i7-8700 (19894, deltaPct -0.2). It edges out the Intel Core i5-11600K (19771, deltaPct 0.4) by a hair, indicating that for CPU-bound tasks, this chip is competitive with older higher-tier parts. The processor’s 77th percentile ranking among all CPUs means it outperforms roughly three-quarters of tested processors in general compute, which aligns with its ability to feed the RTX 4070 SUPER in Rust’s less GPU-intensive presets.

The architecture’s 10 nm process and 65 W TDP suggest efficiency, but the benchmark results are what matter here: the i5-12400’s 3DMark 16-thread score of 5873 is nearly identical to its max-threads score of 5890, implying negligible scaling beyond 12 threads. This is typical for Rust, where the engine’s main thread is often the bottleneck, but the measured FPS at 1440p and 4K indicate that the CPU still has headroom to spare, as will be discussed in the resolution scaling section.

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER, built on the 5 nm Ada Lovelace architecture with the AD104 chip, brings 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. Its boost clock of 2475 MHz and base clock of 1980 MHz, combined with 7168 shading units, provide substantial rasterization throughput. The GPU’s 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 4627 and PassMark G3D score of 29995 place it in the 84th percentile among all GPUs, indicating strong overall performance.

In Rust, the GPU’s role becomes more pronounced as resolution and settings increase. The measured data shows that at 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 45.8, which is the lowest result in the entire set. This is not a VRAM capacity issue — 12 GB is ample for Rust’s textures — but rather a raw compute limitation at high pixel counts and demanding shadow/lighting effects. The GPU’s FP32 throughput of 35.48 TFLOPS is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p at most presets, but the 80 ROPs and 224 TMUs are stressed at 4K Ultra, where the pixel fill rate of 198.0 GPixel/s becomes a limiting factor.

Benchmark results indicate that the RTX 4070 SUPER’s nearest rivals are the NVIDIA RTX A6000 (42653, deltaPct -0.2) and AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE (42723, deltaPct -0.3), with the 4070 SUPER’s average score of 42576 trailing by less than 0.5% in both cases. This near-tie means that in synthetic tests, the 4070 SUPER is effectively on par with these professional and mid-range cards, but in Rust specifically, the measured FPS reveals that the GPU scales predictably with settings. For instance, moving from 1080p High to 4K High drops average FPS from 140.6 to 56.6, a reduction of roughly 60%, which aligns with the pixel-count increase from 2.07 million to 8.29 million.

The GPU’s 12 GB VRAM and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are never saturated in this data, even at 4K Ultra, suggesting that the FPS drop is purely computational. The Ada Lovelace architecture’s ray tracing cores (56) and tensor cores (224) are not specifically leveraged by Rust’s rasterized rendering, but the raw shader performance is what drives the results. Overall, the RTX 4070 SUPER is the dominant component in this pairing at higher resolutions, as the CPU’s 12 threads cannot compensate for the GPU’s workload at 4K.

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

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of scaling across resolutions and presets. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 203 FPS, which drops to 173.2 at 1440p Low and 102.1 at 4K Low. This represents a 14.7% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a 49.7% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The steep drop at 4K indicates that the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck at lower settings, as the CPU has ample headroom to maintain high frame rates when pixel count increases.

For High settings, the scaling is similar but less steep in absolute terms: 140.6 FPS at 1080p, 99.5 FPS at 1440p, and 56.6 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K is 59.7%, which is slightly less than the Low preset’s 49.7% drop from 1440p to 4K, but the absolute numbers show that High settings at 4K barely exceed 60 FPS. This suggests that at High and above, the GPU’s shading and texture work dominates, while the CPU’s simulation load remains relatively constant.

The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling: 107.2 FPS at 1080p, 72.1 FPS at 1440p, and 45.8 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 4K is 57.3%, which is consistent with the High preset’s scaling, but the absolute FPS at 4K Ultra is below the 60 FPS threshold, indicating a hard GPU limit. Notably, the difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 95.8 FPS (203 vs 107.2), while at 4K the difference is 56.3 FPS (102.1 vs 45.8). This narrowing gap at higher resolutions further confirms that the GPU is the limiting component as pixel count rises.

The data also shows that Medium settings scale almost linearly: 165.6 FPS at 1080p, 117.7 FPS at 1440p, and 70.4 FPS at 4K. The 4K Medium result is 24.6% higher than 4K High (70.4 vs 56.6), suggesting that the Medium preset reduces GPU load enough to allow a playable frame rate without a major visual compromise. This analysis points to a CPU+GPU balance where the i5-12400 is never the bottleneck at 4K, but at 1080p Low, the CPU still manages to drive 203 FPS, indicating that the game engine’s rendering path is well-optimized for lower pixel counts.

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

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience across all resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the combo delivers 165.6 FPS, which is 22.6% higher than High (140.6) and only 18.4% lower than Low (203). The Medium preset at 1440p achieves 117.7 FPS, comfortably above the 100 FPS mark for high-refresh monitors, while at 4K it holds 70.4 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS playability threshold. This consistency makes Medium the recommended preset for users who want smooth gameplay without sacrificing too much visual quality.

The High preset is a viable alternative for 1080p and 1440p users. At 1080p, High delivers 140.6 FPS, which is still well above 120 FPS for competitive play, and at 1440p it maintains 99.5 FPS, nearly hitting 100 FPS. However, at 4K High drops to 56.6 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold and could result in noticeable stutter on standard 60 Hz displays. For 4K users, the Medium preset is clearly superior, offering a 24.6% FPS improvement over High (70.4 vs 56.6) with only a moderate reduction in visual fidelity.

The Low preset should be reserved for users prioritizing maximum frame rates, as it delivers 203 FPS at 1080p and 173.2 FPS at 1440p. However, the jump from Low to Medium at 1080p is only 37.4 FPS (203 to 165.6), which may not justify the visual downgrade for most players. The Ultra preset, while offering the best image quality, is only recommended for 1080p users, where it still achieves 107.2 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, the 72.1 FPS average is acceptable, but at 4K Ultra the 45.8 FPS result is below playable standards. The data indicates that Medium provides the best performance-per-visual-quality tradeoff, with High as a strong second choice for lower resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

In the database of tested combinations for Rust, this pairing of the Intel Core i5-12400 with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER ranks 284th out of 1717 combos, placing it in the top 16.5% of all tested systems. This is a strong showing, given that the CPU is a mid-range 6-core part and the GPU is a high-end 40-series card. The rank suggests that the combo is well-balanced for Rust, where both components contribute meaningfully to the final frame rates.

The rank of 284 out of 1717 means that the combo outperforms 1433 other tested configurations, likely including those with weaker GPUs or older CPUs. However, it also implies that there are 283 combos with higher measured FPS, which would include systems with more powerful CPUs (e.g., higher-core-count parts) and GPUs (e.g., RTX 4080 or 4090 class). Given that the i5-12400 has a 77th percentile CPU ranking and the RTX 4070 SUPER has an 84th percentile GPU ranking, the combo’s overall rank of 284 (top 16.5%) is slightly lower than what the individual percentiles might suggest, indicating that Rust’s specific engine demands may favor other combos with different CPU-GPU balances.

The nearest CPU rivals (i7-9700, i7-8700, i5-11600K) all have average scores within 0.4% of the i5-12400, so the choice of CPU among these parts is unlikely to affect Rust performance significantly. Similarly, the GPU rivals (RTX A6000, RX 7650 GRE, Radeon Pro 580X) are within 1.6% in synthetic benchmarks, meaning that the measured FPS differences in Rust are likely driven more by driver optimizations and memory bandwidth than raw compute. The combo’s rank of 284 places it in the upper quartile of tested systems, making it a capable configuration for Rust at 1080p and 1440p, with playable 4K performance only at Medium settings or lower.