Rust

Rust’s measured performance on the Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER combination shows a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution climbs. At 1080p High settings, the combo delivers 161 FPS, which drops to 109.8 FPS at 1440p and further to 65.9 FPS at 4K. That represents a 59.1% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K, a steep decline that signals the GPU is becoming the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. The gap between 1440p and 4K is particularly telling: a 43.9 FPS loss, whereas the jump from 1080p to 1440p costs 51.2 FPS. This suggests the RTX 4080 SUPER’s rendering throughput is increasingly strained as pixel count rises, which is typical for a demanding survival title with heavy draw distances and dynamic lighting.

Looking at the lowest and highest presets, the scaling pattern reinforces this interpretation. At 4K Low, the combo hits 113.6 FPS, but Ultra drops the average to 48.2 FPS—a 65.4 FPS swing that dwarfs the equivalent 1080p delta of 78.8 FPS (202.1 to 123.3). The 4K Ultra result of 48.2 FPS is barely playable for competitive scenarios, while 4K Medium at 79.8 FPS offers a more reasonable experience. The data indicates that the RTX 4080 SUPER’s 16 GB of GDDR6X memory and 736.3 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient at lower presets, but the Ultra preset’s additional shading and texture demands push the GPU to its limits. In contrast, the CPU’s role at 1080p is more pronounced, as the frame rates there are high enough that the Core i5-12400’s six cores and twelve threads can keep up without becoming the limiting factor—though the 202.1 FPS at Low does hint at potential headroom.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 is a six-core, twelve-thread Alder Lake-S part with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its 18 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4/DDR5 memory support make it a solid mid-range choice for gaming, but the benchmark results in Rust show that its influence is most visible at lower resolutions and higher frame rates. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 202.1 FPS, which is 41.1 FPS higher than the 1080p High result of 161 FPS. This delta suggests that at Low settings, the CPU is feeding frames fast enough to expose the GPU’s raw capability, but the gap narrows as resolution climbs—at 4K, the difference between Low and High is only 47.7 FPS (113.6 vs. 65.9), indicating that the GPU is now the dominant constraint.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-12400 scores 15,935 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2,249 in single-core, with a PassMark multi-thread score of 18,747. Its 3DMark 16-thread score of 5,873 and single-thread score of 910 place it in the 77th percentile among all CPUs. Compared to its nearest rivals, the i5-12400 is essentially tied with the Intel Core i7-9700 (deltaPct 0.1) and slightly behind the Intel Core i7-8700 (deltaPct -0.2), while edging out the Intel Core i5-11600K by 0.4%. These margins are negligible in real-world gaming, meaning the CPU is not a differentiator in Rust’s measured results. The fact that the combo ranks 142nd out of 1,717 tested combinations further suggests that the CPU is a mid-pack contributor, with the GPU doing the heavy lifting in this title.

The 1080p Ultra result of 123.3 FPS versus the 1440p Ultra result of 87.3 FPS highlights a 36 FPS drop, which is more than the 22.5 FPS drop from 1440p to 4K Ultra (87.3 to 48.2). This pattern implies that the CPU’s performance headroom is being exhausted at 1080p Ultra, where the game’s simulation and physics threads are more demanding relative to the GPU’s frame output. However, the i5-12400’s 12 threads and 4.40 GHz boost clock are sufficient to avoid major stutters, as evidenced by the consistent scaling across presets. For players targeting high refresh rates at 1080p, the CPU will not hold back the RTX 4080 SUPER, but at 4K, the CPU’s role diminishes to a supporting one.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows provide a clear hierarchy for optimizing the experience. At 4K, the High preset delivers 65.9 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, while Medium offers 79.8 FPS and Low hits 113.6 FPS. Ultra at 4K drops to 48.2 FPS, which is below the acceptable range for most players, especially in a survival game where quick reactions matter. The data suggests that 4K Medium is the sweet spot for this combo: it provides a 13.9 FPS improvement over High while retaining enough visual fidelity for a game like Rust, which relies on distant object rendering and environmental detail. At 1440p, the choice is more forgiving—High runs at 109.8 FPS, and even Ultra achieves 87.3 FPS, making Ultra a viable option for players who prioritize image quality over raw frame rate.

At 1080p, the combo is powerful enough that Low (202.1 FPS) and Medium (171.7 FPS) are both excellent for high-refresh-rate monitors, but High at 161 FPS is a balanced pick that avoids the visual downgrades of Low. The 1080p Ultra result of 123.3 FPS is still above 120 FPS, which makes it a reasonable choice for 120 Hz displays, though the 38.8 FPS gap between Medium and Ultra indicates diminishing returns. The best overall experience per the measured rows is 1440p High: it offers 109.8 FPS, which is smooth and visually rich, while keeping the GPU at a comfortable load. For 4K users, Medium is the recommended preset, as it maintains playability without sacrificing too much detail. Low presets are only advisable if the user prioritizes maximum frame rate over visuals, which is unlikely given the RTX 4080 SUPER’s capabilities.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER combination ranks 142nd out of 1,717 tested combos in Rust, placing it in the top 8.3% of all configurations benchmarked. This is a strong result, but it reflects the GPU’s dominance rather than the CPU’s. The RTX 4080 SUPER sits in the 88th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 53,610, while the i5-12400’s 77th percentile standing is more modest. The combo’s rank suggests that pairing a high-end GPU with a mid-range CPU yields a capable system for Rust, but there is headroom for improvement if the CPU were upgraded. The nearest GPU rivals underscore this: the RTX 4080 SUPER is 0.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT and 0.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M, but these differences are within the margin of error for real-world gaming.

In context, the combo’s rank is more about the GPU than the CPU. The RTX 4080 SUPER’s 52.22 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 816.0 GTexel/s texture rate are the primary drivers of Rust’s frame rates, especially at 4K where the GPU is the bottleneck. The CPU’s nearest rivals—the i7-9700, i7-8700, and i5-11600K—all have average scores within 0.4% of the i5-12400, which means any of these CPUs would likely produce similar results in this game. The 142nd rank out of 1,717 is impressive, but it also indicates that many higher-ranked combos pair the RTX 4080 SUPER with faster CPUs, which would yield better 1080p performance. For 4K gaming, however, the combo’s rank confirms the GPU’s strength, as the CPU’s limitations are masked by the resolution’s demands.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is the star of this pairing, and the measured FPS data confirms its pivotal role. With 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 736.3 GB/s of bandwidth, the GPU has ample resources for Rust’s large open-world environments. Its 10,240 shading units and 112 ROPs provide the raw pixel-pushing power needed for 4K rendering, which is reflected in the 4K High result of 65.9 FPS. The GPU’s boost clock of 2550 MHz and base clock of 2295 MHz are moderate for a flagship, but the Ada Lovelace architecture’s efficiency—built on a 5 nm TSMC process with 45,900 million transistors—allows it to sustain high frame rates without thermal throttling. The 320 W TDP and 700 W suggested PSU are typical for this class, but the power draw is not reflected in the FPS data, which focuses purely on performance.

The RTX 4080 SUPER’s nearest rivals are all within 2.9% in average benchmark score, with the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT trailing by 0.2%, the Radeon Pro W6600M by 0.4%, the Radeon RX 7700S by 2.1%, and the RTX 5070 Ti by 2.9%. In Rust, these small synthetic differences translate to similar real-world results, meaning the GPU’s 88th percentile ranking is well-earned. The data shows that at 1080p, the GPU is not the limiting factor—it delivers over 200 FPS at Low settings—but at 4K Ultra, it drops to 48.2 FPS, illustrating the game’s heavy reliance on GPU shading and texture work. The 736.3 GB/s bandwidth is particularly important at 4K, where large texture sets and high-resolution shadows can saturate memory bandwidth, but the 16 GB capacity ensures no VRAM spillover occurs. Overall, the RTX 4080 SUPER is a top-tier GPU for Rust, and its performance scales predictably with resolution, making it the definitive component in this combo’s benchmark results.