Rust

The Intel Core i5-12400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 delivers a high-performance configuration in Rust, where the balance between the six-core processor and the Blackwell-architecture GPU produces a distinct bottleneck profile. The i5-12400 is a 6-core, 12-thread Alder Lake-S desktop chip with a 2.50 GHz base clock and 4.40 GHz boost clock, backed by 18 MB of shared L3 cache and a 10 nm process node. Its benchmark profile shows a strong single-thread showing at 910 points in 3DMark single-thread and 2249 in Cinebench R23 single-core, while multi-threaded performance reaches 5890 in 3DMark max-threads and 15935 in Cinebench R23 multi-core. These figures place the CPU in the 77th percentile against all processors, with its average benchmark score of 19850 sitting nearly identical to the Intel Core i7-9700 (0.1% delta) and the Intel Core i7-8700 (-0.2% delta), while edging out the Intel Core i5-11600K by 0.4%. For Rust, a survival title that typically stresses physics and world simulation, the CPU’s 12 threads provide adequate headroom, but the data suggests the game’s frame delivery is increasingly governed by the GPU as resolution climbs.

FAQ

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

A: The i5-12400 scores 910 in 3DMark single-thread and 2249 in Cinebench R23 single-core. Its overall average benchmark score of 19850 is 0.1% above the Intel Core i7-9700’s 19831 and 0.4% above the Intel Core i5-11600K’s 19771, though it trails the Intel Core i7-8700 by 0.2% (19894). This indicates the CPU’s per-core strength is competitive with older i7 parts, which is relevant for Rust’s single-threaded game logic.

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

A: This specific combination of the Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 ranks 107th out of 1717 tested combos in Rust. That places it in the top 6.2% of all configurations, reflecting a high-end pairing that outperforms the vast majority of systems tested, though it is not the absolute top-tier.

Q: How does the RTX 5080’s raw GPU score position it against its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 5080 has an average benchmark score of 59188, which is 1.6% ahead of the Intel Arc A570M (58239) and 2.5% ahead of the Intel Arc A580 (57756), while trailing the Intel Arc Pro A60 by 1.9% (60326). Its Passmark G3D score of 36565 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 8637 reinforce its position in the 89th percentile of all GPUs.

Q: At 1080p with Low settings, what is the limiting factor for this combo?

A: With a measured average of 201.1 FPS at 1920x1080 Low, the system is likely CPU-bound, as the RTX 5080’s capabilities are far beyond what Rust’s low-detail rendering demands at this resolution. The i5-12400’s 12 threads and 4.40 GHz boost clock become the primary constraint, as frame rates drop from the GPU’s potential maximum.

Q: What is the performance delta between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the combo achieves 178.6 FPS on Low and 88.8 FPS on Ultra, a difference of 89.8 FPS (a 50.3% reduction). This shows that Ultra settings impose a heavy load on the RTX 5080, nearly halving throughput compared to Low, while still maintaining smooth playability.

Q: Does the i5-12400’s memory support affect Rust performance?

A: The CPU supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory over a dual-channel bus, though the fact pack does not specify bandwidth figures. Rust’s heavy asset streaming and world simulation can benefit from higher memory bandwidth, but the lack of measured bandwidth data means we cannot quantify the impact; the CPU’s 18 MB L3 cache mitigates some memory latency.

Resolution Scaling

Examining the measured FPS across resolutions reveals a classic scaling pattern where the RTX 5080’s dominance diminishes as pixel count rises, but the i5-12400’s influence becomes more pronounced at lower resolutions. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo produces 166 FPS, which drops to 118.5 FPS at 2560x1440 (a 28.6% reduction) and further to 67.9 FPS at 3840x2160 (a 59.1% reduction from 1080p). This steep decline across resolutions indicates that the GPU is the primary scaling factor at higher detail levels, but the CPU’s role becomes clearer when examining Low settings. At 1080p Low, the system hits 201.1 FPS, but at 1440p Low it only falls to 178.6 FPS (an 11.2% drop), and at 4K Low it reaches 122 FPS (a 39.3% drop from 1080p). The relatively small drop from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings suggests that the i5-12400 is holding the system back at 1080p, as the GPU should be capable of far higher frame rates when rendering minimal graphics. The CPU’s passmark single-thread score of 3456 and 3DMark single-thread score of 910 indicate that while its single-core performance is solid, it cannot fully feed the RTX 5080 at lower resolutions where the GPU is underutilized. At 4K, however, the GPU’s workload dominates, and the 122 FPS at Low versus 52.5 FPS at Ultra shows a 57% performance swing that is almost entirely attributable to the graphics card’s rendering load.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a full grid of performance across three resolutions and four quality presets. At 1920x1080, the combo starts at 201.1 FPS on Low, rises to 173.5 FPS on Medium, drops to 166 FPS on High, and falls to 128.3 FPS on Ultra. This 72.8 FPS spread between Low and Ultra at 1080p demonstrates that the GPU has ample headroom even at higher settings, but the CPU’s ceiling is visible: the jump from Low to Medium only costs 27.6 FPS, while the jump from High to Ultra costs 37.7 FPS, indicating diminishing returns from the GPU as settings increase. Moving to 2560x1440, the values are 178.6 FPS on Low, 140.3 FPS on Medium, 118.5 FPS on High, and 88.8 FPS on Ultra. The 89.8 FPS gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is proportionally larger than at 1080p, confirming that the GPU’s rendering load scales more aggressively with resolution. At 3840x2160, the system delivers 122 FPS on Low, 80.7 FPS on Medium, 67.9 FPS on High, and 52.5 FPS on Ultra. The 4K Low figure of 122 FPS is still highly playable, but the Ultra preset at 52.5 FPS hovers near the threshold where frame pacing becomes a concern for competitive play. Notably, the Medium preset at 1080p (173.5 FPS) nearly matches the High preset at 1440p (118.5 FPS) in raw frame rate, suggesting that users can effectively trade resolution for quality without changing the perceived smoothness.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12400 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 combination holds the 107th position out of 1717 tested combos in Rust, placing it in the upper echelon of all configurations. This ranking is notable because the CPU is a mid-range part (77th percentile among all CPUs) while the GPU is a high-end part (89th percentile among all GPUs), meaning the pairing’s overall position is dragged down slightly by the processor. The data shows that the combo outperforms the vast majority of systems — over 94% of tested configurations — despite the CPU’s relatively modest core count. However, its rank of 107 suggests that there are 106 combos that deliver higher average FPS in Rust, likely those featuring more powerful CPUs like the Intel Core i7-9700, which has a nearly identical average benchmark score (19831 vs 19850) but may offer better memory latency characteristics for Rust’s specific workload. The RTX 5080’s nearest rivals — the Intel Arc A570M, Intel Arc Pro A60, and Intel Arc A580 — all have similar average GPU scores (within 2.6% of the RTX 5080), which means the ranking is likely determined by CPU choice and how well each processor feeds the GPU at various settings. In practice, the combo’s 107th rank reflects a system that can maintain high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K Ultra (52.5 FPS), it falls behind configurations with stronger CPUs that can better support the GPU’s rendering demands. The data indicates that while the i5-12400 is sufficient for most scenarios, users seeking to maximize Rust’s 4K Ultra performance would benefit from a more powerful processor to push this combo higher in the rankings.