Rust

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT delivers a playable but demanding experience in Rust, with performance scaling that clearly identifies the GPU as the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions and settings. The data shows a steep drop in frame rates as resolution increases, but the relationship between settings and performance is not linear, revealing the complex demands of the survival title.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound performance at higher resolutions. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 142.2 FPS, which drops to 100.4 FPS at 1440p and further to 56.3 FPS at 4K. This represents a 60.4% reduction from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the RX 6650 XT’s rendering pipeline becomes increasingly saturated as pixel count grows.

The scaling becomes more severe when moving to higher quality presets. At Ultra settings, the frame rate falls from 60.6 FPS at 1080p to 44 FPS at 1440p (a 27.4% drop) and then to 28.1 FPS at 4K (a 53.6% drop from 1440p). This non-linear degradation suggests that Rust’s Ultra preset introduces effects that disproportionately tax the GPU’s memory bandwidth and shading resources.

The gap between Low and High settings widens with resolution. At 1080p, the difference is 62.0 FPS (142.2 vs 80.3), while at 4K, it narrows to 20.6 FPS (56.3 vs 35.7). This convergence indicates that at 4K, the GPU is so heavily loaded that even reducing settings cannot fully compensate for the pixel throughput demands. The data suggests that 1080p is the sweet spot for this combo, while 4K gaming requires substantial settings compromises.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU-GPU combo in Rust?

A: The data shows that 1080p is the most viable resolution, with all settings presets achieving at least 60.6 FPS. At 1440p, only Low (100.4 FPS) and High (57.6 FPS) remain playable, while 4K drops below 60 FPS even on Low settings.

Q: How does the RX 6650 XT compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RX 6650 XT has an average benchmark score of 29024, placing it 0.1% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6800M and 0.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 470. It also edges out the Intel Arc A370M by 0.5% and the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH by 0.6%.

Q: Is the i5-12400F a limiting factor in Rust?

A: The CPU’s benchmark scores indicate strong single-thread performance, with a Geekbench single-core score of 2221 and a 3DMark single-thread score of 909. Given that frame rates scale significantly with resolution, the CPU appears sufficient at lower settings, but the GPU becomes the primary constraint at higher resolutions.

Q: What settings preset should be used for 1440p gaming?

A: The data shows that Low settings deliver 100.4 FPS at 1440p, while High drops to 57.6 FPS. Medium achieves 65.3 FPS, making it the highest preset that stays above 60 FPS at this resolution.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: This combo ranks 1073 out of 1717 tested combos in Rust, placing it in the lower-middle tier of the database. This suggests that while the hardware is capable, many other configurations deliver higher frame rates in this particular game.

Q: Does the GPU’s memory size affect performance?

A: The RX 6650 XT has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory with a 128-bit bus and 280.3 GB/s bandwidth. The sharp FPS drops at 4K Ultra (28.1 FPS) suggest that the memory subsystem may struggle with the game’s texture and geometry demands at high resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F provides 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its single-thread performance is solid, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2332 and a PassMark single-thread score of 3481. These results indicate that the CPU can handle Rust’s game logic and physics calculations without becoming a significant bottleneck.

The processor’s multi-threaded capabilities are also robust, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 16518 and a Geekbench multi-core score of 9138. However, the benchmark data shows that Rust’s frame rates scale more with GPU load than CPU load. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 142.2 FPS, but increasing resolution to 4K Low drops performance to 56.3 FPS, a 60.4% reduction that cannot be attributed to CPU limitations.

The CPU’s 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 cache per core provide adequate data locality for game engines. Its 3DMark scores show strong scaling from 2 threads (1699) to max threads (5912), suggesting that Rust can utilize multiple cores effectively when needed. However, the fact that frame rates at 1080p Ultra (60.6 FPS) are only slightly higher than 1440p High (57.6 FPS) indicates that the CPU is not the primary constraint in this configuration.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination of the Intel Core i5-12400F and AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT ranks 1073 out of 1717 tested combos in Rust, placing it in the 37.5th percentile of all configurations. This positioning suggests that while the hardware is competent, many other pairings deliver superior frame rates in this specific title.

The CPU alone sits in the 77th percentile of all processors, with an average benchmark score of 19221. It is nearly identical to the Intel Core i7-8700K, trailing by just 0.1%, and ahead of the Intel Core i5-1335U by 0.3%. The GPU, meanwhile, sits in the 72nd percentile of all graphics cards, with an average score of 29024.

The discrepancy between the individual component rankings and the combo’s overall rank (1073 of 1717) suggests that Rust’s optimization favors certain hardware configurations over others. The combo’s rank indicates that while each part is above average individually, their combined performance in Rust is less impressive than their synthetic benchmarks might suggest.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation units. Its boost clock of 2635 MHz and game clock of 2410 MHz provide substantial compute throughput, with a peak FP32 performance of 10.79 TFLOPS. These specifications translate to a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1859 and a PassMark G3D score of 17166.

The GPU’s 8 GB of GDDR6 memory with a 280.3 GB/s bandwidth is a critical factor in Rust’s performance. The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the combo only achieves 28.1 FPS, while at 1080p Low it reaches 142.2 FPS. This 5.1x difference in frame rates across a 4x resolution increase indicates that the GPU’s memory subsystem and shading units are heavily taxed at high resolutions.

The GPU’s nearest rivals show it has competitive synthetic performance. Its average benchmark score of 29024 is essentially tied with the RX 6800M (29011) and RX 470 (28996), while being 0.5% ahead of the Intel Arc A370M. However, in Rust specifically, the 128-bit memory bus appears to be a limiting factor, as evidenced by the sharp performance degradation at 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its best performance. Low settings produce 142.2 FPS, which drops to 97.9 FPS at Medium, 80.3 FPS at High, and 60.6 FPS at Ultra. All presets exceed the standard 60 FPS threshold, making 1080p viable for all quality levels.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance gap becomes more pronounced. Low settings maintain 100.4 FPS, but Medium drops to 65.3 FPS, High to 57.6 FPS, and Ultra to 44 FPS. Only Low and Medium presets remain above 60 FPS at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the GPU struggles significantly. Low settings achieve 56.3 FPS, but Medium falls to 39.6 FPS, High to 35.7 FPS, and Ultra to 28.1 FPS. None of the presets reach 60 FPS at 4K, indicating that this combo is not suitable for 4K gaming in Rust without substantial compromises.

The data reveals that the transition from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 30% of frame rate at Low settings (from 142.2 to 100.4 FPS) and 27.4% at Ultra (from 60.6 to 44 FPS). The transition from 1440p to 4K is even more punishing, with a 43.9% drop at Low (from 100.4 to 56.3 FPS) and a 36.1% drop at Ultra (from 44 to 28.1 FPS). These numbers confirm that the GPU’s rendering capacity is the dominant factor in determining final frame rates across all tested configurations.