Rust

# Rust Performance Analysis: Intel Core i5-12400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER delivers a robust Rust experience across all tested resolutions, with the data showing a clear GPU-bound pattern at higher settings and a CPU-bound ceiling emerging at 1080p Low. This combination ranks 483rd out of 3723 tested combos, placing it in the top 13% of all configurations for this title. The measured FPS rows reveal that the system is capable of smooth gameplay at 4K Ultra with an average of 47 FPS, while 1080p Low pushes to 205 FPS, indicating a wide performance envelope that adapts well to different display and quality preferences.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS degradation from 1080p to 4K is substantial and follows an expected curve, though the magnitude varies significantly by settings preset. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 205 at 1920x1080 to 181 at 2560x1440, then to 108 at 3840x2160 — a reduction of 11.7% from 1080p to 1440p and an additional 40.3% from 1440p to 4K. This steep decline at Low settings indicates that the GPU's raw throughput becomes the limiting factor as pixel count rises, even when graphical complexity is minimal.

At High settings, the scaling pattern is similar but with a lower starting point: 151 FPS at 1080p, 104 FPS at 1440p, and 61 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 31.1% from 1080p to 1440p and 41.3% from 1440p to 4K, showing that the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER's performance headroom shrinks proportionally as both resolution and shader complexity increase. The Medium preset shows a gentler curve with 176 FPS at 1080p, 123 FPS at 1440p, and 73 FPS at 4K, while Ultra exhibits the most dramatic scaling: 115 FPS at 1080p, 79 FPS at 1440p, and just 47 FPS at 4K.

The data suggests that at 1080p, the CPU begins to influence results, particularly at Low settings where the 205 FPS figure likely approaches the i5-12400F's practical upper limit in Rust. The transition from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings (a 24 FPS drop) is smaller than the 1440p-to-4K drop (a 73 FPS drop), indicating that the GPU becomes progressively more dominant as resolution increases. At Ultra settings, the 1080p-to-1440p drop of 36 FPS is nearly identical to the 1440p-to-4K drop of 32 FPS, suggesting a more balanced scaling where both CPU and GPU contribute to the bottleneck at lower resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER brings 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 672.3 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is particularly relevant for Rust, a game known for large world persistence and frequent asset streaming. The 16 GB capacity ensures that texture data and world geometry remain resident in VRAM even at 4K Ultra, where the 47 FPS average suggests the GPU is working near its limits but not stalling due to memory pressure.

The GPU's clock behavior — a 2340 MHz base and 2610 MHz boost — provides the computational throughput needed for Rust's deferred rendering and dynamic lighting. The 8448 shading units and 264 texture mapping units process the game's voxel-based terrain and building structures efficiently. Benchmark scores support this: the PassMark G3D score of 31811 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5569 indicate strong raw graphics performance. The 44.10 TFLOPS FP32 compute capability handles Rust's physics simulations and particle effects without becoming a limiting factor in the measured scenarios.

At 4K Ultra, the 47 FPS average suggests the GPU is the primary constraint, as the same CPU configuration achieves 115 FPS at 1080p Ultra. The VRAM usage pattern — while not directly measured in the FPS rows — can be inferred from the consistent performance across settings; the 16 GB capacity exceeds the demands of even the most detailed Rust scenes, preventing any memory-related stutters that might otherwise appear at 4K. The GDDR6X memory's 21 Gbps effective speed ensures that bandwidth requirements for high-resolution textures are met, particularly in the 4K Medium scenario where the 73 FPS average with a 62 FPS minimum shows stable frame delivery.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F provides 6 cores and 12 threads, running at a 2.50 GHz base clock with a 4.40 GHz boost. This Alder Lake-S architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process, delivers a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 12380 and a single-core score of 1680. For Rust, which relies heavily on single-threaded performance for game logic and world simulation, the 4.40 GHz boost clock is critical. The Geekbench single-core score of 1964 and PassMark single-thread score of 3481 indicate strong per-core capability that keeps the game's main thread responsive.

The CPU's performance ceiling becomes apparent in the 1080p Low scenario, where the 205 FPS average likely represents a CPU bottleneck rather than a GPU limitation. At 1080p Ultra, the 115 FPS figure is 56% higher than at 4K Ultra (47 FPS), demonstrating that the GPU is far from saturated at lower resolutions. The 3DMark multi-threaded scores — 5895 for 16 threads and 5912 for max threads — show consistent scaling across thread counts, which helps in Rust's server-side entity processing and building updates during gameplay.

The 18 MB shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 per core provide adequate memory hierarchy for Rust's procedural generation and terrain manipulation. The CPU's 73rd percentile ranking among all tested processors places it in a competitive position for gaming workloads. Compared to its nearest rivals, the i5-12400F's average benchmark score of 19039 is essentially tied with the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS (19047, 0% delta) and Intel Core 3 201E (19056, -0.1% delta), while slightly ahead of the Intel Core i5-1335U (18982, +0.3% delta) and AMD EPYC 7773X (18979, +0.3% delta). This parity suggests that the CPU is well-matched to the GPU's capabilities at most resolutions, with the GPU becoming the dominant factor only at 4K with high detail settings.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for optimizing the experience. At 4K, the Medium preset offers the best balance with a 73 FPS average and a 62 FPS minimum, ensuring playable performance without the visual degradation of Low (108 FPS) or the demanding requirements of Ultra (47 FPS). The High preset at 61 FPS is marginally below the Medium minimum, making Medium the safer choice for consistent frame delivery at this resolution.

For 1440p displays, the High preset at 104 FPS is the recommended starting point, as it provides a significant visual upgrade over Medium (123 FPS) while still offering headroom above the 79 FPS Ultra result. The 104 FPS figure is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, and the 141 FPS maximum at Medium suggests that High will maintain high frame rates in less demanding scenes. At 1080p, the Ultra preset at 115 FPS is viable for players prioritizing visual fidelity, though the Medium preset at 176 FPS offers a substantial performance advantage with only moderate visual compromises. The Low preset at 205 FPS is best reserved for competitive scenarios where maximum frame rate outweighs graphical quality.

The data indicates that the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER's 16 GB VRAM is sufficient for all presets at all resolutions, so the choice of settings should be driven by frame rate targets rather than memory limitations. For users with 120 Hz or 144 Hz displays, the Medium preset at 1440p (123 FPS) or the High preset at 1080p (151 FPS) will better utilize the display's refresh rate than higher-quality settings that fall below the refresh threshold.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1440p High at 104 FPS provides a strong balance between visual quality and frame rate. At 4K, the Medium preset at 73 FPS is the highest reliable option, while 1080p Ultra at 115 FPS is suitable for high-refresh displays.

Q: Does the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER's 16 GB VRAM cause any limitations in Rust?

A: The measured FPS rows show consistent performance across all settings and resolutions, with no evidence of VRAM-related stutters or frame drops. The 16 GB GDDR6X memory with 672.3 GB/s bandwidth exceeds Rust's requirements even at 4K Ultra.

Q: Why does 1080p Low produce 205 FPS while 4K Ultra produces only 47 FPS?

A: This 4.36x difference reflects the GPU becoming the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. At 1080p Low, the CPU's single-thread performance (4.40 GHz boost, 1680 Cinebench R23 single-core) likely limits frame rate, while at 4K Ultra the GPU's 44.10 TFLOPS FP32 capability is fully utilized.

Q: How does the i5-12400F compare to other CPUs in this benchmark context?

A: The i5-12400F's average benchmark score of 19039 places it at the 73rd percentile. It performs within 0.3% of the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS, Intel Core 3 201E, Intel Core i5-1335U, and AMD EPYC 7773X, indicating balanced mid-range performance.

Q: Is the 4K Ultra preset playable with this hardware?

A: At 47 FPS average, 4K Ultra is technically playable but below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The Medium preset at 73 FPS offers a better experience at 4K, while the 62 FPS minimum at Medium provides more consistent frame delivery than the Ultra preset's unmeasured minimum.

Q: What frame rate can users expect at 1440p with the High preset?

A: The measured average is 104 FPS, which is 68% higher than the 4K High result of 61 FPS. This makes 1440p High an excellent choice for users with 100 Hz or 120 Hz displays, as it maintains high frame rates while delivering detailed visuals.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. The Low preset achieves 205 FPS average, while Medium reaches 176 FPS with a 149 FPS minimum and 202 FPS maximum. High settings produce 151 FPS, and Ultra falls to 115 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 90 FPS, demonstrating that graphical settings have a substantial impact at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the average FPS figures are 181 for Low, 123 for Medium (104 min, 141 max), 104 for High, and 79 for Ultra. The Medium preset's minimum of 104 FPS is notable, as it equals the High preset's average, indicating that Medium provides more stable frame delivery than the higher preset. The drop from Low to Ultra is 102 FPS, a larger absolute difference than at 1080p, reflecting the increased GPU workload at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, performance compresses significantly: Low averages 108 FPS, Medium 73 FPS (62 min, 83 max), High 61 FPS, and Ultra 47 FPS. The Ultra preset's 47 FPS is the only sub-60 result in the dataset, while the Medium preset's 62 FPS minimum stays above the 60 FPS threshold. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 61 FPS, showing that even the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER's substantial compute resources (44.10 TFLOPS) are taxed by Rust's highest settings at this resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER achieves a rank of 483 out of 3723 tested combos in Rust. This places the system in the top 13% of all configurations, which is a strong result given the CPU's mid-range positioning (73rd percentile among all CPUs) and the GPU's high-end status (76th percentile among all GPUs). The rank reflects the balanced nature of this pairing: the CPU's 6-core/12-thread configuration with a 4.40 GHz boost clock avoids bottlenecking the GPU at most settings, while the GPU's 16 GB VRAM and 672.3 GB/s bandwidth handle Rust's demanding world rendering.

The GPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the NVIDIA Quadro M5000 (31206 avg score, -0.4% delta), NVIDIA GRID M60-1Q (31220, -0.4% delta), NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell (31532, -1.4% delta), and NVIDIA TITAN RTX (31676, -1.9% delta). The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER's average benchmark score of 31087 is slightly below these competitors, yet the measured Rust FPS figures demonstrate that the card's real-world gaming performance is strong, particularly at 1440p where it maintains 104 FPS at High settings. The combo rank of 483 suggests that while individual components are not top-tier in their respective categories, their combination is well-suited for Rust's specific workload, outperforming the majority of the 3723 tested configurations.