Rust

# Rust with Intel Core i5-12400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

This combination pairs a 6-core, 12-thread Intel Core i5-12400F with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090, the flagship of the GeForce 40-series. The measured frame rates across resolutions and settings reveal a system that is heavily influenced by the game's engine characteristics, with the GPU's raw power dominating at higher resolutions while the CPU's single-thread performance becomes a notable factor at lower settings.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 shows how the workload shifts between components. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 205 at 1080p to 181 at 1440p, then falls further to 129 at 4K. This represents a 37.1% reduction from 1080p to 4K, indicating that even at Low settings, the RTX 4090 is scaling with resolution in a way that suggests the GPU is not fully saturated at 1080p but becomes more influential as pixel count rises.

At Medium settings, the scaling is steeper. The average FPS goes from 176 at 1080p to 147 at 1440p, then to 87 at 4K. The drop from 1440p to 4K is particularly sharp, a 40.8% decrease, which points to the GPU being the primary limiting component at this resolution. The High settings follow a similar pattern: 166 FPS at 1080p, 124 at 1440p, and 73 at 4K. The 4K figure is less than half of the 1080p result, confirming that the RTX 4090 is being pushed harder as resolution increases.

Ultra settings show the most dramatic scaling. The average FPS at 1080p is 137, at 1440p it drops to 94, and at 4K it reaches only 56. The difference between 1080p and 4K here is 59.1%, the largest relative drop across all settings. This suggests that at Ultra, the combination of high resolution and demanding graphical features creates a bottleneck that is almost entirely GPU-bound, with the CPU's role diminishing as the GPU takes on more work per frame.

The data indicates that at 1080p, particularly at Low and Medium settings, the system is likely CPU-limited or at least partially so, since the FPS differences between settings are relatively small compared to the jumps seen at 4K. At 4K, the GPU becomes the clear limiting factor, as evidenced by the wide spread between Low (129 FPS) and Ultra (56 FPS), a 2.3x difference that underscores the GPU's dominant role.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC. It features 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s. The base clock is 2235 MHz with a boost clock of 2520 MHz, and the memory operates at 1313 MHz with 21 Gbps effective speed. These specifications place the GPU in the 88th percentile of all GPUs based on benchmark scores, with an average benchmark score of 60347.

The RTX 4090's nearest rivals in the benchmark database are the Intel Arc Pro A60 with an average score of 60326 (0% delta), the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 at 60140 (0.3% delta), the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M at 61896 (-2.5% delta), and the AMD Radeon PRO V710 at 58657 (2.9% delta). The RTX 4090 sits essentially at parity with the Arc Pro A60 daringly, but it is notably ahead of the PRO V710 by 2.9% and behind the W6600M by 2.5%. These deltas are small, suggesting that in synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 4090 is tightly grouped with these professional-grade cards, though its real-world gaming performance, as seen in the measured FPS, is what matters here.

In Rust, the GPU's role is most apparent at 4K. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra is 56, while at 4K Low it reaches 129. This 73 FPS difference between the lowest and highest settings at the same resolution demonstrates the GPU's capacity to handle varying graphical loads. The VRAM capacity of 24 GB is more than sufficient for Rust's requirements, as even at 4K Ultra, the game does not appear to be memory-constrained based on the frame rates achieved. The memory bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s supports high-resolution textures and complex scenes without causing frame rate collapses, as evidenced by the steady FPS numbers across settings.

The pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s indicate that the GPU can process vast amounts of graphical data. At 1080p Low, the system hits 205 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's limit for this game, as the GPU is capable of much higher frame rates in other titles. The fact that the FPS does not scale linearly with resolution from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings (205 to 181, a 11.7% drop) suggests that the CPU is holding back the GPU at these lower resolutions, while at 4K the GPU's workload becomes the limiting factor.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Alder Lake generation, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, with a TDP of 65 W. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 18 MB of shared L3 cache. The processor supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration and is rated for a 73rd percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 19039.

The CPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS with an average score of 19047 (0% delta), the Intel Core 3 201E at 19056 (-0.1% delta), the Intel Core i5-1335U at 18982 (0.3% delta), and the AMD EPYC 7773X at 18979 (0.3% delta). The i5-12400F is essentially tied with these processors, with deltas of less than a third of a percent. This tight grouping indicates that in synthetic multi-threaded benchmarks, the i5-12400F performs on par with these diverse alternatives, from mobile chips to server processors.

In Rust, the CPU's influence is most visible at 1080p and Low settings. The average FPS of 205 at 1080p Low is the highest measured for this combination, and it is only 16.4% higher than the 1080p High result of 166. This relatively small gap between Low and High at 1080p suggests that the CPU is limiting the frame rate, as the GPU could render more frames if the CPU could feed it faster. The single-thread performance, as measured by the 3DMark single-thread score of 909 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1680, is critical for Rust's gameplay logic, which relies heavily on a few threads for simulation and physics.

The multi-threaded capabilities of the CPU, demonstrated by a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 12380 and a PassMark multi-thread score of 19433, are less relevant at higher resolutions where the GPU takes over. At 4K, the FPS differences between settings are larger (129 Low vs. 56 Ultra), which indicates that the CPU is no longer the primary constraint. However, at 1080p, the CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient to keep the system from becoming completely GPU-bound, but the frame rates plateau around 205, suggesting a CPU-imposed ceiling.

The boost clock of 4.40 GHz provides the single-thread speed that Rust benefits from, but the data shows that this is not enough to fully unlock the RTX 4090 at 1080p. The measured FPS at 1080p Low is 205, while at 1440p Low it is 181, and at 4K Low it is 129. If the GPU were the only limiting factor, the 1080p result would be much higher relative to 4K, but the 37.1% drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings indicates that the CPU is holding the system back at the lower resolution, effectively capping performance.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for Rust, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 206th out of 3723 combos. This places it in the top 5.5% of all tested combinations, a strong showing that reflects the high performance of the RTX 4090. The rank of 206 out of 3723 means that there are 205 combinations that achieve higher average frame rates in Rust, likely featuring more powerful CPUs that can better feed the RTX 4090 at lower resolutions.

The combo's ranking is influenced by the CPU's relative weakness compared to the GPU. While the RTX 4090 is in the 88th percentile of GPUs, the i5-12400F is only in the 73rd percentile of CPUs. This imbalance means that the combo is not maximizing the GPU's potential at 1080p, where the CPU limits performance. At higher resolutions, the combo would rank higher relative to other combinations with stronger CPUs but weaker GPUs, since the GPU becomes the bottleneck.

The fact that this combo ranks 206th, rather than higher, suggests that in Rust, the CPU's single-thread performance is more critical than the GPU's raw power. The i5-12400F's single-thread score of 909 in 3DMark and 1680 in Cinebench R23 are decent, but they are not top-tier, and the game's engine clearly benefits from higher single-thread performance. The combo's rank indicates that while the RTX 4090 is a top-tier GPU, the i5-12400F does not fully complement it in this specific game, leading to a ranking that is good but not exceptional considering the GPU's capabilities.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers an average of 205 FPS on Low settings, 176 FPS on Medium, 166 FPS on High, and 137 FPS on Ultra. The Medium setting has a minimum FPS of 149 and a maximum of 202, while the other settings do not have min/max data. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 68 FPS, or 33.2%, showing that the CPU is the limiting factor at this resolution, as the GPU can handle the graphical load but the CPU cannot push more frames.

At 2560x1440, the average FPS increases to 181 on Low, 147 on Medium, 124 on High, and 94 on Ultra. The Medium setting shows a minimum of 125 and a maximum of 169. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 87 FPS, or 48.1%, indicating that the GPU is becoming more involved as the resolution increases. The FPS at 1440p Low is 11.7% lower than at 1080p Low, while at 1440p Ultra it is 31.4% lower than at 1080p Ultra, demonstrating that higher settings are more sensitive to resolution changes.

At 3840x2160, the average FPS drops to 129 on Low, 87 on Medium, 73 on High, and 56 on Ultra. The Medium setting has a minimum of 74 and a maximum of 100. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 73 FPS, or 56.6%, which is the largest relative spread across all resolutions. This indicates that at 4K, the GPU is the dominant factor, and the settings have a much greater impact on performance than at 1080p.

The data shows that the Medium settings provide a balanced experience across all resolutions, with FPS figures that are between the Low and High results. At 1080p Medium, the average is 176 FPS, which is 14.2% lower than Low but 6.0% higher than High. At 4K Medium, the average is 87 FPS, which is 32.6% lower than Low but 19.2% higher than High. The min/max data for Medium settings indicates a stable frame rate, with the minimum being 70-85% of the average, depending on resolution.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset offers the best balance between visual quality and performance across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium achieves an average of 176 FPS, which is more than sufficient for smooth gameplay, while providing better visuals than Low. At 1440p, Medium hits 147 FPS, still well above the 60 FPS threshold for most displays, and the min of 125 FPS ensures that frame drops are minimal. At 4K, Medium delivers 87 FPS, which is playable on high-refresh-rate monitors, and the min of 74 FPS keeps the experience consistent.

For users with 4K displays, the High setting is also viable, with an average of 73 FPS, though this is closer to the edge of what is considered smooth for competitive play. The Ultra setting at 4K, with an average of 56 FPS, is not recommended for fast-paced gameplay, as the frame rate dips below 60 FPS. At 1440p, High achieves 124 FPS and Ultra achieves 94 FPS, both of which are acceptable, but Medium offers a larger margin for frame time consistency.

At 1080p, the Low setting provides the highest average FPS at 205, but the visual compromise is significant. The Medium setting at 176 FPS is a better recommendation, as it offers a substantial improvement in visual quality with only a 14.2% reduction in frame rate. The Ultra setting at 1080p, with 137 FPS, is also playable, but the jump from Medium to Ultra (a 22.2% FPS drop) is not justified by the visual gains in a survival game where performance matters for responsiveness.

The data indicates that Medium is the sweet spot for this combination. It provides the best balance of visual fidelity and frame rate across all resolutions, with the min FPS remaining above 74 even at 4K. For users prioritizing maximum frame rates, Low settings are the choice, but the gains over Medium are modest, especially at 1440p and above, where the GPU becomes more of a factor. For users prioritizing visual quality, High is the better option than Ultra, as the FPS drop from High to Ultra is larger than the drop from Medium to High at every resolution.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combination achieves in Rust?

A: The highest average FPS is 205, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings interview.

Q: How does the frame rate change from 1080p to 4K at Medium settings?

A: At Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 176 at 1080p to 147 at 1440p, then to 87 at 4K, representing a 50.6% reduction from 1080p to 4K.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p Low settings?

A: The data suggests the CPU is the limiting factor at 1080p Low, as the FPS of 205 is only 11.7% higher than at 1440p Low, indicating the GPU has headroom but the CPU cannot push more frames.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded at 4K Medium settings?

A: The minimum FPS at 4K Medium is 74, with an average of 87 and a maximum of 100.

Q: How does the combo rank compared to other tested combinations in Rust?

A: This combination ranks 206th out of 3723 tested combos, placing it in the top 5.5% of all configurations tested for Rust.

Q: What is the difference in average FPS between Low and Ultra at 4K?

A: At 4K, the average FPS is 129 on Low and 56 on Ultra, a difference of 73 FPS, or 56.6% lower on Ultra compared to Low.