Rust

The Intel Core i5-12600KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 produces a spread of results in Rust that hinges almost entirely on the settings preset selected. Across all three tested resolutions, the Low preset delivers the highest average frame rates, while the Ultra preset consistently yields the lowest. The data suggests that for players prioritizing smoothness and responsiveness, the Low preset is the most effective choice, producing 232.9 FPS at 1920x1080, 166.8 FPS at 2560x1440, and 98 FPS at 3840x2160. The Medium preset offers a substantial visual upgrade over Low while still maintaining high frame rates, with 161.9 FPS, 112.2 FPS, and 65.3 FPS at the same respective resolutions. High preset is a middle ground, offering 137.2 FPS at 1080p, 97.1 FPS at 1440p, and 55.1 FPS at 4K. Ultra, while visually demanding, drops the average below 60 FPS at 4K (44 FPS) and only reaches 105.6 FPS at 1080p, which is a significant performance penalty for the graphical uplift.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data points to the Low preset as the optimal choice for achieving the highest possible frame rates, which is particularly relevant for a competitive survival game where reaction time matters. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves 232.9 FPS, which is 95 FPS higher than the High preset at the same resolution. This gap narrows at higher resolutions but remains significant; at 2560x1440, Low delivers 166.8 FPS versus 97.1 FPS for High, and at 3840x2160, the difference is 98 FPS versus 55.1 FPS. For players with high-refresh-rate monitors, the Low preset is the only way to approach the upper limits of display capability, especially at 1080p and 1440p. However, the Medium preset represents a balanced trade-off, offering a 43.6% performance increase over High at 1080p (161.9 FPS vs. 137.2 FPS) while presumably providing better visual fidelity than Low. The Ultra preset, while the most visually ambitious, consistently underperforms, and its 44 FPS average at 4K suggests it is not viable for smooth gameplay at that resolution.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 is a substantial piece of hardware, built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a 5 nm process node from TSMC. It contains 31,100 million transistors on a 263 mm² die and features 6144 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, and 80 raster output units. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2325 MHz and a boost clock of 2512 MHz. Its memory subsystem is robust, with 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 672.0 GB/s. These specifications suggest the card is more than capable of handling the graphical load of Rust, yet the data shows that even this powerful GPU struggles with the Ultra preset at higher resolutions. The FP32 performance of 30.87 TFLOPS and a pixel rate of 201.0 GPixel/s indicate the card has ample raw compute power, but the game's engine and the Ultra preset's demands still create a bottleneck, as evidenced by the 4K Ultra result of only 44 FPS. The GPU's performance percentile of 83 versus all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 41687, places it in the upper tier, but the measured FPS in Rust highlights that raw GPU power does not always translate to linear FPS gains at extreme settings.

Resolution Scaling

The scaling of FPS across resolutions reveals how the workload shifts between the CPU and GPU. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 with the High preset, the average FPS drops from 137.2 to 97.1, a 29.2% reduction. The subsequent jump from 2560x1440 to 3840x2160 sees a further drop to 55.1 FPS, a 43.3% reduction from the 1440p figure. This pattern is consistent across all settings presets. For instance, on Low, the FPS goes from 232.9 at 1080p to 166.8 at 1440p, then to 98 at 4K. The relative drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial; on High, the 4K result is only 40.2% of the 1080p result. This steep decline at 4K, particularly on the Ultra preset where the card manages only 44 FPS, suggests that the RTX 5070's 12 GB of VRAM and memory bandwidth are being heavily taxed. The data implies that at 1080p and 1440p, the CPU and GPU are more balanced, but at 4K, the GPU becomes the clear limiting factor, as the pixel throughput required exceeds what the card can deliver at high settings.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database of tested combinations, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i5-12600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 ranks 299 out of 1717 combos for Rust. This places the combo in the top 17.4% of all tested configurations. The rank is a holistic measure of the measured FPS across all settings and resolutions, and it reflects a strong overall performance profile. However, the rank also suggests that while this is a capable pairing, there are 298 other combos that achieve higher average frame rates in this specific game. The CPU itself, the i5-12600KF, has an average benchmark score of 27827 and sits at the 84th percentile against all CPUs. Its nearest rivals in terms of average score are the Intel Core i9-10900K, which scores 27829, and the Intel Core i5-12600K, which scores 27851. These rivals are within 0.1% and 0.2% of the i5-12600KF's score, respectively, indicating that the CPU is not a differentiator in performance compared to its immediate peers. The GPU, with an average benchmark score of 41687, is at the 83rd percentile, with its nearest rival being the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, which scores 41441. The combo's rank of 299 out of 1717 suggests that while individual components are strong, the synergy in Rust produces results that are good but not top-tier, likely due to the game's engine limitations or the specific demands of the Ultra preset.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achieved by this combo in Rust?

A: The highest average FPS is 232.9, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K resolution on the Ultra preset?

A: At 3840x2160 with the Ultra preset, the combo achieves an average FPS of 44, which is the lowest result across all tested configurations.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more likely to be the bottleneck at 4K?

A: The data shows a significant FPS drop at 4K across all settings, with the Ultra preset falling to 44 FPS. This suggests the GPU becomes the limiting component at higher resolutions, as the pixel workload increases dramatically.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested combinations for Rust?

A: The combo ranks 299 out of 1717 tested combinations, placing it in the top 17.4% of all configurations.

Q: How does the i5-12600KF compare to its nearest rival, the i9-10900K, in average benchmark score?

A: The i5-12600KF has an average benchmark score of 27827, while the Intel Core i9-10900K has a score of 27829, showing a deltaPct of 0, making them effectively equal in performance.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra presets at 2560x1440?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset delivers 166.8 FPS, while the Ultra preset delivers 69.3 FPS, a difference of 97.5 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive look at performance across all settings and resolutions.

At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves the highest average at 232.9 FPS. The Medium preset follows with 161.9 FPS, then High with 137.2 FPS, and finally Ultra with 105.6 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 127.3 FPS, indicating a massive performance swing based on settings.

Moving to 2560x1440, the order remains the same. Low delivers 166.8 FPS, Medium delivers 112.2 FPS, High delivers 97.1 FPS, and Ultra delivers 69.3 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra here is 97.5 FPS. Notably, the 1440p High result of 97.1 FPS is nearly identical to the 4K Low result of 98 FPS, highlighting how resolution and settings interact.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops considerably. Low is the only preset that maintains an average above 60 FPS, achieving 98 FPS. Medium follows at 65.3 FPS, then High at 55.1 FPS, and Ultra at 44 FPS. The 4K Ultra result of 44 FPS is less than half of the 1080p Ultra result of 105.6 FPS. This breakdown illustrates that the RTX 5070 can handle 4K on Low settings with headroom, but struggles to maintain playable frame rates on higher presets.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12600KF is a 10-core, 16-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. It features 20 MB of shared L3 cache and supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU scores 23444 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 3309 in single-core, and it achieves a Geekbench multicore score of 12373 and a single-core score of 2529. These numbers indicate a strong mid-to-high-end processor. In the context of Rust, the CPU's role is evident in the FPS scaling at lower resolutions. At 1920x1080 on Low, the combo achieves 232.9 FPS, which is a very high frame rate that relies on the CPU to feed the GPU with draw calls. However, as resolution increases, the GPU becomes more dominant, and the FPS drops accordingly. The CPU's performance relative to its rivals is notable: it matches the Intel Core i9-10900K with a deltaPct of 0, and it is only 0.1% behind the Intel Core i5-12600K. This suggests that the CPU is not a limiting factor in this combo, as its performance is on par with other high-end processors. The 84th percentile ranking against all CPUs further confirms that the i5-12600KF provides ample processing power for Rust, allowing the GPU to be the primary determinant of frame rate at higher resolutions and settings.