Rust

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Rust with the Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 shows a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases. At 1920x1080, the system delivers an average of 216 FPS on Low settings, which drops to 148 FPS at 2560x1440, and further to 88 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 59.3% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K at the lowest preset, indicating that the rendering workload scales heavily with pixel count.

Looking at the High preset, the drop from 122 FPS at 1080p to 84 FPS at 1440p is a 31.1% decrease, while moving from 1440p to 4K reduces the average from 84 FPS to 50 FPS, a 40.5% decline. The scaling pattern suggests that the RTX 3080's 10 GB GDDR6X memory and 320-bit bus become increasingly stressed at higher resolutions, particularly at 4K where the frame rates fall below the 60 FPS threshold on High settings.

The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling. At 1080p, the system averages 93 FPS, but at 1440p this drops to 64 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 38 FPS. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K on Ultra is 59.1%, nearly identical to the Low preset's scaling. This consistency across presets indicates that the limiting factor at higher resolutions is the GPU's raw throughput and memory bandwidth rather than a specific setting.

The Medium preset provides the only complete min/max data in the measurements. At 1080p, the average is 145 FPS with a minimum of 123 FPS and maximum of 166 FPS. At 1440p, the average drops to 100 FPS with min/max of 85/115 FPS. At 4K, the average falls to 59 FPS with min/max of 50/68 FPS. The narrowing of the min-to-max range at higher resolutions, from a 43 FPS spread at 1080p to an 18 FPS spread at 4K, suggests that the GPU is becoming fully saturated at 4K, leaving less headroom for variation.

The data also reveals that the CPU, with its 12 cores and 20 threads, is not the primary bottleneck at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 216 FPS, which is high enough to indicate that the CPU can feed frames quickly. However, at 4K Ultra, the 38 FPS average shows that the GPU is the dominant constraint, as the resolution increase demands more pixel processing than the RTX 3080 can deliver.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows provide clear guidance on which preset offers the best balance. The Medium preset consistently delivers the most stable experience across all three resolutions, with the only complete min/max data in the database. At 1080p, Medium averages 145 FPS, which is 33 FPS lower than Low but 52 FPS higher than Ultra. The 123 FPS minimum ensures that even during intense gameplay moments, the frame rate stays well above the 60 FPS threshold.

At 1440p, Medium averages 100 FPS with a minimum of 85 FPS. This is the only preset at this resolution with recorded min/max values, and the 85 FPS floor is comfortably above the 60 FPS target. The Low preset at 1440p delivers 148 FPS, but the visual quality trade-off may not be worthwhile when Medium provides a more polished experience at 100 FPS.

At 4K, Medium averages 59 FPS with a minimum of 50 FPS and maximum of 68 FPS. This places the average just below the 60 FPS line, but the 50 FPS minimum is still playable for a survival game. The High preset at 4K averages 50 FPS, and Ultra drops to 38 FPS, both of which are below what most players would consider smooth. Low at 4K averages 88 FPS, but the visual degradation is significant.

The data suggests that Medium is the optimal choice for this combination. At 1080p, it delivers 145 FPS, which is smooth for competitive play. At 1440p, the 100 FPS average is excellent. At 4K, the 59 FPS average is borderline but acceptable, especially when considering the min/max range of 50/68 FPS. The High preset offers a modest visual improvement over Medium, but at 4K the 50 FPS average is a 15.3% reduction compared to Medium's 59 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 in this configuration uses the GA102 chip built on Samsung's 8 nm process. The GPU has 8704 shading units, 272 texture mapping units, and 96 raster operation units. Its 10 GB of GDDR6X memory operates at 19 Gbps effective on a 320-bit bus, providing 760.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The base clock is 1440 MHz with a boost clock of 1710 MHz.

The benchmark data for the RTX 3080 shows a PassMark G3D score of 25086, placing it in the 68th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA P106-100, scores 23249, representing a delta of -0.3% relative to the RTX 3080. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16 and AMD Radeon RX 6600M score 23250 and 23273, respectively, both showing -0.3% and -0.4% deltas. The AMD Radeon R9 M290X scores 23276 with a -0.4% delta.

The GPU's compute performance is reflected in its PassMark GPU Compute score of 14397, while its DirectX 12 score is 100, indicating strong API support. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 4407 provides another measure of modern rendering capability. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 152423 and Vulkan score of 33620 round out the synthetic benchmarks.

In Rust, the GPU's role is critical at higher resolutions. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra, 38 FPS, is well below what the CPU could theoretically support, confirming that the RTX 3080 is the limiting component. The 10 GB memory capacity appears sufficient for this game, as the frame rates scale predictably with resolution rather than showing signs of memory overflow.

The GPU's 68th percentile ranking among all GPUs indicates that it sits above the median but is not at the top tier. This is consistent with the measured FPS results, which show strong performance at 1080p and 1440p but struggle at 4K on demanding presets.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the database records four presets. Low delivers an average of 216 FPS, which is the highest measured value for this combination. Medium averages 145 FPS with a minimum of 123 FPS and maximum of 166 FPS. High averages 122 FPS, and Ultra averages 93 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 123 FPS, indicating that the GPU has substantial headroom at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 148 FPS on Low, 100 FPS on Medium, 84 FPS on High, and 64 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset again provides the only min/max data: 85 FPS minimum and 115 FPS maximum. The drop from Low to Ultra is 84 FPS, a smaller absolute difference than at 1080p but a similar percentage reduction of 56.8%.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 88 FPS on Low, 59 FPS on Medium, 50 FPS on High, and 38 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset records a minimum of 50 FPS and maximum of 68 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 50 FPS, a 56.8% reduction that mirrors the 1440p scaling.

Comparing across resolutions, the Low preset at 1080p (216 FPS) is 2.45 times faster than Low at 4K (88 FPS). The Medium preset at 1080p (145 FPS) is 2.46 times faster than Medium at 4K (59 FPS). The High preset shows a ratio of 2.44 between 1080p (122 FPS) and 4K (50 FPS). The Ultra preset has a ratio of 2.45 between 1080p (93 FPS) and 4K (38 FPS). This consistent ratio across presets indicates that the resolution scaling is uniform and independent of the specific settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p on Ultra settings?

A: The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 on Ultra is 93 FPS.

Q: Does the RTX 3080 maintain 60 FPS at 4K on any preset?

A: Yes, on Low settings the average is 88 FPS, which exceeds 60 FPS. On Medium, the average is 59 FPS, just below the threshold.

Q: What is the highest recorded average FPS for this combination?

A: The highest measured average is 216 FPS at 1920x1080 on Low settings.

Q: How does the 1440p Medium preset compare to the 1080p Medium preset?

A: The 1440p Medium averages 100 FPS, while the 1080p Medium averages 145 FPS. This represents a 31.0% reduction when moving from 1080p to 1440p.

Q: What are the minimum and maximum FPS recorded at 4K Medium?

A: The minimum is 50 FPS and the maximum is 68 FPS, with an average of 59 FPS.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU the limiting factor at 4K?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor, as the 4K Ultra average of 38 FPS is well below what the CPU's 12 cores and 20 threads could potentially support.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K is an Alder Lake-S architecture processor with 12 cores and 20 threads. It has a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 25 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory on a dual-channel bus.

The CPU's benchmark scores place it in the 84th percentile of all CPUs. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 19784, while the single-core score is 1850.5. The Geekbench multi-core score is 15790 and single-core is 2308. The PassMark multi-thread score is 34404, with a single-thread score of 4013. The 3DMark scores include 9276 for 16 threads, 4011 for 4 threads, and 1043 for single-thread.

The nearest rivals in the database are the Intel Core i5-13600T with an average score of 35305 and a delta of -0.1%, the Intel Core i7-12700KF with 35365 and -0.2%, the Intel Core i7-13700T with 35403 and -0.3%, and the Intel Core 5 213PE with 35428 and -0.4%. These deltas show that the i7-12700K's average benchmark score of 35287 is nearly identical to its closest competitors.

In Rust, the CPU's role is evident at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 216 FPS, which suggests that the CPU can handle the game's simulation and physics workloads. The high single-thread score of 4013 in PassMark indicates strong per-core performance, which is important for Rust's typically single-threaded tasks.

At higher resolutions, the CPU's influence diminishes. The consistent frame rate ratios across presets at each resolution suggest that the GPU dominates the performance profile. However, the CPU's 20 threads ensure that background tasks and multi-threaded game systems do not become a bottleneck, even when the GPU is delivering high frame rates at 1080p.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 ranks 998th out of 3723 tested combinations in Rust, placing it in the top 26.8% of all systems in the database. This ranking reflects the measured FPS data, which shows strong performance at 1080p and 1440p but moderate performance at 4K.

The CPU's 84th percentile ranking among all CPUs and the GPU's 68th percentile ranking among all GPUs combine to produce a system that is better suited for high-refresh-rate gaming at 1440p than for 4K gaming on maximum settings. The 1440p Medium average of 100 FPS with a minimum of 85 FPS demonstrates that this combo excels in the resolution range that many competitive and survival game players prefer.

The ranking also accounts for the fact that Rust is a survival game with unique rendering demands. The measured data shows that the game is sensitive to resolution scaling, with the RTX 3080 providing playable frame rates at 4K only on Low or Medium settings. The 998th rank out of 3723 combos indicates that while this system is above average, there are many combinations with newer GPUs that outperform it in this specific title.

The delta percentages from the nearest rival GPUs, all within -0.3% to -0.4%, show that the RTX 3080 is statistically indistinguishable from its closest competitors in synthetic benchmarks. This consistency carries over to the measured FPS, where the system's performance is determined more by the game's rendering workload than by marginal differences in GPU or CPU scores.