HOW TO GET MORE FPS IN RUST?

Game running slow? Jerky? It could be your frames-per-second (FPS). This guide will attempt to help you, the player, discover methods for improving your fps. First and foremost, you must know where you are starting from, a base point to determine if any changes improve your fps or make it worse.
How to show your current FPS (steam method):
One method is to activate the Steam FPS overlay:

With the Rust client closed, go under the “Steam” tab of the main Steam program window
Click “Settings”
Select the “In-game” side tab.
“Enable the Steam Overlay while in-game” must be checked.
Then, under the “In-game FPS counter” dropdown, select a location and check “High contrast color” if desired.
Now when you play any Steam game, a small FPS counter will appear in the corner that you chose. Here is the results of the settings as shown in the example.

How to show your current FPS (Rust method):
The second method is to have your Rust client show your fps.

After starting the Rust client, select F1 and go to the console screen.
Type “perf 1” (without the quotes) and hit ENTER.

Once you connect to a server, your FPS will be shown in the lower left corner, in a large white font. This is only for Rust and will not be shown for other games.

Either method will work. I prefer the smaller font and optional locations of the Steam overlay method.

Causes of poor FPS:

There can be many overlapping causes for poor FPS, but hardware is the number one cause for low FPS. Upgrading your CPU, memory size or Graphics processor can have a MAJOR impact on your FPS and overall game play. If you can afford to go better, do so. If not, let us look at what can be done.

Getting Started:

Start by closing other programs on your machine (a fresh reboot is never a bad idea). Next, set the game graphics settings to mid-range values. When starting Rust you should encounter the Unity Launcher window.

Select a resolution that is somewhere in the middle of your choices. Your choices may be different that those shown in the example, as your graphics processor may have more or less resolutions available.

Running full-screen at your native resolution MAY be better than windowed at a lower resolution. This is still being confirmed, but may be different for each computer.
Set quality to “Fast” or “Fastest” - These choices will set certain graphics settings with one easy click. These can be modified later,in-game, via the options menu.

In-game Changes:

To make changes in game press the ESC key. Do this the first time before joining a server. Then select the options tab (looks like a gear). Here you will find five tabs labeled OPTIONS, GRAPHICS, INPUT, AUDIO and PERFORMANCE.

Three of these tabs, OPTIONS, INPUT and AUDIO, are mostly personal preferences. These settings have negligible effect on FPS. So let’s go over the important tabs, their options and suggested starting points. Change your settings to the low settings shown in parentheses after each item.

Graphics Tab:
Left Side

Depth of Field (OFF): Turn this off. Causes blurring around edges that can be VERY annoying..
Ambient Occlusion (OFF)
Anti-aliasing (ON)
High Quality Bloom (OFF)
Lens Dirt (OFF)
Sun shafts (OFF)
Sharpen (OFF)
Vignet (OFF)
Color Grading (OFF)
Right Side

Graphics Quality (0)
Water Quality (0)
Max Shadow Lights (0)
Shader Level (100)
Draw Distance (1500) don’t go lower than 1000
Shadow Cascades (No Cascades)
Shadow Distance (100)
Anisotropic Filtering (1)
Parallax Mapping (0)

Performance Tab

Max Gibs (0)
Virtual Texturing (OFF, unchecked)
Particle Quality (0)
Object Quality (0)
Tree Quality (0)
Terrain Quality (0)
Grass Quality (1)
Decor Quality (0)

Now you can join a server. Start with a no-pop or low-pop server. Build a small building and get inside. Do this so that you will be safe when you are in the menu making changes. But, realize this is Rust, and anything can happen.

I hope to help you in this guide :)