Road 96

Road 96 presents an interesting benchmark scenario for the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER combination, primarily because the game's stylized, low-poly aesthetic can push frame rates to extremes at lower resolutions. The measured data reveals a configuration that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at 4K, but transitions to a more balanced state where the CPU's capabilities become increasingly relevant at 1080p. The results show a wide performance envelope, from a highly playable 72.9 FPS at 4K Ultra to a staggering 352.4 FPS at 1080p Low, indicating that this hardware pairing is capable of far more than the game's baseline requirements.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and clearly illustrates where the bottleneck lies in this combination. At 1080p with Ultra settings, the system produces an average of 162.9 FPS. Moving up to 1440p at the same Ultra preset, the frame rate drops to 104.7 FPS, a reduction of approximately 36%. The transition to 4K Ultra is even more severe, with the average FPS falling to 57.9, which is a 64% drop from the 1080p Ultra score. This steep decline as resolution increases is the classic signature of a GPU-limited scenario; the RTX 4080 SUPER is being tasked with rendering an exponentially larger number of pixels, and its performance scales accordingly.

The pattern holds across all settings presets. For instance, with High settings, the frame rate goes from 205.4 FPS at 1080p, to 130.1 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 72.9 FPS at 4K. This consistent and significant drop at each resolution step confirms that the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER's rendering throughput is the primary constraint. The data suggests that at 4K, the GPU is working near its limits for this title, while the CPU has ample headroom. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is notably steeper than from 1080p to 1440p, indicating that the GPU's workload is growing at a super-linear rate as pixel count increases, a common characteristic of fill-rate and memory-bandwidth-bound tasks.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is the dominant component in this system for Road 96, especially at higher resolutions. Its performance is characterized by a 16 GB GDDR6X memory buffer on a 256-bit bus, providing a substantial 736.3 GB/s of memory bandwidth. This is ample for the game's textures and assets, even at 4K resolution, where the frame buffer demands are highest. The GPU's compute capabilities, with 10,240 shading units and 80 RT cores, are more than sufficient to handle the game's rendering workloads, as evidenced by the high frame rates achieved at 1440p and the playable, albeit lower, scores at 4K.

The GPU's clock speeds, with a base of 2295 MHz and a boost of 2550 MHz, are high for its class. The benchmark results show a clear correlation between the GPU's workload and the frame rate. At 1080p Low, the GPU is likely not the limiting factor, as the 352.4 FPS average suggests it is processing frames as fast as the CPU can feed them. However, at 4K Ultra, the GPU's pixel and texture processing capabilities become the bottleneck, and the frame rate drops to 57.9 FPS. This indicates that the RTX 4080 SUPER is fully engaged at 4K, and its performance here is a direct reflection of its raw rendering power. The GPU's overall benchmark percentile of 88 and its average score of 53610, which is 2.9% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, further position it as a high-end part that is well-suited for demanding resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

Analyzing the measured FPS data across the four presets and three resolutions provides a clear picture of the optimal settings for different display targets. For a 4K display, the Ultra preset, with an average of 57.9 FPS, is marginally playable but may not be ideal for a smooth experience. The High preset at 4K, producing 72.9 FPS, is a more sensible choice, offering a 26% performance increase over Ultra with what is likely a modest visual trade-off. The data indicates that High at 4K is the sweet spot for this resolution, balancing visual fidelity with a frame rate that is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold.

For 1440p users, the options are more flexible. The Ultra preset achieves a highly playable 104.7 FPS, making it the recommended choice for those who prioritize maximum visual quality. If a higher refresh rate is the goal, the High preset at 130.1 FPS offers a significant boost, and even the Medium preset at 166.2 FPS would be suitable for very high refresh rate monitors. At 1080p, the GPU is so powerful that even the Ultra preset delivers 162.9 FPS. The High preset at 205.4 FPS is an excellent choice for 240Hz displays. The data shows that for this hardware combination, the High preset provides the best balance of image quality and performance across all resolutions, as it consistently delivers a substantial FPS advantage over Ultra without the large performance penalty seen when moving from High to Ultra. The jump from High to Ultra costs 42.5 FPS at 1080p, 25.4 FPS at 1440p, and 15 FPS at 4K, suggesting that the Ultra preset's additional effects are disproportionately expensive relative to their visual benefit.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 4K with Ultra settings?

A: The measured average frame rate at 3840x2160 with the Ultra preset is 57.9 FPS.

Q: How much faster is the Low preset compared to Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 352.4 FPS, which is 189.5 FPS higher than the Ultra preset's 162.9 FPS.

Q: Is the RTX 4080 SUPER a bottleneck for this game at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the data shows the GPU is still heavily utilized, but performance is high. With the High preset, the system delivers 130.1 FPS, and with Ultra, it delivers 104.7 FPS, indicating the GPU is capable of handling the resolution with ease. The bottleneck shifts more towards the CPU only at 1080p.

Q: Which settings preset provides the most significant performance jump over Ultra?

A: The High preset provides the largest drop in performance cost. At 4K, moving from Ultra (57.9 FPS) to High (72.9 FPS) results in a 15 FPS increase, a 26% improvement, which is more substantial than the jump from High to Medium.

Q: How does the CPU's performance compare to its nearest rival in the data?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F has an average benchmark score of 24993, which is 0.1% higher than the Intel Core i7-11850H's score of 24974, making them effectively equivalent in overall processing power.

Q: What is the frame rate target for a smooth 4K experience based on this data?

A: Based on the measured results, the High preset at 4K, with an average of 72.9 FPS, is the best option for a smooth experience, as the Ultra preset's 57.9 FPS is below the 60 FPS mark often considered the baseline for fluid gameplay.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F plays a critical, though secondary, role in this system's Road 96 performance. While the GPU is the clear limiting factor at 4K, the CPU's capabilities become more apparent at lower resolutions where the GPU can render frames faster than the CPU can process game logic and draw calls. The processor, a 6-core, 12-thread Zen 4 part with a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, demonstrates strong single-threaded performance, which is often the most important factor in game performance. Its 3DMark single-thread score of 974 and PassMark single-thread score of 3841 indicate a high level of per-core performance.

This is reflected in the 1080p results. At 1080p Low, the frame rate of 352.4 FPS is so high that it is almost certainly constrained by the CPU's ability to submit draw calls to the GPU. The fact that the frame rate scales from 162.9 FPS at 1080p Ultra to 352.4 FPS at 1080p Low shows that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at very high rates, but it also suggests that the CPU's limit is being approached. The CPU's overall performance, with an average benchmark score of 24993, is nearly identical to its closest listed rival, the Intel Core i7-11850H, which scores 24974, a negligible 0.1% difference. This places the 7500F in a strong position to handle the game's physics and AI, ensuring that it does not become a bottleneck until frame rates are extremely high. The data shows that for 4K and 1440p gaming with this GPU, the Ryzen 5 7500F provides more than enough processing power, but at 1080p, it is the component that ultimately sets the upper limit on performance.