Road 96

# FAQ

Q: What is the combo rank of the AMD Ryzen 5 8400F with the Intel Arc B580 in Road 96?

A: This combo ranks 2797 out of 3713 tested combinations in the benchmark database for Road 96. That places it in the lower-middle portion of all tested combos, roughly in the 75th percentile of tested systems.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 8400F compare to its nearest CPU rivals in average benchmark score?

A: The Ryzen 5 8400F posts an average benchmark score of 25005, which is just 0.2% higher than the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F (24964) and 0.3% higher than the Intel Core i7-11850H (24935). It trails the AMD EPYC 9474F by 0.4% (25103), making these four CPUs effectively identical in raw compute performance.

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo, and at what settings?

A: The highest average FPS is 164, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is the only setting combination that breaks past the 160 FPS mark for this system.

Q: Does the Intel Arc B580 outperform or underperform its nearest GPU rivals in average benchmark score?

A: The Arc B580 scores 23021 on average, which is 0.6% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (22895) but 0.7% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (23172). It also trails the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP by 0.2% (23061) and the NVIDIA P106-100 by 1% (23249).

Q: What is the FPS drop from 1080p to 4K at Medium settings?

A: At Medium settings, the combo delivers 120 FPS at 1920x1080, 76 FPS at 2560x1440, and 40 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 67% reduction in average FPS from 1080p to 4K, indicating a significant performance scaling challenge at higher resolutions.

Q: What are the CPU's core and thread counts, and how do they relate to the game's performance?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F has 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 4.20 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. For a narrative adventure game like Road 96, this configuration is likely sufficient for the game's logic and scene transitions, though the data suggests the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

# CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F brings a 6-core, 12-thread configuration built on the Zen 4 (Phoenix) architecture, manufactured on a 4nm process by TSMC. The CPU operates at a base clock of 4.20 GHz and can boost up to 4.70 GHz, with a 65W TDP. It supports DDR5 memory with dual-channel configuration and delivers 83.2 GB/s of memory bandwidth, which is adequate for feeding the Intel Arc B580's data demands in most gaming scenarios.

In the context of Road 96, the CPU's performance profile is moderate. The benchmark scores show a single-thread score of 951 in 3DMark and 2943 in Cinebench R23, while multi-threaded performance reaches 6165 in 3DMark max threads and 20851 in Cinebench R23 multicore. These figures place the CPU at the 77th percentile among all tested CPUs. The nearest rival comparisons are remarkably close: the Ryzen 5 7500F is virtually identical at 0.2% difference, and the Intel Core i7-13620H is also within 0.4%. This indicates that the 8400F's compute capability is not the differentiator in this combo's performance.

For a game like Road 96, which is a narrative-driven adventure with relatively modest system requirements compared to AAA shooters, the CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are likely sufficient to maintain frame pacing during dialogue scenes, environment transitions, and the procedural generation of road trips. The data supports this interpretation: at 1080p Low settings, the combo achieves 164 FPS, which suggests the CPU is not bottlenecking even at high frame rates. However, the CPU's L3 cache is 16 MB shared, which is modest, and the memory bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s is not exceptional, but these limitations do not appear to manifest in Road 96's performance metrics.

The fact that the combo ranks 2797 out of 3713 tested combinations suggests that the CPU is not the primary constraint; rather, the overall system performance is shaped more by the GPU and the game's optimization. The CPU's percentile rank of 77 indicates it is above average, but the game's measured FPS numbers show a clear dependency on resolution scaling, which points to GPU-bound behavior at higher settings.

# GPU Role

The Intel Arc B580 is built on the Xe2-HPG architecture (Battlemage generation) and manufactured on a 5nm process by TSMC. It features 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 80 render output units, with 20 ray tracing cores. The GPU operates at a base and boost clock of 2670 MHz, with memory clocked at 2375 MHz (19 Gbps effective). It has 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering 456.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

The Arc B580's compute metrics are substantial: it delivers 13.67 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 27.34 TFLOPS of FP16 (2:1 ratio). The pixel rate is 213.6 GPixel/s and texture rate is 427.2 GTexel/s. The GPU sits at the 68th percentile among all tested GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 23021. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP (0.2% higher), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (0.6% lower), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (0.7% higher), and NVIDIA P106-100 (1% higher). This places the Arc B580 in a competitive position with older high-end GPUs, though slightly behind the RTX 3080.

In Road 96, the GPU's role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution and settings increase. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo reaches 164 FPS, but this drops to 76 FPS at 1080p Ultra. At 4K Ultra, the FPS falls to 26, which is barely playable. This scaling pattern strongly suggests the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions, particularly when the game's rendering load increases with Ultra settings. The 12 GB VRAM is ample for a game like Road 96, which does not typically require massive texture memory, so memory capacity is unlikely to be the bottleneck. Instead, the GPU's raw throughput and its driver optimization for this title determine the performance ceiling.

The Arc B580's 190W TDP and dual-slot design with a single 8-pin power connector are consistent with its mid-range positioning. The PCIe 4.0 x8 interface may slightly limit bandwidth compared to x16, but for Road 96's asset streaming, this is unlikely to cause measurable impact.

# How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F combined with the Intel Arc B580 achieves a rank of 2797 out of 3713 tested combos in Road 96. This places the combo in the bottom quartile of all tested systems, which is notable given that both components individually perform near the 70th percentile in their respective categories. The discrepancy between component-level performance and combo rank suggests that Road 96's optimization may not favor this particular pairing, or that the game's engine is more sensitive to other system attributes.

When interpreting this rank, it's important to consider the context: the database includes a wide range of systems, from budget integrated graphics to top-tier enthusiast rigs. A rank of 2797 out of 3713 means the combo outperforms approximately 916 tested combinations, which is about 25% of all systems. This is a modest showing for a CPU that sits at the 77th percentile and a GPU at the 68th percentile.

The measured FPS data provides a more nuanced picture. At 1080p Low, the combo delivers 164 FPS, which is a strong result that would be smooth on high refresh rate monitors. At 1080p Medium, it achieves 120 FPS, still excellent. The performance only becomes problematic at 4K Ultra, where 26 FPS is below playable thresholds. This suggests that the combo's low rank may be influenced by the fact that Road 96 is not a demanding title, so many lower-end systems can achieve playable frame rates, compressing the performance spread and making the rank distribution less indicative of actual user experience.

# Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers 120 FPS with a minimum of 102 FPS and maximum of 138 FPS. This is the sweet spot for smooth gameplay with good visual quality, as it maintains well above 60 FPS even in the worst-case frame dips. The High preset at 1080p achieves 97 FPS, which is still smooth, but the Medium preset's higher minimum frame rate (102 FPS) offers better consistency.

For 2560x1440, the Low preset achieves 104 FPS, while Medium drops to 76 FPS (minimum 65, maximum 88) and High to 62 FPS. The Medium preset at 1440p provides a balanced experience, keeping the minimum above 60 FPS, which is the threshold for comfortable gameplay. If the user prioritizes frame rate over visual fidelity, Low at 1440p is also viable at 104 FPS.

At 3840x2160, all settings struggle. The Low preset achieves 55 FPS, which is playable but not ideal. Medium drops to 40 FPS (minimum 34, maximum 46), and High to 33 FPS. Ultra at any resolution is not recommended: 76 FPS at 1080p, 48 FPS at 1440p, and 26 FPS at 4K. The data clearly shows that Ultra settings are not viable for this combo, as even 1080p Ultra fails to maintain high frame rates.

The best overall experience is the Medium preset at 1080p, which delivers an average of 120 FPS with a tight range of 102-138 FPS. This provides a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS threshold and good visual quality without the performance penalty of High or Ultra.

# Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo's performance scales predictably with settings. Low settings produce 164 FPS average, Medium produces 120 FPS (minimum 102, maximum 138), High produces 97 FPS, and Ultra produces 76 FPS. The step-down from Low to Medium is 44 FPS, from Medium to High is 23 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 21 FPS. This shows diminishing returns as settings increase, with the largest performance hit occurring when moving from Low to Medium.

At 2560x1440, the numbers are: Low 104 FPS, Medium 76 FPS (minimum 65, maximum 88), High 62 FPS, and Ultra 48 FPS. The difference between Low and Medium is 28 FPS, Medium to High is 14 FPS, and High to Ultra is 14 FPS. The relative performance loss from 1080p to 1440p is 37% at Low, 37% at Medium, 36% at High, and 37% at Ultra, indicating consistent scaling across settings.

At 3840x2160, the measured values are: Low 55 FPS, Medium 40 FPS (minimum 34, maximum 46), High 33 FPS, and Ultra 26 FPS. The 4K resolution presents a significant challenge, with even Low settings dropping below the 60 FPS threshold. The step-down from Low to Medium is 15 FPS, Medium to High is 7 FPS, and High to Ultra is 7 FPS.

The minimum FPS data is only recorded for Medium settings: 102 FPS at 1080p, 65 FPS at 1440p, and 34 FPS at 4K. These minimums indicate that frame time consistency degrades substantially at higher resolutions, with the 4K Medium minimum of 34 FPS being uncomfortably close to the average of 40 FPS.

# Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals important insights about the system's bottleneck. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 164 at 1080p to 104 at 1440p (a 37% reduction) and then to 55 at 4K (a 47% reduction from 1440p). At Medium settings, the progression is 120 to 76 (37% drop) and then to 40 (47% drop). High settings show 97 to 62 (36% drop) and then to 33 (47% drop). Ultra settings show 76 to 48 (37% drop) and then to 26 (46% drop).

The consistent 37% reduction from 1080p to 1440p across all settings indicates that the performance scaling is resolution-bound rather than settings-bound at this step. This is the classic signature of GPU limitation: as pixel count increases by 1.78x (from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440), frame rate drops by roughly 37%, which is consistent with the GPU's fill rate limits.

However, the jump from 1440p to 4K is more severe, with a 47-48% reduction across all settings. 4K has 2.25x the pixels of 1440p, and the frame rate drop is proportionally larger, suggesting that the GPU is hitting a more fundamental throughput limit at 4K resolution. This could be related to the Arc B580's 192-bit memory bus and 456.0 GB/s bandwidth, which may not be sufficient to feed the GPU at 4K with high texture loads.

The data implies that the system is GPU-limited at all resolutions and settings in Road 96. The CPU's 6-core/12-thread configuration with a 4.70 GHz boost clock is likely not the constraint, as evidenced by the fact that lowering settings (which reduces GPU load) yields significant FPS gains at every resolution. If the CPU were the bottleneck, reducing GPU load would not produce such dramatic improvements. The 164 FPS at 1080p Low suggests the CPU can handle high frame rates, but the GPU cannot sustain them at higher resolutions. This analysis points to the Intel Arc B580 as the primary limiting component, particularly at 1440p and 4K where the GPU's 13.67 TFLOPS and 456 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for Road 96's rendering demands at high settings.