Road 96

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F is an 8-core, 16-thread desktop processor built on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge) using TSMC's 4 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, and it carries a 65 W TDP. The processor features 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1 MB of L2 cache per core, and a shared 32 MB L3 cache. It supports DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration with a bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s and includes ECC memory support. The chip is unlocked for overclocking and uses the AMD Socket AM5 platform with PCIe Gen 5 (24 lanes from the CPU).

In synthetic benchmarks, this CPU posts a multithread score of 36470 and a single-thread score of 4691 on PassMark. Its average benchmark score is 69996, placing it at the 94th percentile among all CPUs. The nearest rivals show a very tight cluster: the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX scores 69875 (0.2% higher), the Intel Core i7-14700KF scores 70163 (0.2% lower), the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X scores 69515 (0.7% higher), and the Intel Core i7-14700K scores 69355 (0.9% higher). This indicates that the 9700F is essentially performance-equivalent to those top-tier parts in aggregate CPU workload, with deltas under 1% in all cases.

For Road 96, an adventure game, the CPU's role is not about pushing hundreds of frames in a competitive shooter but rather about maintaining consistent frame pacing and handling game logic, asset streaming, and any physics or AI systems. The 8-core/16-thread configuration with a 5.50 GHz boost clock is more than sufficient for this genre. The data supports this: at 1080p Low settings, the combo achieves 187 FPS average, which is far beyond what the game needs for smooth play. Even at 1080p Ultra, the average is 86 FPS, indicating the CPU is not a bottleneck at any settings level at this resolution.

The high single-thread score of 4691 is particularly relevant for an adventure game, which often relies on a primary game thread for rendering calls and game state updates. The 9700F's single-thread performance is within 0.2-0.9% of its nearest rivals, meaning no other CPU in that class would meaningfully change the frame rates in this title. The multithread score of 36470 also ensures that background tasks, streaming, and any secondary threads do not interfere with the main game loop. In essence, the CPU side of this combo is overprovisioned for Road 96, and the data reflects that by showing that the frame rate scales almost entirely with GPU load as resolution increases.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is built on the Turing architecture using TSMC's 12 nm process, with the TU104 chip containing 13,600 million transistors on a 545 mm² die. It has 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, 64 ROPs, 40 RT cores, and 320 tensor cores. The GPU runs at a base clock of 1605 MHz and a boost clock of 1770 MHz, with memory clocked at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). It features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The card's pixel rate is 113.3 GPixel/s, texture rate is 283.2 GTexel/s, and FP32 performance is 9.062 TFLOPS.

In PassMark benchmarks, this GPU scores 18169 in G3D and 7557 in GPU compute, with an average benchmark score of 20282, placing it at the 65th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are all within 1.5% of its aggregate score: the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M scores 20480 (1% higher), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile scores 20534 (1.2% higher), the Intel Arc B570 scores 20556 (1.3% higher), and the Intel Arc A750 scores 20582 (1.5% higher). This places the RTX 2070 SUPER in a performance band where it trades blows with modern mid-range parts, though it is clearly a previous-generation product (release date 2019-07-08).

For Road 96, the GPU's 8 GB VRAM is a relevant factor. The game is not a VRAM-heavy open-world title, but 8 GB is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p at high settings, as the measured data shows. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 29, which is likely a combination of the GPU's raw compute limits and possibly VRAM pressure, though the data does not explicitly confirm VRAM exhaustion. The memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s is adequate for the game's art style, which uses stylized visuals rather than photorealistic textures.

The GPU's role becomes the dominant factor as resolution increases. At 1080p, the CPU can feed the GPU enough frames to reach 187 FPS at Low settings, but at 4K Ultra, the GPU is the clear limiting component, producing only 29 FPS. The boost clock of 1770 MHz and the FP32 throughput of 9.062 TFLOPS are modest by modern standards, and the benchmark results confirm that the RTX 2070 SUPER is a 1080p-to-1440p class card for this game, with 4K being achievable only at lower settings.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data across three resolutions and four settings presets reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling. Starting at 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 187 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low, the frame rate drops to 119 FPS, a reduction of approximately 36%. At 4K Low, the average is 63 FPS, which is another 47% drop from 1440p. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at Low settings is a 66% reduction in frame rate (187 to 63 FPS). This steep decline indicates that even at the lowest settings, the GPU is heavily taxed as resolution increases.

At Medium settings, the pattern is similar but with lower absolute numbers. At 1080p Medium, the average is 137 FPS with a minimum of 116 FPS and a maximum of 157 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 87 FPS (min 74, max 100), a 36% reduction. At 4K Medium, the average is 46 FPS (min 39, max 53), another 47% drop from 1440p. The consistency of these percentage drops across settings (roughly 36% from 1080p to 1440p and 47% from 1440p to 4K) strongly suggests that the GPU is the limiting component at all resolutions above 1080p.

At High settings, the frame rates are 110 FPS at 1080p, 70 FPS at 1440p, and 37 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 36%, and from 1440p to 4K is 47%, matching the Medium and Low patterns almost exactly. At Ultra settings, the numbers are 86 FPS at 1080p, 55 FPS at 1440p, and 29 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops here are 36% and 47% as well. This uniformity across all four settings presets is a strong indicator that the CPU is never the bottleneck; if the CPU were limiting, we would expect the frame rate to plateau or the percentage drops to shrink at higher resolutions, but the consistent scaling points squarely at the GPU.

The min/max data available only for Medium settings also supports this. At 1080p Medium, the min is 116 FPS and max is 157 FPS, giving a 41 FPS spread. At 1440p Medium, the min is 74 and max is 100, a 26 FPS spread. At 4K Medium, the min is 39 and max is 53, a 14 FPS spread. The narrowing spread as resolution increases suggests that frame time variance is reduced when the GPU is more heavily loaded, which is typical of a GPU-bound scenario where the consistent workload smooths out CPU-side hiccups.

The practical takeaway is that this combo delivers playable frame rates at 1080p across all settings (minimum 86 FPS at Ultra) and at 1440p up to High settings (70 FPS), but 4K is only viable at Low settings (63 FPS) or Medium (46 FPS), with High (37 FPS) and Ultra (29 FPS) falling below the 60 FPS threshold and approaching unplayable territory for smooth gameplay.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This specific combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER ranks 1650 out of 2903 tested combos for Road 96. This places it in the 43rd percentile of all tested configurations (calculated as 1650/2903, meaning roughly 57% of tested combos perform better). This mid-pack ranking is somewhat surprising given the CPU's top-tier performance, but it makes sense when considering that the GPU is the limiting factor in this game, and the RTX 2070 SUPER is a previous-generation mid-range card.

The CPU's 94th percentile standing among all CPUs does not translate into a high combo rank because the GPU drags the overall performance down. The data shows that at 1080p, the combo can reach 187 FPS at Low settings, which is excellent, but many other tested combos with more powerful GPUs will achieve higher frame rates at the same resolution. The combination of a high-end CPU with a mid-range GPU creates a system that is balanced for 1080p and 1440p gaming but not competitive at 4K.

The nearest GPU rivals (Quadro M4000M, RTX 3070 Mobile, Arc B570, Arc A750) all have aggregate scores within 1.5% of the RTX 2070 SUPER, so combos using those GPUs would likely rank similarly, assuming comparable CPUs. The rank of 1650 out of 2903 suggests that this combo sits in the middle of the distribution, which aligns with the GPU's 65th percentile standing. The CPU is not the limiting factor; the GPU is, and its mid-range position among all GPUs determines the combo's overall rank.

For context, the combo rank indicates that a user with this system would have a playable experience at 1080p and 1440p in Road 96, but they would be behind a significant portion of the tested population. The data shows that the combo is not in the top tier for this game, but it is also not in the bottom quartile. The 1650th position out of 2903 combos means that roughly 1253 combos perform worse, which is a substantial number, but the 1650 combos ahead of it include many with newer or higher-end GPUs.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Road 96?

A: The data shows that 1080p delivers the highest frame rates, with averages ranging from 86 FPS at Ultra to 187 FPS at Low. At 1440p, the averages range from 55 FPS at Ultra to 119 FPS at Low. 4K is only playable at Low (63 FPS) or Medium (46 FPS) settings, with High (37 FPS) and Ultra (29 FPS) falling below 60 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this game?

A: The GPU is the clear bottleneck. The CPU has a 94th percentile standing among all CPUs, with a multithread score of 36470 and single-thread score of 4691. The resolution scaling shows consistent FPS drops of roughly 36% from 1080p to 1440p and 47% from 1440p to 4K across all settings, which indicates the GPU is the limiting component.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 9700F compare to its nearest CPU rivals?

A: The Ryzen 7 9700F scores 69996 on average. The AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX scores 69875 (0.2% higher), the Intel Core i7-14700KF scores 70163 (0.2% lower), the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X scores 69515 (0.7% higher), and the Intel Core i7-14700K scores 69355 (0.9% higher). All deltas are under 1%, so they are effectively tied.

Q: What settings preset gives the best experience at 1440p?

A: At 1440p, High settings deliver 70 FPS average, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. Ultra settings drop to 55 FPS, which is below 60 FPS. Medium settings give 87 FPS with a minimum of 74 FPS, and Low gives 119 FPS. High is the highest preset that maintains 60+ FPS.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in Road 96?

A: Yes, but only at lower settings. At 4K Low, the average FPS is 63, which is playable. At 4K Medium, the average is 46 FPS with a minimum of 39 FPS, which is borderline. At 4K High (37 FPS) and Ultra (29 FPS), the frame rates are too low for a smooth experience.

Q: How does the RTX 2070 SUPER compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RTX 2070 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 20282. The NVIDIA Quadro M4000M scores 20480 (1% higher), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile scores 20534 (1.2% higher), the Intel Arc B570 scores 20556 (1.3% higher), and the Intel Arc A750 scores 20582 (1.5% higher). All are within 1.5% of each other.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for optimal settings at each resolution. For 1080p, the best experience is at High settings, which delivers 110 FPS average. Ultra settings drop to 86 FPS, which is still smooth, but the jump from High to Ultra costs 24 FPS for presumably marginal visual gains. Medium delivers 137 FPS, and Low delivers 187 FPS, but those are unnecessary for a game like Road 96 where 60-110 FPS is already fluid. The recommendation is High settings at 1080p for the best balance of visual quality and frame rate, with Ultra as an option if the user prioritizes graphics over the extra frames.

For 1440p, High settings deliver 70 FPS average, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. This is the recommended preset. Ultra drops to 55 FPS, which is below 60 FPS and could result in noticeable stutter or frame pacing issues. Medium delivers 87 FPS with a minimum of 74 FPS, which is also excellent, but High offers better visuals at a still-comfortable 70 FPS. Low at 119 FPS is overkill for this resolution. The data suggests that High is the sweet spot for 1440p.

For 4K, the situation is more constrained. The only settings that achieve 60 FPS or above are Low, which delivers 63 FPS. Medium delivers 46 FPS with a minimum of 39 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold but may be tolerable for an adventure game with slower pacing. High (37 FPS) and Ultra (29 FPS) are not recommended as they fall well below playable frame rates for most users. If the user has a 4K display, Low settings are the only option for a consistently smooth experience, while Medium is a compromise for those who prioritize visuals over frame rate.

The overall recommendation is to play at 1080p High for the best experience, as it combines strong visual fidelity with a 110 FPS average. For users with 1440p displays, High settings at 70 FPS is the highest preset that maintains 60+ FPS. For 4K displays, the user must accept Low settings at 63 FPS or drop to Medium at 46 FPS, understanding the trade-off. The data indicates that this combo is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, with 4K being a stretch that requires significant settings compromises.