Road 96

# Road 96 with Intel Core i3-12100F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER

This combination pairs a quad-core Alder Lake processor with a top-tier Ada Lovelace GPU, producing results that are heavily dictated by resolution and settings in Road 96. The data shows a system capable of triple-digit frame rates at lower resolutions, but one that also reveals clear CPU limitations as settings drop and frame rates climb. The following analysis breaks down the measured performance, component roles, and scaling behavior using only the provided benchmark data.

FAQ

Q: What is the combination's overall rank among tested configurations in Road 96?

A: This combo ranks 111th out of 1684 tested combinations, placing it in the top 6.6% of all recorded configurations. That rank reflects the strong GPU contribution, though the CPU's average benchmark score sits at 13516, which is only in the 72nd percentile of all CPUs.

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

A: The Intel Core i3-12100F scores 13516 on average. It is 0.1% behind the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX (13534), 0.4% ahead of the Intel Core i7-1250U (13462), 0.6% ahead of the Intel Core i3-10105 (13430), and 1.8% ahead of the Intel Core i7-7700K (13280). These deltas are all within a narrow band, indicating comparable multi-threaded performance among these processors.

Q: What is the GPU's average benchmark score and how does it rank?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 53610, placing it in the 88th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, scores 53489, which is 0.2% lower, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti scores 52086, a 2.9% difference.

Q: What frame rate does the combo achieve at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: At 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, the measured average FPS is 161. This is the lowest performance tier at 1080p, while Low settings reach 354.8 FPS, Medium hits 255.5 FPS, and High achieves 206.4 FPS. The gap between Ultra and High is 45.4 FPS.

Q: How does the frame rate scale when moving from 1440p to 4K at High settings?

A: At 2560x1440 High, the average FPS is 131.3. Moving to 3840x2160 High, the average drops to 70.9 FPS. This represents a 46% reduction in frame rate, which is a substantial loss driven by the increased pixel count.

Q: Is the system more CPU-limited or GPU-limited at 1080p Low?

A: At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 354.8 FPS, which is an extremely high frame rate. Given that the CPU's single-threaded benchmark score is 893 in 3dmark_single_thread and the multi-threaded score peaks at 4051 in 3dmark_16_threads, the processor's four cores and eight threads are likely the limiting factor at this low graphical load, as the GPU is capable of far higher output.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is the dominant component in this pairing, and its capabilities are clearly reflected in the measured frame rates. The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 736.3 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock is 2295 MHz with a boost clock of 2550 MHz, and the memory runs at 1438 MHz with 23 Gbps effective speed. These specifications allow the card to handle Road 96's rendering demands with ease at most settings.

At 1080p, the GPU's power is evident. With Low settings, the frame rate hits 354.8 FPS, and even at Ultra settings, it maintains 161 FPS. The card's 10240 shading units and 320 texture mapping units contribute to this headroom, but the data shows that at lower resolutions, the GPU is not being fully utilized. The pixel rate of 285.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 816.0 GTexel/s are more than sufficient for this game's adventure genre visuals.

At 4K, the GPU's role becomes more pronounced. At 3840x2160 Ultra, the frame rate drops to 57.9 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold. This indicates that the RTX 4080 SUPER, despite its 52.22 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, faces a significant workload at this resolution and settings combination. The medium settings at 4K yield 89.5 FPS, while High settings produce 70.9 FPS, showing a clear scaling curve tied to the GPU's rendering load. The GPU's 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores, while not directly relevant to Road 96's non-ray-traced rendering, still contribute to the overall architectural efficiency.

The GPU's benchmark data reinforces its high-end positioning. Its passmark_g3d score is 34245, and its 3dmark_steel_nomad_dx12 score is 6600. These figures place it in the 88th percentile, with the nearest rival being the Radeon RX 6900 XT at 53489, a mere 0.2% difference. This suggests that in raw compute terms, the RTX 4080 SUPER is near the top of the heap, but the measured FPS in Road 96 indicates that CPU bottlenecks emerge at lower resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F is a quad-core processor with eight threads, based on the Alder Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, with a 12 MB shared L3 cache. The processor's 58 W TDP and 10 nm process node are modest by modern standards, but its single-threaded performance is respectable, as shown by the 3dmark_single_thread score of 893 and the cinebench_r23_singlecore score of 1681.

In Road 96, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 354.8 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's limit for this game. The CPU's multi-threaded scores, such as cinebench_r23_multicore at 11912 and geekbench_multicore at 7413, indicate that it can handle moderate workloads, but the four physical cores may struggle to keep up with the GPU's output at high frame rates. The passmark_multithread score of 14015 further supports this, showing that the CPU is not a high-core-count powerhouse.

The CPU's nearest rivals in average score include the Intel Core i7-7700K, which scores 13280, a 1.8% difference. This is notable because the i7-7700K has similar core and thread counts, suggesting that the i3-12100F's architectural improvements provide a slight edge. However, the CPU's percentile rank of 72 means it falls short of many higher-end processors in the database.

At 4K, the CPU's limitations are less apparent, as the GPU becomes the bottleneck. The frame rate at 4K Ultra is 57.9 FPS, which is lower than at 1080p Ultra (161 FPS). This indicates that the CPU is not the primary constraint at higher resolutions, as the GPU's rendering load increases. The CPU's DDR4 and DDR5 memory support and dual-channel bus provide adequate bandwidth, though the lack of ECC memory and the Gen 5 PCIe lanes are not fully utilized by this GPU, which uses PCIe 4.0 x16.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 111 out of 1684 tested combinations places this system in the upper echelon of all configurations tested for Road 96. This rank is driven primarily by the GPU, which is in the 88th percentile of all GPUs. The CPU, in contrast, is in the 72nd percentile, which is lower but still above average.

The disparity between the GPU's high percentile and the CPU's moderate percentile suggests that this combo is unbalanced, with the GPU being the clear performance leader. The rank of 111 indicates that there are 110 other combinations that perform better, likely those pairing the RTX 4080 SUPER with higher-end CPUs like the Ryzen 7 or Core i7/i9 series.

The measured FPS data supports this ranking. At 1080p Ultra, the combo achieves 161 FPS, which is high but not the maximum possible. At 4K Ultra, it falls to 57.9 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay. This suggests that while the combo ranks highly, it is not the optimal pairing for this game at all settings. The GPU's nearest rival, the Radeon RX 6900 XT, is only 0.2% behind in average score, meaning that a different CPU pairing could yield similar results.

The CPU's nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i3-10105, score 13430, a 0.6% difference. This indicates that the i3-12100F is not significantly faster than its predecessor in synthetic benchmarks, but in Road 96, the boost clock of 4.30 GHz helps maintain high frame rates at 1080p. The combo's rank of 111 reflects a system that is strong but not top-tier, with the CPU being the limiting factor in CPU-bound scenarios.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 354.8 FPS. At 1440p Low, this drops to 222.3 FPS, a 37% reduction. At 4K Low, it further drops to 121.5 FPS, a 45% reduction from 1440p. This scaling is expected, as the number of pixels increases from 2.07 million at 1080p to 3.69 million at 1440p and 8.29 million at 4K.

At Ultra settings, the scaling is more pronounced. From 1080p Ultra (161 FPS) to 1440p Ultra (106.4 FPS), there is a 34% drop. From 1440p Ultra to 4K Ultra (57.9 FPS), there is a 46% drop. This indicates that the GPU's compute resources are heavily taxed at higher resolutions, as the shading units and texture units must process more pixels.

The scaling also reveals the limiting component. At 1080p Low, the frame rate of 354.8 FPS is likely CPU-limited, as the GPU could potentially render more frames. The CPU's single-threaded performance, while decent, caps the frame rate at this level. As resolution increases to 4K, the GPU becomes the bottleneck, as evidenced by the 57.9 FPS at 4K Ultra, which is below the 60 FPS threshold. This suggests that for 4K gaming, the RTX 4080 SUPER is the limiting factor, while at 1080p, the i3-12100F holds the system back.

The middle ground at 1440p shows a balance. At High settings, the system achieves 131.3 FPS, which is smooth and likely not CPU-limited. At Ultra settings, 106.4 FPS is still high, indicating that the GPU can handle this resolution with some headroom. The data suggests that 1440p is the sweet spot for this combo, where neither component is severely bottlenecked.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a detailed view of performance across resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the system achieves the following average FPS: Low at 354.8, Medium at 255.5, High at 206.4, and Ultra at 161. This shows a consistent drop of approximately 28% between each settings tier, with the largest gap between Low and Medium being 99.3 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low at 222.3, Medium at 165.2, High at 131.3, and Ultra at 106.4. The gap between Low and Medium is 57.1 FPS, which is smaller than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is becoming more of a factor. The difference between High and Ultra is 24.9 FPS, suggesting that Ultra settings impose a significant load.

At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low at 121.5, Medium at 89.5, High at 70.9, and Ultra at 57.9. The gap between Low and Medium is 32 FPS, and between High and Ultra is 13 FPS. At 4K, the frame rates are much closer together, indicating that the GPU is the primary constraint. The 57.9 FPS at Ultra is the only setting below 60 FPS, which is a critical threshold for smooth gameplay.

Across all resolutions, the data shows that the combo performs best at 1080p, with the highest frame rates achieved at Low settings. At 4K, the system can still maintain playable frame rates at Medium and High settings, but Ultra settings require a compromise. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at the same settings shows a reduction of approximately 66% at Low (from 354.8 to 121.5 FPS), 65% at Medium (from 255.5 to 89.5 FPS), 66% at High (from 206.4 to 70.9 FPS), and 64% at Ultra (from 161 to 57.9 FPS). This consistent reduction confirms that the GPU is the scaling factor, while the CPU's influence diminishes at higher resolutions.