Road 96

Road 96, an adventure title from 2021, presents an interesting case for the Intel Core i5-10400F and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 pairing. The benchmark data shows this combination ranks 1423rd out of 1684 tested combos, placing it in the lower half of the database. This is a surprisingly modest position for hardware that still delivers playable frame rates at most settings, suggesting that the game’s engine may not scale as aggressively with high-end components as other titles do.

FAQ

Q: What is the best performance this combo achieves at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo reaches an average of 140.8 FPS. This is the highest frame rate recorded across all tested configurations.

Q: How does the GTX 1070 compare to its closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The GTX 1070’s average benchmark score of 12331 places it 0.7% ahead of the NVIDIA Quadro K4200 and 1.3% behind the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M. It also trails the GTX 1650 SUPER by 1.4% and the Tesla K20Xm by 1.7%.

Q: What is the CPU’s standing relative to all processors?

A: The Core i5-10400F sits in the 73rd percentile of all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 14168 is 0.4% higher than the AMD EPYC 7552 but 0.8% lower than the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C.

Q: Is the GTX 1070 more limited by its memory bandwidth or its compute throughput?

A: The card has a memory bandwidth of 256.3 GB/s and a texture rate of 202.0 GTexel/s. These figures are modest by modern standards, but they are sufficient for Road 96’s relatively simple geometry and effects.

Q: Does the game favor the CPU or GPU in this pairing?

A: The data indicates a GPU bottleneck at higher resolutions. Frame rates drop by roughly half from 1080p to 4K at the same settings, which is characteristic of a graphics-limited scenario rather than a CPU-limited one.

Q: What is the worst-case performance scenario?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the combo averages just 21.6 FPS. This is the lowest recorded result and is below the threshold for comfortable playability.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 is built on the Pascal architecture with a GP104 chip fabricated on a 16 nm process. It carries 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 256.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The card’s base clock is 1506 MHz with a boost clock of 1683 MHz, and it offers 6.463 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. These specifications are from an older generation, and the GPU’s percentile ranking of 51 among all GPUs reflects its mid-pack position in the current database.

In Road 96, the GPU’s role is evident from the frame rate scaling. At 1080p Ultra, the combo produces 64.4 FPS, which drops to 40.4 FPS at 1440p and further to 21.6 FPS at 4K. This consistent halving of performance with each resolution step-up points to the GPU being the primary constraint. The card’s pixel rate of 107.7 GPixel/s and texture rate of 202.0 GTexel/s are likely the limiting factors when the resolution increases, as the number of pixels to shade grows exponentially. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is not a concern at these settings, as Road 96 is not a texture-heavy title, but the raw compute throughput caps the achievable frame rates.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and predictable pattern of degradation as resolution increases. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 81.3 FPS at 1080p to 51.4 FPS at 1440p, and then to 26.3 FPS at 4K. This represents a 37% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a further 49% drop from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is nearly linear with pixel count, which strongly suggests the GPU is the limiting component across all resolutions.

For Low settings, the pattern is similar but with higher absolute numbers: 140.8 FPS at 1080p, 91 FPS at 1440p, and 44.9 FPS at 4K. The fact that even at Low settings the 4K frame rate is below 60 FPS indicates that the GTX 1070 simply cannot handle the pixel throughput required at this resolution, regardless of the visual complexity. The data implies that for a smooth experience, users should target 1080p or 1440p, as the jump to 4K imposes a performance penalty that no settings adjustment can fully compensate for. The CPU, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, has sufficient headroom to feed the GPU at lower resolutions, as evidenced by the high frame rates at 1080p Low.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 1423 out of 1684 tested combinations places it in the bottom 15% of the database. This is a surprising result given that the individual components are not bottom-tier hardware. The GTX 1070’s average benchmark score of 12331 puts it in the 51st percentile, while the Core i5-10400F’s score of 14168 places it in the 73rd percentile. The combination of a mid-range GPU with a slightly better-than-average CPU should, in theory, perform better than this ranking suggests.

The low rank may be attributable to the game’s specific engine characteristics. Road 96 is an adventure game with a stylized art direction, which may not heavily utilize the CPU’s multi-threading capabilities. The CPU’s Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 10297 is respectable, but the game may only use a fraction of those threads. Conversely, the GPU’s Pascal architecture lacks features like mesh shaders or hardware ray tracing that newer titles can leverage, though Road 96 does not require these. The rank data indicates that many other combos achieve higher frame rates, but it does not specify whether those combos use newer GPUs or CPUs with higher single-thread performance. The implication is that for this specific game, the hardware combination is suboptimal, and users with similar systems may experience performance below what they would expect from other titles.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured results provides a detailed picture of performance across all settings and resolutions. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers 140.8 FPS on Low, 104.8 FPS on Medium, 81.3 FPS on High, and 64.4 FPS on Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra is 76.4 FPS, indicating that the game’s settings have a substantial impact on performance. At 2560x1440, the numbers are 91 FPS on Low, 68 FPS on Medium, 51.4 FPS on High, and 40.4 FPS on Ultra. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is roughly 35-38% across all settings, which is consistent with the increased pixel count.

At 3840x2160, the performance becomes marginal: 44.9 FPS on Low, 34.9 FPS on Medium, 26.3 FPS on High, and 21.6 FPS on Ultra. None of these 4K results reach the 60 FPS threshold, and even the Low setting falls short of 45 FPS. The data shows that the combo is best suited for 1080p gaming, where it can maintain high frame rates even at Ultra settings. At 1440p, it remains playable but requires a compromise on settings to stay above 60 FPS. The 4K resolution is not viable for a smooth experience, regardless of the settings chosen.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS, the optimal experience is achieved at 1920x1080 with High settings, delivering 81.3 FPS. This offers a balance between visual quality and performance, staying well above the 60 FPS threshold. For users with 1440p monitors, Medium settings at 68 FPS provide a smooth experience, though the visual fidelity is reduced compared to High. The Ultra preset at 1080p produces 64.4 FPS, which is still playable but offers diminishing returns over High for the performance cost.

At 4K, the data suggests that no setting is ideal. The highest frame rate at 4K is 44.9 FPS on Low, which is below the preferred 60 FPS target. Users who prioritize frame rate over visual quality should choose Low settings at 1440p to achieve 91 FPS, which is a significant improvement over High settings at the same resolution. For the best overall experience, the recommendation is to run the game at 1080p with High settings, as it provides the best balance of image quality and smoothness. If a higher resolution is required, Medium settings at 1440p is the only configuration that maintains playable frame rates without dipping below 60 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Comet Lake architecture, manufactured on a 14 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, with 12 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU’s benchmark results show a single-thread score of 688 in 3DMark and a multi-thread score of 4748 in the same test. In Cinebench R23, it scores 1453 single-core and 10297 multi-core, which are solid numbers for a mainstream desktop part.

In Road 96, the CPU’s role appears to be secondary to the GPU. The game is not particularly demanding on multi-threaded workloads, as evidenced by the high frame rates at low resolutions where the CPU would be the potential bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 140.8 FPS, indicating that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough data to sustain high frame rates. The CPU’s PassMark single-thread score of 2541 is adequate for the game’s logic and physics calculations. The data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this pairing, as the frame rate scaling follows the GPU’s capabilities rather than the CPU’s. The 65W TDP and dual-channel DDR4 memory support are standard for this class of processor, and the 12 threads provide enough parallelism for background tasks while gaming.