Road 96

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates for Road 96 across the three tested resolutions tell a clear story about where the performance ceiling sits for this Intel Core i5-11400F and Intel Arc B580 combination. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 164.4 FPS average. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 103.7 FPS, a reduction of approximately 37%. Stepping up to 4K Low yields 53.8 FPS, which is roughly 48% lower than the 1440p result. This scaling pattern is steep, indicating that the rendering load grows rapidly with pixel count.

The High preset tells a similar story but with lower absolute numbers. At 1080p High, the average is 97.4 FPS. At 1440p High, it falls to 64 FPS, a 34% decrease. At 4K High, the average is 32.4 FPS, which is about 49% below the 1440p figure. The consistency of these percentage drops across settings suggests that the scaling is primarily resolution-driven rather than settings-driven. The Arc B580's 12 GB of GDDR6 memory and 456.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient at all tested resolutions, so the frame rate declines track closely with the pixel throughput demands.

The most revealing data point comes from the Ultra preset. At 1080p Ultra, the combo manages 75.1 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 47.8 FPS. At 4K Ultra, it falls to 27.2 FPS. The gap between 1080p and 1440p Ultra is 36%, while the gap between 1440p and 4K Ultra is 43%. This slightly larger drop at the higher resolution indicates that the GPU is becoming the limiting factor as both resolution and settings increase together. The data suggests that at 1080p, the CPU still has headroom, but by 4K Ultra, the Arc B580 is working near its practical limits for this title.

FAQ

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-11400F compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i5-11400F has an average benchmark score of 17181, placing it in the 75th percentile of all CPUs. Its closest rival is the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U with a score of 17189, a delta of 0%. The Intel Core i7-1260P scores 17212 (0.2% below), and the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U also scores 17215 (0.2% below). The Intel Core i5-1240U scores 17141, which is 0.2% above the 11400F.

Q: What is the combo's overall rank among tested configurations for Road 96?

A: The combination of the Intel Core i5-11400F and Intel Arc B580 ranks 1321 out of 1684 tested combos for this game. This places it in the lower portion of the tested pool, indicating that while it can play the game, many other configurations deliver higher average frame rates.

Q: Which settings preset provides the highest frame rate at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, the Low preset delivers the highest average FPS at 53.8. Medium follows at 42 FPS, High at 32.4 FPS, and Ultra at 27.2 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 4K shows a drop of approximately 49%, which is substantial.

Q: How does the Arc B580's benchmark performance compare to the GeForce RTX 4060?

A: The Arc B580 has an average benchmark score of 23021, placing it in the 66th percentile of all GPUs. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 scores 23181, which is 0.7% higher. The AMD Radeon 760M scores 22999 (0.1% lower), and the NVIDIA P106-100 scores 22950 (0.3% lower). These are very close scores, indicating near-parity in synthetic testing.

Q: Is the 1080p Ultra preset playable with this hardware?

A: Yes, the 1080p Ultra preset yields an average of 75.1 FPS. This is above the 60 FPS threshold typically considered smooth for most players. The same preset at 1440p drops to 47.8 FPS, which is still playable but less fluid.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 103.7 FPS while Ultra averages 47.8 FPS. This represents a reduction of about 54% when moving from the lowest to the highest quality settings. Medium sits in between at 75.1 FPS, and High at 64 FPS.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B580 is built on the Xe2-HPG architecture using a 5 nm process from TSMC. It features 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 80 render output units. The GPU operates at a base and boost clock of 2670 MHz, with memory running at 2375 MHz for 19 Gbps effective throughput. The 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus provides 456.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is more than adequate for Road 96's requirements at the tested settings.

The GPU's compute capabilities include 13.67 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 27.34 TFLOPS of FP16 performance. These figures help explain why the card handles lower settings at high resolutions reasonably well. At 4K Low, the card sustains 53.8 FPS, which is a solid result for a game that appears to scale well with pixel count. The pixel rate of 213.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 427.2 GTexel/s are the key throughput metrics for this title, and they align with the measured performance.

The Arc B580's benchmark results show a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3068, a Geekbench OpenCL score of 92821, and a Geekbench Vulkan score of 109672. In Passmark testing, the card scores 15748 in G3D and 7729 in GPU compute. These synthetic results place the card in the 66th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 23021. The nearest rival, the AMD Radeon 760M, is only 0.1% behind, while the RTX 4060 is 0.7% ahead. This indicates that the B580 is competitive with mid-range options from both AMD and NVIDIA.

The GPU's 20 ray tracing cores and support for DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4 ensure compatibility with modern rendering APIs. Road 96 is not a graphically demanding title by 2024 standards, so the B580's capabilities are more than sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming, with 4K requiring settings adjustments to maintain playable frame rates.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-11400F and Intel Arc B580 combination ranks 1321 out of 1684 tested combos for Road 96. This places the configuration in the bottom 22% of all tested systems. The ranking reflects the fact that Road 96 is a relatively lightweight title, so many combinations of newer or higher-end hardware can achieve very high frame rates. The i5-11400F, despite being a capable 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Rocket Lake generation, is now several generations old. Its percentile rank of 75 among all CPUs shows it is still better than most, but the Arc B580's 66th percentile ranking among GPUs is more modest.

The combo's rank is not a reflection of poor performance in absolute terms. At 1080p Low, the system delivers 164.4 FPS, and even at 4K Low it manages 53.8 FPS. The ranking is driven by the fact that many other tested combos feature newer CPUs and GPUs that push frame rates even higher. The data shows that this combo is perfectly playable for Road 96 across most settings and resolutions, but it will not break any records.

The CPU's synthetic benchmark scores provide context for its contribution. The i5-11400F scores 14372 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 2029 in single-core. Its Geekbench multicore score is 7579 with a single-core score of 1979. These scores are respectable for a 65 W TDP processor with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz. The GPU's performance is similarly solid, with a Passmark G3D score of 15748. Together, they form a balanced mid-range pairing that is competitive with the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U and Intel Core i7-1260P in CPU terms, and with the RTX 4060 in GPU terms.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual quality and frame rate, the Medium preset at 1440p is the recommended starting point. This delivers 75.1 FPS, which is comfortably above 60 FPS and should provide a smooth experience. The High preset at 1440p drops to 64 FPS, which is still acceptable but closer to the threshold where frame rate drops become noticeable in fast-moving scenes. The Ultra preset at 1440p at 47.8 FPS is playable but may feel less responsive.

At 1080p, the High preset at 97.4 FPS is an excellent choice, offering good visual fidelity with a high frame rate. The Ultra preset at 1080p yields 75.1 FPS, which is also very good. For players who prioritize frame rate above all else, the Low preset at 1080p delivers 164.4 FPS, which is well beyond what most displays can show. The Medium preset at 1080p at 121 FPS is a strong middle ground.

At 4K, the options are more constrained. The Low preset at 53.8 FPS is the only setting that approaches 60 FPS. Medium at 42 FPS and High at 32.4 FPS are playable but noticeably less smooth. Ultra at 27.2 FPS is not recommended for an enjoyable experience. Based on the measured data, the best overall experience is the Medium preset at 1440p, which balances visual quality with a frame rate that remains fluid. If 4K is a priority, Low settings are the only viable option.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured frame rates are as follows: Low settings produce an average of 164.4 FPS, Medium produces 121 FPS, High produces 97.4 FPS, and Ultra produces 75.1 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a steady decline, with Ultra delivering 54% of the Low preset's frame rate. This resolution offers the widest range of playable options, with all four presets exceeding 75 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates are: Low at 103.7 FPS, Medium at 75.1 FPS, High at 64 FPS, and Ultra at 47.8 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is steeper here, with Ultra delivering only 46% of the Low preset's performance. The Medium and High presets both remain above 60 FPS, making them viable options for smooth gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates are: Low at 53.8 FPS, Medium at 42 FPS, High at 32.4 FPS, and Ultra at 27.2 FPS. No preset at 4K reaches 60 FPS. The Low preset is the only option that stays above 50 FPS, and the Ultra preset dips below 30 FPS. This resolution clearly requires compromises, with Low settings being the only reasonable choice for maintaining playability.

The data shows a consistent pattern of diminishing returns as settings increase. At each resolution, the difference between Medium and High is smaller than the difference between Low and Medium. This suggests that the Medium preset captures most of the visual improvements without the full performance cost of High or Ultra. For this reason, Medium at 1440p stands out as the most efficient setting combination across the entire measured range.