Road 96

The Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 delivers a playable yet highly variable experience in Road 96, a narrative adventure that scales dramatically with both resolution and quality presets. The measured frame rates reveal a system where the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, but the CPU’s six cores and 12 threads provide ample headroom for the game’s logic at 1080p. This analysis breaks down the measured data to show exactly where this combo excels and where it struggles, placing it in the 1384th position out of 1684 tested combinations.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 has a profound impact on performance, confirming that Road 96 is heavily GPU-bound at higher pixel counts. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 89.4 FPS at 1080p to 56.8 FPS at 1440p, a reduction of 32.6 FPS, before plummeting to 28.9 FPS at 4K. This represents a 67.7% performance loss from 1080p to 4K at High settings, indicating that the RTX 2060’s rendering pipeline is saturated by the four-fold increase in pixel count.

The scaling pattern is consistent across all quality presets, though the magnitude varies. At Low settings, the drop is from 154.9 FPS at 1080p to 98.2 FPS at 1440p, then 52.6 FPS at 4K—a 66.0% total reduction. The fact that even Low settings cannot maintain 60 FPS at 4K (52.6 FPS) suggests that the resolution itself, rather than the visual effects, is the limiting factor. Conversely, at 1080p, even Ultra settings achieve 72.5 FPS, indicating that the CPU is not the constraint at this resolution.

The data implies that 1440p is the practical ceiling for this combo if targeting 60 FPS, as Medium settings yield 74.4 FPS there, but High settings drop to 56.8 FPS. The steep decline between 1440p and 4K, where the frame rate nearly halves, points to the 6 GB VRAM and 192-bit memory bus of the RTX 2060 struggling to feed the framebuffer at 3840x2160, a bottleneck that no settings reduction can fully overcome.

GPU Role

The RTX 2060, based on the TU106 chip with a 12 nm process, operates at a base clock of 1365 MHz and a boost clock of 1680 MHz. Its 1920 shading units and 48 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 80.64 GPixel/s, which is directly relevant to the 4K performance collapse. The memory subsystem—6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus providing 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth—is the likely culprit for the inability to hold 30 FPS at 4K Ultra (25.3 FPS) or even High (28.9 FPS).

Benchmark results for the GPU show a Passmark G3D score of 14111, placing it in the 58th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 16074. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 7600S, which scores 15996 (0.5% higher), and the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 at 16351 (1.7% higher). These deltas are small, suggesting that the RTX 2060 is competitive within its class, but the measured FPS in Road 96 reveals that this game’s demands at 4K exceed what this GPU can comfortably deliver.

The 14 Gbps effective memory speed, while adequate for 1080p and 1440p, becomes a limiting factor at 4K. The data shows that at 2560x1440, the GPU can still push 98.2 FPS on Low settings, but the 52.6 FPS at 4K Low indicates a hard ceiling. This is not a CPU limitation—the i5-11400F has ample single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2029)—but rather the GPU’s fill rate and memory bandwidth being exhausted by the higher resolution.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F provides six cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. This Rocket Lake processor, built on Intel’s 14 nm process, has a 12 MB shared L3 cache and supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with 51.2 GB/s of bandwidth. In Road 96, an adventure game that likely relies more on game logic than physics, this CPU appears more than sufficient, as evidenced by the 154.9 FPS achieved at 1080p Low settings.

The CPU’s benchmark scores support this interpretation. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 14372 and single-core score of 2029 indicate strong performance, with a Passmark multithread score of 16908 placing it in the 75th percentile of all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 17181 is nearly identical to its nearest rivals, including the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U (17189, 0% delta) and the Intel Core i7-1260P (17212, -0.2% delta), showing that it sits in a tightly competitive mid-range segment.

The lack of significant frame rate variation between Low and High settings at 1080p—154.9 FPS vs. 89.4 FPS—suggests that the CPU is not the bottleneck at this resolution. Even at 4K, where the GPU is clearly struggling, the CPU’s role is secondary. The data implies that the i5-11400F could likely drive higher frame rates if paired with a more powerful GPU, as the 12 threads and 4.40 GHz boost clock provide sufficient headroom for Road 96’s demands.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo maintain 60 FPS at 2560x1440?

A: Yes, but only at Medium settings or lower. The measured average FPS at 1440p Medium is 74.4, while High drops to 56.8 and Ultra falls to 47.8, so 60 FPS requires a medium preset.

Q: What is the highest playable resolution for this system?

A: Based on the data, 1920x1080 is the most comfortable resolution, with all presets exceeding 72.5 FPS. At 2560x1440, only Low and Medium presets exceed 60 FPS, while 3840x2160 falls below 52.6 FPS even on Low.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 compare to its nearest GPU rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 2060 has an average benchmark score of 16074, which is 0.5% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 7600S (15996) but 1.7% lower than both the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M and Pro 5700 (both 16351).

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more responsible for the 4K performance drop?

A: The GPU is the primary limiter. At 4K Low, the system achieves 52.6 FPS, while at 4K Ultra it drops to 25.3 FPS, indicating the RTX 2060’s memory bandwidth and fill rate are exhausted, not the CPU’s processing capacity.

Q: What settings preset gives the best balance at 1080p?

A: Medium settings at 1080p provide 115.9 FPS, which is 26.5 FPS higher than High (89.4) and 43.4 FPS higher than Ultra (72.5), making it the sweet spot for visual quality and performance.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested systems?

A: This combination ranks 1384th out of 1684 tested combos, placing it in the lower half of the database, which is consistent with its mid-range GPU and CPU components.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 ranks 1384th out of 1684 tested combos in Road 96, placing it in the bottom 18% of all configurations. This ranking is somewhat surprising given that the individual components sit in the 75th percentile (CPU) and 58th percentile (GPU) of their respective benchmarks, suggesting that Road 96 may be more demanding on the GPU than typical workloads.

The rank implies that most other tested systems, including those with older or less powerful CPUs but stronger GPUs, achieve higher frame rates in this game. The data shows that the bottleneck is clearly the GPU at higher resolutions, as the CPU’s performance is sufficient to drive 154.9 FPS at 1080p Low. This suggests that users with this CPU could benefit from a GPU upgrade, as the i5-11400F has headroom to support faster graphics cards.

The 1684 total combos tested indicate a wide range of hardware configurations, and this combo’s 1384th position reflects its mid-range status. For a game like Road 96, which is an adventure title rather than a competitive shooter, the ranking is adequate for 1080p play but falls short for 4K enthusiasts. The delta between the CPU’s high percentile ranking and the combo’s low game ranking highlights the importance of GPU selection for this specific title.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance on which settings preset offers the best experience at each resolution. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers 115.9 FPS, which is 26.5 FPS higher than High (89.4) and 43.4 FPS higher than Ultra (72.5). Given that the visual difference between Medium and High in an adventure game like Road 96 is likely subtle, Medium offers the best balance of smoothness and quality, easily exceeding the 60 FPS threshold with 55.9 FPS of headroom.

At 2560x1440, the choice narrows significantly. Medium provides 74.4 FPS, which is the only preset that comfortably exceeds 60 FPS, as High (56.8) and Ultra (47.8) both fall short. Low settings at 1440p achieve 98.2 FPS but may degrade visual fidelity too much for an adventure game that relies on atmosphere. Therefore, Medium is the recommended preset for 1440p.

For 3840x2160, no preset achieves 60 FPS. The best option is Low at 52.6 FPS, which is borderline playable but below the 60 FPS target. Medium (36.0 FPS), High (28.9 FPS), and Ultra (25.3 FPS) are all too low for smooth gameplay. Users with 4K displays should either accept Low settings or reduce the resolution to 1440p for a better experience. The data suggests that this combo is not suited for 4K gaming in Road 96, and 1080p Medium or 1440p Medium are the optimal choices.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers excellent performance across all presets. Low settings produce an average of 154.9 FPS, Medium achieves 115.9 FPS, High reaches 89.4 FPS, and Ultra still manages 72.5 FPS. The spread of 82.4 FPS between Low and Ultra indicates significant GPU scaling, but all settings remain above the 60 FPS playability threshold.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates drop substantially. Low settings average 98.2 FPS, which is still very smooth, while Medium falls to 74.4 FPS, remaining above 60 FPS. High settings dip to 56.8 FPS, just below the threshold, and Ultra drops to 47.8 FPS, which may cause noticeable stuttering in fast-paced scenes. The 50.4 FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p shows that the GPU is under increasing strain.

At 3840x2160, the performance collapses. Low settings average 52.6 FPS, which is the only preset above 30 FPS. Medium drops to 36.0 FPS, High falls to 28.9 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 25.3 FPS. The data reveals a consistent pattern: each resolution increase roughly halves the frame rate at equivalent settings, with the 1080p to 1440p transition being less severe than the 1440p to 4K transition. This confirms that the RTX 2060’s 6 GB VRAM and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for 4K rendering in this title, making 1080p the resolution of choice for this combo.