Road 96

# Road 96 with Intel Core i5-11400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060

The Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 places this combination at rank 959 out of 1684 tested combos for Road 96, situating it in the middle of the database's performance hierarchy. This mid-pack positioning is notable given that the CPU sits at the 75th percentile among all processors, while the GPU holds the 66th percentile among all graphics cards. The measured frame rates across resolutions and settings reveal a system that can handle Road 96 comfortably at most configurations, though the demanding 4K Ultra preset pushes it to the edge of playability. The data suggests a balanced pairing where neither component dramatically bottlenecks the other, yet the scaling patterns indicate the GPU shoulders more of the load at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

At rank 959 of 1684 tested combinations, this i5-11400F + RTX 4060 setup lands squarely in the upper-middle tier of the database for Road 96. The CPU's 75th percentile standing among all processors aligns with its average benchmark score of 17181, which places it within 0.2% of the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U (17189) and 0.2% ahead of the Intel Core i5-1240U (17141). This proximity to mobile-class processors in synthetic tests is interesting, as the desktop i5-11400F maintains a 65W TDP with six cores and twelve threads.

The GPU's 66th percentile ranking, with an average benchmark score of 23181, puts it slightly behind the AMD Radeon RX 6600M (23321, -0.6%) and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti (23338, -0.7%), while leading the Intel Arc B580 (23021, 0.7%) and AMD Radeon 760M (22999, 0.8%). The deltaPct values here are remarkably tight, suggesting that in this game's specific workload, the RTX 4060's Ada Lovelace architecture with 8GB of GDDR6 memory performs nearly identically to older and newer competitor offerings.

The combination's mid-pack rank becomes more meaningful when examining actual gameplay results. At 1080p, the system achieves over 90 FPS on every preset, with the Low preset reaching 199.1 FPS. This indicates that for most players using standard monitors, this combo ranks far higher in practical experience than its raw rank suggests, since the game's requirements are comfortably exceeded.

FAQ

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

A: The i5-11400F scores 17181 on average, essentially tied with the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U (17189, 0% delta) and Intel Core i7-1260P (17212, -0.2%). It edges out the Intel Core i5-1240U by 0.2% (17141).

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

A: At 2560x1440 with High settings, the system delivers 73.6 FPS, which balances visual quality and smoothness. The 1080p High preset reaches 121.2 FPS, while 4K High drops to 40.1 FPS.

Q: Can this system handle 4K Ultra settings?

A: Barely. The 4K Ultra preset yields only 31.3 FPS, which is below the commonly accepted threshold for smooth gameplay. Dropping to 4K Medium improves this to 51.5 FPS.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from Low to Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, the Low preset achieves 199.1 FPS, while Ultra drops to 93.9 FPS—a reduction of 105.2 FPS, or roughly 53% of the Low preset's performance.

Q: What CPU benchmark scores are most relevant for gaming?

A: The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 14372 and single-core score of 2029, along with the Geekbench multicore 7579 and single-core 1979, provide context for the i5-11400F's gaming capability.

Q: How does the RTX 4060's memory configuration affect performance?

A: With 8GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus delivering 272.0 GB/s bandwidth, the GPU shows its limits at 4K Ultra (31.3 FPS) but performs strongly at lower resolutions where memory bandwidth is less critical.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a system increasingly constrained by the GPU as pixel count rises. At High settings, 1080p delivers 121.2 FPS, dropping to 73.6 FPS at 1440p (a 39.3% reduction) and further to 40.1 FPS at 4K (a 66.9% reduction from 1080p). This scaling pattern is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario, where the RTX 4060's 8GB VRAM and 272.0 GB/s memory bandwidth become limiting factors at higher resolutions.

The Low preset tells a different story. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 199.1 FPS, which drops to 130.4 FPS at 1440p and 65.8 FPS at 4K. The 1440p Low result still exceeds the 4K High result (65.8 vs 40.1 FPS), highlighting that resolution has a more significant impact than preset quality in this game. This suggests that visual settings in Road 96 affect load less dramatically than raw pixel count, making resolution the primary lever for performance tuning.

Ultra settings expose the sharpest scaling curve. The 93.9 FPS at 1080p Ultra falls to 58.7 FPS at 1440p (a 37.5% drop) and 31.3 FPS at 4K (a 66.7% drop from 1080p). The consistency of these percentage drops across presets—around 39% from 1080p to 1440p and 67% from 1080p to 4K—indicates that resolution scaling is linear and predictable, with the GPU being the limiting component throughout.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured results show a wide performance envelope: Low settings produce 199.1 FPS, Medium reaches 146.9 FPS, High achieves 121.2 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 93.9 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 105.2 FPS, with each preset step reducing performance by roughly 25-35 FPS. This suggests that Road 96's graphics options have substantial impact at 1080p, but even the most demanding preset remains comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance hierarchy remains intact but compressed: Low delivers 130.4 FPS, Medium hits 94.9 FPS, High manages 73.6 FPS, and Ultra drops to 58.7 FPS. The step from Low to Medium costs 35.5 FPS, while High to Ultra costs 14.9 FPS, indicating diminishing returns for the highest quality settings. Notably, the 1440p Medium result (94.9 FPS) nearly matches the 1080p Ultra result (93.9 FPS), suggesting that resolution and quality can be traded against each other with similar outcomes.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain high frame rates: Low produces 65.8 FPS, Medium drops to 51.5 FPS, High falls to 40.1 FPS, and Ultra slumps to 31.3 FPS. The spread narrows to 34.5 FPS between Low and Ultra, compared to 105.2 FPS at 1080p, showing that at 4K the GPU becomes the dominant constraint regardless of settings. Only the Low preset at 4K exceeds 60 FPS, and barely so.

Settings Recommendations

For players targeting 1080p, the High preset at 121.2 FPS offers the best balance for most displays, providing smooth gameplay while maintaining visual fidelity. Those with high-refresh monitors can benefit from Medium at 146.9 FPS or even Low at 199.1 FPS, though the visual trade-offs may not justify the extra frames. The Ultra preset at 93.9 FPS remains viable for players prioritizing image quality over raw frame rate.

At 1440p, the Medium preset at 94.9 FPS emerges as the sweet spot, delivering near-identical performance to 1080p Ultra while offering higher resolution. Players with 144Hz displays can use Low at 130.4 FPS, while those with 60Hz monitors can comfortably run High at 73.6 FPS. The Ultra preset at 58.7 FPS falls just short of 60 FPS, making it a marginal choice for frame-rate purists.

At 4K, the options are more constrained. The Low preset at 65.8 FPS is the only configuration that breaches 60 FPS, while Medium at 51.5 FPS offers a reasonable compromise. The High preset at 40.1 FPS and Ultra at 31.3 FPS are below playable thresholds for most users, suggesting that 4K gaming with this combo requires significant compromises in visual quality.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F's six cores and twelve threads, with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz, provide substantial headroom for Road 96. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 14372 and single-core score of 2029 indicate strong thread utilization capabilities. The 3DMark results show scaling from 1691 at 2 threads to 5652 at max threads, demonstrating that the CPU handles increased thread counts efficiently.

The CPU's 75th percentile ranking among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 17181, places it ahead of many competitors. The nearest rivals—the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U, Intel Core i7-1260P, Intel Core Ultra 7 164U, and Intel Core i5-1240U—all score within 0.2% of each other, suggesting that in synthetic workloads, the i5-11400F is essentially interchangeable with these alternatives. The 12MB shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth provide adequate data throughput for gaming workloads.

In Road 96 specifically, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU, as evidenced by the consistent resolution scaling patterns. The fact that 1080p Low reaches 199.1 FPS while 4K Ultra drops to 31.3 FPS points to GPU limitations rather than CPU constraints. The CPU's boost clock of 4.40 GHz and single-thread score of 2029 in Cinebench R23 suggest it can keep pace with the game's logic demands without becoming a bottleneck.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060's 8GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 272.0 GB/s bandwidth, defines its performance envelope in Road 96. The GPU's 66th percentile ranking, with an average benchmark score of 23181, places it in the mid-range of tested graphics cards. Its nearest rivals—the AMD Radeon RX 6600M (23321, -0.6%), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti (23338, -0.7%), Intel Arc B580 (23021, 0.7%), and AMD Radeon 760M (22999, 0.8%)—all perform within 1% of the RTX 4060 in synthetic benchmarks.

The GPU's Ada Lovelace architecture, built on TSMC's 5nm process with 18,900 million transistors, provides 15.11 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. The boost clock of 2460 MHz and 3072 shading units contribute to its throughput. At 4K Ultra, the GPU's 8GB VRAM and 128-bit memory interface become limiting factors, with the 31.3 FPS result indicating that memory bandwidth is insufficient for this demanding configuration.

The RTX 4060's DirectX 12 Ultimate support, along with Vulkan 1.4 and OpenGL 4.6, ensures compatibility with modern game APIs. The 24 ray tracing cores and 96 tensor cores provide hardware acceleration for advanced rendering features, though Road 96's measured results suggest the game does not heavily utilize these capabilities. The GPU's 115W TDP and suggested 300W PSU requirement indicate efficient power usage relative to its performance class.