Road 96

Road 96 presents an interesting case study for the Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER pairing, as the data reveals a system that is heavily influenced by graphical settings and resolution scaling. The measured frame rates demonstrate that this combination is capable of delivering high refresh rate experiences at lower resolutions, while 4K Ultra presents a significant challenge that shifts the bottleneck firmly to the GPU.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K clearly illustrates the growing burden on the graphics card as pixel count increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 349.4 FPS, which drops to 260.6 FPS at Medium, 206.4 FPS at High, and 160.7 FPS at Ultra. Moving to 1440p, the same settings yield 221.4 FPS, 166.5 FPS, 133.3 FPS, and 104.2 FPS respectively. The most demanding scenario, 4K Ultra, sees the average fall to 57.2 FPS, while 4K High manages 72.8 FPS.

The scaling pattern indicates that the RTX 4080 SUPER is the primary limiting component at 4K, particularly with higher quality presets. The transition from 1440p High (133.3 FPS) to 4K High (72.8 FPS) represents a performance reduction of roughly 45%. This steep drop is typical for a game that becomes pixel-bound at higher resolutions, suggesting that the GPU’s 16 GB of GDDR6X memory and 736.3 GB/s bandwidth are being taxed heavily. Conversely, the shift from 1080p Low (349.4 FPS) to 1440p Low (221.4 FPS) shows a smaller relative decline, which hints that the CPU is still able to feed the GPU adequately at lower resolutions before the render load becomes overwhelming.

At 1080p Low, the frame rate is exceptionally high, which implies that the game’s engine is not fully saturating the CPU’s capabilities, but the gap between 1080p Low and 4K Low (349.4 FPS vs 122.1 FPS) is substantial. This 65% reduction in performance when moving to 4K Low indicates that even at minimal graphical quality, the sheer number of pixels at 3840x2160 places a hard ceiling on output. The data suggests that for consistent 60 FPS gameplay at 4K, users should target Medium settings (88.8 FPS) or High (72.8 FPS), as Ultra falls below the threshold.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Rocket Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its benchmark scores show a single-thread result of 868 in 3dmark_single_thread and a multi-thread score of 5652 in 3dmark_max_threads. In Cinebench R23, it achieves 2029 points in single-core and 14372 points in multi-core tests. These figures place the CPU in the 75th percentile among all processors, indicating solid mainstream performance.

For Road 96, an adventure title, the CPU’s role is less about raw multi-core muscle and more about maintaining consistent frame pacing. The processor’s 12 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth provide adequate data throughput for the game’s logic. The benchmark results suggest that at 1080p Low, where the GPU is not heavily taxed, the CPU is capable of driving frame rates up to 349.4 FPS without becoming a bottleneck. However, the gap between 1080p Low and 1440p Low (349.4 FPS vs 221.4 FPS) is largely attributable to the GPU, not the CPU, as the resolution increase does not add significant CPU load.

Compared to its nearest rivals, the i5-11400F shows a deltaPct of 0% against the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U with an average score of 17189, and a -0.2% delta against both the Intel Core i7-1260P and Intel Core Ultra 7 164U, which score 17212 and 17215 respectively. This places the i5-11400F in a tight competitive band, meaning that for CPU-bound scenarios in this game, the performance differences would be negligible. The processor’s boost clock of 4.40 GHz is sufficient for the single-threaded tasks that adventure games often rely on, and the data indicates that it does not hinder the RTX 4080 SUPER until the resolution and settings are lowered to a point where the GPU has surplus capacity.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is a formidable graphics card, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process node. It features 10240 shading units, 320 TMUs, and 112 ROPs, with a base clock of 2295 MHz and a boost clock of 2550 MHz. The 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 736.3 GB/s, which is crucial for high-resolution textures. The GPU’s benchmark scores are equally impressive, with a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6600 and a Passmark G3D score of 34245, placing it in the 88th percentile of all GPUs.

In Road 96, the GPU’s dominance is evident in the scaling behavior. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS of 57.2 is a clear indication that the card is working near its limit, as this setting demands maximum pixel throughput and texture fill. The RTX 4080 SUPER’s nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, has an average score of 53489 with a deltaPct of 0.2%, meaning the two are nearly identical in general compute performance. Yet, in this specific game, the NVIDIA card’s advantage in features like DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) support may explain why it can still push 72.8 FPS at 4K High.

The frame rate differences between settings at each resolution are more pronounced than the CPU’s influence. For instance, at 1440p, the jump from Low (221.4 FPS) to Ultra (104.2 FPS) is a 53% reduction, which is entirely driven by the GPU’s shader and texture work. The card’s 52.22 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power is substantial, but the game’s ultra preset appears to introduce effects that disproportionately impact performance. The 285.6 GPixel/s pixel rate and 816.0 GTexel/s texture rate are sufficient for high refresh rates at 1440p, but at 4K, the pixel throughput becomes the limiting factor, as evidenced by the 57.2 FPS average at Ultra.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate for this combo at 1080p with High settings?

A: The Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER produce an average of 206.4 FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming at playable frame rates?

A: Yes, at 4K with High settings the combo achieves 72.8 FPS, and at Medium it reaches 88.8 FPS. However, at 4K Ultra, the average drops to 57.2 FPS, which may be below the target for some users.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its closest rival in terms of average benchmark score?

A: The i5-11400F has an average benchmark score of 17181, which is essentially tied with the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U at 17189 (deltaPct of 0%), and slightly behind the Intel Core i7-1260P at 17212 (deltaPct of -0.2%).

Q: What is the GPU’s memory configuration and bandwidth?

A: The RTX 4080 SUPER features 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 736.3 GB/s with a memory clock of 1438 MHz (23 Gbps effective).

Q: What is the performance difference between 1080p Low and 4K Low?

A: At 1080p Low, the average FPS is 349.4, while at 4K Low it drops to 122.1, representing a significant 65% reduction in frame rate due to the increased pixel count.

Q: Where does this combo rank among all tested combinations for Road 96?

A: The combo ranks 109th out of 1684 tested combinations in this game, placing it in the top 6.5% of all systems evaluated.

How This Combo Ranks

In the context of Road 96, this particular combination of the Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER achieves a rank of 109 out of 1684 tested combos. This places it in the upper echelon of systems, indicating that it outperforms approximately 93.5% of all other pairings tested for this game. The high ranking is predominantly attributable to the GPU, which is in the 88th percentile among all graphics cards, while the CPU sits in the 75th percentile.

The rank of 109 suggests that while the RTX 4080 SUPER is a top-tier component, there are 108 other combos that deliver higher frame rates in Road 96. These are likely systems with even more powerful GPUs or CPUs that can better feed the graphics card at lower resolutions. However, for a 1440p gaming scenario, this combo is exceptional, producing 133.3 FPS at High settings and 166.5 FPS at Medium. At 4K, the combo’s rank would be lower due to the GPU becoming the bottleneck, but it still manages to exceed 60 FPS on High settings.

The data suggests that the i5-11400F does not meaningfully hold back the RTX 4080 SUPER in this title, as the frame rates at 1080p Low (349.4 FPS) are high enough to indicate a balanced system. The rank of 109 is a strong result, and users with this setup can expect a smooth experience at 1440p and respectable performance at 4K with adjusted settings. The combination’s performance confirms the GPU’s brute force, while the CPU provides adequate support without becoming a limiting factor in most scenarios.