Road 96

Road 96, an adventure title from August 2021, presents an unusual stress test for a flagship GPU like the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 paired with the Intel Core i5-11400F. The measured frame rates across resolutions reveal a scenario where the game's engine and the CPU's capabilities interact in ways that defy typical 3D renderer scaling. This analysis interprets the data for this specific combo, focusing on what the numbers indicate about system bottlenecks and settings optimization.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K is telling. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 237 at 1920x1080 to 151 at 2560x1440, and finally to 80 at 3840x2160. This represents a 36% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a 47% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is not linear, which suggests a shift in the primary performance limiter. The data implies that at 1080p and 1440p, the system is not purely GPU-bound; the Core i5-11400F’s six cores and 12 threads are likely keeping the RTX 5090 from reaching its full potential. The 47% drop from 1440p to 4K is a more typical GPU-bound scaling pattern, indicating that the graphics card is finally the dominant constraint at the highest resolution.

Looking at Low settings, the same pattern holds but with larger absolute numbers. The average FPS at 1080p Low is 378, which drops to 255 at 1440p (a 33% reduction) and then to 135 at 4K (a 47% reduction). The fact that the 4K-to-1440p ratio remains consistent (around 47%) across both High and Low presets is a strong indicator that this specific resolution step is heavily dependent on the GPU’s pixel throughput and memory bandwidth. However, the 1080p to 1440p step shows a smaller percentage drop, which again points to the CPU becoming a more significant factor at lower resolutions. The data suggests that for this combo, 1440p is the "sweet spot" where the RTX 5090 starts to flex its muscles, but 4K is where the GPU is fully saturated.

The Ultra preset tells a similar story, with average FPS dropping from 185 at 1080p to 118 at 1440p and 62 at 4K. The 4K Ultra result of 62 FPS is surprisingly low for a GPU with a 92nd percentile ranking, highlighting that Road 96's Ultra settings can be incredibly demanding or that the CPU is holding back the 1% lows in a way that drags the average down. The gap between High and Ultra at 4K is 18 FPS (80 vs 62), while the gap between Medium and High is 19 FPS (99 vs 80), showing that the visual quality steps have a consistent performance cost at this resolution.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is a massive piece of hardware, with 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s. Its boost clock is 2407 MHz, and it has 21760 shading units. These specifications explain why the GPU has a percentile rank of 92 among all tested GPUs. In Road 96, the GPU's role becomes more apparent as resolution increases. The 4K Medium result shows an average of 99 FPS with a minimum of 84 FPS and a maximum of 114 FPS. This variance of 30 FPS is relatively tight, suggesting that the GPU is delivering consistent frames once it is the primary bottleneck.

The RTX 5090's architecture is Blackwell 2.0, built on a 5 nm process at TSMC, which contributes to its raw compute power of 104.8 TFLOPS FP32. This raw power is what allows the card to push 135 FPS at 4K Low, a score that would be impossible for lesser hardware. However, the data suggests that the GPU is often underutilized at 1080p in this game. The fact that 1080p Low (378 FPS) is more than double the 1440p Low (255 FPS) is a sign that the CPU cannot feed the GPU fast enough at the lower resolution. The VRAM capacity of 32 GB is far beyond what Road 96 requires, so it is not a limiting factor here; instead, the sheer compute and memory bandwidth are the primary contributors to the high frame rates seen at 4K.

Comparatively, the RTX 5090's nearest rival in the database is the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB, with a deltaPct of 0.3%, meaning the RTX 5090 scores only 0.3% higher on average. This is an interesting data point, as a workstation card like the P100 is not designed for gaming, yet the average benchmark scores are nearly identical. In the context of Road 96, the RTX 5090's gaming-specific features and higher clock speeds likely translate to better real-world performance than the benchmark average suggests, but the data shows that its raw compute power is what places it in the top 8% of all GPUs.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 achieves a rank of 120 out of 3713 tested combos in Road 96. This places it in the top 3.2% of all systems tested, which is a strong showing. The rank is impressive given the CPU's age and market position; the i5-11400F has a percentile rank of 71 among all CPUs, meaning it is outclassed by 29% of processors in general benchmarks. The fact that this combo still ranks 120th in this specific game suggests that Road 96 is not heavily dependent on CPU multithreading, or that the GPU is powerful enough to mask the CPU's limitations.

The high combo rank confirms the RTX 5090's dominance in this title. The GPU's 92nd percentile rank is the primary driver of the combo's success. However, the data shows that the combo is not performing at its full potential. If the CPU were stronger, the 1080p results would likely be higher. The rank of 120 is good, but there are 119 other combos that perform better, likely featuring more balanced CPUs. This combo's weakness is exposed at lower resolutions, where the CPU bottleneck prevents the GPU from stretching its legs.

Looking at the CPU's nearest rivals, the Intel Core i5-11400F scores an average benchmark of 17177, while the AMD EPYC 7H12 scores 17120 (0.3% lower) and the Intel Core i5-12450H scores 17239 (0.4% higher). These rivals are not typical gaming CPUs, but the narrow deltaPct shows that the i5-11400F is a mid-pack performer. In Road 96, this translates to a system that can hit 378 FPS at 1080p Low, but the fact that the 4K Ultra score is only 62 FPS indicates that the game's Ultra settings are a different beast entirely, and the CPU's single-thread performance (a Cinebench R23 score of 2024) might be limiting the frame pacing in demanding scenes.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a clear matrix of performance. At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 185 (Ultra) to 378 (Low). The Medium preset at this resolution yields an average of 294 FPS, with a minimum of 250 FPS and a maximum of 338 FPS. This 88 FPS spread between min and max is the largest among all resolution/settings combinations, indicating that the game can have significant frame spikes at 1080p, likely due to CPU load variations. The High preset at 1080p averages 237 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the average FPS ranges from 118 (Ultra) to 255 (Low). The Medium preset averages 187 FPS, with a minimum of 159 FPS and a maximum of 215 FPS. The 56 FPS spread here is tighter than at 1080p, showing that the GPU is starting to even out the frame delivery. The High preset averages 151 FPS at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the average FPS ranges from 62 (Ultra) to 135 (Low). The Medium preset averages 99 FPS, with a minimum of 84 FPS and a maximum of 114 FPS. The 30 FPS spread is the tightest, confirming that the GPU is the main bottleneck at 4K, providing consistent performance. The High preset averages 80 FPS at this resolution.

These numbers indicate a clear hierarchy: Low > Medium > High > Ultra in terms of performance. The scaling between presets is not uniform. For example, at 4K, going from Low to Medium costs 36 FPS (135 to 99), while going from Medium to High costs 19 FPS (99 to 80), and from High to Ultra costs 18 FPS (80 to 62). This suggests that the visual quality improvements in Medium and High are more expensive relative to their performance hit, while the Ultra preset is a significant step up in cost.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the optimal preset for this combo depends on the target display resolution. For 4K (3840x2160), the Medium preset is the most balanced choice. It delivers an average of 99 FPS, which is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, and it maintains a minimum of 84 FPS, ensuring no significant dips. The High preset at 80 FPS is also playable, but the 19 FPS drop from Medium might not be worth the visual gains, especially since the minimum FPS is not recorded for High. The Ultra preset at 62 FPS is borderline, and the data suggests it may be too demanding for a stable experience in all scenes.

For 1440p (2560x1440), the High preset is recommended. It achieves 151 FPS, which is well above any refresh rate for a standard monitor, and it offers better visual fidelity than Medium (187 FPS). The Ultra preset at 118 FPS is also viable and provides the best image quality, but the High preset offers a 33 FPS headroom over Ultra, making it a safer choice for maintaining high frame rates. The Low preset at 255 FPS is excessive for gaming and suggests the visual quality is heavily compromised.

For 1080p (1920x1080), the Ultra preset is the best option, as it averages 185 FPS, which is still extremely high. The High preset at 237 FPS is also good, but the Ultra preset's higher visual quality is not heavily penalized at this resolution. The Medium preset at 294 FPS is overkill, and the Low preset at 378 FPS is only useful for extreme esports scenarios, which do not apply to an adventure game like Road 96. Given the CPU bottleneck at this resolution, the GPU has enough headroom to run the most demanding settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Rocket Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its TDP is 65 W, and it supports DDR4 memory with a dual-channel bus. These specifications place it in the 71st percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17177. In Road 96, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p, where the frame rates are exceptionally high. The fact that the 1080p Low preset (378 FPS) is not significantly higher than the 1440p Low preset (255 FPS) suggests that the CPU is hitting a limit at around 380 FPS in this game.

The CPU's single-thread performance is moderate, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2024 and a Geekbench single-core score of 1777. Road 96, being an adventure game, likely has a primary game thread that relies on single-core performance. The i5-11400F's boost clock of 4.40 GHz is decent, but it may not be enough to fully saturate the RTX 5090 at lower resolutions. This explains why the 1440p-to-1080p scaling is only 33% (from 255 to 378 FPS) on Low, while the GPU's raw power would suggest a much larger increase.

The multi-core performance of the i5-11400F is stronger, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14340 and a Passmark multithread score of 16908. This helps with background tasks and any multi-threaded aspects of the game, but it is not the primary limiter. The data implies that the CPU is not the main constraint at 4K, where the GPU's workload is massive. However, at 1080p and 1440p, the CPU's 12 threads are likely the reason the RTX 5090 is not achieving even higher frame rates. The combo's rank of 120 out of 3713 suggests that the CPU is holding back the GPU in this specific title, as a more powerful processor would likely push this combo into the top 100.

FAQ

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

A: The data suggests 2560x1440 is the best balance. At this resolution, the High preset achieves 151 FPS, and the Ultra preset achieves 118 FPS, showing that the GPU is utilized well without the CPU bottleneck seen at 1080p.

Q: Why is the 4K Ultra performance so low at 62 FPS?

A: The 4K Ultra preset is extremely demanding, and the data shows a significant drop from High (80 FPS). This indicates that the Ultra settings are a major graphical step up, but the combination of this CPU and GPU can still keep it above 60 FPS on average.

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck for the RTX 5090 in this game?

A: Yes, at 1080p and 1440p, the data indicates the CPU is a limiting factor. The 1080p Low score of 378 FPS is not proportionally higher than the 1440p Low score of 255 FPS, suggesting the Core i5-11400F cannot feed the GPU fast enough at lower resolutions.

Q: How does the combo rank compared to all other tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 120th out of 3713 tested combinations, placing it in the top 3.2%. This is a strong result, but the rank is primarily driven by the RTX 5090's high percentile (92) rather than the CPU's (71).

Q: What is the most consistent preset in terms of frame pacing?

A: The 4K Medium preset shows the tightest frame range, with a minimum of 84 FPS and a maximum of 114 FPS. This indicates that the GPU is delivering frames more consistently at this setting compared to others.

Q: Does the RTX 5090's 32 GB of VRAM matter for Road 96?

A: The data does not indicate VRAM capacity is a limiting factor. The game is likely using far less than 32 GB, and the high frame rates are a result of the GPU's compute power (104.8 TFLOPS) and memory bandwidth (1.79 TB/s), not its VRAM size.