Road 96

Road 96 is a narrative-driven adventure title from 2021, and the benchmark data for the Intel Core i5-12400 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 570 reveals a configuration that is heavily constrained by its graphics subsystem at higher resolutions. The measured frame rates across the board indicate that while the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at 1080p, the RX 570's 4 GB VRAM and GCN 4.0 architecture become the definitive bottleneck as resolution and settings increase. The combination ranks 1638 out of 1684 tested combos in this game, placing it in the bottom percentile of all configurations, which is a direct result of the GPU's limitations rather than the processor's capability.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 brings six physical cores and twelve threads to the table, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. This Alder Lake-S architecture processor, built on Intel's 10 nm process, shows strong synthetic performance that places it in the 77th percentile of all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 19850 positions it nearly identically to the Intel Core i7-9700, which scores 19831 (a delta of 0.1%), and the Intel Core i7-8700 at 19894 (a delta of -0.2%). This indicates that for CPU-bound workloads, the i5-12400 is squarely in the mid-range desktop tier, outperforming the Intel Core i5-11600K by 0.4% in average score.

In the context of Road 96, the CPU's role is to maintain a stable frame delivery, and the data suggests it does so effectively. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the configuration achieves 83.1 FPS average, which is the highest measured result in the entire dataset. This figure demonstrates that the i5-12400's single-thread performance, evidenced by its 3dmark_single_thread score of 910 and passmark_single_thread score of 3456, is more than sufficient for the game's logic and scene management. The multi-threaded capabilities, with a cinebench_r23_multicore score of 15935, provide headroom for background tasks and streaming, but Road 96 does not appear to be a title that stresses the CPU heavily. The fact that FPS drops by over 60% from Low to Ultra at 1080p (from 83.1 to 35.4) while the CPU's workload remains relatively constant underscores that the processor is rarely the limiting factor in this pairing.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 570 is the clear bottleneck in this configuration. With a 4 GB GDDR5 memory buffer on a 256-bit bus delivering 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth, the GPU is constrained by both capacity and throughput. The Polaris 20 chip, fabricated on GlobalFoundries' 14 nm process, operates at a base clock of 1168 MHz and a boost clock of 1244 MHz, with memory running at 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective). The GPU's 2048 shading units and 32 ROPs provide a pixel rate of 39.81 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 159.2 GTexel/s, yielding 5.095 TFLOPS of FP32 compute.

The RX 570's synthetic benchmark scores place it in the 74th percentile of all GPUs, with an average score of 30158. Its nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060, which scores 30109 (a delta of 0.2%), and the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT at 30097 (0.2% delta). This clustering suggests that in raw compute terms, the RX 570 is competitive with modern mid-range cards, but the benchmark results in Road 96 tell a different story. The GPU's 4 GB VRAM is likely the primary culprit for the severe frame rate collapse at 4K, where even Low settings only yield 25.6 FPS. The game's texture and geometry requirements at higher resolutions and settings appear to exceed the memory capacity, causing stutter and reduced throughput that the GPU's compute power cannot overcome.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a textbook GPU-bound scenario. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the configuration achieves 51.2 FPS, which drops to 30 FPS at 2560x1440 (a 41.4% reduction) and further to 15.4 FPS at 3840x2160 (a 69.9% reduction from 1080p). This scaling pattern is characteristic of a GPU that is running out of memory bandwidth and capacity as pixel count increases. The 4 GB VRAM is insufficient for 1440p High settings in many modern titles, and Road 96 is no exception.

Comparing the Low settings across resolutions provides a clearer picture of the GPU's raw limits. At 1080p Low, the system hits 83.1 FPS, which is a playable frame rate. At 1440p Low, it drops to 50.7 FPS, still reasonable for a narrative adventure. However, at 4K Low, the frame rate plummets to 25.6 FPS, indicating that the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth are simply insufficient for 8.3 million pixels, regardless of settings. The fact that 4K Low (25.6 FPS) performs worse than 1080p Ultra (35.4 FPS) suggests that resolution is a more significant factor than graphical fidelity for this GPU, as the pixel count overwhelms the Polaris architecture's capabilities.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the configuration delivers its best results. Low settings produce an average of 83.1 FPS, which is smooth for the adventure genre. Medium settings drop to 61.9 FPS, still well within playable territory. High settings yield 51.2 FPS, maintaining a consistent experience. Ultra settings, however, fall to 35.4 FPS, indicating that the RX 570's 4 GB VRAM is being taxed heavily by the highest texture quality and shadow details.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance degrades significantly. Low settings average 50.7 FPS, which is acceptable but noticeably less smooth than 1080p. Medium settings drop to 35.6 FPS, and High settings fall to 30 FPS, which is borderline for a game that requires minimal reaction times. Ultra settings at 1440p produce only 25.4 FPS, making the game feel sluggish and unresponsive. The 1440p results suggest that players should stick to Low or Medium settings to maintain a playable frame rate.

At 3840x2160, the configuration is largely unplayable. Low settings average 25.6 FPS, Medium drops to 18.4 FPS, High falls to 15.4 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 12.6 FPS. These figures are well below the 30 FPS threshold typically considered the minimum for a playable experience. The data indicates that 4K is simply not viable for this GPU in Road 96, regardless of settings, due to the combination of VRAM capacity limitations and the Polaris 20 chip's memory bandwidth ceiling.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this hardware in Road 96?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 with Medium settings achieves 61.9 FPS, which balances visual quality with smoothness. For higher frame rates, 1080p Low yields 83.1 FPS, while 1440p Low at 50.7 FPS is also playable.

Q: Why does the frame rate drop so drastically from 1080p to 4K?

A: The RX 570's 4 GB VRAM and 224.0 GB/s memory bandwidth are insufficient for the pixel count at 3840x2160. The FPS drops from 83.1 at 1080p Low to 25.6 at 4K Low, a 69.2% reduction, indicating the GPU is the limiting component.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-12400 strong enough for this game?

A: Yes, the CPU's synthetic scores, including a passmark_multithread score of 18747 and a cinebench_r23_singlecore score of 2249, place it in the 77th percentile of all CPUs. The FPS scaling patterns confirm that the GPU, not the CPU, is the bottleneck.

Q: How does this GPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RX 570's average benchmark score of 30158 is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 (30109, 0.2% delta) and the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT (30097, 0.2% delta), despite the significant generational gap.

Q: Can this configuration handle Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: Ultra settings at 1920x1080 produce an average of 35.4 FPS. While this is technically playable, it is below the 60 FPS target, and the 4 GB VRAM may cause texture pop-in or stuttering during scene transitions.

Q: What does the combo rank of 1638 out of 1684 indicate?

A: This rank places the i5-12400 + RX 570 combination in the bottom 2.7% of all tested configurations for Road 96. This low ranking is directly attributable to the GPU's inability to handle higher resolutions, as the CPU's performance is competitive with mid-range desktop processors.