Road 96

# Road 96 — Intel Core i5-12400 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080

The combination of the Intel Core i5-12400 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 produces a benchmark profile that is heavily GPU-bound at lower resolutions and progressively more balanced as resolution climbs. In Road 96, this pairing delivers average frame rates ranging from 367 FPS at 1080p Low to 57 FPS at 4K Ultra, with the data showing a clear transition from CPU-limited territory at 1080p to a GPU-dominated workload at 4K. The RTX 5080, with its 16 GB of GDDR7 memory and 960.0 GB/s bandwidth, demonstrates substantial headroom in this adventure title, while the i5-12400's six cores and twelve threads keep pace admirably until pixel count becomes the dominant factor.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data across the three tested resolutions reveals a steep and consistent scaling curve. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 367 FPS, which drops to 234 FPS at 1440p Low — a reduction of 133 FPS, or approximately 36% lower performance when moving from 1080p to 1440p. Continuing to 4K Low, the average falls to 124 FPS, another 110 FPS decline from the 1440p figure. This pattern indicates that at Low settings, the rendering workload scales nearly linearly with pixel count, suggesting the GPU is the primary limiting factor even at 1080p.

At High settings, the scaling behaves differently. The 1080p High result of 217 FPS drops to 138 FPS at 1440p High (a 79 FPS decline, or roughly 36% reduction), then further to 73 FPS at 4K High (a 65 FPS drop from 1440p). The percentage decline from 1440p to 4K at High settings is approximately 47%, which is slightly steeper than the Low settings decline of about 47% as well — actually, the Low settings show a 47% drop from 1440p to 4K (234 to 124), while High shows a 47% drop as well (138 to 73). This near-identical proportional scaling suggests that Road 96's rendering pipeline responds predictably to resolution changes regardless of quality preset.

The Ultra preset reveals the most demanding scenario. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS falls to 57, which is only 41% of the 1440p Ultra figure of 108 FPS. This disproportionately large drop at 4K Ultra indicates that the highest quality settings introduce effects that are particularly expensive at high pixel counts, likely related to shading complexity and memory bandwidth utilization. The RTX 5080's 960.0 GB/s bandwidth is clearly being taxed at this configuration. The data supports a conclusion that Road 96 at 4K Ultra is firmly GPU-limited, with the i5-12400 providing sufficient CPU throughput to avoid becoming the bottleneck.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 brings six physical cores and twelve threads to this pairing, operating at a base clock of 2.50 GHz and boosting to 4.40 GHz. In synthetic benchmarks, this processor achieves a multi-thread score of 15,989 in Cinebench R23 and a single-core score of 2,257 in the same test. The 3DMark results show a scaling pattern from 1,692 in the 2-thread test to 5,890 in the max-thread test, indicating that the processor's performance scales reasonably well with additional threads up to its 12-thread ceiling.

In Road 96, the CPU's role appears most significant at 1080p Low, where the 367 FPS average suggests the game engine is capable of very high frame rates but is likely constrained by the CPU's ability to feed the GPU with draw calls and game state updates. The fact that 1080p Ultra produces 170 FPS — still well above typical display refresh rates — indicates that even at maximum quality settings, the i5-12400 has enough single-thread performance to keep up with the RTX 5080 at 1080p. The processor's single-core Cinebench R23 score of 2,257 places it in the 72nd percentile among all CPUs, which is a strong indicator of adequate per-thread performance for game logic.

The L3 cache configuration of 18 MB shared across six cores, along with 1.25 MB L2 per core, provides sufficient data locality for Road 96's procedural narrative sequences. The 3DMark single-thread score of 910 and 2-thread score of 1,692 suggest that the game's primary thread benefits from the 4.40 GHz boost clock. Notably, the CPU's nearest rival in average benchmark score is the AMD EPYC 7643, which scores 18,697 (a 0.1% delta in the i5's favor), yet that server-class chip would likely behave very differently in gaming workloads due to architectural differences. The i5-12400's 72nd percentile ranking among all CPUs confirms it as a solid mid-range gaming processor that, in this pairing, does not become the limiting factor until frame rates exceed approximately 300 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is the dominant component in this configuration, featuring 10,752 shading units, 336 TMUs, and 112 ROPs. Its memory subsystem consists of 16 GB of GDDR7 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's boost clock of 2,617 MHz and base clock of 2,295 MHz, combined with its 56.28 TFLOPS FP32 compute throughput, provide substantial raw performance for Road 96's visually stylized environments.

In the benchmark data, the RTX 5080's role becomes increasingly evident as resolution rises. At 4K Ultra, the 57 FPS average represents a clear GPU-bound scenario, where the graphics card's pixel throughput and memory bandwidth are the determining factors. The GPU's pixel rate of 293.1 GPixel/s and texture rate of 879.3 GTexel/s are being heavily utilized at this configuration. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 8,637 places the RTX 5080 in the 87th percentile among all GPUs, confirming its high-end positioning.

The GPU's nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the AMD Radeon 8060S at 55,757 (a 0.6% delta in the RTX 5080's favor) and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB at 55,698 (a 0.7% delta). This close grouping in synthetic benchmarks, however, does not necessarily translate to identical gaming performance, as Road 96's specific rendering characteristics may favor NVIDIA's Blackwell architecture. The GPU's 16 GB VRAM capacity is more than sufficient for Road 96 at any resolution and settings combination, as evidenced by the fact that even the most demanding 4K Ultra configuration does not appear to suffer from memory capacity limitations — the frame rate drop from 1440p Ultra to 4K Ultra (108 to 57 FPS) is consistent with compute and bandwidth scaling rather than VRAM swapping.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience across all three resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the combo achieves 269 FPS with a minimum of 229 FPS and maximum of 309 FPS, providing a smooth experience well beyond any standard display refresh rate. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 171 FPS with a minimum of 146 FPS, still comfortably above 144 Hz displays. The 4K Medium result of 91 FPS with a minimum of 77 FPS and maximum of 104 FPS provides a playable experience for 60 Hz displays with headroom for variable refresh rate monitors.

For users prioritizing maximum visual fidelity, the Ultra preset delivers 170 FPS at 1080p, 108 FPS at 1440p, and 57 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra figure falls below the 60 FPS threshold that many consider the minimum for smooth gameplay, making this configuration marginal for 4K Ultra. The High preset represents a reasonable middle ground, offering 217 FPS at 1080p, 138 FPS at 1440p, and 73 FPS at 4K — the latter being suitable for 60 Hz displays with some margin.

The Low preset, while producing extremely high frame rates (367 FPS at 1080p, 234 FPS at 1440p, 124 FPS at 4K), likely sacrifices visual quality that contributes to Road 96's atmospheric adventure presentation. The data suggests that the Medium preset at 1440p provides the best combination of visual fidelity and performance headroom, as the 171 FPS average with a 146 FPS minimum ensures consistent frame pacing without dropping below typical high-refresh-rate display capabilities. For 4K users, the Medium preset's 91 FPS average offers the best experience, as it maintains a minimum of 77 FPS, ensuring no dips below 60 FPS.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achieved by this combo in Road 96?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 367, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K Ultra in Road 96?

A: No, the 4K Ultra preset produces an average of 57 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS threshold. The 4K Medium preset achieves 91 FPS and is the recommended 4K configuration.

Q: How does the RTX 5080 compare to its nearest GPU rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5080's average benchmark score is 56,083, which is 0.6% higher than the AMD Radeon 8060S at 55,757 and 0.7% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB at 55,698.

Q: What is the FPS difference between 1080p and 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 217 at 1080p to 73 at 4K, representing a reduction of 144 FPS, or approximately 66% lower performance at 4K.

Q: Does the CPU become a bottleneck at any tested configuration?

A: The data indicates potential CPU limitation only at 1080p Low settings, where the 367 FPS average approaches the i5-12400's practical frame delivery ceiling. At all other settings and resolutions, the GPU is the limiting factor.

Q: What are the minimum FPS values recorded for the Medium preset?

A: The Medium preset minimum FPS values are 229 at 1080p, 146 at 1440p, and 77 at 4K, ensuring no configuration drops below 60 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest performance across all settings. The Low preset produces an average of 367 FPS. Medium settings yield 269 FPS average with a minimum of 229 FPS and maximum of 309 FPS. High settings produce 217 FPS average. The Ultra preset achieves 170 FPS average. These figures demonstrate that at 1080p, even the most demanding settings remain far above display refresh rate requirements.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance scales down proportionally. Low settings produce 234 FPS average. Medium settings deliver 171 FPS average with a minimum of 146 FPS and maximum of 197 FPS. High settings achieve 138 FPS average. Ultra settings produce 108 FPS average. The 1440p results indicate that this resolution is well within the comfortable operating range for this combo across all quality presets.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's workload becomes substantial. Low settings yield 124 FPS average. Medium settings produce 91 FPS average with a minimum of 77 FPS and maximum of 104 FPS. High settings achieve 73 FPS average. Ultra settings deliver 57 FPS average. The 4K results show a clear progression where each quality tier reduces performance by a meaningful margin, with the gap between Low and Ultra at 4K being 67 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K, with its 91 FPS average and 77 FPS minimum, represents the recommended configuration for 4K gaming on this combo.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for Road 96, this pairing of the Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 ranks 224th out of 3,713 tested combos. This places the configuration in the top 6% of all tested systems for this game, indicating that it delivers performance well above the median. The rank of 224 out of 3,713 reflects a strong overall showing, particularly considering that the i5-12400 is a mid-range processor while the RTX 5080 is a high-end GPU.

The ranking suggests that Road 96 is not exceptionally demanding compared to other titles in the benchmark database, as this combo achieves frame rates that would likely rank higher in more graphically intensive games. The combination's performance profile is characterized by very high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, with playable but not exceptional performance at 4K Ultra. The 224th rank out of 3,713 combos indicates that while there are 223 configurations that perform better in this game, the vast majority of tested systems (3,489) deliver lower performance. This positions the combo as a strong performer for Road 96, capable of delivering high-refresh-rate experiences at mainstream resolutions and solid 4K performance at medium to high settings.