Road 96

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 places at rank 94 out of 3713 tested combos in Road 96. This puts the pairing in the top 2.5% of all configurations tested for this title, a position that reflects the extreme upper echelon of gaming hardware. The RTX 5090's percentile rank of 92 among all GPUs is a strong indicator of its class-leading position, while the i5-12400 sits at percentile 72 among all CPUs. The combination's ranking in-game suggests that the system is far more capable than the vast majority of setups, though it does not claim the absolute top spot, indicating that some other pairings manage to extract even higher frame rates in this adventure title.

The data shows a system that is heavily GPU-limited at higher resolutions, with the CPU's mid-range standing being masked by the sheer power of the graphics card. When examining the raw benchmark scores, the RTX 5090's average benchmark score of 79842 is massive, dwarfing the i5-12400's average of 18683. This asymmetry is crucial to understanding the combo's performance. The CPU's nearest rival, the AMD EPYC 7643, scores 18697, which is a 0.1% difference, effectively making them performance equals in synthetic tests. Similarly, the Intel Core i7-1355U is 0.3% ahead, and the AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 is 0.7% ahead. On the GPU side, the closest competitor is the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB, which scores 79605, a 0.3% delta, showing the RTX 5090's dominance in its own benchmark category.

GPU Role

The RTX 5090 is the undisputed performance driver in this configuration, and its specifications underline why. It carries 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s. This massive memory pool and bandwidth are far beyond what a game like Road 96 requires at any resolution, but they ensure that the GPU is never the bottleneck in terms of memory capacity or throughput. The graphics card operates at a base clock of 2017 MHz and boosts to 2407 MHz, with memory clocked at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). Its 21760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs provide the computational muscle, while 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores handle ray tracing and AI workloads, respectively.

In Road 96, the GPU's role is pivotal. At 4K Ultra settings, the system produces 62 FPS average, which is the lowest measured frame rate in the entire dataset. This is despite the GPU's massive FP32 compute of 104.8 TFLOPS. The card's pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s are more than sufficient to handle the game's rendering demands. The measured FPS data shows that the GPU is the limiting factor as resolution and settings scale up. At 1080p Low, the system hits 401 FPS, but this drops to 185 FPS at 1080p Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra at the same resolution highlights how the GPU's workload increases with graphical fidelity, and the RTX 5090's 92nd percentile standing among all GPUs confirms it is one of the fastest cards available, even if it isn't the absolute best in every synthetic test.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance for the optimal experience in Road 96. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers an average of 185 FPS, which is still exceptionally smooth and well above the threshold for high-refresh-rate monitors. However, the Medium preset at 1080p yields 294 FPS average, with a minimum of 250 FPS and a maximum of 338 FPS, offering a massive frame rate boost while likely maintaining near-identical visual quality in a stylized adventure game. The jump from Medium to Ultra at 1080p costs 109 FPS on average, which is a significant trade-off for marginal visual gainsasi.

At 2560x1440, the High preset achieves 151 FPS average, which is ideal for 144Hz displays and provides a balanced experience. Moving to Ultra at 1440p drops the average to 118 FPS, which is still playable but starts to approach the limits of high-refresh-rate panels. The Medium preset at 1440p is the outlier, delivering 187 FPS with a minimum of 159 FPS, making it the best choice for competitive play or for users who prioritize frame rate above all else. For 4K gaming, the High preset at 3840x2160 produces 80 FPS average, which is a solid console-like experience, but the Medium preset at 99 FPS average (with a minimum of 84 FPS) is arguably the sweet spot for 60Hz displays, offering headroom above the 60 FPS target without the performance hit of Ultra. The Ultra preset at 4K is the worst option, yielding only 62 FPS average, which is borderline for a smooth experience on standard displaysasi. Ultimately, the data suggests that Medium or High presets provide the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, with the RTX 5090's power being best utilized at 1440p High or 4K Medium.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 2560x1440 on High settings provides an average of 151 FPS, which is a strong balance between visual quality and frame rate. At 4K, the High preset drops to 80 FPS, which is still playable but not as fluid. The 1440p resolution offers the most headroom for high-refresh-rate monitors.

Q: How does the RTX 5090 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5090 has an average benchmark score of 79842, which is 0.3% ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (score 79605), 0.6% ahead of the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (score 79396), and 1.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (score 78940). It trails the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X by 1.4% (score 80959).

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-12400 a bottleneck for the RTX 5090 in this game?

A: The measured FPS data suggests the CPU is not a bottleneck at higher resolutions. At 4K, the frame rates are lower (80 FPS on High) compared to 1080p (237 FPS on High), indicating that the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU's average benchmark score of 18683 is much lower than the GPU's, but the game's performance scaling with resolution points to GPU limitation.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 401 FPS, while the Ultra preset achieves 185 FPS. This is a difference of 216 FPS, or roughly 54% lower performance at Ultra settings. The Medium preset sits in between at 294 FPS.

Q: Does the RTX 5090's 32 GB of VRAM impact performance in Road 96?

A: The game is an adventure title with stylized graphics, and the data does not indicate any VRAM limitation. The 32 GB GDDR7 memory with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth is far more than the game requires, and the measured FPS is more dependent on resolution and settings than memory capacity.

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

A: The combo ranks 94th out of 3713 tested combos in Road 96, placing it in the top 2.5% of all tested systems. This is a very high ranking, but it is not the absolute top, indicating that some other CPU and GPU pairings achieve higher frame rates.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and predictable scaling pattern from 1080p to 4K. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 237 FPS at 1920x1080 to 151 FPS at 2560x1440, and then to 80 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 36% drop in performance from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 47% drop from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is more dramatic at Low settings, where the system achieves 401 FPS at 1080p, 255 FPS at 1440p, and 135 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings is 66%, which is steeper than the 66% drop at High settings (from 237 to 80 FPS). This consistent scaling pattern is a strong indicator of GPU-bound performance.

The fact that frame rates drop so significantly as resolution increases points directly to the GPU as the limiting component. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rates would remain relatively flat across resolutions, as the CPU workload does not change with resolution. The data shows the opposite: higher resolutions lead to lower FPS, which is the classic signature of a GPU-limited scenario. The RTX 5090 is powerful, but even its 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 1.79 TB/s of memory bandwidth cannot maintain 4K performance at the same level as 1080p. The game's engine scales its rendering load with pixel count, and the GPU is the component that must process those additional pixels. The i5-12400, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, is capable of feeding the GPU at 1080p, as evidenced by the 401 FPS at Low settings, but it is not the primary constraint on performance. The resolution scaling data makes it clear that the RTX 5090 is the component that determines the frame rate in Road 96, and users who want higher FPS at 4K would need to lower settings, as the CPU is not the limiting factor.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. It features 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1.25 MB of L2 cache per core, and 18 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU's synthetic benchmark scores show a single-thread score of 910 in 3dmark, 227 in Cinebench R15, and 2257 in Cinebench R23. Its multi-threaded performance is solid, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 15989 and a Passmark multithread score of 18747. These numbers place the CPU in the 72nd percentile of all CPUs, indicating it is a solid mid-range performer, but it is nowhere near the top of the charts.

In Road 96, the CPU's role is secondary to the GPU. The game is an adventure title that does not appear to be heavily CPU-bound, as evidenced by the high frame rates at 1080p. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 401 FPS, which is a very high frame rate that would stress many CPUs, but the i5-12400 handles it without issue. The CPU's boost clock of 4.40 GHz is sufficient for the game's single-threaded tasks, and its 12 threads provide ample headroom for any multi-threaded workloads the game might use. The nearest rival comparison shows that the i5-12400 is essentially tied with the AMD EPYC 7643, which is a server-class chip, and the Intel Core i7-1355U, which is a mobile processor. This suggests that the CPU's performance is well-balanced for gaming, even if it doesn't have the raw multi-core power of higher-end desktop chips.

The data shows that the CPU is not the bottleneck in Road 96, as the frame rates scale with resolution and settings in a way that is consistent with GPU limitations. The CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are more than enough for this game, and its 18 MB of L3 cache helps with data locality. The 65W TDP indicates a power-efficient design, and the CPU supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory, though the specific memory configuration is not detailed in the measured FPS data. Overall, the i5-12400 provides a stable foundation for the RTX 5090, and its performance is sufficient to avoid limiting the GPU's output in this title. The CPU's 3dmark scores, including 5873 for 16 threads and 5890 for max threads, show that it scales well with threading, which is a positive sign for games that use multiple cores. However, the game's performance is ultimately dictated by the GPU, and the CPU's role is to keep up with the graphics card's demands, which it does admirably.