Road 96

Road 96 presents an interesting case study for the Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti pairing. The measured frame rates across resolutions reveal a component dynamic that shifts dramatically depending on the target display. At 1080p, the system is clearly capable of pushing frame rates well beyond typical high-refresh monitors, while at 4K, the demands of the game's rendering engine start to tax the graphics card significantly. This analysis breaks down the measured data to understand where the bottleneck lies and what settings provide the optimal experience.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The transition from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 paints a clear picture of scalability. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 189.5 FPS at 1080p to 121.9 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 64.6 FPS at 4K. This represents a substantial 65.9% reduction in frame rate from the lowest to the highest resolution tested. The scaling is not linear, however, which is a critical observation. The gap between 1080p and 1440p is 67.6 FPS, while the gap between 1440p and 4K is 57.3 FPS. This suggests that the performance impact of resolution increases are not entirely uniform, with the jump to 4K being the most punishing.

This data strongly indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions. The RTX 4070 Ti, with its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, is being pushed harder as pixel count increases. The frame rate at 4K High (64.6 FPS) is barely above the 60 FPS threshold, showing that the card is working near its limits. Conversely, the relatively high frame rates at 1080p, even at Ultra settings (151.8 FPS), suggest that the CPU, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, is more than capable of feeding the GPU at lower resolutions. The bottleneck shifts from being CPU-bound at 1080p to decidedly GPU-bound at 4K.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i5-12400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture. Its base clock of 2.50 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz are key to its performance. In the context of Road 96, an adventure game, the CPU's role is to handle game logic, physics, and frame pacing. The benchmark scores for this processor, such as a Passmark single-thread score of 3481 and a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 16518, indicate a strong balance of single and multi-threaded performance.

The data suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is not a bottleneck. The 325.1 FPS average at Low settings is a clear indicator that the i5-12400F can process frames far faster than the GPU can render them at lower graphical loads. Even at 1080p Ultra, the 151.8 FPS result shows headroom remains. The processor's 18 MB of shared L3 cache likely helps with data access for game assets. The "3dmark_16_threads" score of 5895, compared to the "3dmark_2_threads" score of 1699, shows that scaling with threads is present but not perfectly linear, which is typical for gaming workloads that often rely on a few primary threads. This CPU is essentially providing a high ceiling, allowing the GPU to be the deciding factor in performance at higher resolutions.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is the powerhouse in this pairing. Built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process, it features 7680 shading units and a boost clock of 2610 MHz. Its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory provides a substantial 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's compute capabilities, including a FP32 performance of 40.09 TFLOPS, are directly reflected in the measured frame rates. The data shows a clear correlation: as the resolution increases, the GPU's workload expands, and frame rates drop.

The performance delta between settings at the same resolution is telling. At 1440p, the difference between Low (206.6 FPS) and Ultra (96.4 FPS) is 110.2 FPS, demonstrating the significant impact of graphical fidelity on the GPU. The 4K results further illustrate this, with a drop from 109.2 FPS at Low to 48.3 FPS at Ultra. This 60.9 FPS difference at 4K shows that the game's Ultra preset is particularly demanding, likely due to heavy use of shaders and post-processing effects that stress the GPU's compute units. The 80 ROPs and 240 TMUs are working in tandem to produce these pixels, and at 4K, they are clearly saturated.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Based on the measured data, the optimal settings depend heavily on the user's display and performance goals. For 1080p users, the High preset at 189.5 FPS is an excellent choice, providing a smooth experience that exceeds the refresh rate of most monitors. The Ultra preset at 151.8 FPS is also viable if visual fidelity is the priority, but the data shows that High offers a 37.7 FPS advantage with likely minimal visual difference in a game like this.

For 1440p, the High preset at 121.9 FPS is the sweet spot, offering a high frame rate that is well-suited for fast-paced action. The Medium preset at 150.7 FPS is also a strong contender for those who prefer higher frame rates, but the data suggests High is the best balance. At 4K, the situation is more nuanced. The High preset at 64.6 FPS is playable, but the Medium preset at 81.6 FPS offers a more comfortable margin above 60 FPS. The Low preset at 109.2 FPS ensures a very smooth experience but sacrifices visual quality. The Ultra preset at 48.3 FPS is not recommended for 4K as it falls below the standard 60 FPS target. The data implies that Medium or High at 4K is the best compromise.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This specific combination of the Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti ranks 247th out of 1684 tested combos in Road 96. This places it in the top 14.7% of all systems tested, indicating a very strong performance tier. The rank is a measure of the overall frame rate performance across all tested scenarios.

This ranking is impressive but not top-tier, which aligns with the data. The RTX 4070 Ti is a high-end GPU, but it is not the absolute fastest, and the i5-12400F is a solid mid-range CPU. The combination is well-balanced, but there is room for improvement. The rank of 247 suggests that while this system will handle Road 96 with ease, there are 246 other combinations that deliver higher average frame rates, likely featuring more powerful GPUs or CPUs. The data confirms that this pairing is a high-performance option that sits comfortably in the upper echelon of tested systems.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The following is the complete measured FPS data for this combination in Road 96.

1920x1080:

• Low: 325.1 FPS
• Medium: 237.3 FPS
• High: 189.5 FPS
• Ultra: 151.8 FPS

2560x1440:

• Low: 206.6 FPS
• Medium: 150.7 FPS
• High: 121.9 FPS
• Ultra: 96.4 FPS

3840x2160:

• Low: 109.2 FPS
• Medium: 81.6 FPS
• High: 64.6 FPS
• Ultra: 48.3 FPS

The data shows a consistent pattern: frame rates decrease as both resolution and graphical settings increase. The largest single drop is from 1080p Low (325.1 FPS) to 1080p Ultra (151.8 FPS), a difference of 173.3 FPS. This highlights the dramatic impact of the Ultra preset. The 4K Ultra result of 48.3 FPS is the only measured average below 60 FPS, confirming that this setting is too demanding for a consistent experience at that resolution.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to achieve a consistent 60+ FPS?

A: All tested resolutions and settings except 4K Ultra achieve an average of 60 FPS or higher. The 4K Ultra preset is the only one that falls short, with an average of 48.3 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU's performance compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i5-12400F has an average benchmark score of 19221. This is 0.1% higher than the Intel Core i7-8700K (19210) and 0.3% higher than the Intel Core i5-1335U (19167). It is 0.7% lower than the AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS (19364) and 1.3% higher than the AMD EPYC 7773X (18979).

Q: What is the GPU's performance percentile relative to all other GPUs?

A: The RTX 4070 Ti is in the 85th percentile of all GPUs, indicating it performs better than 85% of the GPUs in the database.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more likely to be the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data suggests the GPU is the limiting factor even at 1080p. The frame rate drops from 325.1 FPS at Low to 151.8 FPS at Ultra, which is a direct result of increased GPU load, not CPU limitations.

Q: How much faster is the High preset compared to Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 1440p, the High preset averages 121.9 FPS, which is 25.5 FPS faster than the Ultra preset's 96.4 FPS.

Q: What is the total VRAM capacity and memory bandwidth of the RTX 4070 Ti?

A: The GPU has 12 GB of GDDR6X memory with a bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s.