Road 96

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 delivers a wide spread of performance in Road 96, with average frame rates ranging from a modest 55 FPS at 4K Ultra to a blistering 354 FPS at 1080p Low. The data shows that this combination is heavily influenced by both resolution and graphics preset, making it a versatile but not universally maxed-out setup for this adventure title. The measured FPS values across the twelve tested scenarios reveal a clear pattern: the RTX 4080 provides immense raw throughput, but at higher resolutions and quality settings, the demands of the render pipeline begin to cap the output, while at lower settings, the CPU becomes the limiting factor.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial and tells a clear story about which component is driving the frame rate at each setting level. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 354 at 1080p to 226 at 1440p, a reduction of 128 FPS, and then further down to 119 at 4K, another 107 FPS drop. This steep descent indicates that even at the lowest quality preset, the GPU is still being pushed significantly by the resolution increase; the 4080 is capable of generating hundreds of frames at 1080p, but the pixel count at 4K begins to overwhelm its shading and rasterization throughput.

Moving to Medium settings, the scaling is more gradual in absolute terms but still pronounced. The average frame rate drops from 260 at 1080p to 165 at 1440p, and then to 87 at 4K. The 4K result here is particularly telling, as it is only 32 FPS higher than the 4K Low result, suggesting that the additional workload from Medium settings has a multiplicative effect with the higher resolution. At High settings, the trend continues, with 209 FPS at 1080p, 133 FPS at 1440p, and 71 FPS at 4K.

The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic resolution sensitivity. The 4K Ultra average of 55 FPS is the lowest measured in the entire dataset, while the 1080p Ultra figure reaches 164 FPS. The gap between 1440p Ultra (104 FPS) and 4K Ultra (55 FPS) is a 49 FPS loss, which is proportionally larger than the drop seen at lower settings. This indicates that the combination of Ultra preset and 4K resolution creates a bottleneck almost entirely on the GPU's compute and memory resources, as the RTX 4080’s 16 GB of GDDR6X memory and 716.8 GB/s bandwidth are pushed to their limit. The data suggests that for a consistent 60 FPS experience, 4K is only viable on Low or Medium settings, while 1440p can handle High with headroom, and 1080p is the only resolution where Ultra maintains a triple-digit average.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F 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. Its benchmark results, such as a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 12380 and a single-core score of 1680, place it in the 73rd percentile among all CPUs. In the context of Road 96, which is an adventure title that does not typically stress all cores equally, this processor appears to be more than sufficient to feed the RTX 4080 at lower resolutions, but its influence is visible in the extreme high-end frame rates.

At 1080p Low, the average FPS of 354 is likely near the ceiling of what the CPU can command the GPU to render, as the graphics workload is relatively light, allowing the 12 threads to keep the RTX 4080 saturated. The single-thread performance, evidenced by a Passmark single-thread score of 3481, is strong enough to avoid stalling the frame pipeline when the GPU is not the primary constraint. However, the data shows that as resolution increases, the CPU's role diminishes. The 4K Low result of 119 FPS is still high, but it is significantly lower than the 1080p Low figure, indicating that the GPU is now the limiting factor, and the CPU has ample headroom.

The absence of min FPS data for Low and High settings in most resolutions makes it difficult to assess frame pacing issues, but for the Medium preset, where min and max values are available, the spread is consistent. At 1080p Medium, the min FPS is 221 and the max is 298, showing a 77 FPS variance. At 1440p Medium, the range is 140 to 190, and at 4K Medium, 74 to 101. This narrowing range at higher resolutions further confirms that the GPU is becoming the dominant bottleneck, as the CPU’s ability to generate frames is less stressed when the GPU takes longer to complete each frame. Given that the i5-12400F’s nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS with a nearly identical average score (19047 vs 19039, a 0% delta), it is clear that this CPU is well-positioned for mainstream gaming, but it is not a top-tier performer that would unlock every last frame at 1080p in a title like this.

FAQ

*Q: Can this combo run Road 96 at 4K with a consistent 60 FPS?*

A: The data shows that at 4K Medium, the average FPS is 87 with a minimum of 74, which exceeds 60 FPS. However, at 4K High, the average drops to 71 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 55 FPS. Therefore, a locked 60 FPS experience is only guaranteed on Medium settings or lower.

Q: What is the highest quality preset that maintains an average above 100 FPS at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the High preset achieves an average of 133 FPS, and the Medium preset reaches 165 FPS. The Ultra preset drops to 104 FPS, which is still above 100 but with less headroom. So, High is the highest preset that comfortably stays above 100 FPS, while Ultra just barely clears that bar.

Q: How does the RTX 4080's performance here compare to its nearest rival, the RTX 4080 SUPER?

A: The benchmark data for the GPUs shows that the RTX 4080 has an average score of 54247, while the RTX 4080 SUPER scores 54209, a delta of 0.1%. This indicates that their overall computational performance is virtually identical, and in Road 96, the measured FPS would likely be indistinguishable between the two.

Q: Is the i5-12400F a bottleneck at 1080p Low settings?

A: The 1080p Low result of 354 FPS is extremely high, and it is likely that the CPU is the limiting factor at this point, as the GPU is not heavily taxed. However, the data does not provide a comparison to a faster CPU, so it is not possible to quantify the exact bottleneck, but the sheer frame rate suggests the CPU is working at its maximum potential.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo if the target is 144 FPS?

A: At 1920x1080, all presets except Ultra achieve an average above 144 FPS; Low is 354, Medium is 260, and High is 209. At 2560x1440, only the Low preset (226 FPS) and Medium preset (165 FPS) exceed 144 FPS, while High falls short at 133 FPS. Therefore, 1080p offers the most flexibility, but 1440p on Medium is the highest resolution that can hit this target.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance relate to the game's results?

A: The i5-12400F’s Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 12380 indicates solid multi-threading, but Road 96 is likely not heavily multi-threaded. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 5895 and max-thread score of 5912 are close, suggesting that the additional threads beyond a certain point do not add much performance. This aligns with the game showing diminishing returns from the CPU as resolution increases, where the GPU workload dominates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The dataset provides a complete matrix of average frame rates across three resolutions and four settings presets, with min and max values included for the Medium preset at each resolution.

At 1920x1080, the results are as follows:

• Low: Average 354 FPS
• Medium: Average 260 FPS, with a min of 221 FPS and a max of 298 FPS
• High: Average 209 FPS
• Ultra: Average 164 FPS

The progression from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a steady decline, with the Ultra preset being 190 FPS slower than Low. The min FPS at Medium is still well above 200, indicating that even in demanding scenes, the frame rate remains exceptionally high.

At 2560x1440, the performance scales down predictably:

• Low: Average 226 FPS
• Medium: Average 165 FPS, with a min of 140 FPS and a max of 190 FPS
• High: Average 133 FPS
• Ultra: Average 104 FPS

The 1440p results show that the gap between Low and Ultra is 122 FPS. The min FPS at Medium (140) is close to the average for High, suggesting that the Medium preset provides a very stable experience, while the Ultra preset’s 104 FPS average is just shy of the 120 FPS mark that some high-refresh displays target.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates drop significantly, reflecting the GPU's workload:

• Low: Average 119 FPS
• Medium: Average 87 FPS, with a min of 74 FPS and a max of 101 FPS
• High: Average 71 FPS
• Ultra: Average 55 FPS

The 4K data reveals that only the Low preset maintains an average above 100 FPS. The High preset’s 71 FPS is playable but not ideal for high-refresh monitors, and the Ultra preset’s 55 FPS is the only measurement in the entire test suite that falls below the standard 60 FPS threshold.

How This Combo Ranks

In the overall database of tested combinations for Road 96, the Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 pairing is ranked 257th out of 3713 combos. This places it in the top 7% of all tested systems, indicating a very high-performing setup for this game. The rank is a holistic measure that accounts for all resolutions and settings, and given the RTX 4080’s position in the 86th percentile of all GPUs and the i5-12400F’s 73rd percentile ranking, this result is consistent with a strong pairing.

However, the rank also suggests that there are 256 configurations that deliver better overall performance in Road 96. These would likely include combinations with higher-end CPUs, such as those with more cores or higher boost clocks, paired with the same or similar GPUs. While the 4080 is a top-tier card, the i5-12400F is a mid-range processor, and its limitations at very high frame rates at 1080p might prevent this combo from climbing higher in the rankings. The data shows that the combo is more competitive at 4K, where the GPU is the primary bottleneck, but at 1080p, faster CPUs could extract more frames, pushing better-ranked combos ahead. The fact that the CPU’s nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS, has a nearly identical average benchmark score (19047 vs 19039) suggests that this level of CPU performance is a plateau, and moving to a higher-tier processor would be required to improve the combo’s rank.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend heavily on the user's display resolution and refresh rate target.

For 4K displays (3840x2160), the recommendation is to use the Medium preset. The average FPS of 87 with a minimum of 74 FPS provides a smooth experience that is well above the 60 FPS standard, and it is the highest preset that consistently stays above that threshold. High settings drop the average to 71 FPS, which is still playable but leaves less margin for demanding scenes, while Ultra at 55 FPS is not recommended for fluid gameplay. Low settings at 119 FPS are viable, but the visual quality trade-off is unnecessary given the Medium preset’s performance.

For 1440p displays (2560x1440), the High preset is the best balance. It achieves an average of 133 FPS, which is ideal for 120Hz or 144Hz monitors, and it offers significantly better visual fidelity than Medium (165 FPS) without sacrificing the high refresh rate experience. The Ultra preset at 104 FPS is also acceptable for 100Hz displays, but High provides more headroom and is the safer choice for consistent frame pacing. Low settings at 226 FPS are overkill for most displays and would only be useful for competitive play, which is not the focus of an adventure title.

For 1080p displays (1920x1080), the Ultra preset is thoroughly recommended. With an average of 164 FPS, it fully utilizes high-refresh-rate monitors (144Hz or 165Hz) while providing the best visual quality available in the game. The High preset (209 FPS) and Medium (260 FPS) offer even higher frame rates, but they do not provide a tangible benefit on most standard 1080p monitors, and the visual downgrade is not worth the extra frames. The Low preset (354 FPS) is only relevant for users with 360Hz displays who prioritize maximum frame rate over aesthetics, but for the vast majority, Ultra is the clear winner.

In summary, the data indicates that this combo is best utilized by targeting a 60 FPS experience at 4K on Medium, a high-refresh experience at 1440p on High, and a maxed-out experience at 1080p on Ultra.