Road 96

Road 96 is an adventure title that places narrative and atmosphere above graphical intensity, yet the measured data for the Intel Core i5-14400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER combination reveals a system with headroom to spare at nearly every setting. The benchmark results show a configuration that is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions but exhibits significant CPU influence at 1080p, where frame rates reach levels that far exceed the demands of the game's genre.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings is 144.6 FPS. This is the lowest result at 1080p but still provides a high-refresh-rate experience.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance compare to its closest rival?

A: The Intel Core i5-14400F has an average benchmark score of 32508, placing it in the 88th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-12800H, scores 32513, a delta of 0%, indicating virtually identical performance in synthetic multi-threaded tests.

Q: What is the memory configuration and bandwidth of the RTX 4070 SUPER?

A: The GPU features 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s. The memory clock is listed as 1313 MHz, which translates to 21 Gbps effective.

Q: What is the performance gap between Low and Ultra settings at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, the average FPS drops from 102.3 FPS on Low settings to 46.3 FPS on Ultra settings. This represents a significant 54.7% decrease in performance when moving from the lowest to the highest preset.

Q: Is the RTX 4070 SUPER more powerful than the AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE?

A: Yes, the RTX 4070 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 42576, placing it in the 84th percentile of all GPUs. The AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE has an average score of 42723, which is a delta of -0.3%, meaning the NVIDIA card is slightly ahead.

Q: What is the launch MSRP for this CPU and GPU combination?

A: The Intel Core i5-14400F has a launch MSRP of $196, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER has a launch MSRP of 599 USD.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is the primary driver of frame rates in this configuration, particularly as resolution scales upward. The GPU's specifications show a 5 nm Ada Lovelace chip with 7168 shading units and 224 tensor cores, capable of 35.48 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. The 12 GB of GDDR6X memory with a 504.2 GB/s bandwidth is more than sufficient for Road 96's asset streaming at 4K, where the data shows frame rates remain playable even at the highest settings.

The GPU's role becomes more pronounced at 4K resolution. The measured data shows a clear hierarchy where the GPU's compute and fill rate determine the upper bounds of performance. With a pixel rate of 198.0 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 554.4 GTexel/s, the card does not appear to be bottlenecked by raw throughput in this title. Instead, the scaling from Low to Ultra settings at 4K, where FPS falls from 102.3 to 46.3, suggests that the specific shader complexity and memory pressure of the Ultra preset are the limiting factors.

At 1440p and below, the GPU has enough headroom that the CPU begins to influence the results. The i5-14400F, with its 10 cores and 16 threads, provides a solid foundation, but the data at 1080p Low (308.4 FPS) points toward a scenario where the CPU's single-thread performance (R23 single-core score of 3093) may start to cap the GPU's potential output. The GPU's 84th percentile ranking among all GPUs and its close competitive position with the NVIDIA RTX A6000 (delta -0.2%) indicate a high-end part that is well-suited for driving high refresh rates in this less demanding adventure title.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 1440p and then to 4K reveals a classic scaling pattern, with the most significant FPS drops occurring at the highest resolution. From 1080p to 1440p at Ultra settings, the average FPS falls from 144.6 to 91.7. This represents a 36.6% reduction in frame rate. Moving from 1440p to 4K at Ultra, the FPS drops from 91.7 to 46.3, a further 49.5% reduction. This steepening decline indicates that the GPU is becoming the primary bottleneck at 4K Ultra, as the pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K, placing a massive load on the render output units.

The scaling at lower settings is less severe in percentage terms but still demonstrates the GPU's workload increase. At Low settings, the frame rate decreases from 308.4 FPS at 1080p to 195.9 FPS at 1440p (a 36.5% drop), and then to 102.3 FPS at 4K (a 47.8% drop). The fact that the percentage drop is similar between Low and Ultra settings from 1080p to 1440p suggests that the limiting factor is primarily resolution-driven rather than shader-driven at that stage. However, the larger drop from 1440p to 4K at Ultra (49.5%) compared to Low (47.8%) indicates that the combination of higher resolution and more complex effects on Ultra pushes the GPU closer to its limits.

These results indicate that the system is well-balanced for 1440p gaming, where even Ultra settings maintain an average of 91.7 FPS. For 4K, the data suggests that players may need to adjust settings to maintain a 60 FPS target, as only the Low (102.3 FPS) and Medium (74.2 FPS) presets exceed that threshold, while High (61.3 FPS) is just above it and Ultra (46.3 FPS) falls below.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal preset depends heavily on the target resolution and refresh rate. For users with a 60 Hz 4K display, the High preset is the most balanced choice, delivering an average of 61.3 FPS. This is a marginal 1.3 FPS above the 60 FPS threshold, so players seeking a more comfortable margin should consider the Medium preset, which provides 74.2 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K, averaging 46.3 FPS, is not recommended for a standard 60 Hz display due to the drop below the refresh rate threshold.

At 1440p, the High preset emerges as the sweet spot, delivering 116.1 FPS. This provides a smooth experience for high refresh rate monitors (up to 120 Hz). The Medium preset at 144.1 FPS is also excellent for 144 Hz displays, while Ultra at 91.7 FPS is perfectly playable and offers the best visual fidelity for players prioritizing image quality over maximum frame rates. The Low preset at 195.9 FPS offers diminishing returns in visual quality for the frame rate gain.

For 1080p, the data shows that the system is capable of exceeding 240 FPS on Medium settings (225.5 FPS) and approaching 300 FPS on Low (308.4 FPS). For most users, the Ultra preset at 144.6 FPS is the recommended choice, as it provides a high frame rate while utilizing the full visual capabilities of the game. The High preset at 180.3 FPS is a strong alternative for those with 165 Hz monitors who want a buffer above their refresh rate. Given that Road 96 is an adventure game with a focus on narrative rather than competitive multiplayer, prioritizing visual quality through the Ultra or High presets is generally the best experience, as the frame rate is already well above playability thresholds.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured results provides a detailed picture of the system's performance across three resolutions and four quality presets.

1920x1080 (1080p):

At this resolution, the system is rarely constrained. The Low preset delivers an average of 308.4 FPS, which is the highest measured result in the entire dataset. Moving to Medium reduces performance to 225.5 FPS, a 26.9% decrease. The High preset averages 180.3 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 144.6 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a total performance drop of 53.1%, with the most significant single-step reduction occurring between Low and Medium (82.9 FPS drop).

2560x1440 (1440p):

The 1440p results show a system that is still delivering high performance but with a clearer GPU workload. The Low preset averages 195.9 FPS, which is still exceptionally high. The Medium preset averages 144.1 FPS, a 26.4% reduction from Low. High settings deliver 116.1 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 91.7 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1440p results in a 53.2% reduction in frame rate, which is almost identical to the percentage drop seen at 1080p, suggesting consistent scaling behavior.

3840x2160 (4K):

At 4K, the GPU is pushed significantly harder. The Low preset still achieves an average of 102.3 FPS, which is a strong result for this resolution. The Medium preset averages 74.2 FPS, a 27.5% drop from Low. The High preset averages 61.3 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The Ultra preset averages 46.3 FPS, representing a 54.7% reduction from Low and a 24.5% reduction from High. This is the only configuration in the dataset where the average FPS falls below 60, indicating that Ultra settings at 4K are too demanding for a consistently smooth experience on this hardware. The data confirms that the RTX 4070 SUPER is a capable 4K GPU for this title, but only up to High settings.