Road 96

The Intel Core i5-14600KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER lands in the 323rd position out of 1,684 tested combinations for Road 96. That places this pairing in the top quintile of all configurations evaluated, a strong showing for a narrative adventure where frame pacing matters more than raw competitive edge. The combo outperforms roughly 81% of the field, and the data confirms that this is a system built for high-refresh displays without compromise.

How This Combo Ranks

The 323rd rank out of 1,684 combos puts this pairing in the upper echelon of tested systems. This is a meaningful result because Road 96 is not a graphically demanding title; it rewards systems that can maintain consistent frame delivery rather than those with extreme peak throughput. The CPU's standing reinforces this position. The i5-14600KF holds the 93rd percentile against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 49,367. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-14600K, scores 49,166, a delta of just 0.4% — effectively a statistical tie. The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X trails by 0.6%, while the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H is 1.4% behind. This CPU is not the bottleneck.

On the GPU side, the RTX 4070 SUPER sits at the 84th percentile among all graphics cards, with an average benchmark score of 42,576. The nearest competitor, the NVIDIA RTX A6000, is 0.2% ahead, and the AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE is 0.3% ahead. The AMD Radeon Pro 580X lags by 1.4%. These margins are small, meaning the GPU is well-matched to the CPU for this title. The rank reflects a balanced system where neither component drags the other down.

GPU Role

The RTX 4070 SUPER brings 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, yielding 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. For Road 96, a game with stylized visuals and limited texture streaming demands, this capacity is more than sufficient. The memory clock runs at 1313 MHz with 21 Gbps effective speed, which supports the card's ability to push high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p without hitting memory ceilings.

The GPU's boost clock of 2475 MHz, paired with a base of 1980 MHz, allows the Ada Lovelace architecture to flex its 7,168 shading units. The card also features 56 RT cores and 224 tensor cores, though Road 96 does not heavily rely on ray tracing or DLSS. The measured frame rates indicate that the GPU is the primary driver of performance at higher resolutions, but at 1080p, the CPU's single-thread strength takes over. The i5-14600KF's boost clock of 5.30 GHz and its 20 threads provide ample headroom for the game's logic and AI routines.

The data shows that the GPU's 220 W TDP is well-utilized in this context. The card's pixel rate of 198.0 GPixel/s and texture rate of 554.4 GTexel/s are more than adequate for the visual complexity of Road 96. The 35.48 TFLOPS FP32 throughput ensures that even Ultra settings at 1440p remain playable, though the frame rate drops noticeably at 4K Ultra.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of scaling from 1080p to 4K. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 307.7 FPS, which drops to 194.1 FPS at 1440p Low and further to 103.4 FPS at 4K Low. That is a 66% reduction from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the GPU becomes the limiting factor as pixel count rises. The CPU has ample headroom at lower resolutions, as evidenced by the 307.7 FPS figure, which far exceeds any display's refresh rate.

At Medium settings, the scaling is similar: 227.4 FPS at 1080p, 144.7 FPS at 1440p, and 73.4 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 36%, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 49%. This suggests a non-linear scaling curve where the GPU's memory bandwidth and shading throughput become increasingly taxed at higher resolutions. High settings show the same trend: 179.8 FPS at 1080p, 117.6 FPS at 1440p, and 62.3 FPS at 4K.

Ultra settings amplify the GPU bottleneck. At 1080p Ultra, the combo still delivers 144.4 FPS, which is smooth, but at 1440p Ultra it falls to 92.7 FPS, and at 4K Ultra it drops to 47 FPS. The 67% reduction from 1080p Ultra to 4K Ultra confirms that the RTX 4070 SUPER, while powerful, cannot sustain high refresh rates at 4K with maxed settings in this title. The limiting component is clearly the GPU at higher resolutions, while the CPU holds up its end at all settings.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows point to Medium or High settings as the sweet spot for this combo. At 1440p High, the system delivers 117.6 FPS, which is above the 100 FPS threshold for competitive play and well-suited for high-refresh monitors. At 1080p High, the combo hits 179.8 FPS, leaving significant headroom for streaming or background tasks. Medium settings at 1440p yield 144.7 FPS, which is smoother but with diminishing visual returns given the game's art style.

For 4K users, the data suggests sticking to Low or Medium settings. At 4K Low, the combo achieves 103.4 FPS, which is playable, while 4K Medium drops to 73.4 FPS. Ultra at 4K is not recommended, as 47 FPS falls below the threshold for a responsive experience. The High preset at 4K delivers 62.3 FPS, which is borderline but acceptable for a story-driven game where precise aiming is not critical.

The best experience per the measured rows is 1440p High. It balances visual fidelity with a frame rate that exceeds 115 FPS, ensuring smooth camera pans and dialogue scenes. For those with 1080p displays, Ultra is viable at 144.4 FPS, but High offers a better comfort margin at 179.8 FPS. The combo is versatile, but the data clearly favors 1440p as the resolution where it shines.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce 307.7 FPS, a figure that approaches the limits of the CPU's single-thread performance. Medium settings yield 227.4 FPS, High settings drop to 179.8 FPS, and Ultra settings settle at 144.4 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 53%, showing that the GPU's shading units are progressively engaged as settings rise.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain strong but show the GPU beginning to strain. Low settings achieve 194.1 FPS, which is still excellent. Medium settings deliver 144.7 FPS, High settings produce 117.6 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 92.7 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at the same settings ranges from 35% at Low to 36% at Ultra, indicating a consistent resolution penalty.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. Low settings still manage 103.4 FPS, which is playable, but Medium drops to 73.4 FPS. High settings yield 62.3 FPS, and Ultra settings bottom out at 47 FPS. The scaling from 1080p Low to 4K Low is a 66% reduction, while the scaling from 1080p Ultra to 4K Ultra is a 67% reduction. This consistency suggests that the RTX 4070 SUPER's 12 GB of VRAM and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are adequate, but the 7,168 shading units are simply not enough to maintain high frame rates at 4K with maxed settings.

The data also shows that the CPU's performance ceiling is never reached. The i5-14600KF, with its 14 cores and 20 threads, has a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 32,889 and a single-core score of 4,643, which are more than sufficient for Road 96's workload. The combo's rank of 323 out of 1,684 reflects a system that is well above average but not at the absolute top, which is reserved for configurations with more powerful GPUs. For this game, the RTX 4070 SUPER and i5-14600KF together provide a balanced experience that excels at 1080p and 1440p, with playable but less impressive results at 4K.