Road 96

Road 96 is an adventure title from 2021, and the measured performance data for the Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 shows a system that handles the game comfortably across most settings. The benchmark results indicate that the best experience balances visual fidelity with frame rate, and the data strongly suggests that High settings at 1440p is the sweet spot. At 2560x1440 with High settings, the combo delivers an average of 74.1 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. Dropping to Medium at the same resolution yields 95 FPS, but the jump from Medium to High is a relatively small 21.9 FPS loss for a significant visual upgrade. At 1080p, High settings produce a very fluid 120.1 FPS, making it an excellent choice for high-refresh-rate monitors, while Medium reaches 148.2 FPS. Ultra settings, however, begin to strain the system; at 1440p, it drops to 57.7 FPS, and at 4K, it falls to a stutter-prone 28.6 FPS. For the best overall experience, High settings at 1440p provide a superior balance of image quality and performance, avoiding the diminishing returns of Ultra while staying far above the playability floor.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows paint a clear picture of how this configuration scales with graphical presets. At 1920x1080, the system is never challenged, with Low hitting 200.4 FPS and Ultra still managing a robust 91.5 FPS. This indicates that at 1080p, the component bottleneck is almost entirely removed, and users can prioritize visual quality without worry. Moving to 2560x1440, the data shows a more pronounced gap between presets. Medium delivers 95 FPS, which is excellent, but High’s 74.1 FPS is the recommended target because it offers a substantial improvement in rendering detail for a cost of roughly 22% performance. The step to Ultra at 1440p results in a 57.7 FPS average, which introduces noticeable frame pacing issues in a narrative-driven game. At 3840x2160, the picture changes dramatically; High settings produce only 38.7 FPS, which is below the playable threshold for many, while Medium stumbles at 49.5 FPS. Low at 4K is the only viable option at 66.3 FPS, but it sacrifices the game’s artistic presentation. Therefore, the data recommends High settings at 1440p as the optimal configuration, offering a 74.1 FPS average that is both smooth and visually rich, with Medium at 1080p as a high-refresh-rate alternative.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the benchmark database, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i5-9400 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 holds a combo rank of 976 out of 1684 tested combinations for Road 96. This places the system in the middle of the pack, which is an interesting result given the strength of the individual components. The RTX 4060 is a capable modern GPU, but the data shows that the overall ranking is heavily influenced by the CPU’s performance ceiling. The i5-9400 is a six-core, six-thread processor from the Coffee Lake generation, and its benchmark scores reflect its age. In Cinebench R23, it scores 7969 multi-core and 1125 single-core, placing it in the 50th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals in the database, such as the Intel Core i3-10305 and the Intel Core i3-1125G4, have nearly identical average scores, with a delta of only 0.2%, confirming that the i5-9400 is positioned as a mid-range processor. For a game like Road 96, which is not heavily threaded, the single-core performance is more critical, but the combo’s rank in the 58th percentile (976/1684) suggests that the system is not reaching the top echelon of tested hardware, likely due to the CPU’s inability to feed the RTX 4060 efficiently at lower resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 plays a dominant role in this configuration, particularly at higher resolutions. The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 272.0 GB/s. Its boost clock is rated at 2460 MHz, and it contains 3072 shading units. These specifications are substantial for an adventure game like Road 96, which relies more on environmental detail than raw compute. The data confirms this, as the GPU’s performance scales predictably with resolution. At 1080p, the frame rates are exceptionally high, indicating that the GPU is not the primary limiter. However, at 4K Ultra, the frame rate collapses to 28.6 FPS, demonstrating that the GPU’s 8 GB VRAM buffer and 128-bit memory interface become a bottleneck. The RTX 4060’s average benchmark score is 23181, placing it in the 66th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6600M, scores 23321, a delta of -0.6%, showing that the RTX 4060 is competitive but not class-leading. In the context of Road 96, the GPU’s role is to handle the resolution scaling; it excels at 1080p and 1440p, but the data clearly shows that 4K is beyond its comfortable reach at higher quality settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achievable with this combo?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 200.4 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: Is 4K gaming viable with this hardware?

A: At 3840x2160, only Low settings reach a playable average of 66.3 FPS. High settings drop to 38.7 FPS, and Ultra falls to 28.6 FPS, indicating that 4K is not recommended for a smooth experience.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its direct competitors?

A: The Intel Core i5-9400 has an average benchmark score of 2305, which is nearly identical to the Intel Core i3-10305 (2300) and the Intel Core i3-1125G4 (2299), with a delta of just 0.2%. It is slightly behind the Intel Core i7-8809G, which scores 2319.

Q: What is the performance difference between Medium and High settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Medium settings produce an average of 95 FPS, while High settings yield 74.1 FPS. This represents a 21.9 FPS decrease for the higher visual quality preset.

Q: Does the GPU have enough VRAM for this game?

A: The RTX 4060 has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory. The benchmark data shows that at 4K Ultra, the average frame rate drops to 28.6 FPS, suggesting that the VRAM capacity and memory bandwidth are insufficient for maximum settings at that resolution.

Q: Where does this combo rank among all tested systems?

A: The Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 combination ranks 976 out of 1684 tested combos for Road 96, placing it in the upper-middle portion of the database.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear story about which component limits performance in Road 96. At 1920x1080, the system is heavily CPU-bound, as evidenced by the high frame rates: High settings produce 120.1 FPS, and Low reaches 200.4 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a drop from 200.4 to 91.5 FPS, which is a 54% reduction, indicating that the GPU is still able to handle the increased load without collapsing. Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high, but the gap between presets widens. Low hits 127.7 FPS, while Ultra drops to 57.7 FPS. This represents a 55% drop from Low to Ultra, similar to 1080p, but the absolute numbers are lower, suggesting the GPU is starting to work harder. The most dramatic scaling occurs at 3840x2160. Here, Low settings achieve 66.3 FPS, but High falls to 38.7 FPS, and Ultra plummets to 28.6 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra at 4K is 57%, which is consistent, but the key insight is the absolute performance at High and Ultra. The fact that High at 4K cannot maintain 40 FPS while Low can exceed 60 FPS points directly to the GPU’s memory bandwidth and VRAM capacity as the limiting factor. The CPU’s performance, which is sufficient for 1440p gaming, becomes irrelevant at 4K because the RTX 4060 simply cannot render the frames fast enough. The data shows that the i5-9400 is not the bottleneck at higher resolutions; instead, the RTX 4060’s 128-bit memory interface and 8 GB VRAM are the primary constraints, forcing users to choose between resolution and graphical fidelity.