Road 96

Road 96 is a stylized adventure title, and the benchmark data for the Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 reveals a system that is heavily optimized for high-refresh-rate play at standard resolutions, with clear scaling behavior as pixel count increases. The measured frame rates show a linear progression that points to the GPU as the primary scaling factor, while the CPU maintains a stable baseline. At 1080p, the combination delivers exceptional headroom, and even at 4K, it manages to stay playable on higher presets, though the performance cliff between Medium and Ultra settings is stark.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is remarkably consistent across all settings presets, indicating that the rendering load scales predictably with pixel count. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 263 FPS at 1920x1080 to 188 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 75 FPS, and then to 100 FPS at 3840x2160, a further drop of 88 FPS. This represents a total decline of 62% from 1080p to 4K, which is a substantial but expected hit for a GPU-bound scenario.

The High preset tells a similar story, with average frame rates of 175 FPS at 1080p, 111 FPS at 1440p, and 59 FPS at 4K. The drop between each resolution step is roughly 36% to 47%, showing that the RTX 5070 is being pushed harder as the pixel count rises. Medium settings follow the same pattern: 217 FPS at 1080p, 138 FPS at 1440p, and 73 FPS at 4K. The scaling factor here is nearly identical to High, suggesting that the GPU's shader and memory subsystems are the limiting factors rather than any CPU-side bottleneck.

Ultra settings expose the steepest curve, with 137 FPS at 1080p dropping to 87 FPS at 1440p and finally 46 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is the only measured point below the 60 FPS threshold, and it lands at 46 FPS, which is a significant 66% reduction from the 1080p Ultra score. This indicates that the combination of 4K resolution and the highest preset overwhelms the GPU's capabilities, pushing it into a range where frame pacing may become inconsistent for smooth gameplay.

Crucially, the data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this game. The Intel Core i5-9400, with its 6 cores and 6 threads, scores in the 47th percentile of all CPUs, and its nearest rivals—the Intel Core i7-1068NG7, Intel Core i7-10710U, AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500, and Intel Core i3-10305—all sit within a razor-thin 0.4% delta of its average benchmark score. Since the frame rate scales so smoothly with resolution, the rendering pipeline is clearly GPU-bound, meaning the RTX 5070 is doing the heavy lifting while the i5-9400 keeps up without introducing stutter or bottleneck-related frame drops.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Road 96 with this hardware?

A: The data shows that 2560x1440 on High settings provides a strong balance, delivering 111 FPS average, which is well above the refresh rate of standard 60Hz monitors and suitable for 100Hz+ displays. This resolution offers a significant visual upgrade over 1080p while maintaining a high frame rate cushion.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Road 96?

A: Yes, but with caveats. At 4K High settings, the average frame rate is 59 FPS, which is just under the standard 60 FPS target. Dropping to Medium yields 73 FPS, which is playable, while Low settings hit 100 FPS. Ultra settings at 4K fall to 46 FPS, which is below the smoothness threshold for most players.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-9400 a bottleneck for the RTX 5070 in this game?

A: Benchmark results indicate no significant CPU bottleneck. The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K is consistent and proportional, which is characteristic of GPU-bound performance. The i5-9400's score of 6629 in Cinebench R23 multicore and its 47th percentile ranking suggest it has enough headroom for this adventure title, where the RTX 5070 is the clear performance driver.

Q: How much performance is gained by dropping from Ultra to High settings?

A: At 1080p, the gain is 38 FPS (from 137 to 175), which is a 28% improvement. At 1440p, the gain is 24 FPS (from 87 to 111), a 28% improvement. At 4K, the gain is 13 FPS (from 46 to 59), a 28% improvement. The consistent percentage gain suggests that High settings reduce the GPU load uniformly across resolutions.

Q: What is the frame time consistency like on Medium settings?

A: The data includes minimum and maximum frame rates for Medium settings, showing solid consistency. At 1080p, the range is 184 to 249 FPS (average 217), at 1440p it is 117 to 159 FPS (average 138), and at 4K it is 62 to 84 FPS (average 73). The spread between min and max is roughly 30% of the average, indicating stable frame pacing without major hitches.

Q: Does the RTX 5070's 12 GB of VRAM cause issues at 4K?

A: No issues are evident in the measured data. The 4K High preset achieves 59 FPS average, and even at 4K Ultra, the game runs at 46 FPS, which would be impossible if VRAM capacity were a hard limit. The 12 GB of GDDR7 memory and 192-bit bus provide sufficient bandwidth, as evidenced by the smooth scaling across resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

For players prioritizing smoothness on high-refresh-rate monitors, the Low preset at 1080p is the standout choice, delivering 263 FPS average, which is more than enough for 240Hz displays. However, this sacrifices visual fidelity. The Medium preset at 1080p offers a better balance with 217 FPS average and a minimum of 184 FPS, meaning it never drops below the refresh rate of most 144Hz monitors, making it the optimal choice for competitive or fast-paced play.

At 1440p, the High preset at 111 FPS is the sweet spot for quality and performance. It provides a 28% improvement over the Ultra preset's 87 FPS while maintaining a visually rich experience. The Medium preset at 138 FPS is also viable for those who want extra headroom, but High offers better image quality for a modest 27 FPS penalty. For 4K, the Medium preset at 73 FPS is the best experience per the measured rows, as it stays well above the 60 FPS target and has a minimum of 62 FPS. The High preset at 59 FPS is borderline, and Ultra at 46 FPS is not recommended for smooth gameplay.

The data suggests that the Ultra preset is poorly optimized relative to High, as it exacts a significant performance cost—roughly 28% lower frame rates at every resolution—without a proportional visual benefit in the benchmarks. Players should default to High or Medium depending on their resolution and refresh rate priorities.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 combination ranks 829th out of 3713 tested combos in Road 96, placing it in the top 22% of all systems tested. This is a strong showing for a mid-range CPU paired with a high-end GPU, and it reflects the game's relatively light CPU demands. The rank is likely driven by the RTX 5070's raw performance, as the GPU sits in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs, while the CPU's 47th percentile is below average.

The delta between the CPU's nearest rivals is negligible, with all four rivals—ranging from the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 to the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500—falling within 0.4% of the i5-9400's average benchmark score. This means that swapping the CPU for any of these alternatives would have virtually no impact on the combo's ranking in Road 96. The ranking is therefore almost entirely determined by the GPU, and the RTX 5070's position relative to its rivals—such as the AMD Radeon Pro 580 and NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile, which are within 2% of its score—suggests that the combo's performance is highly competitive within its class.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications align directly with the measured frame rates. The GPU features 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 672.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for the texture and geometry loads of Road 96 at 4K. The memory clock runs at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective), and the core clocks are set at 2325 MHz base and 2512 MHz boost, which are the operating frequencies that drive the observed performance.

The RTX 5070's 6144 shading units and 80 ROPs contribute to its high pixel rate of 201.0 GPixel/s, which explains the strong 1080p and 1440p results. The GPU's 30.87 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power is more than ample for this adventure title, allowing it to maintain high frame rates even at lower settings where the CPU could theoretically become a factor. The 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores are present but not heavily utilized in this game, as the benchmark data does not suggest any ray tracing or DLSS-related workload.

The measured FPS results correlate with the GPU's memory bandwidth. At 4K Ultra, the 46 FPS average is a direct consequence of the memory subsystem being saturated, as the game's highest preset likely requires more than 12 GB of VRAM or more bandwidth than 672.0 GB/s can provide. In contrast, the 4K Low preset at 100 FPS shows that the GPU has plenty of headroom when memory pressure is reduced, confirming that the RTX 5070 is the performance limiter at high resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: 263 FPS average
• Medium: 217 FPS average (min 184, max 249)
• High: 175 FPS average
• Ultra: 137 FPS average

At 1080p, the system is overwhelmingly GPU-bound, and even the Ultra preset stays well above the 120 FPS mark. The Medium preset's minimum of 184 FPS ensures that there are no drops below 144Hz, making this resolution ideal for high-refresh-rate displays.

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: 188 FPS average
• Medium: 138 FPS average (min 117, max 159)
• High: 111 FPS average
• Ultra: 87 FPS average

1440p represents the sweet spot for this combo. The High preset at 111 FPS is excellent for 100Hz+ monitors, while the Medium preset at 138 FPS offers extra headroom. The Ultra preset at 87 FPS is still playable but shows the first signs of the GPU being pushed.

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: 100 FPS average
• Medium: 73 FPS average (min 62, max 84)
• High: 59 FPS average
• Ultra: 46 FPS average

4K is where the RTX 5070 starts to show its limits. The Low preset is comfortably playable at 100 FPS, and the Medium preset at 73 FPS with a 62 FPS minimum is the highest playable option. The High preset barely misses the 60 FPS target, and the Ultra preset falls below 50 FPS, making it unsuitable for smooth gameplay. The data shows a clear break between Medium and High at 4K, with a 14 FPS drop that highlights the cost of higher visual effects.