Road 96

The Intel Core i7-12700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER delivers a playable experience in Road 96, but the data reveals a system that is heavily constrained by the graphics card at higher resolutions. The measured frames per second show a clear narrative: this is a combination that excels at 1080p, remains viable at 1440p, and struggles to maintain fluidity at 4K. The performance curve across the three resolutions indicates where the bottleneck shifts, and the settings breakdown provides a practical guide for optimizing the experience.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 produces a dramatic and predictable drop in performance, but the magnitude of that drop varies significantly by preset. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 168.7 FPS at 1080p to 110.8 FPS at 1440p, a reduction of roughly one-third, before collapsing further to 55.8 FPS at 4K. This steep decline at 4K, even on Low, signals that the GPU's rendering pipeline is saturated by the pixel count. The scaling from 1440p to 4K on Low settings represents a near-halving of performance, which is a stark indicator that the RTX 2060 SUPER's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and its bandwidth are being pushed to their limits.

At Ultra settings, the pattern is even more pronounced. The average frame rate drops from 78.6 FPS at 1080p to 49.5 FPS at 1440p, and then plummets to 26.7 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is below the threshold for comfortable play, and the data shows that the gap between 1080p and 4K widens as settings increase. This suggests that the GPU is not only handling more pixels but also more complex shading and texture work, which compounds the load. The scaling behavior indicates that at 1080p, the CPU has ample headroom to feed the GPU, but as resolution increases, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, and the frame rate drops accordingly. The measured results show that 1440p is the practical ceiling for this combo in Road 96, with 4K reserved for those willing to accept sub-30 FPS performance on the highest presets.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is the primary driver of performance in this title, and its specifications explain the observed frame rates. The GPU operates with a base clock of 1470 MHz and a boost clock of 1650 MHz, which are modest figures by modern standards, but they are sufficient for an adventure game like Road 96. The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is adequate for 1080p and 1440p but becomes strained at 4K, especially with higher texture quality settings. The GPU's 2176 shading units and 64 ROPs are responsible for the pixel throughput, and the data shows that these resources are fully utilized at 4K, where even Low settings only yield 55.8 FPS.

The card's architecture, based on the TU106 chip on a 12 nm process, delivers 7.181 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. This raw compute power translates directly to the frame rates seen in the benchmark rows. The GPU's percentile ranking of 63 among all GPUs places it in the mid-range, and its average benchmark score of 19774 is close to that of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070, which is only 0.5% faster. This proximity explains why the RTX 2060 SUPER performs adequately at 1080p but struggles to maintain high frame rates at 4K. The measured FPS at 1080p Ultra (78.6) and 1440p High (62.5) demonstrate that the card is well-suited for these resolutions, but the 4K Ultra result of 26.7 FPS is a clear sign that the GPU is out of its depth. The 175 W TDP and dual-slot design are standard for this class, and the data suggests that the card's thermal and power delivery are not limiting factors in this game.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K provides ample processing power for Road 96, and the benchmark results indicate that it is rarely the bottleneck. With 12 cores and 20 threads, the CPU has a significant advantage in multi-threaded workloads, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 29241. The boost clock of 5.00 GHz ensures strong single-thread performance, which is critical for game logic and physics in an adventure title. The CPU's 3dmark single-thread score of 1043 and Passmark single-thread score of 4013 confirm that it has the per-core speed to handle the game's main thread without holding back the GPU.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 89 among all CPUs places it in the top tier, and its average benchmark score of 35684 is within 1% of its nearest rivals, including the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 and the Intel Core i5-14500HX. This high level of performance means that in Road 96, the CPU is unlikely to limit frame rates at any resolution. The evidence is in the scaling: if the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rates would remain flat across resolutions. Instead, the FPS drops significantly from 1080p to 4K, which is a classic sign of GPU limitation. The CPU's 25 MB of shared L3 cache and support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory provide a solid foundation, but the game's requirements are modest enough that the i7-12700K's capabilities are not fully taxed. Even at 1080p Low, where the CPU would be most likely to become a factor, the average frame rate of 168.7 FPS suggests that the CPU is keeping pace with the GPU's output.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for Road 96, this pairing of the Intel Core i7-12700K and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER ranks 1248 out of 1684 combos. This places it in the lower third of all tested systems, which is a reflection of the GPU's mid-range status rather than the CPU's capabilities. The rank indicates that while the CPU is a top-tier performer, the GPU holds the combo back in the overall standings. The GPU's percentile of 63 versus the CPU's percentile of 89 highlights this disparity. The combo's rank suggests that many other systems, likely with better GPUs, achieve higher frame rates in this game.

However, the rank should be interpreted in context. The data shows that this combo is capable of excellent performance at 1080p, with an average of 101.5 FPS on High settings. The rank is a summary statistic across all tested configurations, and it does not reflect the fact that this system can deliver a smooth experience at lower resolutions. For a game like Road 96, which is narrative-driven and does not require extreme frame rates, the 1248th position is not a detriment. The combo's rank is consistent with its hardware profile: a strong CPU paired with a mid-range GPU will naturally fall behind systems with flagship graphics cards. The deltaPct values for the CPU's nearest rivals, such as the -0.3% difference with the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845, show that the CPU is not the differentiator in this ranking.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows provide a clear guide for the best settings-to-resolution balance. At 1920x1080, the High preset offers the best compromise, delivering 101.5 FPS, which is smooth and well above the 60 FPS threshold. The Ultra preset at 1080p still provides 78.6 FPS, which is playable, but the jump to High is unnecessary for a game of this genre, and the extra visual fidelity is not worth the 23 FPS loss. The Medium preset at 1080p yields 124.7 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate monitors, but the visual difference between Medium and High is typically minimal in an adventure game. For most players, High at 1080p is the sweet spot.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset is the recommended choice, with an average of 76.8 FPS. This maintains smooth gameplay while preserving visual quality. The High preset at 1440p drops to 62.5 FPS, which is still playable but leaves less headroom for demanding scenes. The Ultra preset at 1440p falls to 49.5 FPS, which is below the ideal threshold for a responsive experience. At 3840x2160, the data suggests that the Low preset is the only viable option, yielding 55.8 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K provides 40.2 FPS, which is borderline, and the High preset at 34.8 FPS is marginal. The Ultra preset at 4K is not recommended, as 26.7 FPS is too low for comfortable play. For a 4K display, players should accept the visual compromises of the Low preset or consider lowering the resolution to 1440p.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete data set for this combo in Road 96 is as follows. At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 168.7 FPS, the Medium preset averages 124.7 FPS, the High preset averages 101.5 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 78.6 FPS. This resolution shows the full range of the GPU's capabilities, with a spread of over 90 FPS between the lowest and highest settings. At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 110.8 FPS, the Medium preset averages 76.8 FPS, the High preset averages 62.5 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 49.5 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra at this resolution is approximately 61 FPS, indicating that the GPU is becoming more sensitive to settings changes. At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 55.8 FPS, the Medium preset averages 40.2 FPS, the High preset averages 34.8 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 26.7 FPS. The performance at 4K is consistently below 60 FPS, and only the Low preset approaches playability. The data shows a consistent pattern of diminishing returns as settings increase, with the most significant performance gains coming from switching from Ultra to High, and then from High to Medium. The frame rates at 1080p and 1440p are sufficient for a smooth experience, while 4K requires significant compromises.