Road 96

The Intel Core i7-12700KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER delivers a playable experience in Road 96, though performance varies significantly with resolution and settings. This combination ranks 2154 out of 3713 tested combos, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database. The measured FPS data shows that while the system can reach high frame rates at 1080p, 4K Ultra demands more than this hardware can consistently provide. This analysis examines the CPU and GPU roles, settings recommendations, resolution scaling, and the full measured performance breakdown.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i7-12700KF is a 12-core, 20-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, with a 125 W TDP. The processor features 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1.25 MB of L2 cache per core, and 25 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory via a dual-channel memory bus, and provides 20 PCIe Gen 4 lanes. The CPU has an unlocked multiplier, allowing for overclocking, and was released on November 3, 2021, with a launch MSRP of $384.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i7-12700KF demonstrates strong single-threaded and multi-threaded performance. In Cinebench R23, it scores 28838 in multicore and 4071 in single-core tests. Geekbench results show 14367 in multicore and 2255 in single-core. The 3DMark tests reveal scaling from 1043 in single-thread to 9983 in max-threads, with 16-thread scoring at 9282. PassMark results include a multithread score of 34092 and a single-thread score of 3984. The processor's average benchmark score is 35365, placing it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs tested.

The nearest rivals in the database are closely matched. The Intel Core i7-13700T has an average score of 35403, which is 0.1% lower than the i7-12700KF. The Intel Core i5-13600T scores 35305, 0.2% higher. The Intel Core 5 213PE scores 35428, 0.2% lower. The Intel Core i7-12700K scores 35287, 0.2% higher. This tight clustering indicates that the i7-12700KF is positioned at a performance plateau where small architectural differences among similar-generation processors produce negligible changes in gameplay.

For Road 96, an adventure game, the CPU's role is less demanding than in action-heavy titles. The game's measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low, the system reaches 187 FPS average, which far exceeds typical display refresh rates. At 1080p Ultra, the average drops to 86 FPS, still well within smooth gameplay territory. The CPU's 20 threads and high boost clock ensure that even in scenes with complex AI or scripted events, the processor is unlikely to become the bottleneck at lower resolutions. However, the data suggests that at 4K Ultra, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, as the CPU's strong single-thread performance cannot compensate for the rendering load.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

The measured FPS data provides four settings presets—Low, Medium, High, and Ultra—across three resolutions. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 187 FPS average, Medium delivers 137 FPS, High delivers 110 FPS, and Ultra delivers 86 FPS. All of these are above the 60 FPS threshold, making any preset viable at 1080p. For players with high refresh rate monitors, the Low preset maximizes frame rates, while the Ultra preset still provides smooth performance. The Medium preset at 1080p offers a balanced experience with 137 FPS and a minimum FPS of 116, ensuring consistent frame delivery.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset delivers 119 FPS average, Medium delivers 87 FPS, High delivers 70 FPS, and Ultra delivers 55 FPS. The Ultra preset dips below 60 FPS, which may introduce noticeable stutter on standard 60 Hz displays. The High preset at 70 FPS provides a good balance between visual quality and smoothness, while the Medium preset at 87 FPS offers additional headroom. For players seeking the best experience at 1440p, the High preset is recommended, as it maintains frame rates above 60 FPS while retaining most visual features.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset delivers 63 FPS average, Medium delivers 46 FPS, High delivers 37 FPS, and Ultra delivers 29 FPS. Only the Low preset achieves an average above 60 FPS, and even that is marginal. The Medium preset at 46 FPS may be tolerable for some players, but the High and Ultra presets fall below playable thresholds. The data indicates that 4K gaming with this combo requires sacrificing visual quality significantly. The Low preset at 4K provides the only smooth experience, but the visual downgrade may not be worth the resolution increase over 1440p.

Considering all resolutions, the Medium preset at 1440p offers the best overall experience. It delivers 87 FPS average with a minimum of 74 FPS, providing smooth gameplay while maintaining a reasonable visual fidelity. The High preset at 1080p is also a strong choice, with 110 FPS average and no reported minimum FPS issues. For players who prioritize frame rate over visuals, the Low preset at 1080p with 187 FPS is the clear winner. The Ultra preset is only recommended at 1080p, where it still achieves 86 FPS.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a consistent pattern across all settings. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 187 at 1080p to 119 at 1440p, a reduction of 36%, and further to 63 at 4K, a 66% reduction from 1080p. At Medium settings, the average drops from 137 at 1080p to 87 at 1440p (37% reduction) and to 46 at 4K (66% reduction). At High settings, the average drops from 110 at 1080p to 70 at 1440p (36% reduction) and to 37 at 4K (66% reduction). At Ultra settings, the average drops from 86 at 1080p to 55 at 1440p (36% reduction) and to 29 at 4K (66% reduction).

The consistency of these percentage reductions across all settings presets indicates that resolution scaling is the dominant factor in performance degradation, rather than the specific graphical settings. The RTX 2070 SUPER has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth. The GPU's pixel rate is 113.3 GPixel/s and texture rate is 283.2 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance of 9.062 TFLOPS. As resolution increases, the number of pixels to render quadruples from 1080p to 4K, which directly impacts the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth requirements.

The FPS drop from 1440p to 4K is particularly steep, with average FPS roughly halving across all settings. This suggests that the RTX 2070 SUPER's memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s becomes a limiting factor at 4K, especially with the higher memory clocks of 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). The GPU's 64 ROPs also constrain pixel throughput at higher resolutions. The fact that even the Low preset at 4K only achieves 63 FPS, while the same preset at 1440p achieves 119 FPS, highlights that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K.

Conversely, the modest FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p (approximately 36% across all settings) suggests that the CPU still has headroom at these resolutions. The i7-12700KF's strong single-thread performance, evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4071, ensures that the processor can feed the GPU adequately at 1440p. The bottleneck shift is clear: at 1080p, the system is balanced between CPU and GPU, while at 4K, the GPU's limitations dominate.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The Intel Core i7-12700KF with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER combination ranks 2154 out of 3713 tested combos in Road 96. This places the combo in the 58th percentile of all tested configurations, meaning 58% of combos perform worse and 42% perform better. This mid-pack ranking is consistent with the individual component percentiles: the CPU ranks in the 85th percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU ranks in the 65th percentile of all GPUs. The GPU's lower percentile drags the overall combo ranking down, as Road 96's performance appears to be more GPU-bound at higher resolutions.

The combo's ranking reflects the RTX 2070 SUPER's position relative to its nearest rivals. The GPU's average benchmark score is 20282, with the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M scoring 20480 (1% lower), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile scoring 20534 (1.2% lower), the Intel Arc B570 scoring 20556 (1.3% lower), and the Intel Arc A750 scoring 20582 (1.5% lower). These deltas are all within 1.5%, indicating that the RTX 2070 SUPER performs similarly to these other GPUs in general benchmarks. However, in Road 96 specifically, the measured FPS data shows that the combo struggles at 4K Ultra, achieving only 29 FPS.

The CPU's nearest rivals show an even tighter cluster, with all four rivals within 0.2% of the i7-12700KF's average score. This suggests that swapping the CPU for any of these alternatives would have negligible impact on Road 96 performance. The bottleneck is clearly the GPU, as evidenced by the FPS scaling patterns. The combo rank of 2154 out of 3713 indicates that there are many combinations with better GPUs that would outperform this setup, particularly at 4K. At 1080p, however, the combo's performance is strong, with all settings presets exceeding 86 FPS average.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Road 96?

A: The 1920x1080 resolution provides the most consistent experience, with all settings presets achieving at least 86 FPS average. At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset drops to 55 FPS, and at 3840x2160, only the Low preset exceeds 60 FPS. The data suggests 1080p is the sweet spot for this combination.

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

A: At 3840x2160, the Low preset achieves 63 FPS average, Medium achieves 46 FPS, High achieves 37 FPS, and Ultra achieves 29 FPS. Only the Low preset provides a playable experience, and even that is marginal. For smooth 4K gameplay, a more powerful GPU would be necessary.

Q: How does the RTX 2070 SUPER compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 2070 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 20282. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M at 20480 (1% lower), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile at 20534 (1.2% lower), the Intel Arc B570 at 20556 (1.3% lower), and the Intel Arc A750 at 20582 (1.5% lower). All rivals are within 1.5% of the RTX 2070 SUPER's score.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this system?

A: At 1080p, the system is relatively balanced. At 4K, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck, as evidenced by the FPS dropping from 187 at 1080p Low to 63 at 4K Low. The CPU's 85th percentile ranking versus the GPU's 65th percentile indicates the GPU is the weaker component.

Q: What settings preset provides the highest frame rate at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset delivers 119 FPS average, Medium delivers 87 FPS, High delivers 70 FPS, and Ultra delivers 55 FPS. The Low preset provides the highest frame rate, while the High preset offers a balance at 70 FPS.

Q: How does the i7-12700KF perform in multi-threaded benchmarks?

A: The i7-12700KF scores 28838 in Cinebench R23 multicore, 12111 in Cinebench R20 multicore, and 2906 in Cinebench R15 multicore. In 3DMark, it scores 9983 in max-threads and 9282 in 16-threads. PassMark multithread score is 34092.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the measured FPS data shows a clear progression across settings. The Low preset delivers an average of 187 FPS. The Medium preset delivers an average of 137 FPS, with a minimum of 116 FPS and a maximum of 157 FPS. The High preset delivers an average of 110 FPS. The Ultra preset delivers an average of 86 FPS. The Medium preset is the only one with reported minimum and maximum FPS values, indicating that the other presets had consistent frame delivery without notable dips.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset delivers an average of 119 FPS. The Medium preset delivers an average of 87 FPS, with a minimum of 74 FPS and a maximum of 100 FPS. The High preset delivers an average of 70 FPS. The Ultra preset delivers an average of 55 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 64 FPS, representing a 54% reduction in average frame rate when moving from the lowest to the highest settings preset.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset delivers an average of 63 FPS. The Medium preset delivers an average of 46 FPS, with a minimum of 39 FPS and a maximum of 53 FPS. The High preset delivers an average of 37 FPS. The Ultra preset delivers an average of 29 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 34 FPS, a 54% reduction, which mirrors the percentage reduction seen at 1440p.

The Medium preset consistently shows the largest gap between minimum and maximum FPS across all resolutions. At 1080p, the range is 41 FPS (116 to 157). At 1440p, the range is 26 FPS (74 to 100). At 4K, the range is 14 FPS (39 to 53). This suggests that the Medium preset introduces more frame time variance than other presets, potentially due to dynamic scene complexity. The Low and High presets do not have reported minimum or maximum FPS values, indicating more stable frame delivery.

Across all resolutions, the Low preset provides the highest average FPS, while the Ultra preset provides the lowest. The scaling from Low to Ultra is consistent: at 1080p, Ultra is 54% lower than Low; at 1440p, Ultra is 54% lower; at 4K, Ultra is 54% lower. This consistency indicates that the graphical settings have a uniform impact on performance regardless of resolution, which is typical for a game with well-optimized settings presets.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is based on the TU104 chip, built on TSMC's 12 nm process with 13,600 million transistors on a 545 mm² die. The GPU has a base clock of 1605 MHz and a boost clock of 1770 MHz, with memory clocked at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). It features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 448.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The GPU has 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output units. It also includes 40 ray tracing cores and 320 tensor cores, supporting DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

The GPU's pixel rate is 113.3 GPixel/s and texture rate is 283.2 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance of 9.062 TFLOPS and FP16 performance of 18.12 TFLOPS. The RTX 2070 SUPER has a TDP of 215 W and requires a 550 W power supply, with a dual-slot design and 1x 6-pin plus 1x 8-pin power connectors. The GPU was released on July 8, 2019, with a launch MSRP of 499 USD, and is now end-of-life.

In Road 96, the GPU's role is critical at higher resolutions. The measured FPS data shows that at 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 29, which is below playable thresholds. The GPU's 8 GB of VRAM is sufficient for this game, as even at 4K Ultra, the memory capacity is not likely exceeded. However, the memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s and the pixel rate of 113.3 GPixel/s become limiting factors at 4K, where the GPU must process over 8 million pixels per frame.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it in the 65th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 20282. In PassMark, it scores 18169 in G3D and 7557 in GPU compute. In Geekbench, it scores 83358 in OpenCL and 90637 in Vulkan. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 1651. These scores indicate that the RTX 2070 SUPER is a mid-range performer by modern standards, which aligns with its 4K performance in Road 96.

The GPU's nearest rivals are all within 1.5% of its average score, suggesting that upgrading to any of these alternatives would provide minimal performance improvement. The NVIDIA Quadro M4000M scores 20480, the RTX 3070 Mobile scores 20534, the Intel Arc B570 scores 20556, and the Intel Arc A750 scores 20582. For Road 96 specifically, the GPU's performance at 1080p is strong, with all settings presets exceeding 86 FPS. At 1440p, the Ultra preset falls to 55 FPS, and at 4K, only the Low preset remains playable. The data clearly indicates that the RTX 2070 SUPER is best suited for 1080p gaming in Road 96, with acceptable performance at 1440p for medium to high settings.