Road 96

# Road 96 with Intel Core i7-14700F + Intel Arc B390

The Intel Core i7-14700F combined with the Intel Arc B390 delivers a playable but heavily GPU-limited experience in Road 96, with the combo ranking 2575th out of 2903 tested configurations. The Arc B390's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482 places it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, and this low-end positioning dominates the frame rate results across all resolutions and settings. The CPU, by contrast, is a high-end part with a 91st percentile ranking and an average benchmark score of 53620, meaning the processor is never the bottleneck in this pairing.

FAQ

Q: What is the best average frame rate this combo achieves in Road 96?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 94, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the only configuration in the measured data that approaches high-refresh territory, with all other settings at 1080p falling below 70 FPS.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations in Road 96?

A: The combo ranks 2575th out of 2903 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 11% of all configurations. This low ranking is primarily attributable to the GPU, which sits in the 9th percentile of all GPUs based on its average benchmark score of 1482.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The GPU is clearly the limiting factor. The Intel Arc B390 has a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482, while the Intel Core i7-14700F has a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35122 and a single-core score of 4958. The massive gap between the GPU's low percentile rank (9th) and the CPU's high percentile rank (91st) indicates the graphics card constrains performance.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings produce an average of 60 FPS, while Ultra settings produce an average of 28 FPS. This represents a 32 FPS drop, or roughly 53% lower performance, when moving from the lowest to the highest preset.

Q: Does the combo maintain playable frame rates at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, only the Low preset achieves an average above 30 FPS (32 FPS). Medium averages 23 FPS with a minimum of 20 FPS, High averages 19 FPS, and Ultra averages 15 FPS. None of these 4K configurations provide a consistently smooth experience.

Q: What is the Intel Arc B390's memory configuration?

A: The GPU uses System Shared memory with a System Shared type and bus width. The memory bandwidth is listed as System Dependent, meaning it relies on the host system's memory rather than dedicated VRAM.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated-class part with a 3 nm process node and a chip codenamed Panther Lake, built on the Xe3-LPG architecture. Its base clock runs at 300 MHz with a boost clock of 2500 MHz, and it has 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 ROPs. The GPU's FP32 performance is 7.680 TFLOPS, with FP16 at 15.36 TFLOPS (2:1), and it features 12 ray tracing cores. The memory subsystem is entirely System Shared, with no dedicated VRAM size, type, or bus width specified, and bandwidth is System Dependent.

This memory configuration is critical for understanding Road 96's results. Because the Arc B390 has no dedicated VRAM, it must access system memory through the host platform, which creates a bandwidth bottleneck that becomes more pronounced at higher resolutions. The GPU's pixel rate is 60.00 GPixel/s and texture rate is 120.0 GTexel/s, but these figures cannot compensate for the lack of dedicated memory bandwidth when rendering at 4K.

The GPU's benchmark presence is minimal, with only a single 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482. This places it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, with its nearest rivals including the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (score 1463, deltaPct 1.3), NVIDIA GeForce 800M (score 1460, deltaPct 1.5), NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM (score 1446, deltaPct 2.5), and NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 (score 1443, deltaPct 2.7). The Arc B390 outperforms these rivals by margins of 1.3% to 2.7%, but all of these GPUs are entry-level parts, confirming the Arc B390's low-end positioning.

In Road 96, the GPU's role is decisive. The game is not computationally demanding on the CPU side, as evidenced by the strong performance of the i7-14700F in synthetic tests like Cinebench R23 (35122 multi-core, 4958 single-core) and Geekbench (19620 multi-core, 2429 single-core). Instead, the Arc B390's limited shading units and System Shared memory architecture throttle the frame rate, particularly as resolution increases and the demand on the rendering pipeline grows.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a steep performance decline as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K, with the pattern indicating that the GPU is the sole limiting component. At 1080p, the combo achieves 94 FPS on Low, 69 FPS on Medium, 56 FPS on High, and 43 FPS on Ultra. Moving to 1440p, these figures drop to 60 FPS on Low, 44 FPS on Medium, 35 FPS on High, and 28 FPS on Ultra. At 4K, the averages fall to 32 FPS on Low, 23 FPS on Medium, 19 FPS on High, and 15 FPS on Ultra.

The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings shows a 36% drop in average FPS (from 94 to 60), while the jump from 1440p to 4K at Low settings shows a 47% drop (from 60 to 32). This accelerating decline is characteristic of a GPU that is overwhelmed by pixel count, as the rendering workload scales roughly with the number of pixels. The i7-14700F, with its 20 cores and 28 threads, would have no trouble feeding frames at any of these resolutions, but the Arc B390 cannot keep up.

The 4K results are particularly telling. At Ultra settings, the average FPS is 15, which is below the 20 FPS minimum recorded at Medium settings (min 20 FPS, max 27 FPS). This suggests that the GPU is hitting a hard performance wall at 4K, where even the lowest preset (32 FPS) barely crosses the threshold of playability. The delta between Low and Ultra at 4K is 17 FPS (32 vs. 15), which is a smaller absolute spread than at 1080p (51 FPS, from 94 to 43) or 1440p (32 FPS, from 60 to 28), indicating that resolution scaling saturates the GPU's capabilities before settings can have their full effect.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo produces its best results. Low settings deliver an average of 94 FPS, which is the only measured configuration that exceeds 90 FPS. Medium settings yield 69 FPS with a minimum of 59 FPS and a maximum of 79 FPS, providing a consistent experience above 60 FPS. High settings drop to 56 FPS average, and Ultra settings fall to 43 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 51 FPS, showing that this resolution gives the GPU enough headroom for settings to meaningfully impact performance.

At 2560x1440, the performance envelope compresses. Low settings average 60 FPS, which is exactly at the threshold of smooth gameplay. Medium settings average 44 FPS with a range of 37 to 50 FPS, meaning the minimum dips below 40 FPS. High settings average 35 FPS, and Ultra settings average 28 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 32 FPS, a smaller spread than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is starting to bottleneck the settings scaling.

At 3840x2160, the results are marginal across all presets. Low settings average 32 FPS, which is the only 4K configuration that reaches the 30 FPS baseline. Medium settings average 23 FPS with a minimum of 20 FPS and maximum of 27 FPS, showing a narrow band of performance. High settings average 19 FPS, and Ultra settings average 15 FPS. None of the 4K configurations provide a high-confidence playable experience, as even the Low preset's average of 32 FPS leaves no margin for demanding scenes.

The data across all resolutions shows a consistent pattern: the Arc B390's performance scales poorly with both resolution and settings. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 94 FPS, but this drops to 60 FPS at 1440p Low and 32 FPS at 4K Low. The settings scaling at each resolution is also steep, with Ultra typically delivering roughly half the frame rate of Low. This behavior is consistent with a GPU that has limited shading resources and relies on System Shared memory, which cannot sustain high bandwidth usage.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 2575th out of 2903 tested configurations in Road 96, placing it in the bottom 11% of all combinations. This ranking is driven almost entirely by the Intel Arc B390, which has a percentile ranking of 9th among all GPUs and an average benchmark score of 1482. The GPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (deltaPct 1.3), NVIDIA GeForce 800M (deltaPct 1.5), NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM (deltaPct 2.5), and NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 (deltaPct 2.7). The Arc B390 leads these parts by small margins, but all of them are legacy or entry-level GPUs that would struggle with modern gaming workloads.

By contrast, the Intel Core i7-14700F is a high-end processor with a 91st percentile ranking among all CPUs and an average benchmark score of 53620. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon 6505P (avgScore 53701, deltaPct -0.2), Intel Xeon Phi 7290 (avgScore 53469, deltaPct 0.3), AMD Ryzen 9 7900X (avgScore 53288, deltaPct 0.6), and AMD EPYC 7313P (avgScore 53206, deltaPct 0.8). The i7-14700F essentially trades blows with these parts, sitting within a 1% margin of each. This CPU is clearly not the bottleneck in Road 96, as its compute capabilities far exceed what the Arc B390 can utilize.

The combination of a top-tier CPU and a bottom-tier GPU produces a lopsided system profile. In Road 96, the GPU's 9th percentile ranking directly translates to the measured frame rates, which are consistently low across all resolutions and settings. The combo's rank of 2575 out of 2903 confirms that most other tested configurations, whether they pair mid-range CPUs with mid-range GPUs or high-end CPUs with high-end GPUs, outperform this pairing in this particular game.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend heavily on the target resolution and the user's tolerance for frame rate dips. At 1920x1080, Low settings provide the best experience with an average of 94 FPS, which is suitable for fast-paced gameplay or high-refresh displays. Medium settings at 1080p average 69 FPS with a minimum of 59 FPS, making this the highest preset that maintains an average above 60 FPS. High settings at 1080p average 56 FPS, which is playable but not ideal, while Ultra at 43 FPS is borderline.

At 2560x1440, the recommended preset is Low, which averages exactly 60 FPS. This is the only 1440p configuration that achieves a 60 FPS average, and it does so without any min FPS data indicating dips. Medium at 1440p averages 44 FPS with a minimum of 37 FPS, which may cause noticeable stutter in scenes with heavy detail. High at 35 FPS and Ultra at 28 FPS are below the smoothness threshold and should be avoided unless the user prioritizes visual fidelity over frame rate.

At 3840x2160, no preset provides a fully satisfactory experience. Low settings average 32 FPS, which is above the 30 FPS baseline but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes. Medium averages 23 FPS, High averages 19 FPS, and Ultra averages 15 FPS, all of which are below playable thresholds. For 4K, the only viable option is Low settings, and even then, users should expect variable performance.

The overall recommendation is to run Road 96 at 1920x1080 with Medium settings for the best balance of visual quality and performance, as this configuration delivers a 69 FPS average with a minimum of 59 FPS. For users who prioritize frame rate, 1080p Low at 94 FPS is the clear choice. At higher resolutions, the Arc B390's limitations become prohibitive, and users should either lower the resolution or accept sub-60 FPS performance. The data does not support any settings configuration at 4K as a recommended experience, given that the highest average FPS at that resolution is 32.