Road 96

Road 96, an adventure title released in 2021, exhibits a performance profile that is heavily influenced by both the CPU and GPU, with the Intel Core i7-14700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 combination delivering a wide range of frame rates depending on resolution and settings. The benchmark data reveals that at 1080p, the system is capable of extremely high frame rates, while at 4K, the demands on the GPU become more apparent. This analysis explores the measured performance, settings recommendations, and the specific roles of the CPU and GPU in shaping the gameplay experience. The i7-14700K, with its 20 cores and 28 threads, and the RTX 4070, with its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory, form a capable pairing that scales across the tested presets. The data shows that the combination ranks 885th out of 3713 tested combos, placing it in the top 25% of all tested configurations. The following sections break down the measured FPS across various settings and resolutions, interpret the CPU and GPU roles, and provide setting recommendations based on the available data.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings?

A: The average FPS is 128.

Q: How does the frame rate at 2560x1440 with Medium settings compare to 1920x1080 with Medium settings?

A: At 2560x1440, the average FPS is 129, while at 1920x1080, it is 203, representing a 54% drop in frame rate when moving to a higher resolution.

Q: What is the maximum FPS recorded at any resolution and settings in the dataset?

A: The maximum FPS recorded is 277, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: What are the minimum and maximum FPS at 3840x2160 with Medium settings?

A: The minimum FPS is 58 and the maximum is 79, with an average of 68.

Q: Which setting provides the highest average FPS at 3840x2160?

A: The Low setting provides the highest average FPS at 93, followed by Medium at 68, High at 55, and Ultra at 43.

Q: How much faster is the i7-14700K compared to its nearest rival in terms of average benchmark score?

A: The i7-14700K has an average benchmark score of 69355, which is 0.1% higher than the AMD EPYC 9115 (69288) and 0.2% lower than the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (69515).

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data provides a clear view of how different settings affect performance across the three resolutions. For players prioritizing high frame rates in competitive or fast-paced scenes, the Low preset delivers the most headroom, with an average of 277 FPS at 1920x1080. This drops to 176 FPS at 2560x1440 and 93 FPS at 3840x2160. The Medium preset offers a balanced experience, with averages of 203 FPS at 1080p, 129 FPS at 1440p, and 68 FPS at 4K, with the 4K run showing a minimum of 58 FPS and a maximum of 79 FPS. The High preset is a moderate step down, with averages of 164 FPS at 1080p, 104 FPS at 1440p, and 55 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset, while demanding, provides the most visually rich experience, with averages of 128 FPS at 1080p, 82 FPS at 1440p, and 43 FPS at 4K.

For users prioritizing a smooth and visually balanced experience, the Medium preset at 2560x1440 appears to be the sweet spot, as an average of 129 FPS is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, and the minimum of 110 FPS ensures minimal dips. At 1080p, the High preset, with an average of 164 FPS, offers a good balance between visual fidelity and performance. It is worth remembering the drop from Medium to High at 1080p is 39 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 36 FPS, indicating a similar performance cost per setting step. At 4K, the Medium preset is the most viable for maintaining a playable frame rate, as the average of 68 FPS is within the range for a good experience, whereas High falls to 55 FPS and Ultra drops to 43 FPS, which may be below the threshold for some users.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700K is a 14th generation desktop processor with 20 cores and 28 threads, based on the Raptor Lake architecture. Its base clock is 3.40 GHz and it can boost up to 5.60 GHz. This CPU has a significant performance in multi-threaded workloads, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 33440.5 and a single-core score of 2160. In the context of Road 96, a game that is not heavily threaded but benefits from high single-thread performance, the i7-14700K's boost clock is a key factor. The data shows that at 1080p, the CPU is able to feed the GPU well enough to achieve an average of 277 FPS at Low settings, indicating that the CPU is not the limiting factor at this resolution. As resolution increases, the frame rate drops, which suggests the workload shifts to the GPU. The CPU's performance in the benchmarks, with a percentile of 94% compared to all CPUs, places it in the top tier, and its nearest rivals in terms of average score are the AMD EPYC 9115 (0.1% higher) and the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (0.2% lower). This indicates that the i7-14700K is competitive with other high-end processors, though the differences are marginal. The CPU's role in Road 96 is to maintain high frame rates, especially at 1080p, where the GPU is less stressed.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-14700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 combination has a combo rank of 885 out of 3713 tested combinations, placing it in the top 24% of all tested configurations. This rank is a measure of overall performance in Road 96, taking into account the measured average FPS across the resolutions and settings. The rank suggests that this is a high-performance combo, but not the absolute best, as there are over 2800 combinations that outperform it. The GPU's percentile vs all GPUs is 81%, and the CPU's percentile is 94%, indicating that the CPU is more powerful relative to its peers than the GPU is. This is also supported by the measured FPS, where at 1080p the CPU can feed the GPU well, but at 4K the GPU becomes the limiting factor. The combo's rank of 885 is a strong result, but users looking for higher frame rates at 4K might need to consider a more powerful GPU.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is a GeForce 40-series graphics card with 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s. Its base clock is 1920 MHz and boost clock is 2475 MHz, with a memory clock of 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). The GPU has 5888 shading units, 184 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, with 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores, making it a capable card for both rasterized and ray-traced workloads. In Road 96, the GPU's role is significant at higher resolutions. The data shows that at 4K, the average FPS drops from 93 at Low to 43 at Ultra, a 54% decrease, indicating that the GPU is the primary limiting factor at this resolution. The GPU's average benchmark score is 37648, with a percentile of 81% compared to all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA Tesla P4 (0.1% higher) and the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (0.4% higher), showing that the RTX 4070 performs similarly to these older cards in synthetic tests. In practice, the 12 GB VRAM is sufficient for this game at 4K, as the card can handle the workload, but the frame rates suggest that the GPU is not overpowered for the task.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The benchmark data provides a comprehensive view of the system's performance across three resolutions and four settings. At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 277 at Low to 128 at Ultra. The Medium setting has an average of 203, with a minimum of 172 and a maximum of 233. High setting average is 164. At 2560x1440, the average FPS drops to 176 at Low, 129 at Medium (min 110, max 149), 104 at High, and 82 at Ultra. At 3840x2160, the average FPS is 93 at Low, 68 at Medium (min 58, max 79), 55 at High, and 43 at Ultra. The trend is consistent: as resolution and settings increase, the average FPS decreases, with the most significant drop occurring at 4K. The Medium setting at 1080p and 1440p provides a balanced experience, while at 4K, the Medium setting is the highest playable option, with an average of 68.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a clear scaling pattern from 1080p to 1440p to 4K. At 1080p, the average FPS is 128 at Ultra, 164 at High, 203 at Medium, and 277 at Low. At 1440p, the same settings yield 82, 104, 129, and 176. At 4K, the values are 43, 55, 68, and 93. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is about 35-40% across settings, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is around 40-50%. This indicates that the GPU is being stressed more as the resolution increases. The fact that the CPU is capable of high frame rates at 1080p (277 FPS at Low) suggests that it is not the bottleneck, leaving the GPU as the limiting factor at higher resolutions. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at Ultra is 43/128, a 66% drop, while at Low it is 93/277, a 66% drop, showing a consistent frame rate decrease with resolution. This suggests that the GPU is the primary constraint at 4K, while at 1080p, the CPU is able to feed the GPU enough frames to reach the high values. The benchmark results indicate that for users with a 4K display, the Medium setting is the best option, while 1440p offers a good balance between visual quality and frame rate.