Road 96

Road 96 is an adventure title from 2021, and the benchmark results for the Intel Core i7-14700KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER reveal a system that is heavily skewed toward CPU performance. The data indicates that this combination provides a wide range of frame rates depending on resolution and settings, from a highly playable 185.2 FPS at 1080p Low down to a demanding 29.5 FPS at 4K Ultra. The core question is not whether the system is fast, but where its bottleneck lies and how the user can best balance visual fidelity against the performance ceiling.

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

The Intel Core i7-14700KF is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, built on a 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, with a 33 MB shared L3 cache. This processor sits in the 96th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 70104, placing it in the top tier of consumer hardware. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-14700K, has a nearly identical average score of 70074, a delta of 0%, showing that the "F" variant (which lacks integrated graphics) offers no performance penalty in compute tasks.

For a game like Road 96, which is an adventure title rather than a fast-paced shooter, the CPU's role is often to maintain a stable frame pacing and handle game logic. The high single-thread performance, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 6290, is crucial for ensuring that the game’s main thread does not become a limiting factor. The multi-threaded capability, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44557, is less critical for this genre but ensures the system handles background tasks without impacting the game. The benchmark results suggest that at lower resolutions, the CPU is more than capable of feeding the GPU, as the 1080p Low setting reaches 185.2 FPS, indicating the processor is not the primary constraint in that scenario. The data implies that the i7-14700KF’s immense headroom is largely untapped by Road 96, allowing the GPU to be the sole determinant of frame rate as resolution increases.

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is the clear performance limiter in this pairing. Built on the 12 nm Turing architecture, this GPU features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. Its base clock is 1605 MHz with a boost clock of 1770 MHz. In the broader GPU landscape, it sits in the 65th percentile, with a Passmark G3D score of 18169. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA RTX A400, posts a slightly higher average score of 22307, a delta of -0.5%, indicating that the RTX 2070 SUPER is marginally behind that workstation card in raw compute.

The GPU’s 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for Road 96 at the tested settings, as the frame rates scale predictably with resolution. However, the performance drop from 1080p to 4K is stark. At 1080p High, the system produces 110.2 FPS, but at 4K High, it falls to 36.1 FPS. This demonstrates that the GPU’s fill rate and shading power, rated at 9.062 TFLOPS FP32, are being saturated by the increased pixel count. The data suggests that the RTX 2070 SUPER is a mid-range card from a previous generation, and while it handles 1080p and 1440p with ease, it struggles to maintain high frame rates at 4K, especially on higher presets. The GPU is the bottleneck in the majority of the tested configurations, particularly as resolution scales up.

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

The measured FPS data clearly illustrates a classic GPU-bound scaling pattern. At 1080p High, the system achieves 110.2 FPS. Moving to 1440p High, the frame rate drops to 68.9 FPS, a reduction of 41.3 FPS. At 4K High, the frame rate falls further to 36.1 FPS, which is a 67.2% drop from the 1080p figure. This steep decline is a textbook indicator that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is the limiting component, as the CPU’s performance headroom is not being fully utilized.

Looking at the Low preset, the scaling is even more pronounced. The system hits 185.2 FPS at 1080p, which drops to 120.1 FPS at 1440p and then to 62.3 FPS at 4K. This pattern persists across all settings, with the 4K Ultra preset yielding only 29.5 FPS. The data implies that as the resolution increases, the pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth of the GPU become the primary constraints. The CPU’s high performance, evidenced by its 96th percentile ranking, does not compensate for the GPU’s limitations at higher resolutions. The benchmark results suggest that for a smooth 60 FPS experience, the user must target 1440p or lower, as the 4K resolution consistently fails to provide adequate performance, regardless of the graphical preset.

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

Based on the measured data, the optimal balance between visual quality and performance varies by resolution. For a 60 FPS target, the 1440p High preset, at 68.9 FPS, is the sweet spot. It offers a significant improvement over the Medium preset’s 89.7 FPS in visual fidelity while still maintaining a frame rate well above the playable threshold. At 1080p, the High preset’s 110.2 FPS is excellent, and the Ultra preset at 85.4 FPS is also highly playable, making the choice between them a matter of preference for visual detail.

At 4K, the options are more limited. The Low preset achieves 62.3 FPS, which is the only 4K configuration that surpasses the 60 FPS mark. However, this comes at a substantial cost to visual quality. The Medium preset at 46.5 FPS and High at 36.1 FPS are not ideal for fast-paced gameplay, and the Ultra preset at 29.5 FPS is borderline unplayable. The data suggests that users with a 4K display should either lower the resolution to 1440p for a better experience or accept a significant compromise in settings. For most users, the 1440p High or 1080p Ultra presets provide the best experience, as they deliver high frame rates without pushing the GPU to its limits.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

In the comprehensive database of tested hardware combinations for Road 96, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i7-14700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER ranks 1038 out of 1684 combos. This places it in the lower-middle tier of all tested systems, which is a surprising result given the CPU’s top-tier status. The ranking indicates that while the CPU is a high performer, the GPU drags the overall package down significantly. The combo’s rank is more reflective of the GPU’s 65th percentile standing than the CPU’s 96th percentile.

This positioning suggests that the system is unbalanced for this specific game. The data implies that many other combinations, likely those with a more balanced CPU-GPU pairing, outperform this setup. The low rank is primarily due to the GPU’s inability to maintain high frame rates at higher resolutions, which is a critical factor in the overall scoring. A user looking at this ranking would understand that while the CPU offers future-proofing, the current GPU is a bottleneck for Road 96, especially when compared to other tested combos that may feature a more powerful graphics card.

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

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive look at the system’s performance across three resolutions and four settings presets.

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its best performance. The Low preset achieves an average of 185.2 FPS. Moving to Medium, the frame rate is 135.7 FPS. The High preset yields 110.2 FPS, and the Ultra preset produces 85.4 FPS. All of these are highly playable, with even the most demanding Ultra preset well above the 60 FPS threshold.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain solid but show the GPU’s strain. The Low preset drops significantly to 120.1 FPS. The Medium preset delivers 89.7 FPS, which is still smooth. The High preset falls to 68.9 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS target. The Ultra preset, however, drops to 56.8 FPS, indicating that this is the first setting where the system struggles to maintain a consistent 60 FPS experience.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. The Low preset is the only playable option, achieving 62.3 FPS. The Medium preset drops to 46.5 FPS, and the High preset falls to 36.1 FPS. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, yielding only 29.5 FPS. These numbers show a linear progression of performance loss as settings increase, confirming that the RTX 2070 SUPER is not suited for 4K gaming in this title.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combo for a 60 FPS experience?

A: The data shows that 2560x1440 on High settings, at 68.9 FPS, is the ideal target. At 1920x1080, even the Ultra preset at 85.4 FPS exceeds 60 FPS, while at 3840x2160, only the Low preset at 62.3 FPS achieves this target.

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-14700KF or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER the performance bottleneck?

A: The benchmark results indicate the GPU is the limiting factor. This is evidenced by the severe frame rate drops with increasing resolution, such as the 67.2% decline from 1080p High to 4K High, which is a classic GPU-bound pattern.

Q: How does this CPU compare to its closest rival in the database?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700KF has an average benchmark score of 70104, while its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-14700K, scores 70074, for a delta of 0%. This indicates they are effectively identical in performance.

Q: What is the performance difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves 185.2 FPS, while the Ultra preset achieves 85.4 FPS. This represents a performance cost of 99.8 FPS for the highest visual quality.

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

A: It is not recommended. The data shows that at 3840x2160, the highest playable frame rate is 62.3 FPS on Low settings. The High preset drops to 36.1 FPS and Ultra to 29.5 FPS, which are not smooth experiences.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested systems for this game?

A: This specific combination of CPU and GPU ranks 1038 out of 1684 tested combos, placing it in the lower-middle tier due to the GPU’s performance limitations at higher resolutions.