Road 96

Road 96 is a stylized adventure that does not push hardware to its limits, and the benchmark data for the Intel Core i7-14700KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 confirms this. This combination delivers exceptionally high frame rates across all tested resolutions, with the primary performance ceiling shifting from the GPU at 4K to the CPU at 1080p. The data shows a system that is overpowered for the title, offering a smooth experience even at maximum settings in 4K, but revealing significant untapped headroom at lower resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K clearly illustrates where the bottleneck lies for this hardware combination in Road 96. At 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, the combo produces an average of 164 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 Ultra, the average drops to 104 FPS, a reduction of 60 FPS or roughly 37%. The jump to 3840x2160 Ultra yields just 55 FPS average, which is nearly half of the 1440p result and about a third of the 1080p figure. This steep decline indicates that the GPU is becoming the limiting factor as pixel count rises.

However, the scaling pattern changes dramatically when looking at Low settings. At 1080p Low, the system achieves an average of 354 FPS. At 1440p Low, it still manages 226 FPS, and at 4K Low, it maintains 119 FPS. The fact that 4K Low (119 FPS) is still higher than 1080p Ultra (164 FPS) suggests that the visual effects tied to the Ultra preset have a more substantial impact on performance than the pure resolution increase. The gap between 1080p Low and 1440p Low is 128 FPS, while the gap between 1440p Low and 4K Low is 107 FPS, showing that the GPU handles the resolution scaling relatively linearly when load is low, but the absolute numbers remain high enough that the CPU's capability is never fully challenged.

The most telling data point is the difference between settings at the same resolution. At 4K, the spread from Low to Ultra is 64 FPS (119 to 55). At 1440p, that spread is 122 FPS (226 to 104). At 1080p, the spread is 190 FPS (354 to 164). This widening gap at lower resolutions indicates that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU far more frames than the GPU can render when settings are cranked up. The 1080p Low result of 354 FPS is a clear sign that the Core i7-14700KF has massive headroom, and the game's engine is not GPU-bound at that point, but rather limited by the rendering pipeline's ability to issue draw calls.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is a high-end GPU, and its specifications in the data pack reflect a design meant for demanding modern titles. It features 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s. The core clocks are listed as a base of 2205 MHz and a boost of 2505 MHz. In Road 96, the GPU's role is primarily to handle the stylized visuals and resolution scaling, and the data shows it does so effectively up to the High preset at 4K.

At 4K High, the combo averages 71 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for high-refresh-rate displays. The 4K Medium preset produces 87 FPS average with a minimum of 74 FPS and a maximum of 101 FPS, indicating a stable experience. The 4K Ultra preset drops to 55 FPS average, which is a significant hit for a game that does not feature current-generation graphics. This suggests that the Ultra preset may include effects that are particularly taxing on the GPU's shading units, despite the game's simple art style. The RTX 4080's 9728 shading units and 112 ROPs are clearly capable, but the 4K Ultra result shows that even this GPU has limits when the engine is asked to render at maximum quality.

The GPU's memory capacity of 16 GB is more than sufficient for Road 96, as the game likely does not require a large frame buffer at any resolution. The bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s is also ample for the data transfer needs of this title. The benchmark results show that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K Ultra, but the fact that the 4K Low preset still hits 119 FPS suggests that the GPU is not the limiting factor when settings are reduced, leaving room for the CPU to take over. The RTX 4080's performance in this game is strong, but the data indicates that its full potential is only realized when paired with a CPU that can keep up at lower resolutions, which the i7-14700KF does admirably.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-14700KF and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 ranks 257th out of 3713 tested combos in Road 96. This places it in the top 7% of all systems tested for this game. While this ranking is high, it is not at the very top, which is interesting given the hardware's capability. The data suggests that there are 256 other combinations that achieve higher average frame rates, likely involving even more powerful GPUs or CPUs with higher single-thread performance that are better suited to the game's engine.

The combo's ranking reflects that Road 96 is not a game that scales perfectly with top-tier hardware. The RTX 4080 is a powerful GPU, but the game's engine may not utilize all its features effectively. The CPU, which ranks in the 94th percentile against all CPUs, is clearly not the weak link. The rank of 257 indicates that while this system is in the upper echelon, it is not the absolute best, and the difference between this combo and those ranked higher may be marginal in terms of actual FPS, but significant in terms of raw hardware spending. The data shows that the combo is more than capable of delivering a high-refresh-rate experience at 1440p and a smooth 4K experience at High settings, which is a strong position to be in.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive look at performance across all settings and resolutions. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers an average of 354 FPS on Low, 260 FPS on Medium, 209 FPS on High, and 164 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 221 FPS and a maximum of 298 FPS, indicating a very stable frame delivery. These numbers are exceptionally high, and the game is likely CPU-bound at this resolution, as the GPU is not being fully utilized.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages are 226 FPS on Low, 165 FPS on Medium, 133 FPS on High, and 104 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset again shows a stable range with a minimum of 140 FPS and a maximum of 190 FPS. The 1440p results show a clear scaling pattern, with each setting tier reducing the frame rate by roughly 30-40 FPS. This indicates that the GPU is becoming more of a factor, but the CPU still has enough headroom to keep the average above 100 FPS even at Ultra.

At 3840x2160, the averages drop to 119 FPS on Low, 87 FPS on Medium, 71 FPS on High, and 55 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 74 FPS and a maximum of 101 FPS. This is the only resolution where the Ultra preset falls below 60 FPS, making it the only scenario where a 60Hz display might not be fully saturated. The 4K results clearly show that the GPU is the limiting factor here, as the frame rate scales directly with the settings load. The jump from Low to Medium is 32 FPS, from Medium to High is 16 FPS, and from High to Ultra is another 16 FPS, showing that the Ultra preset is the most demanding step.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. It has 33 MB of shared L3 cache and supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory. In Road 96, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with enough frames to avoid creating a bottleneck, and the data shows it does this exceptionally well, particularly at lower resolutions.

The 1080p Low result of 354 FPS confirms the CPU's single-thread strength and its ability to handle the game's simulation and logic loops. The game is an adventure title, which typically relies on a few heavily loaded threads for gameplay logic, rather than scaling across many cores. The i7-14700KF's high boost clock of 5.60 GHz ensures that these threads are processed as quickly as possible. The benchmark results show that the CPU is not the bottleneck until the GPU is heavily loaded at 4K Ultra, where the frame rate drops to 55 FPS.

The CPU's 20 cores and 28 threads are likely underutilized in Road 96, as the game probably does not use all available threads. However, the high single-core performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 6235, is what matters most for this title. The data suggests that the CPU is never the limiting factor in this combo, as even the lowest GPU-bound result at 4K Ultra is above 30 FPS, and the CPU is likely idling or barely used. The Core i7-14700KF is a powerful processor that is overkill for Road 96, but its strength ensures that the RTX 4080 is always fed with enough data to produce high frame rates.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: The combo achieves an average of 164 FPS at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings.

Q: Is the RTX 4080 the bottleneck at 4K?

A: Yes, the data shows that at 3840x2160, the frame rate drops significantly with higher settings, with Ultra averaging 55 FPS and Low averaging 119 FPS, indicating the GPU is the limiting factor.

Q: How does the CPU performance compare to its rivals?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700KF has an average benchmark score of 70163, which is 0.2% higher than the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and 0.9% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, but 1% lower than the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K.

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The highest average FPS is 354, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: Does the game support high refresh rates at 1440p?

A: Yes, at 2560x1440, the combo averages 133 FPS on High and 104 FPS on Ultra, making it suitable for high-refresh-rate displays.

Q: What is the combo's overall rank in the database?

A: The combo ranks 257th out of 3713 tested combinations for Road 96, placing it in the top 7% of all systems.