Road 96

Road 96 presents a highly scalable workload for this hardware pairing, with performance dictated almost entirely by graphics settings rather than the CPU. The data shows a clear and predictable progression: as resolution and quality settings increase, frame rates drop in a linear fashion, indicating the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is the primary limiting component across all tested configurations. The Intel Core i9-14900K provides ample headroom, ensuring that the GPU is consistently saturated.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate cost of moving from 1080p to 4K is substantial, but the magnitude of the drop depends heavily on the chosen preset. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 169.6 at 1920x1080 to 106.8 at 2560x1440, and finally to 58.9 at 3840x2160. This represents a 65.3% reduction in performance from the lowest to the highest resolution. However, at Ultra settings, the scaling is even more severe: the game drops from 77 FPS at 1080p to 50 FPS at 1440p, and then plummets to 28.5 FPS at 4K, a 63% loss from 1080p to 4K. This pattern indicates that the GPU's pixel-pushing capabilities are the bottleneck, as the absolute frame rate difference between resolutions grows with higher graphical fidelity.

The data suggests that 1440p is the practical ceiling for smooth play on this setup. At High settings, 2560x1440 yields 61.8 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS threshold, while 4K High drops to 36.5 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for fast-paced scenes. The scaling from 1080p High (100.5 FPS) to 1440p High (61.8 FPS) shows a 38.5% performance hit, which is a significant but expected cost for the increased pixel count. The transition from 1440p to 4K is less punishing in relative terms, with a 41% drop. This indicates that the GPU is already working near its limits at 1440p, and the additional 4K pixels cause a proportionally larger strain.

GPU Role

The RTX 2060 SUPER's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which proves sufficient for Road 96's stylized visuals. The benchmark results show that the GPU is the decisive factor in this pairing. With a boost clock of 1650 MHz and 2176 shading units, the card delivers a PassMark G3D score of 16462, placing it in the 63rd percentile of all GPUs. This mid-range positioning is reflected in the measured FPS: the card can handle 1080p and 1440p with ease at lower presets, but struggles to maintain high frame rates at 4K Ultra, where it produces only 28.5 FPS.

The GPU's compute capabilities, measured at 6721 in PassMark GPU Compute, are not heavily stressed by this adventure title. The game does not appear to be compute-bound, as the frame rate scaling is more consistent with a traditional rasterization workload. The card's DirectX 12 score of 61 in PassMark is modest, but the game runs on DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) hardware, which is supported by the TU106 chip. The data implies that the 8 GB VRAM is not a limiting factor at these settings, as the performance degradation from High to Ultra is consistent with the increased shader complexity rather than memory capacity issues.

Settings Recommendations

For the best measured experience, the data points to a balance between visual fidelity and frame rate. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers 100.5 FPS, which is an excellent experience for a narrative-driven game. While the Low preset achieves 169.6 FPS, the visual compromise is unnecessary given the High preset's headroom. At 2560x1440, High remains the optimal choice, providing 61.8 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay. The Medium preset at this resolution offers 76.5 FPS, but the High preset's visual improvements are worth the 19% performance cost.

For 4K gaming, the data suggests that High is not viable at 36.5 FPS, and Medium is borderline at 44 FPS. The Low preset at 58.9 FPS is the only 4K configuration that approaches playable frame rates. However, the analysis indicates that 1440p High is the sweet spot for this combination, as it provides a stable frame rate without the severe visual downgrade required for 4K. The Ultra preset is not recommended at any resolution, as it only yields 77 FPS at 1080p and 28.5 FPS at 4K, with the visual uplift not justifying the 23.5% performance drop from High at 1080p.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RTX 2060 SUPER demonstrates strong performance. The Low preset achieves 169.6 FPS, Medium drops to 126.1 FPS, High reaches 100.5 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 77 FPS. This shows a 54.6% reduction from Low to Ultra. At 2560x1440, the frame rates scale down predictably: Low yields 106.8 FPS, Medium 76.5 FPS, High 61.8 FPS, and Ultra 50 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 53.2%. At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly strained: Low produces 58.9 FPS, Medium 44 FPS, High 36.5 FPS, and Ultra 28.5 FPS.

The data reveals that the jump from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 35-40% performance across all settings. For example, Medium drops from 126.1 FPS to 76.5 FPS, a 39.3% reduction. The jump from 1440p to 4K is even steeper, with Medium falling from 76.5 FPS to 44 FPS, a 42.5% reduction. This non-linear scaling suggests that the GPU's memory bandwidth and pixel fill rate are being taxed more heavily at higher resolutions. The Ultra preset at 4K is the only configuration that falls below 30 FPS, indicating it is not a viable option for this hardware.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Road 96 at 60 FPS on a 4K monitor?

A: Only at Low settings, where it achieves 58.9 FPS. Medium settings yield 44 FPS, and High drops to 36.5 FPS, so a stable 60 FPS at 4K is not achievable.

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU/GPU pairing?

A: 2560x1440 at High settings provides 61.8 FPS, offering a good balance between visual quality and smoothness. 1080p High is also excellent at 100.5 FPS.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from High to Ultra at 1080p?

A: The frame rate drops from 100.5 FPS to 77 FPS, representing a 23.4% reduction for the higher preset.

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

A: The GPU is clearly the limiting factor. The Intel Core i9-14900K has a PassMark multithread score of 58674, placing it in the 97th percentile, while the RTX 2060 SUPER is in the 63rd percentile. The FPS scaling with resolution confirms this.

Q: Does the RTX 2060 SUPER's 8 GB VRAM cause issues?

A: The data shows no evidence of VRAM-related stuttering or frame drops. The performance degradation from Medium to High to Ultra is consistent with increased shader load, not memory capacity limits.

Q: What frame rate can be expected at 1440p Medium?

A: The measured average is 76.5 FPS, which provides a very smooth experience for this adventure game.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K is massively overqualified for this title, but its capabilities ensure zero CPU-related bottlenecks. With 24 cores and 32 threads running at a base clock of 3.20 GHz and a boost clock of 6.00 GHz, the processor delivers a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 49872 and a single-core score of 7040. This places it in the 97th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 79824. In comparison to its nearest rivals, it trails the AMD EPYC 7413 by only 0.3% but leads the Intel Core i9-14900KF by 0.7%.

The CPU's PassMark single-thread score of 4697 is critical for game logic and draw calls, but Road 96 does not appear to be a CPU-intensive title. The data shows that the frame rates are entirely dependent on the GPU's rendering capabilities, as evidenced by the consistent scaling across resolutions. The i9-14900K's 36 MB of shared L3 cache and support for DDR4/DDR5 memory provide ample bandwidth for any game data streaming. The processor's performance headroom means that even at 1080p Low, where the GPU produces 169.6 FPS, the CPU is not the limiting factor, as the frame rate is still GPU-bound.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of hardware ranks 1213 out of 1684 tested combos for Road 96, placing it in the bottom 28% of all configurations. This ranking is primarily due to the RTX 2060 SUPER's mid-range performance, as the CPU is top-tier. The GPU's PassMark G3D score of 16462 places it just ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN by 0.3% and behind the RTX 2070 by 0.5%. This mid-range GPU positioning drags down the overall combo ranking despite the CPU's excellent performance.

The rank of 1213 out of 1684 suggests that most other tested combos feature more powerful GPUs. The data indicates that this pairing is better suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it delivers strong frame rates, rather than 4K. The combo's performance is consistent with the GPU's 63rd percentile ranking, meaning it outperforms a majority of GPUs but is outclassed by higher-tier cards. The i9-14900K's 97th percentile CPU ranking does not compensate for the GPU's limitations in this GPU-bound title, resulting in a below-average overall position in the benchmark database.