Road 96

Road 96 is an Adventure title that scales unusually hard with resolution and settings, and the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 combination produces a wide spread of framerates that clearly separates GPU-bound from CPU-bound scenarios. The data shows a system that is overkill for 1080p play but still respectable at 4K, with the RTX 4080 carrying most of the load as pixel count climbs.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS numbers reveal a steep performance cliff as resolution increases, which is the classic signature of a GPU-limited workload at higher pixel counts. At 1080p with Low settings, this combo hits an average of 354 FPS, but that drops to 226 FPS at 1440p and further to 119 FPS at 4K — a 66% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings. The scaling pattern is consistent across settings: at High, the average goes from 209 FPS at 1080p down to 133 FPS at 1440p and 71 FPS at 4K, which represents a 66% loss from the lowest to highest resolution.

The Medium preset tells a similar story with more granular data. At 1080p Medium, the average is 260 FPS with a minimum of 221 and maximum of 298. Moving to 1440p Medium drops the average to 165 FPS (min 140, max 190), and 4K Medium lands at 87 FPS (min 74, max 101). The frame time consistency also degrades with resolution — the gap between minimum and maximum FPS widens from 77 FPS at 1080p to 50 FPS at 1440p and 27 FPS at 4K, though the relative variance shrinks as the averages drop.

Ultra settings amplify the resolution penalty further. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 164 FPS, falling to 104 FPS at 1440p and just 55 FPS at 4K Ultra. That 4K Ultra figure is only 34% of the 1080p Low result, indicating that Road 96 becomes heavily GPU-bound at the highest quality preset and resolution combination. The fact that 1080p Low reaches 354 FPS while 4K Ultra manages only 55 FPS shows that the RTX 4080 is the limiting component at high resolutions, but at 1080p the CPU is likely holding things back from going even higher.

The scaling between resolutions is roughly linear in terms of pixel count, which suggests the game is not particularly sensitive to bandwidth or cache effects. From 1080p to 1440p (1.78x pixels), the High preset drops from 209 to 133 FPS (0.64x), and from 1440p to 4K (2.25x pixels), it drops from 133 to 71 FPS (0.53x). This is slightly steeper than pure pixel scaling would predict, indicating that additional overheads like draw calls and memory latency become more significant at higher resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications explain why it handles 4K as well as it does. The GPU comes with 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 716.8 GB/s of bandwidth. That memory capacity is more than sufficient for Road 96 at any resolution, and the bandwidth keeps the frame pipeline fed even at 4K Ultra where the average drops to 55 FPS.

Clock speeds are moderate for the Ada Lovelace architecture, with a base of 2205 MHz and boost of 2505 MHz. The 9728 shading units and 112 ROPs provide the raw throughput needed for the pixel-heavy work at high resolutions, while 76 RT cores and 304 tensor cores suggest the card is future-proofed for games that lean harder on ray tracing or DLSS features — though none of those are specifically needed for Road 96's results here. The FP32 compute of 48.74 TFLOPS is the headline number, and it shows in the 4K Low result of 119 FPS, which is still a playable frame rate for a demanding resolution.

The RTX 4080's benchmark scores reinforce its position. Its PassMark G3D score is 34457, and it sits in the 86th percentile of all GPUs. Notably, its nearest rival is the RTX 4080 SUPER with an average score of 54209, a delta of just 0.1% — the two cards are effectively identical in synthetic tests. The Radeon Pro W5700X is 1.1% slower, and the RX 6750 GRE 12 GB is 2.6% behind, which puts the RTX 4080 in a strong but not dominant position among its peers.

In practical terms, the GPU is what enables the 4K Medium result of 87 FPS to remain above the 60 FPS threshold, and it's also what prevents the 4K Ultra result from falling into single digits. The 16 GB VRAM is never a constraint in this game, and the 22.4 Gbps effective memory speed means the card can sustain high frame rates without stuttering from bandwidth exhaustion.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Road 96 at 4K with playable frame rates?

A: Yes, at 4K Medium the average is 87 FPS with a minimum of 74 FPS, and at 4K High it stays at 71 FPS average. Even 4K Ultra maintains 55 FPS average, though that's borderline for smooth play.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1440p gaming?

A: At 1440p Ultra, the average is 104 FPS, which is still well above 60 FPS. The 1440p Medium preset offers 165 FPS average with a minimum of 140 FPS, making it ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors.

Q: Is the RTX 4080 the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data suggests yes, but only partially. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 354 FPS average, which is exceptionally high. The CPU likely limits the absolute ceiling, but the RTX 4080 is still producing far more frames than any standard display can show.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 compare to its closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4080's average benchmark score is 54247, which is 0.1% ahead of the RTX 4080 SUPER (54209), 1.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X (54828), and 2.6% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB (55698).

Q: What frame rates can I expect at 1080p with High settings?

A: The average is 209 FPS at 1080p High. If you prefer Medium settings, that average climbs to 260 FPS with a minimum of 221 FPS, which is excellent for competitive or fast-paced play.

Q: Does the 16 GB VRAM ever run out in Road 96?

A: There is no evidence of VRAM limitations in the measured data. The 16 GB GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus with 716.8 GB/s bandwidth is more than enough for every resolution and settings combination tested, including 4K Ultra.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS dataset for this combo is straightforward. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 354 FPS average, Medium delivers 260 FPS (min 221, max 298), High delivers 209 FPS, and Ultra delivers 164 FPS. The 1080p results all exceed 144 Hz, making this resolution suitable for the fastest gaming monitors available.

At 2560x1440, the numbers step down but remain high. Low produces 226 FPS average, Medium produces 165 FPS (min 140, max 190), High produces 133 FPS, and Ultra produces 104 FPS. Every 1440p preset stays above 100 FPS, which means the RTX 4080 can drive high-refresh 1440p panels without compromise.

At 3840x2160, the performance is more modest but still playable. Low achieves 119 FPS average, Medium achieves 87 FPS (min 74, max 101), High achieves 71 FPS, and Ultra drops to 55 FPS. The 4K results show a clear tradeoff: you can have smooth 60+ FPS at Medium or High, but Ultra requires accepting a sub-60 average.

The Medium preset is the only one with full min/max data at every resolution, which gives the clearest picture of frame pacing. At 1080p, the range is 221–298 FPS; at 1440p, it's 140–190 FPS; and at 4K, it's 74–101 FPS. The minimum frame rates are consistently about 85% of the average, indicating stable performance without major stutters.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations, this pairing ranks 257th out of 3713 combos for Road 96. That places it in the top 7% of all tested systems, which is a strong showing given the game's relatively modest demands. The rank reflects the RTX 4080's high-end status, though the CPU is not the fastest available — the Core Ultra 5 225 sits in the 85th percentile of all CPUs, which is good but not elite.

The combo's ranking suggests that many other systems with faster CPUs or more powerful GPUs can achieve higher frame rates in Road 96, but 257th out of 3713 is still well above the median. For context, the RTX 4080 itself ranks in the 86th percentile of all GPUs, so the combo's overall rank is consistent with the GPU's position. The CPU's 85th percentile is slightly lower, which may explain why the 1080p Low result of 354 FPS isn't higher — a faster processor could push that number further.

Relative to other RTX 4080 systems, this pairing is likely near the middle of the pack for CPU-bound scenarios, but the GPU dominates at higher resolutions where the rank is more favorable. The gap between the 1080p Low and 4K Ultra results (354 vs 55 FPS) is a 84% reduction, which is typical for a system where the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 is a 10-core, 10-thread processor from the Arrow Lake-S family, with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. It's built on a 3 nm process with 17,800 million transistors and a 243 mm² die size, and it supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus delivering 102.4 GB/s of bandwidth. The CPU has 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB of L2 per core, which is adequate for gaming workloads.

In Road 96, the CPU's role becomes apparent at low resolutions and settings where the GPU isn't saturated. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 354 FPS, which is likely close to the CPU's practical limit for this game. The single-thread performance is solid — the Cinebench R23 single-core score is 3655, and the PassMark single-thread score is 4412 — which helps with the game's main thread. The multi-thread scores are also respectable: Cinebench R23 multi-core is 25891, and PassMark multi-thread is 30459.

The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F (average score 36945, 0% delta), the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D (37018, -0.2% delta), the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 (37093, -0.4% delta), and the Intel Core i9-12900T (37112, -0.5% delta). All four rivals are within 0.5% of the Core Ultra 5 225's average score of 36938, so there is essentially no meaningful difference in compute performance among them. This means the CPU is not a differentiator in this combo — any of those rivals would likely produce identical frame rates in Road 96.

The 10-core, 10-thread configuration is unusual because it lacks hyperthreading, but Road 96 doesn't appear to need many threads. The game is more sensitive to single-thread performance, and the 4.90 GHz boost clock is high enough to keep up with the RTX 4080 at 1080p. At 1440p and 4K, the GPU takes over as the bottleneck, and the CPU's contribution diminishes. The 65 W TDP is modest for a desktop processor, and the Arc Xe-LPG integrated graphics are irrelevant when a discrete GPU is present.

Overall, the CPU is a competent but not exceptional partner for the RTX 4080 in Road 96. It's fast enough to avoid bottlenecking at 1440p and 4K, and it can push very high frame rates at 1080p, but it won't set records in CPU-bound scenarios. The measured data shows that the GPU is the star of this pairing, and the CPU simply needs to stay out of the way — which it does, albeit without much headroom for future titles that might rely more heavily on multi-core performance.