Road 96

Road 96, a narrative-driven adventure title from 2021, presents an interesting profile for high-end hardware. The measured data for the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D shows a combination that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, yet reveals the CPU's limitations at 1080p. The benchmark results across four settings presets and three resolutions provide a clear picture of where this combo excels and where it becomes excessive.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear hierarchy for optimizing the experience in Road 96. At 4K, the Ultra preset delivers an average of 67 FPS, which is playable but leaves headroom for higher refresh rates. The High preset at 4K achieves 85 FPS, a 26.9% improvement over Ultra, making it the more sensible choice for a smoother experience at this resolution. However, the Medium preset at 4K produces 106 FPS, which is a 58.2% increase over Ultra and a 24.7% jump over High, positioning it as the optimal balance for 4K displays with high refresh rates, especially when considering the 90 FPS minimum recorded.

For 1440p, the scenario shifts. The High preset delivers an excellent 161 FPS average, while Medium reaches 200 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1440p still manages a very respectable 126 FPS. Given the substantial frame rate headroom, the High preset is the recommended starting point for 1440p, as it offers a significant quality improvement over Medium while still comfortably exceeding 144 Hz on most displays. The 161 FPS average ensures that even demanding scenes will remain fluid.

At 1080p, the data reveals a different bottleneck. The High preset achieves 253 FPS, and Medium hits 313 FPS. The Ultra preset produces 198 FPS, which is still exceptionally high. Since the CPU begins to limit performance at this resolution, the difference between Medium and High (60 FPS) is more pronounced than the difference between High and Ultra (55 FPS). For the best visual fidelity without sacrificing the ability to push very high refresh rates, the High preset at 1080p is the most rational choice, as it provides a substantial visual upgrade over Medium while maintaining an average above 240 FPS.

Considering all resolutions, the Medium preset offers the most consistent experience across the board. It is the only preset with recorded minimum and maximum FPS values at all resolutions, showing a minimum of 90 FPS at 4K, 170 FPS at 1440p, and 266 FPS at 1080p. This stability, combined with the significant gains over Ultra, makes Medium the default recommendation for users who prioritize a flawless, high-refresh-rate experience. For users with 4K 120Hz displays, the High preset's 85 FPS average might be preferable for image quality, but it cannot fully saturate the display's refresh rate.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D combination is ranked first out of 2,903 tested combos in Road 96. This top-tier ranking is expected given the components involved, but the measured FPS data provides context for this ranking. The RTX 5090 D is an exceptionally powerful GPU, and its performance in this game at 4K Ultra (67 FPS) demonstrates that Road 96 is demanding even for the most capable hardware.

The CPU's performance is a more nuanced factor. The Core Ultra 5 225 sits in the 85th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 36,938. Its nearest rivals in synthetic tests are the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F (deltaPct 0), AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D (deltaPct -0.2), AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 (deltaPct -0.4), and Intel Core i9-12900T (deltaPct -0.5). This indicates that the CPU's raw processing power is competitive with these mid-range to upper-mid-range chips, with score differences of less than one percent. This near-tie in synthetic benchmarks suggests that the CPU is not a performance outlier, and its rank in the game is likely amplified by the GPU's dominance.

The GPU, in contrast, is in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 77,712. Its nearest rivals in synthetic tests are the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (deltaPct 1.1), AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (deltaPct -1.6), NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (deltaPct -2.1), and NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (deltaPct -2.4). This comparison is interesting, as the RTX 5090 D is a desktop flagship, yet its average benchmark score places it near mobile and data-center GPUs. This is likely due to the specific workloads in the benchmark suite, but in Road 96, the GPU's 32 GB of VRAM and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth ensure that it is never a limiting factor, solidifying the combo's top position.

FAQ

Q: Is the RTX 5090 D overkill for Road 96?

A: The data suggests that at 1080p and 1440p, the GPU is not the primary bottleneck. At 1080p High, the combo achieves 253 FPS, and at 1440p High, it reaches 161 FPS. The CPU appears to limit performance at 1080p, as the Ultra preset (198 FPS) is closer to the High preset (253 FPS) than the High preset is to the Medium preset (313 FPS). At 4K, the GPU is more heavily utilized, with the Ultra preset dropping to 67 FPS, indicating the GPU is being pushed.

Q: What is the best settings preset for a 4K 120Hz display?

A: None of the measured presets can fully saturate a 120Hz display at 4K. The Medium preset comes closest with an average of 106 FPS, followed by High at 85 FPS and Ultra at 67 FPS. The Low preset achieves 144 FPS, but this is likely a significant visual downgrade. The Medium preset offers the best balance of visual quality and frame rate, with a 90 FPS minimum ensuring it stays above most VRR ranges.

Q: How does the CPU's 10-core/10-thread configuration affect performance?

A: The Core Ultra 5 225 has 10 cores and 10 threads, with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. In Road 96, the data indicates that at 1080p, this configuration is sufficient to drive frame rates above 400 FPS on Low settings, but it limits the scaling from Medium to Ultra. The 198 FPS at 1080p Ultra versus 313 FPS at 1080p Medium shows a 36.7% drop, which is more than the 20% drop seen from Medium to High at 1440p (200 to 161 FPS), suggesting the CPU's single-thread performance is a factor at lower resolutions.

Q: What is the significance of the RTX 5090 D's 32 GB of VRAM in this game?

A: With 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and a 512-bit bus, the RTX 5090 D has a memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s. For a game like Road 96, which is an adventure title rather than a massive open-world, this VRAM capacity is far beyond what is required. The benchmark results show that even at 4K Ultra, the GPU does not appear to be VRAM-limited, as the frame rate is still playable. The VRAM capacity ensures there is no texture pop-in or stuttering due to memory constraints.

Q: How does the combo's performance at 4K compare to 1080p?

A: The data shows a significant performance drop when moving from 1080p to 4K. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 253 at 1080p to 85 at 4K, a reduction of 66.4%. At Ultra settings, the drop is from 198 to 67 FPS, a 66.2% reduction. This indicates that the GPU is the primary scaling factor, as the CPU's performance is less relevant at higher resolutions where the GPU has more work to do.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete matrix of performance across all settings and resolutions.

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers very high frame rates. The Low preset averages 428 FPS. The Medium preset averages 313 FPS, with a minimum of 266 FPS and a maximum of 360 FPS. The High preset averages 253 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 198 FPS. This shows a clear progression where each settings tier reduces the average FPS, but even the most demanding preset at 1080p remains well above 144 Hz.

At 2560x1440, performance remains strong. The Low preset averages 272 FPS. The Medium preset averages 200 FPS, with a minimum of 170 FPS and a maximum of 229 FPS. The High preset averages 161 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 126 FPS. This demonstrates that the combo can easily handle high refresh rates at 1440p, with only the Ultra preset falling below the 144 FPS threshold.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is pushed harder. The Low preset averages 144 FPS. The Medium preset averages 106 FPS, with a minimum of 90 FPS and a maximum of 121 FPS. The High preset averages 85 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 67 FPS. This indicates that for a 60 FPS target, the Ultra preset is sufficient, but for smoother 100+ FPS gameplay, the Medium preset is the highest quality option that consistently delivers.

The data shows that the Medium preset is the only one with complete min/max data across all resolutions, allowing for a full assessment of frame time consistency. The 90 FPS minimum at 4K Medium suggests that the game maintains a stable frame rate, which is more important for perceived smoothness than a higher average with more significant dips.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound scaling pattern. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 253 at 1080p to 161 at 1440p (a 36.4% decrease) before falling to 85 at 4K (a 47.2% decrease from 1440p). This steep decline is expected, as the number of pixels increases by 2.25x from 1080p to 4K, and the GPU must process significantly more data.

At Low settings, the scaling is even more pronounced. The average FPS drops from 428 at 1080p to 272 at 1440p (a 36.4% decrease) and then to 144 at 4K (a 47.1% decrease from 1440p). This pattern indicates that at Low settings, the GPU is still the primary bottleneck, as the CPU is not able to generate enough frames to keep up with the GPU's full potential at lower resolutions.

The scaling from 1080p to 4K at Medium settings shows a similar trend: 313 FPS to 200 FPS (a 36.1% decrease) to 106 FPS (a 47% decrease). This consistency across all settings presets confirms that the RTX 5090 D's performance is scaling predictably with resolution, and the limiting component is the GPU's rendering capability. The CPU's influence is only visible in the absolute frame rates at 1080p, where the gap between the Medium and High presets (60 FPS) is smaller than the gap between Low and Medium (115 FPS), suggesting that the CPU is starting to become a factor in the highest-FPS scenarios.

The data suggests that this combo is most efficient at 1440p, where it can maintain very high frame rates without being as heavily CPU-limited as at 1080p, and without the significant GPU workload seen at 4K.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 is a 10-core, 10-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. It has 20 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus. In Road 96, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic, and the benchmark data shows that it is a capable partner for the RTX 5090 D.

At 1080p, the CPU's performance is more visible. The difference between the Medium and Ultra presets is 115 FPS (313 to 198), which is a 36.7% drop. This is a larger relative drop than what is seen at 1440p (200 to 126, a 37% drop, but with a smaller absolute difference of 74 FPS). This indicates that as the CPU has more frames to process, its single-thread performance becomes a limiting factor. The CPU's boost clock of 4.90 GHz is high, and its single-core Cinebench R23 score of 3,655 points places it in a strong position, but the game's engine may not be fully utilizing all 10 cores.

The CPU's synthetic benchmark scores, such as the Cinebench R23 multicore score of 25,891 points, show that it has substantial multi-threaded capability. However, in Road 96, the frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K suggests that the game is not heavily multi-threaded, as the CPU can maintain high frame rates at 1080p but does not show a significant benefit from its core count. The 10-core/10-thread configuration is sufficient for this game, but the data implies that a CPU with higher single-core performance would see better scaling at 1080p.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is the dominant component in this combo. It features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, providing a massive 1.79 TB/s of memory bandwidth. Its boost clock is 2,407 MHz, and it has 21,760 shading units. In Road 96, the GPU is the primary determinant of performance at resolutions above 1080p.

The GPU's memory capacity and bandwidth are crucial for ensuring smooth performance at 4K. With 32 GB of VRAM, there is no risk of running out of memory for textures or assets, and the 1.79 TB/s bandwidth allows for high texture throughput. The benchmark data shows that the GPU can handle the most demanding settings, but the frame rate drops to 67 FPS at 4K Ultra, indicating that the GPU's raw compute power is being pushed to its limits.

The GPU's performance in synthetic benchmarks, such as the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 14,326 points, is a strong indicator of its gaming capability. In Road 96, the GPU's scaling from 1080p to 4K is consistent with its pixel throughput capabilities. The 423.6 GPixel/s pixel rate and 1,636.8 GTexel/s texture rate are more than sufficient for this game, but the sheer number of pixels at 4K limits the frame rate. The GPU's 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs confirms that it is a top-tier performer, and in this game, it is the reason the combo achieves the top rank of 1 out of 2,903.