Road 96

Road 96 is a narrative-driven adventure where performance is less about frantic reaction and more about consistent, smooth delivery of its stylized world. The benchmark data for the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER combination shows a system that is overwhelmingly capable, with performance characteristics that shift decisively depending on the resolution and quality preset selected. The measured frames per second (FPS) reveal a component pairing that moves from being heavily GPU-bound at 4K to increasingly CPU-bound at lower resolutions, providing a clear picture of where the bottleneck lies in each scenario.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K with this hardware configuration produces a predictable yet pronounced scaling curve that highlights the changing role of each component. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system achieves an average of 353 FPS, which drops to 224 FPS at 2560x1440 and further to 119 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 66% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, a substantial drop that indicates the GPU is being taxed significantly more as pixel count increases, moving away from the CPU-bound territory of lower resolutions.

The scaling pattern shifts when examining the Medium preset, where the 1080p result of 258 FPS falls to 164 FPS at 1440p and then to 87 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p is roughly 36%, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is about 47%, showing that the performance penalty accelerates as resolution increases. This non-linear scaling is characteristic of a system where the GPU's rendering workload grows exponentially with pixel count, and the RTX 4080 SUPER's 16 GB of GDDR6X memory and 736.3 GB/s bandwidth are being utilized more fully at higher resolutions.

At the High preset, the system delivers 208 FPS at 1080p, 133 FPS at 1440p, and 70 FPS at 4K. The 4K result is notably lower than the 1440p result, with a 47% reduction, while the 1440p to 1080p gap is 36%. This consistent pattern across presets suggests that the 4K resolution is where the GPU's compute capabilities, including its 52.22 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, become the primary limiting factor. The data indicates that at 1080p, the CPU's 5.00 GHz boost clock and 14 cores are sufficient to feed the GPU, but at 4K, the GPU's raw throughput dictates the final frame rate.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. Its benchmark scores, including a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14,769 and a single-core score of 2,085, place it in the 89th percentile among all CPUs. In the context of Road 96, this processor demonstrates its strength in the lower resolution benchmarks, where the frame rates are highest and the CPU's ability to process game logic and draw calls becomes more critical.

At 1080p with Low settings, the system reaches 353 FPS, a figure that is unlikely to be constrained by the CPU given its Passmark single-thread score of 4,516 and multithread score of 37,816. The data suggests that the CPU is not the bottleneck at this resolution, as the frame rate is more than sufficient for any display. However, the scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings shows a 37% reduction in FPS, which indicates that the GPU is beginning to take on more of the workload, but the CPU's headroom is still ample.

The CPU's role becomes more nuanced when considering its nearest rivals, which include the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 with a deltaPct of 0.1% and the Intel Core i9-13900HX with a deltaPct of -0.1%. These extremely small performance deltas in synthetic benchmarks suggest that the Core Ultra 5 235 is operating in a performance tier where any difference in real-world gaming is negligible. For Road 96, which is not a CPU-intensive title by modern standards, the processor's 24 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support are more than adequate to maintain high frame rates across all tested settings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is the dominant component in this pairing, particularly at higher resolutions and quality settings. Its 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus provides 736.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which is crucial for handling the texture and geometry data at 4K resolution. The GPU's 10,240 shading units and 80 RT cores contribute to its Passmark G3D score of 34,245, placing it in the 86th percentile among all GPUs.

The GPU's performance scaling in Road 96 is most evident when comparing the Ultra preset results across resolutions. At 1080p Ultra, the system achieves 163 FPS, which drops to 104 FPS at 1440p and 55 FPS at 4K. This 66% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings is the largest drop among all presets, indicating that the Ultra preset's additional graphical effects place a significant load on the GPU's compute units and memory subsystem. The 4K Ultra result of 55 FPS is the lowest measured value in the entire dataset, showing that even a high-end GPU like the RTX 4080 SUPER can be challenged by the combination of maximum resolution and maximum quality settings.

The GPU's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 with a deltaPct of -0.1% and the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X with a deltaPct of -1.1%. These close scores in synthetic benchmarks suggest that the RTX 4080 SUPER is performing as expected for its class. However, the data shows that the GPU's 2,550 MHz boost clock and 816.0 GTexel/s texture rate are sufficient to deliver 70 FPS at 4K High, which is a playable frame rate for an adventure game. The GPU's role is clearly to provide the graphical fidelity at higher resolutions, while the CPU handles the lower resolution extremes.

How This Combo Ranks

In the context of all tested combinations, the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER pairing ranks 220th out of 2,903 total combinations, placing it in the top 7.6% of all tested systems. This rank reflects the overall capability of the combination across the measured resolutions and settings, with the system demonstrating strong performance in every scenario tested.

The ranking is particularly impressive given that the CPU is not the absolute fastest available, as evidenced by its 89th percentile ranking among all CPUs, while the GPU's 86th percentile ranking is also high but not top-tier. The combination's rank of 220 suggests that the pairing is well-balanced for Road 96, with neither component severely limiting the other in most scenarios. The data shows that the system can achieve 4K Ultra at 55 FPS, which is above the threshold for smooth gameplay, and 1080p Low at 353 FPS, which is far beyond what any display can showcase.

The rank also indicates that there are 219 other combinations that outperform this setup, likely featuring higher-end CPUs or GPUs, but the performance gap is not extreme given the measured frame rates. The system's ability to maintain over 100 FPS at 1440p across all presets, from Low at 224 FPS to Ultra at 104 FPS, demonstrates a level of performance that would satisfy most users. The ranking of 220 out of 2,903 reflects the synergy between the Core Ultra 5 235's strong single-thread performance and the RTX 4080 SUPER's substantial rendering capabilities.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable with this combo at 1080p?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 353, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is the maximum frame rate recorded across all tested configurations.

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

A: Yes, the system can handle 4K gaming, with the lowest measured average FPS being 55 at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. At High settings, the average FPS rises to 70, and at Low settings it reaches 119, indicating that 4K is playable across all presets.

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

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 has an average benchmark score of 46,062, which is 0.1% higher than the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 and 0.1% lower than the Intel Core i9-13900HX. These differences are negligible in practical terms.

Q: What is the difference in FPS between Medium and High settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Medium preset achieves an average of 164 FPS, while the High preset achieves 133 FPS. This represents a 31 FPS difference, or approximately 19% lower performance at High settings.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU more likely to be the bottleneck at 4K?

A: The data suggests the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K. The frame rate drops significantly from 1080p to 4K across all presets, and the GPU's 86th percentile ranking indicates it is a high performer, but the resolution demands are substantial.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested systems?

A: The combination ranks 220th out of 2,903 tested combinations, placing it in the top 7.6% of all systems. This rank is based on the measured FPS across all resolutions and settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset provides a comprehensive view of the system's performance across three resolutions and four quality presets. At 3840x2160, the system delivers an average of 119 FPS at Low settings, 87 FPS at Medium settings with a minimum of 74 FPS and maximum of 100 FPS, 70 FPS at High settings, and 55 FPS at Ultra settings. These figures show a clear downward trend as quality increases, with the Ultra preset delivering roughly half the frame rate of the Low preset.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance improves significantly across all presets. The Low preset achieves 224 FPS, the Medium preset reaches 164 FPS with a minimum of 140 FPS and maximum of 189 FPS, the High preset delivers 133 FPS, and the Ultra preset produces 104 FPS. The 1440p results represent a 47% to 53% improvement over the corresponding 4K results, depending on the preset, highlighting the substantial impact of resolution on performance.

At 1920x1080, the system shows its maximum capabilities. The Low preset achieves an impressive 353 FPS, the Medium preset delivers 258 FPS with a minimum of 219 FPS and maximum of 297 FPS, the High preset produces 208 FPS, and the Ultra preset reaches 163 FPS. The 1080p results are consistently more than double the 4K results for each preset, demonstrating that the system is heavily GPU-limited at higher resolutions. The Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum and maximum FPS values, showing a range of 78 FPS at 1080p, 49 FPS at 1440p, and 26 FPS at 4K, which indicates some frame time variance but no severe stuttering.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combination depend on the user's display resolution and preference for visual fidelity versus frame rate. At 4K, the High preset provides the best balance, delivering an average of 70 FPS, which is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The Ultra preset at 4K drops to 55 FPS, which may be acceptable for a narrative adventure game, but the 15 FPS difference between High and Ultra is significant, and the visual improvement may not justify the performance cost.

For 1440p users, the Ultra preset is the recommended choice, as it delivers an average of 104 FPS while providing the maximum visual quality. This frame rate is well above the threshold for smooth gameplay, and the system has enough headroom that the Ultra preset does not compromise the experience. The Medium preset at 1440p achieves 164 FPS, which may appeal to users with high refresh rate monitors, but the Ultra preset's 104 FPS is still sufficient for most displays.

At 1080p, the Ultra preset is also recommended, delivering 163 FPS with maximum visual settings. The High preset at 208 FPS and Medium at 258 FPS offer diminishing returns for users with standard 60Hz or 144Hz displays, as the Ultra preset already provides a frame rate far beyond what is necessary for smooth gameplay. The Low preset at 353 FPS is only relevant for competitive play or extremely high refresh rate displays, but for Road 96, the visual quality of the Ultra preset is preferable. Across all resolutions, the data indicates that the system is capable of handling the Ultra preset at 1080p and 1440p without issues, while 4K users should consider the High preset for the most consistent experience.