Road 96

# Road 96: Intel Core Ultra 5 245 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 delivers a remarkably strong showing in Road 96, a narrative-driven adventure game from 2021. Benchmark data captures 12 distinct configuration points across four settings presets and three resolutions, with average frame rates ranging from 46 FPS at 4K Ultra to 296 FPS at 1080p Low. The combo ranks 588th out of 2,903 tested combinations, placing it in the top 20% of all systems evaluated for this title. Across all measured scenarios, the RTX 5070's 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, combined with the Ultra 5 245's 14 cores and 5.10 GHz boost clock, proves more than sufficient for Road 96's demands, though the data reveals clear performance tiers that inform the optimal settings strategy.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows for Road 96 show a clear hierarchy across the four settings presets: Low, Medium, High, and Ultra. At 1080p, the Ultra preset delivers 137 FPS average, which is already well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. However, the data suggests that Medium settings at 1080p offer the best balance, producing 217 FPS average with a minimum of 184 FPS and a maximum of 249 FPS. This represents a 58% improvement over Ultra's 137 FPS while maintaining a minimum frame rate that never dips below 184 FPS, ensuring consistent pacing for the game's cinematic moments.

Moving to 1440p, the Medium preset again emerges as the standout choice. It delivers 138 FPS average with 117 FPS minimum and 159 FPS maximum, essentially matching the 1080p Ultra experience but at a higher resolution. The High preset at 1440p produces 111 FPS average, which is still excellent, but the gap between Medium and High (27 FPS) is smaller than the jump from Medium to Ultra (51 FPS). For players prioritizing visual fidelity without sacrificing fluidity, High at 1440p offers a respectable 111 FPS, though Medium's tighter frame pacing makes it the safer recommendation for consistent performance.

At 4K, the picture changes dramatically. The Medium preset at 3840x2160 yields 73 FPS average with 62 FPS minimum and 84 FPS maximum, which is playable but approaches the lower bound of what most players consider smooth. The High preset drops to 59 FPS average, and Ultra falls to 46 FPS, both of which risk noticeable stutter during fast-paced scenes. Given that Road 96 is an adventure title where narrative flow matters more than competitive responsiveness, the Medium preset at 4K provides the best experience—it stays above 60 FPS on average while offering a minimum frame rate of 62 FPS that avoids major hitches. The Low preset at 4K reaches 100 FPS, but the visual compromise is substantial for a game that relies heavily on atmosphere and art direction.

The data strongly suggests that Medium settings are the sweet spot for this combination across all resolutions. At 1080p, it delivers 217 FPS; at 1440p, 138 FPS; and at 4K, 73 FPS. The only scenario where players might consider stepping up is 1080p High at 175 FPS, which still leaves enormous headroom for high-refresh-rate monitors. Conversely, Ultra settings should be avoided at 4K (46 FPS) and approached with caution at 1440p (87 FPS), though the latter remains playable. For most users, Medium at 1440p offers the best overall experience, combining resolution clarity with frame rates that exceed 120 FPS average.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 brings substantial hardware to Road 96, and the measured FPS data reflects its capabilities. The GPU's 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus provides 672.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is more than adequate for the game's texture streaming and scene complexity. The memory clock runs at 1750 MHz, translating to 28 Gbps effective, while the base clock sits at 2325 MHz and boosts to 2512 MHz. These clock speeds, combined with 6,144 shading units and 80 ROPs, drive the pixel rate of 201.0 GPixel/s and texture rate of 482.3 GTexel/s.

The GPU's FP32 performance of 30.87 TFLOPS gives it ample compute headroom for Road 96's rendering workloads, which include dynamic lighting and environmental effects typical of a 2021 adventure title. The 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores suggest the card is future-proofed for ray-traced content, though the measured data for this game does not include ray tracing-specific benchmarks. The RTX 5070's percentile ranking of 82 among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 40,377, places it firmly in the upper tier of graphics cards.

Comparing the RTX 5070 to its nearest rivals in the benchmark database, the data shows a tight cluster. The AMD Radeon Pro 580 scores 40,318, a 0.1% delta, while the AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100 scores 40,063 at 0.8% delta. The AMD Radeon Pro 5300 is slightly ahead at 40,870, representing a -1.2% delta from the RTX 5070's perspective, and the NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile trails at 39,568 with a 2% delta. These margins are negligible, indicating that the RTX 5070's raw compute performance aligns closely with these workstation-class cards, though its gaming-specific features and driver optimizations likely contribute to the strong FPS numbers observed in Road 96.

The GPU's memory bandwidth of 672.0 GB/s proves particularly relevant at higher resolutions. The measured FPS drops from 1080p to 4K are substantial, and the 192-bit bus width with 12 GB capacity appears to be the limiting factor at 4K Ultra, where the game's highest preset demands more memory bandwidth than the card can efficiently deliver. However, at Medium and High settings, the RTX 5070's bandwidth is clearly sufficient, as evidenced by the playable frame rates at 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K, with the RTX 5070 showing its strength at lower resolutions and struggling more at 4K Ultra. At Medium settings, the frame rate drops from 217 FPS at 1080p to 138 FPS at 1440p, a 36% reduction, and then to 73 FPS at 4K, another 47% reduction. This pattern indicates that the GPU becomes increasingly the bottleneck as pixel count grows, which is expected given the fixed rendering workload per pixel.

At High settings, the scaling is similar: 175 FPS at 1080p, 111 FPS at 1440p (a 37% drop), and 59 FPS at 4K (a 47% drop). The consistency of these percentage drops across Medium and High settings suggests that the game's rendering pipeline scales linearly with resolution, and the RTX 5070's performance is primarily bound by pixel throughput rather than memory or compute limits at these settings.

The Low preset shows a different story. At 1080p, it achieves 296 FPS, which drops to 188 FPS at 1440p (36% reduction) and 100 FPS at 4K (47% reduction). The absolute numbers are higher, but the relative scaling remains consistent, confirming that resolution scaling in Road 96 follows a predictable curve regardless of preset. The 4K to 1080p ratio averages roughly 3x across presets, meaning the GPU's workload triples when moving from 1080p to 4K, which aligns with the 4x pixel count increase between these resolutions.

The Ultra preset exhibits the steepest absolute drops: 137 FPS at 1080p, 87 FPS at 1440p (37% reduction), and 46 FPS at 4K (47% reduction). The fact that 4K Ultra falls below 60 FPS indicates that the RTX 5070's 12 GB VRAM and 672.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for the most demanding configuration in this game. The limiting component at 4K Ultra appears to be the GPU's memory subsystem, as the compute performance (30.87 TFLOPS FP32) should theoretically handle the workload, but the 192-bit bus and 12 GB capacity constrain texture and geometry data throughput.

FAQ

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

A: The Medium preset at 2560x1440 delivers 138 FPS average with a minimum of 117 FPS and maximum of 159 FPS, making it the optimal choice. The High preset reaches 111 FPS, while Ultra drops to 87 FPS, so Medium offers the best balance of visual quality and frame pacing.

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

A: Yes, but only at Medium settings or lower. The 4K Medium preset achieves 73 FPS average with a 62 FPS minimum, which is playable. 4K High drops to 59 FPS and 4K Ultra falls to 46 FPS, both of which may cause noticeable stuttering in a narrative-driven game.

Q: How does the RTX 5070 compare to its nearest rivals in raw benchmark scores?

A: The RTX 5070's average benchmark score is 40,377. The AMD Radeon Pro 580 scores 40,318 (0.1% delta), the AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100 scores 40,063 (0.8% delta), the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 scores 40,870 (-1.2% delta), and the NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile scores 39,568 (2% delta). These are all within a 2% range.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 1080p and 4K at High settings?

A: At 1080p High, the combo achieves 175 FPS average. At 4K High, it drops to 59 FPS average. This represents a 66% reduction in frame rate when moving from 1080p to 4K, highlighting the GPU's resolution scaling behavior.

Q: How does the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 rank among all CPUs?

A: The Ultra 5 245 has a percentile ranking of 90 among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 48,995. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G, scores 49,196 (-0.4% delta), while the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 scores 49,228 (-0.5% delta).

Q: Is the Medium preset at 4K better than the High preset at 1440p?

A: The Medium 4K preset delivers 73 FPS average, while High 1440p delivers 111 FPS. The 1440p High configuration offers significantly higher frame rates (52% more) and likely better visual clarity on most displays, making it the superior choice unless you have a large 4K monitor.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 combination ranks 588th out of 2,903 tested combos in Road 96, placing it in the 80th percentile of all systems evaluated for this game. This ranking reflects the combo's strong performance across the measured configurations, particularly at 1080p and 1440p where it consistently delivers high frame rates. The rank of 588 out of 2,903 means that roughly 20% of tested systems outperform this combo, which is expected given that Road 96 is not a demanding title and many high-end systems with flagship GPUs will naturally achieve higher FPS numbers.

The combo's position in the rankings is driven primarily by the RTX 5070's strong showing at lower resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the system achieves 217 FPS, which is in the upper tier of results for this game. The 1440p Medium result of 138 FPS also contributes positively, as many competing systems with less powerful GPUs will fall below this threshold. The 4K performance is more modest, with the Medium preset at 73 FPS, which likely pulls the ranking down slightly compared to systems with larger VRAM pools or higher bandwidth GPUs.

The data suggests that this combo is well-suited for high-refresh-rate gaming at 1080p and 1440p, but it is not optimized for 4K Ultra settings in Road 96. The 588th rank out of 2,903 combos positions it as a solid mid-to-upper-tier performer, with the CPU's 90th percentile ranking among all CPUs and the GPU's 82nd percentile ranking among all GPUs both contributing to the overall result. For players targeting 1440p Medium or High settings, this combo delivers an excellent experience that would satisfy most gaming preferences.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 brings 14 cores and 14 threads to the system, with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz. This Arrow Lake-S architecture processor, built on a 3 nm process by TSMC, features a 24 MB shared L3 cache and 3 MB L2 cache per core. The CPU's 65 W TDP and dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 102.4 GB/s bandwidth provide ample headroom for gaming workloads, and its 90th percentile ranking among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 48,995 indicates strong overall compute capability.

In multi-threaded benchmarks, the Ultra 5 245 scores 32,924 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 4,648 in single-core, demonstrating balanced performance. The PassMark multi-thread score of 38,706 and single-thread score of 4,394 further confirm its capability. The CPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G with an average score of 49,196 (-0.4% delta) and the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 at 49,228 (-0.5% delta), showing that the Ultra 5 245 sits within a tight performance cluster at the top of the CPU hierarchy.

For Road 96, the CPU's role is likely secondary to the GPU, given the game's adventure genre and 2021 release date. The measured FPS data shows significant scaling with resolution, which indicates GPU-bound performance at higher settings. However, the CPU's high single-thread performance (4,648 in Cinebench R23 single-core) ensures that game logic, AI, and physics calculations are handled without becoming a bottleneck, even at the 296 FPS achieved at 1080p Low. The 14 cores and 14 threads provide ample parallel processing for background tasks and any multi-threaded game systems.

The CPU's 24 MB L3 cache and 3 MB L2 per core contribute to low-latency access to frequently used data, which benefits frame pacing in a game like Road 96 that features narrative-driven sequences with varying scene complexity. The Intel Socket 1851 platform with PCIe Gen 5 support (20 lanes from CPU) ensures the RTX 5070's PCIe 5.0 x16 interface is fully utilized, though the game's moderate requirements mean this bandwidth is unlikely to be a limiting factor. Overall, the Ultra 5 245 provides more than sufficient processing power for Road 96, allowing the RTX 5070 to operate at its full potential across all tested resolutions and settings.