Road 96

Road 96 is an adventure title that stresses frame pacing and consistent traversal performance rather than extreme computational peaks. In this configuration, the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 produce a dataset with clear scaling trends and a definitive performance ceiling. The measured results show that the RTX 2060 is the primary constraint for this pairing, particularly as resolution increases, while the 20-core processor provides ample headroom for the game's logic.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1440p with High settings?

A: At 2560x1440 with High settings, the average FPS is 57.3. This places the combo in a playable range for a narrative adventure, though it is notably below the 60 FPS threshold that many users consider the baseline for smooth motion.

Q: How much faster is 1080p Low compared to 4K Ultra?

A: The average FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings is 157.5, while 3840x2160 with Ultra settings drops to 24.0. This represents a difference of 133.5 FPS, or a reduction to roughly 15% of the lower-resolution performance.

Q: What is the performance delta between the CPU and its closest rival?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K has an average benchmark score of 79102. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF, scores 79240, which is a delta of -0.2%. This indicates the two chips are effectively identical in raw compute performance.

Q: Does the GPU outperform its nearest competitor?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 has an average benchmark score of 16074. The AMD Radeon RX 7600S scores 15996, a delta of 0.5% in favor of the RTX 2060. The AMD Radeon Pro 5600M and Pro 5700 both score 16351, which is -1.7% relative to the RTX 2060, meaning those two are slightly faster.

Q: What is the best measured average FPS for this combo?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 157.5 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The lowest is 24.0 at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, showing a wide operational envelope depending on the graphics configuration.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: This specific combination of CPU and GPU ranks 1402 out of 1684 tested combos for Road 96. This places it in the lower percentile of tested systems, indicating that while functional, it is not a high-performance pairing for this title.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is built on the Turing architecture with a TU106 chip manufactured on a 12 nm process. It features 1920 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 48 ROPs, with 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1365 MHz and a boost clock of 1680 MHz, with a memory clock of 1750 MHz running on 6 GB of GDDR6 memory across a 192-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s.

In Road 96, the GPU's role is dominant in determining the average FPS across all measured settings. The data shows a consistent pattern: as the graphical load increases, the frame rate drops proportionally. At 1920x1080, the difference between Low and Ultra settings is 88.8 FPS (from 157.5 down to 68.7), which indicates that the GPU's shading units and memory bandwidth are being saturated by the higher-quality effects. The pixel rate of 80.64 GPixel/s and texture rate of 201.6 GTexel/s are adequate for 1080p but become increasingly strained at 4K resolution, where the Ultra preset only achieves 24.0 FPS.

The 6 GB VRAM capacity is a critical factor. At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the game's asset load likely exceeds the comfortable buffer, contributing to the steep performance drop. However, the GPU's compute performance, measured at 5488 in Passmark GPU Compute, suggests that the processing power is sufficient for the game's mechanics; the bottleneck is primarily memory bandwidth and fill rate at higher resolutions. The RTX 2060 ranks in the 58th percentile of all GPUs, which aligns with its mid-range positioning—capable for 1080p and 1440p, but not designed for 4K Ultra workloads.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 ranks 1402 out of 1684 tested combos for Road 96. This places the system in the bottom 17% of all tested configurations, which is a significant underperformance relative to the CPU's capabilities. The processor itself is a high-end part, scoring in the 97th percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 79102. It is only -0.2% behind the Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF and -0.9% behind the Intel Core i9-14900K.

The disparity between the CPU's high percentile and the combo's low rank is stark. The RTX 2060, conversely, scores in the 58th percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 16074. This suggests that the GPU is the limiting factor in this pairing. The data indicates that for Road 96, the GPU's performance ceiling is reached well before the CPU's potential is utilized. The CPU's 20 cores and 20 threads, with a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, are more than sufficient for the game's single-threaded or lightly-threaded rendering tasks, but the GPU's 6.451 TFLOPS of FP32 performance cannot keep pace.

This ranking implies that users with this combo would see significant gains from a GPU upgrade, as the processor has ample headroom. The delta between the combo's rank and the CPU's individual percentile highlights a systemic imbalance: the system is built around a processor that is far more capable than the graphics card, resulting in a bottleneck that limits overall game performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the combo's performance across three resolutions and four settings presets.

At 1920x1080, the results are largely playable. Low settings produce an average of 157.5 FPS, which is exceptionally smooth. Medium settings drop to 113.8 FPS, still well above the 60 FPS threshold. High settings yield 91.6 FPS, maintaining good responsiveness. Ultra settings bring the average down to 68.7 FPS, which is acceptable for an adventure game though it shows the GPU starting to work harder.

At 2560x1440, the performance scales down predictably. Low settings average 97.3 FPS, which is excellent for a higher resolution. Medium settings produce 69.4 FPS, which is near the 60 FPS target. High settings drop to 57.3 FPS, dipping below the ideal threshold. Ultra settings fall to 47.9 FPS, which is playable but with visible compromises in frame pacing.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly overwhelmed. Low settings average 52.0 FPS, which is the only 4K preset that approaches smoothness. Medium settings drop to 37.6 FPS, High settings to 29.2 FPS, and Ultra to 24.0 FPS. These numbers are below the standard for comfortable gameplay, indicating that 4K is not a viable resolution for this combo except at the lowest settings.

The progression from Low to Ultra at each resolution shows a consistent drop of roughly 40-50% in average FPS, which is typical for a GPU-bound scenario. The data confirms that the RTX 2060 is the limiting component, as the CPU does not show any signs of bottlenecking at any resolution or setting.

Resolution Scaling

The scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the nature of the bottleneck in this system. At 1080p with Low settings, the average FPS is 157.5. Moving to 1440p Low drops this to 97.3 FPS, a reduction of 38.2%. At 4K Low, the average is 52.0 FPS, a further reduction of 46.6% from the 1440p figure. This consistent percentage drop with each resolution increase is a hallmark of GPU-limited performance.

For High settings, the scaling is similar: 91.6 FPS at 1080p, 57.3 FPS at 1440p (a 37.4% drop), and 29.2 FPS at 4K (a 49.0% drop). The trend shows that the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth are being taxed increasingly as pixel count rises. The 336.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth is a clear constraint; at 4K, the RTX 2060 cannot sustain the data throughput required for high-quality textures and effects.

The data indicates that the CPU is not the limiting component. The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K, with its high single-thread score of 7060 in Cinebench R23, can easily handle the game's draw calls and physics calculations even at 1080p Low. The fact that the FPS drops so steeply with resolution—rather than remaining flat due to CPU limits—confirms that the GPU is the sole bottleneck. This means that users targeting 4K resolution would need a significantly more powerful GPU, while those sticking to 1080p can enjoy high frame rates with this processor-GPU pairing.