Road 96

Road 96, an adventure title from 2021, presents a unique challenge for the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 combination. The benchmark data reveals a system that is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions, while the processor’s substantial headroom becomes apparent only at 1080p. The measured frames per second (FPS) across the three resolutions and four quality presets provide a clear picture of where this pairing excels and where its limitations lie, particularly in the context of its performance percentile rankings among all tested hardware combinations.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 dramatically alters the performance profile of this system. At 1080p with Low settings, the combination achieves an average of 198.7 FPS, but this drops to 128.7 FPS at 1440p and further to 66.7 FPS at 4K. This represents a 66.4% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K, signaling that the GPU is being increasingly saturated as pixel count rises.

For the High preset, the scaling pattern is more severe in absolute terms. The system delivers 118.1 FPS at 1080p, which falls to 77.3 FPS at 1440p (a 34.5% drop) and then to 38.4 FPS at 4K (a 50.3% drop from 1440p). The 4K High result of 38.4 FPS is notably below the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that the RTX 4060’s 8 GB memory buffer and 128-bit bus are significant limiting factors at this resolution. The data suggests that the game’s rendering load scales super-linearly with resolution, particularly when moving from 1440p to 4K.

The Ultra preset exhibits the steepest scaling curve. Starting at 92.7 FPS in 1080p, it drops to 57.5 FPS at 1440p and plummets to 34 FPS at 4K. The difference between 1440p and 4K Ultra is 23.5 FPS, a 40.9% reduction. This pattern indicates that the GPU’s shading units (3072) and texture mapping units (96) are working near their limits at 4K, with the 15.11 TFLOPS FP32 throughput proving insufficient for maintaining high frame rates at this resolution. The CPU’s role is minimal here, as the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K’s 20 cores and 30 MB of L3 cache are more than adequate for the game’s logic at any resolution, evidenced by the strong 1080p numbers.

The scaling behavior confirms that Road 96 is not a CPU-intensive title. The frame rate drops from 1080p to 4K are consistent with a GPU-bound scenario, where the processing load shifts almost entirely to the rasterizer and pixel shaders. The RTX 4060’s 272.0 GB/s memory bandwidth becomes a bottleneck at higher resolutions, particularly with the Ultra preset’s increased texture detail demands. The system’s 97th percentile CPU ranking versus all processors further underscores that the processor is not the constraining component in this pairing.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal balance between visual quality and performance occurs at the High preset for most resolutions. At 1920x1080, High delivers 118.1 FPS, which is only 13.8% below the Low preset’s 198.7 FPS but offers significantly better visual fidelity. This makes High the clear choice for 1080p gaming, as it comfortably exceeds the 60 FPS standard and approaches 120 FPS for high-refresh-rate displays.

For 2560x1440, the High preset again emerges as the recommended setting, producing 77.3 FPS. This is a 24.9% improvement over the Ultra preset’s 57.5 FPS, which dips below the ideal 60 FPS threshold. The Medium preset at 96.5 FPS is also viable, but High provides a better balance of detail and smoothness for users with 1440p monitors. The data shows that Ultra at this resolution is playable but not optimal, as the 57.5 FPS average leaves little headroom for demanding scenes.

At 3840x2160, the situation becomes more constrained. The High preset’s 38.4 FPS is below playable standards for most users, while Medium at 52.1 FPS approaches but does not reach 60 FPS. The Low preset at 66.7 FPS is the only 4K option that delivers a smooth experience, but this comes at a significant visual cost. The recommendation here is to use Medium if visual quality is prioritized, accepting the 52.1 FPS average, or to drop to Low for a more responsive experience. The Ultra preset at 34 FPS is not recommended for 4K, as the frame rate is too low for comfortable gameplay.

The performance delta between Medium and High at 1080p is 29.4 FPS (147.5 vs 118.1), suggesting that Medium offers a reasonable compromise for users with less powerful systems. However, for this specific hardware combination, High provides the best experience per the measured rows, offering a 27.4% improvement over Ultra at 1440p while maintaining visual integrity.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Road 96 at 4K with maximum settings?

A: No. The measured data shows that at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 34, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The High preset at 4K yields 38.4 FPS, also insufficient. Users should target 1440p or lower for optimal performance.

Q: How does the RTX 4060 compare to its nearest rivals in this game?

A: The RTX 4060’s average benchmark score is 23,181, placing it 0.6% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6600M and 0.7% behind the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti. It is 0.7% ahead of the Intel Arc B580 and 0.8% ahead of the AMD Radeon 760M. This indicates competitive performance, but the 4060’s 8 GB memory may limit 4K performance.

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K a bottleneck for this game?

A: No. The CPU has a 97th percentile ranking among all processors and scores 50,009 in Cinebench R23 multi-core. The measured FPS drops from 1080p to 4K follow a GPU-bound pattern, indicating the processor is not the limiting factor at any resolution.

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

A: The High preset delivers 77.3 FPS at 2560x1440, which is the best balance of visual quality and performance. The Ultra preset at 57.5 FPS is below 60 FPS, while Medium at 96.5 FPS sacrifices detail for a higher frame rate.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K on Low settings?

A: The Low preset drops from 198.7 FPS at 1920x1080 to 66.7 FPS at 3840x2160, a reduction of 132 FPS or 66.4%. This demonstrates the significant impact of resolution on the GPU’s workload.

Q: Does the game benefit from the CPU’s 20 cores?

A: The data suggests minimal benefit. The CPU’s high multi-core score (50,009 in Cinebench R23) does not translate to higher frame rates, as the game appears to be GPU-limited. The 1080p Low result of 198.7 FPS indicates the CPU can handle high frame rates, but the GPU becomes the constraint at higher resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system demonstrates its peak performance. The Low preset achieves 198.7 FPS, which is the highest measured result across all configurations. Medium settings produce 147.5 FPS, representing a 25.8% reduction from Low. High settings deliver 118.1 FPS, a 19.9% drop from Medium, while Ultra yields 92.7 FPS, a 21.5% reduction from High. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a total performance loss of 106 FPS, indicating that the Ultra preset places significant stress on the GPU’s pixel processing pipeline.

At 2560x1440, the performance hierarchy remains consistent but with reduced absolute numbers. Low settings achieve 128.7 FPS, which is 35.2% lower than the same preset at 1080p. Medium produces 96.5 FPS, a 25% reduction from Low. High delivers 77.3 FPS, a 19.9% drop from Medium. Ultra falls to 57.5 FPS, a 25.6% reduction from High. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 71.2 FPS, showing that the resolution increase amplifies the performance penalty of higher settings.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain playable frame rates. Low settings yield 66.7 FPS, which is the only preset above 60 FPS at this resolution. Medium produces 52.1 FPS, a 21.9% reduction from Low. High drops to 38.4 FPS, a 26.3% reduction from Medium. Ultra bottoms out at 34 FPS, a 11.5% reduction from High. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 32.7 FPS, demonstrating that the GPU’s resources are severely constrained at this resolution.

The data reveals a consistent pattern: each preset tier incurs a roughly 20-25% performance penalty, regardless of resolution. However, the absolute FPS losses are much larger at higher resolutions, confirming that the RTX 4060’s memory bandwidth and compute resources are the primary limitations.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060, based on the AD107 chip with Ada Lovelace architecture, plays a critical role in determining the game’s performance ceiling. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 272.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p but becomes a bottleneck at 4K with high-quality textures. The GPU’s 3,072 shading units and 48 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 118.1 GPixel/s, which translates to the measured FPS numbers.

The GPU’s clock speeds are notable: a base clock of 1830 MHz and a boost clock of 2460 MHz. These frequencies allow the GPU to maintain high throughput in compute-heavy scenes, but the 115 W TDP limits sustained performance. The 24 RT cores and 96 tensor cores provide additional functionality, but Road 96 does not heavily utilize ray tracing, so their impact on measured FPS is minimal.

The GPU’s benchmark scores place it at the 66th percentile among all GPUs, with an average score of 23,181. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6600M, scores 23,321, a 0.6% difference. This competitive positioning is reflected in the game’s performance, where the RTX 4060 delivers playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p but falls short at 4K Ultra.

The memory subsystem is the most critical factor. The 8 GB capacity is adequate for the game’s assets at 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K Ultra preset likely exceeds this capacity, causing the GPU to rely on slower memory paging. This is evidenced by the steep performance drop from 1440p High (77.3 FPS) to 4K High (38.4 FPS), a 50.3% reduction that cannot be attributed solely to pixel count. The 128-bit bus width and 272.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for the data demands of 4K textures, making the GPU the definitive limiting component in this configuration.

The GPU’s PCIe 4.0 x8 interface is sufficient for this workload, as the game’s data transfer requirements are modest. The 15.11 TFLOPS FP32 performance provides adequate compute power for the game’s shaders, but the combination of memory constraints and pixel throughput limits the Ultra preset’s viability at higher resolutions. The data confirms that the RTX 4060 is a capable 1080p and 1440p card, but its architecture and memory configuration are not designed for 4K gaming with maximum settings.