Road 96

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a 24-core, 24-thread desktop processor based on the Arrow Lake Refresh architecture, built on a 3 nm process by TSMC. It operates with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.80 GHz, and it supports DDR5 memory over a dual-channel bus with a bandwidth of 115.2 GB/s. In the context of Road 96, an adventure title with a 2021 release date, this processor is significantly over-provisioned. The game’s engine is not built to stress 24 physical cores, and the data reflects this: the CPU’s benchmark scores, such as a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 51731, are irrelevant to the frame rates achieved in this specific title. Instead, the processor’s high single-thread performance, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 7303 and a Passmark single-thread score of 4823, ensures that no frame pacing or draw-call bottleneck emerges from the CPU side. The processor sits in the 96th percentile when compared to all CPUs, and its nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, has an average score only 0.2% lower, making the 290K Plus effectively a marginal upgrade in peak throughput.

The 290K Plus holds a 1.1% advantage over the AMD EPYC 4584PX and a 1.2% lead over the AMD EPYC 9135, while the AMD EPYC 7F72 is 1.3% faster. These deltas are so small that they are meaningless for a game like Road 96, where the CPU is rarely the limiting factor. The processor’s 36 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB L2 cache per core are more than sufficient for the game’s relatively simple asset streaming. The Passmark physics score of 3315 and integer math score of 166194 further confirm that the chip has ample compute headroom, but the measured FPS data shows that the GPU, not the CPU, dictates performance at higher resolutions. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo reaches 353 FPS, which is beyond the refresh rate of most displays, but this is an exception; at 4K Ultra, the frame rate drops to 55 FPS, clearly demonstrating that the GPU is the bottleneck in demanding configurations.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Core Ultra 9 290K Plus has 24 cores and 24 threads, which is a configuration that favors multi-threaded workloads like rendering or data compression—its Passmark data compression score is 698346 and its Cinebench R15 multi-core score is 5214—rather than a narrative-driven adventure game. Road 96 relies on consistent frame delivery and short loading times, where the CPU’s boost clock of 5.80 GHz is the most relevant specification. The base clock of 3.70 GHz is high enough to maintain fluid gameplay even if the boost algorithm is not engaged, but the data shows that the CPU is not the performance ceiling. At 1080p Low, the average FPS is 353, which suggests that the CPU can feed the GPU far beyond what the game’s engine can render. However, this is a theoretical maximum; the game’s visual style, which is stylized and low-poly, does not require the full 125 W TDP or the 3 nm process node’s efficiency to run smoothly.

The processor’s 96th percentile ranking among all CPUs indicates that it is a top-tier part, but its nearest rivals are server-class chips like the AMD EPYC 4584PX, which is 1.1% slower in average benchmark score. This comparison highlights that the 290K Plus is a workstation-grade component in a gaming context. The Passmark multi-thread score of 60860 and the floating-point math score of 214760 are impressive, but they do not translate into higher frame rates in Road 96 because the game is not CPU-bound at any resolution in the measured data. The only scenario where the CPU might matter is at 1080p Low, where the average FPS of 353 is likely limited by the game’s engine draw call efficiency, not the processor’s raw throughput. Since the CPU’s boost clock is 5.80 GHz, single-core performance is excellent, but the game’s frame times are more likely affected by the GPU’s ability to fill frames, especially at higher settings.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is based on the AD103 chip with Ada Lovelace architecture, fabricated on a 5 nm process by TSMC. It has 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 736.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock is 1438 MHz, which translates to 23 Gbps effective. The GPU’s base clock is 2295 MHz and the boost clock is 2550 MHz. For Road 96, the 16 GB VRAM is overkill; the game’s textures are not memory-hungry, and the data shows that the frame rate is more sensitive to the GPU’s shading and rasterization throughput. The RTX 4080 SUPER has 10240 shading units, 320 TMUs, and 112 ROPs, which are far more than necessary for this title. The Passmark G3D score of 34245 places the GPU in the 86th percentile, and its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, is only 0.1% slower in average benchmark score, making the SUPER version a nominal upgrade.

The GPU’s FP32 performance of 52.22 TFLOPS and texture rate of 816.0 GTexel/s are irrelevant to Road 96’s visual complexity, but they explain why the GPU is the limiting factor at 4K Ultra, where the average FPS drops to 55. The RTX 4080 SUPER is an end-of-life product with a launch MSRP of 999 USD, and its successor is the GeForce 50 series, but the benchmark results show that it still dominates this game. At 1080p High, the average FPS is 208, and at 1440p High, it is 133, indicating that the GPU scales well with resolution until it hits the 4K ceiling. The GPU’s memory bandwidth of 736.3 GB/s is sufficient to avoid bandwidth bottlenecks, as evidenced by the 4K Medium average FPS of 87, which is only 19% lower than the 1440p Medium score of 164. The RTX 4080 SUPER’s DirectX 12 score in Passmark is 134, which is not a direct measure of gaming performance but shows that the architecture supports modern APIs. The GPU’s pixel rate of 285.6 GPixel/s is what drives the fill-rate needs at 4K, and the data shows that the card is simply not fast enough to maintain high frame rates at that resolution with Ultra settings.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling across resolutions. Starting at 1080p Low, the combo achieves an average of 353 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low, the average drops to 224 FPS, a decline of 36.5%. At 4K Low, the average is 119 FPS, which is a 66.3% drop from the 1080p Low result. This steep decline demonstrates that the GPU is the primary limiter, as the CPU’s performance is constant across resolutions. The 1080p Low score of 353 FPS is so high that it likely exceeds the game’s engine limits, suggesting that the CPU could push even higher if the engine allowed, but the GPU is already working hard to produce that many frames. When settings are increased to High, the drop from 1080p to 1440p is from 208 FPS to 133 FPS, a 36.1% reduction, and from 1440p to 4K High, the drop is from 133 FPS to 70 FPS, a 47.4% reduction. This non-linear scaling indicates that the GPU’s pixel fill rate and shader throughput are being saturated at higher resolutions.

The Medium settings show a similar trend, with 258 FPS at 1080p, 164 FPS at 1440p (a 36.4% drop), and 87 FPS at 4K (a 47.0% drop from 1440p). The Ultra settings are the most demanding, with 163 FPS at 1080p, 104 FPS at 1440p (a 36.2% drop), and 55 FPS at 4K (a 47.1% drop from 1440p). The consistent percentage drops of roughly 36% from 1080p to 1440p and 47% from 1440p to 4K across all settings are a classic sign of a GPU bottleneck. The CPU is not the limiting factor because the frame rate scales inversely with the number of pixels rendered, which is a GPU-bound behavior. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rates would be more similar across resolutions at a given setting. The 4K Ultra result of 55 FPS is below the 60 FPS target, confirming that the RTX 4080 SUPER is the weak link in this specific scenario, while the CPU idles with headroom.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset at 1440p is the sweet spot for this combo, delivering an average of 164 FPS with a minimum of 140 FPS and a maximum of 189 FPS. This configuration provides a smooth, high-refresh-rate experience while maintaining visual quality. At 1080p, the Medium preset averages 258 FPS, which is excessive for most displays, but it is the most balanced option if you are using a 240 Hz or 360 Hz monitor. The High preset at 1440p averages 133 FPS, which is still excellent for competitive play, but the Medium preset offers a 23.3% higher average frame rate with only a minor visual sacrifice, as Road 96’s art style is not heavily reliant on texture detail or shadow quality. At 4K, the Medium preset averages 87 FPS, which is playable, but the Low preset at 4K averages 119 FPS, providing a more responsive experience if you prioritize frame rate over fidelity.

The Ultra preset is not recommended for this game, as it drops the average FPS to 55 at 4K, which is below the 60 FPS threshold, and even at 1440p, it only averages 104 FPS, which is 36.6% lower than the Medium preset at the same resolution. The Low preset at 1080p achieves 353 FPS, but this is unnecessary for a game like Road 96, which is a narrative-driven adventure with no competitive multiplayer mode. The data shows that the Medium preset at 1440p offers the best balance of visual quality and performance, with a minimum FPS of 140 that ensures no noticeable stutters. If you are playing on a 4K display, the Low preset is the safest choice to maintain a high frame rate, while the Medium preset is viable if you accept an average of 87 FPS and a minimum of 74 FPS. The High preset at 1440p is a good middle ground if you want better shadows and effects without the performance hit of Ultra, but the Medium preset’s 164 FPS average is more aligned with the GPU’s capabilities.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This specific combination of the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER ranks 220th out of 2903 tested combos in Road 96. This puts it in the top 7.6% of all configurations tested, which is a strong result, but it is not at the very top because the game is not demanding enough to separate high-end components. The rank of 220 is more a reflection of the GPU’s 86th percentile ranking than the CPU’s 96th percentile, since the game is GPU-bound. The CPU’s high benchmark scores, such as the Passmark avgBenchmarkScore of 84003, do not contribute to the combo’s rank because the game does not utilize the CPU’s multi-threading capabilities. The combo’s rank is likely influenced by the RTX 4080 SUPER’s performance relative to other GPUs, as the 4K Ultra score of 55 FPS is below the average for top-tier cards.

The GPU’s nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, which is 0.1% slower, and the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X, which is 1.1% faster. The AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB is 2.7% faster in average benchmark score, which is surprising given that it is a lower-tier card, but this is a benchmark average, not a gaming score. The combo’s rank of 220 out of 2903 means that there are 219 configurations that achieve higher frame rates in this game, likely using faster GPUs like the RTX 4090 or the RTX 4080 SUPER with a better CPU for non-gaming tasks. Since the game is not CPU-intensive, the 290K Plus is a waste of money for this title, but the data shows that the combo is still well above the median. The rank is a measure of overall performance, and the fact that the combo is in the top 8% suggests that it is a capable system for Road 96, even if the CPU is overkill.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers an average of 353 FPS on Low settings, 258 FPS on Medium with a minimum of 219 FPS and a maximum of 297 FPS, 208 FPS on High, and 163 FPS on Ultra. These numbers are all above the 144 Hz refresh rate, making 1080p an overkill resolution for this game. The difference between Low and Ultra is 190 FPS, which is a 53.8% reduction, indicating that the GPU is still able to handle the load at this resolution without being fully saturated. The Medium setting’s minimum of 219 FPS ensures that there are no frame drops below the refresh rate of most monitors, making it the optimal choice for 1080p. At 2560x1440, the average FPS drops to 224 on Low, 164 on Medium with a minimum of 140 FPS and a maximum of 189 FPS, 133 on High, and 104 on Ultra. The Medium setting at 1440p is the most balanced, as the 140 FPS minimum is still smooth, while the Ultra setting’s 104 FPS average is playable but not ideal for fast-paced scenes. The drop from Low to Ultra at 1440p is 120 FPS, a 53.6% reduction, mirroring the percentage drop at 1080p, which confirms the GPU-bound nature of the game.

At 3840x2160, the average FPS is 119 on Low, 87 on Medium with a minimum of 74 FPS and a maximum of 100 FPS, 70 on High, and 55 on Ultra. The 4K Low setting is the only one that maintains a frame rate above 100 FPS, while the Medium setting is still playable with a minimum of 74 FPS. The High setting at 70 FPS is borderline, but the Ultra setting at 55 FPS is not recommended for a smooth experience. The drop from Low to Ultra at 4K is 64 FPS, a 53.8% reduction, which is consistent with the other resolutions. The 4K Medium setting’s minimum of 74 FPS is the lowest recorded minimum across all settings, but it is still above the 60 FPS threshold for most displays. The data shows that the RTX 4080 SUPER is the limiting factor at 4K, as the frame rates are not high enough to take advantage of the CPU’s massive compute power. The 1080p Low score of 353 FPS is the highest recorded, and the 4K Ultra score of 55 FPS is the lowest, demonstrating a wide performance envelope that is dictated by the GPU’s fill rate and shader throughput. The Medium settings at all resolutions provide the best balance of average FPS and minimum FPS, making them the recommended preset for this game.