The Long Drive

# The Long Drive: AMD Ryzen 5 5500 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070

The Long Drive, a Driving Simulation title released in 2019, presents an interesting case study for the AMD Ryzen 5 5500 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070. This combination produces a wide performance envelope, from highly playable triple-digit frame rates at 1080p to borderline playability at 4K Ultra, revealing a system that is clearly GPU-bound at higher resolutions yet capable of exceptional responsiveness when settings are tuned appropriately. The measured data shows a combo ranking of 918 out of 3725 tested combinations, placing this pairing in the top quartile of all tested systems.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate trajectory across resolutions tells a clear story about where the bottleneck lies in this configuration. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system produces an average of 279 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 Low drops that to 184 FPS, a reduction of approximately 34%. At 3840x2160 Low, the average falls to 102 FPS, which represents a further 45% decline from the 1440p result. This pattern of substantial percentage drops with each resolution increase is characteristic of a GPU-limited scenario, where the rendering workload grows faster than the pixel count.

The scaling pattern becomes more pronounced at higher settings presets. With High settings, the system delivers 144 FPS at 1080p, 95 FPS at 1440p, and 53 FPS at 4K. The transition from 1080p to 1440p reduces frame rate by 34%, while 1440p to 4K reduces it by 44%. Ultra settings show even steeper cliffs: 100 FPS at 1080p, 66 FPS at 1440p, and only 36 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset at 4K represents a 64% drop from the 1080p Ultra result, indicating that the RTX 4070's rendering resources are being severely taxed by the combination of maximum quality settings and high pixel density.

The data suggests that the Ryzen 5 5500's six cores and twelve threads are sufficient to keep feeding the GPU at lower resolutions, as evidenced by the very high frame rates at 1080p. However, the steep scaling curves indicate that the RTX 4070 becomes the limiting component as resolution increases, particularly under Medium, High, and Ultra presets. The fact that 4K Low still achieves 102 FPS demonstrates that the CPU can maintain high throughput even when the GPU is dealing with a 3840x2160 framebuffer, provided the pixel shading load is kept modest.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 brings 12 GB of GDDR6X memory across a 192-bit bus, yielding a memory bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s. The GPU operates with a base clock of 1920 MHz and a boost clock of 2475 MHz, built on the AD104 chip using the Ada Lovelace architecture at a 5 nm process node. These specifications position the RTX 4070 at the 81st percentile among all GPUs tested, with an average benchmark score of 37648. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 at 0.4% higher average score and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile at 1.3% lower, indicating that the desktop RTX 4070 sits in a tightly contested performance band.

In The Long Drive specifically, the GPU's memory capacity and bandwidth appear adequate for the game's demands, as evidenced by consistent performance across all tested settings. The 12 GB VRAM buffer is likely sufficient for even 4K Ultra textures, though the frame rate collapse from 53 FPS at 4K High to 36 FPS at 4K Ultra suggests that the additional shader complexity, rather than memory capacity, is the limiting factor. The RTX 4070's 5888 shading units and 64 ROPs must process the increased geometric and pixel workload that Ultra settings impose.

The GPU's FP32 throughput of 29.15 TFLOPS and texture rate of 455.4 GTexel/s provide substantial raw compute capability, yet the measured results show that The Long Drive's Ultra preset at high resolutions demands more than this hardware can deliver for smooth 60 FPS gameplay. The 4K Medium result of 84 FPS with a minimum of 71 FPS demonstrates that the GPU can maintain playable performance when settings are moderated, while the 1440p High result of 95 FPS shows a comfortable margin for high-refresh-rate monitors.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 combination achieves a rank of 918 out of 3725 tested combos in The Long Drive, placing it in the 75th percentile of all configurations. This ranking reflects a system that outperforms roughly three-quarters of tested combinations while trailing the top performers, which likely include higher-tier CPUs and more powerful GPUs. The ranking suggests that this pairing is well-balanced for the game, neither severely CPU-limited nor GPU-starved at typical gaming resolutions.

The CPU's own benchmark profile shows a 73rd percentile ranking among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 19593. Its nearest rivals are closely matched: the AMD Ryzen AI 5 430 sits just 0.1% higher, the Intel Core i5-12500 is 0.4% higher, and the Intel Core i7-10700F is 0.5% lower. The GPU's 81st percentile ranking is slightly higher than the CPU's percentile, indicating that the graphics card is the stronger component in this pairing relative to its peers.

This modest imbalance between CPU and GPU percentiles manifests in the game's resolution scaling behavior. At 1080p Low, the system produces 279 FPS, which is an extraordinarily high frame rate that likely approaches the CPU's maximum throughput for this game. The fact that 1080p Ultra still achieves 100 FPS suggests that the CPU can sustain high frame rates even with increased GPU load, but the 4K results show the GPU becoming the primary constraint. The combo's overall rank of 918 indicates that while this system is capable, there are many configurations with more headroom for demanding settings at high resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers an average of 279 FPS on Low settings, 230 FPS on Medium (with a minimum of 196 and maximum of 265), 144 FPS on High, and 100 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset's frame time consistency, with a 69 FPS spread between minimum and maximum, indicates stable performance under moderate load. The jump from Low to Medium costs 49 FPS (17.6%), while High to Ultra costs 44 FPS (30.6%), showing that the Ultra preset imposes a disproportionately heavy GPU workload.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages become 184 FPS on Low, 152 FPS on Medium (minimum 129, maximum 174), 95 FPS on High, and 66 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset at 1440p shows a 45 FPS spread between minimum and maximum, which is tighter in absolute terms than the 1080p Medium spread but represents a similar percentage variation. The 1440p Ultra result of 66 FPS is above the 60 FPS threshold but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes.

At 3840x2160, the system produces 102 FPS on Low, 84 FPS on Medium (minimum 71, maximum 97), 53 FPS on High, and 36 FPS on Ultra. The 4K Medium result is notable for maintaining a minimum above 70 FPS, suggesting that the RTX 4070 can handle 4K gaming with moderate settings. However, the 4K High and Ultra results fall below the 60 FPS threshold, with Ultra dipping to 36 FPS average, which would feel noticeably less smooth. The 4K Medium minimum of 71 FPS indicates that even during demanding moments, the system stays comfortably above playable thresholds.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 provides six cores and twelve threads based on the Zen 3 architecture (Cezanne codename) manufactured on a 7 nm process at TSMC. Its base clock of 3.60 GHz boosts to 4.20 GHz, with 16 MB of L3 cache and 512 KB of L2 per core. The CPU's memory bandwidth is rated at 51.2 GB/s with dual-channel DDR4 support. Benchmark results show a single-thread score of 836 in 3DMark and 2319 in Cinebench R23, while multi-threaded scores reach 5411 in 3DMark max threads and 16429 in Cinebench R23 multicore.

In The Long Drive, the CPU's role is most evident at lower resolutions where frame rates exceed 200 FPS. The 1080p Low result of 279 FPS and 1440p Low result of 184 FPS suggest that the CPU can sustain very high frame rates when GPU load is minimal. The 4K Low result of 102 FPS indicates that even at 4K with reduced settings, the CPU is not the limiting factor, as the GPU still manages to produce over 100 FPS. However, the fact that 1080p Ultra only reaches 100 FPS while 4K Low also reaches 102 FPS suggests that the CPU's performance ceiling is around this range for this game, regardless of resolution.

The Ryzen 5 5500's nearest CPU rivals include the Intel Core i5-12500 at 0.4% higher average benchmark score and the Intel Core i7-10700F at 0.5% lower. These close scores indicate that the CPU's performance is well within the expected range for its class. The CPU's 73rd percentile ranking among all processors means it outperforms nearly three-quarters of tested CPUs, making it a capable partner for the RTX 4070, though not so powerful that it would mask GPU limitations at high resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

For players targeting 60 FPS as a minimum standard, the measured data offers clear guidance. At 3840x2160, the Medium preset delivers an average of 84 FPS with a minimum of 71 FPS, making it the only 4K setting that guarantees smooth gameplay. The High preset at 53 FPS and Ultra at 36 FPS fall short of the 60 FPS target, while Low at 102 FPS provides the highest frame rate but sacrifices visual quality. For 4K displays, Medium is the recommended starting point, as it maintains playable performance while offering better visual fidelity than Low.

At 2560x1440, all settings exceed the 60 FPS threshold, with Ultra achieving 66 FPS average. However, the Medium preset at 152 FPS (minimum 129) and High at 95 FPS provide substantial headroom for high-refresh-rate monitors. Players with 144 Hz displays would benefit most from Medium or High settings, as Ultra's 66 FPS would not fully utilize such a display's capabilities. The Low preset at 184 FPS is only recommended for competitive play where maximum frame rate is paramount.

For 1920x1080, the system can drive even Ultra settings at 100 FPS average, while Medium achieves 230 FPS and Low reaches 279 FPS. The Ultra preset's 100 FPS is sufficient for most 1080p displays, and the High preset at 144 FPS is ideal for 144 Hz monitors. The Medium preset's minimum of 196 FPS makes it the most consistent choice for high-refresh-rate gaming, providing both excellent visual quality and frame time stability. For esports-style play, the Low preset at 279 FPS offers the maximum responsiveness the CPU can deliver.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for 60 FPS gameplay?

A: At 4K, Medium settings deliver an average of 84 FPS with a 71 FPS minimum, making it the only 4K preset that consistently exceeds 60 FPS. At 1440p, even Ultra achieves 66 FPS, while at 1080p all settings exceed 100 FPS.

Q: How does this combo rank against other tested systems?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 ranks 918 out of 3725 tested combos in The Long Drive, placing it in the top quartile of all configurations tested.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: Benchmark results indicate the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions and settings, while the CPU can sustain very high frame rates (279 FPS at 1080p Low) when GPU load is minimal.

Q: What is the highest frame rate this system can achieve?

A: The maximum measured average is 279 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The Medium preset at 1080p achieves 230 FPS average with a 196 FPS minimum, making it the fastest setting with frame time data available.

Q: How does the RTX 4070's performance compare to its rivals?

A: The RTX 4070 has an average benchmark score of 37648, ranking at the 81st percentile. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56, scores 0.4% higher, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile scores 1.3% lower.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 5500 a good match for the RTX 4070?

A: The CPU ranks at the 73rd percentile among all processors with an average score of 19593, while the GPU ranks at the 81st percentile. The system's combo rank of 918 out of 3725 indicates the pairing performs well together, with the CPU providing sufficient throughput for the GPU at most settings.