The Long Drive

The Long Drive pairs AMD’s Ryzen 5 7600 with NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 5090, a combination that places 87th out of 3,725 tested system configurations for this driving simulation. The data shows a system that is dramatically overprovisioned for the game’s demands, yet the measured frames reveal interesting bottlenecks that shift depending on resolution and quality preset. This analysis breaks down the CPU and GPU contributions, the ranking context, and what the FPS numbers imply for players.

FAQ

Q: What is the combo’s overall rank in this game?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 7600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 combination ranks 87th out of 3,725 tested combos in The Long Drive, placing it in the top 2.3% of all systems tested. This indicates exceptional performance relative to the broader database, though not the absolute top configuration.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in average benchmark score?

A: The Ryzen 5 7600 has an average benchmark score of 26,324, which is 0.2% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX (26,274), 0.4% higher than the Intel Core i9-11900KF (26,212), and 0.5% higher than the AMD Ryzen 5 8540U (26,187). It trails the AMD Ryzen 7 7435HS by 0.3% (26,402).

Q: What is the GPU’s memory configuration?

A: The RTX 5090 features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock is 1750 MHz, which translates to 28 Gbps effective. This is paired with 21,760 shading units and 176 ROPs.

Q: What are the best and worst average FPS values recorded?

A: The highest average FPS is 357 at 1080p with Low settings. The lowest average FPS is 53 at 4K with Ultra settings. The spread between these extremes is 304 FPS, showing the dramatic impact of both resolution and quality settings on performance.

Q: How does the GPU rank against its nearest rivals in average benchmark score?

A: The RTX 5090 has an average benchmark score of 79,842, which is 0.3% higher than the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (79,605), 0.6% higher than the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (79,396), and 1.1% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78,940). It trails the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X by 1.4% (80,959).

Q: Is there a measurable FPS floor at any setting?

A: Yes, the only preset that records minimum FPS values is Medium. At 4K Medium, the minimum is 103 FPS; at 1440p Medium, the minimum is 187 FPS; and at 1080p Medium, the minimum is 283 FPS. No other preset in the pack includes minimum FPS data.

GPU Role

The RTX 5090 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a GB202 chip, fabricated on a 5 nm process by TSMC. The GPU contains 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 122.9M per mm². Its base clock is 2017 MHz, with a boost clock of 2407 MHz. These clocks, combined with 680 TMUs and 176 ROPs, yield a pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance is rated at 104.8 TFLOPS.

The GPU’s role in The Long Drive becomes most apparent when looking at the 4K results. The difference between Low and Medium settings at 4K is 26 FPS (148 to 122), while the jump from Medium to High costs 46 FPS (122 to 76), and High to Ultra costs another 23 FPS (76 to 53). This non-linear scaling suggests that the GPU’s shading units and ROPs are heavily taxed at higher quality presets, particularly at 4K where the pixel rate becomes a limiting factor despite the massive 1.79 TB/s bandwidth.

Interestingly, the RTX 5090’s nearest rivals in benchmark scores include workstation and mobile parts — the Tesla P100 and RX 6850M XT — none of which are direct gaming contemporaries. This reflects the GPU’s position in the database, where it scores in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs. However, in The Long Drive specifically, the GPU does not appear to be the primary constraint at lower resolutions, as evidenced by the 357 FPS result at 1080p Low, which suggests the CPU is holding things back even with this flagship GPU.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 7000 series, built on Zen 4 (Raphael) architecture using a 5 nm process. Its base clock is 3.80 GHz with a boost clock of 5.10 GHz, and it has a 65 W TDP. The cache layout includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache. Memory support is DDR5 with dual-channel configuration, offering 83.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The CPU is unlocked for overclocking and supports ECC memory.

The CPU’s benchmark scores show a strong single-thread capability — the 3dmark single-thread score is 999, and Cinebench R23 single-core is 1852. Multi-threaded performance is also solid, with Cinebench R23 multicore at 12,735 and Geekbench multicore at 13,413. The 3dmark 16-thread score of 6,499 is nearly identical to the max-threads score of 6,503, indicating that the processor scales well up to its full thread count.

In The Long Drive, the CPU’s influence is most visible at 1080p. The drop from Low (357 FPS) to Medium (333 FPS) is only 24 FPS, and from Medium to High (208 FPS) is 125 FPS. This pattern suggests that at 1080p, the CPU can feed the GPU enough frames to hit very high rates, but the quality settings impose a significant overhead. The CPU’s percentile rank of 78 against all CPUs means it outperforms most processors, yet it still limits the RTX 5090 from reaching its full potential in the lowest-resolution scenarios.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination ranks 87th out of 3,725 tested configurations in The Long Drive, which places it in the top 2.3% of all combos. This is a strong result, but the rank is interesting given that the RTX 5090 alone sits in the 92nd percentile of GPUs and the Ryzen 5 7600 in the 78th percentile of CPUs. The gap between the GPU’s percentile and the combo’s rank suggests that the CPU is holding the system back from even higher placement.

The data indicates that this combo outperforms the vast majority of systems, but it does not reach the top 50 or even top 80. This is likely due to the fact that The Long Drive is a driving simulation that may not fully utilize the RTX 5090’s 32 GB of VRAM or its 21,760 shading units. The game’s requirements appear to be more modest, as evidenced by the fact that even at 4K Ultra, the system maintains a playable 53 FPS average.

The rank of 87 out of 3,725 also implies that there are 86 other combos in the database that achieve higher performance in this specific game. Those combos likely feature more powerful CPUs or better-tuned configurations for this particular workload. The Ryzen 5 7600’s 6-core, 12-thread design may be a limiting factor in a game that appears to be sensitive to single-thread performance, though the CPU’s 3dmark single-thread score of 999 suggests it is not weak in that regard.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the results show a wide range of performance. Low settings produce an average of 357 FPS, which drops to 333 FPS at Medium (with a minimum of 283 and maximum of 383). High settings reduce the average to 208 FPS, and Ultra further drops it to 144 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 213 FPS, indicating that quality settings have a massive impact at this resolution.

At 1440p, the pattern is similar but with lower absolute numbers. Low averages 267 FPS, Medium averages 219 FPS (minimum 187, maximum 252), High averages 137 FPS, and Ultra averages 95 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 172 FPS, slightly smaller than at 1080p but still substantial. The Medium preset at 1440p shows a tighter range than at 1080p, with a 65 FPS spread between minimum and maximum.

At 4K, the performance drops significantly. Low averages 148 FPS, Medium averages 122 FPS (minimum 103, maximum 140), High averages 76 FPS, and Ultra averages 53 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 95 FPS, which is the smallest absolute spread of any resolution. The Medium preset at 4K has a 37 FPS range between minimum and maximum, the tightest of any resolution and setting combination.

The data shows that the Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum FPS values at all three resolutions. This suggests that the Medium preset is the most stable in terms of frame pacing, while Low, High, and Ultra presets may have more variability that wasn’t captured in the average FPS data.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows suggest that Medium settings provide the best balance of visual quality and performance stability. At 1080p Medium, the average is 333 FPS with a minimum of 283 FPS, ensuring that the frame rate never dips below 283 FPS even in demanding scenes. This is the only preset where minimum FPS data is available, indicating that the game’s performance is more predictable at this setting.

At 1440p Medium, the average is 219 FPS with a minimum of 187 FPS, which is still well above the refresh rate of most monitors. The maximum of 252 FPS shows that there is headroom for higher performance in less demanding scenes. This makes Medium the recommended preset for players using 1440p displays, as it maintains a high average while avoiding the significant performance drop seen at High (137 FPS) or Ultra (95 FPS).

For 4K displays, Medium is again the best choice, averaging 122 FPS with a minimum of 103 FPS. While High (76 FPS) and Ultra (53 FPS) are playable, they do not offer the same margin for frame rate drops. The Medium preset at 4K provides a consistent experience above 100 FPS, which is superior to the other presets that either exceed 140 FPS on Low but lack the visual quality of Medium, or drop below 80 FPS on High and Ultra.

The data implies that Low settings are only recommended for competitive play at 1080p, where the 357 FPS average could benefit players with high-refresh-rate monitors. However, the lack of minimum FPS data for Low makes it difficult to assess its stability. For most players, Medium offers the best combination of visual fidelity and performance consistency across all three resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K reveals the limiting component at each resolution. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 357 at 1080p to 267 at 1440p (a 25% reduction) and then to 148 at 4K (a 45% reduction from 1440p). This scaling suggests that the GPU becomes increasingly important as resolution increases, which is expected given that higher resolutions require more pixel processing.

At Medium settings, the averages are 333 FPS at 1080p, 219 FPS at 1440p, and 122 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 34% from 1080p to 1440p, and 44% from 1440p to 4K. The larger drop at 1440p compared to Low settings indicates that Medium quality adds enough GPU workload to shift the bottleneck more decisively toward the graphics card.

At High settings, the averages are 208 FPS at 1080p, 137 FPS at 1440p, and 76 FPS at 4K. The drops are 34% and 45% respectively, showing a consistent pattern. At Ultra settings, the averages are 144 FPS at 1080p, 95 FPS at 1440p, and 53 FPS at 4K, with drops of 34% and 44%.

The consistent percentage drops across all settings suggest that the scaling is primarily resolution-driven. The CPU’s role is most evident at 1080p, where even at Ultra settings the system maintains 144 FPS, indicating that the Ryzen 5 7600 can sustain high frame rates when the GPU is less taxed. As resolution increases to 4K, the RTX 5090’s workload increases, and the FPS drops to a point where the GPU is clearly the limiting factor — at 4K Ultra, the system averages only 53 FPS, which is a 63% reduction from the 1080p Ultra result.