The Long Drive

The Long Drive pairs the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X with the Intel Arc B390, a combination that delivers playable frame rates only under specific settings. The measured data shows a system where the integrated graphics solution is the decisive bottleneck, with the CPU's strong multi-threaded and single-threaded performance unable to overcome the GPU's limitations at higher resolutions and quality presets.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data for this combination in The Long Drive shows a clear pattern: lower settings are mandatory for a smooth experience, and the gap between presets is substantial. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 95 FPS, which is the only configuration in the entire dataset that approaches high-refresh-rate territory. The Medium preset at the same resolution drops to 78 FPS, which remains playable but represents a 17.9% reduction from Low. High at 1080p falls to 49 FPS, a 48.4% decrease from Low, while Ultra manages only 34 FPS, a 64.2% drop from the Low preset's performance.

The data suggests that the Low preset at 1080p is the optimal choice for this hardware combination. This is not merely because it has the highest average FPS, but because the margin between Low and Medium is significant enough that the visual upgrade may not justify the performance cost. The Medium preset's 78 FPS average still provides a smooth experience, but the 66 FPS minimum recorded for that settings row indicates that demanding scenes can push the system toward less comfortable territory. The Low preset has no recorded minimum FPS, which suggests it maintains more consistent frame delivery throughout the measurement period.

At 2560x1440, the situation becomes more constrained. The Low preset here delivers 63 FPS, which is playable but far from the 95 FPS seen at 1080p. Medium at 1440p drops to 51 FPS with a 44 FPS minimum, which is borderline for a driving simulation where smooth frame pacing matters. High at 1440p produces 32 FPS, and Ultra falls to 22 FPS, both of which are below the threshold for a comfortable experience. The data indicates that 1440p users should stick strictly to Low, as the 12 FPS gap between Low and Medium at this resolution is too large to ignore.

At 3840x2160, the results are uniformly poor. Low delivers 35 FPS, Medium 29 FPS, High 18 FPS, and Ultra 12 FPS. None of these reach the 60 FPS target that most players expect, and even the 35 FPS from Low is marginal. The measured data shows that 4K is not a viable resolution for this combo in The Long Drive, regardless of settings.

The best experience per the measured rows is clearly the Low preset at 1920x1080, delivering 95 FPS. For users who prioritize visual quality over raw frame rate, the Medium preset at 1080p with 78 FPS and a 66 FPS minimum is the highest quality setting that remains consistently playable. The jump from Medium to High at 1080p costs 29 FPS, a 37.2% reduction, which is too steep for the modest visual gains typically associated with that preset change in a driving simulation.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics processor based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, manufactured on Intel's 3 nm process. Its clock speeds are specified with a base of 300 MHz and a boost of 2500 MHz, which is a wide operating range that allows the GPU to scale its performance based on thermal and power headroom. The GPU's TDP is listed at 80 W, and it has a slot width of IGP, confirming its integrated nature with no power connectors required.

The memory configuration is described as "System Shared," meaning the GPU draws from the system's DDR5 memory rather than having dedicated VRAM. The memory bandwidth is listed as "System Dependent," which means performance will vary based on the system's memory configuration. The Ryzen 5 7600X supports dual-channel DDR5 with a memory bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s, and this shared bandwidth is a critical limiting factor for the Arc B390 in The Long Drive.

The GPU's compute resources include 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster operation units. It also features 12 ray tracing cores, though the game's performance at higher settings suggests that these resources are insufficient for demanding workloads. The pixel rate is 60.00 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 120.0 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance rated at 7.680 TFLOPS and FP16 at 15.36 TFLOPS (2:1).

Benchmark results show the Arc B390 scoring 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, which places it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in the benchmark database are the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX with a score of 1463 and a deltaPct of 1.3, the NVIDIA GeForce 800M with 1460 and a deltaPct of 1.5, the NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM with 1446 and a deltaPct of 2.5, and the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 with 1443 and a deltaPct of 2.7. This places the Arc B390 in very low-end territory, just slightly ahead of these older discrete GPUs but far behind any modern gaming-focused graphics card.

The data shows that the Arc B390's performance in The Long Drive is consistent with its low benchmark percentile. At 1080p Low, the 95 FPS result is respectable for an integrated solution, but the sharp drop at higher settings and resolutions reveals the GPU's limited fill rate and memory bandwidth. The 300 MHz base clock scales up to 2500 MHz boost, but even at boost speeds, the 1536 shading units cannot handle the pixel and texture workload demanded by the High and Ultra presets. The 24 ROPs are particularly limiting for a driving simulation that likely involves large open environments with significant draw distances.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600X is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 7000 series, based on the Zen 4 architecture with the Raphael codename. It operates with a base clock of 4.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, with a TDP of 105 W. The CPU is built on TSMC's 5 nm process with 6,570 million transistors on a 71 mm² die. Its cache hierarchy 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 and a bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s, and the CPU also supports ECC memory.

Benchmark results show the Ryzen 5 7600X performing strongly relative to other CPUs. In Cinebench R23, it scores 15236 in multicore and 1965 in singlecore. Geekbench results show 13858 in multicore and 2603 in singlecore. The 3DMark tests show a scaling pattern from 1060 in single-thread to 6879 in 16-thread and 6845 in max-thread, indicating good multi-threading efficiency. PassMark results include a multithread score of 28390 and a single-thread score of 4135.

The CPU's percentileVsAllCpus is 79, meaning it outperforms 79% of all CPUs in the database. Its avgBenchmarkScore is 27636, and its nearest rivals are tightly clustered. The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X has an avgScore of 27578 with a deltaPct of 0.2, the Intel Core i5-12600K also has 27578 with a deltaPct of 0.2, the AMD Ryzen 5 8500GE has 27712 with a deltaPct of -0.3, and the AMD Ryzen 7 5800 has 27535 with a deltaPct of 0.4. This indicates that the Ryzen 5 7600X is essentially tied with these competitors in overall CPU benchmark performance, with differences of less than half a percent.

In The Long Drive, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and handle game logic including physics calculations common in driving simulations. The data shows that the Ryzen 5 7600X is not the bottleneck in this system. Evidence for this comes from the FPS scaling across resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 95 FPS, but at 1440p Low it drops to 63 FPS, and at 4K Low it falls to 35 FPS. If the CPU were the limiting factor, the FPS would remain relatively constant across resolutions as the GPU workload increased. Instead, the FPS drops proportionally with resolution, indicating that the GPU is saturated.

The CPU's 12 threads and 5.30 GHz boost clock provide ample processing power for The Long Drive's simulation aspects. The 32 MB of L3 cache helps maintain game state data close to the cores, and the dual-channel DDR5 bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s is more than sufficient for the game's memory access patterns. The 79th percentile ranking confirms that this CPU is well above average, and its benchmark scores suggest it can handle far more demanding games than what the Arc B390 allows it to drive.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X and Intel Arc B390 ranks 2594 out of 2934 tested combos in The Long Drive, placing it in the 11.6th percentile of all system configurations tested. This is a low ranking, reflecting the GPU's severe performance limitations rather than any deficiency in the CPU. The rank of 2594 means that 2583 other combinations delivered better performance in this game, while only 340 combinations performed worse.

The data shows a stark contrast between the CPU's strong benchmark position and the combo's poor in-game ranking. The Ryzen 5 7600X sits at the 79th percentile among CPUs, but the Arc B390 sits at the 9th percentile among GPUs. When paired together in The Long Drive, the combo's performance is dragged down to the 11.6th percentile, closely tracking the GPU's percentile rather than the CPU's. This indicates that the GPU is the overwhelming performance limiter.

The nearest rival GPUs to the Arc B390 all score within 2.7% of its average benchmark score, with the GT 520MX at 1.3% higher, the GeForce 800M at 1.5% higher, the GT 625 OEM at 2.5% higher, and the GT 710 at 2.7% higher. These are all very old, low-end GPUs from previous generations, and their proximity in benchmark scores confirms that the Arc B390 performs at a level comparable to entry-level hardware from many years ago. In The Long Drive, this translates to playable frame rates only at the lowest settings and resolutions.

The combo rank of 2594 out of 2934 suggests that users of this system would likely experience significant stuttering and frame drops in any scenario with more demanding graphics. The fact that the combo outperforms only 340 other configurations indicates that the vast majority of tested systems deliver better results. For a driving simulation that likely features open roads and procedurally generated environments, this low ranking means the visual experience will be substantially compromised compared to higher-ranked systems.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data across resolutions reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling. Starting from the Low preset, the system delivers 95 FPS at 1920x1080, 63 FPS at 2560x1440, and 35 FPS at 3840x2160. This progression shows a 33.7% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a 44.4% drop from 1440p to 4K. The total drop from 1080p to 4K is 63.2%, which is substantial but not as severe as it would be if the CPU were the limiting factor.

For the Medium preset, the FPS values are 78 at 1080p, 51 at 1440p, and 29 at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 34.6%, and from 1440p to 4K is 43.1%. The High preset shows 49 FPS at 1080p, 32 at 1440p, and 18 at 4K, with drops of 34.7% and 43.8% respectively. The Ultra preset delivers 34 FPS at 1080p, 22 at 1440p, and 12 at 4K, representing drops of 35.3% and 45.5%.

The consistency of these percentage drops across all four presets is notable. Each preset shows approximately a one-third reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a further reduction of roughly 44% from 1440p to 4K. This uniform scaling behavior strongly indicates that the GPU is the limiting component. When a system is GPU-bound, the FPS should scale inversely with the number of pixels, which increases by 1.78x from 1080p to 1440p and by 2.25x from 1440p to 4K. The observed FPS drops are consistent with this scaling model.

If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would remain relatively flat as resolution increased, since the CPU workload would be similar regardless of pixel count. The data clearly does not show this pattern. Instead, the FPS drops sharply with each resolution increase, confirming that the Arc B390's pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth are exhausted well before the Ryzen 5 7600X's processing capabilities are stressed.

The resolution scaling also shows that the gap between Low and Ultra settings grows with resolution. At 1080p, Low delivers 95 FPS and Ultra delivers 34 FPS, a difference of 61 FPS or 64.2%. At 4K, Low delivers 35 FPS and Ultra delivers 12 FPS, a difference of 23 FPS or 65.7%. This slightly widening gap indicates that higher resolutions amplify the GPU's inability to handle the increased shading and texture work required by the Ultra preset.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of this combo's performance across all tested configurations. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 95 FPS with no recorded minimum or maximum values. The Medium preset at 1080p averages 78 FPS with a minimum of 66 FPS and a maximum of 90 FPS, showing a relatively tight frame delivery range. The High preset at 1080p averages 49 FPS with no min or max values recorded. The Ultra preset at 1080p averages 34 FPS, again without min or max values.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 63 FPS. The Medium preset at 1440p averages 51 FPS with a minimum of 44 FPS and a maximum of 59 FPS. The High preset at 1440p averages 32 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1440p averages 22 FPS. At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 35 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K averages 29 FPS with a minimum of 24 FPS and a maximum of 33 FPS. The High preset at 4K averages 18 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K averages 12 FPS.

The Medium presets are the only ones with recorded minimum and maximum FPS values, appearing at all three resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the 66-90 FPS range indicates reasonable frame time consistency. At 1440p Medium, the 44-59 FPS range shows the system dipping into lower territory during demanding scenes. At 4K Medium, the 24-33 FPS range reveals significant frame pacing issues, with the minimum falling well below playable levels.

The overall pattern from the measured data shows that this combo delivers playable performance only at 1080p with Low or Medium settings. The 95 FPS at 1080p Low is the standout result, providing a smooth experience for the game's driving mechanics. The 78 FPS at 1080p Medium is also acceptable, though the 66 FPS minimum suggests occasional dips during complex scenes. At 1440p, only the Low preset with 63 FPS approaches playability, while at 4K, even the Low preset's 35 FPS is insufficient for a smooth driving simulation where reaction time matters.

The data also reveals that the Ultra preset is essentially unplayable at any resolution, with the best Ultra result being 34 FPS at 1080p and the worst being 12 FPS at 4K. The gap between Low and Ultra at each resolution is consistent, suggesting that the Ultra preset's additional visual effects impose a fixed performance penalty that the Arc B390 cannot absorb. The 95 FPS at 1080p Low versus 34 FPS at 1080p Ultra represents a 64.2% reduction, and this penalty remains relatively constant across resolutions. This consistency further confirms that the GPU's architecture, rather than any single feature, is the limiting factor.