The Long Drive

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for The Long Drive shows a clear and predictable pattern as resolution climbs from 1080p to 4K, but the magnitude of the drop depends heavily on the quality preset. At Low settings, the game scales from 203 FPS at 1920x1080 down to 133 FPS at 2560x1440, and finally to 74 FPS at 3840x2160. That represents a 64% reduction from 1080p to 4K, which is a substantial hit but still leaves the game playable at 4K on the Low preset. The drop from 1440p to 4K at Low is 44%, indicating that pixel count is becoming the dominant factor as resolution increases.

At Medium settings, the pattern is similar but with slightly lower absolute numbers: 167 FPS at 1080p, 110 FPS at 1440p, and 61 FPS at 4K. The scaling from 1080p to 4K here is a 63% reduction, almost identical to Low. This consistency suggests that the RTX 4060's 8 GB GDDR6 memory and 272.0 GB/s bandwidth are handling the increased pixel load in a predictable linear fashion, without hitting a memory capacity wall at these settings. The Medium preset also provides min/max FPS data, showing 142-192 FPS at 1080p, 93-126 FPS at 1440p, and 52-70 FPS at 4K, which reveals that the frame time variance grows slightly at higher resolutions.

High settings show a steeper relative decline. From 104 FPS at 1080p to 69 FPS at 1440p (a 34% drop), then down to 38 FPS at 4K (a 45% drop from 1440p). The cumulative 1080p-to-4K reduction at High is 63%, again matching the other presets. However, the absolute difference between High and Medium narrows as resolution increases: at 1080p, High is 37 FPS slower than Medium, but at 4K, the gap shrinks to 23 FPS. This convergence indicates that at higher resolutions, the GPU's shading units (3072) and texture units (96) are becoming the limiting factor rather than the specific quality settings.

Ultra settings present the most dramatic scaling. The 4K Ultra result of 26 FPS is barely playable, and the 1440p Ultra result of 48 FPS is marginal. At 1080p Ultra, the combo manages 72 FPS, which is playable but far from the high-refresh territory seen at lower presets. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at Ultra is 64%, consistent with the other presets, but the absolute floor is much lower. The data suggests that Ultra settings introduce effects that disproportionately tax the RTX 4060's 48 ROPs and 15.11 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, making it a poor choice for 4K on this hardware.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F brings six cores and twelve threads to this pairing, built on the Zen 4 architecture with a 4.20 GHz base clock and 4.70 GHz boost clock. This is a desktop processor on the AM5 socket, using TSMC's 4 nm process with 25,000 million transistors on a 178 mm² die. The CPU's benchmark scores indicate strong single-thread performance, with a 3dmark_single_thread score of 951 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2943. These numbers are critical for The Long Drive, which appears to scale well with per-core performance given the FPS results at 1080p Low where the combo hits 203 FPS.

The CPU's multi-threaded capabilities are also solid, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 20851 and a 3dmark_max_threads score of 6165. This suggests that the game can utilize multiple threads when needed, but the fact that the 1080p Low result (203 FPS) is nearly three times the 4K Ultra result (26 FPS) points to the GPU being the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the CPU is doing more of the heavy lifting, and its PassMark single-thread score of 3685 and multi-thread score of 24389 indicate it can keep up with the RTX 4060 without creating a CPU-side bottleneck.

Comparing to nearest rivals, the Ryzen 5 8400F's average benchmark score of 25005 is only 0.2% above the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F (24964), 0.3% above the Intel Core i7-11850H (24935), and 0.4% above the Intel Core i7-13620H (24911). It trails the AMD EPYC 9474F by 0.4% (25103). These are all extremely close margins, meaning the 8400F is right in the pack for its performance class, and any FPS differences in The Long Drive at CPU-bound settings would be negligible against these alternatives.

The CPU's 16 MB of shared L3 cache and 1 MB L2 per core, combined with DDR5 memory support and 83.2 GB/s memory bandwidth, provide sufficient data throughput for a driving simulation that likely streams large open-world environments. The 65 W TDP and 4 nm process keep thermals manageable, though this is not a factor in the measured FPS data. What matters is that the CPU's single-thread score of 951 in 3dmark and 296 in Cinebench R15 single-core are strong enough to drive high frame rates at 1080p, as evidenced by the 203 FPS Low result.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run The Long Drive at 4K?

A: Yes, but only at Low settings (74 FPS) or Medium settings (61 FPS). High settings drop to 38 FPS, and Ultra settings are effectively unplayable at 26 FPS. The RTX 4060's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus are sufficient for 4K at lower presets, but the 15.11 TFLOPS compute is not enough for higher quality settings at that resolution.

Q: What is the best resolution for high refresh rate gaming with this hardware?

A: At 1080p, the combo delivers 203 FPS on Low and 167 FPS on Medium, which are well above typical 144 Hz refresh rates. At 1440p, Low settings hit 133 FPS and Medium hits 110 FPS, making 1440p viable for high refresh if you stick to lower presets. High settings at 1080p (104 FPS) are also acceptable for 100 Hz displays.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 8400F compare to its closest CPU rivals?

A: The 8400F has an average benchmark score of 25005, which is 0.2% higher than the Ryzen 5 7500F (24964), 0.3% higher than the Intel Core i7-11850H (24935), and 0.4% higher than the Intel Core i7-13620H (24911). It is 0.4% lower than the AMD EPYC 9474F (25103). These differences are within the margin of error, so any of these CPUs would perform nearly identically in The Long Drive.

Q: Is the RTX 4060 a bottleneck for this CPU?

A: The data suggests yes at higher resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 203 FPS, which is likely CPU-limited or game-engine-limited. But at 4K Ultra, the FPS drops to 26, a 87% reduction, indicating the GPU is the limiting factor. The RTX 4060's PassMark G3D score of 19545 and its position at the 61st percentile of all GPUs support this interpretation.

Q: What frame rates can I expect at 1440p Medium settings?

A: The measured data shows an average of 110 FPS at 2560x1440 with Medium settings, with a minimum of 93 FPS and a maximum of 126 FPS. This is a comfortable range for smooth gameplay on most 1440p monitors, and it represents a good balance between visual quality and performance for this hardware.

Q: How does the RTX 4060 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RTX 4060 has an average benchmark score of 17639, which is 0.2% below the AMD Radeon HD 7790 (17666), 0.3% above the AMD Radeon 780M (17588), 0.5% above the AMD Radeon Pro 560 (17551), and 0.7% above the AMD Radeon Pro 460 (17509). These are all very close scores, but the RTX 4060's modern Ada Lovelace architecture and 8 GB GDDR6 memory make it far more capable for modern games like The Long Drive.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured results across all four presets provide a clear picture of the combo's performance envelope. Low settings produce an average of 203 FPS, which is the highest result in the entire dataset and suggests the game is not heavily GPU-bound at this preset. Medium settings average 167 FPS, with a minimum of 142 and maximum of 192, showing a tight frame time distribution. High settings drop to 104 FPS average, and Ultra settings fall to 72 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 131 FPS, a 65% reduction, indicating that the quality presets have a massive impact on this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the results scale down predictably. Low settings average 133 FPS, which is still smooth for most displays. Medium settings average 110 FPS, with a minimum of 93 and maximum of 126, maintaining good frame pacing. High settings drop to 69 FPS, which is playable but noticeably less smooth than the lower presets. Ultra settings average just 48 FPS, which is borderline for action-heavy driving gameplay. The 1440p results show that Medium is the sweet spot for this resolution, offering 110 FPS while keeping the game visually acceptable.

At 3840x2160, the RTX 4060's limitations become apparent. Low settings average 74 FPS, which is playable but requires significant visual compromises. Medium settings average 61 FPS, with a minimum of 52 and maximum of 70, meaning occasional dips below 60 FPS are possible. High settings drop to 38 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay on most displays. Ultra settings average just 26 FPS, making them virtually unplayable. The 4K results clearly show that this combo is best suited for 1080p or 1440p gaming, with 4K only viable on Low or Medium presets.

The min/max FPS data provided for Medium settings across all resolutions reveals some useful information about frame consistency. At 1080p Medium, the range is 142-192 FPS, a spread of 50 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the range narrows to 93-126 FPS, a spread of 33 FPS. At 4K Medium, the range is 52-70 FPS, a spread of 18 FPS. This tightening of the frame time variance at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU is being pushed closer to its limits, reducing the headroom for frame rate spikes and dips.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 ranks 2021 out of 3725 tested combos in The Long Drive. This places it in the 46th percentile of all tested combinations, which is a solid mid-pack result. The ranking indicates that while this combo is not at the top tier for this game, it significantly outperforms more than half of the tested configurations. Given the CPU's 77th percentile ranking among all CPUs and the GPU's 61st percentile among all GPUs, the combo's overall position makes sense: it's a balanced pairing where neither component is dramatically underpowered.

The combo rank of 2021 out of 3725 suggests that The Long Drive is not particularly demanding on hardware, as the mid-range RTX 4060 and the six-core Ryzen 5 8400F are able to achieve competitive frame rates. The fact that this combo can hit 203 FPS at 1080p Low and 167 FPS at 1080p Medium indicates that the game's engine is well-optimized for mainstream hardware. The 4K Ultra result of 26 FPS is the weakest point, but this is expected for a mid-range GPU at the highest quality settings.

The percentileVsAllCpus of 77 for the Ryzen 5 8400F means it outperforms 77% of all CPUs in the benchmark database, while the percentileVsAllGpus of 61 for the RTX 4060 means it outperforms 61% of all GPUs. The combo's in-game rank of 2021 out of 3725 (46th percentile) is slightly lower than either component's individual percentile, which could indicate that The Long Drive benefits more from GPU performance than CPU performance, or that the specific combination of this CPU and GPU has some inefficiency in this particular game.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the best experience for this combo depends heavily on the target resolution and refresh rate. For 1080p gaming, Medium settings at 167 FPS average (142 min, 192 max) provide an excellent balance of visual quality and performance. This preset is ideal for 144 Hz monitors, as the average FPS comfortably exceeds the refresh rate while the minimum stays above 140 FPS. High settings at 104 FPS are also viable for 100 Hz displays, but the 63 FPS drop from Medium to High makes Medium the better choice for most users. Ultra at 72 FPS is playable, but the visual gains over High are minimal in most games, and the 32% FPS reduction is not worth it.

For 1440p gaming, Medium settings are again the recommended preset, delivering 110 FPS average (93 min, 126 max). This is sufficient for 100 Hz monitors and provides smooth gameplay with good visual fidelity. Low settings at 133 FPS are an option for 144 Hz displays, but the visual quality reduction may be noticeable. High settings at 69 FPS are playable but sit right at the edge of what most users consider smooth, and the 41 FPS drop from Medium makes it a less attractive option. Ultra at 48 FPS is not recommended for this resolution, as the gameplay experience would be compromised by frequent frame rate dips.

For 4K gaming, Low settings at 74 FPS is the only preset that provides a consistently smooth experience, though it requires significant visual compromises. Medium settings at 61 FPS (52 min, 70 max) are viable if you can tolerate occasional dips below 60 FPS, but the frame pacing may not be ideal for a driving game where smoothness is important. High settings at 38 FPS and Ultra at 26 FPS are both unplayable for this genre, as the low frame rates would make the driving experience feel sluggish and unresponsive.

The data clearly indicates that the optimal experience for this combo is 1080p Medium settings, which delivers 167 FPS average with a tight frame time range of 142-192 FPS. This combination of high frame rate and good visual quality is likely to provide the most enjoyable gameplay for The Long Drive. If you have a 1440p monitor, Medium settings at 110 FPS is a strong alternative that still provides smooth gameplay. For 4K, Low settings is the only practical choice, and even then, the 74 FPS average may not be ideal for a game that requires precise driving control.