The Long Drive

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate for this CPU/GPU combo in The Long Drive at 1080p with Low settings?

A: The measured average is 146 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the highest average FPS recorded across all tested settings and resolutions in the data.

Q: How does the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X compare to its closest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755GE?

A: The Ryzen 5 9600X has an average benchmark score of 29,713, which is 0.2% higher than the Ryzen 7 PRO 5755GE's average score of 29,656. The two processors are statistically near-identical in overall synthetic performance.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The Intel Arc B570 sits at the 65th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 20,556. Its closest rival, the Intel Arc A750, scores 20,582, a delta of -0.1%.

Q: Does the 4K Ultra setting produce a playable frame rate?

A: No. At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the measured average FPS is 19, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay in most driving simulations. The 4K Medium setting fares better at 44 FPS average, with a minimum of 37 FPS and a maximum of 50 FPS.

Q: What is the CPU's single-thread performance in Cinebench R23?

A: The Ryzen 5 9600X scores 2,183.5 in Cinebench R23 single-core. Its multi-core score in the same test is 17,528.5, reflecting the 6-core/12-thread design.

Q: How much VRAM does the Intel Arc B570 have, and what is its memory bandwidth?

A: The GPU features 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus, delivering 380.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock is 2375 MHz, operating at 19 Gbps effective.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X is built on the Zen 5 architecture, codenamed Granite Ridge, using a 4 nm process at TSMC. It packs 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 3.90 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. The 65W TDP part is designed for the AMD Socket AM5 platform and supports dual-channel DDR5 memory with a bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s. The L3 cache is 32 MB shared, with 1 MB of L2 per core and 80 KB of L1 per core.

In this game, the CPU's role is largely defined by its single-thread and moderate multi-thread capabilities. The 3DMark single-thread score is 1,253, while the 2-thread score jumps to 2,456. That scaling indicates efficient use of a second core, which matters for driving simulations that often have a primary simulation thread plus physics or audio threads. The 4-thread score of 4,649 and 8-thread score of 6,726 show continued scaling, though with diminishing returns per added thread. The max-thread score is 7,590, only slightly above the 8-thread result, suggesting the CPU doesn't gain much beyond 8 active threads in this type of workload.

The Cinebench R23 results reinforce the picture: a single-core score of 2,183.5 against a multi-core score of 17,528.5. The ratio between multi and single is roughly 8:1, which is typical for a 6-core/12-thread processor. The Geekbench scores are similarly strong, with 2,923 single-core and 14,438 multi-core. The PassMark single-thread score of 4,570 places the chip well above average for desktop CPUs.

The CPU holds the 81st percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 29,713. Its nearest rivals are all AMD parts: the Ryzen 7 PRO 5755GE (0.2% ahead), the Ryzen 7 7840H (0.5% behind), the Ryzen 7 5800XT (0.6% behind), and the Ryzen 7 8845HS (0.8% behind). The deltas are tiny, meaning the 9600X trades blows with these higher-core-count chips despite having fewer cores. That is the Zen 5 IPC advantage showing up in practice.

For The Long Drive, the CPU's strong single-thread performance helps maintain frame pacing at lower resolutions where the GPU is not the bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the system hits 146 FPS, which indicates the CPU can feed frames quickly. The 12 threads provide enough parallelism for background tasks and game engine threads without becoming a limiting factor.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570 is a Battlemage-generation GPU, built on the Xe2-HPG architecture using a 5 nm process at TSMC. The chip, designated BMG-G21, contains 19,600 million transistors on a 272 mm² die. It operates at a fixed 2500 MHz for both base and boost clocks, with memory running at 2375 MHz (19 Gbps effective). The 10 GB of GDDR6 memory sits on a 160-bit bus, providing 380.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

The GPU's compute resources include 2,304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 80 raster output units. It also has 18 ray tracing cores. The pixel rate is 200.0 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 360.0 GTexel/s. Floating point performance is rated at 11.52 TFLOPS for FP32 and 23.04 TFLOPS for FP16 (2:1 ratio). The card draws up to 150 W and requires a single 8-pin power connector, with a suggested PSU of 450 W.

The Arc B570's benchmark results show a mixed profile. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 2,649, while Geekbench OpenCL scores 83,514 and Vulkan scores 96,844. PassMark results are more varied: G3D scores 14,195, GPU Compute scores 7,281, and legacy DirectX tests show lower numbers (DX10: 65, DX11: 118, DX12: 72, DX9: 164). The G2D score is 661.

The GPU sits at the 65th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 20,556. Its nearest rival is the Intel Arc A750, which scores 20,582 — a delta of -0.1%, meaning the B570 is essentially tied with its predecessor-generation sibling. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile is 0.1% ahead, while the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M is 0.4% ahead and the AMD Radeon R9 M390X is 0.5% behind.

In The Long Drive, the GPU's role becomes dominant at higher resolutions and settings. The 10 GB VRAM buffer is sufficient for the game's demands, as evidenced by the playable frame rates at 1440p Medium and High. The 380 GB/s bandwidth helps maintain throughput when textures and draw distances increase. However, the GPU's raw compute limits show up at 4K Ultra, where the average FPS drops to 19, indicating that the B570 cannot sustain the fill rate and shading load required at that extreme setting.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data covers three resolutions (1920x1080, 2560x1440, 3840x2160) and four settings levels (Low, Medium, High, Ultra). Only the Medium preset includes min and max FPS values; other settings report only averages.

At 1080p, the frame rates scale cleanly with settings. Low produces 146 FPS average, which is the highest number in the entire dataset. Medium drops to 120 FPS average, with a minimum of 102 FPS and a maximum of 138 FPS. High comes in at 75 FPS average. Ultra is significantly heavier, yielding 52 FPS average. The gap between Low and Medium is 26 FPS (about 18% reduction), while going from Medium to High costs 45 FPS (37.5% reduction). The High-to-Ultra step costs another 23 FPS (30.7% reduction). These diminishing returns suggest that Ultra settings introduce effects that disproportionately impact the GPU.

At 1440p, the pattern shifts. Low averages 96 FPS, Medium averages 79 FPS (min 67, max 91), High averages 49 FPS, and Ultra averages 34 FPS. The Low-to-Medium drop is 17 FPS (17.7%), Medium-to-High is 30 FPS (38%), and High-to-Ultra is 15 FPS (30.6%). The 1440p High result of 49 FPS is notably lower than the 1080p High result of 75 FPS, a 26 FPS difference that underscores the resolution sensitivity.

At 4K, the results become marginal. Low averages 53 FPS, Medium averages 44 FPS (min 37, max 50), High averages 27 FPS, and Ultra averages 19 FPS. The Low-to-Medium drop is 9 FPS (17%), Medium-to-High is 17 FPS (38.6%), and High-to-Ultra is 8 FPS (29.6%). The 4K High and Ultra results are below the 30 FPS threshold that many players consider a minimum for playable driving games.

The combo's overall rank in the game is 2,342 out of 2,934 tested combinations, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the field.

Resolution Scaling

The data reveals a predictable but steep resolution penalty. At Low settings, the average FPS goes from 146 at 1080p, to 96 at 1440p, to 53 at 4K. That is a 34.2% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 44.8% drop from 1440p to 4K. The total drop from 1080p to 4K is 63.7%.

At Medium settings, the progression is 120 → 79 → 44 FPS. The 1440p result is 34.2% lower than 1080p, and the 4K result is 44.3% lower than 1440p. At High settings, the numbers are 75 → 49 → 27 FPS, with drops of 34.7% and 44.9% respectively. At Ultra, the results are 52 → 34 → 19 FPS, with drops of 34.6% and 44.1%.

The consistent percentage drops across settings are striking. Regardless of the quality preset, moving from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly one-third of the frame rate, and moving from 1440p to 4K costs another 44-45%. This uniformity suggests the scaling is resolution-bound rather than settings-bound. The GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the CPU has sufficient headroom to feed frames at 1080p (evidenced by the 146 FPS Low result) but cannot compensate for the increased pixel count at 1440p and 4K.

The implication is that this hardware combination is well-balanced for 1080p gaming, but the GPU becomes the bottleneck as resolution increases. The 4K Low result of 53 FPS is the only playable 4K option, and even that is far from the 100+ FPS achieved at 1080p Low. Players targeting 4K would need to accept Low settings and sub-60 FPS performance, or they would need to consider the 1440p Medium preset as the highest quality option that maintains a reasonable frame rate.

Settings Recommendations

The data indicates that Medium settings provide the best balance of visual quality and performance across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers 120 FPS average with a minimum of 102 FPS, which is smooth and well above the 60 FPS threshold. The High preset at 75 FPS is also playable, but the 45 FPS drop from Medium to High suggests that the visual gains come at a steep cost.

At 1440p, Medium is again the sweet spot with 79 FPS average and a 67 FPS minimum. This is comfortably playable on most displays. High at 49 FPS is borderline, dipping below 60 FPS, while Ultra at 34 FPS is only suitable for players who prioritize visuals over smoothness. Low at 96 FPS is the performance choice, but the visual degradation may not be worth the extra 17 FPS over Medium.

At 4K, the recommendations change. Medium averages 44 FPS with a minimum of 37 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for a driving simulation where smooth motion matters. Low at 53 FPS is the better option for maintaining frame rate, though neither setting reaches 60 FPS. High at 27 FPS and Ultra at 19 FPS are not recommended for active play, as the frame rates fall below the threshold where motion remains fluid.

The measured min/max data for Medium provides additional insight. At 1080p Medium, the range is 102-138 FPS, a 36 FPS spread that indicates some frame time variance. At 1440p Medium, the range is 67-91 FPS, a 24 FPS spread. At 4K Medium, the range is 37-50 FPS, a 13 FPS spread. The narrowing range at higher resolutions suggests the GPU is consistently saturated, while at 1080p the CPU has more room to produce variable frame times.

For the best overall experience, Medium at 1440p appears to be the optimal configuration. It offers 79 FPS average, a 67 FPS minimum, and represents a resolution that balances sharpness with performance. Players with 1080p displays can comfortably use High at 75 FPS if they prefer higher quality, but Medium at 120 FPS is the safer bet for competitive or fast-paced driving. At 4K, Low is the only setting that approaches playability, and even then, the 53 FPS average is below the ideal target.