The Long Drive

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F paired with the Intel Arc B570 produces a distinctive performance profile in The Long Drive, one that shifts its bottleneck characteristics dramatically depending on the resolution and quality preset selected. The measured data reveals a configuration that is clearly capable of high refresh rate play at 1080p, but which becomes increasingly constrained by the graphics subsystem as resolution climbs, ultimately yielding a combo ranking that places it in the lower-mid tier of all tested systems.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and tells a clear story about where the performance ceiling lies. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 146 FPS at 1920x1080 to 96 FPS at 2560x1440, a 34% reduction, and then to 53 FPS at 3840x2160, which is a further 45% drop. The progression from 1440p to 4K is particularly punishing, indicating that the Intel Arc B570’s pixel throughput is the limiting factor at higher resolutions. The data suggests the GPU is being saturated by the 4K pixel count, as the frame rate roughly halves with each major resolution step.

Under Medium settings, the same pattern emerges but with slightly less severe absolute drops. The average FPS goes from 120 at 1080p to 79 at 1440p (a 34% decline) and then to 44 at 4K (a 44% decline). The consistency of these percentage drops across Low and Medium presets suggests a scaling behavior dominated by the GPU’s fill rate and memory bandwidth. The Arc B570’s 380.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 200.0 GPixel/s pixel rate become the binding constraints at 4K, as the measured 27 FPS at High and 19 FPS at Ultra settings at that resolution are below playable thresholds.

The High preset shows the most dramatic scaling penalty. At 1080p, the average is 75 FPS, which drops to 49 FPS at 1440p (a 35% decline) and then to 27 FPS at 4K (a 45% decline). This near-linear scaling with pixel count strongly implies that the CPU, the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F, is not the primary constraint at any resolution tested. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would remain relatively flat as resolution increased, but the data shows it consistently falling, confirming the GPU as the performance limiter in this configuration.

At Ultra settings, the results are uniformly low, with 52 FPS at 1080p, 34 FPS at 1440p, and 19 FPS at 4K. The gap between Ultra and Medium at 1080p is 68 FPS, which is a massive 57% performance hit for the highest quality preset. This indicates that the Ultra preset introduces graphical effects that heavily tax the GPU’s compute resources, likely beyond what the 11.52 TFLOPS FP32 throughput can sustain smoothly at higher resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide a clear hierarchy for the best experience. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 146 FPS average, which is exceptionally high, but the Medium preset at 120 FPS offers a better balance with only an 18% performance penalty while presumably improving visual fidelity. The Medium preset also provides the only complete min/max data in the entire measured set, with a minimum of 102 FPS and maximum of 138 FPS at 1080p, indicating consistent frame pacing without severe dips.

For 2560x1440, the Low preset at 96 FPS is the only clearly playable option for high refresh rate displays. The Medium preset at 79 FPS is still viable for 60 Hz monitors, and its min FPS of 67 shows that it stays above the 60 FPS threshold even in demanding scenes. The High preset at 49 FPS is borderline, but the Ultra preset at 34 FPS is not recommended for smooth gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the situation is dire for quality. The Low preset at 53 FPS is the only option that approaches playability, and even then it is marginal. The Medium preset at 44 FPS has a min FPS of 37, which will produce noticeable stutter. The High preset at 27 FPS and Ultra at 19 FPS are effectively unplayable for any action-oriented driving. The data strongly suggests that 4K gaming is not a realistic target for this combination unless the player accepts Low quality settings.

The best overall experience per the measured rows is the Medium preset at 1080p, which provides 120 FPS average with a 102 FPS minimum. This combination offers a high refresh rate experience that is well above the 60 FPS standard, while the min FPS data suggests it will maintain smoothness even during intense gameplay moments. For 1440p users, the Low preset at 96 FPS is the recommended choice, as it keeps the average above 90 FPS while the Medium preset at 79 FPS remains a solid second option.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570 is the dominant performance factor in this pairing for The Long Drive. With 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus, the GPU provides 380.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for the game’s data demands at 1080p and 1440p but appears to be a limiting factor at 4K. The GPU’s base and boost clocks are both 2500 MHz, which is a notably high clock speed for a mid-range card, but the 11.52 TFLOPS FP32 compute throughput is what ultimately determines the frame rates at higher settings.

The GPU’s benchmark scores place it in the 65th percentile of all GPUs, with its Passmark G3D score of 14195 being the most relevant to gaming performance. The nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile, scores 20534 in the average benchmark, which is only 0.1% higher than the Arc B570’s 20556 average score. This near-identical performance in synthetic benchmarks does not translate to identical results in The Long Drive, as the game’s specific rendering paths may favor one architecture over the other.

The measured FPS data shows that the GPU’s 10 GB VRAM is not the primary constraint, as even at 4K Ultra settings, the frame rate drops to 19 FPS, which is more likely a compute limitation than a memory capacity issue. The 200.0 GPixel/s pixel rate and 360.0 GTexel/s texture rate suggest the GPU is capable of high fill rates, but the 4K Ultra results indicate that the shader complexity overwhelms the 2304 shading units. The GPU’s 80 ROPs are also a potential bottleneck at 4K, as the pixel throughput required for full-resolution rendering at that size is substantial.

The GPU’s 150 W TDP and dual-slot design are consistent with its performance class, but the data shows that it is clearly not designed for 4K gaming at high quality settings. The 1080p and 1440p results are more in line with expectations for a GPU that sits in the 65th percentile, with the Low and Medium presets delivering playable frame rates at both resolutions. The 4K results, however, confirm that this GPU is best suited for 1080p or 1440p gaming in this title.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and Intel Arc B570 ranks 2342 out of 2934 tested combos in The Long Drive, placing it in the 20th percentile of all configurations. This is a surprisingly low ranking given the individual component specifications, but it reflects the fact that the GPU is the limiting factor in this game. The CPU is a high-end part with a 94th percentile rating among all CPUs, while the GPU is only in the 65th percentile, so the overall combo performance is dragged down by the graphics card.

The combo ranking suggests that the Ryzen 7 9700F’s substantial processing power is underutilized in this game at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the CPU is likely providing enough headroom that the GPU is the sole constraint, but at 4K, the GPU is so heavily taxed that the CPU’s performance advantage becomes irrelevant. The rank of 2342 indicates that there are over 500 tested combos that outperform this pairing in The Long Drive, which is a significant number given the CPU’s high benchmark scores.

The data implies that pairing this CPU with a more powerful GPU would yield a much better combo ranking, as the CPU is clearly not the bottleneck. The Ryzen 7 9700F has a Passmark multithread score of 36470 and a single-thread score of 4691, both of which are excellent, but these capabilities are not fully expressed when the GPU cannot keep up with the rendering demands. The combo rank is therefore a reflection of the GPU’s limitations rather than the CPU’s capabilities.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F is a Zen 5 architecture processor with 8 cores and 16 threads, based on the Granite Ridge codename. Its base clock of 3.80 GHz and boost clock of 5.50 GHz provide substantial single-thread performance, which is reflected in its Passmark single-thread score of 4691. The CPU’s 94th percentile ranking among all CPUs indicates that it is a top-tier processor for general computing tasks, but its role in The Long Drive is secondary to the GPU.

The CPU’s 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 1 MB L2 cache per core provide ample cache for game logic and physics calculations. The 89.6 GB/s memory bandwidth from dual-channel DDR5 support is more than sufficient for this game, as the measured FPS data shows no signs of CPU-related stuttering or frame drops. The CPU’s benchmark scores, including a Passmark integer math score of 120788 and floating point math score of 77955, indicate strong computational throughput that is well above what The Long Drive requires.

The nearest CPU rivals in terms of average benchmark score are the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX with a 0.2% higher score, the Intel Core i7-14700KF with a 0.2% lower score, and the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X with a 0.7% higher score. These rivals all have similar performance characteristics, and the 9700F’s 65 W TDP is notably lower than many of these competitors, yet it delivers comparable benchmark results. In The Long Drive, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations, and the consistent FPS drops with resolution indicate that the CPU is not the limiting factor at any setting.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU/GPU combo in The Long Drive?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 is the optimal resolution, with the Medium preset delivering a 120 FPS average and a 102 FPS minimum. At 2560x1440, the Low preset provides 96 FPS, which is still playable, but 3840x2160 results in sub-60 FPS averages across all settings.

Q: Is the Intel Arc B570 or the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F the bottleneck in this game?

A: The benchmark results indicate the GPU is the limiting component. The FPS drops consistently as resolution increases, from 146 FPS at 1080p Low to 53 FPS at 4K Low, which is a pixel-count-driven decline that points to GPU fill rate limitations rather than CPU processing constraints.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to Medium in terms of performance?

A: At 1080p, the Ultra preset averages 52 FPS compared to 120 FPS for Medium, a 68 FPS difference. At 1440p, Ultra averages 34 FPS versus 79 FPS for Medium, and at 4K, Ultra averages 19 FPS versus 44 FPS for Medium. The Ultra preset incurs a massive performance penalty.

Q: What is the combo’s overall ranking among tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 2342 out of 2934 tested combinations in The Long Drive. This places it in the lower 20% of all tested systems, primarily due to the GPU’s performance ceiling despite the CPU’s high individual ranking.

Q: Does the GPU’s 10 GB VRAM cause any issues at 4K?

A: The measured data does not indicate VRAM capacity as a primary issue. The 4K Ultra preset averages 19 FPS, which is a compute limitation, while the 4K Low preset averages 53 FPS, suggesting the 10 GB memory is sufficient for the game’s textures but the GPU’s compute power is insufficient for high quality 4K rendering.

Q: What are the minimum FPS figures for the Medium preset?

A: The Medium preset is the only one with complete min/max data. At 1080p, the minimum is 102 FPS with a maximum of 138 FPS. At 1440p, the minimum is 67 FPS with a maximum of 91 FPS. At 4K, the minimum is 37 FPS with a maximum of 50 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured average FPS results for this combo in The Long Drive is as follows. At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 53 FPS, the Medium preset averages 44 FPS with a minimum of 37 FPS and maximum of 50 FPS, the High preset averages 27 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 19 FPS. These 4K results show that only the Low preset approaches playability, while all others fall well below the 60 FPS standard.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 96 FPS, the Medium preset averages 79 FPS with a minimum of 67 FPS and maximum of 91 FPS, the High preset averages 49 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 34 FPS. The 1440p results offer a better range of options, with Low and Medium both providing smooth experiences, while High is borderline and Ultra is not recommended.

At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 146 FPS, the Medium preset averages 120 FPS with a minimum of 102 FPS and maximum of 138 FPS, the High preset averages 75 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 52 FPS. The 1080p results show a clear hierarchy, with Low and Medium both exceeding 120 FPS, High still above 60 FPS, and Ultra being the only preset that drops below the 60 FPS threshold. The data demonstrates that this combo is best suited for 1080p gaming, with the Medium preset providing the best balance of performance and quality based on the measured rows.