The Long Drive

# How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 lands at rank 2021 out of 3725 tested combos in The Long Drive. That places this configuration in the 54th percentile of all tested systems, meaning it outperforms more than half of the field but sits firmly in the middle of the pack rather than at the top. The ranking reflects a balanced pairing where neither component dominates the other, but the overall result is constrained by the GPU's mid-tier positioning.

Benchmark data shows the CPU is the stronger half of this duo. The Ryzen 7 9700F sits at the 94th percentile among all CPUs, while the RTX 4060 rests at the 61st percentile among all GPUs. This gap explains why the combo's overall rank is closer to the GPU's standing than the CPU's—the graphics card becomes the limiting factor in demanding scenarios. The combo rank of 2021 suggests that many systems with faster GPUs but slower CPUs outrank this pairing, which is typical for a driving simulation where frame rates depend heavily on rasterization throughput.

GPU Role

The RTX 4060 brings 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 272.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its memory clock runs at 2125 MHz, which translates to 17 Gbps effective. The GPU's boost clock of 2460 MHz and base clock of 1830 MHz are moderate for the 40-series lineup, and the card's 3072 shading units handle The Long Drive's rendering workload without obvious bottlenecks at lower settings.

In The Long Drive, the GPU's 8 GB VRAM capacity proves sufficient at 1080p and 1440p across all tested settings, but the data suggests it becomes a constraint at 4K Ultra. The 4K Ultra result of 26 FPS average is the lowest score in the entire measured set, and the drop from 4K High (38 FPS) to 4K Ultra (26 FPS) represents a 31.6% performance penalty for moving from High to Ultra—a steeper decline than what appears at lower resolutions. This pattern indicates that at 4K, the combination of higher resolution and Ultra settings exhausts both the VRAM capacity and the GPU's compute throughput.

The GPU's PassMark G3D score of 19545 places it at the 61st percentile, with nearest rivals including the AMD Radeon HD 7790 (scoring 17666, just 0.2% higher) and the AMD Radeon 780M (scoring 17588, 0.3% lower). These close deltas highlight that the RTX 4060's raw performance is competitive with older and integrated solutions in synthetic tests, but The Long Drive's real-time rendering demands more than synthetic benchmarks reveal. The GPU's FP32 throughput of 15.11 TFLOPS provides a theoretical ceiling, and the measured FPS results show that ceiling is hit at 4K Ultra but not at 1080p Low, where the CPU can push frame rates well beyond 200.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and consistent scaling pattern as resolution increases. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 203 FPS average. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 133 FPS, a 34.5% reduction. At 4K Low, the average falls to 74 FPS, another 44.4% reduction from 1440p. This scaling curve is steep, indicating that the GPU becomes progressively more limiting as pixel count grows, even at Low settings where the CPU would normally have more headroom.

At High settings, the resolution scaling follows a similar trajectory: 104 FPS at 1080p, 69 FPS at 1440p (a 33.7% drop), and 38 FPS at 4K (a 44.9% drop from 1440p). The consistency of these percentage drops across Low and High settings suggests the GPU is the primary limiter at all resolutions above 1080p. At 1080p, the CPU's strength shows through—the jump from 104 FPS at High to 203 FPS at Low represents a 95.2% improvement, which is far larger than the corresponding jumps at 1440p (133 vs 69, a 92.8% improvement) or 4K (74 vs 38, a 94.7% improvement). This indicates that at 1080p, reducing settings unlocks CPU-bound performance, while at higher resolutions the GPU dominates the equation.

The Medium settings data, which includes min and max FPS values, provides additional insight. At 1080p Medium, the combo averages 167 FPS with a range of 142 to 192. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 110 FPS with a range of 93 to 126. At 4K Medium, the average is 61 FPS with a range of 52 to 70. The spread between min and max FPS narrows as resolution increases, from a 50 FPS spread at 1080p to a 33 FPS spread at 1440p and an 18 FPS spread at 4K. This tightening indicates that at 4K, the GPU is consistently saturated, leaving little variance, whereas at 1080p the CPU can occasionally burst past the GPU's output.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 1080p provides the most playable experience, with averages ranging from 72 FPS at Ultra to 203 FPS at Low. At 1440p, the combo delivers 48 to 133 FPS depending on settings, while 4K only reaches playable levels at Low (74 FPS) and Medium (61 FPS) settings.

Q: How does the RTX 4060 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4060's PassMark G3D score of 19545 is 0.2% lower than the AMD Radeon HD 7790's 17666 and 0.3% higher than the AMD Radeon 780M's 17588. The closest rival, the AMD Radeon Pro 560, scores 17551, just 0.5% lower than the RTX 4060.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 9700F a strong CPU for this game?

A: Yes, the CPU sits at the 94th percentile among all CPUs and has an average benchmark score of 69996. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-14700KF, scores 70163, just 0.2% higher, while the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX scores 69875, 0.2% lower.

Q: What is the 4K Ultra performance like?

A: At 4K Ultra, the combo averages 26 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay. This is the lowest measured result in the entire dataset, and it represents a 44.4% drop from 4K High (38 FPS) and a 57.4% drop from 4K Medium (61 FPS).

Q: How much does the CPU affect performance at 1080p?

A: The data indicates the CPU is a significant factor at 1080p. The jump from High (104 FPS) to Low (203 FPS) at 1080p is a 95.2% improvement, which is much larger than the corresponding improvements at higher resolutions, suggesting the CPU can push frames well beyond what the GPU can render at 1440p and above.

Q: What is the combo's overall rank in the database?

A: The combo ranks 2021 out of 3725 tested configurations in The Long Drive. This places it in the middle of the field, reflecting the GPU's mid-tier positioning despite the CPU's high percentile ranking.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce an average of 203 FPS. Medium settings yield 167 FPS, with a measured range of 142 to 192 FPS. High settings produce 104 FPS average. Ultra settings drop to 72 FPS average. The spread from 203 FPS at Low to 72 FPS at Ultra represents a 64.5% reduction in performance when maxing out graphical fidelity.

At 2560x1440, the performance scales down proportionally. Low settings deliver 133 FPS average. Medium settings produce 110 FPS, ranging from 93 to 126 FPS. High settings yield 69 FPS average. Ultra settings bring the average down to 48 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p ranges from 34.5% at Low settings to 33.3% at Ultra settings, showing a consistent resolution penalty across all quality presets.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. Low settings manage 74 FPS average. Medium settings produce 61 FPS, with a range of 52 to 70 FPS. High settings yield 38 FPS average. Ultra settings drop to 26 FPS average. The 4K Low result of 74 FPS is the only 4K setting that approaches smooth gameplay, while 4K Ultra at 26 FPS is effectively unplayable for a driving simulation requiring responsive input.

The Medium settings data across all three resolutions provides the most complete picture, as it includes both min and max FPS. At 1080p Medium, the 142 to 192 FPS range shows strong consistency. At 1440p Medium, the 93 to 126 FPS range still offers smooth performance. At 4K Medium, the 52 to 70 FPS range is marginal but workable. The gap between min and max FPS narrows from 50 at 1080p to 33 at 1440p and 18 at 4K, confirming that higher resolutions reduce frame time variance by keeping the GPU constantly busy.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F brings 8 cores and 16 threads to this pairing, with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. This is a Zen 5 architecture chip built on TSMC's 4 nm process, featuring 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 1 MB of L2 cache per core. The CPU's PassMark single-thread score of 4691 and multithread score of 36470 place it at the 94th percentile overall, with an average benchmark score of 69996.

In The Long Drive, the CPU's strength is most evident at 1080p, where it can push frame rates well beyond the GPU's output. The 203 FPS result at 1080p Low demonstrates that the CPU can feed the GPU with enough frames to reach high refresh rates. The jump from High to Low at 1080p yields a 95.2% improvement in FPS, indicating that at High settings, the GPU is still somewhat limiting, but at Low settings, the CPU reaches its performance ceiling.

The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (avg score 69875, 0.2% lower), the Intel Core i7-14700KF (avg score 70163, 0.2% higher), the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (avg score 69515, 0.7% lower), and the Intel Core i7-14700K (avg score 69355, 0.9% lower). These close deltas show that the 9700F is competitive with high-end desktop and mobile parts, though its 65 W TDP and 8-core configuration suggest it targets efficiency rather than raw multi-threaded throughput.

The CPU's PassMark physics score of 2122 and floating point math score of 77955 indicate solid computational performance for a driving simulation, which typically involves physics calculations for vehicle dynamics and collision detection. The integer math score of 120788 and data encryption score of 21488 further demonstrate the CPU's capability in general-purpose workloads. The 89.6 GB/s memory bandwidth from dual-channel DDR5 support ensures the CPU can feed data to the GPU without creating a memory bottleneck, which is particularly important at 1080p where the CPU is more active.

The Ryzen 7 9700F's 4 nm process and Granite Ridge codename place it in AMD's 9000 series, with a launch MSRP of $289. It supports PCIe Gen 5 with 24 lanes, though the RTX 4060 uses PCIe 4.0 x8, which does not fully utilize the CPU's available bandwidth. The CPU's ECC memory support and unlocked multiplier add flexibility for users who prioritize stability or overclocking, though the measured FPS data reflects stock performance rather than overclocked results.