The Long Drive

# The Long Drive with Intel Core i3-12100F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER

The Long Drive presents an interesting case for the Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER, a combination that places 278th out of 1,734 tested combos in this driving simulation. The data shows a system that scales dramatically with resolution and settings, moving from a nearly effortless 313 frames per second at 1080p Low to a demanding 40.6 frames per second at 4K Ultra. This wide performance envelope indicates a setup that can be tuned to match almost any display or preference, but the relationships between settings and resolution reveal where the bottleneck shifts.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings presets. At Low settings, the game runs at 313 FPS at 1920x1080, drops to 203.2 FPS at 2560x1440, and falls to 115.7 FPS at 3840x2160. That represents a 63% reduction from 1080p to 4K. At Medium settings, the progression goes from 254 FPS at 1080p, to 169.2 FPS at 1440p, and down to 95.1 FPS at 4K — a 62.6% drop. The High preset shows 159.5 FPS at 1080p, 107.7 FPS at 1440p, and 56.7 FPS at 4K, a 64.5% decline. Ultra settings follow the same pattern: 110.5 FPS at 1080p, 74 FPS at 1440p, and 40.6 FPS at 4K, a 63.3% reduction.

The consistency of these percentage drops across all four presets is telling. When moving from 1080p to 1440p, the frame rate falls by roughly 35% regardless of quality level; from 1440p to 4K, it drops another 44-47%. This uniform scaling pattern strongly suggests the GPU is the limiting component at higher resolutions. The RTX 4070 SUPER, with its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth, is being pushed progressively harder as pixel count increases. The fact that the Low preset at 4K (115.7 FPS) outperforms the Ultra preset at 1080p (110.5 FPS) indicates that settings adjustments can compensate for resolution increases, but the rendering load at 4K Ultra clearly exceeds what this GPU can handle smoothly.

At 1080p, the picture changes. The jump from 254 FPS at Medium to 313 FPS at Low is a 23% gain, while moving from High (159.5 FPS) to Ultra (110.5 FPS) costs 30.7% performance. These larger swings between settings at the same resolution point to the CPU beginning to assert itself. The Core i3-12100F, with 4 cores and 8 threads, has a 3.30 GHz base clock and 4.30 GHz boost clock. Its single-thread performance, as shown by a 3dmark_single_thread score of 893, is solid, but the game's engine at high frame rates may start to rely on the processor's capabilities. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system produces 313 FPS — a rate where CPU overhead often becomes the ceiling.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achievable with this combination?

A: The maximum measured average is 313 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is the only configuration in the data set that exceeds 300 frames per second.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K?

A: Yes, but only with specific settings. At 4K High, the average is 56.7 FPS, which falls short of 60. At 4K Medium, the average rises to 95.1 FPS, and at 4K Low it reaches 115.7 FPS. The 4K Ultra preset, at 40.6 FPS, does not meet the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High at the same resolution?

A: At every resolution, Ultra costs significant performance relative to High. At 1080p, the difference is 49 FPS (159.5 vs 110.5). At 1440p, it is 33.7 FPS (107.7 vs 74). At 4K, the gap narrows to 16.1 FPS (56.7 vs 40.6).

Q: Is the frame rate more sensitive to resolution or settings changes?

A: Resolution changes produce larger absolute differences. For example, at High settings, moving from 1080p to 1440p reduces FPS by 51.8, and from 1440p to 4K reduces it by another 51. At Medium settings, the same resolution steps cost 84.8 and 74.1 FPS respectively. Settings changes at a fixed resolution are less impactful, though the Low-to-Ultra swing at 1080p is 202.5 FPS.

Q: What is the performance gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset delivers 203.2 FPS while Ultra delivers 74 FPS. This is a difference of 129.2 FPS, meaning Low runs at approximately 2.75 times the frame rate of Ultra at this resolution.

Q: Does the system ever drop below 40 FPS in the measured configurations?

A: No. The lowest average frame rate recorded is 40.6 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. All other configurations exceed this, with the next lowest being 56.7 FPS at 4K High.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is the dominant component in this pairing, and the benchmark data reflects its capabilities. Built on the AD104 chip with Ada Lovelace architecture at a 5 nm process, this GPU packs 7,168 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 80 raster output units. Its boost clock of 2475 MHz, paired with 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, delivers 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. These specifications translate to a passmark_g3d score of 29,995 and an overall benchmark average of 42,576, placing it in the 84th percentile of all GPUs.

In The Long Drive, the GPU's role becomes most apparent at higher resolutions. The 4K Ultra result of 40.6 FPS is the only configuration that approaches the edge of playability, suggesting that the game at maximum quality with 8.3 million pixels is a heavy load. The GPU's 35.48 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 554.4 GTexel/s texture rate are being taxed, but the RTX 4070 SUPER still manages to outperform many other combinations in the database, as indicated by its 84th percentile ranking.

The GPU's memory configuration also matters here. With 12 GB of VRAM, there is no indication from the frame rate data that capacity is a limiting factor even at 4K Ultra. The GDDR6X memory at 21 Gbps effective speed provides ample bandwidth for the game's asset streaming. The consistency of frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K — approximately 63% reduction across all presets — is a hallmark of GPU-bound performance, where the graphics card's pixel throughput and memory bandwidth dictate the ceiling.

At lower resolutions, the GPU's headroom is evident. The 313 FPS at 1080p Low shows that the RTX 4070 SUPER can far exceed typical display refresh rates, and even the 254 FPS at 1080p Medium leaves substantial margin. This suggests that for most users with 60 Hz or 144 Hz monitors, the GPU will not be the constraint at 1080p; instead, the frame rate becomes a matter of CPU capability and game engine efficiency.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i3-12100F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER combination holds the 278th position out of 1,734 tested combos in The Long Drive. This places it in the top 16% of all configurations tested, a respectable showing that reflects the strength of the GPU even when paired with a more modest CPU. The combo's rank is driven largely by the graphics card's high percentile standing (84th among all GPUs) offset by the processor's lower but still competitive 72nd percentile among all CPUs.

Looking at the CPU's nearest rivals, the i3-12100F sits very close to several alternative processors in overall benchmark scores. The AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX averages 13,534 versus the i3's 13,516, a delta of -0.1%. The Intel Core i7-1250U averages 13,462 (0.4% delta), the Intel Core i3-10105 averages 13,430 (0.6% delta), and the Intel Core i7-7700K averages 13,280 (1.8% delta). These tight margins indicate that the CPU choice has a relatively minor impact on the combo's overall benchmark standing, with less than 2% separating these five processors.

For the GPU, the RTX 4070 SUPER's nearest rivals are similarly close. The NVIDIA RTX A6000 scores 42,653 with a -0.2% delta, the AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE scores 42,723 with a -0.3% delta, the AMD Radeon Pro 580X scores 41,991 with a 1.4% delta, and the NVIDIA Tesla M40 scores 41,897 with a 1.6% delta. This clustering means that swapping to any of these GPUs would produce nearly identical results in the database's aggregate metrics, though the specific game performance could vary.

The rank of 278 out of 1,734 is meaningful because it shows that this combination outperforms the large majority of tested systems. However, the data also reveals that the ranking is not driven by exceptional CPU performance — the i3-12100F is positioned in the middle of its immediate rivals — but rather by the GPU's strong showing. This suggests that the combo's standing in The Long Drive would likely improve with a higher-tier processor, but the current configuration already delivers high frame rates in most settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its strongest results. Low settings produce 313 FPS, Medium achieves 254 FPS, High reaches 159.5 FPS, and Ultra drops to 110.5 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 202.5 FPS, and even the Ultra preset exceeds 100 FPS, indicating that 1080p is well within the comfortable range for this hardware. The step from Low to Medium costs 59 FPS (18.8%), Medium to High costs 94.5 FPS (37.2%), and High to Ultra costs 49 FPS (30.7%).

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but the gaps narrow. Low runs at 203.2 FPS, Medium at 169.2 FPS, High at 107.7 FPS, and Ultra at 74 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra spread is 129.2 FPS. The Medium result at 169.2 FPS is notable because it is higher than the 1080p High result of 159.5 FPS, showing that resolution and settings tradeoffs can yield comparable performance. The 1440p Ultra result of 74 FPS is the only configuration at this resolution that approaches the 60 FPS threshold closely, though it still clears it comfortably.

At 3840x2160, the system's limits become visible. Low settings yield 115.7 FPS, Medium drops to 95.1 FPS, High falls to 56.7 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 40.6 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra spread is 75.1 FPS. The High preset at 4K is the first configuration in the data set that fails to maintain 60 FPS, while Ultra falls well below. The 4K Medium result of 95.1 FPS is still very playable, and even 4K Low at 115.7 FPS provides a smooth experience.

Across all resolutions, the Low preset consistently delivers 2.5 to 2.8 times the frame rate of the Ultra preset. At 1080p, the ratio is 2.83 (313/110.5); at 1440p, it is 2.75 (203.2/74); at 4K, it is 2.85 (115.7/40.6). This consistency suggests that the settings presets scale uniformly in their rendering demands, with Low and Ultra representing fixed quality tiers regardless of resolution.

Settings Recommendations

For users targeting 60 FPS as a baseline, the data shows that 1080p Ultra (110.5 FPS), 1440p Ultra (74 FPS), and 4K Medium (95.1 FPS) all clear that threshold. The 4K High preset at 56.7 FPS is the only configuration that falls short of 60, so those with 4K displays should choose Medium or Low for a guaranteed smooth experience. At 4K Ultra, the 40.6 FPS result is below what most users would consider playable, making that preset impractical for this hardware.

For high-refresh-rate displays, the options expand considerably. At 1080p, every preset exceeds 100 FPS, so users with 144 Hz or even 240 Hz monitors can select High (159.5 FPS) or Medium (254 FPS) without issue. At 1440p, Low (203.2 FPS) and Medium (169.2 FPS) support 144 Hz displays, while High (107.7 FPS) still provides a solid experience for 100 Hz screens. The 1440p Ultra result of 74 FPS is suitable for 75 Hz monitors but not for 144 Hz.

The most balanced recommendation based on the measured data is the Medium preset at 1440p. This configuration delivers 169.2 FPS, which is more than enough for smooth gameplay while still offering improved visual fidelity over Low. For those prioritizing visual quality over raw frame rate, 1440p Ultra at 74 FPS is a viable choice that maintains a comfortable margin above 60 FPS. At 4K, the Medium preset (95.1 FPS) provides the best balance, offering high-resolution visuals without sacrificing the smoothness that driving simulations benefit from.

The data also suggests that the High preset is the least efficient option. At 1080p, High (159.5 FPS) is only 49 FPS faster than Ultra (110.5 FPS) but 94.5 FPS slower than Medium (254 FPS). At 4K, High (56.7 FPS) is actually slower than Medium (95.1 FPS) by a significant margin, making it a poor choice for that resolution. Users should either drop to Medium for higher frame rates or step up to Ultra for maximum quality, as High occupies an awkward middle ground in this game's performance profile.