The Long Drive

The Long Drive is a driving simulation that rewards high frame rates, and the Intel Core i5-12400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 delivers a performance profile that is heavily dependent on your chosen settings and resolution. The measured data shows a clear hierarchy where lower settings unlock significantly higher FPS, while higher settings and resolutions put increasing strain on the GPU. This combination ranks in the 886th position out of 3725 tested combos, placing it in the top quarter of all systems, and the benchmark results indicate that a balanced approach to settings is necessary to fully exploit the hardware's potential.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear directive for optimizing the experience in The Long Drive. At 1920x1080, the jump from Low to Medium is substantial, with the average frame rate dropping from 280 FPS to 230 FPS, but the latter still provides a highly fluid experience. Pushing to High reduces the average to 144 FPS, which is still excellent, but the Ultra preset causes a significant drop to 100 FPS. For the smoothest possible experience at 1080p, the Medium preset is the sweet spot, offering a 230 FPS average with a minimum of 196 FPS, ensuring that even the most demanding scenes remain well above typical high-refresh-rate monitor thresholds.

Moving to 2560x1440, the pattern continues. The Low preset achieves an impressive 184 FPS average, while Medium still delivers a very playable 152 FPS with a minimum of 129 FPS. The High preset at this resolution drops to 95 FPS, which is still smooth but begins to show the GPU's workload increasing. The Ultra preset falls to 66 FPS. For 1440p, the Medium preset is again the recommended choice, as it provides a high average frame rate with a minimum that prevents noticeable stuttering, effectively balancing visual quality and performance.

At 3840x2160, the situation changes dramatically. The Ultra preset is not viable, with an average of only 36 FPS. High is playable but not ideal, averaging 53 FPS. Medium provides a more comfortable 84 FPS with a minimum of 71 FPS, while Low jumps to 102 FPS. For a 4K experience, the Medium preset is the only sensible choice for a consistently smooth experience, as it is the highest setting that maintains an average above 60 FPS and a minimum that does not dip too low. The data suggests that players should prioritize the Medium preset at any resolution, as it offers the best balance between visual fidelity and frame rate stability, with the option to drop to Low for a more competitive edge or higher refresh rate utilization.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is the primary driver of performance at higher resolutions and settings in The Long Drive. Its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus provides a 504.2 GB/s bandwidth, which is sufficient for the game's textures and geometry. The GPU's base clock of 1920 MHz and boost clock of 2475 MHz, combined with 5888 shading units, are the key components that determine its output. Benchmark results show the GPU performing in the 81st percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 37648, placing it close to rivals like the NVIDIA Tesla P4 (0.1% faster) and AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (0.4% slower).

The GPU's role becomes more pronounced as resolution increases. At 1080p, the CPU is more capable of keeping up, and the GPU is not fully utilized until higher settings. However, at 1440p and especially 4K, the frame rates drop significantly across all settings, indicating that the RTX 4070 is becoming the limiting factor. The transition from 1080p Medium (230 FPS) to 1440p Medium (152 FPS) shows a 34% reduction in performance, and a further drop to 4K Medium (84 FPS) represents a 45% reduction from 1440p. This scaling pattern is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario, where the rendering load increases with pixel count, directly impacting the GPU's ability to maintain high frame rates. The data clearly shows that the RTX 4070 is the component that dictates the ceiling for performance at higher resolutions, particularly when using the High and Ultra presets.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 provides the foundation for this system's performance, ensuring that the GPU is not left waiting for data. With 6 cores and 12 threads, the CPU has a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its 18 MB of shared L3 cache is ample for game logic and physics calculations. The CPU's benchmark scores are solid, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 15989 and a single-core score of 2257, placing it in the 72nd percentile of all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 18683 is nearly identical to that of the AMD EPYC 7643 (-0.1% delta), indicating that its overall compute capability is well-balanced.

In The Long Drive, the CPU's role is most apparent at lower resolutions and settings where the GPU is not the bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 280 FPS, a figure that is likely constrained by the CPU's ability to process game state updates and issue draw calls. The CPU's strong single-thread performance, as evidenced by its 3456 Passmark single-thread score, is critical for this type of workload. Even at 1080p Ultra, the CPU manages to feed the GPU enough data to reach 100 FPS, showing that it is not a significant hindrance. However, the data suggests that the i5-12400's performance is adequate for the task, as the frame rate scaling from 1080p to 1440p and 4K is primarily dictated by the GPU's rendering capabilities, not the CPU's processing power.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i5-12400 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 achieves a rank of 886 out of 3725 tested combos in The Long Drive. This places it in the top 23.8% of all systems tested, which is a strong showing for a mid-range CPU paired with a high-end GPU. The ranking indicates that the system is capable of delivering a high level of performance in this game, but it is not at the absolute top tier. The system's performance is clearly limited by the CPU in certain scenarios, as the GPU is a top-tier component that could potentially drive even higher frame rates if paired with a more powerful processor.

The rank suggests that while the RTX 4070 is a very capable card, the i5-12400 is not the ultimate partner for it in this specific game. The data from the measured FPS shows that at 1080p, the system is capable of very high frame rates, which is a sign that the CPU is doing its job. However, the gap between the CPU's potential and the GPU's potential is not fully bridged, as evidenced by the system not ranking higher. For a player looking to maximize performance in The Long Drive, this combo is a solid choice, but it is not the absolute best, as other combinations with more powerful CPUs would likely yield higher frame rates at lower resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and expected scaling pattern as resolution increases, which provides insight into which component is the primary bottleneck. At 1080p, the system is capable of very high frame rates, with a Low preset average of 280 FPS. This high figure indicates that the system is not heavily constrained by the GPU, and the CPU is likely the limiting factor at this point. As resolution increases to 1440p, the frame rates drop across all settings, but the relative performance remains high. The Low preset drops to 184 FPS, a 34% reduction, while the Ultra preset drops to 66 FPS, a 34% reduction from the 1080p Ultra score of 100 FPS. This consistent drop suggests that the GPU is becoming the primary bottleneck as the pixel count increases.

The scaling from 1440p to 4K is even more pronounced. The Low preset drops from 184 FPS to 102 FPS, a 45% reduction, and the Medium preset drops from 152 FPS to 84 FPS, a 45% reduction. This significant drop at 4K confirms that the GPU is the dominant limiting factor at this resolution. The RTX 4070 is simply not powerful enough to maintain the same frame rates at 4K as it does at lower resolutions. The data shows that the system transitions from a CPU-bound state at 1080p to a GPU-bound state at 1440p and 4K, with the GPU's workload increasing exponentially with resolution, which is the primary cause of the frame rate drops.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following table details the exact measured average FPS for each resolution and settings preset, along with the minimum and maximum FPS where available.

• 1920x1080 (1080p):
• Low: Average 280 FPS. No min/max data provided.
• Medium: Average 230 FPS, with a minimum of 196 FPS and a maximum of 265 FPS.
• High: Average 144 FPS. No min/max data provided.
• Ultra: Average 100 FPS. No min/max data provided.

• 2560x1440 (1440p):
• Low: Average 184 FPS. No min/max data provided.
• Medium: Average 152 FPS, with a minimum of 129 FPS and a maximum of 174 FPS.
• High: Average 95 FPS. No min/max data provided.
• Ultra: Average 66 FPS. No min/max data provided.

• 3840x2160 (4K):
• Low: Average 102 FPS. No min/max data provided.
• Medium: Average 84 FPS, with a minimum of 71 FPS and a maximum of 97 FPS.
• High: Average 53 FPS. No min/max data provided.
• Ultra: Average 36 FPS. No min/max data provided.

The data reveals that the Medium preset is the most stable across all resolutions, as it is the only setting with recorded minimum and maximum FPS values, showing a consistent frame time distribution. The lack of min/max data for other presets suggests they may have more variance, but the average scores are still the primary indicator of performance. The progression from 1080p to 4K shows a clear and predictable decline in performance across all settings, with the Ultra preset at 4K being the only unplayable configuration, averaging just 36 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K, with an average of 84 FPS, is the most viable option for a high-resolution experience, offering a good balance between visual quality and performance.