The Long Drive

The Long Drive pairs the Intel Core i5-12400F with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060, a combination that places 2021st out of 3725 tested configurations in this driving simulation. The data reveals a system that is heavily GPU-limited at higher resolutions but surprisingly capable at 1080p, with the RTX 4060's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus becoming the primary constraints as resolution scales upward. Benchmark results show a clear performance hierarchy across settings, but the most striking finding is how the CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads interact with a game that appears to favor raw single-thread performance over multi-core throughput.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a dramatic performance drop as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160, indicating that the GPU becomes the dominant limiting factor at higher pixel counts. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 203 FPS, but this falls to 133 FPS at 1440p and 74 FPS at 4K — a reduction of 34.5% and 63.5% respectively. This scaling pattern suggests that at 1080p, the i5-12400F is capable of feeding the RTX 4060 enough data to reach very high frame rates, but the GPU's rendering workload grows faster than the resolution increase alone would predict.

The transition from Medium to High settings at each resolution provides additional insight into where the bottleneck shifts. At 1080p, dropping from Medium (167 FPS) to High (104 FPS) costs 37.7% performance, while at 1440p the same settings change costs 37.3% (110 FPS to 69 FPS). However, at 4K the drop from Medium (61 FPS) to High (38 FPS) represents a 37.7% loss, nearly identical to the lower resolutions. This consistency suggests that the RTX 4060's shading units and texture units are being saturated in a similar manner regardless of resolution, with the primary difference being the raw pixel fill rate required.

Ultra settings reveal the most severe scaling penalty. At 1080p Ultra, the system manages 72 FPS, but this falls to 48 FPS at 1440p and just 26 FPS at 4K. The gap between High and Ultra at 4K (38 FPS vs 26 FPS) indicates that Ultra settings impose a 31.6% additional performance cost beyond High, likely due to increased draw distances and shadow complexity that heavily tax the GPU's 48 ROPs and 96 TMUs. The 4K Ultra result of 26 FPS is the only measured configuration that falls below the 30 FPS playability threshold, highlighting that this combination is not suitable for maximum-quality 4K gaming.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 272.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration appears to be a significant constraint in The Long Drive, particularly at higher resolutions where the game's open-world driving environments demand substantial texture and geometry data. The 4K High result of 38 FPS suggests that the GPU is hitting memory bandwidth limits, as the 8 GB capacity may be sufficient for the game's assets but the narrow bus width struggles to feed the 3072 shading units efficiently at high pixel counts.

The GPU's clock speeds — 1830 MHz base and 2460 MHz boost — combined with its 15.11 TFLOPS FP32 performance, provide ample compute for the game's rendering tasks at lower resolutions. The 1080p Low result of 203 FPS demonstrates that the GPU can deliver exceptionally high frame rates when not constrained by memory bandwidth or fill rate. However, the 4K Low result of 74 FPS shows that even at minimal graphics settings, the pixel workload at 3840x2160 (over 8.3 million pixels) overwhelms the GPU's 118.1 GPixel/s pixel rate.

The RTX 4060's 24 RT cores and 96 tensor cores offer hardware acceleration for ray-traced effects and DLSS, but the measured FPS data does not include any ray tracing results, suggesting that either the game does not support these features or the performance impact would be prohibitive. The GPU's 115 W TDP and dual-slot design indicate that it is a power-efficient solution, but this efficiency comes at the cost of raw bandwidth, which is the primary limiting factor in this game. The 8 GB VRAM capacity appears adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the 4K Ultra result of 26 FPS suggests that memory pressure combined with bandwidth limitations makes this resolution impractical.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 ranks 2021st out of 3725 tested combos in The Long Drive, placing it in the 54th percentile of all configurations. This middle-of-the-pack ranking is somewhat surprising given the individual component performance levels — the CPU sits at the 73rd percentile among all processors, while the GPU ranks at the 61st percentile among all graphics cards. The discrepancy between component rankings and the combined system ranking suggests that the game's performance characteristics do not fully utilize the strengths of either component.

Examining the CPU's nearest rivals provides context for its performance ceiling. The i5-12400F has an average benchmark score of 19039, nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS (19047), Intel Core 3 201E (19056), Intel Core i5-1335U (18982), and AMD EPYC 7773X (18979). All five processors are within 0.3% of each other in average score, indicating that the i5-12400F's performance is representative of a broad mid-range segment rather than being exceptionally strong or weak. However, the game's measured FPS data shows that CPU differences are largely masked at 4K, where the GPU bottleneck dominates.

The GPU's nearest rivals paint a similar picture. The RTX 4060's average benchmark score of 17639 is within 0.7% of the AMD Radeon HD 7790 (17666), AMD Radeon 780M (17588), AMD Radeon Pro 560 (17551), and AMD Radeon Pro 460 (17509). This clustering suggests that the RTX 4060's performance in synthetic benchmarks is not dramatically different from older or integrated solutions, despite its modern architecture. The game's results, however, show that the GPU can deliver playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p when paired with appropriate settings, indicating that synthetic benchmarks may not fully capture real-world gaming performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system demonstrates its strongest performance across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 203 FPS, while Medium achieves 167 FPS with a minimum of 142 FPS and maximum of 192 FPS. High settings drop to 104 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 72 FPS. These results show that the RTX 4060 can easily drive high-refresh-rate monitors at 1080p, with even Ultra settings providing sufficient frame rates for smooth gameplay.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance drops significantly but remains playable. Low settings average 133 FPS, Medium delivers 110 FPS (minimum 93 FPS, maximum 126 FPS), High achieves 69 FPS, and Ultra falls to 48 FPS. The gap between Medium and High at 1440p (110 FPS vs 69 FPS) represents a 37.3% performance loss, suggesting that High settings introduce graphical features that disproportionately impact frame rates. The 48 FPS Ultra result is still above the 30 FPS minimum threshold, but it indicates that 1440p Ultra is only viable for players who prioritize visual quality over frame rate consistency.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain playable frame rates at higher settings. Low settings average 74 FPS, which is acceptable, but Medium drops to 61 FPS (minimum 52 FPS, maximum 70 FPS), High falls to 38 FPS, and Ultra produces just 26 FPS. The 4K results clearly show that this configuration is not designed for 4K gaming beyond Low or Medium settings, with the 26 FPS Ultra result falling below playability standards. The minimum FPS of 52 at 4K Medium indicates that even the playable settings can experience noticeable frame drops during intensive scenes.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings balance depends on the user's resolution and performance priorities. At 1080p, Medium settings provide an excellent balance with 167 FPS average and a minimum of 142 FPS, ensuring consistent frame delivery without the performance penalty of High or Ultra settings. Players with high-refresh-rate monitors (144 Hz or above) should consider Low settings at 203 FPS to maximize frame rates, while those prioritizing visual fidelity can use High at 104 FPS or Ultra at 72 FPS.

For 1440p gaming, Medium settings are the clear recommendation with 110 FPS average and a 93 FPS minimum. This provides smooth gameplay while maintaining reasonable visual quality. High settings at 69 FPS are acceptable for players who prefer visual detail over frame rate, but the significant drop from Medium to High suggests that the game's High preset enables computationally expensive effects. Ultra at 48 FPS is only suitable for players with VRR displays who can tolerate occasional frame rate fluctuations.

At 4K, the data strongly recommends Low settings with 74 FPS average, as this is the only preset that maintains consistently smooth frame rates. Medium settings at 61 FPS are playable but may experience noticeable stutters given the 52 FPS minimum. High and Ultra settings at 38 FPS and 26 FPS respectively are not recommended due to the risk of unplayable frame rates during demanding scenes. The 4K results suggest that this hardware combination is not intended for 4K gaming, and users with 4K displays should either lower their resolution or accept reduced graphical quality.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F provides 6 cores and 12 threads with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its benchmark results show strong single-thread performance with a 3DMark single-thread score of 909 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1680. Multi-threaded performance is also respectable with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 12380 and Geekbench multi-core score of 9472. The CPU's 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 cache per core provide adequate memory hierarchy for the game's data access patterns.

The game's performance scaling across resolutions reveals that the CPU is not the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 203 FPS, which suggests that the CPU can support frame rates well above 200 FPS in this game. However, the i5-12400F's single-thread score in 3DMark (909) and Passmark single-thread score (3481) indicate that it is a capable but not exceptional performer for gaming workloads. The CPU's 73rd percentile ranking among all processors and its performance parity with several rival CPUs suggest that it provides adequate processing power for this driving simulation.

The fact that performance drops more significantly from 1080p to 1440p (from 203 to 133 FPS at Low settings) than from 1440p to 4K (from 133 to 74 FPS) indicates that the GPU becomes increasingly dominant as resolution increases. At 1080p, the CPU can still influence frame rates, but at 4K the GPU is entirely responsible for the performance ceiling. This suggests that for The Long Drive, the i5-12400F is more than sufficient at lower resolutions, and users with this CPU should focus their upgrade efforts on the GPU if they wish to improve 4K performance.

FAQ

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

A: Based on the measured FPS data, 1920x1080 is the optimal resolution, with Low settings achieving 203 FPS, Medium at 167 FPS, High at 104 FPS, and Ultra at 72 FPS. The system can easily maintain high frame rates at this resolution, making it suitable for competitive or casual gameplay.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in The Long Drive?

A: At 3840x2160, only Low settings (74 FPS) and Medium settings (61 FPS, minimum 52 FPS) produce playable frame rates. High settings drop to 38 FPS and Ultra to 26 FPS, which fall below the 30 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The data indicates that 4K gaming is not recommended for this combination beyond Low or Medium settings.

Q: How does the RTX 4060's memory configuration affect performance?

A: The GPU has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus with 272.0 GB/s bandwidth. This configuration appears to be a limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the 4K High result of 38 FPS suggests memory bandwidth constraints. The narrow bus width struggles to feed the 3072 shading units at high pixel counts.

Q: Is the i5-12400F a bottleneck in this game?

A: At 1080p, the CPU can support frame rates up to 203 FPS (Low settings), indicating it is not a significant bottleneck at lower resolutions. However, the CPU's performance is comparable to several rivals (AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS, Intel Core 3 201E, Intel Core i5-1335U), and it becomes less relevant at higher resolutions where the GPU dominates.

Q: What settings should I use for 1440p gaming?

A: Medium settings provide the best experience with 110 FPS average and 93 FPS minimum. High settings at 69 FPS are acceptable for visual quality, but the 37.3% performance drop from Medium to High suggests that High enables expensive effects. Ultra at 48 FPS is only recommended with VRR displays.

Q: How does this combination rank compared to other tested systems?

A: This combo ranks 2021st out of 3725 tested configurations, placing it in the middle of all systems. The individual components rank higher — the CPU at the 73rd percentile and GPU at the 61st percentile — suggesting that the game's performance characteristics do not fully leverage the strengths of either component.