The Long Drive

The Long Drive pairs the six-core Intel Core i5-12400F with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, a combination that produces a wide spread of frame rates depending on resolution and quality settings. The measured data reveals a system that is heavily influenced by the graphics card at higher resolutions but shows signs of CPU limitation at the lowest settings and resolution. The RTX 4080’s 16 GB of VRAM and high raw compute allow for substantial headroom, yet the i5-12400F’s architecture becomes a more prominent factor as the workload shifts toward lower pixel counts.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 tells a clear story about where the bottleneck lies in this pairing. At Ultra settings, the average FPS drops from 127 at 1080p to 84 at 1440p, then plummets to 47 at 4K. This represents a 63% reduction from 1080p to 4K, which is a steep curve that indicates the RTX 4080 is being pushed to its limits at the highest resolution. The 4K Ultra result of 47 FPS is the lowest measured score in the entire dataset, and the gap between 1440p Ultra (84 FPS) and 4K Ultra (47 FPS) shows a 44% performance loss when moving up one resolution tier.

At Medium settings, the scaling pattern is slightly different. The 1080p Medium average is 294 FPS, which falls to 194 FPS at 1440p and then to 108 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 34%, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 44%. This suggests that at Medium settings, the RTX 4080 is still the primary limiter at 4K, but the CPU is starting to exert influence at the lower resolutions. The i5-12400F’s 6 cores and 12 threads, with a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, are capable of feeding the GPU at 1080p Medium, but the data shows diminishing returns as resolution drops.

Low settings reveal the most interesting dynamic. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 318 FPS on average, which is the highest score in the entire dataset. At 1440p Low, it drops to 235 FPS, and at 4K Low, it maintains 131 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p Low is a 26% reduction, which is smaller than the 34% reduction seen at Medium settings. This indicates that at Low settings, the CPU is becoming the limiting factor at 1080p, as the GPU has enough headroom to render frames quickly but the processor cannot keep up with the demand for draw calls and physics calculations. The 4K Low result of 131 FPS is still well above the 67 FPS High result at the same resolution, showing that lowering settings has a massive impact on performance.

The High preset shows a similar pattern to Medium but with lower absolute numbers. From 184 FPS at 1080p to 121 FPS at 1440p (a 34% drop) and then to 67 FPS at 4K (a 45% drop from 1440p). The consistent 34-44% scaling pattern across Medium and High suggests that the RTX 4080’s rendering pipeline is the dominant factor, with the CPU only becoming relevant at the very lowest settings and resolutions where frame rates exceed 300 FPS.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate recorded for this combo?

A: The highest average FPS is 318, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is significantly higher than the 4K Ultra result of 47 FPS, showing a 6.8x difference between the most and least demanding configurations.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High at 2560x1440?

A: At 1440p, the High preset averages 121 FPS, while Ultra averages 84 FPS. This represents a 31% performance penalty for enabling the additional Ultra effects, which is a substantial cost for the visual upgrade.

Q: Is the RTX 4080 the primary bottleneck at 4K Ultra?

A: The data suggests yes. The 4K Ultra result of 47 FPS is well below the 60 FPS target, and the steep scaling from 1440p Ultra (84 FPS) to 4K Ultra (47 FPS) indicates the GPU is fully saturated. The CPU, with a 3dmark_max_threads score of 5912, has enough headroom to push higher frame rates if the GPU could deliver them.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, Low averages 318 FPS while Ultra averages 127 FPS. This is a 60% reduction in average frame rate when moving from the lowest to the highest preset, demonstrating the significant cost of Ultra settings.

Q: Does the combo maintain playable frame rates at 4K with any preset?

A: Yes, all presets at 4K exceed 47 FPS. The Low preset averages 131 FPS, Medium averages 108 FPS, and High averages 67 FPS. Only the Ultra preset falls below 60 FPS at 47 FPS, making it the only configuration that might struggle on a standard 60 Hz display.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 301 out of 3725 tested combinations in this game, placing it in the top 8% of all tested systems. This high ranking reflects the strong performance of the RTX 4080, which sits at the 86th percentile among all GPUs.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 301 out of 3725 tested combinations places it in the top 8.1% of all systems tested for The Long Drive. This is a strong showing, but the data implies that there is significant headroom for improvement. The RTX 4080’s percentileVsAllGpus of 86 means it outperforms 86% of all GPUs in the database, while the i5-12400F’s percentileVsAllCpus of 73 shows it outperforms 73% of all CPUs. The disparity between these two percentiles suggests that the CPU is the weaker link in this pairing, potentially holding back the GPU in CPU-bound scenarios.

Looking at the nearest rivals for the CPU, the i5-12400F’s average benchmark score of 19039 is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS (19047, deltaPct 0), the Intel Core 3 201E (19056, deltaPct -0.1), and the Intel Core i5-1335U (18982, deltaPct 0.3). This tight clustering indicates that the 12400F is squarely in the mid-range performance tier for processors. The 6-core, 12-thread configuration with an 18 MB L3 cache is adequate for modern games, but the data shows that it does not have the raw multi-threaded performance of higher-end chips.

For the GPU, the RTX 4080’s nearest rival is the RTX 4080 SUPER with a deltaPct of 0.1, meaning the 4080 is essentially tied with its successor. The AMD Radeon Pro W5700X is 1.1% behind, while the Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB is 2.6% behind. This places the 4080 at the top of its performance tier, with only the 4080 SUPER matching its output. The combo’s rank of 301 reflects this strong GPU performance, but the 3725 total combos include many with more powerful CPUs that can push the 4080 even harder.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance on which preset offers the best experience at each resolution. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers 294 FPS on average, which is close to the Low preset’s 318 FPS but with significantly better visual quality. The High preset at 184 FPS still offers excellent smoothness, but the 110 FPS gap between Medium and High suggests that the Medium preset is the sweet spot for high refresh rate displays. The Ultra preset at 127 FPS is still very playable, but the 57% reduction from Medium to Ultra makes it a less attractive option unless maximum visual fidelity is the priority.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset averages 194 FPS with a minimum of 165 FPS, making it the best choice for maintaining a consistent high frame rate. The High preset at 121 FPS is also viable, but the 37% drop from Medium is noticeable. The Ultra preset at 84 FPS is playable but falls below the 100 FPS threshold that many users prefer for smooth driving gameplay. For 1440p, the data suggests that Medium is the optimal balance between visual quality and performance, as it maintains over 165 FPS at all times.

At 3840x2160, the situation is more constrained. The High preset averages 67 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS target and provides the best visual quality while remaining playable. The Medium preset at 108 FPS offers a better margin, but the visual difference between Medium and High at 4K is substantial. The Ultra preset at 47 FPS is not recommended for smooth gameplay, as it falls below 60 FPS and may introduce noticeable stutter. For 4K, the High preset is the best recommendation, as it provides the highest quality settings that still maintain a playable frame rate.

The Low preset is only recommended for players who prioritize maximum frame rates above all else. At 1080p Low, the 318 FPS average is impressive, but the visual degradation is severe. At 4K Low, the 131 FPS result is still excellent, but the game will look noticeably worse than at High settings. The data indicates that Medium at 1080p and 1440p, and High at 4K, offer the best overall experience for this combo.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full range of settings shows the combo’s capability. Low settings produce an average of 318 FPS, while Medium averages 294 FPS with a minimum of 250 FPS and a maximum of 339 FPS. High settings drop to 184 FPS on average, and Ultra falls to 127 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 191 FPS, demonstrating the massive impact of quality settings at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the results show a clear step down. Low averages 235 FPS, Medium averages 194 FPS with a minimum of 165 FPS and a maximum of 223 FPS, High averages 121 FPS, and Ultra averages 84 FPS. The Medium preset’s minimum of 165 FPS ensures that even in demanding scenes, the frame rate remains high. The gap between High and Ultra is 37 FPS, which is a 31% reduction.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops significantly. Low averages 131 FPS, Medium averages 108 FPS with a minimum of 91 FPS and a maximum of 124 FPS, High averages 67 FPS, and Ultra averages 47 FPS. The Medium preset’s minimum of 91 FPS is still above 60 FPS, but the High and Ultra results show the GPU struggling. The Ultra preset at 47 FPS is the only configuration in the entire dataset that falls below the 60 FPS threshold.

The data also reveals a consistent pattern in the minimum FPS measurements. Only the Medium presets have recorded minimum and maximum values, with all other presets showing null values. The 1080p Medium minimum of 250 FPS is 85% of the average, while the 1440p Medium minimum of 165 FPS is 85% of the average. The 4K Medium minimum of 91 FPS is 84% of the average, showing that the Medium preset maintains a relatively stable frame rate across all resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache provide adequate memory hierarchy for gaming workloads. The CPU’s benchmark scores show a balanced profile: a single-thread score of 909 in 3dmark and a multi-thread score of 5912 in 3dmark_max_threads. In Cinebench R23, it scores 1680 single-core and 12380 multi-core.

In The Long Drive, the CPU’s role becomes evident at lower resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 318 FPS, which is likely near the CPU’s maximum frame delivery capability. The fact that the 4K Low result of 131 FPS is still quite high suggests that the CPU is not the primary limiter at higher resolutions, but the 1080p results indicate a ceiling. The 3dmark_16_threads score of 5895 is nearly identical to the max_threads score of 5912, showing that the CPU scales well with additional threads but does not benefit much beyond 16 threads.

The CPU’s percentileVsAllCpus of 73 places it in the upper quarter of all processors, but its nearest rivals show that it is not a top-tier chip. The AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS and Intel Core i5-1335U have nearly identical average scores, indicating that the 12400F is in a crowded mid-range field. For The Long Drive, the data suggests that the CPU provides sufficient performance for high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, but the Ultra settings at those resolutions still show a significant drop, which may be partially attributed to CPU overhead from the additional draw calls and physics calculations.

The fact that the combo ranks 301 out of 3725 indicates that the CPU is not severely bottlenecking the GPU, as many systems with the same GPU but weaker CPUs would rank lower. However, the gap between the CPU’s 73rd percentile and the GPU’s 86th percentile suggests that a more powerful CPU could potentially extract additional performance, particularly at 1080p where the frame rates are highest.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is a formidable graphics card with 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s. Its 9728 shading units, 304 texture mapping units, and 112 ROPs deliver substantial raw compute power, with an FP32 performance of 48.74 TFLOPS. The card’s boost clock of 2505 MHz and base clock of 2205 MHz are representative of the Ada Lovelace architecture’s efficiency.

In The Long Drive, the GPU is the dominant factor in determining frame rates at higher resolutions. The 4K results show a clear GPU bottleneck, with the Ultra preset dropping to 47 FPS. The 16 GB VRAM is more than sufficient for this game, as even the most demanding settings do not approach the memory limit. The card’s passmark_g3d score of 34457 and 3dmark_steel_nomad_dx12 score of 6567 indicate strong DirectX 12 performance, which is relevant for a game released in 2019.

The RTX 4080’s percentileVsAllGpus of 86 shows that it outperforms the vast majority of GPUs in the database. Its nearest rival, the RTX 4080 SUPER, has a deltaPct of 0.1, meaning the two cards are virtually identical in performance. The AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB is 2.6% behind, and the Radeon 8060S is 2.7% behind. This positions the 4080 at the top of the performance hierarchy, just below the highest-end cards.

The GPU’s influence is most apparent in the scaling from 1440p to 4K. The 44% drop in performance from 1440p Ultra (84 FPS) to 4K Ultra (47 FPS) is a clear sign that the GPU is running out of compute headroom. At 4K High, the 67 FPS average is just above the 60 FPS threshold, showing that the card can handle 4K with moderate settings. The fact that 4K Low still achieves 131 FPS demonstrates that the GPU has enough raw power to deliver high frame rates when the visual load is reduced.

The RTX 4080’s performance in The Long Drive is consistent with its position in the GPU hierarchy. The card’s 86th percentile ranking, combined with the CPU’s 73rd percentile ranking, creates a system that is well-balanced for 1440p gaming but shows GPU limitation at 4K. The measured data confirms that the RTX 4080 is the primary driver of performance in this combo, with the i5-12400F providing adequate support without becoming a significant bottleneck except at the very highest frame rates.