The Long Drive

The Long Drive pairs a 10-core Intel Core i5-12600KF with the flagship NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, a combination that places 15th out of 1,734 tested combos in this title. The data reveals a system capable of extreme frame rates at lower resolutions, but one that also exposes the limits of the CPU when pushing beyond standard gaming loads. The following analysis breaks down how this specific pairing behaves across resolutions and settings, using only the measured FPS and benchmark data.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K shows exactly where the bottleneck shifts. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo delivers 355.5 FPS, which is an exceptionally high number. Dropping to 2560x1440 at Low yields 267.4 FPS, and at 3840x2160 at Low, the average falls to 151.8 FPS. This represents a 57% reduction from 1080p to 4K on Low settings, indicating that the GPU is still the primary driver of performance even at the highest resolution.

However, the scaling pattern changes dramatically when moving to Ultra settings. At 1080p Ultra, the system produces 148.8 FPS, which is only 41.8% of the Low-setting score at the same resolution. At 1440p Ultra, the average drops to 97.5 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 54.2 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at each resolution is substantial, but the relative drop from 1080p to 4K is more consistent: 148.8 to 54.2 FPS is a 63.6% reduction, slightly larger than the Low-setting drop.

What is notable is the comparison between High and Ultra. At 4K, High settings produce 74.7 FPS, while Ultra produces only 54.2 FPS. The 20.5 FPS difference between these two presets is larger than the 27.6 FPS difference between Medium and Low at the same resolution (151.8 vs 123.3 FPS). This suggests that the Ultra preset introduces effects that are disproportionately expensive on the RTX 5090, likely related to advanced shading or post-processing that scales heavily with resolution.

The medium preset shows a smoother curve: 332.3 FPS at 1080p, 220.8 FPS at 1440p, and 123.3 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 1440p drop is 33.5%, while the 1440p to 4K drop is 44.2%. This indicates that at Medium settings, the system starts to become more resolution-bound at higher pixel counts, but the CPU still has enough headroom to feed the GPU adequately at lower resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

For users targeting 4K, the High preset at 74.7 FPS is the sweet spot. It is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, and it offers a 37.8% improvement over Ultra’s 54.2 FPS. The jump from High to Ultra costs 20.5 FPS, which is a significant penalty for what is likely a marginal visual gain in a driving simulation. Low at 4K provides 151.8 FPS, but that comes with the visual compromises of the Low preset, which are substantial in a game that relies on environmental detail.

At 1440p, the Medium preset at 220.8 FPS is the best balance. It is nearly double the High preset’s 137.6 FPS, and it is only 46.6 FPS behind Low. Ultra at 97.5 FPS is still playable, but the 123.3 FPS difference between Medium and Ultra is too large to justify the visual upgrade for most users. High at 137.6 FPS is also viable, but Medium gives a 60% improvement in frame rate with a smaller visual penalty than dropping to Low.

At 1080p, the situation is different because the system is likely CPU-bound. Low delivers 355.5 FPS, Medium delivers 332.3 FPS, and High delivers 213.4 FPS. The difference between Low and Medium is only 23.2 FPS, suggesting that the CPU is the limiting factor at this resolution. Ultra drops to 148.8 FPS, which is still high but represents a 55.3% reduction from Low. For competitive play, Medium at 332.3 FPS is the recommended choice, as it provides near-maximum frame rates with better visual quality than Low.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-12600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 achieves a rank of 15 out of 1,734 tested combos in The Long Drive. This places it in the top 0.9% of all systems tested, which is an exceptional result. The CPU alone sits at the 84th percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 27,827. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i9-10900K, scores 27,829 with a delta of 0%, meaning the i5-12600KF essentially matches a previous-generation flagship in multi-threaded workloads.

The GPU is even more dominant, ranking in the 94th percentile among all graphics cards with an average score of 84,306. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D, scores 84,241 with a delta of 0.1%, showing that the standard RTX 5090 is marginally faster than its D variant. The combination of a top-5% GPU and a top-16% CPU yields a top-1% combo ranking in this specific game, which suggests that The Long Drive is not particularly CPU-intensive at higher resolutions.

The fact that the combo ranks 15th rather than higher is likely due to the CPU’s performance at 1080p, where the measured FPS of 355.5 at Low settings is high but not the absolute maximum. Systems with faster CPUs would likely achieve higher frame rates at this resolution, but the i5-12600KF’s 10 cores and 16 threads provide enough headroom to keep the RTX 5090 well-fed at 1440p and 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the measured averages are as follows: Low delivers 151.8 FPS, Medium delivers 123.3 FPS, High delivers 74.7 FPS, and Ultra delivers 54.2 FPS. The progression shows that each preset step from Low to Medium to High to Ultra incurs a penalty of 28.5 FPS, 48.6 FPS, and 20.5 FPS respectively. The High to Ultra drop is the smallest absolute change, but the percentage drop is 27.4%, which is significant.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 267.4 FPS for Low, 220.8 FPS for Medium, 137.6 FPS for High, and 97.5 FPS for Ultra. The differences are 46.6 FPS, 83.2 FPS, and 40.1 FPS respectively. The Medium to High drop is the largest, representing a 37.7% reduction, which is more than the 26.9% drop from High to Ultra.

At 1920x1080, the averages are 355.5 FPS for Low, 332.3 FPS for Medium, 213.4 FPS for High, and 148.8 FPS for Ultra. The Low to Medium difference is just 23.2 FPS, while the Medium to High drop is 118.9 FPS, a 35.8% reduction. The High to Ultra drop is 64.6 FPS. The small gap between Low and Medium at 1080p reinforces the idea that the CPU is the limiting factor at this resolution, as the GPU has plenty of headroom to render frames faster.

FAQ

Q: Is the Core i5-12600KF strong enough to avoid bottlenecking the RTX 5090 in this game?

A: The data shows that at 1080p Low and Medium, the frame rates are 355.5 and 332.3 FPS, respectively. The small 23.2 FPS gap between these presets suggests the CPU is the limiting factor at lower resolutions, but at 1440p and 4K, the GPU takes over as the primary bottleneck.

Q: What is the best resolution to play at with this combo?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the system produces 220.8 FPS, which is high enough for any display. At 4K with High settings, it produces 74.7 FPS. The choice depends on whether the user prefers higher frame rates or higher resolution, but both are viable.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival?

A: The i5-12600KF has an average benchmark score of 27,827, which is effectively identical to the Intel Core i9-10900K at 27,829, with a delta of 0%. It also trails the i5-12600K by just 0.1%, with that rival scoring 27,851.

Q: Does the RTX 5090 perform as expected relative to other GPUs?

A: The RTX 5090 scores 84,306 on average, placing it in the 94th percentile of all GPUs. It is 0.1% faster than the RTX 5090 D, which scores 84,241, and 1.3% faster than the AMD Radeon PRO W6600, which scores 83,209.

Q: What is the impact of the Ultra preset on performance?

A: At 4K, Ultra settings drop the average FPS to 54.2, which is 20.5 FPS lower than High. At 1440p, Ultra delivers 97.5 FPS, and at 1080p, it delivers 148.8 FPS. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, and its penalty is consistent across resolutions.

Q: Is this combo suitable for high-refresh-rate gaming?

A: At 1080p Medium, the system achieves 332.3 FPS, which exceeds the refresh rate of most monitors. At 1440p Low, it achieves 267.4 FPS. For 4K, the High preset at 74.7 FPS is suitable for a 60Hz display, but not for 144Hz.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12600KF features 10 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. Its architecture is Alder Lake, built on a 10 nm process, with 20 MB of shared L3 cache. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 23,444 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 3,309 in single-core, which places it in the 84th percentile of all CPUs.

In The Long Drive, the CPU’s role becomes apparent at 1080p. The measured FPS of 355.5 at Low settings and 332.3 at Medium settings indicates that the CPU is capable of feeding the RTX 5090 with enough data to reach extremely high frame rates. However, the fact that the gap between Low and Medium is only 23.2 FPS suggests that the CPU is nearing its limit at this resolution, as the GPU would otherwise be able to render Medium and Low at similar rates if it were the bottleneck.

At 1440p and 4K, the GPU becomes the limiting factor. The RTX 5090’s 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth are fully utilized, and the CPU’s 3.70 GHz base clock is sufficient to keep up with the GPU’s demands. The CPU’s 10 cores and 16 threads are more than adequate for a driving simulation, which typically does not scale heavily with thread count. The 3DMark scores support this: the CPU scores 7,956 with 16 threads and 1,016 with a single thread, showing that multi-threaded performance is strong but not exceptional.

The CPU’s 84th percentile ranking and its near-identical performance to the Core i9-10900K indicate that it is a well-balanced choice for this GPU. The 0.4% lead over the Intel Core i7-13700H, which scores 27,716, further confirms that the i5-12600KF is not a weak link in this pairing. For users who prioritize 1080p gaming at the highest possible frame rates, a faster CPU might yield marginal gains, but for 1440p and 4K gaming, the i5-12600KF provides ample headroom for the RTX 5090 to perform at its best.