The Long Drive

The Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER pairing in The Long Drive is a study in imbalance, but not the kind that hurts the experience. The data shows that this combination delivers a playable experience at nearly every settings and resolution tier, with the RTX 4070 SUPER providing massive headroom that is progressively constrained by the i5-9400's six-core, six-thread architecture as resolution drops. The result is a combo that ranks 381st out of 1734 tested combinations, placing it in the top 22 percent, though the bottleneck dynamics vary significantly depending on where you point the camera.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic shift in system limitation. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 218.8 FPS, but that impressive figure collapses by 41.5 percent to 115.8 FPS at 4K Low. However, the most telling comparison is at High settings, where the drop from 159.8 FPS at 1080p to 107.4 FPS at 1440p is a 32.8 percent reduction, and then a further 45.3 percent decline to 58.8 FPS at 4K. This nonlinear scaling indicates that the CPU is the limiting factor at lower resolutions, while the GPU becomes increasingly dominant as pixel count rises.

The Ultra preset tells a clearer story about GPU saturation. At 1080p Ultra, the system manages 112.4 FPS, which falls to 75 FPS at 1440p (a 33.3 percent drop) and then plummets to 40.9 FPS at 4K (another 45.5 percent reduction). The consistency of these percentage drops across High and Ultra settings suggests the RTX 4070 SUPER is being pushed harder by the higher-quality presets, whereas the CPU bottleneck at Low and Medium settings is more pronounced. At 1080p Medium, the system hits 207.7 FPS, which is only 5.1 percent lower than the Low preset's 218.8 FPS, indicating that the CPU is already near its ceiling and the GPU has plenty of headroom left on the table.

The data suggests that 1440p is the sweet spot for this pairing. The 1440p High result of 107.4 FPS is only 10.3 percent lower than the 1080p High score, while 4K High falls another 45.3 percent. This pattern indicates that the i5-9400 can keep pace with the RTX 4070 SUPER up to 1440p, but the GPU starts to become the sole bottleneck at 4K, where even Low settings only yield 115.8 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 provides six cores and six threads, operating at a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. This Coffee Lake chip was released in 2018 and features 9 MB of shared L3 cache, along with 64 KB of L1 and 256 KB of L2 per core. Its benchmark results show a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 7969 and a single-core score of 1125, placing it at the 50th percentile among all CPUs. The nearest rival, the Intel Core i3-10305, scores 2300 on the average benchmark, a mere 0.2 percent difference, indicating that the i5-9400 is firmly in mid-range territory.

In The Long Drive, the CPU's role is most evident in the gap between Low and Medium presets at 1080p. The jump from 218.8 FPS to 207.7 FPS is only 5.1 percent, suggesting that the CPU is already delivering close to its maximum frame output at Low settings. The i5-9400's six threads are sufficient to feed the RTX 4070 SUPER at these frame rates, but the data indicates that pushing beyond 220 FPS is not achievable with this processor. The single-core performance, as evidenced by the Cinebench R23 score of 1125, likely plays a significant role in driving the simulation-heavy gameplay of The Long Drive, which typically relies on strong single-threaded performance for physics calculations and world streaming.

The CPU's limitation becomes more apparent when comparing 1080p Low to 1440p Low. The 1440p Low score of 189.9 FPS is 13.2 percent lower than the 1080p result, which is a smaller drop than the 45.3 percent seen between 1440p High and 4K High. This suggests that the CPU is the primary limiter at Low settings across all resolutions, as the GPU has ample headroom to render the scene quickly, but the CPU cannot generate frames any faster.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is a formidable piece of silicon, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC. It packs 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU runs at a base clock of 1980 MHz with a boost clock of 2475 MHz, and its 7168 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 80 raster output pipelines provide substantial compute power. The FP32 performance of 35.48 TFLOPS and a PassMark G3D score of 29995 place it at the 84th percentile among all GPUs, with its nearest rival, the NVIDIA RTX A6000, scoring 42653 on the average benchmark, a negligible 0.2 percent difference.

The GPU's impact is most visible at 4K resolution, where the RTX 4070 SUPER is clearly the bottleneck. At 4K Ultra, the system produces just 40.9 FPS, which is 63.6 percent lower than the 1080p Ultra result of 112.4 FPS. The 4K Medium score of 95.8 FPS and 4K Low score of 115.8 FPS show that the GPU can handle lower-quality settings at high resolutions, but the Ultra preset's demands overwhelm it. The 12 GB VRAM buffer is sufficient for The Long Drive at these settings, and the memory bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s ensures that texture streaming is not a limiting factor, as evidenced by the relatively smooth scaling between Medium and High presets at 1440p (170.3 FPS vs. 107.4 FPS, a 36.9 percent drop).

The RTX 4070 SUPER's strength is most apparent at 1080p High, where it achieves 159.8 FPS. This is 42.3 percent higher than the 1440p High result, demonstrating that the GPU has ample compute headroom at lower resolutions. However, the fact that 1080p Ultra only reaches 112.4 FPS, while 1080p Medium hits 207.7 FPS, reveals that the Ultra preset's additional graphical effects are taxing the GPU's shader and texture units significantly, even at 1080p.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER ranks 381st out of 1734 tested combos in The Long Drive, placing it in the top 22 percent of all configurations. This ranking is respectable, but it reflects the CPU's mid-range status more than the GPU's high-end capabilities. The i5-9400's 50th percentile ranking among CPUs is a clear indicator that the processor is holding back the RTX 4070 SUPER, which sits at the 84th percentile among GPUs.

The benchmark data supports this interpretation. The combo's best result, 218.8 FPS at 1080p Low, is impressive, but it falls short of what the RTX 4070 SUPER could achieve with a more capable CPU. The gap between the CPU and GPU performance percentiles (50 vs. 84) suggests that a more powerful processor could unlock higher frame rates at lower resolutions. However, the combo's ranking of 381 out of 1734 shows that this pairing still outperforms the majority of tested systems, and the 4K High result of 58.8 FPS is respectable for a driving simulation that may not require triple-digit frame rates.

The nearest rival data for the CPU shows that the i5-9400 is statistically identical to the Intel Core i3-10305, with a 0.2 percent difference in average benchmark scores. This means that upgrading to a similar-tier CPU would yield negligible gains, and the bottleneck is inherent to the six-core, six-thread design. The GPU's nearest rival, the RTX A6000, is also statistically identical at 0.2 percent difference, confirming that the RTX 4070 SUPER is performing as expected.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce 218.8 FPS, Medium drops slightly to 207.7 FPS, High achieves 159.8 FPS, and Ultra falls to 112.4 FPS. The difference between Low and Medium is just 11.1 FPS, while the jump from Medium to High is 47.9 FPS, indicating that the High preset introduces significant graphical load.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain strong. Low settings yield 189.9 FPS, Medium hits 170.3 FPS, High manages 107.4 FPS, and Ultra drops to 75 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p shows a 13.2 percent reduction at Low, an 18.0 percent reduction at Medium, a 32.8 percent reduction at High, and a 33.3 percent reduction at Ultra, demonstrating that higher-quality settings are more sensitive to resolution.

At 3840x2160, the system's performance takes a significant hit. Low settings produce 115.8 FPS, Medium drops to 95.8 FPS, High falls to 58.8 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 40.9 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is only 36.4 percent of the 1080p Low score, highlighting the GPU's struggle with the Ultra preset at 4K. The 4K Medium score of 95.8 FPS is notable, as it remains above 60 FPS, suggesting that players can enjoy smooth gameplay at 4K with medium-quality settings.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in The Long Drive?*

A: The data shows that 1440p High delivers 107.4 FPS, which is only 10.3 percent lower than the 1080p High result of 159.8 FPS, making it the best balance of visual quality and performance.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 4K?

A: At 4K, the GPU is clearly the limiting factor. The 4K Ultra score of 40.9 FPS is 63.6 percent lower than the 1080p Ultra result, while the CPU's impact is minimal at this resolution, as evidenced by the 115.8 FPS at 4K Low.

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

A: Yes, but only with lower settings. The 4K Medium result of 95.8 FPS and 4K Low result of 115.8 FPS both exceed 60 FPS, while 4K High falls just short at 58.8 FPS.

Q: How does the i5-9400 compare to its nearest rival?

A: The i5-9400's average benchmark score of 2305 is 0.2 percent higher than the Intel Core i3-10305's 2300, making them statistically identical in performance.

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

A: The 1080p Low result of 218.8 FPS is 94.6 percent higher than the 1080p Ultra result of 112.4 FPS, showing that the Ultra preset roughly halves the frame rate.

Q: Does the RTX 4070 SUPER have enough VRAM for this game?

A: The GPU's 12 GB of GDDR6X memory is sufficient, as the benchmark data shows no anomalous frame rate drops that would indicate VRAM limitations, even at 4K Ultra.

Settings Recommendations

For players seeking the best overall experience, the 1440p High preset is the clear choice. It delivers 107.4 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, and the High preset provides a substantial visual upgrade over Medium. The 1440p Medium result of 170.3 FPS offers even higher frame rates, but the 36.9 percent drop from Medium to High suggests that High is worth the performance cost for the visual fidelity it provides.

At 4K, the Medium preset is the recommended option. The 4K Medium result of 95.8 FPS is comfortably above 60 FPS, while the 4K High result of 58.8 FPS falls just below the threshold. Players who prioritize frame rate over visual quality can use the 4K Low preset, which achieves 115.8 FPS, but the Medium preset offers a better balance of image quality and performance.

For competitive or high-refresh-rate play at 1080p, the High preset is the best choice. The 1080p High result of 159.8 FPS is sufficient for 144 Hz displays, while the Ultra preset drops to 112.4 FPS, which still exceeds 100 FPS but may not be worth the additional graphical demands. The Low and Medium presets at 1080p exceed 200 FPS, but they sacrifice too much visual quality for the marginal frame rate gains. The Ultra preset at any resolution is not recommended, as it produces the lowest frame rates across the board, including a 40.9 FPS result at 4K that falls below playable thresholds for most users.