The Long Drive

The Long Drive, a driving simulation from 2019, presents an interesting case study in hardware scaling. The combination of an Intel Core i5-9400 with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is a pairing of an older six-core CPU with a modern flagship-class GPU. The measured FPS data reveals a complex interplay between resolution, settings, and the two primary hardware components, with results that are far from linear.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a clear and dramatic impact on frame rates as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. This scaling pattern is the first significant indicator of where the performance bottleneck lies in this specific pairing.

At 1920x1080, the system produces extremely high frame rates, with the Low preset hitting 221 FPS and the High preset at 172 FPS. This suggests that at this resolution, the game is not heavily taxing the GPU, as even the most demanding preset, Ultra, manages 127 FPS. When we move to 2560x1440, we see a substantial drop in performance across all settings. The Low preset drops to 192 FPS, a decrease of 29 FPS, while High falls to 121 FPS, a drop of 51 FPS. The most significant relative drop is at Ultra, which falls to 83 FPS from 127 FPS, a reduction of 44 FPS or roughly 35%.

The scaling to 3840x2160 is even more punishing. The Low preset still manages a respectable 130 FPS, but High drops to 67 FPS, and Ultra falls to a barely playable 46 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K yields 107 FPS, which is a significant drop from its 179 FPS at 1440p. This pattern of steep declines with each resolution increase points towards a system that becomes increasingly GPU-limited at higher resolutions. The RTX 4080 SUPER, with its substantial compute power, is being tasked with rendering more pixels, and the frame rate drops accordingly.

However, the scaling from 1080p to 1440p is particularly telling. The fact that the FPS drops by roughly 30-50 FPS across all settings when moving from 1080p to 1440p, and then drops again when moving to 4K, suggests that while the GPU is the primary limiter at higher resolutions, the CPU may be holding the system back at 1080p. The high frame rates at 1080p, especially on Low (221 FPS), are likely beyond what the six-core, six-thread i5-9400 can consistently feed to the GPU. The data implies that at 1080p, the game is likely CPU-bound, preventing the GPU from reaching its true maximum potential. At higher resolutions, the GPU's rendering workload increases, which shifts the bottleneck away from the CPU and allows the GPU to become the limiting component.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy of performance across the four presets: Low, Medium, High, and Ultra. The differences between these presets are substantial, and the optimal choice depends heavily on the target resolution.

For a smooth 60 FPS experience at 3840x2160, the data clearly points to the Medium preset as the best choice. It delivers an average of 107 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold and provides a significant visual upgrade over the Low preset. The High preset at 4K, with an average of 67 FPS, is also playable but leaves less headroom for demanding scenes. The Ultra preset, at 46 FPS, falls below the 60 FPS threshold and is not recommended for a consistently smooth experience at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the High preset offers a compelling balance, delivering 121 FPS. This is a significant improvement over the Medium preset's 179 FPS, which might be overkill for many users, and it is nearly 50% faster than the Ultra preset's 83 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1440p is playable, but the jump from High to Ultra appears to be costly, sacrificing a significant amount of performance for what may be marginal visual gains.

At 1920x1080, all presets deliver excellent performance. The High preset at 172 FPS is an excellent choice for high-refresh-rate monitors, providing a smooth and responsive experience. The Ultra preset at 127 FPS is also perfectly playable and is the most visually demanding option. The data suggests that at 1080p, users can comfortably select the Ultra preset to get the best visual quality without sacrificing playability.

The best experience per the measured rows is a trade-off. For maximum visual fidelity, the Ultra preset is the target, but only at 1080p is it a clear winner. For higher resolutions, the Medium preset at 4K and the High preset at 1440p appear to offer the best balance of visual quality and performance, ensuring the frame rate remains high enough for a smooth driving experience.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER ranks 689th out of 3725 tested combos for The Long Drive. This places it in the top 20% of all tested system configurations. This is a strong showing, but it's important to contextualize it against the individual components' own rankings.

The GPU, the RTX 4080 SUPER, sits in the 86th percentile among all GPUs, indicating it is a high-end part. Its average benchmark score is 54209, and its nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, which has an average score of 54247, a delta of -0.1%. This shows the SUPER variant is essentially on par with its non-SUPER predecessor in synthetic benchmarks. However, the CPU, the Intel Core i5-9400, is only in the 47th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 2254. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-1068NG7, has an average score of 2259, a delta of -0.2%.

The combo's rank of 689 out of 3725 suggests that while the GPU is powerful, the older CPU is likely holding back the overall system performance in this game. The high percentile of the GPU (86th) compared to the mid-pack percentile of the CPU (47th) strongly suggests an imbalance. The data implies that the system is not achieving its full potential because the CPU is unable to keep up with the GPU's capabilities in certain scenarios, particularly at lower resolutions where the CPU's workload is relatively higher. The combo rank is a reflection of this pairing, showing that it outperforms most systems but is likely limited by the CPU in a way that a more modern processor would not be.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to achieve a consistent 60+ FPS?

A: The data shows that at 3840x2160, the Medium preset achieves 107 FPS and High achieves 67 FPS, both above 60 FPS. At 2560x1440, all presets, including Ultra at 83 FPS, are well above 60 FPS. At 1920x1080, all presets exceed 120 FPS.

Q: Is the RTX 4080 SUPER being fully utilized with the Core i5-9400?

A: The data suggests not at lower resolutions. At 1920x1080, the frame rates are very high (e.g., 221 FPS on Low), but the drop to 2560x1440 is steep. This pattern indicates that at 1080p, the CPU may be the limiting factor, preventing the GPU from reaching even higher frame rates.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 SUPER compare to its closest rival, the RTX 4080?

A: According to the benchmark data, the RTX 4080 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 54209, while the RTX 4080 has an average score of 54247. The deltaPct is -0.1%, meaning the SUPER is essentially on par with the RTX 4080 in synthetic testing.

Q: How does the Core i5-9400 compare to its closest rivals?

A: The Core i5-9400 has an average benchmark score of 2254. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-1068NG7, has an average score of 2259, a delta of -0.2%. It also compares closely to the Intel Core i7-10710U (delta of +0.3%) and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (delta of +0.4%).

Q: Is the Ultra preset playable at 4K resolution?

A: The data shows that at 3840x2160 with the Ultra preset, the average FPS is 46. This is below the 60 FPS threshold often considered necessary for a smooth experience, so it is not recommended for 4K gaming.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset achieves an average of 192 FPS, while the Ultra preset achieves an average of 83 FPS. This represents a performance difference of 109 FPS, or about 57% lower performance when using the Ultra preset.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is a powerhouse of a graphics card. It is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture and features 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a massive 736.3 GB/s of memory bandwidth. Its boost clock is rated at 2550 MHz, and it has 10240 shading units. These specifications make it a top-tier GPU, as reflected in its 86th percentile ranking among all GPUs.

In The Long Drive, the GPU's role is clearly the primary driver of performance at higher resolutions. The data shows that as resolution increases, the frame rates drop significantly, which is a classic sign of GPU-bound rendering. The RTX 4080 SUPER is responsible for the heavy lifting of pixel generation and shading at 2560x1440 and 3840x2160. The 16 GB of VRAM is also a significant asset, likely ensuring that the game's textures and geometry data can be stored locally without running into memory bottlenecks, even at the highest settings and resolutions.

The GPU's performance, however, is not constant across all settings. The measured FPS shows a clear hierarchy, with the Ultra preset being significantly more demanding than Low. For example, at 4K, the Ultra preset (46 FPS) is roughly 2.8 times slower than the Low preset (130 FPS). This indicates that the Ultra preset likely enables effects that heavily tax the GPU's compute and memory subsystems. The data suggests that the GPU is the definitive limiting factor when the game is configured for maximum visual fidelity at high resolutions, as the frame rates at 4K Ultra are the lowest measured in the entire set.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a six-core, six-thread processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. It supports DDR4 memory in a dual-channel configuration with a bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s. Its benchmark scores place it in the 47th percentile of all CPUs, indicating it is a mid-range part by modern standards.

The CPU's role in The Long Drive appears most critical at lower resolutions. The data shows that at 1920x1080, the system achieves very high frame rates across all presets, from 221 FPS on Low to 127 FPS on Ultra. However, the drop in performance when moving to 2560x1440 is notably large. This suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is the primary bottleneck, as it is responsible for processing game logic, physics, and draw calls, and it cannot generate frames fast enough to fully utilize the GPU's power.

This is a classic scenario where an older, high-core-count CPU can struggle to keep up with a modern flagship GPU. The six threads of the i5-9400 may be a limiting factor in a game that can utilize more. While the CPU is not the main constraint at 4K, where the GPU's rendering load dominates, it is likely preventing the system from achieving the maximum possible frame rates at 1080p. The data implies that pairing this CPU with a GPU like the RTX 4080 SUPER creates a bottleneck at lower resolutions, where the CPU's frame generation limit is lower than what the GPU can render.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following is the complete set of measured FPS data for The Long Drive with this hardware combination.

1920x1080:

• Low: 221 FPS average
• Medium: 206 FPS average (min 175, max 237)
• High: 172 FPS average
• Ultra: 127 FPS average

2560x1440:

• Low: 192 FPS average
• Medium: 179 FPS average (min 152, max 206)
• High: 121 FPS average
• Ultra: 83 FPS average

3840x2160:

• Low: 130 FPS average
• Medium: 107 FPS average (min 91, max 123)
• High: 67 FPS average
• Ultra: 46 FPS average

The data shows a consistent trend across all resolutions: the Low preset offers the highest frame rates, followed by Medium, High, and finally Ultra. The performance gap between Low and Ultra is substantial, being most pronounced at 4K, where the Ultra preset delivers less than half the frame rate of the Low preset. The Medium preset is the only one with min and max FPS data available, showing relatively stable performance at each resolution. The gap between High and Ultra is particularly large at 2560x1440, with a difference of 38 FPS, suggesting that the Ultra preset introduces a significant performance cost. The data clearly illustrates the scaling of performance across settings and resolutions, providing a comprehensive picture of this combo's capabilities.