The Long Drive

The Long Drive pairs the Intel Core i7-12700K with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, a combination that produces a wide range of frame rates depending on how the game’s graphics presets are configured. Benchmark results show that this system can more than handle the game’s demands, but the choice of settings drastically changes the experience, particularly at higher resolutions. The data shows a clear hierarchy across the four available presets—Low, Medium, High, and Ultra—with performance scaling that reveals a system primarily limited by the graphics card in most scenarios.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual fidelity and smooth performance, the High preset at 2560x1440 is the standout recommendation. This configuration delivers an average of 121 FPS, which is well above the threshold for a fluid driving simulation, while still offering a substantial upgrade in visual quality over Medium. At 4K, the High preset drops to 67 FPS on average, which remains playable but is noticeably less smooth, suggesting that users with 4K displays might prefer the Medium preset for a more consistent experience.

The Medium preset is the most versatile option across all tested resolutions. At 1920x1080, it produces an average of 294 FPS with a minimum of 250 FPS and a maximum of 339 FPS, making it an excellent choice for high-refresh-rate monitors. At 2560x1440, Medium averages 194 FPS with a minimum of 165 FPS, which is still exceptionally high. Even at 3840x2160, Medium manages an average of 108 FPS with a minimum of 91 FPS and a maximum of 124 FPS, providing a smooth 4K experience that is superior to High in terms of frame pacing.

The Low preset is only recommended for extreme frame rate targets, as it provides 358 FPS at 1080p and 235 FPS at 1440p. While these numbers are impressive, the visual compromises are significant. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, yielding only 47 FPS at 4K and 84 FPS at 1440p, which is below the ideal threshold for a driving game where smooth motion is critical. Given the data, the best experience per the measured rows is either Medium for maximum consistency or High for those prioritizing visual quality at 1440p.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K features 12 cores and 20 threads, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. This processor belongs to the Alder Lake architecture, built on Intel’s 10 nm process. Its benchmark scores indicate strong single-threaded and multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 19784 and a single-core score of 1850.5. The Geekbench single-core score of 2308 further confirms its capability in tasks that rely on fewer threads.

In The Long Drive, the CPU’s role is primarily to feed the GPU with draw calls and handle the game’s simulation logic. The data suggests that the i7-12700K is not a bottleneck at any tested resolution. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 358 FPS, which is likely near the engine’s practical limit. The processor’s high boost clock of 5.00 GHz is crucial for maintaining high frame rates in scenarios with lower GPU load. The 3DMark 2-thread score of 2065 and 4-thread score of 4011 indicate that the CPU has ample headroom for the game’s threading model, which typically scales well up to 8 threads as seen in the 3DMark 8-thread score of 7202. With a Cinebench R15 single-core score of 272, the i7-12700K delivers the per-core performance needed to avoid frame drops in complex driving scenarios.

The CPU’s 25 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 cache per core help reduce memory latency, which is beneficial for the game’s streaming of terrain and objects. The processor’s average benchmark score of 35287 places it in the 84th percentile among all CPUs, and it sits within 0.4% of its nearest rivals, including the Intel Core i5-13600T and Intel Core i7-13700T. This parity means that the CPU is unlikely to be the limiting component in this pairing, as even slightly faster processors would show negligible gains in this title.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications explain the frame rate patterns observed. It features 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 716.8 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU has a base clock of 2205 MHz and a boost clock of 2505 MHz, with 9728 shading units and 76 ray tracing cores. Its memory clock runs at an effective 22.4 Gbps, and the card is built on TSMC’s 5 nm process with a die size of 379 mm².

The RTX 4080’s performance in The Long Drive is directly tied to its memory bandwidth and compute throughput. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 47, which indicates that the GPU is heavily loaded. The card’s FP32 performance of 48.74 TFLOPS is substantial, but the game’s Ultra preset appears to require more than the GPU can deliver at high resolutions. Conversely, at 1080p Low, the GPU is underutilized, as evidenced by the 358 FPS average, which is likely constrained by the CPU or game engine rather than the graphics card.

The GPU’s 86th percentile ranking among all GPUs is reflected in its benchmark scores, with a Passmark G3D score of 34457 and a Geekbench Vulkan score of 263779. The nearest rivals show it is within 2.7% of the AMD Radeon 8060S and within 1.1% of the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X, indicating that the RTX 4080 is a top-tier performer. The fact that the 4K Medium preset averages 108 FPS while 4K High drops to 67 FPS shows that the GPU’s memory bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s is sufficient for medium settings but becomes a limiting factor as texture quality and shading complexity increase at higher presets. The 16 GB VRAM capacity is more than adequate for this game, even at 4K Ultra, so the FPS drop is due to compute and bandwidth limits rather than memory exhaustion.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 ranks 223rd out of 3725 tested combos in The Long Drive. This places it in the top 6% of all tested systems, which is a strong showing for a high-end desktop configuration. The rank reflects the balanced nature of the pairing, where neither component is severely bottlenecking the other.

The combo’s ranking is more impressive when considering the CPU’s position relative to its peers. The i7-12700K has an average benchmark score of 35287, which is virtually identical to its nearest rivals, with deltas ranging from -0.1% to -0.4%. Similarly, the RTX 4080’s average score of 54247 is within 0.1% of the RTX 4080 SUPER. This means that the combo’s rank is not due to an unusually strong or weak sample, but rather reflects the typical performance of these two components working together.

In practical terms, the 223rd rank out of 3725 combos means that there are 222 systems that achieve higher frame rates in this game, likely featuring newer or more expensive components such as the RTX 4090 or higher-clocked CPUs. However, the data shows that this combo delivers exceptional performance, particularly at 1440p, where it achieves 121 FPS on High settings. The rank also indicates that the system is well above the median, providing a smooth experience for the vast majority of players.

FAQ

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

A: Based on the measured FPS data, the 2560x1440 resolution with the High preset offers the best balance, achieving an average of 121 FPS. For higher frame rates, the Medium preset at 2560x1440 provides 194 FPS with a minimum of 165 FPS.

Q: Can this system run The Long Drive at 4K smoothly?

A: Yes, but only on the Medium preset, which averages 108 FPS with a minimum of 91 FPS. The High preset at 4K averages 67 FPS, which is playable but less smooth. The Ultra preset at 4K averages 47 FPS, which is not recommended for a driving game.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The data indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions and presets. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 358 FPS, which is likely CPU or engine-limited, but at 4K Ultra, the GPU is clearly the bottleneck, dropping to 47 FPS.

Q: How does this combo compare to other tested systems?

A: This combo ranks 223rd out of 3725 tested combos, placing it in the top 6% of all systems. The CPU is within 0.4% of its nearest rivals, and the GPU is within 2.7% of its nearest rivals, indicating a well-matched pair.

Q: What are the minimum FPS numbers for the Medium preset?

A: The Medium preset is the only one with reported minimum FPS values. At 1920x1080, the minimum is 250 FPS; at 2560x1440, it is 165 FPS; and at 3840x2160, it is 91 FPS. This shows consistent frame pacing across all resolutions.

Q: Does the game benefit from the RTX 4080’s 16 GB VRAM?

A: The 16 GB VRAM capacity is more than sufficient for this game, even at 4K Ultra. The frame rate drops at Ultra settings are due to compute and memory bandwidth limits, not VRAM capacity, as the card’s 716.8 GB/s bandwidth is the more relevant constraint.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the system delivers an average of 358 FPS on Low, 294 FPS on Medium (with a minimum of 250 FPS and maximum of 339 FPS), 184 FPS on High, and 127 FPS on Ultra. These numbers show that at 1080p, even the Ultra preset is highly playable, and the Low preset approaches the limits of what a typical 360Hz monitor can display.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 235 FPS on Low, 194 FPS on Medium (minimum 165 FPS, maximum 223 FPS), 121 FPS on High, and 84 FPS on Ultra. The 1440p results demonstrate that the RTX 4080 has ample headroom for high-refresh-rate gaming at this resolution, with Medium and High both exceeding 120 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 131 FPS on Low, 108 FPS on Medium (minimum 91 FPS, maximum 124 FPS), 67 FPS on High, and 47 FPS on Ultra. The 4K data reveals a steep drop-off at High and Ultra settings, indicating that the GPU becomes the limiting factor. The Low preset at 4K still produces 131 FPS, which is excellent, but the visual quality is reduced.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K provides insight into the system’s bottleneck characteristics. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440, the FPS drops by approximately 34% on High (from 184 to 121 FPS) and 34% on Medium (from 294 to 194 FPS). This scaling is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario, where the increase in pixel count directly impacts the render load.

Moving from 2560x1440 to 3840x2160, the drop is more severe. On High, FPS falls from 121 to 67, a 45% reduction. On Medium, FPS falls from 194 to 108, a 44% reduction. On Low, FPS falls from 235 to 131, a 44% reduction. This non-linear scaling indicates that at 4K, the GPU’s memory bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s is becoming saturated, particularly with the higher resolution’s increased texture and shading demands.

The scaling pattern reveals that the system is GPU-limited at all resolutions above 1080p. At 1080p Low, the 358 FPS result suggests a CPU or engine limit, as the GPU could theoretically render more frames. However, as resolution increases, the GPU’s workload grows faster than the CPU’s, confirming that the RTX 4080 is the performance ceiling for this pairing. The Ultra preset shows the most severe scaling, dropping from 127 FPS at 1080p to 47 FPS at 4K, a 63% reduction, which highlights the extreme demands of that preset on the GPU’s compute and memory subsystems. This analysis confirms that for the best 4K experience, the Medium preset is the optimal choice, as it maintains a playable 108 FPS while the High and Ultra presets fall below the threshold for smooth gameplay.