The Long Drive

The Long Drive pairs the 16-core Intel Core i7-13700K with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, a combination that produces a wide spread of frame rates depending on how strictly the user configures the graphics settings. The measured data reveals a system that is capable of extreme speed at lower presets but which also shows clear performance cliffs at the highest quality levels, particularly at 4K resolution. The benchmark results indicate that this pairing behaves differently across the three tested resolutions, with the scaling patterns between Low, Medium, High, and Ultra presets offering insight into which component is doing the heavy lifting at any given moment. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS rows to determine where this combo excels, where it struggles, and what settings provide the most balanced experience for a driving simulation that rewards smooth, consistent frame pacing.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and uneven, revealing how the workload shifts between the CPU and GPU. At the Low preset, the average FPS falls from 268 at 1920x1080 to 176 at 2560x1440, a reduction of 92 FPS, and then to 98 at 3840x2160, which is another 78 FPS drop. This steep decline suggests that the RTX 3080 is the limiting component at higher resolutions, as the CPU has ample headroom to feed frames at 1080p but the GPU’s rendering throughput becomes the bottleneck as pixel count increases. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system is likely CPU-bound or at least hitting a ceiling where the GPU cannot fully utilize its capabilities, whereas at 4K Low the GPU is working much closer to its maximum.

When examining the Medium preset, the scaling pattern becomes more moderate in percentage terms but still significant in absolute numbers. The average FPS goes from 221 at 1080p to 145 at 1440p, a 76 FPS drop, and then to 81 at 4K, another 64 FPS decline. Interestingly, the gap between 1080p and 1440p is larger than the gap between 1440p and 4K, which implies that the transition from 1080p to 1440p introduces a substantial increase in GPU load that the RTX 3080 handles with less efficiency, while the jump to 4K adds further strain but at a slightly diminishing rate. The High preset shows a similar pattern, with averages of 138 FPS at 1080p, 91 FPS at 1440p, and 50 FPS at 4K, meaning the 4K result is only about 36% of the 1080p figure.

The Ultra preset demonstrates the most extreme scaling, where the average FPS collapses from 95 at 1080p to 63 at 1440p and then to 35 at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is less than 37% of the 1080p Ultra score, and the absolute values are low enough to question playability. The data implies that at Ultra settings, the RTX 3080’s 10 GB of GDDR6X memory and its 760.3 GB/s bandwidth are being saturated, and the GPU’s compute resources are overwhelmed by the combination of high resolution and maximum quality effects. The scaling from 1440p to 4K at Ultra results in a 28 FPS drop, which is a 44% reduction, indicating that the GPU is hitting a hard performance wall rather than a gradual decline.

GPU Role

The RTX 3080’s specifications directly explain the observed frame rates. With a base clock of 1440 MHz and a boost clock of 1710 MHz, the GPU relies on these frequencies to drive the 8704 shading units, and the data shows that at 1080p Low, the high average of 268 FPS is likely limited by the CPU’s frame delivery rather than the GPU’s raw power. The 10 GB memory capacity and 320-bit bus width provide a bandwidth of 760.3 GB/s, which is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p at most settings but becomes a constraint at 4K Ultra, where the average FPS drops to 35. The memory clock of 1188 MHz (19 Gbps effective) allows for fast data transfer, yet the sheer volume of pixel data at 3840x2160 appears to exceed what the memory subsystem can efficiently handle at the highest quality preset.

The GPU’s 68 RT cores and 272 tensor cores are present in the architecture but are not explicitly tested in the measured FPS rows, so their impact on The Long Drive is indirect. The pixel rate of 164.2 GPixel/s and texture rate of 465.1 GTexel/s are theoretical limits, and the benchmark results show that the GPU approaches these limits at lower settings but falls short at Ultra due to other bottlenecks. The fact that the 4K Medium average is 81 FPS while 4K High is 50 FPS and 4K Ultra is 35 FPS indicates that each step up in quality adds a significant fixed cost to the rendering pipeline, likely from increased shading complexity and memory pressure. The GPU’s percentile ranking of 68 against all GPUs and its average benchmark score of 23172 suggest it is a mid-to-high tier part, but the measured FPS data shows it is not sufficient for 4K Ultra in this title, despite being capable at lower presets.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p Ultra settings?

A: The measured data shows an average of 95 FPS at 1920x1080 with the Ultra preset, which is the lowest result among the 1080p settings but still above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the 4K Medium performance compare to 4K High?

A: At 3840x2160, the Medium preset achieves an average of 81 FPS with a minimum of 68 and maximum of 93, while the High preset drops to 50 FPS on average. The Medium setting provides a 31 FPS advantage over High, which is a 62% improvement in average frame rate.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 1440p High?

A: The average of 91 FPS at 2560x1440 High, combined with the fact that 1080p High reaches 138 FPS, indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor, as the resolution increase from 1080p to 1440p causes a 47 FPS drop, which is too large to be explained by CPU limitations alone.

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded in the entire dataset?

A: The highest average is 268 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low preset. This is nearly three times the 4K Low average of 98 FPS, showing the massive impact of resolution on this GPU.

Q: Does the Medium preset at 1440p offer a better frame rate than High at 1080p?

A: Yes, the Medium preset at 2560x1440 averages 145 FPS, which is 7 FPS higher than the High preset at 1920x1080, which averages 138 FPS. This suggests that resolution is less impactful than the quality preset level for this combination.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for the 4K Medium setting?

A: The data shows a minimum of 68 FPS at 3840x2160 with Medium settings, which is still above 60 FPS and indicates that this configuration can maintain playable performance in demanding scenes.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows suggest that the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience across all three resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers 221 FPS on average, which is only 47 FPS less than Low but provides significantly better visual quality, and it is more than double the Ultra average of 95 FPS. At 1440p, Medium achieves 145 FPS with a minimum of 123 FPS, which is well above the threshold for high-refresh-rate monitors, and the 167 FPS maximum shows there is headroom for smoother scenes. The 4K Medium result of 81 FPS is the only 4K setting that stays comfortably above 60 FPS, and the minimum of 68 FPS ensures that even demanding moments do not cause stuttering.

For users prioritizing frame rate over visual fidelity, the Low preset is the clear choice, especially at 1080p where 268 FPS is near the limit of most displays. However, Low at 4K still produces 98 FPS, which is playable, but the visual downgrade may be too severe for a game that relies on long-distance scenery. The High preset is a middle ground that works well at 1080p (138 FPS) and 1440p (91 FPS) but falls to 50 FPS at 4K, which is marginal for smooth driving. Ultra should be avoided at 4K entirely, as the 35 FPS average is below playable standards, and even at 1440p the 63 FPS average is borderline. The data implies that Medium is the sweet spot, providing a 45% improvement over High at 4K (81 vs 50 FPS) while retaining enough quality to be visually acceptable.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the performance hierarchy is clear: Low leads with an average of 268 FPS, followed by Medium at 221 FPS, High at 138 FPS, and Ultra at 95 FPS. The Medium preset’s minimum of 188 FPS and maximum of 254 FPS show tight frame pacing, while the other presets lack min/max data but their averages are consistent with a GPU that has plenty of headroom at this resolution. The gap between Low and Medium is 47 FPS, which is relatively small compared to the 83 FPS drop from Medium to High, indicating that High introduces a substantial increase in rendering complexity.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 176 FPS for Low, 145 FPS for Medium, 91 FPS for High, and 63 FPS for Ultra. The Medium preset again shows the most complete data with a minimum of 123 FPS and maximum of 167 FPS, suggesting that this setting is stable under load. The drop from Low to Medium is 31 FPS, while the drop from Medium to High is 54 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 28 FPS. The Ultra result of 63 FPS is just above 60 FPS, but the lack of min/max data means there is no confirmation of consistency.

At 3840x2160, the results are markedly lower: Low averages 98 FPS, Medium averages 81 FPS, High averages 50 FPS, and Ultra averages 35 FPS. The Medium preset’s minimum of 68 FPS and maximum of 93 FPS show a 25 FPS range, which is wider than at lower resolutions and indicates more variability in scene complexity. The 4K Low result is 47 FPS higher than 4K High, showing that even lowering the preset to Low does not fully overcome the GPU’s limitations at this resolution, as the 98 FPS average is still far below the 1080p Low figure of 268 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K is a 16-core processor with 24 threads, a base clock of 3.40 GHz, and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, built on the Raptor Lake architecture. Its benchmark scores show exceptional multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 30745 and a Passmark multithread score of 45887, placing it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs. The single-thread performance is also strong, as evidenced by a Geekbench single-core score of 2529 and a Passmark single-thread score of 4333, which is critical for a driving simulation that may rely on physics calculations and game logic. The 30 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache provide fast access to frequently used data, reducing latency that could otherwise impact frame times.

The data reveals that the CPU is not the bottleneck at most settings, but it may be at 1080p Low, where the 268 FPS average suggests the GPU has spare capacity. At 4K Ultra, the CPU’s role is less significant, as the 35 FPS average is clearly GPU-limited, and the CPU’s high single-thread performance cannot compensate for the GPU’s inability to process pixels quickly enough. The nearest rivals to this CPU, such as the AMD Ryzen 9 5900 with a deltaPct of -0.2% and the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375 at -0.3%, are essentially equal in performance, meaning the i7-13700K is not uniquely advantaged or disadvantaged in this pairing. The CPU’s 125 W TDP and support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory give it flexibility, but the benchmark results show that its role in The Long Drive is to provide a stable foundation that allows the GPU to perform to its potential.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-13700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is ranked 1054 out of 3725 tested combos in The Long Drive, placing it in the 72nd percentile of all configurations. This ranking reflects the measured FPS data, which shows strong performance at 1080p and 1440p but weaker results at 4K Ultra. The combo’s position is respectable given that the RTX 3080 is an end-of-life product, but the data suggests that there are many combinations that handle 4K better, likely due to GPUs with more memory or higher compute throughput. The CPU’s high benchmark scores contribute to the combo’s overall capability, as the i7-13700K’s 89th percentile ranking ensures that the GPU is not held back by processor limitations in most scenarios.

Relative to other tested combos, this pairing excels in scenarios where the GPU is the primary constraint, such as 1080p and 1440p High settings, where the averages of 138 FPS and 91 FPS are competitive. However, the 4K Ultra result of 35 FPS is likely a weak point, as combos with more powerful GPUs would achieve higher scores. The combo rank of 1054 out of 3725 means that roughly 28% of tested configurations outperform it, which is a significant minority, and the data indicates that these superior combos are likely those with newer GPUs that have higher memory capacities and faster clock speeds. The RTX 3080’s nearest rivals, such as the NVIDIA P106-100 with a deltaPct of -0.3%, have similar benchmark scores, but the measured FPS data shows that this specific combo’s performance is defined more by the GPU’s capabilities than by the CPU’s raw power, as the CPU is never the limiting factor in the measured rows.