The Long Drive

The Long Drive, a driving simulation from 2019, presents a unique stress test for high-end hardware, and the pairing of the Intel Core i7-14700KF with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 produces a fascinating set of benchmark results. The data reveals a system capable of extraordinary frame rates, yet the scaling across resolutions and settings indicates a complex balance between CPU and GPU limitations. This analysis breaks down the measured performance to understand where this combo excels and where it leaves performance on the table.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows how this system scales from 1080p up to 4K, and the pattern is telling. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 399.1 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops this to 263.2 FPS, and at 4K Low, it falls further to 145.3 FPS. This sharp decline as resolution increases is the classic signature of a system that is heavily CPU-bound at lower resolutions. The CPU is feeding frames as fast as it can, but the GPU is not being stressed enough to become the limiting factor.

The story changes dramatically when we look at the higher settings. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS plummets to 49.9, which is a massive drop from the 4K Low figure of 145.3 FPS. This indicates that at 4K with maximum graphical fidelity, the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck. The RTX 4090 is being pushed to its limits by the game's rendering workload, a workload that is over three times heavier than at Low settings for the same resolution.

The scaling from 1440p to 4K at High settings is also revealing. The average FPS goes from 135.3 at 1440p to 77.1 at 4K, a reduction of roughly 43%. This is a significant performance hit that aligns with the increase in pixel count. The data suggests that for this game, the sweet spot for this hardware is at 1440p with High or Medium settings, where the balance between CPU and GPU allows for very high frame rates (135.3 and 216.2 FPS, respectively). At 1080p, the CPU is clearly the limiting factor, as even the jump from Medium to Low only yields a 75.1 FPS increase (from 324 to 399.1), showing the CPU's ceiling is being approached.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is a behemoth of a graphics card, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC. It features 16,384 shading units and 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, providing a massive 1.01 TB/s of memory bandwidth. With a boost clock of 2520 MHz, this card is designed for extreme throughput. However, the benchmark results in The Long Drive show that its immense power is not always fully utilized.

At 1080p and 1440p with lower settings, the GPU's role is diminished. The frame rates are so high that the card is effectively waiting on the CPU to provide more work. For instance, at 1080p Medium, the system hits 324 FPS, a figure that is likely far beyond what the game's engine can consistently feed. The GPU is not the constraint here.

The GPU's dominance becomes clear at 4K Ultra. Here, the average FPS of 49.9 shows the card is being worked hard. The 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and the 1,290.2 GTexel/s texture rate are being taxed by the game's highest fidelity settings. The 24 GB frame buffer is also a key asset in this scenario, as it allows the card to handle the large textures and geometry at 4K without running into memory capacity issues. The card's performance in synthetic benchmarks, such as a Passmark G3D score of 38194, confirms its raw power, but the in-game data shows that this power is only fully relevant when the resolution and settings are high enough to make the GPU the bottleneck.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture. With a boost clock of 5.60 GHz and a large 33 MB L3 cache, it is a formidable CPU for gaming and productivity. Its synthetic benchmark scores are impressive, including a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44557 and a single-core score of 6290, placing it in the 96th percentile of all CPUs. This strength is clearly evident in the low-resolution performance of The Long Drive.

The data indicates that the CPU is the primary driver of performance at 1080p. The jump from 203.6 FPS at High to 399.1 FPS at Low shows how much headroom the CPU has when the GPU's workload is reduced. The fact that the system can nearly double its frame rate by lowering settings at 1080p proves that the CPU is not the bottleneck at High settings, but it is at Low. This is a CPU with enough single-thread performance to push frame rates to extremely high levels.

However, the CPU's influence wanes as resolution increases. At 4K, the performance is almost entirely dictated by the GPU. This is not a weakness of the CPU, but rather a natural progression. The i7-14700KF is more than capable of keeping up with the RTX 4090, even at 1440p High where it maintains an average of 135.3 FPS. This is a balanced pairing where the CPU provides a solid foundation without holding the GPU back, except in the most extreme low-resolution, low-setting scenarios where it becomes the limiting factor.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand scheme of benchmark data, this combination of the Intel Core i7-14700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 17th out of 1734 tested combos for The Long Drive. This is an elite position, placing it in the top 1% of all systems tested. The data shows that this is a top-tier configuration for this game, capable of delivering exceptional performance in almost all scenarios.

The ranking reflects the balance of the two components. The CPU's strong single-threaded performance, as evidenced by its Passmark single-thread score of 4480, ensures it can feed the GPU at high frame rates. The GPU's raw power, shown in its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 9223, ensures it can handle the visual load at higher resolutions. This combination works in concert to produce a system that is more capable than the sum of its parts.

While it is not the absolute fastest combo, its rank of 17 out of 1734 puts it ahead of the vast majority of alternatives. The slight performance deltas between the i7-14700KF and its closest rivals, such as the Intel Core i7-14700K (a 0% delta) and the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X (a -0.4% delta), show that the choice of CPU is not a major differentiator at this performance tier. The GPU choice is likely the more significant factor in achieving a high rank, and the RTX 4090 is one of the best options available.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 1440p with Medium or High settings offers an excellent balance, with average FPS of 216.2 and 135.3, respectively. This provides high frame rates while likely maintaining good visual quality.

Q: Why does the frame rate drop so much from 1080p to 4K at Low settings?

A: At 1080p Low, the system achieves 399.1 FPS, but this drops to 145.3 FPS at 4K Low. This is because the CPU becomes the limiting factor at lower resolutions, and as the pixel count increases, the GPU's workload becomes more demanding, shifting the bottleneck.

Q: Is the RTX 4090 being fully utilized in this game?

A: Not at lower resolutions and settings. At 1080p Medium, the system hits 324 FPS, which is likely a CPU limit. The GPU is only fully stressed at 4K Ultra, where the average FPS drops to 49.9, showing the card is working at its maximum capacity.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: This combination of the Intel Core i7-14700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 17th out of 1734 tested combos for The Long Drive, placing it in the top 1% of all configurations.

Q: Does the CPU hold back the GPU in this game?

A: The CPU can become the limiting factor at 1080p with lower settings, as evidenced by the high frame rates. However, at higher resolutions like 4K, the GPU becomes the bottleneck, and the CPU is more than capable of keeping up.

Q: What are the key specs of the RTX 4090 that contribute to its performance?

A: The RTX 4090 has 24 GB of GDDR6X memory with a 1.01 TB/s bandwidth and a boost clock of 2520 MHz. These specifications, along with its 16,384 shading units, allow it to handle the heavy workloads at 4K Ultra, where it averages 49.9 FPS.