The Long Drive

The Long Drive pairs Intel’s top-tier 24-core Core i9-14900K with NVIDIA’s 8 GB GeForce RTX 4060, a combination that ranks in the 54th percentile of all tested system pairings for this driving simulation. The data reveals a processor with immense headroom and a graphics card that becomes the decisive factor as resolution climbs, producing a wide spread of frame rates from a very playable 104 FPS at 1080p High to a borderline 38 FPS at 4K High.

FAQ

Q: What is the best 1080p setting for this combo in The Long Drive?

A: Medium delivers the best balance, with an average of 167 FPS and a measured range of 142–192 FPS. Low reaches 203 FPS, but Medium offers a substantial visual upgrade for only a 36 FPS penalty, while High drops to 104 FPS and Ultra falls to 72 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU’s multi-core performance compare to its closest rival?

A: The Core i9-14900K scores 79,097 on the average benchmark, which is 0.3% behind the Intel Core i9-14900KF (79,371) and 0.6% behind the Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus (79,574). It is 1.7% ahead of the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 (77,740).

Q: What is the frame rate difference between High and Ultra at 1440p?

A: High averages 69 FPS, while Ultra drops to 48 FPS—a 21 FPS reduction. The gap is smaller than at 1080p, where High (104 FPS) to Ultra (72 FPS) also represents a 32 FPS loss, but the relative penalty is similar.

Q: Is the GPU more of a bottleneck at 4K or 1080p?

A: The data indicates the RTX 4060 becomes the primary limiter at 4K. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 203 FPS, but at 4K Low it falls to 74 FPS—a 63.5% drop. This suggests CPU headroom is abundant, while the GPU’s 8 GB memory and 128-bit bus constrain higher resolutions.

Q: How many combos does this pairing beat in the overall ranking?

A: The combo ranks 2,021 out of 3,725 tested combinations, placing it above roughly 45.7% of all system pairings in the database for this game.

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The maximum measured average is 203 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The lowest average is 26 FPS at 4K Ultra, showing the extreme range of this hardware pairing.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K is a 24-core, 32-thread processor based on Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.20 GHz and a boost clock of 6.00 GHz. It uses a 10 nm process from Intel and supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory across a dual-channel bus. The chip carries a 36 MB shared L3 cache, 2 MB L2 per core, and 80 KB L1 per core, with a TDP of 125 W. Benchmark results show a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 39,399.5 and a single-core score of 2,262.5, alongside a Geekbench multi-core score of 21,697.

For The Long Drive, the CPU’s role appears largely secondary to the GPU across most settings, given that the frame rate scales dramatically with resolution changes. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 203 FPS, which implies the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough data to saturate even high refresh-rate displays. The processor’s 32 threads and high boost clock likely prevent any physics or simulation-related bottlenecks in this driving game, especially since the genre often involves vehicle dynamics and world streaming. The PassMark multi-thread score of 58,674 and single-thread score of 4,697 reinforce that both heavy parallel workloads and latency-sensitive tasks are handled with ease.

The percentile ranking of 95 for the CPU against all processors suggests it sits near the top of the performance spectrum. Its nearest rivals include the Core i9-14900KF, which is 0.3% faster on average, and the Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus, which is 0.6% faster. The AMD EPYC 7413 is 1.2% ahead, while the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 is 1.7% behind. These small deltas indicate that the i9-14900K is not the limiting factor in this system; the differences between top-tier CPUs are negligible in real-world gaming scenarios. The data shows that even with a slower GPU, this processor would maintain high frame rates at lower resolutions, but the measured FPS at 4K Ultra (26 FPS) proves the CPU cannot compensate for GPU limitations.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm TSMC process, featuring 18,900 million transistors on a 159 mm² die. It has a base clock of 1830 MHz and a boost clock of 2460 MHz, with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus delivering 272.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The card includes 3,072 shading units, 96 TMUs, 48 ROPs, 24 RT cores, and 96 tensor cores, with a TDP of 115 W. Its FP32 performance is rated at 15.11 TFLOPS, and the memory operates at 2125 MHz (17 Gbps effective).

In The Long Drive, the GPU’s 8 GB memory capacity becomes a critical factor at higher resolutions. The measured FPS at 4K High is 38, while 4K Medium averages 61 FPS with a range of 52–70 FPS, and 4K Low reaches 74 FPS. The drop from 4K Low to 4K High (74 to 38 FPS) suggests that texture and shading demands exceed the memory bandwidth, causing a steep penalty. At 1080p, the same settings spread shows 203 FPS (Low), 167 FPS (Medium), 104 FPS (High), and 72 FPS (Ultra), indicating that the GPU can handle lower resolutions comfortably but struggles with the combination of high resolution and high settings.

The GPU’s percentile ranking of 61 places it above average but not exceptional. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon HD 7790 (0.2% faster), AMD Radeon 780M (0.3% slower), AMD Radeon Pro 560 (0.5% slower), and AMD Radeon Pro 460 (0.7% slower). These deltas are tiny, suggesting the RTX 4060 is closely matched with older or integrated solutions in raw benchmark terms, but its real-world gaming performance in this title is more dependent on memory size and bandwidth. The 128-bit bus and 272.0 GB/s bandwidth are modest, and the data implies that 4K Ultra (26 FPS) is simply beyond the card’s capabilities, while 1080p Ultra (72 FPS) remains playable but not smooth.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i9-14900K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 ranks 2,021 out of 3,725 tested combos in The Long Drive, placing it in the 54th percentile. This rank reflects a system where the CPU is far more powerful than necessary for the GPU, which holds back overall performance. The ranking is likely dragged down by the GPU’s mid-range positioning, as the CPU alone would rank near the top of its own percentile (95). The data suggests that pairing this CPU with a stronger GPU would yield a much higher combo rank, but as measured, the RTX 4060 limits the system to mid-pack standing.

Compared to other combinations, this setup excels at 1080p, where the CPU’s strength can push frame rates to 203 FPS on Low. However, at 4K Ultra, the combo falls to 26 FPS, which would place it near the bottom of the ranking for high-resolution enthusiasts. The 45.7% of combos it beats likely include systems with weaker CPUs or older GPUs, while the 54.3% that beat it probably feature more balanced pairings or stronger graphics cards. The rank of 2,021 is a clear signal that the i9-14900K is overkill for the RTX 4060 in this title, and users seeking higher resolutions would benefit from a different GPU choice.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest results. Low settings produce an average of 203 FPS, Medium averages 167 FPS with a range of 142–192 FPS, High averages 104 FPS, and Ultra averages 72 FPS. The step from Low to Medium costs 36 FPS, from Medium to High costs 63 FPS, and from High to Ultra costs 32 FPS, showing that the biggest penalty occurs when moving from Medium to High.

At 2560x1440, performance scales down predictably. Low averages 133 FPS, Medium averages 110 FPS with a range of 93–126 FPS, High averages 69 FPS, and Ultra averages 48 FPS. The transition from Low to Medium drops 23 FPS, Medium to High drops 41 FPS, and High to Ultra drops 21 FPS. The 1440p High result of 69 FPS is still playable, but Ultra at 48 FPS approaches the lower bound of smooth gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. Low averages 74 FPS, Medium averages 61 FPS with a range of 52–70 FPS, High averages 38 FPS, and Ultra averages 26 FPS. The drop from Low to Medium is 13 FPS, Medium to High is 23 FPS, and High to Ultra is 12 FPS. Notably, 4K Low (74 FPS) is only slightly better than 1440p Ultra (48 FPS), highlighting how resolution impacts the GPU more than settings.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience in The Long Drive, Medium settings provide the optimal balance of visual quality and performance across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium averages 167 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold, and the 142–192 FPS range indicates consistent frame delivery. At 1440p, Medium averages 110 FPS, still offering a smooth experience, while at 4K, Medium averages 61 FPS, which is barely acceptable but playable.

High settings are recommended only for 1080p and 1440p, where averages of 104 FPS and 69 FPS respectively are usable. However, the 40% performance drop from Medium to High at 1080p (167 to 104 FPS) makes Medium a more attractive choice unless visual fidelity is prioritized. Ultra is not recommended at any resolution, as 1080p Ultra (72 FPS) is the only playable option, and the 31% drop from High to Ultra is significant. For 4K, only Low (74 FPS) or Medium (61 FPS) are viable, with High and Ultra falling below 40 FPS.

The data indicates that Medium is the “sweet spot” for this combo, offering a 63% improvement over High at 1080p and a 59% improvement at 1440p. At 4K, Medium is 61% faster than High, making it the clear choice for maintaining a playable frame rate. Users with high-refresh-rate monitors should stick to 1080p Medium or Low, while those willing to accept lower FPS can push to 1440p High.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and reveals the limiting component. At Low settings, 1080p averages 203 FPS, 1440p averages 133 FPS, and 4K averages 74 FPS—a 63.5% reduction from 1080p to 4K. At Medium, the drop is from 167 FPS to 110 FPS to 61 FPS, a 63.5% reduction as well. At High, the numbers are 104 FPS to 69 FPS to 38 FPS, a 63.5% decrease, and at Ultra, 72 FPS to 48 FPS to 26 FPS, also a 63.5% drop.

This consistent ~63.5% reduction across all settings strongly indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor, as the CPU’s performance is resolution-independent. The RTX 4060’s 8 GB memory and 272.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for 4K workloads, causing the frame rate to scale almost linearly with pixel count. The CPU, with its 24 cores and 6.00 GHz boost clock, shows no signs of bottlenecking, as the performance loss is purely attributable to the GPU’s rendering capabilities. The data suggests that upgrading the GPU would yield significant gains at 1440p and 4K, while the CPU would remain largely idle, making this combo best suited for 1080p gaming where the CPU’s strength can be fully utilized.