Dave The Diver

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and Intel Arc B370 pairing in Dave The Diver presents a fascinating study in hardware bottlenecks, given the stark contrast between the CPU's mid-range standing and the GPU's low-end positioning. The benchmark data reveals a system where frame rates are dictated almost entirely by the integrated graphics solution, making this a uniquely GPU-bound scenario even at lower resolutions.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, running on the AMD Socket AM4 platform. It operates with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz, drawing a 65 W TDP. This is a desktop-class chip built on TSMC's 7 nm process, featuring a 16 MB L3 cache. In synthetic benchmarks, the processor scores 16,429 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2,319 in single-core, placing it at the 73rd percentile of all CPUs tested.

Given the game's nature as a 2D adventure title, the CPU's role is primarily to maintain a stable frame pacing rather than push extreme polygon counts. The data suggests the Ryzen 5 5500 is more than adequate for this task. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 98 FPS, which is the highest measured average across all configurations. This indicates the CPU is not the limiting factor in this pairing, as the frame rate ceiling is high enough to expose the GPU's weaknesses.

When comparing the Ryzen 5 5500 to its nearest rivals, the benchmark scores are remarkably close. The AMD Ryzen AI 5 430 scores 19,617, a mere 0.1% difference, while the Intel Core i5-12500 scores 19,668, 0.4% higher. The Intel Core i7-10700F sits 0.5% lower at 19,499, and the Intel Core i5-11600KF is 0.7% higher at 19,723. These minuscule deltas mean that in a game like Dave The Diver, swapping the CPU for any of these alternatives would produce virtually identical frame rates, as the GPU bottleneck would remain unchanged.

The processor's multi-threaded performance, shown by a 3DMark max-thread score of 5,411, is sufficient to handle the game's background tasks, physics, and AI without introducing stutter. The fact that the 1080p Low preset achieves nearly 100 FPS while the Ultra preset at the same resolution drops to 65 FPS strongly implies the CPU is not the performance ceiling. The consistent delta between settings at each resolution points to a GPU-limited scenario where the CPU is simply waiting for the graphics pipeline to complete its work.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Arc B370 is an integrated graphics processor based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, built on Intel's 3 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2400 MHz, with a power envelope of just 25 W. The memory configuration is entirely system-shared, meaning it has no dedicated VRAM and instead borrows from the system's DDR4 memory pool, with bandwidth described as "System Dependent." The GPU features 1,280 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 20 raster operation units, along with 10 ray tracing cores.

This GPU sits at the 5th percentile of all GPUs tested, which is an exceptionally low position. Its only benchmark score, a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 result of 1,184, places it in direct competition with legacy graphics cards. The nearest rivals include the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (scoring 1,186, 0.2% higher), the ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1,190, 0.5% higher), the AMD Radeon HD 7650M (1,192, 0.7% higher), and the AMD FirePro M2000 (1,168, 1.4% lower). These are all ancient parts from a decade ago, underscoring the Arc B370's extremely modest compute capability.

The GPU's pixel rate is 48.00 GPixel/s and its texture rate is 96.00 GTexel/s, with a FP32 throughput of 6.144 TFLOPS. In the context of Dave The Diver, these figures translate directly into the measured frame rates. The game's pixel-art aesthetic is not demanding by modern standards, but the Arc B370 still struggles to maintain 60 FPS at 1080p Ultra, producing an average of 65 FPS. The integrated nature of this GPU means it competes for memory bandwidth with the CPU, which could exacerbate performance drops in scenes with heavy particle effects or many on-screen entities.

The fact that the GPU's boost clock is 2400 MHz but its base clock is just 300 MHz suggests significant thermal or power throttling potential. However, the 25 W TDP is remarkably low, indicating the chip is designed for efficiency rather than raw performance. This is a mobile-oriented part, likely intended for thin-and-light laptops, which explains its placement in the lowest percentile bracket. For this game, the GPU is unequivocally the limiting component, as evidenced by the FPS scaling across settings.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data shows a clear and consistent pattern of degradation as resolution increases, which is a classic hallmark of GPU-bound performance. At 1080p with Low settings, the system averages 98 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops this to 74 FPS, a 24.5% reduction. At 4K Low, the average falls to 49 FPS, which is exactly half of the 1080p result. This steep curve indicates that the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth are being overwhelmed by the increasing pixel count.

The High settings preset tells a similar story. At 1080p High, the average is 73 FPS. At 1440p High, it drops to 55 FPS (a 24.7% decrease), and at 4K High, it reaches 37 FPS (a 49.3% decrease from 1080p). The near-linear scaling of performance loss with pixel count strongly suggests the GPU is the bottleneck. If the CPU were limiting, we would expect to see a plateau at higher resolutions, where the frame rate remains constant regardless of resolution because the CPU can't feed frames fast enough. Instead, the FPS continues to fall, confirming the GPU is saturated.

The Medium settings preset provides additional insight, with min and max FPS values recorded. At 1080p Medium, the average is 82 FPS with a min of 70 and max of 94. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 62 FPS (min 52, max 71), and at 4K Medium, the average is 41 FPS (min 35, max 47). The frame time variance increases slightly at higher resolutions, but the overall trend remains consistent. The gap between 1080p and 4K Medium is exactly 50%, mirroring the Low preset's scaling.

This data reveals that the Arc B370's performance scales almost perfectly with pixel count, which is expected for a GPU with a fixed number of shading units. The 6.144 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 20 ROPs are simply insufficient to handle 4K resolutions at playable frame rates, with the Ultra preset delivering only 33 FPS at 4K. The system's shared memory architecture likely compounds this issue, as the GPU must contend with the CPU for DDR4 bandwidth, further limiting its ability to process textures and frame buffers at high resolutions.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

The data provides clear guidance on which settings preset offers the most balanced experience. At 1080p, the Medium preset delivers 82 FPS with a minimum of 70 FPS, which provides a smooth and stable frame rate for a game that relies on precise timing and quick reactions. The Low preset achieves 98 FPS but likely sacrifices visual fidelity for a marginal performance gain. The High preset at 73 FPS is also playable, but the drop from Medium is only 9 FPS, suggesting diminishing returns on visual quality.

At 1440p, the Medium preset stands out as the best option, producing 62 FPS with a minimum of 52 FPS. This is just above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, and the min FPS indicates that occasional dips below 60 will occur but are unlikely to be severe. The High preset at 55 FPS is borderline, and the Ultra preset at 49 FPS falls below the ideal range. The Low preset at 74 FPS is the only configuration that comfortably exceeds 60 FPS at this resolution, but it sacrifices significant visual quality.

For 4K, the situation is grim. The Low preset is the only one that approaches playability at 49 FPS, while Medium drops to 41 FPS and High falls to 37 FPS. The Ultra preset at 33 FPS is not recommended for any serious gameplay session. The frame pacing at 4K Medium, with a min of 35 FPS and max of 47 FPS, suggests noticeable stutter during busy scenes. Players seeking a 4K experience would need to accept the Low preset and tolerate the reduced visual detail.

The best overall experience per the measured rows is the 1080p Medium preset. It offers 82 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS comfort zone, and the min FPS of 70 ensures that even the most demanding scenes remain fluid. The jump from Medium to High at 1080p only costs 9 FPS (from 82 to 73), but the jump from Medium to Low gains 16 FPS (from 82 to 98), indicating that Medium is the sweet spot where visual quality and performance are best balanced. At higher resolutions, the GPU's limitations become too pronounced to recommend anything above Medium.

FAQ

Q: Is the Intel Arc B370 capable of running Dave The Diver at 60 FPS?

A: Yes, but only at 1080p with Medium or Low settings. The Medium preset averages 82 FPS, while Low averages 98 FPS. At 1440p, only the Low preset exceeds 60 FPS with 74 FPS, as Medium drops to 62 FPS. At 4K, no preset reaches 60 FPS, with Low at 49 FPS being the highest.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 5500's performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The CPU's average benchmark score of 19,593 is nearly identical to its closest competitors. It is 0.1% slower than the AMD Ryzen AI 5 430 (19,617), 0.4% slower than the Intel Core i5-12500 (19,668), 0.5% faster than the Intel Core i7-10700F (19,499), and 0.7% slower than the Intel Core i5-11600KF (19,723). These differences are negligible for gaming.

Q: What is the most significant performance bottleneck in this system?

A: The GPU is overwhelmingly the limiting factor. The Arc B370 sits at the 5th percentile of all GPUs, while the CPU is at the 73rd percentile. The FPS scaling with resolution confirms this, as frame rates drop proportionally with pixel count, indicating the GPU is saturated before the CPU can be stressed.

Q: Does increasing the resolution from 1080p to 4K halve the frame rate?

A: In most cases, yes. With the Low preset, the FPS drops from 98 at 1080p to 49 at 4K, an exact 50% reduction. The High preset drops from 73 to 37 FPS, a 49.3% reduction. This linear scaling is characteristic of a GPU-bound workload.

Q: Why is the GPU's memory bandwidth listed as "System Dependent"?

A: The Intel Arc B370 is an integrated GPU with no dedicated VRAM. It shares the system's DDR4 memory, so its effective bandwidth depends on the host system's memory configuration. This shared architecture can cause performance degradation when the CPU and GPU compete for memory access, potentially explaining the lower frame rates at higher resolutions.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations in this game?

A: The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and Intel Arc B370 ranks 2,642nd out of 2,867 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 8% of all configurations. This low ranking is directly attributable to the GPU's minimal compute capabilities, as the CPU is a mid-range part that would score much higher with a discrete graphics card.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The complete dataset of measured frame rates provides a comprehensive picture of this system's capabilities. At 3840x2160 resolution, the Ultra preset yields an average of 33 FPS, with no min or max recorded. The High preset improves to 37 FPS, while Medium reaches 41 FPS with a min of 35 and max of 47. The Low preset is the best performer at 4K, achieving 49 FPS average.

Moving to 2560x1440 resolution, the Ultra preset averages 49 FPS. High settings produce 55 FPS, and Medium delivers 62 FPS with a min of 52 and max of 71. The Low preset at 1440p reaches 74 FPS, which is the only configuration at this resolution that comfortably exceeds the 60 FPS target.

At 1920x1080 resolution, the Ultra preset averages 65 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS threshold. High settings yield 73 FPS, and Medium produces 82 FPS with a min of 70 and max of 94. The Low preset achieves the highest measured average of the entire dataset at 98 FPS. The min FPS data is only available for the Medium preset across all resolutions, showing a consistent pattern where the minimum is approximately 15-20% lower than the average.

The data reveals a clear hierarchy: at every resolution, the performance delta between Low and Ultra is roughly 33-34 FPS. At 1080p, the range is from 65 FPS (Ultra) to 98 FPS (Low), a 33 FPS spread. At 1440p, the range is 49 to 74 FPS, a 25 FPS spread. At 4K, the range is 33 to 49 FPS, a 16 FPS spread. This shrinking delta suggests that as resolution increases, the GPU becomes so saturated that even the lowest settings cannot compensate for the pixel fill rate demands.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and Intel Arc B370 combination ranks 2,642nd out of 2,867 tested combos in Dave The Diver, placing it in the 92nd percentile from the bottom. This means that 92% of all tested system configurations outperform this pairing in this specific game. The rank is a stark indictment of the GPU's capabilities, as the CPU alone would likely rank much higher if paired with a discrete graphics card.

This low ranking is consistent with the GPU's overall benchmark percentile of 5, which indicates it performs worse than 95% of all GPUs ever tested. The GPU's nearest rivals, such as the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 and ATI Radeon HD 5770, are legacy parts from the early 2010s, further emphasizing how far behind modern performance standards this integrated solution falls. The fact that the GPU's only benchmark score is 1,184 in 3DMark Steel Nomad, while even entry-level discrete GPUs typically score in the thousands, contextualizes the poor in-game performance.

The CPU's ranking is much more respectable at the 73rd percentile, and its nearest rivals are all modern processors with nearly identical scores. This disparity between CPU and GPU performance creates a severely unbalanced system where the processor is essentially idle while the graphics unit struggles. The combo rank of 2,642 out of 2,867 suggests that for Dave The Diver, this configuration is only suitable for lower resolutions and settings, as the data confirms. Players using this combo should stick to 1080p Medium or Low settings to achieve a playable experience, as anything higher will result in frame rates below the 60 FPS threshold.