Dave The Diver

Dave The Diver with the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D and Intel Arc B390 shows a system that is heavily constrained by its graphics processor at higher resolutions, but the data indicates it can still deliver playable frame rates at 1080p. The combo ranks near the bottom of the tested database, and the performance scaling across settings reveals a component mismatch where the CPU’s capabilities are largely untapped.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates reveal a clear and consistent decline as resolution increases, which points directly to the GPU as the primary bottleneck. At 1080p with High settings, the combo produces 81 FPS, which drops to 61 FPS at 1440p and further down to 41 FPS at 4K. This represents a 49.4% reduction in average FPS from 1080p to 4K at High settings, a scaling pattern that is characteristic of a system where the graphics card is saturated long before the processor reaches its limits.

The scaling from 1440p to 4K is particularly steep, with the average FPS falling from 61 to 41, a drop of 32.8%. This contrasts with the transition from 1080p to 1440p, which sees a 24.7% reduction (81 to 61 FPS). The accelerating performance loss at higher resolutions is a textbook sign of GPU-bound rendering. The Intel Arc B390, which scores only 1482 in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test and sits at the 9th percentile of all GPUs, simply runs out of pixel-pushing capacity when the render target expands to 3840x2160.

Interestingly, the gap between Low and Ultra settings widens as resolution increases, which further confirms the GPU limitation. At 1080p, the spread between Low (108 FPS) and Ultra (72 FPS) is 36 FPS. At 1440p, that spread shrinks to 28 FPS (82 Low vs. 54 Ultra). At 4K, the spread narrows to just 19 FPS (55 Low vs. 36 Ultra). This compression of the settings range at higher resolutions indicates that even at Low settings, the GPU is struggling to keep up with the pixel count, leaving little headroom for quality improvements without a significant frame rate penalty.

The data suggests that 1080p is the only resolution where this combo can consistently exceed the 60 FPS threshold across all tested settings. At 1440p, the system can still hit above 60 FPS on Low (82 FPS) and High (61 FPS), but Medium and Ultra fall below that mark. At 4K, every setting produces an average FPS below 60, with the best case being Low at 55 FPS. For users targeting higher refresh rates or smoother motion, the resolution scaling data strongly indicates that 1080p is the intended operating range for this configuration.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the benchmark database, this specific combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D and Intel Arc B390 ranks 2538 out of 2867 tested combos for Dave The Diver. This places the system in the 11.5th percentile of all recorded configurations, meaning roughly 88.5% of tested setups deliver higher average frame rates in this game. The ranking reflects the severe bottleneck imposed by the GPU, which is confirmed by the graphics card’s own percentile ranking of 9th among all GPUs.

The GPU’s nearest rivals in the database are all entry-level or legacy parts, including the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (avg score 1463, deltaPct 1.3), the NVIDIA GeForce 800M (avg score 1460, deltaPct 1.5), the NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM (avg score 1446, deltaPct 2.5), and the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 (avg score 1443, deltaPct 2.7). The Arc B390’s 3DMark score of 1482 edges out these parts by a narrow margin, with the largest delta being 2.7% over the GT 710. This is a clear indication that the graphics side of this combo belongs to a performance tier that is far below what modern gaming typically demands.

On the CPU side, the situation is markedly different. The Ryzen 5 7500X3D ranks in the 89th percentile of all CPUs, and its nearest rivals in the processor database are high-end mobile and desktop parts. The Intel Core Ultra X9 388H scores 44466 (deltaPct 0.2), the Intel Core i9-13950HX scores 44342 (deltaPct 0.5), the AMD Ryzen AI Max 385 scores 44309 (deltaPct 0.6), and the Intel Core i5-14600 scores 44889 (deltaPct -0.7). The 7500X3D’s average benchmark score of 44573 places it right in the middle of this group, statistically tied with all of them. This contrast — a top-tier CPU paired with a bottom-tier GPU — explains why the combined system rank is so low despite the processor’s strength.

The combo rank of 2538 out of 2867 shows that while the CPU is capable of feeding a much more powerful graphics card, the Arc B390 cannot translate that processing power into high frame rates in this title. The data indicates that this pairing is fundamentally unbalanced for gaming, with the GPU acting as a hard ceiling on performance.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 7000 series, built on the Raphael codename using a 5 nm process at TSMC. It features a base clock of 4.00 GHz and a boost clock of 4.50 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The cache hierarchy is substantial, including 64 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and a large 96 MB of shared L3 cache. This 3D V-Cache design is typically advantageous for gaming workloads, and the processor’s general benchmark scores reflect that strength.

In synthetic testing, the CPU achieves a Passmark single-thread score of 3494 and a multithread score of 25047. Its floating-point math score is 43594, while integer math reaches 70774. These figures place the processor in the 89th percentile of all CPUs, confirming that it is a high-performance part for compute-heavy tasks. The nearest rivals, including the Intel Core i9-13950HX and Intel Core i5-14600, have average scores within 0.7% of the 7500X3D, indicating that this processor is competitive with some of the best parts in the database.

However, in Dave The Diver, the CPU’s role appears to be minimal due to the GPU bottleneck. The frame rates at 1080p Low (108 FPS) and 1080p High (81 FPS) show that the processor can push well beyond 80 FPS, but the graphics card cannot keep up at higher resolutions. The fact that the 4K Low setting (55 FPS) is only 14 FPS lower than the 1080p Low setting (108 FPS) despite a 4x increase in pixel count suggests that the CPU is not the limiting factor — if it were, the frame rate would remain nearly constant regardless of resolution. Instead, the GPU’s inability to render more pixels causes the steep drops.

The 12 threads and high boost clock of 4.50 GHz are more than sufficient for an adventure title like Dave The Diver, which is not known for heavy CPU simulation. The data indicates that the Ryzen 5 7500X3D is essentially idle in this configuration, waiting for the GPU to catch up. Users would need a significantly more powerful graphics card to unlock the full potential of this processor in gaming scenarios.

FAQ

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

A: The Intel Arc B390 is the limiting factor. At 1080p High, the combo achieves 81 FPS, but at 4K High it drops to 41 FPS. The GPU scores only 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 and ranks in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, so it lacks the raw pixel throughput needed for high-resolution rendering.

Q: Is the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D a bottleneck for this game?

A: No. The CPU ranks in the 89th percentile of all processors and scores 3494 in single-thread performance. The frame rate scaling shows that the GPU is the bottleneck; at 1080p Low, the system reaches 108 FPS, which is well above what the GPU can sustain at higher resolutions.

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

A: It ranks 2538 out of 2867 combos for Dave The Diver, placing it in the bottom 11.5% of tested configurations. The low ranking is due to the GPU, which is comparable to legacy parts like the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 (deltaPct 2.7).

Q: What is the best resolution to play at with this setup?

A: The data shows that 1080p is the only resolution where all settings produce above 60 FPS on average. At 1440p, only Low (82 FPS) and High (61 FPS) exceed 60 FPS, while at 4K, all settings fall below 60 FPS.

Q: Can the CPU handle more demanding graphics cards?

A: Yes. The Ryzen 5 7500X3D’s nearest rivals include the Intel Core i9-13950HX and Intel Core i5-14600, with average scores within 0.7%. This indicates the CPU is competitive with high-end parts and would not bottleneck a stronger GPU in most games.

Q: Does the game benefit from the CPU’s large L3 cache?

A: While the 96 MB of shared L3 cache is a notable feature, the benchmark data for this specific game does not show a performance advantage because the GPU limits frame rates. The CPU’s potential is untapped, as evidenced by the steep FPS drops at higher resolutions.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is the dominant performance factor in this combo, and the data suggests it is severely underpowered for modern gaming. This integrated graphics processor, based on the Panther Lake chip with Xe3-LPG architecture, features 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster output units. It boosts up to 2500 MHz from a 300 MHz base, with system-shared memory and system-dependent bandwidth. The pixel rate is 60.00 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 120.0 GTexel/s, with a FP32 performance of 7.680 TFLOPS.

In the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 benchmark, the Arc B390 scores 1482, which places it at the 9th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are all legacy or entry-level discrete parts: the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1463), GeForce 800M (1460), GT 625 OEM (1446), and GT 710 (1443). The Arc B390 beats these by margins of 1.3% to 2.7%, but that is a hollow victory. These are parts that are over a decade old and were never designed for gaming at high settings.

The measured FPS data in Dave The Diver reflects this low performance tier. At 1080p Ultra, the combo produces 72 FPS, but this drops to 54 FPS at 1440p Ultra and 36 FPS at 4K Ultra. The minimum FPS recorded at 1080p Medium is 77, which is only slightly above the 4K Medium average of 46 FPS. This shows that the GPU’s rendering capacity is quickly exhausted as resolution increases, and the frame rate falls off a cliff.

The integrated nature of the Arc B390, with system-shared memory and no dedicated VRAM, further limits its performance. The memory bandwidth is listed as "System Dependent," meaning it relies on the CPU’s DDR5 memory bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s, which is shared with the processor. This can cause contention and reduce effective memory throughput in graphics-heavy scenes. The 80 W TDP and lack of dedicated power connectors indicate this is designed for low-power integrated use, not high-performance gaming.

For Dave The Diver, which is a 2D adventure game with relatively simple graphics, the Arc B390 can manage playable frame rates at 1080p, but the data shows it is barely adequate. The 41 FPS at 4K High and 36 FPS at 4K Ultra are below the 60 FPS target most gamers expect, and even the 55 FPS at 4K Low is not smooth. Users should treat this GPU as a last-resort option for gaming, and the resolution scaling data makes it clear that 1080p is the only viable choice.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal balance of visual quality and performance for this combo is 1080p with High settings, which delivers 81 FPS on average. This is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold and provides a significant visual upgrade over Low settings, which only yields 108 FPS but sacrifices most graphical features. The High preset at 1080p offers a 12.3% improvement in frame rate over Medium (91 FPS) while maintaining better image quality, making it the recommended choice for most users.

For those who prioritize smoothness over visuals, 1080p Low is the best option, achieving 108 FPS. This is the only setting combination that breaks the 100 FPS barrier, and it provides a 33.3% frame rate advantage over High. However, the visual downgrade is substantial, and the data shows that the GPU can handle High settings at 1080p without dropping below the 60 FPS line, so Low is only recommended for competitive play or very high refresh rate displays.

At 1440p, the situation is more nuanced. The High preset averages 61 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS target but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes. The Low preset at 1440p provides 82 FPS, which is safer, but the Medium preset at 68 FPS offers a middle ground. Given that the 1440p Medium minimum FPS is 58, there is a risk of occasional dips below 60 FPS. For a stable experience at 1440p, Low is the safer choice, while High is acceptable for users who tolerate minor frame rate fluctuations.

The 4K resolution should be avoided with this combo. Even at Low settings, the average FPS is only 55, and Ultra drops to 36 FPS. The minimum FPS at 4K Medium is 39, indicating significant frame pacing issues. The GPU simply does not have the compute power to render Dave The Diver at 4K with acceptable smoothness. Users with 4K displays should run the game at 1080p and rely on display scaling, as the data shows that is the only way to achieve a consistently playable experience.

In summary, the recommended configuration is 1080p High for the best balance of quality and performance. If the user has a high refresh rate monitor and prefers competitive smoothness, 1080p Low is the fallback. For 1440p users, Low is recommended for stability, while High is a viable option for those who accept occasional dips. The Ultra preset is not recommended at any resolution, as it provides diminishing returns over High while reducing frame rates by 11.1% at 1080p, 11.5% at 1440p, and 12.2% at 4K.