Dave The Diver

Dave The Diver is not a demanding title, but the measured frame rates for this AMD Ryzen 7 7700 + Intel Arc B580 combination reveal a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, while the CPU’s 8-core/16-thread design provides ample headroom for the game’s physics and simulation logic. The data shows a smooth, playable experience across all tested settings, with the most significant performance scaling occurring between 1080p and 4K, where the GPU’s workload increases substantially.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 clearly illustrates where the bottleneck lies. At 1080p High, the combo delivers 141 FPS, which climbs to 189 FPS on Low settings. Moving to 1440p High, the average drops to 106 FPS, and at 4K High, it settles at 71 FPS. This represents a 49.7% reduction in performance from 1080p High to 4K High, a scaling pattern typical of a GPU-limited scenario. The CPU is not the constraint here; the Ryzen 7 7700’s 16 threads are more than sufficient for Dave The Diver’s workload, which is not heavily multithreaded.

The step from 1440p to 4K is particularly telling. At 1440p Medium, the system averages 119 FPS, but 4K Medium drops to 80 FPS — a 32.8% decrease. Similarly, Ultra settings see a drop from 94 FPS at 1440p to 63 FPS at 4K, a 33% reduction. These consistent percentage drops across settings indicate that the GPU’s pixel throughput and memory bandwidth are the limiting factors at 4K. The Arc B580’s 456.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 13.67 TFLOPS FP32 compute are being fully utilized, while the CPU’s 3.80 GHz base and 5.30 GHz boost clocks remain underutilized.

The scaling between 1080p and 1440p is less severe. At High settings, 141 FPS at 1080p falls to 106 FPS at 1440p, a 24.8% drop. This suggests that at 1080p, the system is starting to show slight CPU limitations in certain scenes, though the overall frame rates remain high. The fact that 1080p Low hits 189 FPS — nearly triple the 4K Ultra result — confirms that the GPU is the primary performance ceiling once resolution increases. For users targeting 4K, the data indicates that even Medium settings (80 FPS) provide a comfortable margin above 60 FPS, while Ultra (63 FPS) is borderline but still playable.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of AMD Ryzen 7 7700 and Intel Arc B580 ranks 2780 out of 3710 tested combos for Dave The Diver, placing it in the bottom 25% of all configurations. However, this ranking must be interpreted carefully. The game is an adventure title with relatively modest graphical demands, meaning that many high-end combos with flagship GPUs will achieve frame rates far beyond what is necessary for a smooth experience. The combo’s rank reflects the absolute performance ceiling, not the playability threshold.

The CPU itself sits in the 87th percentile against all tested processors, with an average benchmark score of 40081. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 (score 40048, delta 0.1%), Intel Core 5 221E (score 40144, delta -0.2%), and AMD Ryzen 9 270 (score 40246, delta -0.4%). This places the Ryzen 7 7700 within a tight performance cluster, with less than 1% separating it from its closest competitors. The GPU, meanwhile, ranks in the 68th percentile against all GPUs, with an average score of 23021. Its nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP (score 23061, delta -0.2%), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (score 22895, delta 0.6%), and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (score 23172, delta -0.7%).

The discrepancy between the CPU’s high percentile (87) and the combo’s low rank (2780/3710) suggests that the GPU is the limiting factor in this pairing. The Arc B580, while competent, is not a top-tier card when compared to the entire GPU landscape. This is reflected in its 68th percentile ranking. For a game like Dave The Diver, however, the combo’s rank is less relevant than the actual measured FPS, which show that the system exceeds 60 FPS at all tested settings and resolutions. The ranking primarily serves to contextualize the hardware’s overall capability relative to other configurations in the database.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700 is an 8-core, 16-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, codenamed Raphael. It operates with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, with a 65W TDP. The processor features 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 1 MB of L2 cache per core, and a shared 32 MB L3 cache. Its benchmark results include a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 18760 and a single-core score of 1930, while Geekbench returns 15371 multicore and 2525 single-core. PassMark multithread performance is 34470, with single-thread at 4063.

For Dave The Diver, the CPU’s role is primarily to handle game logic, physics, and AI routines. The game is not known for heavy multithreading, so the 8-core/16-thread configuration provides substantial headroom. The single-thread performance is particularly relevant, as many adventure games depend on one or two primary threads for frame pacing. The Ryzen 7 7700’s 3DMark single-thread score of 1049 and 2-thread score of 2043 indicate strong per-core performance, which helps maintain consistent frame times even when the GPU is under load.

The data suggests that the CPU is not a bottleneck at any tested resolution. At 1080p Low, where the GPU workload is lightest, the system reaches 189 FPS, which is likely near the engine’s maximum frame rate limit. The 16 threads allow the game to run background tasks without interfering with the main rendering thread. The processor’s 32 MB of shared L3 cache also helps reduce memory latency, which is beneficial for games that frequently access small data structures. Compared to its nearest rivals, the Ryzen 7 7700 is effectively tied with the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 (0.1% faster) and Intel Core 5 221E (0.2% slower), meaning CPU performance is not a differentiator in this game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured results provide a complete picture of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the system achieves 189 FPS on Low, 158 FPS on Medium (with a minimum of 134 and maximum of 182), 141 FPS on High, and 124 FPS on Ultra. These figures show that even at the highest settings, the frame rate remains well above 120 FPS, making the game exceptionally smooth on 144Hz displays.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but begin to show the GPU’s workload. Low settings yield 142 FPS, Medium produces 119 FPS (minimum 101, maximum 137), High reaches 106 FPS, and Ultra drops to 94 FPS. The minimum frame rate at Medium (101 FPS) indicates that even in demanding scenes, the system stays above the 100 FPS threshold, providing a consistent experience. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 48 FPS, or a 33.8% reduction, which is slightly less than the 34.4% gap seen at 1080p (189 vs 124 FPS).

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear limiting factor. Low settings produce 95 FPS, Medium yields 80 FPS (minimum 68, maximum 92), High drops to 71 FPS, and Ultra falls to 63 FPS. The minimum frame rate at 4K Medium (68 FPS) shows that the system can occasionally dip below the average, but remains above 60 FPS. The Ultra preset’s 63 FPS average is just above the 60 FPS target, making it suitable for users who prioritize visual fidelity over headroom. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 4K is a 33.7% reduction (95 to 63 FPS), consistent with the pattern seen at lower resolutions.

The data reveals that the Medium preset offers the best balance of performance and visual quality across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium provides 158 FPS with a minimum of 134, ensuring smooth gameplay even during intense sequences. At 1440p, Medium’s 119 FPS average with a 101 FPS minimum is ideal for high-refresh monitors. At 4K, Medium’s 80 FPS average and 68 FPS minimum provide a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS threshold, making it the recommended choice for 4K gaming.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B580 is based on the Xe2-HPG architecture, codenamed Battlemage, and is manufactured on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It features 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 80 ROPs, with 20 ray tracing cores. The GPU operates at a base and boost clock of 2670 MHz, with memory clocked at 2375 MHz (19 Gbps effective). It has 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 456.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The card’s compute performance is rated at 13.67 TFLOPS FP32 and 27.34 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1 ratio), with a pixel rate of 213.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 427.2 GTexel/s.

In Dave The Diver, the GPU’s role is to render the game’s 2D/3D hybrid visuals, which include detailed ocean environments, character sprites, and dynamic lighting. The game’s art style is not graphically intensive compared to AAA 3D titles, but the 4K resolution still demands significant pixel throughput. The Arc B580’s 12 GB VRAM is more than sufficient for this game, as even at 4K Ultra, the memory footprint is unlikely to approach the card’s capacity. The 456.0 GB/s memory bandwidth ensures that texture streaming and frame buffer operations do not become bottlenecks.

The GPU’s benchmark results include a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3068, Geekbench OpenCL score of 92821, and Vulkan score of 109672. PassMark G3D score is 15748, with GPU compute at 7729. The GPU’s nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP (0.2% faster), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (0.6% faster), and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (0.7% faster). This places the Arc B580 in a performance tier comparable to older enthusiast cards, which aligns with its measured FPS in Dave The Diver. The GPU’s 68th percentile ranking against all GPUs confirms that it is a mid-range performer, but the game’s modest demands mean it still delivers excellent frame rates.

The consistent FPS drops from 1080p to 4K (e.g., 141 to 71 FPS at High) are directly attributable to the GPU’s fill rate and memory bandwidth. The 4K resolution quadruples the pixel count compared to 1080p, and the Arc B580’s 213.6 GPixel/s pixel rate becomes the limiting factor. The 12 GB VRAM, while generous, is not the constraint; rather, the GPU’s compute units and ROPs determine the final frame rates. The card’s 2670 MHz boost clock provides adequate clock speed, but the architecture’s raw throughput is what sets the ceiling.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the Medium preset offers the best overall experience for this combination. At 1080p, Medium delivers 158 FPS with a minimum of 134, providing a 24 FPS improvement over High (141 FPS) while maintaining visual quality that is indistinguishable from High in most scenes. The 34 FPS gap between Medium and Low (158 vs 189 FPS) is not worth the visual downgrade, as both are well above refresh rate limits.

At 1440p, Medium’s 119 FPS average and 101 FPS minimum make it the clear choice for users with 144Hz monitors. The High preset’s 106 FPS is also acceptable, but the 13 FPS difference (119 vs 106 FPS) favors Medium for maintaining a higher frame rate floor. Ultra at 1440p (94 FPS) is still playable, but the visual gains over Medium are minimal for a 21% performance penalty (94 vs 119 FPS).

For 4K gaming, Medium provides 80 FPS average and 68 FPS minimum, which comfortably exceeds the 60 FPS target. High at 71 FPS is also viable, but the 9 FPS drop (80 vs 71 FPS) makes Medium the safer choice for maintaining consistent frame times, especially during scenes with multiple fish or dynamic effects. Ultra at 63 FPS is borderline; while it stays above 60 FPS on average, the lack of minimum frame data suggests potential dips below that threshold in complex scenes. Users prioritizing visual fidelity on a 60Hz display can enable Ultra, but Medium is recommended for those who want headroom.

The Low preset is generally not recommended, as it provides only marginal performance gains over Medium at the cost of significant visual quality. At 1080p, Low’s 189 FPS is 31 FPS higher than Medium, but this is irrelevant on standard 60Hz or 144Hz displays. The data consistently shows that Medium provides the best balance of frame rate and visual fidelity, making it the optimal setting for this CPU-GPU combination across all tested resolutions.