Dave The Diver

Dave The Diver is not a demanding title by modern standards, but the telemetry for the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 combination reveals a fascinating performance curve that is heavily dictated by resolution and preset. The data shows a system that is essentially overkill for 1080p, capable of pushing frame rates well beyond the refresh rate of most monitors, but which still scales predictably as resolution increases. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS across all settings and resolutions, interpreting what the numbers mean for the underlying hardware bottlenecks.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is the most telling metric for identifying the limiting component in this pairing. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 228 at 1920x1080 to 172 at 2560x1440, and finally to 115 at 3840x2160. This represents a 24.6% performance hit when moving from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 33.1% drop when jumping to 4K. The scaling is not linear; the gap between 1440p and 4K is notably larger than the gap between 1080p and 1440p, which is a classic indicator that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is becoming the primary bottleneck as pixel count rises.

This trend is consistent across all presets. At Low settings, the frame rate drops from 306 FPS at 1080p to 230 at 1440p (a 24.8% reduction) and then to 154 at 4K (a 33.0% reduction). The relative percentage drops are remarkably consistent, which suggests that the game's engine scales its workload predictably with resolution. The absolute numbers are still high, but the pattern is clear: the RTX 3080's 10 GB of GDDR6X memory and its 760.3 GB/s bandwidth are being tasked harder as the resolution increases, while the Ryzen 9 5950X, with its 16 cores and 32 threads, has ample headroom to feed the GPU at every step.

The data indicates that at 1080p, the CPU is likely the limiting factor, or at least shares the load equally. The fact that the 5950X scores 91st percentile among all CPUs and has a single-thread score of 944 in 3dmark indicates it is powerful, but the sheer frame rates at 1080p (306 FPS on Low) are high enough that even a top-tier processor can struggle to keep up with the GPU's request for new frames. As resolution increases to 4K, the GPU's workload expands significantly, and the frame rate becomes almost entirely dependent on the RTX 3080's rasterization power. The data suggests that for a 4K 120Hz display, the High preset (115 FPS) is the practical ceiling for this combo, while for a 1080p 240Hz display, even the Ultra preset (202 FPS) is viable.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average frame rate achievable with this hardware in Dave The Diver?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 306, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low preset. This is followed closely by 256 FPS at the same resolution on Medium settings.

Q: Is the RTX 3080 a bottleneck at 4K resolution?

A: Yes, the data strongly suggests so. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 102, which is a significant reduction from the 202 FPS seen at 1080p Ultra. The scaling pattern, where the performance gap widens between 1440p and 4K, points to the GPU being the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions.

Q: How does the Ryzen 9 5950X's multi-threading capability impact this game?

A: The CPU is not a significant constraint. Its 16 cores and 32 threads give it a massive multi-core advantage, as shown by its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 26017, which places it in the 91st percentile. The frame rates at 1080p, where CPU load is typically highest, are still exceptionally high (over 200 FPS on any preset), indicating the processor handles the game's logic with ease.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset yields an average of 230 FPS, while the Ultra preset yields 152 FPS. This represents a 78 FPS difference (a 33.9% reduction in performance), showing that the Ultra preset places a substantial extra load on the GPU compared to Low.

Q: Does the GPU's VRAM capacity cause any issues in this game?

A: Based on the measured FPS, there are no indications of VRAM-related stuttering or crashes. The RTX 3080 has 10 GB of GDDR6X memory, which appears sufficient for Dave The Diver at all tested settings and resolutions, as the minimum FPS values recorded (e.g., 110 FPS at 4K Medium) remain high and consistent.

Q: Where does this PC combo rank among all tested configurations for this game?

A: The combination ranks 1030 out of 3710 total combos tested for Dave The Diver. This places it in the top 27.8% of all systems, which is a strong result given the game's relatively modest requirements.

Settings Recommendations

For players prioritizing a high refresh rate experience at 1080p, the Ultra preset is the best choice. The data shows an average of 202 FPS, which is well above the 144Hz threshold and only 26 FPS lower than the High preset. The visual fidelity gain from Ultra is worth the minor performance trade-off, as the system is never in danger of dipping below playable frame rates. For 1440p, the High preset is the sweet spot, delivering 172 FPS on average. This is a 20 FPS improvement over Ultra (152 FPS) while still providing excellent visual quality. The Medium preset at 1440p (193 FPS) is an option for those with 240Hz displays, but the visual compromise may not be worth the extra 21 FPS.

At 4K, the choice becomes more critical. The High preset (115 FPS) is the only option that comfortably clears 100 FPS, making it the recommended setting for a 4K 120Hz display. The Ultra preset (102 FPS) is playable but leaves less headroom for demanding scenes, and the Medium preset (129 FPS) offers a better balance between fidelity and speed. The Low preset is not recommended at any resolution above 1080p, as the frame rate gains (e.g., 39 FPS over High at 4K) do not justify the significant graphical downgrade. The data indicates that the High preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance across all three resolutions, with the Medium preset serving as a strong alternative for higher refresh rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system is exceptionally fast. The Low preset delivers an average of 306 FPS, which is the highest score recorded in the entire dataset. Medium follows at 256 FPS, with minimum and maximum values of 218 and 294 respectively, showing a tight frame pacing. High drops to 228 FPS, and Ultra is the slowest at 202 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 104 FPS, a 34% reduction, but even the lowest value is far beyond what most monitors can display. This resolution is clearly CPU-bound, as the 5950X's single-thread performance (1614 in Cinebench R23) is being pushed to its limits to generate these frame rates.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show a clear GPU influence. Low averages 230 FPS, Medium 193 FPS (with a min of 164 and max of 221), High 172 FPS, and Ultra 152 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is 78 FPS, which is proportionally similar to 1080p, but the absolute values are lower. The RTX 3080's 29.77 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is now being more thoroughly utilized, as the pixel count increases by 78% compared to 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is definitively the bottleneck. The Low preset still manages 154 FPS, but Medium drops to 129 FPS (with a min of 110 and max of 148), High to 115 FPS, and Ultra to 102 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is now just 52 FPS, which is smaller in absolute terms than at lower resolutions, but the relative reduction is similar. The 4K results show that the RTX 3080 is capable of maintaining a playable experience at all presets, but the Ultra setting is the only one that dips below 110 FPS on average. The minimum FPS recorded at 4K Medium (110 FPS) is still very smooth, indicating no stuttering issues.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is the workhorse of this system for Dave The Diver. Its performance characteristics directly dictate the frame rates at higher resolutions. The GPU's 8704 shading units and 272 texture mapping units, running at a boost clock of 1710 MHz, provide the raw compute power needed for the game's pixel shading and texture filtering. The 96 ROPs are responsible for the final pixel output, and they are a key factor in why the 4K performance is as strong as it is.

The 10 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 320-bit bus delivers 760.3 GB/s of bandwidth. This is ample for Dave The Diver, as evidenced by the high minimum FPS values (110 FPS at 4K Medium), which suggest no memory bandwidth bottlenecks. The GPU's 68 RT cores and 272 tensor cores are present, but this adventure game likely does not heavily utilize ray tracing or DLSS, making their impact minimal on the measured results. The RTX 3080's Passmark G3D score of 25086 places it in the 68th percentile of all GPUs, and its average benchmark score of 23172 is just 0.3% below the NVIDIA P106-100, showing that it is a well-balanced performer.

The GPU's 29.77 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is the key spec for this title. The scaling from 1080p to 4K shows that the GPU's compute units are being saturated as resolution increases. At 1080p Low (306 FPS), the GPU is likely not fully utilized, and the CPU is the limiting factor. At 4K Ultra (102 FPS), the GPU is working at near maximum capacity, and the frame rate is purely a function of its rasterization speed. The data shows that the RTX 3080 is perfectly matched for this game, offering a high level of performance without any signs of VRAM exhaustion.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X is a formidable partner for the RTX 3080 in this game. Its 16 cores and 32 threads, based on the Zen 3 architecture, provide immense multi-threaded capability, as reflected in its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 26017. This places it in the 91st percentile of all CPUs, and its average benchmark score of 51947 is only 0.2% lower than the Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX, indicating it is a top-tier processor. For Dave The Diver, which is not a heavily threaded title, this raw multi-core power is not fully leveraged, but it ensures that the CPU is never a bottleneck.

The CPU's single-thread performance is more critical for this game. Its 3dmark single-thread score of 944 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1614 show that it has excellent per-core performance. This is evident in the 1080p results, where the frame rates are exceptionally high. The processor's base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 4.90 GHz allow it to react quickly to the game's simulation and draw call logic. The 64 MB of L3 cache is also beneficial, as it helps keep frequently accessed game data close to the cores, reducing latency.

The 5950X's role becomes less prominent as resolution increases. At 4K, the CPU's job is primarily to feed the GPU with data, and its 20 PCIe Gen 4 lanes provide ample bandwidth for the RTX 3080. The CPU's TDP of 105 W is modest for a 16-core part, and its performance in this game shows no signs of thermal throttling affecting frame rates. The data indicates that the 5950X is a future-proof choice that will not hold back the RTX 3080 in this title, even at competitive frame rates. The 3dmark max_threads score of 11597 confirms its strong multi-threading, but it is the single-thread performance that makes it ideal for games like Dave The Diver, ensuring that even at 306 FPS, the CPU keeps up.