Dave The Diver

Dave The Diver is not a typical stress test for a flagship GPU and CPU pairing, but the measured data for the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination reveals distinct performance ceilings. At 1080p, the system is heavily CPU-bound, with frame rates ranging from 298.9 FPS on Ultra to 369.1 FPS on Low. The jump from Low to Medium at 1080p yields a drop to 346 FPS, while High sits at 332.8 FPS. The relatively small spread of roughly 70 FPS across all presets at this resolution indicates that the processor is the limiting factor, as the GPU has ample headroom to render frames well beyond the CPU's ability to feed it.

Resolution Scaling

The scaling behavior from 1080p to 4K shows a clear transition from CPU limitation to GPU workload. At 1080p High, the system produces 332.8 FPS, which drops to 253.3 FPS at 1440p High—a reduction of about 24%. Moving to 4K High, the frame rate falls further to 168.6 FPS, which is roughly 33% lower than the 1440p result. This progression demonstrates that the RTX 4090 is still powerful enough to maintain very high frame rates at 4K, but the performance cost of increasing resolution becomes more pronounced as pixel count grows.

The Low preset tells a similar story with different absolute numbers. At 1080p Low, the system hits 369.1 FPS, which is the highest measured result in the entire dataset. Dropping to 1440p Low reduces this to 335.3 FPS, a modest 9% decrease, suggesting the CPU is still the primary bottleneck at this resolution. However, at 4K Low, the frame rate falls to 230.4 FPS—a 31% drop from 1440p—indicating that the GPU is now taking on a more significant role. The gap between 1080p and 4K Low is approximately 38%, which is substantial but not as severe as the scaling seen in more graphically demanding titles.

For the Medium preset, the trend continues: 346 FPS at 1080p, 287.9 FPS at 1440p, and 193.8 FPS at 4K. The 1080p-to-1440p drop is 17%, while the 1440p-to-4K drop is 33%. This suggests that even at Medium settings, the GPU begins to matter more as resolution climbs. The Ultra preset shows the lowest frame rates overall, with 298.9 FPS at 1080p, 226.2 FPS at 1440p, and 151.3 FPS at 4K. The scaling from 1440p to 4K Ultra is 33%, consistent with the other presets, but the absolute numbers indicate that Ultra is the most demanding configuration.

The data highlights that this combination is capable of exceeding 150 FPS at 4K even on the highest preset. The limiting component shifts from the CPU at 1080p to the GPU at 4K, but neither component ever becomes a weak link in a way that would compromise playability. The RTX 4090's 24 GB of GDDR6X memory and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth ensure that texture-heavy scenarios at 4K do not cause memory-related stutters, while the Ryzen 9 5950X's 16 cores and 32 threads provide ample processing power for the game's simulation and AI logic.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide a clear picture of what each preset offers in terms of performance. For players targeting the highest possible frame rates, the Low preset at 1080p delivers 369.1 FPS, which is the maximum observed across all configurations. However, this setting likely sacrifices visual fidelity that the hardware can easily afford. At 1440p Low, the system still produces 335.3 FPS, making it a strong choice for competitive play or high-refresh-rate monitors.

The Medium preset represents the best balance of performance and visual quality for most users. At 4K Medium, the system achieves 193.8 FPS, which is well above the 144 Hz threshold common on high-end displays. At 1440p Medium, the frame rate rises to 287.9 FPS, offering a comfortable margin for even the fastest gaming panels. The jump from Medium to High at 4K costs about 25 FPS, bringing the average down to 168.6 FPS, which is still exceptionally smooth but begins to approach the limits of 144 Hz displays. For 60 Hz 4K televisions, the High preset is more than sufficient, and the Ultra preset at 151.3 FPS still exceeds that target by a wide margin.

Given the data, the recommended preset depends on the display's refresh rate. For 4K 144 Hz monitors, Medium is the optimal choice, as it delivers 193.8 FPS with headroom to spare. For 4K 60 Hz displays, Ultra at 151.3 FPS provides the best visual quality without any risk of dropping below the refresh rate. At 1440p, the Ultra preset at 226.2 FPS is the recommended setting for high-refresh-rate gaming, as it offers the best image quality while still maintaining frame rates well above 200 FPS. The Low preset is only advisable for extreme frame rate chasing, where the 369.1 FPS at 1080p or 335.3 FPS at 1440p could be useful for benchmarking or esports scenarios where every millisecond matters.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate recorded for this combination?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 369.1, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low preset.

Q: How does the 4K Ultra performance compare to 1080p Ultra?

A: At 4K Ultra, the system produces 151.3 FPS, while 1080p Ultra reaches 298.9 FPS. The 4K result is roughly 49% lower, indicating a significant GPU workload increase.

Q: Is the Ryzen 9 5950X a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: Yes, the data indicates CPU limitation at 1080p. The frame rate difference between Low (369.1 FPS) and Ultra (298.9 FPS) at 1080p is only about 19%, suggesting the GPU is not fully utilized even on the lowest preset.

Q: What frame rate can be expected at 1440p with High settings?

A: The measured average FPS for 1440p High is 253.3, which provides a smooth experience for most high-refresh-rate monitors.

Q: Does the RTX 4090's 24 GB VRAM cause any performance issues in this game?

A: No. The benchmarks show no signs of VRAM-related performance degradation, and the 1.01 TB/s memory bandwidth is more than adequate for the game's requirements.

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

A: The combination ranks 47th out of 1626 tested combos for Dave The Diver, placing it in the top 3% of all tested configurations.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 pairing achieves a rank of 47 out of 1626 tested combos in Dave The Diver. This places the system in the top tier of all measured configurations, with only 46 setups delivering higher average frame rates across the tested resolutions. The rank is particularly impressive given the game's modest graphical demands, which means many lower-end GPUs can also achieve high frame rates. The top 3% placement confirms that this combination is among the fastest available, even if the absolute performance is not the highest recorded.

The CPU's percentile of 93 versus all processors indicates that the Ryzen 9 5950X outperforms 93% of all CPUs in aggregate benchmarks. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-14600K, has an average score of 49166, which is 0.2% higher than the Ryzen's 49062. This negligible difference means the two processors are effectively tied in synthetic benchmarks. The Ryzen 9 5950X's 16 cores and 32 threads provide substantial multi-threaded performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 38607, while its single-core performance remains competitive with a Geekbench single-core score of 2211.

The GPU's percentile of 91 places it above 91% of all GPUs, though its nearest rivals in the database are not gaming-focused cards. The NVIDIA Tesla T4, for example, has an average score of 66733, which is 0.4% higher than the RTX 4090's 66473. This is largely due to the Tesla's compute-oriented architecture, which does not reflect real-world gaming performance. In Dave The Diver, the RTX 4090's actual measured FPS shows no sign of being limited by the GPU at any resolution, with even 4K Ultra producing 151.3 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 plays a dominant role in ensuring high frame rates at 4K resolution. With a boost clock of 2520 MHz and a base clock of 2235 MHz, the GPU maintains consistent performance across all settings. The 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s, which is more than sufficient for the game's texture data and shader workloads. The measured FPS data shows that the GPU is not a bottleneck until the resolution reaches 4K, where the pixel throughput demands begin to scale significantly.

The RTX 4090's 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 1,290.2 GTexel/s texture rate are far beyond what Dave The Diver requires. This is reflected in the benchmark results, where even at 4K Ultra, the system maintains an average of 151.3 FPS. The GPU's 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores are not heavily utilized in this game, as it does not rely on ray tracing or DLSS-based upscaling. The primary contribution of the RTX 4090 is its raw rasterization power, which allows the system to maintain high frame rates even at demanding resolutions.

The GPU's memory configuration is a key factor in its performance. The 24 GB capacity ensures that no VRAM overflow occurs at any resolution or preset, while the 1.01 TB/s bandwidth allows for rapid texture streaming and shader execution. The measured frame rates at 4K High (168.6 FPS) and 4K Medium (193.8 FPS) demonstrate that the GPU has enough headroom to handle the game's visual load without compromising on smoothness. At 1080p, the GPU is effectively idle compared to its potential, as the CPU becomes the limiting factor. This is evident in the relatively small frame rate differences between presets at 1080p, which range from 298.9 FPS on Ultra to 369.1 FPS on Low.