Dave The Diver

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 combination delivers smooth, playable performance in Dave The Diver, even at 4K, with the data showing that this pairing ranks in the 43rd percentile of all tested configurations. The system’s performance is consistent across resolutions, with the biggest takeaway being that the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck as resolution increases, though the CPU’s strong single-threaded capabilities ensure high frame rates at lower settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings is 155.6, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold and indicates a very fluid experience for this adventure title.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its closest rival?

A: The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X has an average benchmark score of 54450, which is 0.7% higher than the Intel Core i7-14700F’s score of 54097, and 0.4% lower than the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D’s score of 54681.

Q: What is the GPU’s memory configuration?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 272.0 GB/s.

Q: Does the game run better at 1440p High or 4K Medium?

A: The data shows 1440p High delivers an average of 132.6 FPS, while 4K Medium yields 99.8 FPS. The 1440p High setting provides a significantly higher frame rate, though both are playable.

Q: What is the CPU’s boost clock speed?

A: The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X has a boost clock of 5.60 GHz and a base clock of 4.40 GHz, with 12 cores and 24 threads.

Q: How does the GPU rank against all other GPUs?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 holds a percentile rank of 66, meaning it performs better than 66% of all GPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 23181.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture, codenamed Granite Ridge, with a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. Its high boost clock is critical for Dave The Diver, an adventure game where single-threaded performance often dictates the ceiling for frame rates in less demanding scenes. The CPU’s strong single-thread score of 1286 in 3DMark and 6555 in Cinebench R23 suggests that it can feed the GPU efficiently at high frame rates, preventing the processor from becoming a limiting factor at lower resolutions.

The 9900X’s 64 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support with a bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s further contribute to its responsiveness. In the context of this game, the benchmark results indicate that the CPU is more than capable of handling the simulation and logic tasks, as evidenced by the high frame rates at 1080p. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system achieves 229.2 FPS, which is a significant jump from the 175.9 FPS at High settings. This 30% increase in performance when lowering settings from High to Low at 1080p suggests that while the CPU is strong, the GPU still has a role to play in determining final output even at lower resolutions.

The processor’s performance metrics place it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs, with its nearest rivals being the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D, which scores 54681 (a 0.4% difference), and the Intel Core i7-14700F, which scores 54097 (a 0.7% difference). These close margins indicate that the 9900X is positioned at the top of the performance hierarchy, ensuring that the CPU is not the weak link in this pairing for Dave The Diver.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, the data strongly suggests using the High preset at 1440p. This setting yields an average of 132.6 FPS, which is more than sufficient for smooth gameplay. Pushing up to Ultra at 1440p drops the average to 115.4 FPS, a 13% reduction, while the visual gains in an adventure game may not justify the performance cost.

At 4K, the Medium preset provides the most sensible experience, delivering an average of 99.8 FPS. The High preset at 4K manages 89.8 FPS, while Ultra drops to 74.6 FPS. The 25% difference between Medium and Ultra at 4K (99.8 vs. 74.6) is substantial, and the Medium preset offers a better frame rate headroom for consistent gameplay. The Low preset is not recommended for this title, as even at 4K it achieves 116.3 FPS, but the graphical compromises are likely to detract from the game’s detailed underwater environments.

For users with high refresh rate monitors at 1080p, the High preset at 175.9 FPS is the optimal choice, as it provides a significant improvement over Medium (192.1 FPS) in visual quality with only a 9% frame rate penalty. The Ultra preset at 1080p, while still playable at 155.6 FPS, offers diminishing returns over High.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 ranks 922nd out of 1626 tested combos in Dave The Diver. This places the system in the lower-middle portion of the database, which is surprising given the high frame rates measured. The rank is likely influenced by the fact that many other tested combos may include higher-end GPUs that achieve even higher average FPS, especially at 4K where the RTX 4060’s 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit bus become a factor.

Despite the modest rank, the actual performance data is strong. The system achieves over 100 FPS at 1440p High and over 74 FPS at 4K Ultra, which are excellent results for a mainstream GPU. The rank of 922 suggests that while this combo is not at the top of the charts, it is far from the bottom, and the measured FPS indicates a capable gaming system for this specific title. The GPU’s percentile rank of 66 and the CPU’s percentile rank of 94 show that the processor is significantly stronger than the graphics card, which is a key dynamic in understanding the system’s overall performance.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is based on the Ada Lovelace architecture with the AD107 chip, manufactured on a 5 nm process by TSMC. It features 3072 shading units, 96 TMUs, and 48 ROPs, with a boost clock of 2460 MHz. The GPU’s 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 272.0 GB/s, which is a limiting factor at higher resolutions.

In Dave The Diver, the GPU’s role becomes more pronounced as the resolution increases. At 1080p, the frame rates are exceptionally high, with Low settings hitting 229.2 FPS and High settings at 175.9 FPS. However, the scaling to 4K shows a more significant impact: the High setting drops to 89.8 FPS, a 49% reduction from the 1080p High figure. This drop is characteristic of a GPU that is starting to hit its memory bandwidth and compute limits. The 8 GB VRAM is sufficient for this game, but the 128-bit bus restricts the data throughput needed for 4K textures.

The GPU’s average benchmark score of 23181 places it in the 66th percentile, with its nearest rival being the AMD Radeon RX 6600M, which scores 23321 (a 0.6% difference). The RTX 4060’s FP32 performance of 15.11 TFLOPS and texture rate of 236.2 GTexel/s are adequate for the game’s visual demands, but the data shows that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K, as the CPU is more than capable of delivering higher frame rates if the GPU could keep up.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of the system’s capabilities across three resolutions and four settings presets.

At 1920x1080, the frame rates are consistently high. The Low preset leads with an average of 229.2 FPS, followed by Medium at 192.1 FPS, High at 175.9 FPS, and Ultra at 155.6 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 73.6 FPS, representing a 32% performance drop for the highest visual quality.

At 2560x1440, the performance scales down predictably. The Low preset averages 172.6 FPS, Medium 143.7 FPS, High 132.6 FPS, and Ultra 115.4 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 57.2 FPS (a 33% drop), showing that the GPU is becoming more stressed but still delivering playable results.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates drop more steeply. The Low preset hits 116.3 FPS, Medium 99.8 FPS, High 89.8 FPS, and Ultra 74.6 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 41.7 FPS (a 36% drop). Even at 4K Ultra, the system maintains an average above 60 FPS, ensuring a smooth experience for most users.

Resolution Scaling

The scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear trend: the GPU is the limiting component at higher resolutions. Looking at the High preset, the transition from 1080p (175.9 FPS) to 1440p (132.6 FPS) results in a 24.6% performance drop, while the move from 1440p to 4K (89.8 FPS) incurs a further 32.3% drop. From 1080p to 4K, the total reduction is 48.9%, meaning the system loses nearly half its frame rate when quadrupling the pixel count.

This scaling pattern is steeper than what would be expected if the CPU were the bottleneck. If the CPU were the limiting factor, the frame rates would show a more gradual decline as resolution increases, because the CPU’s workload remains constant. Instead, the significant drops indicate that the RTX 4060’s 272.0 GB/s memory bandwidth is being saturated at 4K. The 8 GB VRAM is not a capacity issue in this case, but the 128-bit bus restricts data flow.

At the Low preset, the scaling is slightly less severe: from 1080p (229.2 FPS) to 4K (116.3 FPS) is a 49.3% drop. This suggests that even with reduced graphical load, the GPU’s architectural limits are the primary constraint at 4K. The CPU’s high single-thread performance (1286 in 3DMark) ensures that it can maintain high frame rates, but the GPU cannot translate that into 4K performance. The data clearly shows that for this combo, 1440p is the sweet spot where the CPU and GPU are balanced, while 4K performance is heavily dependent on the GPU’s capabilities.