Dave The Diver

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i3-12100F is a 4-core, 8-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, with a 58 W TDP. Its cache configuration includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and a shared 12 MB L3 cache. The processor supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory across a dual-channel bus, and it connects via PCIe Gen 5 with 16 lanes. The chip is part of the Core 12th Gen series, uses the Intel Socket 1700, and has a launch MSRP of $97.

Benchmark data places this CPU at the 68th percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 13,494. In synthetic tests, the processor demonstrates strong scaling from 2 to 4 threads: a 3DMark 2-thread score of 1,659 jumps to 2,859 at 4 threads, reaching 4,026 at 8 threads and 4,023 at max threads. The single-thread 3DMark score is 893. Cinebench results reinforce this pattern, with R23 multicore at 11,860 and single-core at 1,674, while R20 shows 4,981 multicore and 703 single-core. Geekbench scores are 7,252 multicore and 1,932 single-core. PassMark results include a multithread score of 14,015 and single-thread of 3,444, with floating point math at 31,977 and integer math at 40,978.

The nearest rivals by average benchmark score are the Intel Core 3 N355 at 13,492 (0% delta), the Intel Core i5-9500 at 13,452 (0.3% ahead), the Intel Core 5 120UL at 13,594 (0.7% behind), and the Intel Core i7-1250U at 13,351 (1.1% ahead). The i3-12100F sits effectively at parity with these chips, with a spread of just over 1% between the slowest and fastest in this group.

For Dave The Diver, the CPU's role is primarily about maintaining frame pacing across the game's simulation and AI workloads. The game is not heavily multithreaded, so the 4-core/8-thread configuration is adequate; the strong single-thread performance visible in the 893 3DMark single-thread score and the 1,674 Cinebench R23 single-core result suggests the processor can handle the game's logic without becoming a bottleneck. However, the CPU's modest absolute performance means that at lower resolutions and settings, where the GPU is less stressed, the processor's capabilities set an effective ceiling. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo reaches 215 FPS, which likely approaches the practical limit of this CPU-GPU pairing for sustained frame delivery. The processor's 68th percentile standing indicates it is a mid-pack performer, not a top-tier part, but for a game of Dave The Diver's scope, that is sufficient to keep frame rates well above display refresh rates at most settings.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture using the Navi 44 chip, fabricated on TSMC's 4 nm process. It packs 29,700 million transistors on a 199 mm² die, with a transistor density of 149.2 million per mm². The GPU features 1,792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, 64 raster operations pipelines, and 28 ray tracing cores. Clock speeds are specified at a base of 1700 MHz, a game clock of 2400 MHz, and a boost clock of 2990 MHz. Memory consists of 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, running at 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective), yielding a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. The card's compute capabilities are rated at 21.43 TFLOPS for both FP32 and FP16, with pixel rate of 191.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 334.9 GTexel/s. The GPU has a TDP of 132 W, uses a single 8-pin power connector, and occupies a dual-slot design with a suggested PSU of 300 W. It connects via PCIe 5.0 x16 and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

The GPU's benchmark profile shows a 59th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average score of 16,014. In synthetic tests, it achieves a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3,322, a Geekbench OpenCL score of 88,183, and a Geekbench Vulkan score of 39,476. PassMark results include a G3D score of 17,631, a G2D score of 1,002, and a GPU compute score of 9,919. The nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti at 16,129 (0.7% ahead), the AMD Radeon R9 370X at 15,862 (1% behind), the AMD Radeon RX 7700 at 15,852 (1% behind), and the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 at 15,679 (2.1% behind). The RX 9060 sits within 2% of this group, making it a solid mid-range performer that trades blows with the RTX 3060 Ti.

For Dave The Diver, the GPU's role is central to the measured frame rates. The game is visually rich but not graphically demanding in the way a AAA shooter is, so the RX 9060's 8 GB VRAM and 288 GB/s bandwidth are more than adequate for the game's texture and shader workloads. The 2990 MHz boost clock ensures the GPU can sustain high throughput in scenes with many on-screen elements, such as underwater environments with dynamic lighting and particle effects. The GPU's 59th percentile ranking suggests it is a capable mid-range card, and the measured results confirm that it can push high frame rates even at 4K. The data shows the GPU is the primary scaling factor as resolution increases, with frame rates dropping consistently from 1080p to 4K across all settings, indicating that the card's fill rate and memory bandwidth are the limiting components at higher resolutions.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured frame rates across resolutions reveal a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling. At High settings, the average FPS moves from 160 at 1080p to 121 at 1440p, then to 81 at 4K. This represents a 24% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a 33% drop from 1440p to 4K, for an overall 49% reduction from 1080p to 4K. The Low settings show a steeper relative decline: 215 FPS at 1080p, 162 at 1440p, and 108 at 4K. That is a 25% drop to 1440p and a 33% drop to 4K, totaling a 50% reduction. Medium settings follow a similar trajectory: 180 FPS at 1080p, 135 at 1440p, and 91 at 4K, with drops of 25% and 33%, respectively. Ultra settings show 142 FPS at 1080p, 107 at 1440p, and 71 at 4K, with a 25% drop to 1440p and a 34% drop to 4K.

The consistent percentage drops across all settings — roughly 25% from 1080p to 1440p and 33% from 1440p to 4K — indicate that the GPU is the primary limiting component at higher resolutions. The CPU's performance is adequate to feed the GPU at 1080p, where frame rates are highest, but as the resolution climbs, the GPU's pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth become the bottleneck. The fact that the drops are nearly identical across Low, Medium, High, and Ultra settings is telling: even at Low settings, where the GPU has less work per pixel, the scaling pattern remains unchanged. This suggests that the game's rendering pipeline is heavily dependent on resolution-dependent operations, and the RX 9060's 128-bit memory bus and 8 GB VRAM are the constraining factors.

At 4K, the frame rates range from 71 FPS on Ultra to 108 FPS on Low. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 37 FPS, or about 52% higher performance on Low. At 1080p, the gap between Low (215 FPS) and Ultra (142 FPS) is 73 FPS, or about 51% higher performance on Low. The relative performance gap between settings remains consistent across resolutions, further confirming that the GPU is the limiting factor at all resolutions — the CPU is not introducing a variable bottleneck that changes with resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The measured data provides a complete matrix of average frame rates for this CPU-GPU combination across three resolutions and four settings levels. All numbers below are the average FPS from the measured data.

1080p (1920x1080):

• Low: 215 FPS
• Medium: 180 FPS (min 153, max 207)
• High: 160 FPS
• Ultra: 142 FPS

1440p (2560x1440):

• Low: 162 FPS
• Medium: 135 FPS (min 115, max 156)
• High: 121 FPS
• Ultra: 107 FPS

4K (3840x2160):

• Low: 108 FPS
• Medium: 91 FPS (min 77, max 104)
• High: 81 FPS
• Ultra: 71 FPS

The Medium settings rows are the only ones that include minimum and maximum frame rates, providing additional insight into frame pacing. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 153 FPS and the maximum is 207 FPS, a spread of 54 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the range narrows to 115-156 FPS, a spread of 41 FPS. At 4K Medium, the range is 77-104 FPS, a spread of 27 FPS. The absolute spread narrows as resolution increases, but the relative spread (max/min) is 1.35 at 1080p, 1.36 at 1440p, and 1.35 at 4K — nearly identical. This consistency suggests that frame pacing is stable across resolutions, with the GPU delivering a predictable range of performance relative to its average.

The step from Low to Medium costs roughly 16-17% of performance at each resolution: at 1080p, 215 to 180 FPS is a 16% drop; at 1440p, 162 to 135 FPS is a 17% drop; at 4K, 108 to 91 FPS is a 16% drop. Moving from Medium to High costs about 11-13%: 180 to 160 FPS is an 11% drop at 1080p, 135 to 121 FPS is a 10% drop at 1440p, and 91 to 81 FPS is an 11% drop at 4K. The step from High to Ultra costs 11-13% as well: 160 to 142 FPS is an 11% drop at 1080p, 121 to 107 FPS is a 12% drop at 1440p, and 81 to 71 FPS is a 12% drop at 4K. These consistent incremental costs mean that each settings tier provides a predictable trade-off between visual quality and frame rate.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate this combo can achieve in Dave The Diver?

A: The highest measured average is 215 FPS at 1080p with Low settings. At 4K, the highest average is 108 FPS, also on Low settings.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in benchmark performance?

A: The Intel Core i3-12100F has an average benchmark score of 13,494, which is essentially identical to the Intel Core 3 N355 at 13,492 (0% delta). It is 0.3% behind the Intel Core i5-9500 (13,452), 0.7% ahead of the Intel Core 5 120UL (13,594), and 1.1% ahead of the Intel Core i7-1250U (13,351).

Q: Is the GPU able to maintain 60 FPS at 4K in this game?

A: Yes. The lowest measured 4K average is 71 FPS on Ultra settings, which is above 60 FPS. All other 4K settings (High at 81 FPS, Medium at 91 FPS, Low at 108 FPS) are also above 60 FPS.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at each resolution?

A: At 1080p, the difference is 73 FPS (215 vs 142). At 1440p, the difference is 55 FPS (162 vs 107). At 4K, the difference is 37 FPS (108 vs 71).

Q: How does the GPU's benchmark score compare to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 9060 has an average benchmark score of 16,014, which is 0.7% behind the RTX 3060 Ti's score of 16,129. The RX 9060 is 1% ahead of both the AMD Radeon R9 370X (15,862) and the AMD Radeon RX 7700 (15,852).

Q: What are the minimum and maximum frame rates recorded at Medium settings?

A: At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 153 FPS and the maximum is 207 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the minimum is 115 FPS and the maximum is 156 FPS. At 4K Medium, the minimum is 77 FPS and the maximum is 104 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear picture of the performance trade-offs at each settings tier, allowing for a recommendation based on the frame rate targets and the resolution being used.

For 1080p gaming, every settings tier exceeds 140 FPS on average. The Ultra preset delivers 142 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold and even above 120 FPS, making it suitable for high-refresh-rate displays. The data shows that the step from High to Ultra costs just 18 FPS (160 to 142), which is an 11% reduction for the highest visual quality. Given that even Ultra maintains 142 FPS, there is no practical reason to drop below High settings at 1080p unless a user prioritizes maximum frame rates above 160 FPS. The Medium preset at 180 FPS and Low at 215 FPS offer diminishing returns for most displays, which typically max out at 144 Hz or 165 Hz. Therefore, Ultra is the recommended preset at 1080p, as it provides the best visual experience while still comfortably exceeding 120 FPS.

For 1440p, the situation is similar but with a slightly lower ceiling. The Ultra preset delivers 107 FPS, which is above 60 FPS and close to 120 FPS. The High preset at 121 FPS provides a 13% performance uplift over Ultra while sacrificing some visual fidelity. For users with 144 Hz displays, High is the better choice, as it stays above the 120 FPS mark. For those with 60 Hz or 120 Hz displays, Ultra at 107 FPS is perfectly playable and offers the full visual experience. The Medium preset at 135 FPS is a middle ground that balances visual quality and frame rate, but the data shows that the jump from Medium to High only costs 14 FPS (135 to 121), making High a more attractive option than Medium for the small performance penalty. The Low preset at 162 FPS is only recommended for competitive play where maximum frame rate is paramount, but the game's genre does not demand such responsiveness. The recommended preset at 1440p is High, which hits 121 FPS and provides a strong balance of quality and speed.

For 4K gaming, the frame rates are lower but still playable across all settings. The Ultra preset delivers 71 FPS, which is above 60 FPS and suitable for smooth gameplay on a standard 60 Hz display. The High preset at 81 FPS offers a 14% performance boost over Ultra, which is a meaningful improvement for those seeking a higher frame rate. The Medium preset at 91 FPS is the sweet spot for 4K, as it provides a 28% improvement over Ultra while still maintaining high visual quality. The Low preset at 108 FPS is the fastest option, but the visual downgrade may be noticeable on a 4K display where pixel density is high. For users with 60 Hz 4K displays, Ultra at 71 FPS is acceptable, but Medium at 91 FPS provides headroom that ensures frame rate dips (as seen in the minimum of 77 FPS at Medium) stay well above 60 FPS. The recommended preset at 4K is Medium, which balances the 91 FPS average with a minimum of 77 FPS, ensuring a consistent experience without dropping below the 60 FPS threshold.

The overall recommendation across all resolutions is to prioritize High settings at 1080p and 1440p, and Medium at 4K. The data shows that High at 1440p (121 FPS) and Medium at 4K (91 FPS) both provide frame rates that are well above playable thresholds while maintaining visual fidelity. The Ultra preset is viable at 1080p and 1440p, but the performance cost of 11-12% over High is not justified when the frame rate at High is already above 120 FPS. At 4K, Ultra's 71 FPS is playable, but the Medium preset's 91 FPS with a 77 FPS minimum offers a more robust experience that avoids any risk of dropping below 60 FPS during demanding scenes.