Dave The Diver

Dave The Diver presents an interesting case for the Intel Core i3-12100F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER pairing. The data shows a system that is exceptionally well-balanced for this adventure title, delivering high frame rates across all tested configurations. The benchmark results indicate that this combination is capable of pushing well beyond the 60 FPS threshold even at the most demanding settings, with the primary performance ceiling shifting between the CPU and GPU depending on the resolution and preset chosen.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear transition in the system's bottleneck. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the average frame rate reaches 197.9 FPS. When the resolution jumps to 2560x1440, that figure drops to 146.2 FPS, a 26% reduction. Moving further to 3840x2160, the average falls to 99.7 FPS, a 32% drop from the 1440p result. This pattern indicates that at lower resolutions, the frame rate is being limited by the CPU's ability to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic, rather than the graphics card's raw rendering power.

The scaling behavior shifts dramatically when looking at Ultra settings. At 1080p Ultra, the system produces 131.5 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, the average is 95.6 FPS, a 27% decrease. However, the jump to 4K Ultra yields only 67.3 FPS, a 30% reduction from the 1440p figure. The consistent percentage drops across settings suggest that the RTX 2060 SUPER begins to take over as the primary limiting factor as pixel count increases. The data shows that the GPU's workload scales more steeply with resolution than the CPU's, which explains why the frame rate penalty from 1080p to 4K is more pronounced at higher quality presets.

Interestingly, the gap between Low and Ultra settings narrows as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 66.4 FPS. At 4K, that difference shrinks to 32.4 FPS. This compression indicates that the GPU is becoming the bottleneck at 4K, as the additional shading and texture work required by Ultra settings consumes the headroom that was previously available at lower resolutions. The system remains playable at 4K Ultra with 67.3 FPS, but the data clearly shows diminishing returns from pushing higher settings at that resolution.

CPU Role

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. Its base clock of 3.30 GHz can boost up to 4.30 GHz, and the processor carries 12 MB of shared L3 cache. In synthetic benchmarks, the chip scores 893 in 3dMark single-thread and 2859 in 3dMark 4-thread tests. Its Cinebench R23 results show 1681 points in single-core and 11912 points in multi-core, indicating strong per-thread performance that benefits games with lighter threading requirements.

For Dave The Diver, which is an adventure title that typically does not stress many cores, the i3-12100F's architecture proves sufficient. The 4.30 GHz boost clock allows the processor to handle the game's main simulation thread without becoming a bottleneck at higher resolutions. The CPU's percentile ranking of 72 versus all CPUs places it above the median, and its average benchmark score of 13516 puts it nearly on par with the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX, which scores 13534 and trails by just 0.1%. This comparison is notable because the Threadripper is a workstation-class processor, yet the i3-12100F matches its average score in these specific tests.

However, the CPU's limits become apparent at 1080p with Low settings. The 197.9 FPS result appears to be approaching the processor's maximum throughput for this game, as the frame rate does not scale linearly with resolution decreases below this point. The data suggests that the i3-12100F is capable of driving the RTX 2060 SUPER effectively at standard gaming resolutions, but its 4-core, 8-thread configuration may cap performance in scenarios where the game engine requires more parallel processing.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is built on the Turing architecture with the TU106 chip, fabricated on TSMC's 12 nm process. It features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1470 MHz with a boost clock of 1650 MHz, and its memory runs at 1750 MHz or 14 Gbps effective. The card's compute capabilities include 7.181 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, with 2176 shading units and 64 ROPs, making it a solid mid-range offering from the GeForce 20-series.

In Dave The Diver, the GPU's VRAM allocation and bandwidth appear sufficient for all tested configurations. The 8 GB frame buffer handles 4K textures without issue, as evidenced by the playable 67.3 FPS at 4K Ultra. The GPU's benchmark scores place it at the 63rd percentile versus all GPUs, with an average score of 19774. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN, scores 19706 and is just 0.3% behind, while the RTX 2070 trails by 0.5% with a score of 19680. This tight grouping indicates that the RTX 2060 SUPER is positioned at a performance tier where small differences separate adjacent models.

The GPU's role becomes more pronounced at 4K, where the frame rate differences between settings are more compressed. At 4K Low, the system achieves 99.7 FPS, but dropping from High to Ultra at this resolution only costs 6.8 FPS (from 74.1 to 67.3). This suggests that the GPU is doing most of the heavy lifting at 4K, and the CPU has enough headroom to keep up. The 175 W TDP of the RTX 2060 SUPER indicates a power envelope that is appropriate for a dual-slot card with a single 8-pin connector, making it a reasonable fit for the i3-12100F's 58 W TDP in a balanced system.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates across all presets. Low settings produce an average of 197.9 FPS, Medium yields 162.9 FPS, High drops to 143.7 FPS, and Ultra brings the average down to 131.5 FPS. These numbers indicate that even at the most demanding preset, the system has more than double the 60 FPS target, providing a smooth experience for high-refresh-rate monitors.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains strong but shows the expected reduction. Low settings average 146.2 FPS, Medium achieves 122.8 FPS, High produces 110.5 FPS, and Ultra settles at 95.6 FPS. The step from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 26-30% of the frame rate across all settings, which aligns with the increased pixel count of 78% more pixels to render.

At 3840x2160, the system still maintains playable frame rates, though the margin tightens. Low settings yield 99.7 FPS, Medium drops to 81.9 FPS, High produces 74.1 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 67.3 FPS. The data shows that even at 4K Ultra, the frame rate stays above 60 FPS, making this configuration viable for 4K gaming without compromising on visual quality. The system's overall rank in this game is 1146 out of 1626 tested combinations, placing it in the upper 30% of all hardware configurations for Dave The Diver.

FAQ

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K Ultra settings in Dave The Diver?

A: Yes. The measured average FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 67.3 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold. The system provides a comfortable margin even at the most demanding configuration tested.

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

A: The Intel Core i3-12100F has an average benchmark score of 13516. It trails the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX by 0.1% (which scores 13534) but leads the Intel Core i7-1250U by 0.4% (13462), the Intel Core i3-10105 by 0.6% (13430), and the Intel Core i7-7700K by 1.8% (13280).

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, Low settings produce an average of 197.9 FPS, while Ultra settings yield 131.5 FPS. The difference is 66.4 FPS, representing a 34% reduction in performance when moving from the lowest to the highest quality preset.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU the limiting factor at 4K resolution?

A: The data indicates the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck at 3840x2160. The frame rate difference between Low (99.7 FPS) and Ultra (67.3 FPS) at 4K is 32.4 FPS, which is smaller than the 66.4 FPS difference seen at 1080p, suggesting the GPU's rendering workload dominates at higher resolutions.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 SUPER's benchmark score compare to the RTX 2070?

A: The RTX 2060 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 19774, which is 0.5% higher than the RTX 2070's score of 19680. The RTX 2060 SUPER also leads the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN by 0.3% (19706) and the NVIDIA Quadro K5200 by 0.8% (19623).

Q: What are the CPU's single-thread and multi-thread performance metrics?

A: In 3dMark tests, the i3-12100F scores 893 in single-thread and 4051 in 16-thread tests. Its Cinebench R23 results show 1681 points in single-core and 11912 points in multi-core, with a Geekbench single-core score of 2224 and multi-core score of 7413.