Dave The Diver

# Dave The Diver — Intel Core i3-12100F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070

The measured frame rates for this combination place it at rank 365 out of 1,626 tested combos in Dave The Diver, a strong showing that reflects a balanced pairing of a 4-core CPU and a 12 GB GPU. The data reveals a system that delivers playable performance across all resolutions, with the RTX 4070 clearly dominating the workload at lower settings while the CPU's 4-core architecture begins to emerge as a factor at 1080p. This analysis examines the measured FPS rows to understand where the bottlenecks lie and what settings yield the best experience.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound progression, but with notable nuances. At Ultra settings, the average FPS falls from 212.1 at 1080p to 160.2 at 1440p (a 24.5% reduction), then to 104.7 at 4K (a 34.7% further drop). This steep 4K decline indicates the RTX 4070's 12 GB frame buffer and 192-bit memory bus are being pushed hard, though the absolute numbers remain high — even 4K Ultra stays above 100 FPS.

At Low settings, the scaling pattern shifts dramatically. The 1080p result of 321.3 FPS drops to 241.9 at 1440p (24.7% lower) and then to 159.7 at 4K (34.0% lower). The consistency of these percentage drops across settings suggests the GPU is the primary limiter at every resolution, but the gap between Low and Ultra at 4K (159.7 vs 104.7 FPS) is narrower than at 1080p (321.3 vs 212.1 FPS). This compression at higher resolutions indicates the rendering workload becomes more uniform, with pixel fill rate dominating over other factors.

The 4K-to-1080p ratio at High settings is 121.2 / 238.8, meaning 4K runs at about half the frame rate of 1080p. This is a typical pattern for a GPU with 504.2 GB/s of memory bandwidth — the data shows the RTX 4070's bandwidth is sufficient to avoid severe collapses, but the 4K Ultra result of 104.7 FPS suggests the 12 GB VRAM is nearing its effective limit for this game's highest settings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070, built on the 5 nm Ada Lovelace architecture with 35,800 million transistors, delivers a passmark G3D score of 26,927, placing it in the 81st percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56, scores 37,507 with a deltaPct of -0.6%, meaning the RTX 4070 trails by less than one percent in synthetic benchmarks — yet the measured game performance tells a different story.

The GPU's boost clock of 2475 MHz, combined with 5,888 shading units and 64 ROPs, provides the raw throughput needed for the 158.4 GPixel/s pixel rate. In Dave The Diver, the 12 GB GDDR6X memory at 21 Gbps effective with 192-bit bus width yields 504.2 GB/s bandwidth. This is sufficient for 4K Ultra (104.7 FPS) but the data shows diminishing returns: going from Medium to Ultra at 4K costs 30.6 FPS (135.3 to 104.7), while the same settings change at 1080p costs 54.6 FPS (266.7 to 212.1). The GPU's memory subsystem handles the higher resolution more gracefully, but the compute units become the limiting factor at lower resolutions.

The 29.15 TFLOPS FP32 performance is ample for this adventure title, but the measured results suggest the game is not heavily reliant on ray tracing or tensor core features (46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores are present but underutilized). The GPU's directX 12 Ultimate support and Vulkan 1.4 API readiness are evident in the smooth frametimes, though no min FPS data is provided to confirm consistency.

FAQ

Q: Is the RTX 4070 overkill for 1080p in Dave The Diver?

A: The data shows 1080p Ultra runs at 212.1 FPS, which is far beyond the refresh rate of most monitors. At Low settings, the 321.3 FPS result indicates the CPU (4 cores, 8 threads, 3.30 GHz base) is likely the limiting factor, as the GPU has ample headroom.

Q: What is the best resolution to play at with this combo?

A: 1440p High (181.9 FPS) offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance. It is 50% faster than 4K High (121.2 FPS) while still exceeding 144 Hz, and it only costs 23.7% performance compared to 1080p High (238.8 FPS).

Q: How does the RTX 4070 compare to its closest rival in this game?

A: While the RX Vega 56 has a slightly higher passmark score (37,507 vs 37,283), the measured FPS data here shows the RTX 4070 achieves 104.7 FPS at 4K Ultra. The deltaPct of -0.6% in synthetic benchmarks does not reflect the actual game performance, where the 12 GB VRAM provides a clear advantage.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at any resolution?

A: At 1080p Low, the 321.3 FPS result likely approaches the CPU's limit given its 4-core design and 12 MB L3 cache. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 11,912 and single-core score of 1,681 suggest the CPU can sustain high frame rates, but the 1080p-to-1440p scaling (321.3 to 241.9 FPS) shows the GPU taking over as the primary constraint.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings?

A: At 1080p, Ultra (212.1 FPS) is 34.0% slower than Low (321.3 FPS). This gap narrows to 34.5% at 1440p (160.2 vs 241.9) and 34.5% at 4K (104.7 vs 159.7). The consistent percentage difference across resolutions indicates settings primarily impact GPU load, not CPU overhead.

Q: Is this combo future-proof for Dave The Diver updates?

A: The 104.7 FPS at 4K Ultra leaves a 4.7% margin above the 100 FPS threshold, suggesting any future graphical enhancements could push 4K below playable levels. However, the 1440p result of 160.2 FPS provides significant headroom for additional content.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data strongly favors Medium settings at 4K for the best experience. The 135.3 FPS at 4K Medium is 29.2% faster than 4K Ultra (104.7 FPS) while the visual quality difference between Medium and Ultra is typically less pronounced in this adventure genre. At 1440p, High (181.9 FPS) is the sweet spot, offering 13.5% more performance than Medium (200.4 FPS) while maintaining visual fidelity that exceeds the resolution's capabilities.

At 1080p, the data reveals diminishing returns from settings adjustments. The 238.8 FPS at High is already sufficient for any high-refresh display, and the jump to Medium (266.7 FPS) only adds 11.7% performance. The Ultra preset at 1080p (212.1 FPS) is still above 200 FPS, making it viable for competitive play if the game required it. However, the 321.3 FPS at Low indicates the CPU is the bottleneck, so players seeking maximum frame rates should consider whether the 4-core i3-12100F can sustain such high output in more demanding scenes.

For 4K users, avoiding Ultra is advisable: the 30.6 FPS penalty from Medium to Ultra (135.3 to 104.7) is not justified by the visual improvements in a game with this art style. The combination of Medium at 4K or High at 1440p provides the best measured balance of frame rate and quality.

How This Combo Ranks

This configuration ranks 365 out of 1,626 tested combos in Dave The Diver, placing it in the top 22.4% of all pairings. This is an impressive result given the CPU's modest specifications — the i3-12100F sits at the 72nd percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 13,516, while the GPU ranks in the 81st percentile with a score of 37,283.

The ranking suggests the RTX 4070 compensates for the CPU's limitations in this game. The CPU's nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX, scores 13,534 with a deltaPct of -0.1%, meaning the i3-12100F is statistically identical in synthetic tests. Yet the 4-core CPU's real-world performance in this game is sufficient to rank in the top quarter, indicating Dave The Diver is not heavily multi-threaded. The 8-thread design and 12 MB L3 cache handle the game's logic adequately, while the GPU does the heavy lifting for rendering.

The 1626 total combos include many with higher-end CPUs, so the 365th rank demonstrates that pairing a mid-range CPU with a high-end GPU can yield competitive results in this title. The gap to the top is more likely due to GPU limitations at 4K Ultra rather than CPU constraints, as evidenced by the 104.7 FPS result.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full settings range delivers: Low 321.3 FPS, Medium 266.7 FPS, High 238.8 FPS, and Ultra 212.1 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 109.2 FPS, with each settings tier costing approximately 30-50 FPS. The Medium-to-High step (266.7 to 238.8) is the smallest at 27.9 FPS, suggesting diminishing visual returns beyond Medium.

At 2560x1440, the results are: Low 241.9 FPS, Medium 200.4 FPS, High 181.9 FPS, and Ultra 160.2 FPS. The total spread narrows to 81.7 FPS, and the ratio between 1080p and 1440p ranges from 0.75 (Low: 241.9/321.3) to 0.76 (Ultra: 160.2/212.1). This consistent scaling factor indicates the GPU's memory bandwidth (504.2 GB/s) is the primary constraint at both resolutions.

At 3840x2160, the measured values are: Low 159.7 FPS, Medium 135.3 FPS, High 121.2 FPS, and Ultra 104.7 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra gap compresses to 55.0 FPS, and the 4K-to-1440p ratio ranges from 0.66 (Low: 159.7/241.9) to 0.65 (Ultra: 104.7/160.2). The tighter clustering at 4K suggests the GPU's 12 GB frame buffer is being fully utilized, with the 192-bit bus limiting the maximum achievable performance.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F is a 4-core, 8-thread processor based on Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and boost clock of 4.30 GHz. Its 12 MB shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache provide 80 KB L1 per core, which is modest by modern standards. The CPU's passmark multithread score of 14,015 and single-thread score of 3,444 place it at the 72nd percentile, with the Cinebench R23 multicore score of 11,912 confirming its mid-range positioning.

In Dave The Diver, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU, but the 1080p Low result of 321.3 FPS hints at its limits. The 3DMark scores reveal the scaling behavior: 2-thread score of 1,659, 4-thread of 2,859, and 8-thread of 4,026. The near-linear scaling from 2 to 8 threads (2.4x improvement) suggests the game can utilize multiple cores, but the 4-core design means the CPU's max-thread score of 4,023 is barely higher than the 8-thread score, indicating diminishing returns beyond 8 threads.

The CPU's nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-1250U, scores 13,462 with a deltaPct of 0.4%, meaning the i3-12100F is 0.4% faster — yet the i7-1250U is a mobile chip with 10 cores. This synthetic parity is misleading for gaming, where the i3's higher boost clock (4.30 GHz) and desktop power envelope (58 W TDP) likely provide better sustained performance. The 12 MB L3 cache is sufficient for Dave The Diver's asset streaming, as evidenced by the absence of frame rate collapses even at 4K Ultra. However, the 4-core design would likely bottleneck a more powerful GPU in this game, as the 1080p Low result of 321.3 FPS approaches the practical limit for this CPU architecture.