Dave The Diver

The Intel Core i5-12400 is a 6-core, 12-thread Alder Lake desktop processor with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its 18 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel memory support for DDR4 and DDR5 position it as a mainstream part, and its 65 W TDP reflects a power-efficient design. In this game, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic; its performance in synthetic tests shows strong single-threaded capability, with a 3dmark single-thread score of 910 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2249. The multi-threaded results are equally solid, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 15935, which is useful for background tasks but not the primary driver in Dave The Diver.

The benchmark data indicates that this CPU is not a bottleneck at any tested resolution. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 260.4 FPS, which is exceptionally high and suggests the CPU can handle frame generation well beyond standard display refresh rates. Even at the most demanding setting tested, 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 85.5, and the CPU's headroom is evident because the frame rate scales almost entirely with GPU load as resolution increases. The processor's 77th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 19850, puts it very close to the Intel Core i7-9700 (deltaPct 0.1) and slightly ahead of the Intel Core i7-8700 (deltaPct -0.2). This near-identical performance to older i7 parts explains why the CPU does not limit the experience; it has enough throughput to keep the RTX 3070 occupied.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 holds the rank of 737 out of 1626 tested combos in Dave The Diver. This places it in the upper-middle portion of all tested systems, which is a strong result given that the game is not particularly demanding on hardware. The data shows that the combo outperforms a majority of systems, but it is not at the very top tier, which is reserved for configurations with newer flagship GPUs and top-end CPUs.

The ranking is more a reflection of the GPU's capability than the CPU's. The RTX 3070 has an average benchmark score of 28238 and a 72nd percentile ranking among all GPUs, while the CPU sits at the 77th percentile. When the CPU and GPU are both above the 70th percentile, the system is well-balanced, and the 737th rank out of 1626 supports this. The nearest GPU rivals provide context: the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT is only 0.9% slower, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti is 1% faster, indicating that the RTX 3070 is in a competitive performance band. This balance means that in a game like Dave The Diver, the combo delivers consistent frame rates without any single component dragging down the experience.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear scaling pattern from 1080p to 4K. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the average FPS is 197.3, which drops to 149.0 at 2560x1440, and further to 98.1 at 3840x2160. This represents a 24% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a 50% reduction from 1080p to 4K. The pattern is consistent across all settings, with Low settings showing 260.4 FPS at 1080p, 200.6 at 1440p, and 135.7 at 4K. The frame rate drop is nearly linear with pixel count, which is a classic sign of GPU-bound performance.

The limiting component is clearly the GPU. At 1080p, the CPU can push frame rates above 260 FPS on Low, but the GPU's rendering workload becomes the bottleneck as resolution increases. The difference between settings at the same resolution also points to GPU limitation: at 4K, moving from Low to Ultra reduces FPS from 135.7 to 85.5, a 37% performance penalty. This scaling behavior means that users with high-refresh-rate 1080p monitors will see the CPU and GPU working in harmony, but at 4K, the RTX 3070 is the primary constraint. The game is not CPU-intensive, so the i5-12400's performance headroom is never fully tested.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with High settings?

A: The combo achieves an average of 197.3 FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings, which is well above the 144 Hz refresh rate common on gaming monitors.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400 has an average benchmark score of 19850, which is 0.1% higher than the Intel Core i7-9700 (score 19831) and 0.2% higher than the Intel Core i7-8700 (score 19894). This places it in a tight performance cluster.

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

A: At 3840x2160, the average FPS ranges from 85.5 on Ultra to 135.7 on Low, and the scaling from 1080p to 4K shows a consistent 50% drop in frame rate, indicating the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is the limiting factor.

Q: What is the GPU's memory configuration?

A: The RTX 3070 has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s and a memory clock of 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective).

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested systems in this game?

A: The combination of the Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 ranks 737th out of 1626 tested combos, placing it in the upper-middle tier of performance.

Q: What is the CPU's boost clock and how does it affect gaming?

A: The CPU has a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, which contributes to its strong single-threaded performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2249), ensuring it can handle game logic without bottlenecking the GPU.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is built on the Ampere architecture with the GA104 chip on an 8 nm process from Samsung. It features 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units, along with 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1500 MHz and a boost clock of 1725 MHz, with a pixel rate of 165.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 317.4 GTexel/s. Its FP32 performance is 20.31 TFLOPS, and it has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory with a 256-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s.

In Dave The Diver, the GPU's role is dominant, as evidenced by the FPS scaling across resolutions. The card's 72nd percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 28238, places it slightly ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT (deltaPct 0.9) and slightly behind the AMD FirePro S7150 (deltaPct -0.6). The measured FPS shows that the RTX 3070 can push 175.3 FPS at 1080p Ultra, which is a demanding setting, and still maintain 85.5 FPS at 4K Ultra. The GPU's 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth is sufficient for the game's textures and geometry, and the 8 GB VRAM capacity is not exhausted at any tested setting.

The performance at 4K is particularly telling: the 98.1 FPS average at High settings indicates that the GPU has enough compute headroom for smooth gameplay at high resolutions. The card's power draw is rated at 220 W with a suggested PSU of 550 W, which is reasonable for a mid-range enthusiast build. The RTX 3070's DirectX 12 Ultimate support and 20.31 TFLOPS of FP32 compute ensure it can handle modern rendering features, though Dave The Diver's simple visual style does not stress these capabilities fully. Overall, the GPU is the performance anchor in this combo, and its benchmark scores align with the observed frame rates.