Dave The Diver

Dave The Diver, the adventure title released on 2023-06-27, presents an interesting scaling pattern for the Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 combination. The measured data shows this pairing delivers exceptionally high frame rates across all tested resolutions, with the RTX 5060's 8 GB of GDDR7 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth proving more than sufficient for the game's demands. The combo ranks 1639 out of 3710 tested combinations, placing it in the upper-middle tier of the database, which is notable considering the CPU's 72nd percentile ranking among all processors and the GPU's matching 72nd percentile position.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound scaling curve, but with some unusual characteristics specific to Dave The Diver. At 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, the combo produces 163 FPS average, which drops to 123 FPS at 2560x1440 and further to 82 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 24.5% performance hit when moving from 1080p to 1440p, and a 49.7% reduction when jumping from 1080p to 4K. The scaling suggests the RTX 5060 begins to feel the pressure of higher pixel counts, though the absolute numbers remain highly playable.

The Low settings preset tells a similar story with more headroom. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 247 FPS average, falling to 186 FPS at 1440p and 124 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 24.7% and 49.8% respectively, nearly identical to the Ultra scaling. This consistency across presets indicates that resolution scaling is primarily driven by the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth rather than shader complexity, which makes sense given the game's relatively simple visual style.

Medium settings provide the most complete dataset, with min and max frame times recorded at every resolution. At 1080p Medium, the average is 207 FPS with a minimum of 176 FPS and maximum of 238 FPS. Moving to 1440p Medium yields 155 FPS average (132 min, 179 max), while 4K Medium drops to 104 FPS (89 min, 120 max). The min-to-average ratio remains tight across all three resolutions, suggesting consistent frame pacing without severe spikes or stutters.

The data indicates that at 1080p, the i5-12400's six cores and 12 threads are likely not the limiting factor, as even the most demanding Ultra preset maintains 163 FPS. The CPU's single-thread performance of 910 in 3dmark and 2257 in Cinebench R23 suggests it has ample headroom for this adventure title. However, the 49.7% performance drop from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings points to the GPU becoming the bottleneck at higher resolutions, with the RTX 5060's 19.18 TFLOPS FP32 compute being pushed to its limits.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 brings Blackwell 2.0 architecture to this pairing, built on TSMC's 5 nm process with 21,900 million transistors. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2280 MHz and boosts to 2497 MHz, with memory running at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). The 8 GB GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus delivers 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, which appears sufficient for Dave The Diver's texture streaming requirements at all tested settings.

The GPU's memory configuration is particularly relevant for this game. The 8 GB capacity, combined with 30 RT cores and 120 tensor cores, provides a balanced feature set for a title that doesn't heavily leverage ray tracing. The 3840 shading units and 48 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 119.9 GPixel/s, which explains why the card can maintain 82 FPS at 4K Ultra despite the high pixel count. The texture rate of 299.6 GTexel/s ensures that the game's detailed environments and character textures remain sharp at all resolutions.

Comparing the RTX 5060 to its nearest rivals in the database, the GPU's average benchmark score of 26331 places it 0.3% behind the AMD Radeon 860M (26401) and 0.3% behind the NVIDIA GeForce MX550 (26421), while sitting 1.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT (26011). These delta percentages are remarkably small, indicating that in synthetic benchmarks, these cards perform nearly identically. However, the measured frame rates in Dave The Diver suggest the RTX 5060's architecture is well-suited to this game's rendering pipeline.

The GPU's 72nd percentile ranking among all GPUs, matching the CPU's percentile, means this pairing represents a balanced mid-range system. The 145 W TDP and 300 W suggested PSU indicate this is an efficient solution, with the dual-slot cooler and 241 mm length fitting into most ATX cases. The PCIe 5.0 x8 interface provides adequate bandwidth, though Dave The Diver likely doesn't saturate even PCIe 3.0 x16 in most scenarios.

FAQ

Q: Does the RTX 5060's 8 GB VRAM limit performance in Dave The Diver?

A: The data shows no VRAM-related bottlenecks. At 4K Ultra, the combo maintains 82 FPS average, and the 8 GB GDDR7 memory with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth appears sufficient for the game's texture requirements across all tested settings.

Q: How does the i5-12400 perform in this game compared to its synthetic benchmarks?

A: The CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 15989 and single-core score of 2257 indicate strong performance, and the measured frame rates suggest the processor is not the limiting factor at 1080p, where Ultra preset achieves 163 FPS.

Q: What is the best resolution for competitive play in Dave The Diver?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system achieves 247 FPS average, providing the highest frame rates for responsive gameplay. The 1440p Low preset still delivers 186 FPS, offering a balance between visual quality and performance.

Q: How does the RTX 5060 compare to the RX 6750 XT in this game?

A: The RTX 5060's average benchmark score is 1.2% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT (26011 vs 26331), but the measured FPS in Dave The Diver demonstrates the NVIDIA card's strong real-world performance across all resolutions.

Q: Is the 4K Ultra preset playable with this hardware combination?

A: The 4K Ultra setting produces 82 FPS average, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The 4K Medium preset improves this to 104 FPS, offering a more comfortable margin for demanding scenes.

Q: Why does the game show only 0.3% difference between the RTX 5060 and MX550 in benchmarks?

A: The nearest rival data shows the MX550 has an average score of 26421 versus 26331 for the RTX 5060, representing a -0.3% delta. This synthetic benchmark similarity doesn't translate to identical gaming performance, as the measured FPS in Dave The Diver demonstrates.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data reveals that Medium settings provide the best balance between visual quality and performance headroom. At 1080p Medium, the system achieves 207 FPS average with a minimum of 176 FPS, ensuring consistent frame delivery even in complex underwater scenes. The 1440p Medium preset maintains 155 FPS average (132 min), which is excellent for high-refresh-rate monitors and provides a significant visual upgrade over 1080p.

For users with 4K displays, Medium settings at 3840x2160 deliver 104 FPS average with 89 FPS minimum, which is well above the playability threshold. The step from Medium to High at 4K costs 11 FPS (104 to 93), while the jump from High to Ultra costs another 11 FPS (93 to 82). This suggests that Medium offers the most efficient use of GPU resources, as the visual improvements from Medium to Ultra may not justify the 21% performance loss at 4K.

At 1440p, the Ultra preset maintains 123 FPS average, making it a viable choice for users prioritizing visual fidelity. The 1080p Ultra preset achieves 163 FPS, which is still competitive for esports-style play despite the game's adventure genre. The Low presets, while offering 247 FPS at 1080p and 186 FPS at 1440p, sacrifice too much visual quality for the incremental performance gain over Medium.

The data suggests that Medium is the sweet spot for this hardware combination, offering at least 104 FPS at 4K and 155 FPS at 1440p while maintaining a 30% performance buffer over Ultra settings. The min FPS values recorded for Medium presets (89 at 4K, 132 at 1440p, 176 at 1080p) indicate stable frame pacing without severe drops during gameplay.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 combination ranks 1639 out of 3710 tested combos in Dave The Diver, placing it in the 55.8th percentile of all systems in the database. This ranking is notably higher than what the individual component percentiles might suggest, as both the CPU and GPU sit at the 72nd percentile among their respective categories. The discrepancy indicates that this pairing is particularly well-suited to Dave The Diver's performance requirements.

The combo's ranking is likely influenced by the game's relatively modest hardware demands. The adventure title doesn't push multi-core CPU scaling as aggressively as other genres, allowing the i5-12400's 6 cores and 12 threads to perform above its synthetic benchmark position. The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic testing include the AMD EPYC 7643 (-0.1%), Intel Core i7-1355U (-0.3%), AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 (-0.7%), and Intel Core i3-14100F (+0.9%), showing that the i5-12400 sits in a tightly contested performance band.

The GPU's ranking among its peers shows similar clustering, with the RTX 5060 trailing the AMD Radeon 860M and NVIDIA GeForce MX550 by 0.3% each, while leading the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT by 1.2%. These small deltas in synthetic benchmarks contrast with the more substantial performance differences observed in actual gaming workloads, where architecture and driver optimization play larger roles.

Within the context of the full 3710 combo database, a rank of 1639 places this system in the upper half of all tested configurations. The measured FPS results support this positioning, as the system maintains 82 FPS at the most demanding preset (4K Ultra), a figure that would be considered excellent for many higher-ranked combinations. The data suggests that users with this hardware can expect a smooth experience at any resolution without needing to lower settings significantly.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system demonstrates remarkable performance across all presets. The Low setting achieves 247 FPS average, while Medium produces 207 FPS (176 min, 238 max), High delivers 184 FPS, and Ultra maintains 163 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra represents a 34% performance reduction, with each preset step costing approximately 20-24 FPS on average.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show expected reductions. Low preset hits 186 FPS, Medium achieves 155 FPS (132 min, 179 max), High produces 139 FPS, and Ultra maintains 123 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 33.9%, consistent with the 1080p scaling pattern. The Medium preset's min FPS of 132 indicates that even during demanding scenes, the system stays well above 60 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the performance curve becomes more compressed. Low preset delivers 124 FPS, Medium achieves 104 FPS (89 min, 120 max), High produces 93 FPS, and Ultra maintains 82 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 33.9%, matching the lower resolutions' scaling pattern. Notably, the 4K Medium preset's min FPS of 89 ensures that even the most intense moments remain playable on high-refresh-rate displays.

The data for Medium presets provides the most complete picture, with min and max FPS recorded at all three resolutions. The frame time consistency is excellent, as the spread between min and max remains tight: 62 FPS at 1080p, 47 FPS at 1440p, and 31 FPS at 4K. This consistency suggests that the i5-12400's 12 threads provide sufficient CPU headroom to prevent bottlenecking even at high frame rates, while the RTX 5060's 8 GB GDDR7 memory prevents texture streaming hitches. The overall dataset paints a picture of a well-balanced system that excels in this adventure title across all tested configurations.