Dave The Diver

Dave The Diver, an adventure title released in mid-2023, presents an interesting scalability challenge for the Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 pairing. The measured data reveals a system capable of extreme frame rates, yet the relationship between settings and resolution shows distinct bottlenecks that are worth examining. This particular combo ranks 289th out of 3710 tested combinations, placing it in the top 8% of systems tested, which is a strong indicator of its overall capability for this specific title.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data offers a clear picture of how the game responds to different quality presets across three resolutions. At 1080p, the system delivers 369 FPS on Low, 342 FPS on Medium, 305 FPS on High, and 269 FPS on Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra is exactly 100 FPS, representing a 27% performance drop for the highest visual fidelity. This suggests that even at the most demanding 1080p preset, the hardware has substantial headroom. The 269 FPS at Ultra is still far beyond what most displays can show, making Ultra the clear choice for 1080p users who prioritize image quality without any practical performance concern.

Moving to 1440p, the pattern remains similar but with slightly compressed margins. Low produces 307 FPS, Medium delivers 257 FPS, High achieves 230 FPS, and Ultra drops to 203 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is 104 FPS, which is a 34% reduction. Even the most demanding 1440p preset keeps the average above 200 FPS, so the recommendation for this resolution is to select Ultra without hesitation. The data does not show any reason to compromise on settings here, as the frame rates remain exceptionally high.

At 4K, the picture changes more dramatically. Ultra produces 136 FPS, High yields 154 FPS, Medium reaches 172 FPS, and Low tops out at 206 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 70 FPS, a 34% drop that mirrors the 1440p scaling. However, the absolute numbers mean that even at 4K Ultra, the system maintains a 136 FPS average, which is well above the standard 60 FPS target and even exceeds many high-refresh-rate 4K displays. The 4K Medium preset provides a 172 FPS average with a documented minimum of 146 FPS, which offers a substantial safety margin for frame-time consistency.

The best experience per the measured rows depends on the display's refresh rate. For 1080p and 1440p, Ultra is the only sensible choice because the performance cost is trivial relative to the visual gain. For 4K, the choice hinges on whether the display is 144 Hz or 165 Hz. If the target is 144 Hz, the High preset at 154 FPS is sufficient and slightly safer than Ultra's 136 FPS, which is below that threshold. If the display is 120 Hz, then Ultra at 136 FPS is perfectly adequate. The data suggests that Medium at 4K is the most balanced for users who want a guaranteed 146 FPS minimum, while Low at 206 FPS is for those chasing maximum frame rates above all else.

FAQ

Q: What is the performance difference between the High and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the High preset delivers an average of 230 FPS, while Ultra drops to 203 FPS. This represents a 27 FPS reduction, or roughly a 12% performance penalty for enabling the highest quality settings.

Q: Does the system maintain playable frame rates at 4K with maximum settings?

A: Yes. The data shows a 4K Ultra average of 136 FPS, which is well above the standard 60 FPS playability threshold. Even the minimum recorded frame rate for the 4K Medium preset is 146 FPS, indicating consistent performance.

Q: How does the RTX 4080's performance compare to its closest competitor in this system?

A: The RTX 4080 has an average benchmark score of 54247, which is 0.1% higher than the RTX 4080 SUPER's score of 54209. It also outperforms the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X by 1.1% and is 2.6% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB.

Q: What kind of frame rate can be expected at 1080p with Medium settings?

A: The measured data shows a 1080p Medium average of 342 FPS, with a minimum of 290 FPS and a maximum of 393 FPS. This indicates the system has massive headroom at this resolution and settings combination.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance compare to its nearest rival?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400F has a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 12380. Its average benchmark score of 19039 is essentially tied with the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS, which scores 19047, showing a 0% difference.

Q: Is there a significant frame rate difference between 1440p and 4K at High settings?

A: Yes. The 1440p High preset averages 230 FPS, while the 4K High preset averages 154 FPS. This is a 76 FPS drop, meaning 4K requires 33% more graphics processing time, which highlights the GPU's increasing workload at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 achieves a rank of 289 out of 3710 tested combos in Dave The Diver. This places the system in the top 7.8% of all configurations tested for this game, which is an impressive position given the breadth of hardware combinations. The rank reflects a system that is clearly enthusiast-tier, but it does not sit at the absolute top, suggesting that other combinations with more powerful CPUs or newer GPUs can push higher.

The ranking is particularly notable because Dave The Diver is not a graphically demanding title by modern standards. The fact that this combo still ranks 289th implies that the game's performance is heavily influenced by CPU capabilities at lower resolutions, where the RTX 4080 has immense headroom. The i5-12400F's average benchmark score of 19039 places it at the 73rd percentile of all CPUs, which is solid but not top-tier. This suggests that for a game like Dave The Diver, the CPU's single-thread performance, as indicated by its 3DMark single-thread score of 909, plays a critical role in achieving the highest possible frame rates at 1080p.

The GPU's percentile ranking is higher, sitting at the 86th percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 54247. This discrepancy between the CPU's 73rd percentile and the GPU's 86th percentile explains the overall rank of 289. The system is limited more by the CPU than the GPU, which is a common occurrence in less demanding titles. The rank of 289 suggests that there are 288 other combinations that deliver higher frame rates, likely featuring CPUs with stronger single-core performance or more cores that the game can utilize effectively.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete matrix of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the system produces its highest frame rates. The Low preset reaches 369 FPS average, which is the peak performance recorded in the entire dataset. Medium settings drop to 342 FPS, with a documented range of 290 FPS minimum and 393 FPS maximum. The High preset delivers 305 FPS, while Ultra settles at 269 FPS. This shows a consistent degradation from Low to Ultra, with each step costing roughly 30-35 FPS on average.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain exceptionally high but show a clear response to the increased pixel count. Low settings produce 307 FPS, which is 62 FPS lower than the 1080p Low result. Medium achieves 257 FPS with a minimum of 219 and a maximum of 296. High settings deliver 230 FPS, and Ultra drops to 203 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at each preset is approximately a 17-20% reduction in performance, which is relatively modest and indicates that the GPU still has capacity to spare.

The 3840x2160 results show the most substantial impact from resolution scaling. Low settings drop to 206 FPS, which is a 44% reduction from the 1080p Low result. Medium produces 172 FPS with a minimum of 146 and a maximum of 198. High settings average 154 FPS, and Ultra falls to 136 FPS. The transition from 1440p to 4K costs between 33% and 37% of the frame rate at each preset, demonstrating the expected quadratic increase in pixel count. The 4K Medium preset's minimum of 146 FPS is the only recorded minimum in the entire dataset that approaches the 144 FPS threshold, making it the most demanding combination that still maintains a high refresh rate guarantee.

Resolution Scaling

The data reveals a clear pattern in how frame rates scale with resolution. From 1080p to 1440p, the average FPS drops by approximately 17-20% across all settings. For instance, at High settings, the frame rate goes from 305 FPS at 1080p to 230 FPS at 1440p, a 75 FPS difference. At Low settings, the drop is from 369 FPS to 307 FPS, a 62 FPS difference. This relatively modest scaling suggests that at 1080p, the system is not purely GPU-bound, as the GPU has so much headroom that other factors, such as CPU frame generation limits, start to play a role.

The scaling from 1440p to 4K is more pronounced. At High settings, the frame rate drops from 230 FPS to 154 FPS, a 76 FPS reduction. At Low settings, it goes from 307 FPS to 206 FPS, a 101 FPS drop. The percentage reduction from 1440p to 4K is consistently around 33-37%, which is much closer to the theoretical 4x pixel count increase divided by the 2.25x increase from 1080p to 1440p. This indicates that at 4K, the RTX 4080 is becoming the primary limiting component, as the GPU's workload scales directly with pixel count.

This scaling behavior tells a compelling story about the system's balance. At 1080p, the CPU likely becomes a bottleneck, as evidenced by the relatively small frame rate differences between settings. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 100 FPS, while at 4K, it is 70 FPS. If the GPU were the only limiting factor, the difference between settings would be more consistent across resolutions. The fact that the settings gap narrows at higher resolutions indicates that the CPU's ability to feed the GPU is the limiting factor at 1080p, while at 4K, the GPU's raw rendering power takes over as the constraint.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 12380, and its single-core score is 1680. These numbers indicate a capable mid-range processor that excels in single-threaded workloads, which is critical for games like Dave The Diver that may not scale perfectly across many cores. The 3DMark 2-thread score of 1699 and 4-thread score of 3067 further emphasize the CPU's strength in low-thread-count scenarios.

The data suggests that the CPU plays a significant role in the 1080p results. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 369 FPS, which is an extraordinarily high number. The fact that the 1440p Low result is 307 FPS, only a 17% reduction, while the 4K Low result is 206 FPS, a 33% reduction from 1440p, implies that the CPU can generate frames faster than the GPU can render them at lower resolutions. The 3DMark max-threads score of 5912 is only slightly higher than the 16-thread score of 5895, suggesting that the CPU's multi-threading scaling is limited, and the game likely benefits more from the high single-core boost clock.

The CPU's percentile ranking at 73rd among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 19039, places it in the upper mid-range. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS, has an average score of 19047, showing a 0% difference, which means they are effectively tied in overall performance. This suggests that for Dave The Diver, the i5-12400F provides sufficient processing power to drive frame rates well beyond what most displays can show, and the primary limitation at 1080p is likely the CPU's single-thread performance rather than its core count.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is a high-end graphics card based on the Ada Lovelace architecture, featuring 9728 shading units, 304 texture mapping units, and 112 raster output units. It has a boost clock of 2505 MHz and is equipped with 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s. The GPU's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6567 and Passmark G3D score of 34457 place it in the 86th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54247.

The GPU's role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution increases. At 4K, the frame rate differences between settings are more pronounced in absolute terms, but the GPU's massive compute power still delivers over 200 FPS even at Low settings. The 4K Ultra result of 136 FPS is particularly telling, as it shows that even the most demanding preset in this game cannot stress the RTX 4080 to its limits. The GPU's nearest rival, the RTX 4080 SUPER, has an average score of 54209, which is only 0.1% lower, indicating that the standard RTX 4080 is nearly identical in performance to its SUPER variant.

The 16 GB VRAM capacity is more than sufficient for Dave The Diver at any resolution and settings combination. The game's relatively simple art style and modest texture requirements mean that the GPU's memory bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s and its 48.74 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power are likely never fully utilized. The data shows that the GPU is the limiting factor at 4K, but only because the CPU can no longer keep up with the GPU's frame generation capabilities at lower resolutions. This creates an interesting dynamic where the RTX 4080 is simultaneously overkill for the game's visual demands yet still the primary bottleneck at 4K due to the sheer pixel count.