Dave The Diver

# Dave The Diver — Intel Core i5-12600KF + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

The measured frame rates for this combination show an exceptionally high-performance pairing in Dave The Diver, with average FPS ranging from 150 at 4K Ultra to 414.2 at 1080p Low. The RTX 4090’s 24 GB of GDDR6X memory and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth, combined with the i5-12600KF’s 10 cores and 16 threads, produce frame rates that exceed the refresh rates of virtually all mainstream displays at every tested resolution and preset combination.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial but remains within playable territory at all settings. At High settings, the transition from 1920x1080 (339.3 FPS) to 2560x1440 (256.9 FPS) represents a 24.3% reduction, while moving from 1440p to 3840x2160 (170.5 FPS) costs another 33.6%. The total scaling from 1080p High to 4K High is a 49.7% reduction in frame rate, which is consistent with a workload that becomes increasingly GPU-bound as pixel count rises.

At Low settings, the pattern is similar but the absolute numbers are higher: 414.2 FPS at 1080p, 342.1 FPS at 1440p, and 230.3 FPS at 4K. The relative drop from 1080p to 1440p is 17.4%, and from 1440p to 4K is 32.7%. The larger proportional loss at 4K Low compared to 4K High suggests that even at the lowest settings, the GPU’s shading and memory subsystems are being pushed hard by the resolution increase.

Ultra settings show the steepest scaling curve. At 1080p Ultra, the combo delivers 296.2 FPS; at 1440p Ultra, 227.5 FPS (a 23.2% drop); and at 4K Ultra, 150 FPS (a 34.1% drop from 1440p). The 4K Ultra result, while the lowest measured, still clears the 144 Hz threshold common on high-refresh monitors. The scaling behavior indicates that Dave The Diver is not heavily CPU-limited at these resolutions — the i5-12600KF’s single-thread performance (3,309 in Cinebench R23 single-core) is sufficient to feed the RTX 4090 even at 1080p, where the GPU is less taxed.

GPU Role

The RTX 4090’s specifications align with the measured results. Its 16,384 shading units, 512 texture mapping units, and 176 ROPs provide the raw throughput needed for the high frame rates observed. The boost clock of 2520 MHz, combined with the 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 compute rate, explains why even 4K Ultra maintains triple-digit FPS. The memory subsystem — 24 GB of GDDR6X on a 384-bit bus with 1.01 TB/s bandwidth — is more than adequate for Dave The Diver’s asset streaming, and the pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s supports the resolution scaling pattern seen in the data.

The GPU’s percentile ranking of 91 against all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 66,473, places it near the top of the database. Its nearest rivals in aggregate benchmarks are the NVIDIA Tesla T4 (deltaPct −0.4) and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 (deltaPct −0.9), though those comparisons reflect compute workloads rather than gaming performance. In Dave The Diver specifically, the RTX 4090 demonstrates that its 450 W TDP and triple-slot cooler are justified by the frame rates delivered.

The measured FPS at 4K Low (230.3) versus 4K High (170.5) shows a 35% performance gap between the lowest and highest quality presets at the same resolution. This spread indicates that the GPU has significant headroom — even at 4K, the RTX 4090 is not saturated by this game’s rendering demands. The gap narrows at lower resolutions: at 1080p, the difference between Low (414.2) and High (339.3) is 22.1%, suggesting that CPU or other system bottlenecks begin to constrain the GPU as resolution decreases.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide clear guidance for optimizing the experience. At 4K, Ultra settings deliver 150 FPS, which is acceptable for most displays, but High settings at 170.5 FPS offer a 13.7% improvement with presumably minimal visual degradation — the data does not quantify image quality, but the frame rate gain is substantial. Medium at 4K (188.5 FPS) represents a 25.7% improvement over Ultra, making it the best choice for users with 144 Hz 4K displays who prioritize smoothness over maximum fidelity.

At 1440p, the situation is different. Ultra (227.5 FPS) already exceeds 144 Hz, and High (256.9 FPS) provides a 12.9% uplift. For 165 Hz or 240 Hz monitors, Medium (285.2 FPS) or even Low (342.1 FPS) become viable options, with Low offering a 50.4% advantage over Ultra. The 1080p results are uniformly excellent — even Ultra (296.2 FPS) clears 240 Hz, and Low (414.2 FPS) approaches the limits of what most displays can show.

The best experience per the measured rows depends on display capability. For 4K 144 Hz panels, High is the optimal preset — it clears the refresh threshold with margin while avoiding the 20.3% FPS penalty of Ultra. For 1440p 240 Hz monitors, Medium provides 285.2 FPS, comfortably above the threshold. At 1080p, any setting above Low delivers more than 296 FPS, so users can select based on visual preference rather than performance constraints. The data suggests that Dave The Diver is not particularly demanding, and the RTX 4090’s headroom means settings can be chosen for image quality rather than frame rate necessity.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination ranks 35th out of 1,626 tested combos in Dave The Diver, placing it in the top 2.2% of all configurations in the database. The rank reflects the i5-12600KF’s strong CPU performance — its average benchmark score of 27,827 places it in the 84th percentile of all CPUs — combined with the RTX 4090’s 91st percentile GPU ranking. The pairing of a high-end GPU with a mid-range-to-high-end CPU yields frame rates that rival or exceed more expensive processor pairings.

The i5-12600KF’s nearest rivals in CPU benchmarks include the Intel Core i9-10900K (deltaPct 0), the Intel Core i5-12600K (deltaPct −0.1), and the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H (deltaPct −0.2). The near-zero deltas indicate that these processors perform essentially identically in aggregate benchmarks, meaning the choice among them would have negligible impact on Dave The Diver frame rates. The i7-13700H (deltaPct 0.4) is marginally ahead, but the difference is within measurement noise.

The RTX 4090’s nearest GPU rivals — the Tesla T4, Tesla P40, Radeon Pro Vega 56, and Quadro P6000 — are all professional or workstation cards, not gaming-focused products. Their presence in the nearestRivals list reflects the RTX 4090’s unusually high compute performance rather than direct gaming competition. In practical terms, the RTX 4090 is the fastest gaming GPU in the database, and its rank of 35 overall is constrained more by the CPU pairing than by GPU limitations.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12600KF contributes substantially to the measured results. Its 10 cores and 16 threads, with base clock of 3.70 GHz and boost clock of 4.90 GHz, provide strong multi-threaded performance — Cinebench R23 multicore score of 23,444 and Geekbench multicore of 12,373 — alongside excellent single-thread capability (Cinebench R23 single-core 3,309). The 20 MB shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 per core help maintain consistent frame delivery in Dave The Diver’s varied scenes.

The CPU’s percentile rank of 84 against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 27,827, places it in the upper tier of processors. Its nearest rival, the i9-10900K, shows a deltaPct of 0, indicating identical aggregate performance despite the i5’s newer architecture. The 12600KF’s 3DMark results — 7,956 in the 16-thread test and 7,952 at max threads — show strong scaling from 2 threads (1,995) to 16 threads, with the 8-thread score of 6,128 indicating efficient utilization of the performance cores.

In Dave The Diver specifically, the CPU’s role is evident from the resolution scaling. At 1080p Low (414.2 FPS), the frame rate is likely approaching the CPU’s rendering limit for this game. The drop from 1080p Low to 4K Low (230.3 FPS) is a 44.4% reduction, which is smaller than the pixel count increase (4x), indicating that the CPU is partially limiting the 1080p result. At 4K, the GPU becomes the primary constraint, and the CPU’s single-thread performance (3,309 in Cinebench R23 single-core) is sufficient to avoid bottlenecking the RTX 4090. The i5-12600KF’s 125 W TDP and unlocked multiplier allow for overclocking headroom, though the measured results already demonstrate excellent performance without manual tuning.