Dave The Diver

Dave The Diver is an Adventure title that responds unusually well to both CPU and GPU headroom, and the measured results for the Intel Core i7-12700KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 show a configuration that scales predictably across resolutions and settings. The data places this combo at rank 1348 out of 1626 tested combinations, indicating a mid-pack position that is defined more by the GPU's limits than by any CPU bottleneck. Across all twelve measured scenarios, the system never drops below 58.2 FPS, which means the worst-case frame rate at 4K Ultra remains playable, though the gap between the lowest and highest settings at that resolution reveals where the hardware saturates.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep but not catastrophic, pointing to a GPU-bound scenario as resolution increases. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 132.3 FPS at 1920x1080 to 103.1 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 29.2 FPS, and then to 66.2 FPS at 3840x2160, a further 36.9 FPS decline. This pattern — a 22% loss from 1080p to 1440p and then a 36% loss from 1440p to 4K — indicates that the RTX 2060's 6 GB GDDR6 memory and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth become the limiting factor as pixel count quadruples. The trend is consistent across all settings: Low settings show 176.6 FPS at 1080p, 131.8 FPS at 1440p, and 87.9 FPS at 4K, while Ultra settings drop from 119 FPS to 85.7 FPS to 58.2 FPS over the same progression.

The resolution scaling also reveals that the game is not heavily CPU-limited at lower resolutions, because the frame rates at 1080p are high enough to suggest the GPU is still doing most of the work. The delta between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 57.6 FPS (176.6 vs 119), which is a 48% swing, showing that settings have a strong impact even when the CPU has ample headroom. At 4K, the same Low-to-Ultra gap narrows to 29.7 FPS (87.9 vs 58.2), a 51% difference in relative terms but a smaller absolute spread, confirming that the GPU's pixel throughput is the primary constraint. The data suggests that users targeting 4K should expect roughly half the frame rate of 1080p, regardless of quality preset.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700KF brings 12 cores and 20 threads from the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. This configuration ranks in the 89th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35355, placing it just 0.1% above the Intel Core i5-14400 and 0.2% above the Intel Core i9-12900HX in the nearest rivals comparison. For a game like Dave The Diver, which is not a thread-heavy title, the CPU's single-thread performance is more relevant: the 3DMark single-thread score of 1043 and the Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4091 indicate strong per-core capability that prevents the processor from becoming a bottleneck even at high frame rates.

The multi-threaded scores — 3DMark max threads at 9983 and Cinebench R23 multicore at 28979 — show that the CPU has far more headroom than the game requires. The fact that 1080p Low settings produce 176.6 FPS while 1080p Ultra produces 119 FPS, with the same CPU, suggests that the processor is delivering consistent performance across settings and that the frame rate differences are driven by GPU workload. The 3DMark 2-thread score of 2065 and 4-thread score of 4011 further indicate that even a modest subset of the 20 threads is sufficient for this title, meaning the CPU's role here is to stay out of the way rather than to actively push performance higher.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1080p gaming with this combo?

A: At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers 132.3 FPS, which is only 13.4 FPS below the Medium preset's 146.5 FPS but 13.3 FPS above Ultra's 119 FPS. The data shows High offers a balanced point, while Low reaches 176.6 FPS if maximum frame rate is the priority.

Q: Can this system handle 4K at playable frame rates?

A: Yes, but with caveats. At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 87.9 FPS, Medium averages 72.4 FPS, High averages 66.2 FPS, and Ultra drops to 58.2 FPS. All are above 30 FPS, and even the lowest result is technically playable for a slower-paced adventure title.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 compare to its closest GPU rivals in this combo?

A: The RTX 2060 has an average benchmark score of 16074, which is 0.5% above the AMD Radeon RX 7600S and 1.8% above the AMD Radeon Pro W5500, but 1.7% below both the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M and AMD Radeon Pro 5700. The GPU sits in the 58th percentile among all GPUs.

Q: Is the Core i7-12700KF the limiting factor in this combination?

A: No. The CPU ranks in the 89th percentile overall, and its 3DMark max-thread score of 9983 is more than sufficient for this game. The consistent frame rate drops from 1080p to 4K indicate that the GPU's 6 GB VRAM and 192-bit memory bus are the primary constraints.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 131.8 FPS, while Ultra averages 85.7 FPS, a difference of 46.1 FPS. The Medium preset sits at 109.9 FPS, and High at 103.1 FPS, showing a non-linear scaling where the jump from Low to Medium costs 21.9 FPS.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested systems for Dave The Diver?

A: The combination ranks 1348 out of 1626 tested combos, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database. This rank reflects the GPU's mid-tier standing rather than the CPU's high percentile, given that the processor is not the performance limiter here.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 1348 out of 1626 places this system in the 17th percentile of all tested combinations, meaning roughly 83% of configurations deliver higher average frame rates in Dave The Diver. This ranking is notable because the CPU alone sits in the 89th percentile, while the GPU sits in the 58th percentile, so the final rank is dragged down by the graphics card. The data shows that the i7-12700KF has substantial headroom — its average benchmark score of 35355 is nearly identical to the i5-14400 (35336) and i7-13800H (35416) — but the RTX 2060's average score of 16074 is only marginally better than the RX 7600S (15996) and worse than the Pro 5600M (16351). This suggests that pairing this CPU with a stronger GPU would likely move the combo significantly higher in the rankings, since the processor is not the bottleneck.

The rank also implies that the measured FPS values, while playable, are not exceptional for the hardware class. At 1080p High, the 132.3 FPS result is competitive for the GPU tier, but the drop to 66.2 FPS at 4K High shows the limits of a 6 GB frame buffer. The gap between the CPU's 89th percentile and the combo's 17th percentile is a clear indicator that the GPU is the dominant factor in this pair's overall standing.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is built on the Turing architecture with 1920 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 48 ROPs, running at a base clock of 1365 MHz and a boost clock of 1680 MHz. Its 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus provides 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which appears to be the critical resource for Dave The Diver's resolution scaling. The GPU's average benchmark score of 16074 places it in the 58th percentile, with its nearest rival being the AMD Radeon RX 7600S at 15996 (0.5% higher) and the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 at 16351 (1.7% higher). The PassMark G3D score of 14111 and the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1242 both indicate a mid-range part that handles 1080p easily but struggles to maintain high frame rates at 4K.

The GPU's role is most evident in the settings scaling at each resolution. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 57.6 FPS, which shows the GPU has enough raw throughput to respond to quality changes. At 4K, the same difference shrinks to 29.7 FPS, indicating that the memory bandwidth and pixel fill rate are saturated, and the GPU can no longer translate settings improvements into proportional frame rate gains. The 6 GB VRAM capacity is also a likely factor at 3840x2160 Ultra, where the average drops to 58.2 FPS, as the texture data for an adventure title at that resolution may exceed the available memory.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings average 176.6 FPS, Medium averages 146.5 FPS, High averages 132.3 FPS, and Ultra averages 119 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 57.6 FPS, with the largest single drop occurring between Low and Medium at 30.1 FPS. These numbers suggest that 1080p is well within the GPU's comfort zone, and even the most demanding preset remains above 115 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 131.8 FPS for Low, 109.9 FPS for Medium, 103.1 FPS for High, and 85.7 FPS for Ultra. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent across settings: Low loses 44.8 FPS, Medium loses 36.6 FPS, High loses 29.2 FPS, and Ultra loses 33.3 FPS. The tighter clustering between Medium and High (6.8 FPS difference) compared to Low and Medium (21.9 FPS) indicates that the GPU begins to feel the resolution increase.

At 3840x2160, the averages fall to 87.9 FPS for Low, 72.4 FPS for Medium, 66.2 FPS for High, and 58.2 FPS for Ultra. The total Low-to-Ultra spread narrows to 29.7 FPS, and the step from High to Ultra is just 8 FPS. The 4K results show that the GPU is the clear bottleneck, with even Low settings unable to break 90 FPS, and Ultra barely maintaining a 58.2 FPS average. The progression from 1080p Low (176.6 FPS) to 4K Ultra (58.2 FPS) represents a 67% reduction in frame rate, confirming that this combo is best suited for 1080p or 1440p gaming, with 4K reserved for users willing to accept lower quality presets.