Dave The Diver

The Intel Core i7-12700KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 delivers a remarkably fluid experience in Dave The Diver, with the measured data showing triple-digit frame rates across nearly every tested configuration. The only exceptions are the Ultra preset at 4K, which still holds an average of 77 FPS, and the High preset at 4K at 87 FPS. This combination of a 12-core Alder Lake processor and an Ada Lovelace GPU is clearly well-suited to the game’s demands, offering headroom that makes settings selection more about display refresh rate than about avoiding stutter.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data provides four measured presets—Low, Medium, High, and Ultra—across three resolutions. For players targeting the smoothest possible experience, the Low preset at 1080p yields the highest measured average at 231 FPS. However, this comes with the obvious visual sacrifices inherent to the lowest settings tier. The data suggests that the Medium preset is the sweet spot for most users. At 1080p, Medium delivers 194 FPS average, which is only 37 FPS below Low but represents a substantial graphical upgrade. The transition from Medium to High at 1080p shows a drop to 173 FPS, a loss of 21 FPS, while the jump from High to Ultra costs another 20 FPS down to 153 FPS. The diminishing returns are clear; the performance cost of each successive preset tier is nearly linear at this resolution.

At 1440p, the pattern shifts slightly. Medium produces 146 FPS average, which is the best balance of fidelity and speed for high-refresh-rate 1440p monitors. High follows at 130 FPS, and Ultra drops to 115 FPS. The Low preset at 1440p reaches 174 FPS, but again, the visual penalty is steep. For 4K displays, the situation changes because the GPU becomes more stressed. The Medium preset at 4K averages 98 FPS, making it the recommended choice for 4K gaming, as it is the only preset that combines a triple-digit average with a measured minimum of 83 FPS. The High preset at 4K drops to 87 FPS, which is still playable but below the 90 FPS threshold that many users prefer. Ultra at 4K falls to 77 FPS, which is acceptable for slower-paced games but not ideal.

The data indicates that the Medium preset offers the most consistent experience across all resolutions. It is the only tier where the minimum FPS values are recorded for every resolution: 165 at 1080p, 124 at 1440p, and 83 at 4K. This consistency suggests that Medium avoids the occasional frame-time spikes that might affect other presets. For users with 144Hz monitors, Medium at 1440p (146 FPS) or High at 1080p (173 FPS) are the optimal pairings. For 60Hz displays, even Ultra at 4K (77 FPS) exceeds the refresh rate, meaning the game will run flawlessly at maximum settings on such panels.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture using TSMC’s 5 nm process, with a die size of 159 mm² and 18,900 million transistors. Its memory configuration is notably compact: 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 272.0 GB/s. The memory clock runs at 2125 MHz, translating to 17 Gbps effective. The GPU’s boost clock is 2460 MHz, with a base clock of 1830 MHz. These specifications place the RTX 4060 at the 61st percentile of all GPUs in the benchmark database, with an average benchmark score of 17639.

In Dave The Diver, the GPU’s role becomes increasingly prominent as resolution scales. At 1080p, the RTX 4060 has ample headroom, as evidenced by the 231 FPS average on Low settings. The GPU’s 3072 shading units and 96 texture mapping units are more than sufficient for the game’s art style at this resolution. The 48 ROPs and 24 RT cores are less critical for this title, which does not appear to rely heavily on ray tracing based on the measured frame rates. The pixel rate of 118.1 GPixel/s and texture rate of 236.2 GTexel/s help explain the strong performance at lower resolutions.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for the tested presets; the lack of any min FPS data points below playable levels suggests no memory-related stuttering. The GPU’s FP32 throughput of 15.11 TFLOPS is modest by modern standards, but Dave The Diver is not a compute-heavy title. The data shows that the RTX 4060 is the primary bottleneck at 4K, where the Ultra preset drops to 77 FPS, a 50% reduction from the 1080p Ultra score of 153 FPS. This scaling behavior aligns with the GPU’s 128-bit memory bus, which limits bandwidth at higher resolutions. The closest rivals in the database include the AMD Radeon 780M (0.3% higher score) and the AMD Radeon Pro 560 (0.5% higher), indicating that the RTX 4060 sits in a performance tier that is adequate for this game’s moderate demands.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable with this combo?

A: The highest measured average is 231 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low preset.

Q: Is the RTX 4060 capable of 4K gaming in Dave The Diver?

A: Yes, the data shows playable frame rates at 3840x2160. The Medium preset averages 98 FPS with a minimum of 83 FPS, while the High preset averages 87 FPS and Ultra averages 77 FPS.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K?

A: On the Medium preset, the average FPS drops from 194 at 1080p to 146 at 1440p and then to 98 at 4K. This represents a 49.5% reduction from 1080p to 4K.

Q: Which preset provides the most stable frame times?

A: The Medium preset is the only tier with recorded minimum FPS values at all three resolutions: 165 at 1080p, 124 at 1440p, and 83 at 4K. This suggests consistent frame pacing compared to other presets where min FPS was not recorded.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at any resolution?

A: The data does not show a CPU bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 231 FPS, and the scaling from 1080p to 1440p to 4K is consistent with GPU-bound behavior, as FPS drops proportionally with resolution increase.

Q: How does the RTX 4060 compare to its nearest rivals in general benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4060 has an average benchmark score of 17639. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon HD 7790, scores 17666, which is 0.2% higher. The AMD Radeon 780M scores 17588, 0.3% lower, and the AMD Radeon Pro 560 scores 17551, 0.5% lower.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data covers four presets and three resolutions, providing a complete picture of performance. At 1920x1080, the Low preset leads with 231 FPS average. Medium follows at 194 FPS, with a minimum of 165 and a maximum of 223. High drops to 173 FPS, and Ultra is the slowest at 153 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 78 FPS, indicating that the game’s settings have a significant impact on performance but that even the heaviest preset remains well above 144 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the order remains the same. Low delivers 174 FPS average, Medium 146 FPS (min 124, max 168), High 130 FPS, and Ultra 115 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra shrinks to 59 FPS, as the GPU begins to feel the increased pixel count. The minimum FPS at Medium (124) is still high enough to drive a 120Hz monitor without drops. At 3840x2160, the numbers compress further. Low averages 117 FPS, Medium 98 FPS (min 83, max 112), High 87 FPS, and Ultra 77 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is now only 40 FPS. Notably, the Medium preset at 4K is the only configuration in the entire dataset where the minimum FPS (83) is below the 90 FPS mark, suggesting that 4K gaming on Medium is the edge of comfortable playability for this GPU.

Comparing the same preset across resolutions shows the performance cost of each step. For High settings, 1080p yields 173 FPS, 1440p yields 130 FPS, and 4K yields 87 FPS. For Ultra, the numbers are 153, 115, and 77 FPS respectively. The Low preset shows the largest absolute drop from 1080p (231) to 4K (117), a difference of 114 FPS. This indicates that the Low preset is heavily CPU-limited at lower resolutions, allowing the GPU to stretch its legs only when resolution increases.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the nature of the bottleneck in this system. On the Medium preset, the average FPS goes from 194 at 1080p to 146 at 1440p, a 24.7% drop, and then to 98 at 4K, a further 32.9% drop from 1440p. The total reduction from 1080p to 4K is 49.5%. This pattern is typical of a GPU-bound scenario where the rendering load scales with pixel count. If the CPU were the limiting factor, the 1080p scores would not be as high as they are, nor would the scaling be so consistent.

The High preset follows a similar trajectory: 173 to 130 to 87 FPS. This represents a 24.9% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 33.1% drop from 1440p to 4K. The consistency of these percentage drops across presets (around 25% and 33%) suggests that the GPU’s shading and memory subsystems are scaling predictably with resolution. The Ultra preset shows a slightly different pattern: 153 to 115 to 77 FPS, with drops of 24.8% and 33.0%. The Low preset, however, shows a smaller relative drop from 1080p to 1440p (24.7%) but a larger drop from 1440p to 4K (32.8%), indicating that at Low settings, the GPU is less stressed and the scaling is more linear.

The 4K to 1080p ratio for Medium is 98/194, or 50.5%. For High, it is 87/173, or 50.3%. For Ultra, it is 77/153, or 50.3%. This nearly identical ratio across presets strongly indicates that the RTX 4060 is the sole limiting component at higher resolutions. The 128-bit memory bus and 272.0 GB/s bandwidth appear to be the constraining factors, as the frame rate roughly halves when the pixel count quadruples, which is expected for a bandwidth-limited GPU.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700KF is a 12-core, 20-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel’s 10 nm process. Its base clock is 3.60 GHz with a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. The CPU has a 25 MB shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 per core, with 80 KB L1 per core. It supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration. The processor is unlocked for overclocking and has a TDP of 125 W. In the benchmark database, the i7-12700KF sits at the 85th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35365.

In Dave The Diver, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with enough data to maintain high frame rates. The 1080p Low result of 231 FPS demonstrates that the CPU is not a bottleneck at lower resolutions. The single-thread performance, as measured by 3dmark_single_thread (1043) and cinebench_r23_singlecore (4071), is strong enough to handle the game’s logic and draw calls. The multi-threaded capabilities, shown by cinebench_r23_multicore (28838) and 3dmark_max_threads (9983), provide ample headroom for background tasks and any game engine threads that scale beyond a few cores.

The nearest rivals to the i7-12700KF in the database are the Intel Core i7-13700T (0.1% higher score) and the Intel Core i5-13600T (0.2% lower score). The i7-12700K is essentially tied at 0.2% higher. This indicates that the 12700KF is positioned among the top-tier consumer CPUs for this generation. For Dave The Diver, the CPU’s high boost clock of 5.00 GHz is likely more important than its core count, as the game appears to be GPU-bound at most settings. The data shows no scenario where the CPU limits performance; even at 1080p with Ultra settings, the frame rate is 153 FPS, which is well below the CPU’s capability ceiling.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-12700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 ranks 2003 out of 3710 tested combos in Dave The Diver. This puts it in the 46th percentile of all combinations, meaning slightly less than half of the tested systems perform better. Given that the RTX 4060 is a mid-range GPU (61st percentile) and the i7-12700KF is a high-end CPU (85th percentile), the combo’s rank is primarily constrained by the GPU. The CPU’s strong benchmark scores do not translate into a higher combo rank because the game is not CPU-intensive.

The rank of 2003 indicates that there are many systems with more powerful GPUs that achieve higher frame rates, particularly at 4K where the RTX 4060’s memory bandwidth becomes a limiting factor. However, the measured FPS data shows that this combo delivers excellent playability in absolute terms. At 1440p, the average FPS across all presets is between 115 and 174, which is well above the 60 FPS standard. At 1080p, the averages range from 153 to 231, making this combo ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors. The ranking is a relative measure, and the absolute performance is what matters for gameplay. The data suggests that this combo is well-balanced for 1080p and 1440p gaming, with 4K being playable but not optimal on Ultra settings. The 46th percentile ranking reflects the GPU’s mid-range position rather than any deficiency in the CPU, which is clearly capable of supporting far more powerful graphics cards.