Dave The Diver

Dave The Diver is an adventure title that, on the surface, does not demand the absolute pinnacle of PC hardware. However, the measured data for the Intel Core i7-12700KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 tells a story of overwhelming performance headroom. This combination is not about struggling to hit playable frame rates; it is about obliterating the concept of a frame rate ceiling. The CPU, with its 12 cores and 20 threads, provides a robust foundation, while the GPU, with its massive memory pool and high clock speeds, ensures that visual fidelity is rarely a bottleneck. The benchmark results show a system that is ready for any current display, from high-refresh-rate 1080p panels to demanding 4K monitors.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i7-12700KF is a 12-core, 20-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture. It operates with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. This configuration places it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs benchmarked, indicating it is a high-performing part. In synthetic tests like Cinebench R23, it scores 28,979 points in multi-core and 4,091 points in single-core, demonstrating a strong balance between heavily threaded workloads and tasks that rely on single-thread speed. This is further supported by a PassMark single-thread score of 3,984.

For a game like Dave The Diver, which is not known for rendering massive open worlds with hundreds of AI entities, the CPU's job is relatively light. The data shows that at 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 420.3 FPS. This incredibly high frame rate suggests that the Core i7-12700KF is more than capable of feeding the RTX 4090 with data. The processor's performance is close to that of the Intel Core i5-14400, which has an average benchmark score of 35,336, a mere 0.1% difference. This indicates that within this performance class, the i7-12700KF offers competitive processing power, ensuring that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this pairing.

How This Combo Ranks

When combined with the RTX 4090, this pairing ranks 36th out of 1,626 tested combinations in Dave The Diver. This places it in the top 2.2% of all systems tested, a position that reflects the sheer power of the components involved. This rank is not just about high average frame rates; it is about consistency across all settings and resolutions. The data shows that even at the most demanding settings (4K Ultra), the system maintains an average of 150.6 FPS, which is exceptionally smooth. This high ranking reflects the synergies between the 12-core CPU and the top-tier GPU. The system is not just fast; it is uniformly fast, avoiding the dips that can plague less balanced configurations. This makes it an ideal choice for users who want a definitive, no-compromise experience in this title.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals how the workload shifts between components. At 1080p with High settings, the system produces 338.3 FPS. Moving to 1440p, the average drops to 252 FPS, a reduction of about 25.5%. At 4K, the average falls to 167.6 FPS, which is a 50.5% drop from the 1080p figure. This pattern indicates that while the CPU is strong, the GPU is taking on an increasingly significant role as resolution increases. The 1080p results, particularly the 420.3 FPS at Low settings, showcase the CPU's ability to push frames at lower resolutions where the GPU is less strained. However, the steady decline in frame rates as resolution scales up is a clear sign that the RTX 4090 is being tasked with more work. The GPU is the primary driver of performance at higher resolutions, and its capabilities determine the final output.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The data provides a clear picture of performance across four presets and three resolutions.

At 1920x1080, the system is exceptionally fast. With Low settings, it achieves 420.3 FPS. Moving to Medium yields 379.3 FPS, and High produces 338.3 FPS. At Ultra settings, the average is still a blistering 298.8 FPS. This resolution is clearly CPU-bound in the sense that the processor can deliver frames faster than the GPU can render them, but the GPU is still powerful enough to produce well over 300 FPS on high presets.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain extremely high. Low settings result in 337.4 FPS. Medium drops to 283.4 FPS, and High is at 252 FPS. Even at Ultra, the system maintains a 222.6 FPS average. This resolution is a sweet spot for high refresh rate gaming, as the system has no trouble maxing out most monitors.

At 3840x2160, the performance is still excellent. Low settings produce 229.3 FPS. Medium settings yield 191.7 FPS, and High settings provide 167.6 FPS. At Ultra, the average is 150.6 FPS. This is the most demanding scenario, and the system still delivers a fluid experience that exceeds the refresh rate of most standard 4K displays.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is a behemoth of a graphics card. It is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture and features 24 GB of GDDR6X memory. Its boost clock is rated at 2520 MHz, and it has a huge 384-bit memory bus that provides a bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s. This immense memory bandwidth is crucial for high-resolution textures and complex scenes. The GPU's raw compute power is reflected in its PassMark G3D score of 38,194 and its FP32 performance of 82.58 TFLOPS. This places it in the 91st percentile of all GPUs.

In Dave The Diver, the GPU's role is to handle the visual fidelity. The data shows that as settings increase from Low to Ultra, there is a consistent performance cost. At 4K, the difference between Low (229.3 FPS) and Ultra (150.6 FPS) is 78.7 FPS. This indicates that the GPU is being strained by the higher quality effects, though it still manages to produce excellent results. The RTX 4090's performance is so high that even its nearest rivals in the database, such as the NVIDIA Tesla T4, are not gaming-focused cards and show a negligible 0.4% difference in average benchmark score, which does not reflect real-world gaming performance. This GPU is a top-tier part that ensures Dave The Diver looks its best without sacrificing smoothness.

Settings Recommendations

Given the measured data, the best experience in Dave The Diver is achieved with the Ultra preset at any resolution. The system is so powerful that it can handle the highest visual quality without dropping below 150 FPS, even at 4K. This makes the Ultra preset the clear choice for users who want the best-looking game.

At 1080p, the Ultra preset delivers 298.8 FPS, which is more than any monitor can display. The lower presets offer even higher frame rates, but they are unnecessary for a smooth experience. The Ultra preset will provide the richest visual detail, which is more valuable than the additional frames.

At 1440p, the Ultra preset hits 222.6 FPS. This is an ideal scenario for high-refresh-rate monitors with refresh rates of 144Hz or 240Hz. The system is not only hitting the target but exceeding it, ensuring that the experience is consistently fluid.

At 4K, the Ultra preset still produces an average of 150.6 FPS. This is well above the 60 FPS target for a standard 4K TV or monitor and even exceeds the 120Hz refresh rate of many high-end displays. The High preset at 4K offers 167.6 FPS, which is a 17 FPS improvement, but the visual fidelity loss may not be worth it for most users. The data shows that the RTX 4090 is so capable that the Ultra preset provides the best balance of image quality and performance across the board.