Dave The Diver

Dave The Diver is a 2D adventure title that proves even modest-looking games can stress a system when pushed to high refresh rates. The data for the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 combination shows a pairing that delivers exceptional frame rates across all tested resolutions, with the CPU rarely becoming a bottleneck. This analysis examines the measured FPS rows, component specifications, and ranking data to explain how this combo behaves in practice.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data for this combo reveals a clear hierarchy across the four tested presets at each resolution. At 1080p, the Low preset produces 319 FPS average, Medium delivers 267 FPS, High reaches 238 FPS, and Ultra drops to 211 FPS. All four presets are far above any practical refresh rate target, meaning players have complete freedom to choose based on visual preference rather than performance necessity. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 108 FPS, which represents a 34% performance penalty for maxing out graphical features.

At 1440p, the pattern shifts slightly. Low produces 240 FPS, Medium hits 201 FPS, High manages 179 FPS, and Ultra falls to 158 FPS. The relative ordering remains consistent, but the absolute differences compress compared to 1080p. The spread between Low and Ultra here is 82 FPS, or 34% slower at Ultra — a similar proportional drop to 1080p, indicating the GPU is starting to take on more load but still has ample headroom.

The 4K results are where the most interesting decisions emerge. At 3840x2160, Low produces 161 FPS, Medium achieves 135 FPS, High reaches 120 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 106 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K includes measured minimum and maximum values of 114 FPS and 155 FPS respectively, making it the only preset at any resolution with full min/max data. The minimum of 114 FPS at 4K Medium is still comfortably above 60 FPS, and the 135 FPS average means even demanding scenes will not dip below playable thresholds.

The best experience per the measured rows is the Medium preset at 1440p. This combination delivers a 201 FPS average with a measured minimum of 171 FPS and maximum of 231 FPS, providing both high refresh rate performance and a visual quality bump over Low. The 1440p Medium preset has the narrowest relative gap between minimum and average among all tested configurations, suggesting consistent frame pacing. For players with 144Hz or 165Hz displays, this preset will fully saturate the refresh rate without the visual sacrifices of Low. At 4K, the Medium preset at 135 FPS average is the recommended choice for high-refresh 4K displays, as it stays above 120 FPS on average while offering better image quality than Low. Ultra presets at any resolution are only advisable for players who prioritize maximum visual fidelity over frame rate, since the data shows even 4K Ultra maintains 106 FPS average — still playable but with a noticeable performance cost.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 is a 10-core, 10-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, built on a 3 nm process by TSMC. It has a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The L3 cache is 20 MB shared, and the CPU supports DDR5 memory across a dual-channel bus with 102.4 GB/s bandwidth.

In Dave The Diver, the CPU’s role is primarily to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic updates. The game’s 2D presentation and relatively simple geometry mean the CPU is not heavily taxed by complex physics or AI routines. The measured FPS data supports this: at 1080p Low, the combo reaches 319 FPS average, which is far beyond what most games achieve even with high-end hardware. This suggests the CPU is capable of pushing frame rates well above 300 FPS in this title when the GPU is not the limiting factor.

The Core Ultra 5 225’s single-thread performance, as indicated by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3655, is strong enough to handle the game’s main thread without becoming a bottleneck. The multi-core score of 25891 in the same test shows the 10 cores provide adequate parallel throughput for background tasks and engine subsystems. The Passmark single-thread score of 4412 and multithread score of 30459 further confirm that this processor sits in the upper tier of desktop CPUs, with a percentile ranking of 85th among all CPUs.

The nearest rivals in the benchmark database highlight how close the Ultra 5 225 is to other mid-range processors. The AMD Ryzen 5 5600F has an average benchmark score of 36945, which is a 0% delta from this CPU’s average of 36938. The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D scores 37018, representing a -0.2% difference, while the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 scores 37093 (-0.4%) and the Intel Core i9-12900T scores 37112 (-0.5%). These near-identical scores mean the Ultra 5 225 is effectively interchangeable with these rivals in CPU-bound scenarios, though the measured FPS data for Dave The Diver shows this combo specifically is rarely CPU-bound at the tested settings.

The lack of hyperthreading (10 cores, 10 threads) is notable, but the data shows it does not hinder performance in this game. At 1080p Low, the 319 FPS average indicates the CPU can sustain extremely high frame generation rates. The boost clock of 4.90 GHz provides the single-thread headroom needed for the game’s primary simulation loop, and the 20 MB L3 cache helps keep frequently accessed data close to the cores.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with the AD104 chip, manufactured on a 5 nm process by TSMC. It features 5888 shading units, 184 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, along with 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores. The GPU has 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The base clock is 1920 MHz with a boost clock of 2475 MHz, and the memory runs at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). The TDP is rated at 200 W, with a suggested PSU of 550 W.

In Dave The Diver, the GPU becomes the primary performance limiter as resolution increases. At 1080p, the GPU is not fully utilized at Low settings — the 319 FPS average suggests the CPU may be the limiting factor. But as resolution climbs to 1440p and 4K, the GPU’s workload grows, and the FPS drops accordingly. The data shows that moving from 1080p Low to 4K Low reduces the average FPS from 319 to 161, a 50% decrease. This scaling pattern is typical for a GPU with 12 GB of VRAM and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth — the memory subsystem and shading units are taxed more heavily at higher pixel counts.

The RTX 4070’s 12 GB VRAM is sufficient for Dave The Diver’s textures and effects at all tested settings, as evidenced by the absence of any stutter or performance collapse at 4K Ultra. The 106 FPS average at 4K Ultra suggests the GPU is managing the load without running out of memory. The pixel rate of 158.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 455.4 GTexel/s provide the throughput needed for the game’s sprite-based rendering and water effects.

The GPU’s benchmark scores place it in the 81st percentile among all GPUs. Its Passmark G3D score of 26927 and Geekbench Vulkan score of 174152 indicate strong DirectX 12 and Vulkan performance. The nearest rivals in the database show the RTX 4070 is closely matched with the NVIDIA Tesla P4 (0.1% delta), AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (0.4% delta), and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile (-1.3% delta). These comparisons are based on average benchmark scores, not game-specific performance, but they provide context for the GPU’s overall capability.

The RTX 4070’s boost clock of 2475 MHz is relatively high, and the 29.15 TFLOPS FP32 throughput gives it substantial raw compute power. In Dave The Diver, this translates to the ability to maintain high frame rates even at 4K, where the 120 FPS average at High settings is particularly impressive for a game with this visual style. The GPU’s end-of-life production status does not affect its measured performance, and the data confirms it is more than adequate for this title.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 combination ranks 611th out of 2867 tested combos in Dave The Diver. This places it in the top 21.3% of all configurations in the database, which is a strong result given that the CPU and GPU are both mid-range components rather than flagship hardware. The rank reflects the measured FPS performance across all resolutions and settings, with the combo’s ability to exceed 300 FPS at 1080p Low and maintain 106 FPS at 4K Ultra contributing to its high placement.

The combo rank of 611 suggests that many higher-end pairings (such as those with flagship GPUs or top-tier CPUs) do outperform this configuration, but the gap is not enormous given the price difference. The data shows that this combo is capable of delivering playable frame rates at every tested preset and resolution, which is the primary factor in its ranking. The rank also indicates that the balance between CPU and GPU is well matched — neither component is severely bottlenecking the other, as evidenced by the consistent FPS scaling across resolutions.

Compared to the CPU’s percentile rank of 85th and the GPU’s percentile rank of 81st among their respective categories, the combo rank of 611th out of 2867 (78.7th percentile) is slightly lower. This suggests that while each component is individually strong, the pairing does not unlock the absolute maximum potential in this specific game. However, the measured FPS data shows that any shortfall is only relevant at the extreme high end — the combo still produces 211 FPS at 1080p Ultra, which is far beyond what most displays can show.

The ranking also benefits from the game’s relatively low system requirements. Dave The Diver is not a graphically demanding title, so even mid-range hardware can achieve high frame rates. The 611th rank reflects this — many combos with weaker GPUs or CPUs still manage playable performance, but this particular pairing excels by maintaining high FPS at 4K, which pushes it ahead of configurations that struggle at higher resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data across resolutions reveals how the workload shifts between CPU and GPU. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 319 FPS average. Moving to 1440p Low drops this to 240 FPS, a 25% reduction. At 4K Low, the average falls to 161 FPS, another 33% reduction from 1440p. This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU is becoming the limiting factor as resolution increases, since the CPU has ample headroom to generate frames at these rates.

The High preset shows a similar trend: 238 FPS at 1080p, 179 FPS at 1440p (25% drop), and 120 FPS at 4K (33% drop from 1440p). The consistent percentage drops across presets suggest that the GPU’s shading and memory bandwidth are the primary constraints at higher resolutions. The 12 GB VRAM and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient, but the sheer number of pixels at 4K (3840x2160, over 8.3 million pixels) requires more work per frame.

At Medium settings, the measured min/max values provide additional insight. At 1080p Medium, the average is 267 FPS with a minimum of 227 FPS and maximum of 307 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 201 FPS with a minimum of 171 FPS and maximum of 231 FPS. At 4K Medium, the average is 135 FPS with a minimum of 114 FPS and maximum of 155 FPS. The minimum FPS values scale more steeply than averages — the 4K Medium minimum of 114 FPS is 50% lower than the 1080p Medium minimum of 227 FPS. This indicates that GPU-bound scenes at 4K cause more pronounced frame dips, though still well above playable thresholds.

The Ultra preset shows the steepest scaling: 211 FPS at 1080p, 158 FPS at 1440p, and 106 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is exactly half of the 1080p Ultra result, suggesting a linear relationship between pixel count and rendering time. This is a strong indicator that the GPU is the limiting component at Ultra settings, as the CPU’s performance does not change with resolution. The data supports the conclusion that Dave The Diver is GPU-bound at 4K for this combo, while at 1080p the CPU occasionally becomes the bottleneck, particularly at Low settings where the GPU has less work to do.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves in Dave The Diver?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 319 at 1080p with Low settings. This is the fastest result across all tested presets and resolutions.

Q: Can this combo maintain 60 FPS at 4K Ultra?

A: Yes. The measured average FPS at 4K Ultra is 106, which is well above 60 FPS. Even the minimum FPS at 4K Medium (114 FPS) exceeds 60 FPS, indicating consistent playability at 4K across all presets.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 has an average benchmark score of 36938, which is within 0.5% of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F (36945), AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D (37018), AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 (37093), and Intel Core i9-12900T (37112). The CPU ranks in the 85th percentile among all CPUs.

Q: What is the GPU’s VRAM capacity and how does it affect performance?

A: The RTX 4070 has 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus. The measured FPS data shows no VRAM-related stuttering or performance degradation at any resolution, including 4K Ultra, indicating that 12 GB is sufficient for this game.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 611th out of 2867 tested combos in Dave The Diver, placing it in the top 21.3% of all configurations. This rank is based on measured FPS performance across all tested resolutions and settings.

Q: Which preset provides the best balance of visual quality and performance?

A: The Medium preset at 1440p delivers a 201 FPS average with a minimum of 171 FPS, making it the best option for high-refresh displays. At 4K, the Medium preset at 135 FPS average is recommended for players who want quality without sacrificing frame rate.