Dave The Diver

# Dave The Diver — Intel Core Ultra 7 265 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070

This combination delivers strong performance across all tested resolutions, with the RTX 3070 and Core Ultra 7 265 pairing to keep frame rates well above playable thresholds even at 4K Ultra. The data shows a clear pattern where the GPU becomes the primary constraint as resolution increases, while the CPU's 20-core configuration provides ample headroom for the game's physics and simulation workloads. Across the full measured matrix, the combo achieves a rank of 1184 out of 2867 tested combinations, placing it in the upper portion of the database for this title.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a predictable but not perfectly linear scaling pattern across the three tested resolutions. At 1080p High, the combo produces 196 FPS average. Moving to 1440p High drops that to 147 FPS, a reduction of approximately 25%. Stepping up to 4K High yields 99 FPS, which is another 33% drop from the 1440p figure. This steepening decline as resolution increases is a classic sign of the GPU becoming the limiting factor at higher pixel counts.

The Low settings row illustrates the same trend more dramatically. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 262 FPS average. At 1440p Low, that falls to 197 FPS (a 25% decrease), and at 4K Low it reaches 132 FPS (a 33% drop from 1440p). The consistency of these percentage drops — roughly 25% from 1080p to 1440p and 33% from 1440p to 4K — suggests that the rendering pipeline is scaling predictably with pixel count, which points to the GPU as the primary bottleneck rather than any CPU-side limitation.

The Medium settings row provides additional granularity with min and max FPS values. At 1080p Medium, the average is 220 FPS with a minimum of 187 FPS and maximum of 252 FPS. At 1440p Medium, these figures shift to 165 average, 140 minimum, and 190 maximum. At 4K Medium, the average drops to 111 FPS with a 94 FPS minimum and 127 FPS maximum. The min-to-max spread narrows slightly as resolution increases, going from a 65 FPS range at 1080p to a 50 FPS range at 1440p and 33 FPS at 4K. This tightening of the frame time distribution at higher resolutions is consistent with the GPU being the constraining component — when the GPU is saturated, frame pacing becomes more consistent because there is less CPU-side variance injecting into the pipeline.

Ultra settings show the heaviest scaling penalty. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 173 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 130 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it reaches 87 FPS. The relative drops from 1080p to 1440p and 1440p to 4K are 25% and 33% respectively, mirroring the pattern seen across all settings levels. This uniform scaling behavior strongly indicates that the game's rendering load at higher resolutions is dominated by GPU work, and the Core Ultra 7 265 is not introducing any measurable CPU-side constraint even at the lowest resolution where the GPU has the least work to do.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data suggests that the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience across all three resolutions, particularly when considering the min FPS values that indicate frame pacing stability. At 1080p Medium, the 220 FPS average with a 187 FPS minimum provides a very smooth experience, and the 252 FPS maximum shows there is headroom for occasional bursts of activity. The difference between Medium and High at 1080p is 24 FPS (220 versus 196), which is a modest penalty for the visual upgrade that High typically provides.

At 1440p, the choice becomes more consequential. Medium delivers 165 FPS average with a 140 FPS minimum, while High drops to 147 FPS average. The 18 FPS gap between Medium and High at this resolution is smaller than the 24 FPS gap at 1080p, suggesting that the GPU is beginning to feel the pixel-count pressure. Ultra at 1440p drops to 130 FPS average, which is still playable but represents a 35 FPS deficit from Medium. For users prioritizing consistent frame delivery, Medium at 1440p appears to be the sweet spot.

At 4K, the settings ladder compresses further. Medium produces 111 FPS average with a 94 FPS minimum, while High yields 99 FPS and Ultra drops to 87 FPS. The 12 FPS difference between Medium and High at 4K is the smallest gap in the entire measured matrix, and the 24 FPS difference between Medium and Ultra is also the tightest spread. This compression at 4K indicates that the RTX 3070's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are becoming the limiting factors, and the visual quality differences between presets are not translating into as large a performance delta as they do at lower resolutions. The 94 FPS minimum at 4K Medium is the key data point — it shows that even in demanding scenes, the combo stays above 90 FPS, which is a strong result for a 4K panel at Medium settings.

GPU Role

The RTX 3070's role in these results is defined by its memory configuration and clock behavior. With 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, the card delivers 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The base clock of 1500 MHz and boost clock of 1725 MHz are the key frequency figures, and the memory runs at 1750 MHz with 14 Gbps effective data rate. These specifications place the card in the 61st percentile among all GPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 17208.

The GPU's nearest rivals in the database provide context for its positioning. The AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT scores 17083, which is 0.7% behind the RTX 3070. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 scores 17037, 1% behind. The AMD Radeon HD 7970M scores 17019, 1.1% behind. The NVIDIA Tesla K40c scores 17468, which is 1.5% ahead. This tight cluster of scores shows that the RTX 3070 sits in a well-populated performance band, and its 8 GB memory capacity is a defining characteristic for this game at 4K.

The 4K Ultra result of 87 FPS average is notable given the 8 GB memory constraint. Dave The Diver is not a memory-intensive title by modern standards, and the fact that the card manages 87 FPS at 4K Ultra suggests that the game's texture and geometry loads fit within the 8 GB frame buffer without causing severe swapping. The 4K Medium result of 111 FPS with a 94 FPS minimum further confirms that the GPU has sufficient memory headroom for this game's workloads. The data does not show any signs of memory-related stutter or frame time spikes, as the min FPS values at Medium settings scale predictably with resolution rather than showing anomalous drops that would indicate memory pressure.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 4K Ultra with this combo?

A: The measured average FPS at 4K Ultra is 87 FPS, with no min or max values recorded for this specific configuration.

Q: How does the RTX 3070 compare to its nearest rival, the RX 7600 XT?

A: The RTX 3070 has an average benchmark score of 17208, which is 0.7% ahead of the RX 7600 XT's 17083 score in the database.

Q: What is the largest FPS drop between resolutions for the same settings?

A: The drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings is 130 FPS (from 262 to 132), while at Ultra settings the drop is 86 FPS (from 173 to 87).

Q: Are the min FPS values available for all settings?

A: No, min and max FPS values are only recorded for Medium settings at each resolution: 187/252 at 1080p, 140/190 at 1440p, and 94/127 at 4K.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested configurations in this game?

A: The combo ranks 1184 out of 2867 total tested combinations, placing it in the upper portion of the database.

Q: Does the data show any CPU-related frame pacing issues?

A: No. The min FPS values at Medium settings scale predictably with resolution, and the FPS deltas between settings are consistent, indicating no CPU-side constraint.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 brings a 20-core, 20-thread configuration to this pairing, with a base clock of 2.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 30 MB of shared L3 cache. This is an Arrow Lake-S architecture part built on a 3 nm process from TSMC, with 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die. The CPU supports DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration with 102.4 GB/s of bandwidth.

In the database, the Core Ultra 7 265 sits in the 93rd percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 64640. Its nearest rivals are tightly clustered: the AMD EPYC 4464P scores 64823 (0.3% ahead), the Intel Core Ultra 7 265F scores 64438 (0.3% behind), the AMD EPYC 7343 scores 64202 (0.7% behind), and the AMD EPYC 9124 scores 65104 (0.7% ahead). This grouping shows that the 265 is positioned in a dense competitive band at the top of the CPU performance curve.

The measured FPS data reveals that the CPU's role in this game is largely to stay out of the way. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 262 FPS average, which is a high enough frame rate that any CPU bottleneck would typically manifest as a plateau or inconsistency. The fact that FPS continues to scale smoothly from Low to Medium to High to Ultra at 1080p — 262, 220, 196, 173 — indicates that the CPU is not limiting the GPU's output at any settings level. The 20 cores and 20 threads provide substantial parallel processing capacity, and while Dave The Diver may not utilize all of them, the headroom ensures that background threads and game logic do not interfere with frame rendering.

The single-thread performance of 5960 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 4689 in Passmark single-thread suggests strong per-core capability, which is relevant for a game that likely has a primary simulation thread. The boost clock of 5.30 GHz provides the raw frequency needed for such workloads. The data shows no evidence of CPU-induced frame drops; the min FPS values at Medium settings are 94 FPS at 4K, 140 FPS at 1440p, and 187 FPS at 1080p, all of which are well above what would indicate a CPU stall scenario.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS matrix for this combo across all tested configurations is as follows. At 1920x1080, the Low preset produces 262 FPS average, Medium produces 220 FPS average with a 187 FPS minimum and 252 FPS maximum, High produces 196 FPS average, and Ultra produces 173 FPS average. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 89 FPS, which is the largest gap of any resolution, indicating that the GPU has enough headroom at this resolution to fully express the performance cost of each settings tier.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset delivers 197 FPS average, Medium delivers 165 FPS average with a 140 FPS minimum and 190 FPS maximum, High delivers 147 FPS average, and Ultra delivers 130 FPS average. The Low-to-Ultra spread narrows to 67 FPS at this resolution, a 22 FPS reduction from the 1080p spread. This compression is consistent with the GPU becoming more constrained as pixel count increases, reducing the relative cost difference between settings tiers.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset produces 132 FPS average, Medium produces 111 FPS average with a 94 FPS minimum and 127 FPS maximum, High produces 99 FPS average, and Ultra produces 87 FPS average. The Low-to-Ultra spread at 4K is 45 FPS, which is 44 FPS narrower than the 1080p spread. This progressive narrowing of the settings performance gap as resolution increases is a textbook indicator of GPU-bound scaling. The data also shows that the Medium preset's min FPS values track proportionally with resolution — 187 at 1080p, 140 at 1440p, and 94 at 4K — which represents a consistent 25% drop per resolution step.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo achieves a rank of 1184 out of 2867 tested combinations in Dave The Diver, placing it in the 59th percentile of all tested configs. Given that the CPU sits in the 93rd percentile among all CPUs and the GPU sits in the 61st percentile among all GPUs, this game-specific rank of 1184/2867 is somewhat lower than the CPU's percentile would suggest, but consistent with the GPU being the more limiting component for this title.

The ranking context matters when interpreting the FPS data. The fact that this combo ranks in the upper-middle of the database while delivering 87 FPS at 4K Ultra indicates that many higher-ranked combos are likely pairing stronger GPUs with similar or weaker CPUs, and the game is responsive to GPU upgrades. The CPU's 93rd percentile ranking suggests that it is not the binding constraint in most scenarios, and users considering upgrades would likely see larger FPS gains from a GPU upgrade than a CPU upgrade based on this game's scaling behavior.

The rank of 1184 out of 2867 also provides context for the 4K Medium result of 111 FPS. This is a strong result for a GPU in the 61st percentile, and the fact that the combo ranks where it does suggests that the game is not particularly demanding by modern standards. The data shows a combos that performs well above the median for this title, with the CPU providing ample headroom and the GPU delivering solid frame rates even at the most demanding settings.