Dave The Diver

Dave The Diver, a 2023 adventure title, presents an unusual hardware challenge: the measured data shows that the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus paired with the Intel Arc B390 lands at rank 3295 out of 3710 tested combos for this game. This places the combination in the lower 11% of all systems, a position driven almost entirely by the GPU. While the Ultra 9 290K Plus is a top-tier processor with a 96th percentile ranking among all CPUs, the Arc B390's integrated graphics solution, which sits at the 9th percentile among all GPUs, becomes the definitive bottleneck. The benchmark results indicate that this system is only suitable for lower resolutions and settings, and even then, it struggles to deliver a consistently smooth experience.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience, the data clearly points to the Low preset at 1920x1080 resolution. This configuration yields an average of 108 FPS, which is the only measured combination that breaks the 100 FPS barrier. While the Medium preset at 1080p offers a more visually appealing 91 FPS average, the 17 FPS drop from Low to Medium is significant. The performance cost of moving from Low to Medium is steep, and the system lacks the headroom to absorb it without falling below the ideal 100+ FPS threshold. For players who prioritize a fluid, responsive experience over visual fidelity, Low at 1080p is the only settings combination that provides a truly comfortable margin.

At 2560x1440, the options become more constrained. The Low preset delivers an average of 82 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for fast-paced action. The High preset at this resolution drops to 61 FPS, which may still be acceptable for a slower-paced adventure game, but it represents a 21 FPS penalty compared to Low. The Ultra preset at 1440p is not viable, with an average of just 54 FPS. The data suggests that 1440p should only be considered with the Low preset, and even then, the system is pushing its limits. The jump to 3840x2160 is not recommended for any setting. The best-case scenario at 4K is the Low preset, which produces an average of only 55 FPS, falling short of a consistent 60 FPS target and indicating a poor experience overall.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Dave The Diver at 4K resolution?

A: Technically yes, but the experience is suboptimal. The highest average FPS at 3840x2160 is 55 FPS on the Low preset. The High preset yields 41 FPS, and the Ultra preset drops to 36 FPS. None of these averages reach the 60 FPS standard for a smooth experience, and the 4K Medium preset shows a minimum FPS of 39, indicating notable frame drops.

Q: What is the ideal resolution for this CPU-GPU combo?

A: The benchmark results indicate that 1920x1080 is the only resolution where the system can consistently deliver high frame rates. At 1080p, even the Ultra preset maintains an average of 72 FPS, while the Low preset achieves 108 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 or 3840x2160 results in significant performance degradation across all settings.

Q: How does the Arc B390's performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Intel Arc B390 has an average benchmark score of 1482. Its closest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, has a score of 1463, making the Arc B390 1.3% faster. It is also 1.5% faster than the GeForce 800M and 2.5% faster than the GeForce GT 625 OEM. These are all extremely low-end GPUs, and the data shows the B390 is only marginally better than them.

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus a bottleneck in this game?

A: No, the data indicates the opposite. The CPU has a 96th percentile ranking among all CPUs and an average benchmark score of 84003. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, has a score of 83807, which is 0.2% lower. The processor's performance is far beyond what is required for this game, meaning the integrated GPU is the sole limiting factor.

Q: What is the performance difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 108 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 72 FPS. This represents a 36 FPS drop, or a 33% reduction in frame rate, for the maximum visual quality settings. The Medium preset sits in between at 91 FPS, showing a clear performance hierarchy for each step up in settings.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is the central performance constraint for Dave The Diver. This is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) with a 9th percentile ranking among all GPUs, and its benchmark results confirm its entry-level positioning. It has a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz. The GPU's memory is "System Shared," meaning it relies on the system's DDR5 RAM rather than dedicated video memory. Its memory bandwidth is therefore "System Dependent," and its overall performance is heavily tied to the rest of the system's memory configuration.

The Arc B390's compute capabilities are modest, with 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 render output units. It also includes 12 ray tracing cores, but given its overall low performance, these are unlikely to provide a meaningful benefit in this title. The GPU's raw processing power is rated at 7.680 TFLOPS for FP32 operations. The measured frame rates in Dave The Diver directly reflect this limited hardware. The data shows that the GPU is unable to maintain high frame rates at higher resolutions, with the average FPS falling from 108 at 1080p Low to just 36 at 4K Ultra. This pattern is a classic sign of a GPU that is saturated by the rendering workload, particularly as pixel count increases.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of the system's capabilities across three resolutions and four quality presets. At 1920x1080, the system performs best. The Low preset achieves an average of 108 FPS, the Medium preset averages 91 FPS with a minimum of 77 and a maximum of 104, the High preset averages 81 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 72 FPS. All 1080p presets produce averages above 70 FPS, which is a playable range for this genre.

Moving to 2560x1440, there is a clear performance drop. The Low preset is the only option that remains comfortable, with an average of 82 FPS. The Medium preset averages 68 FPS, with a minimum of 58 and a maximum of 78, showing that it can dip below the 60 FPS threshold. The High preset averages 61 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls to 54 FPS. The step from 1080p to 1440p costs the system roughly 24-27% of its performance, depending on the preset.

At 3840x2160, the system is clearly out of its depth. The Low preset produces the highest average at 55 FPS, but this is still below the 60 FPS target. The Medium preset averages 46 FPS, with a minimum of 39 FPS. The High preset averages 41 FPS, and the Ultra preset is nearly unplayable at an average of 36 FPS. The data shows that the Arc B390 cannot handle the pixel throughput required for 4K gaming, resulting in a consistently poor experience regardless of the quality settings chosen.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data reveals a significant scaling penalty as resolution increases. Comparing the Low preset, the system delivers 108 FPS at 1080p, 82 FPS at 1440p, and 55 FPS at 4K. This represents a 24% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 33% drop from 1440p to 4K. The overall decline from 1080p to 4K is a 49% reduction in average frame rate.

This pattern indicates that the limiting component is the GPU's fill rate and shading capacity. As the resolution increases, the number of pixels that need to be processed grows exponentially. The Arc B390, with its modest 24 ROPs and 7.680 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, is quickly overwhelmed. The CPU's performance remains constant across resolutions, so the bottleneck is squarely on the graphics processor. The 4K results, where even the Low preset fails to hit 60 FPS, are a clear indication that the GPU has hit a hard performance wall that cannot be overcome by reducing graphical settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus plays a minimal role in determining the frame rates for Dave The Diver. This processor is a high-end desktop part with 24 cores and 24 threads, based on the Arrow Lake Refresh architecture. It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.80 GHz. Its performance is exceptional, evidenced by a 96th percentile ranking among all CPUs and an average benchmark score of 84003. In synthetic tests, it scores 51731 points in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 7303 points in single-core.

The CPU's nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, has an average score of 83807, making the 290K Plus 0.2% faster. Other rivals, such as the AMD EPYC 4584PX and EPYC 9135, have lower scores of 83090 and 82980, respectively, putting them 1.1% and 1.2% behind. This processor provides an immense amount of compute headroom for a game like Dave The Diver, which is not heavily multi-threaded. The benchmark results show that the CPU is never the limiting factor; the frame rates are consistently dictated by the GPU's performance. The system's rank of 3295 out of 3710 is a direct result of the GPU's low standing, not a reflection of the CPU's capabilities. In this configuration, the CPU's power is essentially untapped, waiting for a more capable graphics solution to utilize it.