Dave The Diver

Dave The Diver is a light adventure title that, on this Intel Core i5-14400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 combination, delivers frame rates high enough to make the settings menu a matter of preference rather than necessity. Even at 4K Ultra, the system holds an average of 83.5 FPS, meaning there is no resolution or preset in the measured data where this pairing becomes unplayable. The real question is what you want from the experience: maximum smoothness or maximum visual polish, and the data provides clear guidance for both.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows show diminishing returns as you climb the preset ladder, but the cost of climbing is low enough that the Ultra preset is the default recommendation for most users. At 4K, the difference between Low and Ultra is 38 FPS (121.5 down to 83.5), which is a substantial drop, but 83.5 FPS is still well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth play. At 1440p, Ultra delivers 121.7 FPS, which is high enough for fast-paced diving sequences and leaves headroom for streaming or background tasks. At 1080p, even Ultra produces 163.6 FPS, which exceeds the refresh rate of most standard monitors.

If you prioritize frame rate above all else, the Low preset is the clear choice. The jump from Low to Medium at 1080p costs 42.6 FPS (246.9 down to 204.3), while the jump from Medium to High costs another 20.4 FPS (204.3 down to 183.9). The High preset sits in a sensible middle ground: it offers a significant visual upgrade over Low while still maintaining 183.9 FPS at 1080p and 135.6 FPS at 1440p. For users with 144Hz monitors, High at 1440p is the sweet spot, as it stays above the refresh rate in the measured data. The Ultra preset is best reserved for 4K displays or for players who prefer visual fidelity over raw speed, since it remains playable at every resolution.

GPU Role

The RTX 5060 is the dominant component in this pairing, and the data reflects a GPU that is far from saturated by this game. The card features 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. With a boost clock of 2497 MHz and 3840 shading units, the card produces 19.18 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. These specs are more than adequate for Dave The Diver, which is not a graphically demanding title by modern standards.

The GPU's benchmark position reinforces this view. The RTX 5060 scores 20891 in Passmark G3D, placing it in the 73rd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT, scores 30097 in the same aggregate benchmark, a 0% difference, indicating that the two cards are effectively tied in general compute performance. The fact that this GPU is running Dave The Diver at 246.9 FPS on Low at 1080p suggests that the game is not pushing the card to its limits. The 8 GB VRAM is unlikely to be a bottleneck either, as the game's art style and scope do not suggest heavy texture or geometry loads. The measured frame rates scale predictably with resolution, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario, but the absolute numbers are so high that the GPU is never struggling.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep but consistent with what you would expect from a GPU-bound title. At Ultra settings, the average FPS falls from 163.6 at 1080p to 121.7 at 1440p, a 25.6% reduction, and then to 83.5 at 4K, a further 31.4% reduction from 1440p. This scaling indicates that the RTX 5060 is the limiting component at higher resolutions, as the CPU has ample headroom to feed the GPU.

At Low settings, the scaling is even more pronounced. The 1080p result of 246.9 FPS drops to 184.5 at 1440p (−25.3%) and then to 121.5 at 4K (−34.1%). The percentage drops are similar across presets, which suggests that the GPU is consistently the bottleneck, and that the CPU is not introducing a frame rate ceiling at any resolution. If the CPU were limiting performance, you would expect the 1080p numbers to plateau regardless of settings, but the data shows a clear 83.3 FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p, proving the GPU is doing the heavy lifting. The 4K Low result of 121.5 FPS is particularly telling: it shows that even at the highest resolution with the lightest settings, the GPU still has performance to spare.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RTX 5060 produces a spread of results that covers virtually every use case. The Low preset averages 246.9 FPS, which is suitable for competitive play or very high refresh rate displays. Medium drops to 204.3 FPS, still well above 144Hz. High averages 183.9 FPS, and Ultra averages 163.6 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 83.3 FPS, which is significant, but even the lowest number is far beyond what most monitors can display.

At 2560x1440, the results remain strong. Low averages 184.5 FPS, Medium averages 152.8 FPS, High averages 135.6 FPS, and Ultra averages 121.7 FPS. Every preset at this resolution clears the 120 FPS mark, making 1440p the ideal resolution for high-refresh gaming with this hardware. The drop from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 25-28% of the frame rate across all presets, which is a reasonable price for the added sharpness.

At 3840x2160, the data shows a playable but more demanding scenario. Low averages 121.5 FPS, Medium averages 103.7 FPS, High averages 94.8 FPS, and Ultra averages 83.5 FPS. The Ultra result is the only one below 90 FPS, but it remains smooth on a 60Hz or 120Hz display. The 4K Low result is particularly impressive, as it shows that the GPU can handle 4K resolution with ease when visual effects are turned down.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Dave The Diver at 4K 60 FPS?

A: Yes. The lowest 4K result in the data is 83.5 FPS on the Ultra preset, which is well above 60 FPS. The High preset averages 94.8 FPS, and even the Low preset averages 121.5 FPS, so 4K 60 FPS is achievable on every measured setting.

Q: What is the best preset for a 144Hz 1080p monitor?

A: The High preset is the safest choice, averaging 183.9 FPS at 1080p. The Medium preset averages 204.3 FPS, and Low averages 246.9 FPS, but High offers a better visual balance while still being far above the 144Hz refresh rate.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this game?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the limiting component. The i5-14400F has 10 cores and 16 threads with a boost clock of 4.70 GHz, and its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21914 places it in the 88th percentile of all CPUs. The frame rates scale consistently with resolution and settings, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound workload.

Q: How does the RTX 5060 compare to its nearest rival in general performance?

A: The RTX 5060 scores 30109 in its average benchmark, which is effectively identical to the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT's score of 30097, a 0% difference. The RTX 5070 Mobile is 0.6% ahead, while the other nearest rivals are within 0.5%.

Q: Does the game benefit from the CPU's 16 threads?

A: The game appears to be GPU-bound, so the CPU's thread count is unlikely to be a limiting factor. The i5-14400F's multi-threaded performance is strong, but this title does not seem to require it, as the GPU is the clear performance ceiling.

Q: What is the launch price of this CPU?

A: The Intel Core i5-14400F has a launch MSRP of $196. This is provided for reference only and does not reflect current market pricing.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F is a Raptor Lake-R part with 10 cores (6 performance and 4 efficient) and 16 threads, running at a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. It has 20 MB of shared L3 cache and supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory. In synthetic tests, it scores 21914 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 3093 in single-core, with a Passmark multi-thread score of 25783. These numbers place the CPU in the 88th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 32508.

The nearest rivals are all within a 0.2% delta of the i5-14400F. The Intel Core i7-12800H scores 32513 (0% difference), the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 scores 32446 (0.2% ahead), and the AMD Ryzen 7 250 scores 32584 (0.2% behind). This clustering suggests that the i5-14400F is performing exactly as expected for its class. In Dave The Diver, the CPU's role is to keep the GPU fed, and the data shows it does so without issue. The frame rates do not exhibit any signs of CPU limitation, such as a plateau at low settings or high resolutions. The 1080p Low result of 246.9 FPS is high enough to suggest that the CPU could support even higher frame rates if the GPU were faster, but with the RTX 5060, the pairing is well balanced. For this game, the i5-14400F is more than sufficient, and its 65W TDP means it will not create thermal challenges in most systems. The CPU's 20 MB of L3 cache and 10-core layout are more than adequate for a title that appears to be primarily GPU-bound, and the data confirms that the processor is not the limiting factor at any resolution or preset measured.