Dave The Diver

Dave The Diver presents a straightforward scalability curve for the Intel Core i5-14600K paired with the Intel Arc B570, with the measured data showing a clear progression from 4K to 1080p across all four settings presets. The benchmark results indicate that this combination is most comfortable at 1440p, where even the Ultra preset maintains a playable average, while 4K demands careful preset selection to stay within smooth frame rates.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows show that the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience across all resolutions, particularly because it is the only settings level that includes both minimum and maximum FPS data points. At 3840x2160, Medium produces an average of 70 FPS with a minimum of 60 FPS and a maximum of 81 FPS, indicating a stable frame pacing that avoids the stutter-prone territory of the Ultra preset. The 60 FPS floor at Medium makes it the only 4K setting that guarantees a consistently playable experience, as the High preset drops to 63 FPS average without a recorded minimum, and Ultra falls to 55 FPS.

For users prioritizing higher frame rates, the Low preset at 2560x1440 delivers 125 FPS average, which is 31 FPS higher than High at the same resolution, showing that the preset scaling has a substantial impact on performance headroom. The 1080p Medium preset provides 139 FPS average with a minimum of 118 FPS, making it the recommended choice for high refresh rate displays where the extra frames over High (124 FPS) and the stability over Low (167 FPS but no minimum data) justify the middle ground. The Ultra preset is only advisable at 1080p, where it reaches 110 FPS average, though the data does not include minimum FPS for this configuration, leaving some uncertainty about frame consistency.

The optimal experience per the measured rows is the Medium preset at 2560x1440, which combines a 105 FPS average with a documented minimum of 89 FPS and maximum of 121 FPS, offering the best ratio of visual quality to smoothness without pushing the hardware to its limits.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570 brings 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus with 380.0 GB/s bandwidth, specifications that directly influence the 4K results in Dave The Diver. The GPU’s memory configuration appears sufficient for the game’s demands at 4K, as the High preset still achieves 63 FPS average, but the 55 FPS Ultra result suggests that the 10 GB capacity and bandwidth are the limiting factors when texture quality and effects are maximized. The B570’s 2304 shading units and 80 ROPs, combined with a 200.0 GPixel/s pixel rate, provide the raw throughput needed for the game’s 2D-heavy visual style, though the 11.52 TFLOPS FP32 compute shows its limits at higher settings.

Clock speeds are locked at a flat 2500 MHz for both base and boost, which means the GPU does not rely on thermal or power headroom to increase performance during demanding scenes. This constant clock behavior is reflected in the measured FPS scaling, where the difference between Low and Ultra at each resolution is consistent — 29 FPS at 4K (84 to 55), 42 FPS at 1440p (125 to 83), and 57 FPS at 1080p (167 to 110). The GPU’s 150 W TDP and PCIe 4.0 x8 interface suggest that system integration is straightforward, and the data shows no signs of bandwidth bottlenecks, as the frame rate drops are proportional to resolution increases rather than sudden cliffs.

The B570’s benchmark percentile of 65 versus all GPUs places it in the mid-range tier, and its nearest rival comparisons show it performing nearly identically to the Intel Arc A750 with only a -0.1% delta, indicating that this Battlemage generation offers comparable rasterization performance to its predecessor despite architectural changes.

Resolution Scaling

The measured data shows a predictable resolution scaling pattern, with the Arc B570’s performance degrading by roughly 25-30% when moving from 1440p to 4K across most settings. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 94 at 2560x1440 to 63 at 3840x2160, a 33% reduction that aligns with the increased pixel count of 2.25x, indicating that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K. The Low preset shows a similar trend, falling from 125 FPS at 1440p to 84 FPS at 4K, a 32.8% decrease that confirms the scaling is consistent regardless of settings.

The transition from 1080p to 1440p is less punishing, with High settings dropping from 124 to 94 FPS (24.2% reduction), suggesting that the CPU still has headroom to feed the GPU at these resolutions. The Medium preset’s minimum FPS data provides additional insight: at 1080p the minimum is 118 FPS, at 1440p it is 89 FPS, and at 4K it is 60 FPS, showing a nearly linear relationship between resolution and frame floor. This pattern indicates that the game is GPU-bound at all resolutions above 1080p, while the 1080p results may begin to show CPU limitations, particularly at Low settings where 167 FPS average approaches the limits of what the i5-14600K can sustain in this title.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-14600K with Intel Arc B570 combination ranks 2282 out of 2867 tested combos in Dave The Diver, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database at roughly the 79.6th percentile of all configurations. This ranking reflects a pairing where the GPU is the limiting component, as the CPU’s standalone benchmark percentile of 90 versus all CPUs is substantially higher than the GPU’s 65 percentile versus all GPUs. The combo rank suggests that while this system can play Dave The Diver at all tested resolutions and settings, many other combinations achieve higher frame rates, particularly those with more powerful GPUs paired with mid-range CPUs.

The data indicates that the i5-14600K is not the constraint in this pairing, as evidenced by the CPU’s nearest rival comparisons showing it outperforms the AMD EPYC 4345P by 0.3% and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX by 0.7% in average benchmark scores. The GPU’s rival comparisons show the B570 performing within 0.5% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile and within 0.1% of the Intel Arc A750, placing it in a competitive mid-range tier that explains the overall combo ranking. Users seeking higher rankings would need to pair this CPU with a GPU in a higher percentile bracket, as the current combination leaves CPU performance on the table at lower resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K provides 14 cores and 20 threads with a 3.50 GHz base clock and 5.30 GHz boost clock, specifications that are more than adequate for Dave The Diver’s demands. The CPU’s Raptor Lake architecture with 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB L2 per core ensures that game logic and asset streaming are handled without becoming a bottleneck, as evidenced by the frame rate scaling at 1080p where the GPU is pushed to 167 FPS at Low settings. The single-core performance, measured at 2064 in Cinebench R23, is critical for this title’s simulation and event-driven gameplay, and the 5.30 GHz boost clock provides the headroom needed for consistent frame delivery.

The benchmark results show the i5-14600K achieving a 90th percentile ranking versus all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 48618 that places it just 0.2% below the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H and 0.7% above the Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX. In the context of Dave The Diver, the CPU’s 14 cores are likely underutilized given the game’s relatively light threading requirements, but the high boost clock ensures that single-threaded performance does not limit the GPU. The data shows that at 4K resolutions, the CPU role diminishes further, as the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck, but at 1080p Low settings, the 167 FPS average suggests the CPU is still capable of feeding the B570 without significant frame pacing issues.

The integrated UHD Graphics 770 is present but irrelevant for this discrete GPU configuration, and the CPU’s support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory with dual-channel bus provides flexibility for system builders, though memory bandwidth is not listed as a limiting factor in the measured results.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the measured averages are 84 FPS on Low, 70 FPS on Medium, 63 FPS on High, and 55 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset is the only 4K configuration with full FPS data, showing a minimum of 60 FPS and maximum of 81 FPS, which provides a 21 FPS variance that indicates moderate frame fluctuation during intense scenes.

At 2560x1440, the averages scale from 125 FPS on Low, 105 FPS on Medium, 94 FPS on High, to 83 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset again provides the only complete dataset at this resolution, with a minimum of 89 FPS and maximum of 121 FPS, resulting in a 32 FPS variance that shows more pronounced swings than at 4K.

At 1920x1080, the averages are 167 FPS on Low, 139 FPS on Medium, 124 FPS on High, and 110 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset’s minimum of 118 FPS and maximum of 160 FPS creates a 42 FPS variance, the largest of any resolution, suggesting that CPU-side frame delivery becomes more variable when the GPU has more headroom. The scaling from Low to Ultra at each resolution is consistent: 29 FPS at 4K, 42 FPS at 1440p, and 57 FPS at 1080p, showing that preset selection has a larger absolute impact at lower resolutions where the GPU is less saturated.

FAQ

Q: What is the best 4K setting for this combo?

A: The Medium preset at 3840x2160 delivers a 70 FPS average with a 60 FPS minimum and 81 FPS maximum, making it the only 4K setting with a documented frame floor above 60 FPS. The Ultra preset falls to 55 FPS average, which may feel less smooth.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in Dave The Diver?

A: The GPU is the limiting component, as shown by the combo ranking of 2282 out of 2867 and the GPU’s 65th percentile versus all GPUs, compared to the CPU’s 90th percentile. The 1080p Low result of 167 FPS average suggests the CPU can push further, but the B570 tops out at these frame rates.

Q: How does the Arc B570 compare to the Arc A750 in this context?

A: The B570’s average benchmark score is 20556, which is 0.1% lower than the Arc A750’s 20582, indicating nearly identical rasterization performance. This close margin explains why the B570 does not dramatically alter the combo’s ranking in Dave The Diver.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1440p with High settings?

A: The measured data shows a 94 FPS average at 2560x1440 with High settings. This is 31 FPS lower than Low settings (125 FPS) and 11 FPS higher than Ultra settings (83 FPS), placing High as a middle-ground option.

Q: Does the Medium preset provide stable frame times?

A: The Medium preset is the only setting with complete minimum and maximum FPS data at all three resolutions, showing a 21 FPS variance at 4K, 32 FPS at 1440p, and 42 FPS at 1080p. This suggests stability decreases as resolution drops, but the 60 FPS minimum at 4K ensures no drops below playable thresholds.

Q: How does this CPU rank against its closest competitors?

A: The i5-14600K’s average benchmark score of 48618 places it 0.2% below the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H and 0.3% above the AMD EPYC 4345P. It also outperforms the Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX by 0.7%, showing that the 14th Gen architecture remains competitive in synthetic benchmarks.