Dave The Diver

Dave The Diver is an Adventure title that, based on the measured data, scales heavily with resolution and settings, and the pairing of an Intel Core i5-14600K with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 delivers a very wide performance envelope. At 1920x1080, the combination is capable of pushing frame rates well beyond the refresh rate of most high-end monitors, while at 3840x2160, it still maintains playable averages across all tested settings. The data suggests this is a balanced pairing where the CPU provides ample headroom for the GPU to operate, with the most significant performance swings occurring when adjusting the resolution and graphics presets.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K is a 14-core, 20-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, which positions it as a high-frequency part that can handle both lightly-threaded tasks and heavily parallel workloads. In the context of Dave The Diver, this processor’s high boost clock is likely a key factor in ensuring that the game’s simulation and logic threads are processed without becoming a bottleneck, even when frame rates are very high. The processor’s 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache provide a substantial amount of fast memory for game data, which helps maintain consistent performance.

The benchmark data for the CPU shows strong multi-threaded capability, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32881 and a single-core score of 4642. This indicates that the i5-14600K is not only capable of handling the parallel tasks present in a game but also excels in the single-threaded performance that often dictates frame pacing. Its PassMark multithread score of 38682 and single-thread score of 4270 further reinforce this position. In the broader context of all tested CPUs, this chip sits at the 93rd percentile, meaning it outperforms the vast majority of other processors in the database. When compared to its nearest rivals, the data shows it is functionally equivalent to the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, with a negligible average score delta of 0.2%. It also holds a slight edge over the Intel Core i5-14600KF, which is 0.4% slower on average, and it leads the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H by 1%. This suggests that the CPU’s performance in this game is more than sufficient, and it is unlikely to be the limiting factor in the measured frame rates.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is an Ampere-architecture GPU built on Samsung's 8 nm process, featuring 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, which provides a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. Its base clock is 1500 MHz with a boost clock of 1725 MHz, and it houses 5888 shading units alongside 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores. For a game like Dave The Diver, which appears to have moderate graphical demands, the RTX 3070’s 8 GB VRAM capacity is likely sufficient to handle all tested settings and resolutions without hitting memory limits, while its 20.31 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power ensures it can process the rendering workloads efficiently. The GPU’s pixel rate of 165.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 317.4 GTexel/s are strong indicators of its ability to fill frames at high resolutions.

The GPU’s benchmark scores show a solid performance profile, with a PassMark G3D score of 22214 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3162. Its percentile ranking against all GPUs is 72nd, indicating it is a capable mid-to-high-range part. The nearest rival data shows it performs within a narrow band of other GPUs: it is 0.9% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT, and 1% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti. Conversely, it trails the AMD FirePro S7150 by 0.6% and the AMD Radeon R9 M295X by 1.1%. These margins are small, but they place the RTX 3070 in a competitive position. In the measured game results, the GPU’s role becomes more apparent at higher resolutions, where the gap between the low and ultra presets widens significantly, indicating that the GPU is the primary driver of performance scaling in this title.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-14600K and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 achieves a rank of 730 out of 1626 tested combos in Dave The Diver. This places it in the 45th percentile of all tested system pairings, meaning it outperforms a slight majority of the systems in the database but is not near the top tier. This mid-pack ranking is a reflection of the balance between the high-end CPU and the mid-range GPU; the CPU is capable of supporting a more powerful graphics card, but the RTX 3070 limits the overall system’s ceiling. The data shows that this combo is not a top-tier performer, but its ranking is respectable given the hardware. The performance delta between this combo and the very best is not directly listed, but the rank position suggests that there are 895 combos that are slower and 895 that are faster, indicating a significant performance spread in the database.

The ranking implies that while the CPU is a top-7% part, the GPU is a top-28% part, and their combined score is pulled down by the GPU’s relative position. For a game like Dave The Diver, which is not typically considered a hardware stress test, this pairing is likely overkill for 1080p gaming but becomes more relevant for 4K. The data indicates that the combo hits a sweet spot where the CPU never holds back the GPU, but the GPU cannot fully stretch its legs at lower resolutions because the frame rate is already extremely high. This rank is a useful metric for users who want to know how this specific pairing stacks up against all other combinations tested, and it suggests that buyers looking for maximum performance in this game would need a more powerful GPU to climb the rankings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates for this combo in Dave The Diver show a clear pattern of diminishing returns as resolution increases, and a predictable scaling across settings. At 1920x1080, the frame rates are exceptionally high, with the Low preset achieving an average of 260.9 FPS. The Medium preset delivers 218.2 FPS, while High produces 199.1 FPS. The Ultra preset, which is the most demanding, still manages an average of 174.2 FPS. These numbers indicate that at 1080p, the system is heavily CPU-bound, as the GPU has plenty of headroom to render frames quickly. The differences between settings are noticeable but not extreme, with a 86.7 FPS gap between Low and Ultra.

Moving to 2560x1440, the average frame rates remain very high, though they show a larger drop from the 1080p results. The Low preset averages 197.3 FPS, which is a 63.6 FPS decrease from the same setting at 1080p. Medium follows at 168.9 FPS, and High at 150.4 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1440p averages 131.4 FPS, which is still well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The scaling from Low to Ultra at this resolution is more pronounced, with a 65.9 FPS difference, indicating that the GPU is starting to become a more significant factor. At 3840x2160, the performance drops are more substantial. The Low preset averages 131.2 FPS, Medium averages 113.9 FPS, and High averages 97.3 FPS. The Ultra preset is the only one to fall below 100 FPS, averaging 91 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 40.2 FPS, showing that the GPU is now the limiting factor, but the system still provides a playable experience across all settings. This data confirms that the combo is capable of handling the game at maximum settings at 1440p with high frame rates, and it can also manage 4K at playable speeds, though users seeking the highest refresh rates will need to lower settings at that resolution.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to use with this CPU and GPU combo in Dave The Diver?

A: The data shows that at 2560x1440 with Ultra settings, the combo averages 131.4 FPS, which is a high refresh rate experience. At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, it averages 91 FPS, which is still playable but not as smooth. For the best balance of visual quality and frame rate, 1440p is the sweet spot.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from Low to Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 260.9 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 174.2 FPS. This represents a difference of 86.7 FPS, or a 33.2% reduction in average frame rate when using the highest settings.

Q: Does the combo maintain a 60 FPS minimum at 4K?

A: The measured data provides only average FPS values, not minimums. At 3840x2160, the lowest average FPS is 91 FPS on the Ultra preset, which is well above 60 FPS. All other settings at 4K have higher averages, so it is highly likely that the system stays above 60 FPS, but the data does not confirm a minimum.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to all other tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 730th out of 1626 total combos tested in Dave The Diver. This places it in the upper-middle range of all systems, meaning it outperforms 896 other combinations but is slower than 730 others.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more likely to be the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data suggests the CPU is more influential at 1920x1080. The frame rates are very high across all settings, and the performance difference between Low and Ultra is only 86.7 FPS, indicating that the GPU is not being fully stressed and the CPU’s high clock speed is likely driving the frame rate.

Q: What is the average FPS difference between 1080p and 1440p at High settings?

A: At 1920x1080 with High settings, the average FPS is 199.1. At 2560x1440 with High settings, the average FPS is 150.4. This represents a difference of 48.7 FPS, or a 24.5% decrease in performance when moving to the higher resolution.