Dave The Diver

Dave The Diver is an adventure title that, on the surface, does not appear to be a demanding showcase for high-end hardware. Yet, the measured data for the Intel Core i5-14600KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 reveals a system that obliterates standard performance expectations, delivering frame rates that are not merely playable but exceptionally high even at 4K resolution. This combination of a strong 14-core processor and a flagship GPU creates a scenario where the game's engine, rather than the hardware, becomes the limiting factor at lower resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data for this combination indicates that the "Ultra" preset is the most compelling choice for the vast majority of users, as it provides a substantial visual upgrade over "High" while still maintaining frame rates that far exceed the refresh rates of common high-end displays. At 4K, the Ultra preset yields an average of 153.7 FPS, which is a 16.99% performance cost compared to the High preset's 170.7 FPS. This trade-off is almost always worth it, as the visual fidelity gains are significant, and the resulting frame rate is still far beyond what is needed for a smooth, responsive experience on a 144Hz monitor.

The case for Ultra becomes even more compelling at lower resolutions. At 1440p, the Ultra preset achieves 225.2 FPS, and at 1080p it reaches 296.1 FPS. These figures are so high that the CPU is likely the primary bottleneck, meaning the GPU has ample headroom to handle the extra visual effects without a significant impact on the overall experience. The difference between "High" and "Ultra" at 1440p is a 11.23% reduction in FPS, but the system is still delivering over two hundred frames per second, making the Ultra preset the clear winner.

Conversely, the "Low" preset demonstrates the potential extreme of this hardware. At 1080p, it pushes the average FPS to 450, a figure that is likely beyond the refresh rate of any consumer monitor. While this setting offers the highest possible frame rates, the visual quality degradation is severe and unnecessary given the hardware's capability. The "Medium" preset serves as a middle ground, but for a game of this nature, the performance headroom is so vast that there is no practical reason to select it over High or Ultra. The data strongly suggests that users should default to the Ultra preset, and only consider dropping to High if they are using a 240Hz or faster 4K monitor and wish to push frame rates above the 170 FPS mark.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the dominant component in this configuration, and its 24 GB of GDDR6X memory is a decisive factor in the performance observed at 4K resolution. The game's highest average FPS at 4K is 226.6 on Low settings, but the most demanding Ultra preset still manages 153.7 FPS. This performance is supported by a memory bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s, which is more than sufficient to feed the GPU's 16,384 shading units. The graphics card's 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 power ensures that even the most complex scenes in Dave The Diver are rendered without the GPU becoming a bottleneck until the resolution and settings are pushed to their maximum.

The role of the GPU becomes clearer when analyzing the performance scaling across settings at 4K. The jump from Low (226.6 FPS) to Medium (194.1 FPS) is a 14.34% drop, and then to High (170.7 FPS) is another 12.06% drop. This indicates that the GPU is being progressively loaded as visual effects are enabled. The RTX 4090's architecture, with its 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores, is well-prepared for any modern graphical workload. The data suggests this is a game where the GPU's raw compute power and memory bandwidth are the primary drivers of performance at 4K, allowing for an exceptionally smooth experience regardless of the preset chosen.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600KF, with its 14 cores and 20 threads, plays a critical role in ensuring that the GPU is never left waiting for data. This is most evident at 1080p, where the GPU's workload is lighter and the CPU's processing speed becomes the limiting factor. The data shows that at 1080p, the average FPS across all settings is extremely high, reaching 450 on Low. This indicates that the CPU's boost clock of 5.30 GHz and its 24 MB of shared L3 cache are more than adequate to handle the game's logic and physics calculations, even at very high frame rates.

The CPU's strength is further highlighted by its benchmark performance, which places it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32889 and single-core score of 4643 demonstrate a balanced architecture that excels in both heavily threaded and lightly threaded tasks. In Dave The Diver, which likely has a mix of both, this means the CPU can handle the main game thread while also providing enough headroom for background processes. The CPU's performance is so robust that the frame rate differences between 1080p and 1440p are minimal, with the average FPS dropping by only about 24.6% across all settings, a scaling that points to a system that is well-balanced until the GPU is fully saturated at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

In the benchmark database, this specific combination of the Intel Core i5-14600KF and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 achieves a combo rank of 30 out of 1,626 tested combinations. This placement in the top 1.8% of all combos indicates that, despite the CPU not being the absolute highest-end model available, its pairing with the flagship GPU creates a system that is exceptionally powerful for gaming. The data shows that the system is not leaving significant performance on the table, as it is capable of pushing the RTX 4090 to its limits in this particular title.

The ranking suggests that this is a near-optimal pairing for this game. While a more powerful CPU might yield slightly higher frame rates at 1080p, the gains would be marginal and likely imperceptible in practice. The CPU's nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i5-14600K, which is 0.4% faster on average, show that the 14600KF is already performing at the top of its class. This rank of 30 demonstrates that the combination is a formidable one, ensuring that users will experience the game at its absolute best with no discernible bottlenecks.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 4K with the Ultra preset?

A: The measured average FPS is 153.7, which is still exceptionally high and well-suited for a high-refresh-rate 4K monitor.

Q: How much faster is the Low preset compared to Ultra at 1440p?

A: The Low preset achieves an average of 341.2 FPS, which is 51.5% higher than the Ultra preset's 225.2 FPS, demonstrating the significant performance headroom available.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the main bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data indicates the CPU is the primary limiter at 1080p, as the frame rates are so high (up to 450 FPS on Low) that the GPU is not fully loaded and is waiting on the CPU to deliver draw calls.

Q: Can this system maintain a stable 144 FPS at 4K?

A: Yes, all tested settings at 4K, including the most demanding Ultra preset, yield average frame rates above 144 FPS, ensuring a consistent and smooth experience on a 144Hz display.

Q: How does the RTX 4090's memory bandwidth affect performance in this game?

A: The 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth ensures that the 24 GB of GDDR6X memory can be fed quickly, which is crucial for handling high-resolution textures and effects without causing stutters or frame rate dips at 4K.

Q: What is the performance difference between the High and Ultra presets at 2560x1440?

A: The High preset averages 253.7 FPS, while Ultra averages 225.2 FPS, a difference of 11.23%, making the visual upgrade to Ultra a negligible performance cost at this resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data reveals a consistent performance hierarchy across all resolutions. At 1920x1080, the frame rates are remarkably high, ranging from 296.1 FPS on Ultra to 450 FPS on Low. This shows that at 1080p, the system has an enormous amount of headroom, and the game is almost certainly CPU-bound. Moving to 2560x1440, the scores remain very high, but the GPU begins to take on more work, with averages from 225.2 FPS on Ultra to 341.2 FPS on Low. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is noticeable but not dramatic, indicating the system is still well-balanced.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's workload increases significantly, and the frame rates drop to a range that is still impressive for 4K. The measured averages are 153.7 FPS on Ultra, 170.7 FPS on High, 194.1 FPS on Medium, and 226.6 FPS on Low. This data shows a clear and consistent scaling pattern. For example, at 4K, the difference between Medium and Low is a 14.34% performance gain, while the difference between Ultra and High is a 9.96% gain. This indicates that each setting tier has a measurable impact on the GPU load, but even the most demanding settings leave the system with performance to spare.

Resolution Scaling

Analyzing the frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K provides insight into the system's balance. At the Ultra preset, the average FPS drops from 296.1 at 1080p, to 225.2 at 1440p, and finally to 153.7 at 4K. This represents a 24% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 31.7% drop from 1440p to 4K. This scaling pattern is typical of a system that is CPU-limited at 1080p and becomes progressively more GPU-limited as the resolution increases. The fact that the 1080p score is not dramatically higher than the 1440p score suggests that the CPU is already a limiting factor at 1080p.

The scaling for the Low preset is even more revealing. The average FPS drops from 450 at 1080p to 341.2 at 1440p, a 24.2% decrease, and then to 226.6 at 4K, a further 33.6% decrease. The relatively smaller percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p compared to 1440p to 4K confirms that the CPU is the primary bottleneck at lower resolutions. When the resolution increases, the GPU's rendering workload grows, and its performance becomes the dominant factor. The data clearly shows that this combination is most efficient at 4K, where the GPU's massive computational resources are fully utilized, resulting in a gameplay experience that is both visually rich and exceptionally fluid.