Dave The Diver

# Dave The Diver — Intel Core i5-14600KF + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090

The Intel Core i5-14600KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 delivers exceptional performance in Dave The Diver, ranking 12th out of 1,626 tested combos. This places the configuration in the top 0.7% of all tested systems, with measured frame rates that exceed 150 FPS even at 4K Ultra settings. The data indicates a system with massive headroom for high-refresh-rate displays, though the optimal settings vary significantly by resolution.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data shows that Ultra settings provide the most balanced experience across all resolutions, but the ideal preset depends on the target refresh rate. At 4K, Ultra delivers 154.2 FPS average, which remains comfortably above 144 Hz thresholds. High settings at 4K push performance to 178.5 FPS, a 15.8% improvement over Ultra, while Medium reaches 199.4 FPS. Low settings at 4K yield 239.1 FPS, which represents a 55% gain over Ultra but sacrifices visual fidelity.

For 1440p displays, Ultra produces 230.6 FPS, which exceeds all but the most extreme 240 Hz monitors. High settings at 1440p reach 262.8 FPS, while Medium hits 297.1 FPS and Low achieves 352.4 FPS. At 1080p, even Ultra generates 310.6 FPS, with High at 347.1 FPS, Medium at 389.3 FPS, and Low peaking at 448.9 FPS.

The recommendation is clear: use Ultra settings at 4K and 1440p, as the frame rates remain above 150 FPS and 230 FPS respectively. At 1080p, Ultra at 310.6 FPS is still far beyond typical display capabilities, making the visual quality upgrade free of practical cost. The data shows no scenario where dropping below High is necessary for competitive frame rates, and Ultra's visual benefits come with only modest FPS reductions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 serves as the dominant component in this configuration, with its 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 512-bit bus delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's 21,760 shading units and 680 tensor cores provide massive compute throughput, with FP32 performance rated at 104.8 TFLOPS. Clock speeds range from a 2017 MHz base to a 2407 MHz boost, and the card's 176 ROPs handle pixel output at 423.6 GPixel/s.

In Dave The Diver, the GPU's role is evident from the FPS scaling across settings. At 4K, dropping from Ultra to Low increases average FPS from 154.2 to 239.1, a gain of 84.9 FPS. This 55% improvement demonstrates that the RTX 5090's raw throughput is the primary constraint at higher settings, even though absolute performance remains very high. The GPU's 94th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 84,306, confirms its position near the top of the performance hierarchy.

The RTX 5090's nearest rival, the RTX 5090 D, scores 84,241 with a delta of 0.1%, indicating near-identical performance. The AMD Radeon PRO W6600 scores 83,209, which is 1.3% lower, while the NVIDIA CMP 40HX scores 85,637, 1.6% higher. These margins are negligible in gaming contexts, and the measured FPS in Dave The Diver reflects the GPU's elite standing.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of Intel Core i5-14600KF and RTX 5090 achieves rank 12 out of 1,626 tested combos in Dave The Diver. This top-tier placement underscores the synergy between the CPU and GPU, with the system delivering frame rates that place it among the fastest configurations tested. The top 0.7% ranking indicates that only 11 other combinations outperform this setup, a remarkable result given the breadth of possible hardware pairings.

The CPU itself holds a 93rd percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 49,367. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i5-14600K at 49,166 (0.4% lower), the AMD EPYC 4345P at 49,595 (0.5% higher), the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X at 49,062 (0.6% lower), and the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H at 48,698 (1.4% lower). These small deltas suggest the i5-14600KF is well-matched to the RTX 5090's capabilities, avoiding the bottleneck that would cap performance.

The GPU's 94th percentile ranking (average score 84,306) complements the CPU's 93rd percentile, creating a balanced high-end pairing. In Dave The Diver, this balance manifests in consistently high FPS across all tested configurations, with no resolution or settings combination falling below 154 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the data shows a clear progression across settings. Low settings produce 448.9 FPS, which drops to 389.3 FPS at Medium, 347.1 FPS at High, and 310.6 FPS at Ultra. The gap from Low to Ultra is 138.3 FPS, or 30.8%, indicating that visual quality has a measurable but modest impact at this resolution.

The 2560x1440 results follow a similar pattern with slightly lower absolute values. Low yields 352.4 FPS, Medium reaches 297.1 FPS, High delivers 262.8 FPS, and Ultra manages 230.6 FPS. The delta from Low to Ultra here is 121.8 FPS, or 34.6%, showing that the GPU's workload scales predictably with settings.

At 3840x2160, the impact of settings becomes more pronounced. Low achieves 239.1 FPS, Medium drops to 199.4 FPS, High falls to 178.5 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 154.2 FPS. The range from Low to Ultra is 84.9 FPS, or 35.5%, which mirrors the 1440p scaling. Even at 4K Ultra, the system maintains frame rates that would satisfy high-refresh-rate gaming.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 4K gaming?

A: Ultra settings at 3840x2160 deliver 154.2 FPS average, which remains above 144 Hz thresholds. The drop to High provides 178.5 FPS, but the visual quality difference justifies the 24.3 FPS reduction for most users.

Q: How does the RTX 5090 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RTX 5090 scores 84,306 on average, which is 0.1% above the RTX 5090 D, 1.3% above the AMD Radeon PRO W6600, and 1.6% below the NVIDIA CMP 40HX. These differences are minimal, and in-game performance reflects this parity.

Q: Is the i5-14600KF a bottleneck for the RTX 5090 in this game?

A: The CPU's 93rd percentile ranking and average score of 49,367, which is within 0.5% of the AMD EPYC 4345P, suggest it provides sufficient throughput. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (448.9) indicates the CPU keeps pace even at very high frame rates.

Q: What is the FPS difference between 1080p and 4K at Ultra settings?

A: At 1920x1080 Ultra, the system achieves 310.6 FPS, while 3840x2160 Ultra produces 154.2 FPS. This represents a 50.4% reduction when moving to 4K, highlighting the GPU's workload increase.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: The Intel Core i5-14600KF plus RTX 5090 ranks 12th out of 1,626 combos in Dave The Diver, placing it in the top 0.7% of all tested systems.

Q: Does lowering settings from Ultra to Low provide a proportional FPS gain?

A: No. At 1080p, Low is 44.5% faster than Ultra (448.9 vs 310.6 FPS), while at 4K the gain is 55.0% (239.1 vs 154.2 FPS). The relative benefit of Low settings grows with resolution.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600KF contributes 14 cores and 20 threads, with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and boost clock of 5.30 GHz. Its Raptor Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process, includes 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB of L2 cache per core. The CPU supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in dual-channel configuration, with PCIe Gen 5 connectivity providing 16 lanes for the GPU.

In Dave The Diver, the CPU's role is most apparent at lower resolutions where GPU load diminishes. At 1080p Low, the system produces 448.9 FPS, indicating the CPU can sustain extremely high frame rates without becoming a limiting factor. The CPU's single-thread performance, evidenced by a 4,643 Cinebench R23 single-core score and 2,778 Geekbench single-core score, ensures responsive frame pacing even in scenes with complex game logic.

The i5-14600KF's multi-threaded capabilities, including a 32,889 Cinebench R23 multi-core score and 38,697 Passmark multithread score, provide ample headroom for background tasks and game engine threads. The CPU's 93rd percentile ranking places it above the vast majority of processors, and its 0.4% delta from the i5-14600K confirms it performs essentially identically to its direct sibling.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals how performance scales from 1080p to 4K. At Ultra settings, the system delivers 310.6 FPS at 1080p, 230.6 FPS at 1440p, and 154.2 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 80.0 FPS (25.8%), while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 76.4 FPS (33.1%). This pattern shows that the GPU becomes progressively more stressed as resolution increases, with the 4K workload representing a substantial step up from 1440p.

At Low settings, the scaling is different: 448.9 FPS at 1080p, 352.4 FPS at 1440p, and 239.1 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 21.5% from 1080p to 1440p and 32.1% from 1440p to 4K. The fact that the 4K-to-1080p ratio at Low (239.1/448.9 = 53.3%) is similar to Ultra (154.2/310.6 = 49.6%) indicates that the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute resources scale consistently across settings.

The resolution scaling suggests the RTX 5090 is the primary limiting component at 4K, while the CPU maintains sufficient performance at lower resolutions. The 32 GB VRAM and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth ensure that even at 4K Ultra, the GPU has ample resources, with the 154.2 FPS result confirming no memory-related bottlenecks. The system's rank of 12th overall indicates that this combination is among the best available for Dave The Diver, with resolution scaling that favors high-refresh-rate 1440p and 4K gaming.