Dave The Diver

Dave The Diver presents an interesting scaling puzzle for the Intel Core i7-14700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 combination. The measured frame rates across resolutions reveal a system that is rarely stressed, even at the highest settings, suggesting a title that is far more forgiving than many modern AAA releases. The data indicates that this pairing delivers a highly playable experience across the board, with the performance ceiling extending well beyond standard display refresh rates in most scenarios.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial but not catastrophic, revealing a typical GPU-bound scaling pattern. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 195.7 FPS at 1920x1080 to 147.5 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 48.2 FPS. Moving further to 3840x2160, the average drops to 98 FPS, which is a 97.7 FPS decrease from the 1080p baseline. This scaling behavior is consistent with a game where the rendering load increases significantly with pixel count, but the absolute performance remains high enough to avoid any playability concerns.

The scaling pattern across all settings tiers shows a consistent relationship between resolution and performance. At Ultra settings, the journey from 172.3 FPS at 1080p to 129.8 FPS at 1440p and finally 87.6 FPS at 4K demonstrates that the RTX 3070’s 8 GB frame buffer and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for this workload, though the 4K Ultra figure begins to approach the threshold where high-refresh-rate monitors would be underutilized. The fact that even the most demanding configuration—4K Ultra—still averages 87.6 FPS suggests that the primary limiting component at this resolution is the GPU, as the CPU’s role diminishes when pixel count increases.

Interestingly, the scaling from 1440p to 4K is less severe than the jump from 1080p to 1440p in percentage terms. At Low settings, the 1440p result of 196.3 FPS drops to 131.7 FPS at 4K, a 32.9% decrease, while the 1080p to 1440p transition only sees a 25.4% reduction. This inverted scaling pattern at lower settings could indicate that the CPU begins to play a more significant role at lower resolutions, where the GPU has less work to do per frame.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700K is a formidable processor, and its specifications suggest it should never be the bottleneck in a title like Dave The Diver. With 20 cores and 28 threads, this Raptor Lake architecture chip (built on a 10 nm process) provides immense parallel processing capability. The benchmark data supports this: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44534 and a single-core score of 6287 place the processor in the 96th percentile of all CPUs. The high boost clock of 5.60 GHz ensures that even lightly threaded game logic runs with minimal latency.

In Dave The Diver, the CPU’s influence is most apparent at 1080p with Low settings, where the system achieves 263 FPS. This exceptionally high frame rate suggests that the game’s simulation and logic can be fed quickly by the processor, but it also hints that the game may not be heavily multithreaded. The i7-14700K’s single-thread performance, as evidenced by the Geekbench single-core score of 2932, is likely the determining factor here. At higher resolutions, the CPU’s role diminishes, as the GPU becomes the limiting factor—yet the processor still has headroom to spare.

The nearest rival data shows the i7-14700K is closely matched with the i7-14700KF (a 0% delta) and the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X (-0.5%), which reinforces that this chip is at the top of its class. For a game like Dave The Diver, this means the CPU is unlikely to ever be the reason for a frame rate drop, regardless of what is happening on screen. The data implies that players could run demanding background tasks without impacting game performance, though the measured results do not directly test this scenario.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, built on the Ampere architecture with an 8 nm process, is the component that ultimately governs the frame rate ceiling in this game. The GPU’s 5888 shading units and 184 texture mapping units are tasked with rendering the game’s pixel output, and the measured results show it performs admirably. At 4K Ultra, the average of 87.6 FPS is particularly noteworthy considering the GPU’s 8 GB GDDR6 memory operates on a 256-bit bus with a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. This configuration handles the game’s memory requirements without showing signs of capacity-related stuttering.

The GPU’s clock behavior is interesting when viewed against the performance data. With a base clock of 1500 MHz and a boost clock of 1725 MHz, the card operates within expected parameters. The benchmark results indicate the GPU sits in the 72nd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 28238. The nearest rivals—AMD RX 6600 XT (0.9% delta) and GTX 980 Ti (1% delta)—are older or lower-tier cards, which suggests the RTX 3070 is still competitive even as it approaches end-of-life status.

The GPU’s performance in Dave The Diver is noticeably strong, as even the most stressful measured configuration (4K Ultra) maintains an average above 60 FPS. The scaling from High to Ultra at 4K shows a drop from 98 FPS to 87.6 FPS, a 10.6% penalty for the highest visual fidelity. This indicates that the game’s Ultra preset is not prohibitively expensive, and the RTX 3070 has sufficient compute resources to handle the increased shading and texture work. The GPU’s FP32 performance of 20.31 TFLOPS is evidently more than enough for this adventure title, which does not appear to leverage ray tracing or other advanced features that would stress the 46 RT cores.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy of settings and resolutions, allowing for specific recommendations based on display capabilities. For players with 1080p displays, the Ultra preset at 172.3 FPS is the clear choice, as it provides the highest fidelity without sacrificing smoothness—the average frame rate far exceeds any standard 60 Hz or 144 Hz display refresh rate. Even at 4K, the High preset at 98 FPS offers an excellent balance, delivering a smooth experience that is only 10.4 FPS below the Medium preset but with better visual quality.

For 1440p monitors, the Medium preset at 167.6 FPS provides a substantial FPS advantage over Ultra (which runs at 129.8 FPS) while retaining acceptable visual quality. The data shows that the jump from Medium to High at 1440p costs 20.1 FPS, and the jump to Ultra costs an additional 17.7 FPS. Given that all configurations at this resolution exceed 129 FPS, players may prioritize visual fidelity and still enjoy a fluid experience. The 4K Ultra setting at 87.6 FPS is the only configuration that drops below 90 FPS, and it remains perfectly playable on a 60 Hz display, though players with 120 Hz+ 4K monitors might prefer the High preset at 98 FPS.

The Low preset is generally not recommended for this hardware, as it provides marginal performance gains at the cost of visual quality—at 1080p, the difference between Low (263 FPS) and Ultra (172.3 FPS) is 90.7 FPS, but the Ultra experience is far superior. The data suggests that players should default to High or Ultra settings, depending on their resolution and refresh rate preferences.

How This Combo Ranks

Among all tested combinations in Dave The Diver, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i7-14700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 ranks 744th out of 1626 combos. This places it in the 45.7th percentile of all tested systems, which is a surprisingly mid-pack position given the hardware’s capabilities. This ranking suggests that many other combinations—likely those with more powerful GPUs—achieve higher frame rates, particularly at 4K where the RTX 3070’s limitations become more apparent.

The ranking implies that while this combo is more than capable of delivering a smooth experience, it is not among the elite performers for this title. The i7-14700K is certainly not the limiting factor, as its 96th percentile CPU ranking indicates it outperforms the vast majority of processors. The RTX 3070’s 72nd percentile GPU ranking is the more likely constraint, suggesting that combos with higher-tier GPUs like the RTX 3080 or RTX 4070 would rank higher. However, the absolute frame rates remain high, and the mid-pack ranking is more proof of the game’s accessibility than a criticism of this hardware pairing.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers exceptional performance across all settings. The Low preset averages 263 FPS, which is the highest recorded figure in the entire dataset. Medium averages 220.4 FPS, High averages 195.7 FPS, and Ultra averages 172.3 FPS. The performance gap between Low and Ultra is 90.7 FPS, demonstrating that the settings menu has a significant impact on frame rate at this resolution.

The 2560x1440 results show a predictable decrease. Low averages 196.3 FPS, Medium averages 167.6 FPS, High averages 147.5 FPS, and Ultra averages 129.8 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra narrows slightly to 66.5 FPS, indicating that the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor. At 3840x2160, the results are: Low averages 131.7 FPS, Medium averages 113.4 FPS, High averages 98 FPS, and Ultra averages 87.6 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra gap narrows further to 44.1 FPS, confirming that 4K places a heavy load on the GPU.

All 12 measured configurations average above 87 FPS, with the lowest result being 87.6 FPS at 4K Ultra. This consistency across the board indicates that Dave The Diver is well-optimized and that this hardware pairing can handle the game with no compromises, regardless of the user’s display resolution or settings preferences.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Dave The Diver at 4K with high settings?

A: Yes, the measured data shows an average of 98 FPS at 3840x2160 with High settings, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1440p gaming?

A: The Medium preset at 167.6 FPS offers the best balance of visual quality and performance, though Ultra at 129.8 FPS is also highly playable for those prioritizing fidelity.

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-14700K a bottleneck in this game?

A: No, the CPU’s 96th percentile ranking and high single-core scores (Geekbench single-core: 2932) suggest it is never the limiting factor, especially at higher resolutions where the GPU takes over.

Q: How does the RTX 3070 compare to its nearest rivals in this context?

A: The GPU’s nearest rivals include the AMD RX 6600 XT (0.9% higher average score) and the GTX 980 Ti (1% higher), but the RTX 3070 still achieves 98 FPS at 4K High, indicating strong real-world performance.

Q: What is the lowest frame rate recorded in any configuration?

A: The lowest average is 87.6 FPS, which occurs at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, still comfortably above 60 FPS.

Q: Does the 8 GB VRAM limit performance at 4K?

A: Based on the data, no—the 4K results show no evidence of VRAM-related drops, as even the most demanding preset maintains an average above 87 FPS.