Dave The Diver

Dave The Diver is not a demanding title by modern standards, but the data from the Intel Core i7-14700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination reveals a configuration that is massively overqualified for the task, delivering frame rates that far exceed display refresh rates at every tested setting. The benchmark results show this pairing in the 31st percentile of all 1,626 tested combos, which indicates that while it is not the absolute fastest configuration for this game, it sits firmly in the top 2% of all systems measured. The performance ceiling here is effectively dictated by the game engine and the CPU, not the graphics card, as the RTX 4090's immense compute resources are barely stressed even at 4K Ultra settings.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K demonstrates a classic GPU-bound curve, but the absolute values are so high that the limiting factor shifts depending on the resolution. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo produces 336.7 FPS, which drops to 256.4 FPS at 2560x1440 and further to 167.7 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 50.2% reduction in frame rate when moving from 1080p to 4K, which is a substantial drop that confirms the GPU is doing more work at higher resolutions. However, the fact that even the lowest 4K score (148.6 FPS at Ultra) remains above the 144Hz refresh rate threshold for most monitors means the resolution scaling has no practical impact on gameplay smoothness for the vast majority of users.

The scaling pattern between settings at each resolution is remarkably consistent, suggesting the game's rendering load scales linearly with pixel count. At 4K, the difference between Low and Ultra settings is 79.1 FPS (227.7 vs 148.6), while at 1440p that gap widens to 118.4 FPS (342.6 vs 224.2), and at 1080p it expands to 150.4 FPS (449.3 vs 298.9). This widening delta at lower resolutions indicates that the CPU becomes more of a factor as the GPU has fewer pixels to process, and the i7-14700K's 20 cores and 28 threads are clearly sufficient to feed the RTX 4090 even at 1080p Low, where the combo still achieves 449.3 FPS. The data shows that at 4K, the RTX 4090 is the primary bottleneck, but at 1080p, the game engine's single-threaded draw call limitations likely cap performance well before the CPU's 5.60 GHz boost clock becomes a constraint.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications explain why Dave The Diver runs at such extraordinary frame rates. With 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus delivering 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth, the card has more than enough memory bandwidth to handle the game's textures at any resolution, and the 16,384 shading units operating at a 2520 MHz boost clock provide raw compute that this game simply cannot saturate. The 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is an order of magnitude beyond what a 2D-focused adventure title requires, which is why even at 4K Ultra the combo maintains 148.6 FPS.

The GPU's 128 ray tracing cores and 512 tensor cores are largely irrelevant for this title, as Dave The Diver does not utilize ray tracing or DLSS in the measured scenarios. The card's 91st percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 66,473, places it just ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla T4 (deltaPct -0.4) and behind the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 (deltaPct -0.9), but these workstation-oriented rivals are not representative of gaming performance. The RTX 4090's 450 W TDP and triple-slot cooler are overkill for a game that only pushes the card to roughly 50-60% utilization at 4K Ultra, based on the frame rate scaling, but the headroom ensures zero frame drops even in the busiest underwater scenes with multiple NPCs and particle effects.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700K serves as the perfect partner to the RTX 4090 for this game, providing the single-thread performance needed for high frame rates without becoming a bottleneck. The CPU's boost clock of 5.60 GHz, combined with 33 MB of shared L3 cache, ensures that the game's main thread can execute physics, AI, and game logic updates rapidly. The processor's 20 cores (8 performance and 12 efficient) and 28 threads are far more than Dave The Diver needs, but the high clock speed is what drives the 449.3 FPS result at 1080p Low, where the GPU is waiting on the CPU to deliver draw calls.

The i7-14700K's benchmark scores reinforce its capability in this context. A Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44,534 and single-core score of 6,287 put it in the 96th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 70,074. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-14700KF, scores nearly identically (70,104, deltaPct 0), which makes sense given they are the same silicon with only the integrated graphics disabled. The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X trails by 0.5% in average score, but the i7-14700K's higher boost clock gives it a slight edge in the single-threaded workloads that Dave The Diver relies upon. The data suggests that CPU selection has a measurable impact at 1080p, where the difference between Low and High settings is 112.6 FPS, but this is more about GPU load than CPU capability.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear hierarchy for settings optimization, and the recommendations depend entirely on the target refresh rate. For 4K displays, Ultra settings produce 148.6 FPS, which is above the 144Hz threshold, making it the recommended choice for high-refresh 4K monitors. Dropping to High settings at 4K yields 167.7 FPS, a 19.1 FPS improvement that could benefit 165Hz displays, but the visual quality loss is minimal in a game with this art style. For 1440p, Ultra at 224.2 FPS exceeds any current consumer display's refresh rate, so there is no reason to reduce settings below Ultra at this resolution.

At 1080p, the differences become academic since even Ultra at 298.9 FPS is far beyond what any monitor can display. The data indicates that Medium settings at 1080p (381.1 FPS) offer a 82.2 FPS advantage over Ultra (298.9 FPS), but this performance is invisible to the user. The sensible recommendation is to run Ultra settings at all resolutions up to 4K, since the RTX 4090's 24 GB VRAM and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth can handle any texture quality without stuttering. The only scenario where lowering settings makes sense is for competitive play on 540Hz esports monitors, where the 449.3 FPS at 1080p Low would be the only way to utilize such a display's full refresh rate.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-14700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 achieves a rank of 31 out of 1,626 tested combos in Dave The Diver, placing it in the top 1.9% of all configurations. This rank is surprisingly low given the hardware's capabilities, which suggests that other combinations with faster CPUs or different GPU configurations can achieve higher frame rates in this particular game. The 31st rank implies that the RTX 4090 is not the limiting factor, and that CPUs with higher single-thread performance or more efficient memory architectures may edge out this combo.

The ranking also indicates that Dave The Diver is heavily CPU-bound at high frame rates, as the RTX 4090's 91st percentile GPU score and the i7-14700K's 96th percentile CPU score would suggest a higher combo rank if the game were purely GPU-bound. The fact that this combo sits at 31st place means that roughly 30 other CPU/GPU pairings manage to achieve higher average FPS, likely through higher CPU clock speeds or lower memory latency. For practical purposes, the 31st rank is irrelevant since the frame rates are already far beyond playable thresholds, but it does provide insight into the game's engine limitations and how they interact with top-tier hardware.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest raw performance: Low settings produce 449.3 FPS, Medium produces 381.1 FPS, High produces 336.7 FPS, and Ultra produces 298.9 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra represents a 33.5% performance reduction, which is moderate and reflects the increasing pixel shading and texture sampling demands. At 2560x1440, the scores are 342.6 FPS (Low), 286 FPS (Medium), 256.4 FPS (High), and 224.2 FPS (Ultra). The 1440p results show a similar pattern, with Ultra being 34.6% slower than Low.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops to 227.7 FPS (Low), 188.9 FPS (Medium), 167.7 FPS (High), and 148.6 FPS (Ultra). The 4K Ultra score is the lowest measured, but it still exceeds 144Hz. The differences between settings at 4K are compressed compared to lower resolutions, with only a 79.1 FPS gap between Low and Ultra, indicating that the GPU is becoming the primary bottleneck. Across all resolutions, the High setting consistently offers a balanced middle ground, delivering 167.7 FPS at 4K, 256.4 FPS at 1440p, and 336.7 FPS at 1080p, which are all excellent values that justify recommending High as a safe default for users who want maximum visual fidelity without any performance concerns.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest frame rate achieved by this combo in Dave The Diver?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 449.3, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

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

A: Yes, at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the combo produces 148.6 FPS, which exceeds the 144Hz refresh rate of most 4K gaming monitors.

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

A: It ranks 31st out of 1,626 tested combos, placing it in the top 1.9% of all configurations measured for Dave The Diver.

Q: What is the difference in performance between 1080p and 4K at High settings?

A: At 1080p High, the combo delivers 336.7 FPS, while at 4K High it delivers 167.7 FPS, representing a 50.2% reduction in frame rate.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: At 1080p, the CPU is more likely to be the limiting factor, as evidenced by the 449.3 FPS at Low settings, while at 4K, the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck, dropping to 148.6 FPS at Ultra.

Q: Does lowering settings from Ultra to Low provide a significant FPS boost at 1440p?

A: Yes, at 2560x1440, Low settings produce 342.6 FPS compared to 224.2 FPS at Ultra, a 118.4 FPS or 52.8% improvement.