Dave The Diver

# Dave The Diver — Intel Core i7-14700K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050

This combo pairs a 20-core Intel Core i7-14700K with an 8 GB NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050, and the measured frame rates in Dave The Diver reveal a system that is consistently GPU-limited at higher resolutions but surprisingly capable of delivering high refresh rates at 1080p. The data shows a clear hierarchy of performance across settings and resolutions, with the 14700K's substantial multi-core headroom rarely being the bottleneck in this adventure title. The RTX 5050, while positioned modestly in the GPU percentile rankings, still manages to push well over 100 FPS at 1440p in most presets, suggesting that Dave The Diver's demands are far from extreme.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 operates with a base clock of 2317 MHz and a boost clock of 2572 MHz, built on TSMC's 5 nm process with the GB207 chip. Its memory configuration consists of 8 GB of GDDR6 across a 128-bit bus, delivering 320.0 GB/s of bandwidth. In Dave The Diver, this memory subsystem appears sufficient even at 4K, as the measured FPS at 3840x2160 with High settings reaches 77 FPS average, indicating that the 8 GB frame buffer is not causing catastrophic drops or stutters. The GPU's 2560 shading units and 32 ROPs provide a pixel rate of 82.30 GPixel/s, which helps explain the relatively smooth scaling from 1080p to 4K.

The RTX 5050's benchmark positioning shows it sits at the 66th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 21035. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL (1.6% faster), the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT (1.6% slower), and the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile (1.6% faster). This places the 5050 in a competitive mid-range tier, yet in Dave The Diver it performs admirably—at 1080p Low settings it achieves 206 FPS, which is nearly triple the 4K Ultra result of 68 FPS. The GPU's FP32 throughput of 13.17 TFLOPS and texture rate of 205.8 GTexel/s are clearly adequate for this game's visual complexity, though the 4K Ultra preset does push the card to its limits, with the average dipping below 70 FPS.

The data suggests that the RTX 5050's 8 GB VRAM is not a limiting factor in Dave The Diver, as even at 4K Ultra the game runs at a playable 68 FPS average. However, the gap between Low and Ultra at 4K (104 vs 68 FPS) indicates that the GPU's compute resources are the primary constraint at higher settings, not memory capacity. This is consistent with the card's modest 13.17 TFLOPS FP32 rating. The 2500 MHz memory clock (20 Gbps effective) provides enough bandwidth for the game's textures, but the 128-bit bus width means that bandwidth is shared across the pixel pipeline, which could explain why 4K Ultra sees a more pronounced FPS drop compared to lower resolutions.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i7-14700K brings 20 cores and 28 threads to this pairing, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. It's built on Intel's 10 nm process and features a 33 MB shared L3 cache plus 2 MB L2 per core. In Dave The Diver, this CPU is almost certainly not the bottleneck, as the game's measured FPS scales predictably with GPU settings changes. The 14700K's multi-core performance is substantial—its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 33440.5 and Geekbench multi-core score of 20767 place it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 69355.

The CPU's nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 9115 (0.1% slower), AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (0.2% faster), AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (0.7% faster), and AMD Ryzen 7 9700F (0.9% faster). These tight deltas indicate that the 14700K is well-matched against top-tier competition, but in a game like Dave The Diver, the single-thread performance is more relevant. The 14700K's Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2160 and PassMark single-thread score of 4472 provide strong per-core throughput, which is what matters for this game's likely CPU-bound scenarios at low settings and high frame rates.

At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 206 FPS, and the fact that this is only 34% higher than 1080p Ultra (136 FPS) suggests the CPU is keeping up with the GPU's output even at high refresh rates. The 14700K's 125 W TDP and dual-channel memory support (DDR4/DDR5) mean it can feed the RTX 5050 without stalling, as evidenced by the consistent FPS deltas across settings. The data does not show any CPU-induced frame pacing issues, as the min FPS values (when recorded) are relatively close to averages—for instance, 1440p Medium shows 110 min vs 129 average, which is a reasonable spread.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling. Moving from 1080p to 1440p at High settings, the average FPS drops from 154 to 116, a 24.7% decrease. Going further to 4K High, the average drops to 77 FPS, which is a 50% reduction from 1080p High. This scaling behavior is typical of a GPU-limited scenario, where the RTX 5050's compute and bandwidth resources are increasingly taxed as pixel count rises. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect to see smaller FPS differences between resolutions, especially at lower settings.

At Low settings, the scaling is even more pronounced: 206 FPS at 1080p, 155 FPS at 1440p (24.8% drop), and 104 FPS at 4K (49.5% drop from 1080p). This nearly identical percentage drop across High and Low settings strongly indicates that the GPU is the consistent bottleneck. The CPU's role becomes more apparent at 1080p Low, where the 206 FPS result suggests the 14700K can sustain very high frame rates without becoming a constraint. However, the 4K Ultra result of 68 FPS (67% lower than 1080p Low) shows that the RTX 5050's limits are reached well before the CPU's capabilities are exhausted.

The 1440p Medium result with min/max values (110/149 FPS) provides additional insight. The 39 FPS spread between min and max suggests some scene-dependent variability, but the average of 129 FPS is still comfortably above 60 FPS. This indicates that at 1440p, the GPU has enough headroom to handle most scenes without major dips, whereas at 4K Ultra the 68 FPS average likely comes with more frequent drops below 60 FPS, although no min FPS was recorded for that configuration.

FAQ

Q: Is the RTX 5050 capable of running Dave The Diver at 4K?

A: Yes, the measured data shows 77 FPS average at 4K High and 68 FPS at 4K Ultra. While Ultra dips below 70 FPS, High settings provide a comfortable margin above 60 FPS.

Q: Does the Intel Core i7-14700K bottleneck the RTX 5050 in this game?

A: No. The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K follows a consistent GPU-bound pattern (e.g., 154 to 77 FPS at High settings), indicating the CPU has ample headroom. The 14700K's 20 cores and 5.60 GHz boost clock are more than sufficient.

Q: What is the best resolution to play at for a high refresh rate experience?

A: 1440p Low achieves 155 FPS average, while 1080p High hits 154 FPS. For the highest frame rates, 1080p Low reaches 206 FPS, but 1440p Medium at 129 FPS offers a good balance.

Q: How does the RTX 5050 compare to its nearest rival, the RX 5600 XT?

A: The RTX 5050 is 1.6% faster than the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT based on average benchmark scores, making them nearly identical in raw performance. In Dave The Diver, the 5050's 4K High result of 77 FPS demonstrates it can handle modern titles at high resolutions.

Q: Is 8 GB of VRAM sufficient for Dave The Diver at 4K Ultra?

A: Based on the measured 68 FPS average at 4K Ultra, the 8 GB frame buffer does not appear to cause catastrophic drops. The game runs, though the GPU's compute limits are the more likely constraint than VRAM capacity.

Q: What does the 66th GPU percentile ranking mean for this game?

A: The RTX 5050 outperforms 66% of all GPUs, placing it in the mid-range tier. In Dave The Diver, this translates to playable frame rates at all tested resolutions, with 1080p and 1440p offering particularly smooth experiences.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific CPU-GPU combination ranks 1725th out of 2867 tested combos in Dave The Diver, placing it in the 60th percentile of all systems evaluated. This ranking reflects the RTX 5050's mid-range positioning rather than the CPU, as the 14700K's 94th percentile CPU ranking is significantly higher. The gap between the CPU's percentile and the combo's overall rank suggests that the GPU is the limiting factor in this pairing, which aligns with the FPS scaling analysis showing consistent GPU-bound behavior.

Compared to the GPU's nearest rivals, the combo's performance is competitive. The RX 5600 XT, which is 1.6% slower in synthetic benchmarks, would likely produce similar FPS in Dave The Diver, while the RX Vega M GL and RTX A4000 Mobile (both 0.6% and 1.6% faster respectively) might edge out this combo by a few frames per second. However, the 14700K's strong single-thread performance (PassMark single-thread score of 4472) ensures that the CPU side never drags down the combo's ranking, even in CPU-sensitive scenarios at low settings.

The rank of 1725 out of 2867 means there are 1142 combos that perform better, but many of those likely feature higher-end GPUs like the RTX 5070 or RX 7800 XT. For a mid-range GPU paired with a high-end CPU, this ranking is reasonable and indicates that the combo delivers solid, predictable performance in Dave The Diver without any unusual bottlenecks or configuration issues.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal balance between visual quality and performance depends on the target resolution and refresh rate. At 1080p, High settings (154 FPS average) provide an excellent experience for 144 Hz monitors, while Ultra (136 FPS) is still viable for 120 Hz displays. Players with 240 Hz panels should consider Medium (172 FPS) or Low (206 FPS) to fully utilize their display's refresh rate.

At 1440p, Medium (129 FPS) and High (116 FPS) are both excellent choices, with High being recommended for users with 120 Hz monitors and Medium for those seeking maximum smoothness. The 1440p Low result of 155 FPS shows that even on less demanding presets, the game remains visually presentable while delivering high frame rates. For 4K, High (77 FPS) is the recommended preset for a smooth experience, as Ultra (68 FPS) dips below the 70 FPS threshold that many consider ideal for action games. The 4K Low (104 FPS) and Medium (87 FPS) options are also viable if visual fidelity is less important than frame rate.

The data suggests that Medium settings offer the best overall value across all resolutions, as it maintains 87 FPS at 4K, 129 FPS at 1440p, and 172 FPS at 1080p. This preset appears to strike the optimal balance between the GPU's compute load and the game's visual demands, providing consistently high frame rates without the performance penalty seen at Ultra settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1080p (1920x1080):

• Low: 206 FPS average
• Medium: 172 FPS average (146 min, 198 max)
• High: 154 FPS average
• Ultra: 136 FPS average

1440p (2560x1440):

• Low: 155 FPS average
• Medium: 129 FPS average (110 min, 149 max)
• High: 116 FPS average
• Ultra: 102 FPS average

4K (3840x2160):

• Low: 104 FPS average
• Medium: 87 FPS average (74 min, 100 max)
• High: 77 FPS average
• Ultra: 68 FPS average

The complete dataset shows a consistent pattern across all resolutions: each step up in settings costs approximately 15-20% of the frame rate, and each resolution increase costs approximately 25-30% of the frame rate. The min FPS values recorded for Medium settings at all resolutions (146 at 1080p, 110 at 1440p, 74 at 4K) indicate that the game maintains reasonably stable frame times, with the 4K Medium configuration showing the largest gap between min and average (13 FPS), suggesting some heavier scenes at that resolution. The overall impression from the data is that this combo delivers a smooth experience in Dave The Diver across all tested configurations, with the only borderline case being 4K Ultra at 68 FPS average.