Dave The Diver

Dave The Diver presents an interesting case study in hardware scaling, as this adventure title is not typically considered a demanding AAA benchmark. The measured data for the Intel Core i7-14700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 reveals a system that is largely overkill for the game's engine, yet the results still provide valuable insights into how resolution and settings affect the performance ceiling. The data shows a configuration that delivers exceptionally high frame rates at every preset, suggesting that the game's visual fidelity and simulation logic are not heavily taxing the modern components under analysis. Instead, the bottleneck dynamics shift noticeably as resolution climbs, making this an illustrative example of how a powerful combo behaves in a less-threaded, less graphically intense environment.

Resolution Scaling

The most striking pattern in the measured FPS is the relatively modest performance drop when moving from 1080p to 4K, which indicates that the system is not purely GPU-bound at lower resolutions. At Medium settings, the average frame rate falls from 285 FPS at 1920x1080 to 215 FPS at 2560x1440, a decline of 70 FPS, and then further down to 144 FPS at 3840x2160. This progression shows a consistent scaling curve, but the absolute numbers remain so high that even the 4K result is far beyond the refresh rate of most high-end monitors. The transition from 1440p to 4K represents a 33% drop in frame rate, which is a significant relative change, but it still leaves the system with ample headroom, suggesting that the game engine's rendering pipeline is not the primary constraint at these settings.

Looking at the Low preset, the scaling is even more revealing. At 1080p Low, the system produces 341 FPS, which drops to 256 FPS at 1440p and 172 FPS at 4K. The percentage decrease from 1080p to 4K is roughly 50%, which is a substantial hit, but the starting point is so high that the 4K result remains exceptionally playable. This pattern implies that at lower settings, the CPU's role becomes relatively more significant, as the GPU has less work to do and can feed frames faster than the processor can issue draw calls. The fact that the 4K Low result (172 FPS) is higher than the 1080p Ultra result (225 FPS) is telling; it demonstrates that the GPU is capable of handling the 4K pixel count with ease, and the limiting factor at high frame rates is likely a combination of CPU single-thread performance and game engine logic.

The data suggests that the limiting component in Dave The Diver is rarely the RTX 5070, even at 4K. The GPU's 12 GB of GDDR7 memory and 672.0 GB/s bandwidth are more than sufficient for the game's textures and assets, which are not particularly large or complex. Instead, the frame rate ceiling appears to be dictated by the CPU's ability to process the game's simulation and AI, particularly at lower resolutions where the GPU is underutilized. The gap between the 1080p and 1440p results at High settings (255 FPS vs 192 FPS) is a 63 FPS difference, which indicates that the GPU is starting to become more involved as resolution increases, but the overall curve remains shallow, reinforcing the conclusion that this is a CPU-light game for a 20-core processor.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700K is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. In Dave The Diver, these specifications are largely underutilized, as the game is not designed to scale across many cores. The benchmark results show that the CPU's performance in synthetic tests, such as a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 33440.5 and a single-core score of 2160, places it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs, but this raw capability does not translate into significant frame rate advantages in this title. The game's logic likely relies more on single-thread performance, where the 5.60 GHz boost clock provides a strong foundation, but the data does not show any indication that the CPU is a bottleneck, as even the lowest frame rates are well above 100 FPS.

The CPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database, such as the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X and the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX, have average scores that are within 0.7% of the i7-14700K, indicating that this processor is at the top of the desktop heap. However, in Dave The Diver, the frame rate differences between such high-end CPUs would be minimal, as the game's engine is not likely to be thread-limited. The data for this combo shows that at 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 113, which is a very high number, but it is not necessarily a reflection of the CPU's 20 cores. Instead, it suggests that the game's rendering and physics are light enough that even a mid-range CPU could achieve similar results, and the i7-14700K is simply providing a stable, high-frequency platform.

The cache hierarchy of the i7-14700K, with 33 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB of L2 cache per core, is ample for the game's data set, but the measured FPS does not show any variation that would indicate cache misses are a factor. The PassMark single-thread score of 4472 and the Geekbench single-core score of 2569 are strong indicators of the CPU's ability to handle the game's primary thread, but the fact that the 4K Low preset still achieves 172 FPS suggests that the CPU is never the sole limiting factor. The data implies that the i7-14700K is a capable air-cooled processor for this game, but its 125 W TDP and 20 cores are overkill for a title that likely uses only a fraction of its resources.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 is a Blackwell 2.0 architecture GPU with 6144 shading units, 48 RT cores, and 192 tensor cores, manufactured on a 5 nm process by TSMC. Its 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus provides 672.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is a substantial amount for a mid-range card. In Dave The Diver, the GPU's role becomes more pronounced as resolution increases, but the data shows that it is rarely a bottleneck. At 1080p Ultra, the card produces 225 FPS, which is a high number, but the 4K Ultra result of 113 FPS indicates that the GPU is being pushed harder at the higher resolution. The 4K Medium result of 144 FPS, with a min FPS of 122, shows that the card can maintain playable frame rates even in demanding scenes.

The GPU's nearest rivals, such as the AMD Radeon Pro 580 and the AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100, have average scores that are within 0.8% of the RTX 5070, but these are workstation cards with different driver optimizations. The PassMark G3D score of 29137 and the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5077 place the card in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs, which is respectable but not top-tier. In Dave The Diver, the card's 30.87 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is more than enough for the game's shaders and effects, and the 201.0 GPixel/s pixel rate ensures that the 4K resolution is handled without issue. The data shows that the GPU's clock speeds, with a boost of 2512 MHz, are stable and allow for consistent frame delivery, as evidenced by the tight min-max ranges at Medium settings across all resolutions.

The VRAM capacity of 12 GB is not a concern in this game, as the measured FPS does not show any drops that would indicate memory swapping or texture streaming issues. The 672.0 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for the game's asset loading, and the data suggests that the GPU is not the limiting factor until the resolution reaches 4K and the settings are set to Ultra. At that point, the 113 FPS average is still high, but it represents a 50% drop from the 4K Low result, indicating that the GPU's fill rate and shading units are being exercised more heavily. Overall, the RTX 5070 is a capable GPU for this game, and its performance is more than adequate for a smooth experience at any resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-14700K and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 ranks 734 out of 3710 tested combos in Dave The Diver, placing it in the top 20% of all configurations. This ranking is a reflection of the system's overall capability, but it is important to note that the rank is likely influenced by the CPU's high percentile and the GPU's solid performance. The rank of 734 out of 3710 suggests that there are many other combos that perform similarly or better, but the data shows that this specific pairing is well above average for this game. The fact that the combo is not in the top 100 is likely due to the game's low system requirements, which mean that even lower-end hardware can achieve high frame rates, making the rank less discriminative.

In the context of the database, this combo's rank confirms the i7-14700K's strong synthetic scores, but the measured FPS in Dave The Diver is so high that the rank is more of a formality. The game's engine does not reward the CPU's 20 cores or the GPU's 6144 shading units in a way that would push the combo to the top of the charts. Instead, the rank reflects the system's ability to maintain high frame rates at 4K Ultra, which is a demanding scenario for any hardware. The data shows that the combo is ranked higher than many others that might have similar CPUs but weaker GPUs, or vice versa, but the overall impression is that this is a balanced system that excels in this title without being the absolute best.

The nearest rivals for the CPU and GPU individually are not directly comparable in this game, as the combo rank aggregates the performance of both components. However, the data suggests that the RTX 5070's 82nd percentile rank and the i7-14700K's 94th percentile rank combine to create a system that is in the upper echelon of the database. The rank of 734 out of 3710 means that roughly 80% of tested combos fall below this one, which is a strong result, but it also indicates that there is room for improvement, perhaps with a higher-end GPU that could push the 4K Ultra frame rate even higher. The measured data is clear: this combo is a high performer, but it is not the definitive best for Dave The Diver.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates, with the Low preset achieving an average of 341 FPS, which is a remarkable number. The Medium preset at this resolution produces 285 FPS, with a min FPS of 242 and a max FPS of 328, showing a stable frame delivery. The High preset drops to 255 FPS, while the Ultra preset yields 225 FPS. These numbers indicate that at 1080p, the system is heavily CPU-bound, as the GPU has very little work to do, and the frame rate is limited by the game's logic and the CPU's single-thread performance. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 116 FPS, which is a significant gap, but all presets are playable at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain very high, with the Low preset at 256 FPS, Medium at 215 FPS (min 182, max 247), High at 192 FPS, and Ultra at 169 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is consistent, with a roughly 20-25% drop in frame rate across all presets, which indicates that the GPU is starting to become more involved. At this resolution, the system is still not stressed, and the frame rates are well above the refresh rate of most monitors. The 4K results at 3840x2160 show the largest impact, with the Low preset at 172 FPS, Medium at 144 FPS (min 122, max 165), High at 128 FPS, and Ultra at 113 FPS. These numbers are still very high, but the gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 59 FPS, which is a smaller relative difference than at 1080p, suggesting that the GPU is now the primary bottleneck.

The data shows that the Medium preset offers the best balance of frame rate and visual quality, with the 4K Medium result of 144 FPS being particularly impressive. The min FPS of 122 at 4K Medium indicates that the system does not drop below the 120 FPS threshold, making it ideal for high-refresh-rate displays. The High and Ultra presets at 4K also maintain playable frame rates, but they are lower, and the data suggests that the GPU's 12 GB of VRAM is not a limiting factor at any of these settings. Overall, the measured FPS breakdown shows a system that is capable of running Dave The Diver at maximum settings with high frame rates, and the data is consistent across all presets and resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achievable with this combo?

A: The highest average frame rate is 341 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low preset.

Q: Is the system capable of 4K gaming with high frame rates?

A: Yes, at 3840x2160, the system achieves 128 FPS on High settings and 113 FPS on Ultra, indicating it is more than capable of 4K gaming.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings?

A: The average frame rate drops from 225 FPS at 1920x1080 to 113 FPS at 3840x2160, a difference of 112 FPS.

Q: Which component is the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: The data shows that at 1080p, the frame rate is likely limited by the CPU, as the GPU has less work to do, and the CPU's single-thread performance becomes the constraint.

Q: Does the GPU's 12 GB of VRAM cause any issues at 4K?

A: No, the measured FPS does not show any drops that would indicate VRAM limitations, and the 4K results are consistently high across all presets.

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

A: The combo ranks 734 out of 3710 tested combos, placing it in the top 20% of all configurations tested for this game.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset offers the best experience for this combo, particularly at higher resolutions. At 3840x2160, the Medium preset achieves an average of 144 FPS with a min FPS of 122, ensuring a smooth and consistent experience without any noticeable drops. The High preset at 4K produces 128 FPS, which is also excellent, but the Medium preset provides a slightly higher frame rate with a minimal visual compromise in a game like Dave The Diver, where the graphical differences between presets are not stark. At 2560x1440, the Medium preset yields 215 FPS, which is well above the refresh rate of most monitors, making it the ideal choice for competitive or high-refresh-rate play.

For users with a 1080p monitor, the Ultra preset at 225 FPS is the best option, as the frame rate is still extremely high and the visual quality is maximized. The data shows that the system can easily handle the Ultra preset at 1080p, and there is no need to sacrifice visual fidelity for performance. At 4K, the Ultra preset at 113 FPS is still playable, but the Medium preset offers a 31 FPS advantage, which is more significant for maintaining a stable frame rate on a 120Hz or 144Hz display. The Low preset, while offering the highest frame rates, is not recommended, as the visual quality is noticeably reduced, and the performance gain is not necessary given the high frame rates already achieved at Medium.

The data implies that the system is so powerful that the settings recommendation is more about balancing frame rate with visual quality for the specific display. For most users, the Medium preset at 1440p or 4K provides the best combination of smoothness and detail, as the min FPS of 182 at 1440p and 122 at 4K ensures no stuttering. The Ultra preset is only recommended for 1080p, where the frame rate remains above 200 FPS, or for users who prioritize visual fidelity over a slight frame rate drop. Overall, the measured rows indicate that this combo allows for a flexible approach to settings, but the Medium preset is the safest recommendation for a consistently excellent experience.