Dave The Diver

Dave The Diver is not the kind of title that typically punishes high-end hardware, but the measured data for this Intel Core i7-14700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination shows a fascinating curve in frame rates that reveals exactly where the bottleneck shifts. At 1080p, the system is clearly CPU-bound at lower settings, producing enormous frame rates that far exceed display capabilities. As resolution climbs, the load transitions to the GPU, but the absolute performance remains so high that this combo never drops below the range of high-refresh-rate gaming, even at 4K Ultra.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is significant but not catastrophic, which is a hallmark of a balanced high-end pairing. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 455.2 FPS at 1920x1080 to 339.8 FPS at 2560x1440, and finally to 231 FPS at 3840x2160. That is a 49.2% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low, indicating that the GPU is taking on substantially more work per frame as pixel count grows. The trend becomes even more pronounced at Ultra settings, where the 1080p average of 299.8 FPS drops to 227.9 FPS at 1440p and then to 151.1 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is roughly half the 1080p Ultra number, which is expected for a rasterization-bound workload scaling with resolution.

What is telling is the gap between Low and Ultra at each resolution. At 1080p, the difference between Low (455.2 FPS) and Ultra (299.8 FPS) is 155.4 FPS, a large absolute spread that suggests the CPU has headroom to feed the GPU even when settings are cranked. At 4K, the spread narrows to 79.9 FPS (231 FPS Low vs. 151.1 FPS Ultra), indicating that the GPU becomes the limiting component as resolution increases. The data points to a system that is heavily CPU-limited at 1080p Low, where the i7-14700KF’s 20 cores and high clocks are pushing frame rates into territory where the RTX 4090 cannot fully stretch its legs. Once you move to 4K, the GPU’s raw throughput is the primary constraint, and the CPU’s role diminishes accordingly.

How This Combo Ranks

In the context of Dave The Diver, this specific CPU-GPU pairing achieves a combo rank of 20 out of 1,626 tested combinations. That places it in the top 1.2% of all tested combos for this game, a position that reflects the sheer power of both components. The RTX 4090 sits in the 91st percentile among all GPUs, while the i7-14700KF is in the 96th percentile among all CPUs, so the pairing of two top-tier parts yields a result that is predictably elite. The data shows that this combo outperforms the vast majority of alternatives, and the only systems that would rank higher are those pairing the same GPU with even faster CPUs or possibly multi-GPU configurations, though none are listed in the measured data.

Looking at the CPU’s nearest rivals, the i7-14700KF posts an average benchmark score of 70,104, which is essentially identical to the Intel Core i7-14700K at 70,074 (0% delta). It edges out the AMD EPYC 9115 by 0.3% and the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X by -0.4%, meaning the 9950X is actually marginally faster in synthetic tests. The Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 trails by 1.3%. These deltas are small, within a couple of percentage points, suggesting that in a game like Dave The Diver, which is not heavily threaded beyond a few cores, the choice between these CPUs would have minimal impact on the measured frame rates. For the GPU, the RTX 4090’s average score of 66,473 is within 0.5% of the NVIDIA Tesla P40 and -0.4% of the Tesla T4, though those are workstation cards with different drivers and workloads, so the gaming relevance is limited.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Dave The Diver at 4K with high refresh rates?

A: Yes. At 3840x2160 with High settings, the measured average is 172.8 FPS, and at Ultra it is 151.1 FPS. Both exceed 144 Hz, so a 144 Hz or 165 Hz 4K monitor would be fully utilized.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data indicates the CPU is the limiting factor at 1080p. At Low settings, the average frame rate is 455.2 FPS, which is so high that the GPU is likely waiting on the CPU to feed it data. The i7-14700KF’s 20 cores and 28 threads are doing the heavy lifting here.

Q: How does the i7-14700KF compare to its direct sibling, the i7-14700K?

A: The average benchmark scores are nearly identical: the 14700KF scores 70,104 and the 14700K scores 70,074, a 0% delta. In gaming, you would not notice a difference.

Q: What is the best settings preset for this game at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, all presets deliver above 227 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 227.9 FPS, which is still well above any high-refresh display, so there is no reason to drop below Ultra for visual quality.

Q: Does the RTX 4090’s 24 GB of memory matter for this game?

A: Dave The Diver is not a VRAM-heavy title, so the 24 GB GDDR6X buffer is overkill. The measured frame rates show no signs of memory capacity limiting performance at any resolution or setting.

Q: Is the 4K Low setting worth using for competitive play?

A: At 4K Low, the average is 231 FPS, which is higher than the 4K High result of 172.8 FPS. If you prioritize maximum frame pacing over visuals, Low gives you a 33.7% boost in frame rate over High.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data makes it clear that this pairing has enough power to run Dave The Diver at maximum fidelity without sacrificing playability. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset averages 299.8 FPS, which is more than double the refresh rate of any mainstream monitor. At 2560x1440, Ultra still produces 227.9 FPS, so there is no reason to compromise on quality. At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset drops to 151.1 FPS, which is still suitable for high-refresh gaming, but if you want headroom for 165 Hz or 240 Hz 4K displays, dropping to High (172.8 FPS) or Medium (193.9 FPS) is a reasonable trade-off.

The most balanced choice for 4K is the High preset, as it delivers 172.8 FPS while retaining most of the visual enhancements over Medium. For 1440p and 1080p, the Ultra preset is the obvious pick because the frame rates are so high that any lower setting would be leaving performance unused. The Low preset is only relevant if you are chasing absolute maximum frame rates for a 360 Hz or 500 Hz display at 1080p, where it hits 455.2 FPS, but the visual hit is steep for a game that is not competitive in nature.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full set of results shows a clear progression from Low to Ultra. The Low preset averages 455.2 FPS, Medium drops to 378 FPS, High comes in at 338.8 FPS, and Ultra is the lowest at 299.8 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is 155.4 FPS, which is a 34.1% reduction in frame rate when moving to the highest quality settings.

Moving to 2560x1440, the same pattern holds but with lower absolute numbers. Low averages 339.8 FPS, Medium 284.5 FPS, High 253.9 FPS, and Ultra 227.9 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra here is 111.9 FPS, a 32.9% drop. At 3840x2160, the results are 231 FPS for Low, 193.9 FPS for Medium, 172.8 FPS for High, and 151.1 FPS for Ultra. The Low-to-Ultra gap is 79.9 FPS, or 34.6%. Notably, the percentage drop from Low to Ultra is remarkably consistent across all three resolutions, hovering around 33-35%, which suggests that the settings scaling is uniform and the GPU is handling the increased shader complexity similarly regardless of pixel count.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake-R architecture, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. Its 33 MB shared L3 cache and dual-channel memory support for DDR4 and DDR5 provide ample bandwidth for feeding a flagship GPU. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 44,557 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 6,290 in single-core, which places it in the 96th percentile among all CPUs. The nearest rivals are all within 1.3% of its average score, indicating that this CPU is at the top of the heap for gaming workloads.

For Dave The Diver specifically, the CPU’s role is most evident at 1080p Low, where the frame rate reaches 455.2 FPS. This is a scenario where the GPU is not the constraint, and the CPU’s high boost clock and core count allow it to process game logic and draw calls quickly. The 28 threads are more than enough for a game that is not heavily multithreaded, and the single-core performance of 6,290 in Cinebench R23 is what drives the high minimum frame rates in these tests. As resolution increases, the CPU’s influence wanes, but the data shows that even at 4K Ultra, the i7-14700KF never becomes a limiting factor, as the 151.1 FPS result is still high enough to keep the GPU fully occupied. This is a case where the CPU has so much headroom that it effectively disappears as a bottleneck, allowing the RTX 4090 to operate at its full potential across all settings.