Dave The Diver

Dave The Diver, an Adventure title, presents a light-to-moderate GPU workload where the Intel Core i9-14900K and Intel Arc B580 combination exhibits clear performance scaling across resolutions and settings. The measured data indicates that this pairing is consistently capable of delivering smooth frame rates, though the margins between settings narrow as resolution increases, revealing the GPU as the primary scaling factor. The combo’s overall rank of 1270 out of 1626 tested combinations places it in the lower-middle tier of all tested systems, suggesting that while results are playable, this specific hardware pairing does not push the upper echelons of performance for this game.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 shows a predictable decline, but the severity of the drop varies significantly by quality preset. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 140.9 at 1080p to 103.1 at 1440p, a reduction of 37.8 FPS, and then further to 70.4 at 4K. This represents a 50% decrease from 1080p to 4K. The scaling is steeper at Ultra, where the 121.4 FPS at 1080p drops to 92.2 at 1440p and then to 60.7 at 4K, a 50% overall decline. This pattern indicates that the Intel Arc B580’s rendering throughput is increasingly the limiting factor at higher resolutions, with the CPU’s substantial headroom being less relevant as pixel count grows.

At Low settings, the performance delta between resolutions becomes more pronounced in absolute terms but less so proportionally. The 184.6 FPS at 1080p falls to 139.8 at 1440p and then to 96.9 at 4K. The 4K result still represents a 47.5% reduction from the 1080p figure. The fact that Low settings at 4K (96.9 FPS) outperform Ultra at 1440p (92.2 FPS) suggests that the GPU’s fill rate and shading capacity are more heavily taxed by quality presets than by raw resolution alone. The data shows a consistent pattern: the gap between Low and Ultra settings shrinks from 63.2 FPS at 1080p to 36.2 FPS at 4K, implying that the GPU’s fixed hardware resources become saturated, reducing the impact of settings changes at higher resolutions.

This scaling behavior points to a system where the CPU is not a bottleneck at any tested configuration. The i9-14900K’s high single-thread performance, evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 7040, ensures that even the low-resolution, high-FPS scenarios do not expose a CPU limitation. The measured data shows that the primary scaling variable is the GPU’s pixel throughput, which is consistent with the Arc B580’s specifications. The 4K Ultra result of 60.7 FPS is the only configuration dipping below the 70 FPS threshold, indicating that for this game, the combination remains viable at 4K, but the headroom for future graphical demands is minimal.

How This Combo Ranks

With a combo rank of 1270 out of 1626 tested configurations, this system sits in the 78th percentile of all tested hardware pairings for Dave The Diver. This position indicates that while the performance is far from the bottom, there are 356 other combinations that achieve higher average frame rates. The rank is notable because it places the system in the lower half of the upper two-thirds, suggesting a mid-tier outcome despite the high-end CPU. The i9-14900K’s individual percentile of 97 among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 79824, is not sufficient to boost the combo’s ranking, which is heavily influenced by the GPU’s 66th percentile standing.

The CPU’s nearest rivals show how close the processor is to its peers. The AMD EPYC 7413 scores an average of 80041, a delta of -0.3%, while the Intel Core i9-14900KF and Core Ultra 7 265KF are just 0.7% behind with scores of 79245 and 79240 respectively. This clustering indicates that the CPU’s compute performance is not a differentiating factor in this game, where frame rates are more dependent on the GPU. The Arc B580’s position relative to its rivals is similarly tight, with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 averaging 23181, just 0.7% higher, and the AMD Radeon 760M at 22999, a 0.1% delta. These narrow margins suggest that the GPU’s performance is typical for its class, and the combo’s low rank is a reflection of the game’s relatively low demand on the CPU, making the GPU’s mid-tier standing the dominant factor.

The rank of 1270 is a clear indicator that this system is not optimized for top-tier performance in this title. For an adventure game that does not heavily utilize multi-threaded processing, the i9-14900K’s 24 cores and 32 threads are largely underutilized. The data shows that the combo’s performance is limited by the GPU, which falls behind the top tier by a significant margin. This is not a reflection of poor hardware, but rather a mismatch between the game’s requirements and the system’s configuration, where a less powerful CPU paired with a stronger GPU would likely achieve a higher rank.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B580, based on the Xe2-HPG architecture, is the primary driver of frame rates in this analysis. With a boost clock of 2670 MHz and 2560 shading units, the GPU delivers a measured FP32 performance of 13.67 TFLOPS. The 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 456.0 GB/s, which is adequate for the textures and assets in Dave The Diver. The GPU’s benchmark results, including a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3068 and a Passmark G3D score of 15748, place it in the 66th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 23021.

The measured FPS data shows a direct correlation between GPU load and settings. At 1080p Ultra, the average FPS is 121.4, which drops to 60.7 at 4K Ultra, a 50% reduction. This halving of performance when pixel count quadruples indicates that the GPU is working at its limits. The memory clock of 2375 MHz, with an effective data rate of 19 Gbps, is sufficient to avoid bottlenecks at lower resolutions, but at 4K, the 456.0 GB/s bandwidth is taxed by the increased data throughput. The GPU’s pixel rate of 213.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 427.2 GTexel/s explain the smooth scaling from Low to High settings, where the fill rate is not the primary constraint.

The Arc B580’s role is further clarified by its nearest rivals. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060, with an average score of 23181, is just 0.7% higher, and the AMD Radeon 760M at 22999 is 0.1% lower. These close deltas suggest that the B580 offers comparable performance to its direct competitors. However, for a game like Dave The Diver, which does not stress the GPU’s ray tracing or compute capabilities—as evidenced by the RT cores (20) not being a major factor—the raw shading power is what matters. The data shows that the GPU is the limiting component at 4K, where the 60.7 FPS at Ultra is the lowest measured result, confirming that its 13.67 TFLOPS is the ceiling for this workload.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system exhibits strong performance across all settings. The Low preset achieves an average of 184.6 FPS, Medium at 158 FPS, High at 140.9 FPS, and Ultra at 121.4 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 63.2 FPS, a 34.2% reduction, which is expected as quality enhancements increase GPU load. These numbers indicate that at 1080p, the combination provides a highly fluid experience, with even the most demanding preset exceeding 120 FPS. The data shows a linear progression, with each step from Low to Ultra reducing the average FPS by roughly 15-20 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the average FPS values shift downward. Low settings produce 139.8 FPS, Medium 120.7 FPS, High 103.1 FPS, and Ultra 92.2 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 47.6 FPS, indicating that the GPU is beginning to saturate. The 1440p results are still playable, with all presets above 90 FPS, but the scaling from 1080p shows a 24.2% reduction for Low, 23.6% for Medium, 26.8% for High, and 24.0% for Ultra. This consistency suggests that the GPU’s architecture handles the pixel increase uniformly.

At 3840x2160, the measured FPS values are 96.9 for Low, 79.2 for Medium, 70.4 for High, and 60.7 for Ultra. The 4K results reveal a more pronounced drop, with Low settings still providing a smooth experience, but Ultra dipping below 60 FPS, which is the lowest measurement in the dataset. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 36.2 FPS, a 37.4% reduction. This pattern reinforces the GPU-bound nature of the system at high resolutions. The 4K High result of 70.4 FPS is notable as it remains above the 60 FPS threshold, demonstrating that the Arc B580 can handle 4K at moderate settings, but the Ultra preset’s 60.7 FPS is on the edge of playability.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K, with 24 cores and 32 threads, has a base clock of 3.20 GHz and a boost clock of 6.00 GHz. Its architecture, Raptor Lake-R, features a 36 MB shared L3 cache and supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory. The CPU’s benchmark results are impressive, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 49872 and a single-core score of 7040. The Passmark multi-thread score of 58674 and single-thread score of 4697 further illustrate its capability. However, in Dave The Diver, these metrics are largely irrelevant, as the game’s frame rates are not CPU-limited.

The data shows that even at 1080p Low, where the CPU would be most likely to bottleneck, the system achieves 184.6 FPS, which is well above typical display refresh rates. This indicates that the CPU has significant headroom. The i9-14900K’s 97th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average score of 79824, confirms its position at the top of the performance hierarchy. Its nearest rival, the AMD EPYC 7413, scores 80041, a negligible -0.3% delta, and the Intel Core i9-14900KF is just 0.7% behind. These margins show that the CPU is not a differentiating factor in this game.

The CPU’s 24 cores are underutilized in this title, as evidenced by the consistent FPS scaling across resolutions. If the CPU were a bottleneck, we would expect to see similar FPS values regardless of resolution or settings, but the measured data shows a clear decline from 1080p to 4K. The boost clock of 6.00 GHz provides excellent single-thread performance, which is often what matters in adventure games, but the GPU’s 66th percentile standing is the limiting factor. The CPU’s high power envelope, with a TDP of 125 W, is not a concern for this workload, as the game does not stress all cores simultaneously. The combination of a top-tier CPU and a mid-tier GPU results in a system where the CPU’s potential is left untapped, but its presence ensures that frame rates are not artificially capped by processor limitations.