Dave The Diver

Dave The Diver, an adventure title released in 2023, presents an interesting case study when paired with the Intel Core i9-14900K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060. This combination of a top-tier 24-core processor with a mid-range 8 GB graphics card creates a dynamic where the performance ceiling is clearly defined by the GPU, yet the CPU ensures frame delivery remains consistently high. The measured data reveals a system that excels at high refresh rate 1080p and 1440p gaming, while still maintaining playable frame rates at 4K, making it a versatile, if not entirely balanced, pairing for this specific title.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression across resolutions tells a clear story about which component is doing the heavy lifting. At 1080p with High settings, the combo delivers 173 FPS, which drops to 130 FPS at 1440p and further to 87 FPS at 4K. This represents a 25% decrease from 1080p to 1440p and a 50% decrease from 1080p to 4K. This scaling pattern is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario, where the rendering workload increases exponentially with pixel count, and the RTX 4060's 128-bit memory bus and 272.0 GB/s bandwidth become the limiting factor.

The data suggests that the i9-14900K is rarely the bottleneck at any resolution. Even at 1080p Low, where the GPU has the least work to do and the CPU would typically be taxed the hardest, the system still achieves 231 FPS. The absence of a significant frame rate plateau at lower resolutions indicates that the processor's 24 cores and 32 threads, with a boost clock of 6.00 GHz, are more than capable of feeding the GPU with draw calls and game logic updates. The bottleneck shifts almost entirely to the graphics card's fill rate and shading power as resolution increases.

Interestingly, the scaling from 1440p to 4K is only a 33% drop in FPS (from 130 to 87 at High settings), which is less severe than the 1080p to 1440p drop. This could suggest that at 4K, the game's engine becomes slightly more efficient at batching operations, or that the RTX 4060's 8 GB of VRAM is sufficient to hold the necessary textures without spilling into system memory, preventing a more catastrophic performance cliff. The 4K Ultra setting, at 77 FPS, shows that even the most demanding preset remains playable, though the gap between High and Ultra at 4K is a modest 10 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K is a desktop processor from the Raptor Lake architecture, featuring 24 cores (a mix of performance and efficiency cores) and 32 threads. Its benchmark scores are impressive, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 39399.5 and a single-core score of 2262.5, placing it in the 95th percentile of all CPUs. In Dave The Diver, this raw processing power translates to a safety margin; the game's logic, AI, and physics calculations are unlikely to ever stress the CPU to its limits, as evidenced by the consistently high frame rates even at low resolutions.

The processor's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the Intel Core i9-14900KF, which scores a 0.3% higher average, and the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395, which scores 1.7% lower. These marginal differences in synthetic tests are unlikely to manifest as any measurable difference in Dave The Diver, where the GPU is the primary constraint. The CPU's 36 MB of shared L3 cache and support for DDR5 memory (though the specific memory configuration isn't detailed in the measured results) contribute to a platform that minimizes latency and maximizes throughput for game data.

With a base clock of 3.20 GHz and a boost clock of 6.00 GHz, the i9-14900K offers exceptional single-thread performance, which is often critical for game logic that isn't perfectly parallelized. The data implies that even a less powerful CPU could achieve similar frame rates in this game at higher resolutions, but the i9-14900K ensures that there are no sudden frame hitches or stutters due to CPU saturation, particularly in complex scenes with many on-screen entities. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (231 FPS) reflects the CPU's ability to keep up with the GPU's maximum output.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060, based on the Ada Lovelace architecture, is a 5 nm chip with 3072 shading units and 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus. Its benchmark profile is modest, sitting in the 61st percentile of all GPUs, with a Passmark G3D score of 19545. Its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are surprisingly older or integrated parts, such as the AMD Radeon HD 7790 (0.2% lower) and the AMD Radeon 780M (0.3% higher), which highlights that the RTX 4060's performance class is competitive but not exceptional in raw rasterization terms.

In Dave The Diver, the GPU's role is dominant. The frame rate differences between settings at a given resolution are significant, showing that the graphics card is the primary lever for performance. For instance, at 1440p, moving from Low (174 FPS) to Ultra (115 FPS) results in a 34% performance drop. This is a clear indication that the game's visual fidelity settings directly impact the GPU's workload, and the RTX 4060's 15.11 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is the resource being consumed.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for this title, as evidenced by the lack of severe frame drops at 4K Ultra. However, the 128-bit memory interface and 272.0 GB/s bandwidth likely cap performance at higher resolutions. The boost clock of 2460 MHz helps to extract as much performance as possible, but the card's physical limitations are exposed when compared to the CPU's headroom. The data suggests that if a user were to pair this CPU with a more powerful GPU, the frame rates in Dave The Diver would scale almost linearly, as the current bottleneck is purely the graphics card's rendering speed.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data provides a complete matrix of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the frame rates are exceptionally high: Low delivers 231 FPS, Medium 194 FPS (with a min of 165 and max of 223), High 173 FPS, and Ultra 153 FPS. This resolution is clearly where the combo shines, with all presets well above the 144 Hz refresh rate threshold, ensuring a smooth experience on high-refresh monitors.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains very strong. Low settings produce 174 FPS, Medium 146 FPS (min 124, max 168), High 130 FPS, and Ultra 115 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent across settings, averaging around a 25% reduction. This resolution strikes an excellent balance between visual clarity and frame rate, with even Ultra settings maintaining over 100 FPS, making it the sweet spot for this hardware combination.

At 3840x2160, the RTX 4060 begins to show its limits. Low settings yield 117 FPS, Medium 98 FPS (min 83, max 112), High 87 FPS, and Ultra 77 FPS. While these numbers are still playable, they represent a significant step down from 1440p. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 40 FPS, indicating that the GPU is struggling to maintain high fill rates. The minimum FPS recorded at 4K Medium (83 FPS) suggests that there are occasional dips, but they remain above the standard 60 FPS playability threshold.

How This Combo Ranks

In the global ranking of hardware combinations for Dave The Diver, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i9-14900K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 ranks 2003 out of 3710 tested combos. This places it in the 46th percentile, which is a surprising result given the high-end nature of the CPU. The ranking is heavily influenced by the GPU's mid-range standing; the RTX 4060's 61st percentile performance among all GPUs drags the combo's overall position down, despite the CPU's 95th percentile ranking.

This rank suggests that in the context of this game, a large number of other hardware configurations deliver higher average frame rates. These would likely include systems with more powerful GPUs (e.g., RTX 4070 or higher) paired with less potent CPUs, as the game is not CPU-intensive. The data implies that the i9-14900K is overkill for Dave The Diver, and its contribution to the combo's ranking is minimal compared to the GPU. The combo's rank is a reflection of the GPU's performance ceiling, not the CPU's capability.

The nearest rival combos in the database would likely feature a similar GPU with a more balanced CPU, or a slightly weaker GPU with a much faster one. The 2003rd rank out of 3710 indicates that while this setup performs admirably in absolute terms, it is not optimized for this specific title's performance hierarchy. Users seeking a higher rank in this game would see more benefit from upgrading the graphics card rather than the processor, as the current CPU is far from being the limiting factor.

FAQ

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

A: The highest average frame rate is 231 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: Can this hardware combination maintain 60 FPS at 4K resolution?

A: Yes, all tested settings at 3840x2160 achieve an average FPS above 77, with Low at 117 FPS, Medium at 98 FPS, High at 87 FPS, and Ultra at 77 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU's benchmark performance compare to its nearest rival?

A: In synthetic benchmarks, the Intel Core i9-14900K has an average score of 79097, which is 0.3% lower than the Intel Core i9-14900KF and 1.7% higher than the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395.

Q: Is the GPU's memory bandwidth a limiting factor in this game?

A: The RTX 4060 has a memory bandwidth of 272.0 GB/s over a 128-bit bus, and the frame rate drops from 231 FPS at 1080p Low to 117 FPS at 4K Low suggest that bandwidth, alongside compute power, is a significant constraint at higher resolutions.

Q: What is the performance difference between High and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, High settings deliver an average of 130 FPS, while Ultra settings deliver 115 FPS, a difference of 15 FPS or approximately 12%.

Q: How does this combo's overall ranking in Dave The Diver look?

A: The combo ranks 2003rd out of 3710 tested hardware combinations, placing it roughly in the middle of the pack, which is primarily due to the GPU's mid-range performance classification.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the optimal experience for this hardware combination is at 2560x1440 resolution. The High preset at this resolution delivers an average of 130 FPS, which is a 15 FPS improvement over Ultra and a 16 FPS improvement over Medium's 146 FPS. High settings provide a balance of visual quality and performance that is well-suited for the RTX 4060's capabilities. At 1080p, Ultra settings are entirely viable at 153 FPS, but the visual upgrade over High is often marginal in a game like this, so High at 1080p (173 FPS) is a better choice for competitive smoothness.

For users with a 4K display, the data suggests using the Medium preset, which yields 98 FPS and stays above the 60 FPS threshold even at its minimum of 83 FPS. While Low at 4K gives a higher average of 117 FPS, the visual compromise is significant. The Ultra preset at 4K, at 77 FPS, is playable but offers a diminishing return on quality for the performance hit compared to Medium. The sweet spot for visual fidelity and frame rate stability is clearly the Medium preset at 4K, offering a 21 FPS advantage over High with presumably similar visual improvements over Low.

In summary, for the best overall experience, 1440p High is recommended. For those prioritizing maximum frame rate, 1080p Low (231 FPS) offers the highest headroom. For 4K users, Medium is the sensible choice to maintain a comfortable frame rate. The data indicates that this combo is best utilized at 1440p, where the GPU's performance is neither overstretched nor underutilized, and the CPU's power ensures a stable, high-refresh experience.