Dave The Diver

The Intel Core i9-14900K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 delivers a strong, high-refresh-rate experience in Dave The Diver, ranking in the 44th percentile of all tested combinations with a position of 1639 out of 3710 combos. This placement indicates a balanced system that comfortably handles the game’s demands at most settings, though the CPU’s immense processing power is far ahead of what this title requires, leaving the GPU as the primary driver of performance differences across resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 1639 out of 3710 tested combinations places it in the upper-middle portion of the database, which is a solid result for a mainstream GPU paired with a flagship CPU. This position reflects the RTX 5060’s 72nd percentile standing among all GPUs, while the Core i9-14900K sits in the 95th percentile among all CPUs. The disparity between these two percentiles is telling: the processor is a top-tier part, but the graphics card moderates the overall system ranking in a game that is not particularly demanding.

Benchmark data shows the CPU’s average benchmark score of 79097 is nearly three times the GPU’s average benchmark score of 26331, reinforcing that the processor is not the limiting factor here. Among the CPU’s nearest rivals, the Core i9-14900KF scores 79371, a delta of -0.3%, meaning the 14900K is essentially tied with its KF variant. The AMD EPYC 7413 scores 80041, which is 1.2% higher, and the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 scores 77740, which is 1.7% lower. These small deltas confirm that the 14900K is at the top of the performance heap for this game’s CPU workload.

For the GPU, the nearest rivals show a similar clustering: the AMD Radeon 860M scores 26401 (0.3% higher), the NVIDIA GeForce MX550 scores 26421 (0.3% higher), and the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary scores 26553 (0.8% higher). The AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT scores 26011, which is 1.2% lower. This tight grouping suggests that the RTX 5060’s raw compute performance is on par with several other mid-range options, but the measured FPS in this specific game will determine its real-world standing.

The rank of 1639 out of 3710 means that roughly 56% of tested combos perform better, which is expected given that many configurations include higher-tier GPUs. However, for a game like Dave The Diver, which is an adventure title rather than a hardcore shooter, this level of performance is more than sufficient for smooth gameplay, as the measured FPS data will show.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a GB206 chip manufactured on a 5 nm process by TSMC. It features 3840 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units, along with 30 ray tracing cores and 120 tensor cores. The GPU’s base clock is 2280 MHz, with a boost clock of 2497 MHz, and memory runs at 1750 MHz with 28 Gbps effective speed.

The 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is adequate for Dave The Diver, which is not a VRAM-heavy title at the tested settings. The GPU’s FP32 performance is 19.18 TFLOPS, and its texture rate is 299.6 GTexel/s, with a pixel rate of 119.9 GPixel/s. These specifications translate to strong 1080p and 1440p performance, as evidenced by the measured frames.

In Dave The Diver, the RTX 5060’s role is to render the game’s underwater environments and character animations. The measured FPS at 1080p Ultra is 163, which is high but not maxed out, indicating that the GPU is handling the workload without being fully saturated. At 4K Ultra, the average drops to 82 FPS, which shows that the GPU begins to feel the pressure at higher resolutions, but it still maintains playable framerates.

The GPU’s PassMark G3D score of 20891 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3628 place it in the 72nd percentile of all GPUs. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 112787 and Vulkan score of 113321 further confirm its compute capabilities. These benchmarks suggest that the RTX 5060 is a capable mid-range card, and in a light game like Dave The Diver, it punches above its weight, delivering framerates that rival much more expensive hardware.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance across all three resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the average FPS is 207, with a minimum of 176 and a maximum of 238. This provides a wide margin above the 60 FPS threshold, ensuring smooth gameplay even during busy scenes with multiple characters or effects.

At 1440p Medium, the average FPS is 155, with a minimum of 132 and a maximum of 179. This is still well above 60 FPS and offers a significant visual upgrade over 1080p without sacrificing smoothness. The minimum of 132 FPS is particularly reassuring, as it indicates that even the most demanding moments in the game will not cause noticeable stuttering.

At 4K Medium, the average FPS is 104, with a minimum of 89 and a maximum of 120. This is the only resolution where the Medium preset dips below the 100 FPS mark, but it remains comfortably above 60 FPS. For users with a 4K display, this is the recommended setting, as it delivers high visual fidelity while maintaining a smooth experience.

The High preset is also viable, but it comes with a notable FPS cost. At 1080p High, the average is 184 FPS, which is 23 FPS lower than Medium. At 1440p High, the average is 139 FPS, a drop of 16 FPS from Medium. At 4K High, the average is 93 FPS, which is 11 FPS lower than Medium. While these numbers are still playable, the visual difference between Medium and High in this game is not substantial enough to justify the performance loss, especially at 4K.

The Ultra preset is only recommended for users with high-refresh-rate 1080p monitors. At 1080p Ultra, the average FPS is 163, which is still smooth. However, at 1440p Ultra, the average drops to 123 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 82 FPS. The Low preset, while offering the highest framerates (247 FPS at 1080p, 186 FPS at 1440p, and 124 FPS at 4K), sacrifices too much visual quality for a game that does not require extreme performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 247 FPS, which is the highest framerate measured in this entire dataset. The Medium preset averages 207 FPS, with a minimum of 176 and a maximum of 238. High averages 184 FPS, and Ultra averages 163 FPS. These numbers show a clear progression: each step up in settings costs roughly 20-40 FPS, but even Ultra remains far above the 60 FPS mark.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 186 FPS, which is 61 FPS lower than its 1080p counterpart. Medium averages 155 FPS, with a minimum of 132 and a maximum of 179. High averages 139 FPS, and Ultra averages 123 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent across settings, typically around 24-28%, which suggests that the GPU is the primary bottleneck as resolution increases.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 124 FPS, which is 62 FPS lower than 1440p Low and 123 FPS lower than 1080p Low. Medium averages 104 FPS, with a minimum of 89 and a maximum of 120. High averages 93 FPS, and Ultra averages 82 FPS. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is steeper, with drops of 33-38% depending on the preset.

The Medium preset is the only one where minimum and maximum FPS values are provided, giving a fuller picture of the performance envelope. At 1080p Medium, the range is 176-238 FPS, a spread of 62 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the range is 132-179 FPS, a spread of 47 FPS. At 4K Medium, the range is 89-120 FPS, a spread of 31 FPS. This narrowing range at higher resolutions further confirms that the GPU is becoming more stressed, reducing the headroom for framerate fluctuations.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial, but the pattern reveals important information about the system’s bottleneck. At Low settings, the framerate falls from 247 FPS at 1080p to 186 FPS at 1440p (a 24.7% drop) and then to 124 FPS at 4K (a 33.3% drop from 1440p). At Medium settings, the drop from 1080p to 1440p is 52 FPS (25.1%), and from 1440p to 4K is 51 FPS (32.9%). At High settings, the drops are 45 FPS (24.5%) and 46 FPS (33.1%). At Ultra settings, the drops are 40 FPS (24.5%) and 41 FPS (33.3%).

The consistent percentage drops across all settings indicate that the GPU is the limiting component at higher resolutions. The Core i9-14900K, with its 24 cores and 32 threads, is more than capable of feeding the GPU at any resolution, but as pixel count increases, the RTX 5060’s rendering load grows proportionally. The fact that the drop from 1080p to 1440p is roughly 25% while the drop from 1440p to 4K is roughly 33% aligns with the pixel count increase: 1440p has 77% more pixels than 1080p, and 4K has 125% more pixels than 1440p.

This scaling behavior is typical of a GPU-bound scenario. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would remain relatively flat across resolutions, since the processor’s workload does not change much with resolution. Instead, we see a clear downward trend that accelerates at 4K, confirming that the RTX 5060’s 8 GB of memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are being fully utilized at higher resolutions. The GPU’s 19.18 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but at 4K, it begins to struggle to maintain the same framerates.

The measured data shows that the system can handle 4K Ultra at 82 FPS, which is still playable, but the 4K Medium preset at 104 FPS is a better choice for those who prioritize smoothness over maximum visual fidelity.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K is a 24-core, 32-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, specifically the Raptor Lake-R refresh. It has a base clock of 3.20 GHz and a boost clock of 6.00 GHz, with 36 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB of L2 cache per core. The CPU supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration, and it features 16 PCIe Gen 5 lanes. Its TDP is 125 W, and it was released with a launch MSRP of $589.

In Dave The Diver, the CPU’s role is minimal, as the game is not CPU-intensive. The measured FPS at 1080p Low is 247, which is far beyond what any modern game would require from a processor. Even at 4K Ultra, the average FPS of 82 is not limited by the CPU, as evidenced by the resolution scaling pattern discussed above.

The CPU’s benchmark scores are exceptional: a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 39399.5 and a single-core score of 2262.5. Its Geekbench multicore score is 21697, with a single-core score of 2655. PassMark tests show a multithread score of 58674 and a single-thread score of 4697. These numbers place the 14900K in the 95th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 79097.

The nearest rivals to the 14900K are all within 1.7% of its score, which underscores how competitive the top end of the CPU market is. The Intel Core i9-14900KF is essentially identical, scoring 79371 with a delta of -0.3%. The Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus scores 79574, a 0.6% difference. The AMD EPYC 7413 scores 80041, which is 1.2% higher, and the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 scores 77740, which is 1.7% lower.

For Dave The Diver, this CPU is overkill. The game’s adventure genre and relatively simple graphics mean that even a mid-range processor would suffice. However, the presence of this CPU ensures that there is no possibility of a CPU bottleneck, allowing the RTX 5060 to perform to its full potential. The 24 cores and 32 threads are far more than this game needs, but they do not hurt performance, and they provide headroom for other tasks, such as streaming or running background applications while gaming.

The CPU’s high single-core performance, as evidenced by its 6.00 GHz boost clock and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2262.5, is particularly well-suited for games that rely on single-threaded performance, though Dave The Diver does not appear to be one of them. The measured FPS data shows no signs of CPU limitation, as the framerates scale predictably with resolution and settings, which is the hallmark of a GPU-bound system.