Valorant

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 combination delivers exceptional frame rates in Valorant, a tactical FPS where high refresh rates matter more than absolute visual fidelity. Measured data shows this pairing achieves average framerates well above 200 FPS across every tested resolution and settings preset, positioning it in the 2965th spot out of 3708 tested combinations in this game. This places the combo in the lower-middle portion of the database for Valorant, a game where many high-end systems exceed 500 FPS, yet the raw numbers remain impressive for a 6-core/12-thread CPU and a 6 GB GPU from the prior generation.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo averages 389 FPS, which drops to 369 FPS at 2560x1440 and 342 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a reduction of 20 FPS from 1080p to 1440p (approximately 5%) and another 27 FPS from 1440p to 4K (approximately 7%). The relatively modest scaling penalty suggests the CPU remains a significant contributor to performance even at higher resolutions, as the RTX 2060’s rendering load increases but does not become the sole bottleneck.

For High settings, the scaling shows a more pronounced effect: 326 FPS at 1080p falls to 291 FPS at 1440p, then further to 232 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 35 FPS (about 11%), while the 1440p to 4K transition costs 59 FPS (about 20%). This steeper decline at High settings indicates that the GPU’s workload grows more substantially with resolution when texture quality and shading complexity increase, yet even at 4K High the average remains above 230 FPS, far exceeding any typical display refresh rate.

Ultra settings exhibit the largest relative losses: 321 FPS at 1080p, 277 FPS at 1440p, and 221 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra figure is 100 FPS lower than the 1080p Ultra result, a 31% reduction. Medium settings sit between Low and High, with 332 FPS at 1080p, 305 FPS at 1440p, and 244 FPS at 4K. The Medium preset also provides the only min/max data points in the measured set, showing 4K Medium ranging from 207 to 280 FPS, 1440p Medium from 259 to 351 FPS, and 1080p Medium from 282 to 382 FPS. These ranges demonstrate that even the minimum framerates at every resolution remain above 200 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay during intense combat scenarios.

The resolution scaling analysis suggests that the limiting component shifts depending on settings. At Low presets, the CPU likely caps performance—evidenced by the only 47 FPS difference between 1080p and 4K. At Ultra, the GPU becomes more influential, as the 100 FPS gap between resolutions indicates. Regardless, the RTX 2060’s 6 GB of GDDR6 memory and 192-bit bus provide sufficient bandwidth for Valorant’s modest VRAM requirements, as evidenced by the absence of any memory-related stutter in the measured data.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 operates with a base clock of 1365 MHz and a boost clock of 1680 MHz, built on the TU106 chip using a 12 nm process. Its memory runs at 1750 MHz with 14 Gbps effective speed, delivering 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth across a 192-bit bus. The 6 GB GDDR6 frame buffer proves adequate for Valorant, as the game’s art style and map geometry do not demand large texture pools. The GPU’s 1920 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 48 render output units handle the game’s particle effects and post-processing without issue, though the measured FPS numbers indicate that the GPU is rarely the primary constraint.

In the database’s GPU benchmarks, the RTX 2060 scores 14111 in Passmark G3D and 15290 as an average benchmark score, with a percentile ranking of 58 among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (deltaPct 0), AMD Radeon 680M (deltaPct 0.1), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM (deltaPct 0.6), and AMD Radeon RX 7600 (deltaPct 0.8). These close scores indicate the RTX 2060 sits in a performance tier where small differences separate competitors, yet in Valorant specifically, the measured FPS shows the GPU has ample headroom. Even at 4K Ultra, the 221 FPS average suggests the RTX 2060 is not being pushed to its limits, as the game’s rendering pipeline is relatively lightweight compared to AAA titles.

The GPU’s FP32 performance of 6.451 TFLOPS and texture rate of 201.6 GTexel/s contribute to its ability to maintain high framerates, but Valorant’s engine relies more on CPU-bound logic for game state updates and hit registration. The RTX 2060’s 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores are irrelevant for this game, as Valorant does not utilize ray tracing or DLSS. The card’s 160 W TDP and 450 W suggested PSU ensure stable operation, though thermal throttling is unlikely given the modest load. The measured FPS data confirms that the GPU role here is to render frames fast enough to keep up with the CPU’s output, and it succeeds at every resolution tested.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo holds the 2965th rank out of 3708 tested combinations in Valorant, placing it in the lower 20% of the database. This ranking might seem surprising given the high absolute FPS, but it reflects the competitive nature of Valorant benchmarking, where many systems pairing high-end CPUs with flagship GPUs achieve framerates exceeding 500 FPS at 1080p. The Ryzen 5 3600’s single-thread performance, measured at 696 in 3DMark single-thread and 2124 in Cinebench R23 single-core, limits the maximum achievable FPS in a game that heavily depends on per-core performance. The RTX 2060’s percentile of 58 and the CPU’s percentile of 71 against all parts suggest both components are mid-tier, and their combination yields mid-to-low rankings in a game where even modest hardware can produce high numbers.

Compared to the CPU’s nearest rivals, the Ryzen 5 3600 scores 17035 average benchmark points, with the Intel Core i7-1260P at 17007 (deltaPct 0.2), Intel Core i5-11400 at 17067 (deltaPct -0.2), AMD EPYC 7573X at 17070 (deltaPct -0.2), and AMD EPYC 7742 at 16998 (deltaPct 0.2). These negligible differences mean the CPU choice has minimal impact on overall throughput, but in Valorant’s single-threaded scenarios, the 3.60 GHz base and 4.20 GHz boost clocks determine how many frames the CPU can feed to the GPU. The combo’s rank of 2965 suggests that while the system produces playable framerates, it trails combinations with faster single-core CPUs by a significant margin in the database’s ranking methodology.

The GPU’s nearest rivals show similar clustering, with the RTX 2060’s 15290 average score sitting just 0.8% above the AMD Radeon RX 7600. This indicates that the GPU tier is crowded, but for Valorant specifically, the measured FPS shows the RTX 2060 delivers within a narrow performance band regardless of settings, suggesting that the CPU is the more critical factor for this game’s ranking. The combo’s position at 2965 out of 3708 (roughly the 80th percentile from the bottom) means that roughly 743 combinations perform worse, but the vast majority of tested systems achieve higher FPS, likely due to newer CPUs with higher boost clocks.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides exact numbers for each resolution and settings combination. At 3840x2160, the Low preset yields an average of 342 FPS, Medium averages 244 FPS with a minimum of 207 and maximum of 280, High averages 232 FPS, and Ultra averages 221 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra at 4K is 121 FPS, with each step up in settings reducing performance by roughly 20-30 FPS. The Medium settings provide the only min/max data at this resolution, indicating a 73 FPS range between minimum and maximum, which shows consistency during typical gameplay.

Moving to 2560x1440, Low averages 369 FPS, Medium averages 305 FPS with min/max of 259/351, High averages 291 FPS, and Ultra averages 277 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 92 FPS, smaller than at 4K, reflecting the reduced GPU load. The Medium min/max range of 92 FPS is slightly larger than at 4K, suggesting more variance in frame times at this resolution. At 1920x1080, Low averages 389 FPS, Medium averages 332 FPS with min/max of 282/382, High averages 326 FPS, and Ultra averages 321 FPS. The Low to Ultra gap narrows to 68 FPS, and the Medium range of 100 FPS shows the highest variance of any resolution tested.

Across all resolutions, the Low preset consistently delivers the highest average FPS, with 389 FPS at 1080p being the peak measurement. Ultra settings at 4K produce the lowest average at 221 FPS, yet this still exceeds the refresh rate of most gaming monitors. The data reveals that Medium settings offer a balanced compromise, with framerates that are only 10-15% lower than Low settings while providing improved visual quality. The min FPS values for Medium settings (207 at 4K, 259 at 1440p, 282 at 1080p) ensure that even during intense firefights, the framerate remains above 200 FPS, preventing any noticeable hitches.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 3000 series, based on Zen 2 architecture with a 7 nm process. Its base clock of 3.60 GHz boosts to 4.20 GHz, and it features 64 KB L1 cache per core, 512 KB L2 per core, and 32 MB shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR4 memory in dual-channel configuration with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth, and it uses the AMD Socket AM4 platform with PCIe Gen 4 support. In benchmark tests, the CPU achieves 4605 in 3DMark 16-thread, 696 in single-thread, 15045 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, and 2124 in single-core, with an average benchmark score of 17035 and a percentile of 71 against all CPUs.

Valorant’s engine relies heavily on single-core performance for game logic, player position updates, and network code. The Ryzen 5 3600’s 4.20 GHz boost clock provides solid per-core throughput, as evidenced by the 2124 Cinebench R23 single-core score. However, the game’s frame generation is often limited by the CPU’s ability to issue draw calls and process input, and the measured FPS at Low settings (389 FPS at 1080p) suggests the CPU is nearing its practical limit for this workload. The 12 threads help with background tasks and modern game threading, but Valorant’s primary thread remains the bottleneck.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in the database include the Intel Core i7-1260P (deltaPct 0.2), Intel Core i5-11400 (deltaPct -0.2), AMD EPYC 7573X (deltaPct -0.2), and AMD EPYC 7742 (deltaPct 0.2). These show that the Ryzen 5 3600’s overall benchmark scores are closely matched by both mobile and desktop parts, but in Valorant, the boost clock and IPC determine real-world FPS. The CPU’s 71st percentile ranking indicates it outperforms 71% of all tested CPUs in general benchmarks, yet in Valorant’s specific workload, the single-thread performance becomes the deciding factor. The measured FPS delta between Low and Ultra settings at each resolution reflects how much headroom the CPU has: at 1080p, the 68 FPS difference between Low and Ultra shows that the GPU can handle the extra rendering load without the CPU becoming a hard limit, but the overall ceiling near 390 FPS indicates the CPU’s single-thread limits the maximum output.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average framerate recorded for this combo in Valorant?

A: The highest average is 389 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 221, with no min/max data provided, indicating consistent performance above 200 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more limiting for this game?

A: The data suggests the CPU is more limiting, as the FPS difference between 1080p and 4K at Low settings is only 47 FPS, while at Ultra settings the gap is 100 FPS, with the CPU’s single-thread performance capping the maximum achievable framerate.

Q: What are the min and max FPS values for Medium settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the minimum FPS is 259 and the maximum is 351, with an average of 305 FPS.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 3600 compare to its nearest CPU rivals in benchmark scores?

A: The CPU scores 17035 average benchmark points, which is 0.2% higher than the Intel Core i7-1260P (17007) and 0.2% lower than the Intel Core i5-11400 (17067), showing near-identical overall performance.

Q: Does the RTX 2060’s 6 GB VRAM cause any issues in Valorant?

A: No, the measured FPS shows no signs of VRAM limitations, as even at 4K Ultra the average remains 221 FPS, indicating the 6 GB frame buffer is sufficient for this game’s requirements.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the Medium preset offers the best balance between visual quality and performance for this combo. At 1920x1080, Medium settings produce an average of 332 FPS with a minimum of 282 FPS, which is only 57 FPS lower than Low settings but provides noticeably better texture filtering and shadow detail. The min FPS of 282 ensures that even in crowded scenes with multiple agents using abilities, the framerate stays well above the 240 Hz refresh rate that many competitive players target. At 2560x1440, Medium averages 305 FPS with a minimum of 259 FPS, still exceeding typical high-refresh monitors. For users with 4K displays, Medium at 3840x2160 averages 244 FPS with a minimum of 207 FPS, which remains playable but may not fully saturate a 240 Hz panel.

Low settings should be considered for players who prioritize maximum framerates above all else. The 389 FPS at 1080p Low is the highest measured value, and even at 4K Low the 342 FPS average exceeds any current display’s refresh rate. However, the visual downgrade—particularly in terms of shadow quality and anti-aliasing—may make enemy models harder to spot in certain maps. High settings offer only marginal improvements over Medium (326 vs 332 FPS at 1080p) and introduce a slight performance penalty without substantial visual gains, making it a less optimal choice. Ultra settings provide the best image quality but reduce the 1080p average to 321 FPS and the 4K average to 221 FPS, which is still playable but offers diminishing returns given the small visual difference from High in a competitive shooter.

For most players, Medium at 1920x1080 or 2560x1440 represents the sweet spot, as the min FPS values of 282 and 259, respectively, guarantee consistent frame pacing. The data shows that the RTX 2060 has enough headroom to run Medium settings at 4K with a 244 FPS average, but the 207 FPS minimum suggests occasional dips during intensive moments. Given that Valorant’s competitive mode rewards stable framerates over peak numbers, the Medium preset’s combination of high averages and acceptable minima makes it the recommended choice across all resolutions. Players with 240 Hz monitors should use Medium at 1080p to ensure the framerate rarely drops below the refresh rate, while those with 144 Hz panels can safely use Medium at 1440p and still maintain a comfortable margin above the display’s capabilities.