Valorant

Settings Recommendations

For Valorant with the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070, the measured data points to a clear sweet spot: the Medium preset. At 1920x1080, Medium delivers an average of 332 FPS, which is only 6 FPS behind High and just 3 FPS ahead of Ultra, but it offers the only complete FPS envelope in the entire dataset at that resolution, with a minimum of 282 FPS and a maximum of 382 FPS. This consistency matters for a competitive FPS, as frame-time spikes are more disruptive than raw averages.

The Low preset is the performance king, hitting 389 FPS at 1080p, but the jump from Low to Medium costs only 57 FPS (389 to 332), a mere 14.7% drop, while likely providing noticeably better visual fidelity. High and Ultra at 1080p are nearly identical to Medium in average terms, with 326 FPS and 321 FPS respectively, yet neither provides minimum FPS data. Since the Medium preset is the only one offering a documented floor of 282 FPS at 1080p, it is the safest recommendation for maintaining stable competitive play.

The same logic applies at 2560x1440. Medium again leads with a 267 FPS minimum and a 315 FPS average, while High (309 FPS), Ultra (304 FPS), and Low (369 FPS) all lack minimum FPS figures. The 1440p Medium numbers show a 17 FPS drop in average from 1080p Medium, but the minimum FPS actually falls by only 15 FPS (282 to 267), suggesting the GPU is handling the resolution increase without introducing instability.

At 3840x2160, the story shifts slightly. Medium still provides the only minimum FPS data (248 FPS), but the average of 292 FPS is now sandwiched between Low (342 FPS) and High (287 FPS). The 4K Medium minimum of 248 FPS is still far above any refresh-rate ceiling for standard monitors, so even at 4K, Medium offers a playable experience. However, the gap between Medium and Low at 4K is 50 FPS (292 to 342), a 17.1% difference, which is larger than the 14.7% gap at 1080p.

Benchmark results indicate that the Medium preset is the most balanced choice across all three resolutions. It is the only preset that consistently provides both average and minimum FPS readings, and those minimums never dip below 248 FPS even at 4K. For players prioritizing frame-time consistency over raw averages, Medium is the measured best experience. For those who want the absolute highest average FPS, Low at 1080p (389 FPS) is the peak, but it sacrifices the documented frame stability that Medium offers.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Valorant with this CPU and GPU combo?

A: The data shows 1920x1080 provides the highest average FPS across all settings, with Low hitting 389 FPS and Medium at 332 FPS. However, 2560x1440 Medium still delivers 315 FPS average and 267 FPS minimum, so 1440p is viable for high-refresh monitors. Even 3840x2160 Medium maintains 292 FPS average and 248 FPS minimum.

Q: Does the RTX 4070 bottleneck the Ryzen 5 3600 in Valorant?

A: The resolution scaling data suggests the opposite. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 389 FPS, but dropping to 4K Low only reduces this to 342 FPS, a 12.1% decrease. This relatively small FPS drop across a 4x pixel increase indicates the CPU is limiting performance at lower resolutions, not the GPU.

Q: Is the Ultra preset worth using over High?

A: No. Across all three resolutions, Ultra and High are nearly identical. At 1080p, High averages 326 FPS and Ultra averages 321 FPS, a 1.5% difference. At 1440p, High is 309 FPS and Ultra is 304 FPS. At 4K, High is 287 FPS and Ultra is 283 FPS. The Ultra preset provides no meaningful FPS advantage over High in the measured data.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations for Valorant?

A: The combo ranks 2772 out of 3708 tested combinations. This places it in the lower half of all tested combos, despite the individual components ranking high in their respective benchmarks. The CPU sits in the 71st percentile of all CPUs, and the GPU in the 81st percentile of all GPUs, yet the game-specific ranking is lower due to Valorant's unique performance profile.

Q: What is the minimum FPS I can expect at 1080p with Medium settings?

A: The measured data shows a minimum of 282 FPS at 1920x1080 with Medium settings, with an average of 332 FPS and a maximum of 382 FPS. This is the only 1080p preset with documented minimum FPS data, making it the most reliable choice for frame-time stability.

Q: Does the CPU's single-thread performance matter for Valorant?

A: Yes. The Ryzen 5 3600 scores 696 in 3dmark single-thread and 2124 in Cinebench R23 single-core. Valorant's high FPS at 1080p Low (389 FPS) versus 4K Low (342 FPS) indicates that the game is heavily CPU-bound at lower resolutions, meaning single-thread performance is the key constraint.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 combination ranks 2772 out of 3708 tested combos for Valorant. This places the combo in the 74.8th percentile of all configurations, meaning roughly three-quarters of tested systems outperform it in this specific game. This ranking is notably lower than what the individual component percentiles would suggest — the CPU ranks in the 71st percentile of all CPUs, and the GPU ranks in the 81st percentile of all GPUs.

The discrepancy between component rankings and combo ranking highlights Valorant's unusual performance characteristics. As a competitive FPS designed to run on modest hardware, Valorant places a premium on CPU throughput rather than GPU capabilities. The RTX 4070's impressive raw power, evidenced by its 37648 average benchmark score and 81st percentile standing, is largely underutilized in this title.

The Ryzen 5 3600's nearest rivals in CPU benchmarks provide context for its performance tier. The Intel Core i7-1260P scores 17007, which is 0.2% higher than the Ryzen's 17035 average. The Intel Core i5-11400 scores 17067, 0.2% higher. The AMD EPYC 7573X and EPYC 7742 score 17070 and 16998 respectively, both within 0.2% of the Ryzen. This tight clustering shows the 3600 sits squarely in a competitive mid-range CPU bracket.

On the GPU side, the RTX 4070's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Tesla P4 with a score of 37628 (0.1% lower), the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 with 37507 (0.4% lower), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile with 38135 (1.3% higher). The AMD Radeon PRO W6400 comes in at 37157, 1.3% lower. These deltas are all under 1.5%, indicating the RTX 4070's performance is tightly clustered with these alternatives.

In the context of Valorant specifically, the 2772 rank underscores that this is not a GPU-bound scenario. The combo's FPS figures — ranging from 283 FPS at 4K Ultra to 389 FPS at 1080p Low — are all extremely high in absolute terms, yet the rank reflects that many other CPU-focused builds achieve even higher frame rates. The data suggests that pairing this GPU with a stronger CPU would yield a higher combo rank, as the GPU headroom is evident from the modest FPS scaling across resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured FPS data shows a clear hierarchy across settings. Low settings deliver the highest average at 389 FPS, followed by Medium at 332 FPS, High at 326 FPS, and Ultra at 321 FPS. The Medium preset is the only one with complete FPS data at this resolution, showing a minimum of 282 FPS and a maximum of 382 FPS. The gap from Low to Medium is 57 FPS (14.7%), while the gap from Medium to High is only 6 FPS (1.8%), and High to Ultra is 5 FPS (1.5%).

At 2560x1440, the pattern repeats with slightly lower absolute numbers. Low averages 369 FPS, Medium 315 FPS, High 309 FPS, and Ultra 304 FPS. The Medium preset again provides the only minimum FPS data at 267 FPS and a maximum of 362 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent across settings: Low loses 20 FPS (5.1%), Medium loses 17 FPS (5.1%), High loses 17 FPS (5.2%), and Ultra loses 17 FPS (5.3%).

At 3840x2160, the FPS figures compress further. Low averages 342 FPS, Medium 292 FPS, High 287 FPS, and Ultra 283 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K shows a minimum of 248 FPS and a maximum of 336 FPS. The resolution scaling from 1440p to 4K shows: Low drops 27 FPS (7.3%), Medium drops 23 FPS (7.3%), High drops 22 FPS (7.1%), and Ultra drops 21 FPS (6.9%).

The data reveals that Ultra settings are essentially indistinguishable from High across all resolutions. The largest performance delta between any two settings occurs at 1080p, where Low beats Ultra by 68 FPS (389 vs 321), a 21.2% difference. At 4K, this gap narrows to 59 FPS (342 vs 283), a 20.8% difference. The consistency of this delta across resolutions suggests a uniform performance cost for higher settings, independent of resolution.

The Medium preset's minimum FPS data provides the only insight into frame-time stability. At 1080p, the minimum of 282 FPS represents 85.5% of the average (332 FPS). At 1440p, the minimum of 267 FPS is 84.8% of the average (315 FPS). At 4K, the minimum of 248 FPS is 84.9% of the average (292 FPS). This consistent ratio indicates stable frame delivery regardless of resolution.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals critical information about which component is limiting performance. At Low settings, the combo achieves 389 FPS at 1080p, 369 FPS at 1440p, and 342 FPS at 4K. The total drop from 1080p to 4K is 47 FPS (12.1%). At Medium settings, the numbers are 332, 315, and 292 FPS respectively, a total drop of 40 FPS (12.0%). At High settings, the figures are 326, 309, and 287 FPS, a 39 FPS (12.0%) drop. At Ultra, the numbers are 321, 304, and 283 FPS, a 38 FPS (11.8%) drop.

These percentage drops are remarkably consistent across all settings, hovering around 12%. The theoretical pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K, yet FPS only drops by roughly 12%. This indicates that the GPU is far from being the bottleneck. If the GPU were the limiting factor, the FPS drop would be far more severe, likely approaching 70-75% given a 4x pixel increase.

The data points to the CPU as the primary constraint. The Ryzen 5 3600's single-thread performance, measured at 696 in 3dmark single-thread and 2124 in Cinebench R23 single-core, appears to cap the FPS ceiling. Valorant's engine is known for being CPU-intensive, and the modest FPS scaling across resolutions confirms that even at 4K, the CPU is still able to feed the GPU enough frames to maintain 342 FPS at Low settings.

The narrow gap between 1080p Low (389 FPS) and 4K Low (342 FPS) suggests that the CPU's frame generation limit is somewhere above 389 FPS, and the GPU is only mildly taxed by increasing resolution. The RTX 4070, with its 504.2 GB/s memory bandwidth and 29.15 TFLOPS FP32 performance, has ample headroom for Valorant's relatively simple graphics workload.

The consistency of the scaling across settings is notable. Whether playing at Low or Ultra, the percentage FPS drop from 1080p to 4K remains near 12%. This uniformity implies that the settings level does not change the balance between CPU and GPU load — the CPU remains the limiting factor regardless of visual fidelity. This is a significant finding for players considering higher resolutions: the FPS cost of 4K over 1080p at any setting is minimal.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 3000 series, built on the Zen 2 architecture codenamed Matisse. It operates at a 3.60 GHz base clock and boosts to 4.20 GHz. The CPU has 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 512 KB of L2 cache per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache. Its benchmark scores include a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 15045 and a single-core score of 2124, with a Geekbench multicore of 7372 and single-core of 1536.

In Valorant, the CPU's role is paramount. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 389 FPS, which is the highest figure in the entire dataset. This high FPS at low resolution is characteristic of CPU-bound scenarios, where the processor's frame generation capability is the limiting factor rather than the GPU's rendering speed.

The 3dmark multi-threading scores provide insight into how the CPU scales with thread usage. The 2-thread score is 1361, the 4-thread score is 2579, the 8-thread score is 3844, and the 16-thread score is 4605. The scaling from 2 to 4 threads shows a 89.5% improvement (1361 to 2579), while 4 to 8 threads shows a 49.1% improvement (2579 to 3844), and 8 to 16 threads shows a 19.8% improvement (3844 to 4605). This diminishing returns pattern indicates that the CPU's performance is heavily dependent on the first few cores, which aligns with Valorant's typically light thread usage.

The single-thread performance is particularly relevant. The 3dmark single-thread score of 696 and the Passmark single-thread score of 2562 show the CPU's per-core capability. In a game like Valorant, where the main game thread often becomes the bottleneck, these single-thread numbers matter more than the multicore scores.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 71 against all CPUs indicates it sits above the median but below top-tier processors. Its nearest rivals in the benchmark database — the Intel Core i7-1260P (17007, 0.2% higher), Intel Core i5-11400 (17067, 0.2% higher), AMD EPYC 7573X (17070, 0.2% higher), and AMD EPYC 7742 (16998, 0.2% lower) — all have average scores within 0.2% of the Ryzen's 17035. This tight clustering shows the 3600 performs comparably to these alternatives in general benchmarks.

The 12 threads provide enough parallel capacity for background tasks and game engine threads, but the data suggests that Valorant primarily stresses single-thread performance. The FPS difference between 1080p Low (389 FPS) and 4K Low (342 FPS) of only 47 FPS, despite the 4x pixel increase, strongly indicates that the CPU's single-thread throughput is the limiting factor. Players seeking higher FPS in Valorant would benefit more from a CPU with stronger single-thread performance than from a faster GPU.