Valorant

The pairing of AMD’s Ryzen 5 5600G with NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 5090 in Valorant produces a striking divergence in performance, where the CPU’s six Zen 3 cores become the decisive factor at lower resolutions, while the GPU’s immense bandwidth takes over at 4K. This combination ranks 3410th out of 3708 tested combos in the database, placing it in the lower percentile of all pairings, a result that stems directly from the processor’s position relative to its peers. The Ryzen 5 5600G sits at the 74th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 21088, placing it marginally ahead of the Intel Core i3-1220P by 0.1 percent and slightly behind the AMD Ryzen 5 7530U by 0.2 percent. This is not a flagship processor; it is a capable mid-range part that was designed for integrated graphics, but here it is paired with the most powerful consumer GPU in the database.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Ryzen 5 5600G operates with six cores and twelve threads, a configuration that is entirely sufficient for Valorant’s engine, which typically scales well with single-thread performance. Its base clock of 3.90 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz are modest by modern standards, and the processor’s architecture, Zen 3 on the Cezanne codename, is built on a 7 nm process from TSMC. The L3 cache is 16 MB, which is smaller than the desktop Ryzen 5000 parts that lack integrated graphics, and the memory support is DDR4 with dual-channel bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s. For a game like Valorant, which is notoriously CPU-bound at high frame rates, these specifications matter more than the GPU’s raw power. The measured results confirm this: at 1080p Low settings, the combo achieves 339 FPS average, a figure that is respectable but far from the multi-hundred-FPS numbers that a top-tier CPU like a Ryzen 7 5800X3D would deliver with the same GPU.

The CPU’s benchmark scores illustrate its single-threaded and multithreaded capabilities. In Cinebench R23, it scores 1409 in single-core and 10551 in multicore, while Geekbench shows 1801 single-core and 8428 multicore. These numbers place it in the same league as the Intel Core i3-1220P, which has an average score of 21066, just 0.1 percent lower. The 5600G’s passmark single-thread score is 3177, and its multithread score is 19717, which is competitive for its class but not exceptional. In Valorant, the game’s frame rate at 1080p is heavily influenced by the CPU’s ability to process game logic and draw calls; the data shows that increasing settings from Low to High at 1080p only drops the average FPS from 339 to 259, a 24 percent reduction that is primarily due to the GPU’s ability to handle more work without bottlenecking, but the CPU still limits the ceiling. The 5600G’s 65 TDP and unlocked multiplier suggest it could be overclocked, but the measured results are at stock settings, and the data indicates that the CPU is the limiting component in most scenarios, especially at 1080p where the GPU is underutilized.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Examining the measured FPS across all resolutions, the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience for this combo, provided the user prioritizes frame rate stability over maximum visual fidelity. At 1080p Medium, the average FPS is 308, with a minimum of 262 and a maximum of 354, which is a tight window that suggests consistent performance. Moving to High at 1080p drops the average to 259 FPS, still playable but with a 16 percent reduction, while Ultra at 1080p falls to 197 FPS, which is a significant drop for a competitive shooter. The Low preset at 1080p delivers 339 FPS, but the visual compromise is severe, and the difference between Low and Medium (31 FPS) is not worth the graphical downgrade for most players, as Medium provides a 29 percent higher frame rate than High and a 56 percent higher frame rate than Ultra.

At 1440p, the Medium preset again stands out, delivering 199 FPS average with a minimum of 169 and a maximum of 229. This is a playable range for high-refresh-rate monitors, and the step up to High reduces performance to 167 FPS, while Ultra drops to 127 FPS. The Low preset at 1440p achieves 260 FPS, but the jump from Low to Medium is only 61 FPS, which is a 23 percent reduction, whereas the jump from Medium to High is 32 FPS, a 16 percent reduction. The data suggests that Medium is the sweet spot because it maintains a frame rate above 180 FPS in most scenarios, which is critical for Valorant’s fast-paced gameplay. At 4K, the Medium preset yields 107 FPS average with a minimum of 91 and a maximum of 123, which is borderline for competitive play but acceptable for casual sessions. High at 4K drops to 90 FPS, and Ultra falls to 69 FPS, which is below the 144 Hz threshold that most competitive players target. Low at 4K offers 140 FPS, but the visual quality is heavily degraded, and the data shows that Medium is the highest setting that maintains a playable frame rate at 4K.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The frame rate scaling across resolutions reveals a clear shift in bottleneck behavior. From 1080p to 1440p, the average FPS at Medium settings drops from 308 to 199, a 35 percent reduction, which is a substantial decline that indicates the GPU is beginning to take on more workload, but the CPU still has headroom. However, from 1440p to 4K at Medium, the average FPS falls from 199 to 107, a 46 percent reduction, which is a much steeper drop and suggests that the GPU is now the primary limiting factor. This pattern is consistent across all settings: at Low, 1080p yields 339 FPS, 1440p yields 260 FPS, and 4K yields 140 FPS, with the percentage drop from 1080p to 4K being 59 percent. At High, the drop is from 259 FPS at 1080p to 167 FPS at 1440p (36 percent) and then to 90 FPS at 4K (46 percent from 1440p), while at Ultra, the numbers are 197, 127, and 69 respectively, with a 65 percent total drop from 1080p to 4K.

This scaling behavior is typical of a system where the CPU is the bottleneck at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the RTX 5090 is not being fully utilized because the Ryzen 5 5600G cannot feed it enough data, resulting in frame rates that are limited by the CPU’s single-thread performance. As the resolution increases to 1440p and 4K, the GPU’s pixel-pushing workload grows, and the RTX 5090’s massive 1.79 TB/s memory bandwidth and 32 GB of GDDR7 memory come into play, allowing it to take over as the limiting component. The fact that the 4K Medium FPS of 107 is roughly one-third of the 1080p Low FPS of 339 illustrates this transition. The data shows that the RTX 5090 is capable of much higher frame rates, but it is constrained by the CPU at low resolutions, and at 4K, the GPU’s raw compute power, which includes 21760 shading units and a boost clock of 2407 MHz, is still not enough to compensate for the CPU’s limitations, resulting in frame rates that are lower than what the GPU alone could achieve on a faster processor.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combo’s rank of 3410 out of 3708 tested combinations places it in the bottom 8 percent of all pairings in the database, which is a surprising result given the RTX 5090’s status as the top-tier GPU. This poor ranking is almost entirely attributable to the CPU’s performance class. The Ryzen 5 5600G, with its 74th percentile ranking among all CPUs, is a budget-oriented part, and when paired with a GPU that ranks in the 92nd percentile among all GPUs, the mismatch is severe. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 21088 is nearly identical to that of the Intel Core Ultra 7 256V, which scores 21112, a delta of -0.1 percent, and the AMD Ryzen 5 7530U, which scores 21133, a delta of -0.2 percent. These rivals are all mobile or low-power parts, which underscores the 5600G’s position as a mid-range desktop chip that is not suited for high-end gaming.

The GPU, in contrast, has an average benchmark score of 79842, which places it just ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB by 0.3 percent and behind the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X by 1.4 percent. This GPU is a monster, but in Valorant, the game’s engine is not designed to utilize such extreme compute resources; instead, it relies heavily on single-threaded CPU performance. The result is that the combo ranks lower than most pairings that include a mid-range GPU with a high-end CPU, such as an RTX 4070 with a Ryzen 7 7800X3D, which would likely rank in the top 10 percent. The data indicates that the RTX 5090 is wasted in this configuration for Valorant, as the CPU cannot deliver the frame rates that the GPU is capable of, and the combo’s rank reflects this inefficiency. For players who already own a 5600G and are considering a GPU upgrade, the measured results suggest that a less powerful GPU would provide a better price-to-performance ratio, but since the database does not track pricing, the conclusion is based solely on the performance metrics.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is a behemoth, with 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s. Its base clock is 2017 MHz, boosting to 2407 MHz, and it features 21760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 raster output units. The GPU’s architecture, Blackwell 2.0, is built on a 5 nm process from TSMC, with a die size of 750 mm² and 92,200 million transistors. In Valorant, these specifications are largely irrelevant at 1080p and 1440p because the CPU becomes the bottleneck, but at 4K, the GPU’s memory bandwidth and compute power start to matter. The measured 4K Medium average of 107 FPS, with a minimum of 91 and maximum of 123, shows that the GPU can handle the resolution, but it is still not delivering the high frame rates that its specs would suggest, because the CPU cannot feed it at a sufficient rate.

The GPU’s benchmark scores are impressive: it scores 18355 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, 334370 in Geekbench OpenCL, and 376728 in Geekbench Vulkan, with a passmark G3D score of 39650. These numbers place it in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs, but in Valorant, the game’s low graphical requirements mean that the GPU’s raw compute is not the limiting factor. The RTX 5090’s 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is overkill for a game that can run on integrated graphics, but the data shows that the GPU is still not able to overcome the CPU’s limitations. The GPU’s 1750 MHz memory clock (28 Gbps effective) and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth are critical at 4K, where the higher resolution demands more data throughput, but the frame rates remain below what a faster CPU would allow. The RTX 5090’s TDP of 575 W and suggested PSU of 950 W are not reflected in the measured FPS, but they indicate that this is a power-hungry component that requires a robust system, which is a consideration that the benchmark data cannot capture.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The full measured FPS table provides a comprehensive view of this combo’s performance. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 339 FPS, with no minimum or maximum reported. The Medium preset at 1080p averages 308 FPS, with a minimum of 262 and a maximum of 354, which is a 76 FPS range that indicates some frame time variance. High at 1080p averages 259 FPS, and Ultra averages 197 FPS, with no min/max data for these settings. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 142 FPS drop, a 42 percent reduction, which is substantial but expected as graphical settings increase.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 260 FPS, Medium averages 199 FPS with a minimum of 169 and maximum of 229, High averages 167 FPS, and Ultra averages 127 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra at 1440p is 133 FPS, a 51 percent reduction, which is steeper than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is becoming more of a factor. At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 140 FPS, Medium averages 107 FPS with a minimum of 91 and maximum of 123, High averages 90 FPS, and Ultra averages 69 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra at 4K is 71 FPS, a 51 percent reduction, consistent with the 1440p trend. The data shows that the combo is most consistent at 1080p Medium, where the frame rate range is tight, and it is least consistent at 4K Ultra, where the average drops below 70 FPS, making it challenging for competitive play. Notably, the minimum FPS values are only reported for the Medium preset at each resolution, which suggests that the benchmark methodology captured frame time data only for that setting, but the available numbers indicate that the Medium preset offers the most stable experience across all resolutions.