Valorant

Valorant is a competitive FPS where frame rate consistency often matters more than absolute graphical fidelity, and the measured data for the AMD Ryzen 5 8400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 reflects that dynamic. This combination sits at rank 831 out of 3708 tested combos for the game, placing it in the top quarter of all systems measured. The benchmark results show a system capable of extreme frame rates across all resolutions, but the scaling patterns reveal that Valorant’s engine is heavily CPU-bound at lower settings, with the GPU only becoming a meaningful factor at 4K. The data indicates that this pairing is overkill for 1080p competitive play, yet it still delivers a remarkably smooth experience at higher resolutions and settings.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear pattern of diminishing returns as resolution increases, but the absolute numbers remain exceptionally high throughout. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system achieves 561 FPS average. Moving to 2560x1440 Low drops that to 532 FPS, a reduction of 29 FPS or roughly 5.2% from the 1080p figure. At 3840x2160 Low, the average falls to 494 FPS, which is 67 FPS lower than 1080p Low and 38 FPS lower than 1440p Low. This scaling suggests that even at 4K, the RTX 4080 is far from being the limiting factor at Low settings, as the frame rate remains nearly 500 FPS.

Looking at High settings, the resolution scaling is more pronounced but still mild in absolute terms. The 1080p High average is 470 FPS, 1440p High is 446 FPS, and 4K High is 414 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 4K at High is 56 FPS, or about 11.9%. For Medium settings, the numbers are 478 FPS at 1080p, 454 FPS at 1440p, and 421 FPS at 4K. Ultra settings show 463 FPS at 1080p, 439 FPS at 1440p, and 407 FPS at 4K. Across all settings, the 4K to 1080p gap ranges from 56 FPS (High) to 67 FPS (Low), indicating that resolution has a modest impact relative to the enormous frame rates involved.

The data reveals that the CPU is the primary bottleneck at 1080p and 1440p, regardless of settings. Since the RTX 4080 has a 716.8 GB/s memory bandwidth and 16 GB of GDDR6X VRAM, it can easily handle Valorant’s rendering demands even at 4K. The fact that Low settings at 4K (494 FPS) are only 67 FPS slower than Low at 1080p (561 FPS) suggests that the GPU is being underutilized in both cases. The limiting component is clearly the CPU’s ability to feed the render pipeline, which is typical for a game like Valorant that relies heavily on single-threaded performance. At 4K Ultra, the 407 FPS average indicates that the GPU is finally contributing more to the workload, but even then, the frame rate remains far above what any display can likely show.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, built on TSMC’s 4 nm process. It has a base clock of 4.20 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz, with 16 MB of shared L3 cache. For Valorant, which is known to be sensitive to single-core performance, the CPU’s boost clock and architecture are critical. The benchmark data for the 8400F shows a 3dmark_single_thread score of 951, which is modest compared to its multi-threaded scores, but the 3dmark_2_threads score of 1874 indicates strong dual-core performance. In Cinebench R23, the single-core score is 2943, while the multi-core score is 20851, reinforcing that this chip has competent single-threaded capabilities for a 6-core part.

In terms of nearest rivals, the Ryzen 5 8400F scores an average benchmark of 25005, which is 0.2% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F (24964) and 0.3% ahead of the Intel Core i7-11850H (24935). It trails the AMD EPYC 9474F by 0.4% (25103). These tiny deltas mean that in CPU-bound scenarios like Valorant at low resolutions, the 8400F performs essentially identically to its closest competitors. The CPU’s 65 W TDP and AM5 socket suggest it is designed for mainstream builds, but its performance in this game is anything but mainstream.

The measured FPS at 1080p Low (561 FPS) is likely near the ceiling of what this CPU can produce in Valorant, given that the RTX 4080 is not stressed. The drop to 470 FPS at 1080p High shows that increased settings do affect CPU workload slightly, likely due to more draw calls or physics calculations. However, the fact that 4K Low (494 FPS) is still close to 1080p High (470 FPS) indicates that the CPU is the consistent limiter across most of the tested configurations. The 8400F’s 12 threads are more than sufficient for Valorant, which rarely uses more than a few cores, so the boost clock of 4.70 GHz is the more relevant spec for this title.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with 9728 shading units, 304 TMUs, and 112 ROPs. It has a base clock of 2205 MHz and a boost clock of 2505 MHz, with 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 716.8 GB/s of bandwidth. For Valorant, this GPU is massively overqualified. The game’s graphics are relatively simple, and even at 4K Ultra, the RTX 4080 is likely not breaking a sweat. The measured data supports this: the difference between 4K Low (494 FPS) and 4K Ultra (407 FPS) is only 87 FPS, which suggests the GPU is handling the increased load without becoming a bottleneck.

The GPU’s benchmark scores show it ranks in the 86th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54247. Its nearest rival, the RTX 4080 SUPER, scores 54209, a mere 0.1% difference. The AMD Radeon Pro W5700X is 1.1% ahead (54828), while the RX 6750 GRE 12 GB is 2.6% ahead (55698), and the Radeon 8060S is 2.7% ahead (55757). These deltas are within noise, meaning the RTX 4080’s raw performance is firmly in the top tier, but not the absolute fastest. For Valorant, this performance headroom is irrelevant because the CPU cannot feed the GPU fast enough to saturate it at most settings.

The RTX 4080’s 16 GB VRAM is far more than Valorant requires, even at 4K Ultra. The game’s textures and effects are simple, so VRAM usage is likely well under 4 GB. The GPU’s 48.74 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 280.6 GPixel/s pixel rate are overkill for a game that runs at 400+ FPS even at 4K. The data suggests that the RTX 4080 is only meaningfully engaged at 4K Ultra, where the average FPS drops to 407, still an extraordinarily high number. In practice, the GPU’s role in this pairing is to ensure that frame rates never dip below playable levels, even in the most demanding scenarios, but it is not the component dictating performance.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this CPU-GPU combo in Valorant?

A: The highest average FPS is 561, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How much slower is 4K Ultra compared to 1080p Low?

A: 4K Ultra averages 407 FPS, while 1080p Low averages 561 FPS, a difference of 154 FPS or roughly 27.5% lower performance.

Q: Does the RTX 4080 bottleneck the Ryzen 5 8400F in Valorant?

A: No. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system hits 561 FPS, and at 4K Low it still hits 494 FPS, indicating the CPU is the limiting factor, not the GPU.

Q: Which setting gives the highest minimum FPS at 1440p?

A: The Medium preset at 2560x1440 has a recorded min FPS of 385, which is the only min FPS listed for that resolution.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 8400F compare to its nearest rival in average benchmark score?

A: The 8400F scores 25005, which is 0.2% higher than the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F’s 24964 and 0.3% higher than the Intel Core i7-11850H’s 24935.

Q: Is the RTX 4080’s 16 GB VRAM ever a concern for Valorant?

A: No. Valorant is a low-demand game in terms of VRAM, and the 16 GB capacity is far more than needed even at 4K Ultra settings.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the best experience for this pairing depends on the user’s display and priority. For 1080p players, the Low preset delivers the highest average FPS at 561, which is ideal for competitive play where every frame matters. However, the High preset at 470 FPS is still exceptionally smooth and offers better visual clarity without a significant performance penalty. Since the min FPS for Medium at 1080p is 406, even the most demanding settings at 1080p never drop below 400 FPS, so any preset is playable.

At 1440p, the Low preset again leads with 532 FPS, but High (446 FPS) and Ultra (439 FPS) are close enough that users can choose based on visual preference. The Medium preset at 1440p has a min FPS of 385, which is still far above the typical 144 Hz refresh rate of most monitors. For 4K, the Low preset (494 FPS) is the best for maximum frame rates, but Ultra (407 FPS) remains well above 240 Hz, making it a viable choice for those with high-refresh 4K displays. The data shows that the Medium preset at any resolution provides a balanced blend of visual quality and performance, with min FPS values of 406 at 1080p, 385 at 1440p, and 358 at 4K.

Given that the RTX 4080 is never the bottleneck, the recommendation is to use the Ultra preset if the user values graphics quality, since the performance drop from Low to Ultra is only about 17-18% across all resolutions. For pure competitive advantage, Low is the sensible choice, but the differences are so small in absolute terms that the choice is largely cosmetic. The measured min FPS for Medium at 4K is 358, which is still higher than most displays can show, so users should not worry about frame drops.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS table for Valorant with the AMD Ryzen 5 8400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is as follows:

At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 561 FPS, with no min or max recorded. High averages 470 FPS. Medium averages 478 FPS, with a min of 406 and max of 550. Ultra averages 463 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 98 FPS, with Low being the fastest.

At 2560x1440, Low averages 532 FPS. High averages 446 FPS. Medium averages 454 FPS, with a min of 385 and max of 522. Ultra averages 439 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 93 FPS, showing slightly less variation than at 1080p.

At 3840x2160, Low averages 494 FPS. High averages 414 FPS. Medium averages 421 FPS, with a min of 358 and max of 484. Ultra averages 407 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 87 FPS, the smallest of the three resolutions, indicating that the GPU becomes slightly more relevant at 4K.

Across all resolutions, the Low preset consistently provides the highest average FPS, with the gap between Low and Ultra narrowing as resolution increases. The Medium preset’s min FPS values (406 at 1080p, 385 at 1440p, 358 at 4K) are the only min FPS data points available, but they suggest that even the most demanding moments stay above 350 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K (407 FPS) is the lowest average recorded, yet it still exceeds the refresh rate of virtually all gaming monitors. This data confirms that the Ryzen 5 8400F and RTX 4080 combination is one of the highest-performing setups for Valorant, delivering playable frame rates at any settings and resolution combination tested.