Valorant

Valorant with the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER produces exceptionally high frame rates across all tested configurations. The data shows a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-limited at lower resolutions, with the CPU's capabilities becoming more apparent as resolution increases. This pairing ranks 29th out of 1650 tested combos, placing it in the top 2% of all configurations tested for this title. The measured FPS values are consistently above 500 frames per second, indicating that this hardware combination is far beyond the requirements for competitive play at any standard refresh rate.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear pattern of GPU limitation at lower resolutions and a gradual shift toward CPU involvement at higher ones. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system achieves 693.3 FPS, which drops to 658.7 FPS at 2560x1440, and further to 613.4 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a total drop of 79.9 FPS, or approximately 11.5%, from the lowest to the highest resolution. The relatively small percentage drop indicates that the RTX 4080 SUPER is not being fully utilized at 1080p, where the Ryzen 5 9600X's single-thread performance becomes the primary constraint.

The scaling behavior changes notably when examining the High settings preset. At 1080p High, the system produces 579.6 FPS, which decreases to 550.2 FPS at 1440p, and 513.9 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 4K is 65.7 FPS, approximately 11.3%, which is nearly identical to the Low settings scaling. This consistency across settings suggests that the rendering load at all quality levels remains well within the GPU's capacity, with the bottleneck shifting between CPU and GPU depending on resolution.

At Ultra settings, the pattern holds with 571.9 FPS at 1080p, 544.9 FPS at 1440p, and 503.6 FPS at 4K. The 4K to 1080p gap of 68.3 FPS represents an 11.9% reduction, again showing minimal scaling loss. The data indicates that even at 4K Ultra, the RTX 4080 SUPER is not the limiting factor — the Ryzen 5 9600X's six cores and 12 threads are capable of feeding the GPU faster than it can render frames at these settings. The limiting component at all tested configurations is the CPU's maximum frame generation capacity, which appears to cap out around 693 FPS in the most favorable conditions.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average FPS achievable with this combination?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 693.3, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This represents the ceiling for this CPU-GPU pairing in Valorant.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K at Low settings?

A: The average FPS drops from 693.3 at 1080p Low to 613.4 at 4K Low, a reduction of 79.9 FPS or approximately 11.5%. This relatively small percentage indicates the system remains CPU-bound even at 4K.

Q: Which settings preset provides the highest FPS at each resolution?

A: At all three resolutions, the Low preset yields the highest average FPS: 693.3 at 1080p, 658.7 at 1440p, and 613.4 at 4K. Medium is the next fastest, followed by High, with Ultra being the slowest at each resolution.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 SUPER compare to its nearest rivals in GPU benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4080 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 53610, which is 0.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT (53489), 0.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (53414), 2.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7700S (52505), and 2.9% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti (52086).

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 9600X's single-thread performance sufficient for Valorant?

A: Yes, the CPU scores 1253 in 3dmark_single_thread and 3603 in cinebench_r23_singlecore, placing it at the 85th percentile among all CPUs. The measured FPS values above 500 at all settings confirm that single-thread performance is more than adequate for this game.

Q: What is the rank of this specific CPU-GPU combo among all tested configurations?

A: This combo ranks 29th out of 1650 tested combos in Valorant, placing it in the top 1.8% of all configurations evaluated. This rank reflects the combination's ability to sustain extremely high frame rates.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X is a six-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture, built on TSMC's 4 nm process node. Its base clock is 3.90 GHz with a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, and it features 32 MB of shared L3 cache. In Valorant, the CPU's role is primarily defined by its single-thread performance, as the game's engine does not scale efficiently across many cores. The 3dmark_single_thread score of 1253 and cinebench_r23_singlecore score of 3603 both indicate strong per-core capability, which directly translates to the high frame rates observed.

The CPU's benchmark performance shows it is competitive with its nearest rivals. Its average benchmark score of 28246 is 0.3% ahead of both the Intel Core i5-13490F (28173) and the AMD Ryzen 5 230 (28164), while being 0.4% behind the AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS (28369) and 0.5% behind the Intel Core i5-14500T (28377). This places the 9600X at the 85th percentile among all CPUs, indicating that its performance is well above average but not at the absolute top tier.

The measured FPS data reveals that the CPU is the primary constraint at all resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the system produces 693.3 FPS, which represents the practical limit of what this CPU can feed to the GPU. The fact that 4K Ultra still achieves 503.6 FPS — only 27.4% lower than the 1080p Low figure — demonstrates that the GPU is never the bottleneck. The CPU's 12 threads are sufficient for Valorant's workload, but the game's reliance on single-thread performance means the 5.40 GHz boost clock is the critical specification.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X combined with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER achieves a rank of 29th out of 1650 tested combos in Valorant. This places the configuration in the 98.2nd percentile, meaning it outperforms 98.2% of all tested combinations. The high rank is driven by the CPU's exceptional single-thread performance combined with the GPU's ability to render frames quickly when the CPU allows it.

The GPU's benchmark data provides context for its contribution. The RTX 4080 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 53610, placing it at the 88th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, scores 53489, just 0.2% behind. The fact that the GPU is not the limiting factor in Valorant means that its rank in synthetic benchmarks is less relevant than the CPU's performance, but the combination still benefits from having a GPU that can keep up with the CPU's frame generation rate.

The rank of 29th out of 1650 is notable because it places this combo above many configurations with more expensive or newer components. The combination's strength lies in the balance between the CPU's high clock speeds and the GPU's substantial rendering capacity. Even though the GPU is not fully utilized at lower resolutions, its presence ensures that the system never becomes GPU-limited, allowing the CPU to operate at its maximum frame generation rate.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance for settings selection. At 1080p, the Low preset produces 693.3 FPS, which is 113.7 FPS higher than the High preset's 579.6 FPS. The difference between Low and Medium is 100.7 FPS, while the gap between Low and Ultra is 121.4 FPS. These substantial differences suggest that for competitive play where maximum frame rate is prioritized, the Low preset is the optimal choice at 1080p.

At 1440p, the same pattern emerges with Low achieving 658.7 FPS, which is 108.5 FPS ahead of High (550.2 FPS), 96.8 FPS ahead of Medium (561.9 FPS), and 113.8 FPS ahead of Ultra (544.9 FPS). The relative performance gains from using Low settings are consistent across resolutions, indicating that the settings have a direct impact on CPU workload rather than just GPU load.

At 4K, Low produces 613.4 FPS, which is 99.5 FPS ahead of High (513.9 FPS), 91.2 FPS ahead of Medium (522.2 FPS), and 109.8 FPS ahead of Ultra (503.6 FPS). The data shows that the Low preset is the best choice for maximizing FPS at every resolution. However, for players with 240 Hz or 360 Hz monitors who value visual fidelity, the High preset at 1080p still delivers 579.6 FPS, which exceeds any mainstream display refresh rate. The Medium preset offers a reasonable middle ground, providing 592.6 FPS at 1080p, which is only 100.7 FPS below the Low preset.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080 resolution, the system produces its highest frame rates. The Low preset achieves 693.3 FPS, followed by Medium at 592.6 FPS, High at 579.6 FPS, and Ultra at 571.9 FPS. The spread between the fastest and slowest presets is 121.4 FPS, representing an 17.5% difference. This indicates that settings have a meaningful impact on CPU-side rendering overhead, even though the GPU has ample headroom.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates decrease slightly across all presets. Low produces 658.7 FPS, Medium reaches 561.9 FPS, High achieves 550.2 FPS, and Ultra delivers 544.9 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 113.8 FPS, or 17.3%, which is nearly identical to the 1080p scaling. This consistency suggests that the resolution increase from 1080p to 1440p has minimal impact on the CPU bottleneck, with the GPU absorbing the additional rendering load.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates remain remarkably high. Low produces 613.4 FPS, Medium reaches 522.2 FPS, High achieves 513.9 FPS, and Ultra delivers 503.6 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 109.8 FPS, or 17.9%, which is consistent with the other resolutions. The total FPS loss from 1080p Low to 4K Low is 79.9 FPS, while the loss from 1080p Ultra to 4K Ultra is 68.3 FPS. These modest reductions confirm that the CPU remains the limiting factor even at 4K, with the RTX 4080 SUPER capable of rendering frames faster than the Ryzen 5 9600X can issue draw calls.