Valorant

Resolution Scaling

Valorant’s frame rate behavior across resolutions reveals a title that is exceptionally well-optimized for high-refresh-rate competitive play, yet still shows measurable scaling penalties as pixel count increases. The benchmark data for the AMD Ryzen 7 5700 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 shows a clear, monotonic decline in average FPS from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160, but the magnitude of that decline is unusually small compared to most modern FPS titles.

At the High preset, the average frame rate moves from 420 FPS at 1920x1080, down to 398 FPS at 2560x1440, and finally to 370 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a drop of approximately 11.9% from 1080p to 4K. The step from 1080p to 1440p costs only 22 FPS (5.2%), while the step from 1440p to 4K costs another 28 FPS (7.0%). In a game where the difference between 370 and 420 FPS is unlikely to be perceptible on most displays, this scaling behavior indicates the system is not being stressed into a bottleneck at any resolution.

The Low preset tells a similar story with higher absolute numbers. At 1920x1080, the system produces 501 FPS average. Moving to 2560x1440 yields 475 FPS, a reduction of 26 FPS (5.2%). At 3840x2160, the average drops to 441 FPS, another 34 FPS (7.2%) lower. The total scaling loss from 1080p Low to 4K Low is 60 FPS, or exactly 12.0%. Interestingly, the percentage drop is nearly identical between the Low and High presets, suggesting that the scaling penalty is driven primarily by resolution itself rather than by the complexity of the rendering settings.

The Medium preset, which is the only one with complete min/max data, provides additional insight into frame time consistency. At 1920x1080 Medium, the average is 427 FPS with a minimum of 363 FPS and a maximum of 491 FPS. At 2560x1440 Medium, the average falls to 405 FPS, with a minimum of 344 FPS and a maximum of 466 FPS. At 3840x2160 Medium, the average is 376 FPS, with a minimum of 319 FPS and a maximum of 432 FPS. The gap between minimum and average widens slightly at higher resolutions: 64 FPS at 1080p, 61 FPS at 1440p, and 57 FPS at 4K. This suggests that while average performance scales down, the frame delivery remains relatively stable, with no catastrophic dips.

The Ultra preset mirrors the High preset's behavior. It starts at 413 FPS at 1080p, drops to 392 FPS at 1440p, and reaches 364 FPS at 4K. The total loss from 1080p to 4K is 49 FPS (11.9%), which is statistically identical to the High preset's scaling. This near-identical scaling between High and Ultra implies that the additional settings in Ultra do not add a proportional rendering burden; the bottleneck remains resolution-bound rather than setting-bound.

What does this scaling tell us about the limiting component? At 1080p, the system is likely CPU-bound or engine-bound, given that even the Low preset cannot exceed 501 FPS. The fact that dropping from High to Low at 1080p only gains 81 FPS (420 to 501) suggests the CPU and game engine are approaching their throughput ceiling. As resolution increases, the GPU takes on more work, and the frame rate drops, but the drop is modest because Valorant's rendering load at 4K is still well within the RTX 4070's capabilities. The data indicates a balanced pairing where neither component is severely underutilized at any resolution, but the CPU is the closer of the two to its limit at 1080p.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 brings a robust 8-core, 16-thread configuration based on the Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Cezanne. With a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz, this CPU provides the kind of high-frequency, multi-threaded headroom that competitive shooters require. The 65 W TDP and 7 nm TSMC process node indicate an efficient part, but for Valorant specifically, the key metrics are the single-thread and multi-thread benchmark scores, which predict how well the game can utilize the processor.

The CPU's 3DMark single-thread score is 901, and its 2-thread score is 1762. These are the most relevant numbers for Valorant, which historically operates on a small number of primary threads for game logic and rendering commands. The 4-thread score of 3382 shows good scaling, while the 8-thread score of 5585 suggests that the CPU can handle additional background tasks without impacting frame delivery. The max-thread score of 6617 is only slightly higher than the 8-thread score, indicating diminishing returns beyond 8 threads for this workload.

In Cinebench, the single-core scores are 293 (R15), 1224 (R20), and 2916 (R23). These numbers place the Ryzen 7 5700 in a strong position for games that rely on a single primary thread. The multi-core scores of 2082 (R15), 8675 (R20), and 20655 (R23) demonstrate that the CPU is not a weak link in multi-threaded scenarios, but Valorant does not typically stress all 16 threads simultaneously.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 78 among all tested CPUs indicates it outperforms 78% of the database. Its average benchmark score of 25517 is nearly identical to its nearest rival, the Intel Xeon D-2752TER, which scores 25530 with a deltaPct of -0.1%. The AMD Ryzen 5 7640U scores 25485 (deltaPct 0.1%), and the AMD Ryzen 5 6600H scores 25550 (deltaPct -0.1%). These rivals are all within a 0.3% band, meaning the Ryzen 7 5700 is statistically tied with a group of capable processors. The AMD Ryzen 7 5825U scores 25446 (deltaPct 0.3%), also essentially identical.

In the context of Valorant's measured FPS, the CPU's single-thread strength is the primary contributor to the high frame rates observed. At 1080p Low, the 501 FPS average suggests the CPU is pushing close to its maximum frame generation capacity for this game engine. The fact that increasing to 4K only reduces this to 441 FPS indicates that even at 4K, the CPU is still feeding the GPU enough data to maintain extremely high frame rates. The CPU's role is therefore foundational: it sets the upper bound for achievable FPS, and the data shows that bound is well above 500 FPS at lower resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070, based on the Ada Lovelace architecture with the AD104 chip, provides ample graphics horsepower for Valorant. With 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output units, the GPU has substantial parallel processing capability. Its boost clock of 2475 MHz and base clock of 1920 MHz are high, but for a game as light as Valorant, the GPU's raw compute is rarely the limiting factor.

The GPU's memory configuration includes 12 GB of GDDR6X on a 192-bit bus, delivering 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. This is far more than Valorant requires, as the game's textures and geometry are modest by modern standards. The memory clock of 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective) and the 12 GB capacity mean there is zero risk of VRAM-related stuttering or texture thrashing at any resolution tested.

The RTX 4070's benchmark scores confirm its position in the upper tier of graphics cards. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 3854, and its Geekbench OpenCL score is 154858. The PassMark G3D score of 26927 and GPU Compute score of 14720 further establish its capabilities. The GPU's percentile ranking is 81, meaning it outperforms 81% of all GPUs in the database.

Its nearest rivals in the database are the NVIDIA Tesla P4 with an avgScore of 37628 (deltaPct 0.1%), the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 at 37507 (deltaPct 0.4%), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile at 38135 (deltaPct -1.3%), and the AMD Radeon PRO W6400 at 37157 (deltaPct 1.3%). The RTX 4070's avgBenchmarkScore of 37648 places it at the center of this group, with the RTX 4080 Mobile being the only rival that is more than 1% faster, and only by 1.3%.

In Valorant, the GPU's role is to render frames as fast as the CPU can feed them. The measured data shows that at 1080p, the GPU is not the bottleneck, as the FPS is capped by CPU throughput. At 4K, the GPU begins to take on more work, but the FPS still remains above 360 FPS on the Ultra preset. The RTX 4070's pixel rate of 158.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 455.4 GTexel/s are more than sufficient for Valorant's rendering demands. The GPU's FP32 throughput of 29.15 TFLOPS is also far above what this game requires, meaning the GPU operates well within its comfort zone across all tested configurations.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows provide a clear picture of how each preset performs at each resolution. For players using a 1920x1080 display, the Low preset delivers the highest average FPS at 501. The Medium preset drops to 427 FPS, High to 420 FPS, and Ultra to 413 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 88 FPS, which is substantial for a competitive title. However, the minimum FPS data at Medium (363 FPS) shows that even the lowest frame delivery is well above the refresh rate of most monitors.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset again leads with 475 FPS. Medium follows at 405 FPS, High at 398 FPS, and Ultra at 392 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 83 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 344 FPS indicates that frame drops are slightly more pronounced than at 1080p, but still not a concern for smooth gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset maintains 441 FPS, Medium at 376 FPS, High at 370 FPS, and Ultra at 364 FPS. The spread narrows to 77 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 319 FPS is the lowest observed value in the entire dataset, but it remains far above the 240 Hz refresh rate that many competitive players use.

Based on these measurements, the Low preset at any resolution offers the highest average FPS, but the delta between Low and Medium is significant. At 1080p, switching from Low to Medium costs 74 FPS, while the visual quality improvement in Valorant is minimal due to the game's stylized art direction. The Medium preset, however, provides a better balance for players who want slightly improved visuals without sacrificing competitive performance. The minimum FPS of 363 at 1080p Medium is still higher than the maximum refresh rate of most high-end monitors.

For players with 360 Hz displays, the Low preset at 1080p is the only configuration that exceeds that threshold (501 FPS). For 240 Hz displays, the Low preset at 1440p (475 FPS) or the Medium preset at 1080p (427 FPS) both provide sufficient headroom. For 144 Hz displays, any preset at any resolution will work, as even the lowest measured configuration (4K Ultra at 364 FPS) is far above 144 FPS.

The data suggests that the Ultra preset is unnecessary for competitive play, as it offers no meaningful FPS advantage over High and likely introduces visual effects that could obscure enemy models. The High preset is a reasonable middle ground, but the FPS difference between High and Medium is small (7 FPS at 1080p, 7 FPS at 1440p, and 6 FPS at 4K). Given that Medium provides a higher average FPS than High at every resolution, Medium is the recommended preset for players who want a balance between visual fidelity and frame rate. Low is recommended for pure competitive performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 5700 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 holds a combo rank of 1489 out of 3708 tested combinations in the database. This places the pairing in the 60th percentile of all combos, meaning it outperforms roughly 60% of tested systems while being outperformed by the remaining 40%. This ranking is notably lower than what the individual component percentiles might suggest (CPU at 78th percentile, GPU at 81st percentile), which indicates that Valorant's performance is not solely dependent on hardware strength but also on how well the components interact with the game engine.

The rank of 1489 suggests that there are many other CPU-GPU pairings that achieve higher FPS in Valorant. This is likely because the game is extremely CPU-sensitive at lower resolutions, and CPUs with higher single-thread performance than the Ryzen 7 5700 can push frame rates even higher. The RTX 4070 is not the limiting factor in most cases, so pairing it with a stronger CPU would yield better results.

However, the combo's rank should be interpreted in context. The 3708 combos in the database include many high-end systems with flagship CPUs and GPUs. Being in the top 40% of all combos is a strong result, especially considering that the Ryzen 7 5700 is a mid-range 2022 CPU and the RTX 4070 is a 2023 GPU. The measured FPS values of 370 FPS to 501 FPS across all resolutions and presets demonstrate that this combo is more than capable of delivering competitive frame rates.

The deltaPct values for the CPU's nearest rivals show that the Ryzen 7 5700 is statistically tied with several other processors. This means that swapping to any of those rivals would likely result in nearly identical Valorant performance. Similarly, the GPU's nearest rivals are all within 1.3% of the RTX 4070's average benchmark score, so the choice of GPU in this performance class has minimal impact on Valorant FPS. The combo's rank is therefore more indicative of the CPU's single-thread limits than any deficiency in the GPU.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves in Valorant?

A: The highest average FPS is 501, achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low preset. The next highest is 475 FPS at 2560x1440 Low, and 441 FPS at 3840x2160 Low.

Q: How much FPS is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K?

A: Using the High preset as a reference, the average FPS drops from 420 at 1920x1080 to 370 at 3840x2160, a loss of 50 FPS. At Low preset, the drop is from 501 to 441, a loss of 60 FPS.

Q: Which preset provides the best minimum FPS at 1440p?

A: The Medium preset at 2560x1440 has a minimum FPS of 344. The Low, High, and Ultra presets do not have reported minimum FPS values in the data, so Medium is the only preset with a verified floor at that resolution.

Q: Is the RTX 4070 the bottleneck in this system for Valorant?

A: No. The data shows that at 1080p, the FPS is likely CPU-limited, as even the Low preset cannot exceed 501 FPS. The GPU has ample headroom, as evidenced by the small FPS drop when moving to higher resolutions.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its closest rivals in average benchmark score?

A: The Ryzen 7 5700 has an average benchmark score of 25517. The Intel Xeon D-2752TER scores 25530 (deltaPct -0.1%), the AMD Ryzen 5 7640U scores 25485 (deltaPct 0.1%), and the AMD Ryzen 5 6600H scores 25550 (deltaPct -0.1%). All are within 0.3% of each other.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 1489 out of 3708 tested combinations in the database. This places it in the upper 40% of all tested systems.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following table presents the exact measured average FPS values for each resolution and preset combination. The Medium preset is the only one with reported minimum and maximum values.

1920x1080:

• Low: 501 FPS average
• Medium: 427 FPS average, 363 FPS minimum, 491 FPS maximum
• High: 420 FPS average
• Ultra: 413 FPS average

2560x1440:

• Low: 475 FPS average
• Medium: 405 FPS average, 344 FPS minimum, 466 FPS maximum
• High: 398 FPS average
• Ultra: 392 FPS average

3840x2160:

• Low: 441 FPS average
• Medium: 376 FPS average, 319 FPS minimum, 432 FPS maximum
• High: 370 FPS average
• Ultra: 364 FPS average

The data shows a consistent ordering across all resolutions: Low is fastest, followed by Medium, then High, then Ultra. The gap between Low and Medium is the largest (74 FPS at 1080p, 70 FPS at 1440p, 65 FPS at 4K), while the gap between High and Ultra is the smallest (7 FPS at 1080p, 6 FPS at 1440p, 6 FPS at 4K). The Medium preset's minimum FPS values are all above 300 FPS, indicating that the combo maintains smooth frame delivery even in demanding scenes. The maximum FPS values show that the system can occasionally burst above the average, particularly at 1080p where the Medium preset reaches 491 FPS.