Valorant

Settings Recommendations

The measured frame data for Valorant with the AMD Ryzen 7 5700 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 reveals a consistent pattern across all tested resolutions. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 503.8 FPS, which is the highest figure recorded in the entire dataset. Medium produces 426.1 FPS, High reaches 417.4 FPS, and Ultra trails at 413.5 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is substantial at 77.7 FPS, while the difference between High and Ultra is a much narrower 3.9 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the same ordering holds. Low averages 477.3 FPS, Medium 403.0 FPS, High 400.3 FPS, and Ultra 388.4 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 88.9 FPS, slightly larger than at 1080p. At 3840x2160, Low averages 439.4 FPS, Medium 377.8 FPS, High 369.1 FPS, and Ultra 365.3 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra spread here is 74.1 FPS.

The data suggests that the Low preset is the optimal choice for competitive play, as it maximizes average frame rate at every resolution. However, for users prioritizing visual quality, Medium offers a meaningful improvement over Low in visual fidelity while still maintaining frame rates well above 370 FPS even at 4K. Ultra provides only marginal gains over High in this dataset, with differences under 8 FPS across all resolutions, making it difficult to justify from a performance standpoint unless absolute maximum settings are desired. The recommendation is to use Low for pure frame rate, or Medium for a balance where the FPS penalty is roughly 64-77 FPS depending on resolution.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 is an 8-core, 16-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, manufactured on TSMC's 7 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU's benchmark results show strong multi-threaded performance, scoring 20,655 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2,916 in single-core. Its PassMark multithread score is 24,303, while single-thread scores reach 3,296.

In Valorant, which is known to be sensitive to CPU performance, the Ryzen 7 5700's characteristics are well-suited. The 16 threads provide ample headroom for background tasks and game logic, while the 4.60 GHz boost clock helps maintain high single-thread performance, which is critical for frame pacing in competitive shooters. The CPU's 84th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 27,220, places it within 0.7% of the Intel Core i9-9900K and 0.8% of the Intel Core i7-12700H, indicating that it is competitive with those processors in general compute workloads.

The measured FPS data shows that even at 1080p Low, where CPU load is typically highest due to lower GPU strain, the system achieves 503.8 FPS. This suggests the CPU is not a limiting factor in this configuration, as frame rates remain extremely high. The 16 MB of L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth contribute to the CPU's ability to feed the GPU efficiently, particularly in a game like Valorant where draw calls and game state updates are frequent.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable with this combo?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 503.8, achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low preset. At 2560x1440 Low, the average is 477.3 FPS, and at 3840x2160 Low, it is 439.4 FPS.

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

A: At Low settings, the drop from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 is 64.4 FPS (503.8 to 439.4). At High settings, the drop is 48.3 FPS (417.4 to 369.1). At Medium, the drop is 48.3 FPS (426.1 to 377.8), and at Ultra, the drop is 48.2 FPS (413.5 to 365.3).

Q: What is the difference between High and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, High averages 400.3 FPS while Ultra averages 388.4 FPS, a difference of 11.9 FPS. This is the largest High-to-Ultra gap across all resolutions; at 1080p the gap is 3.9 FPS and at 4K it is 3.8 FPS.

Q: Is the RTX 4090 the limiting component in this configuration?

A: Benchmark results indicate the RTX 4090 has an average score of 66,473 and ranks in the 91st percentile of all GPUs. The CPU's 84th percentile ranking suggests both components are high-end. The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K shows only a 12.8% reduction at Low settings, indicating the system is not severely bottlenecked by the GPU even at higher resolutions.

Q: How does this CPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Ryzen 7 5700's average benchmark score of 27,220 is 0.7% higher than the Intel Core i9-9900K (27,043), 0.8% higher than the Intel Core i7-12700H (27,006), and 0.8% higher than the Intel Core i7-1370P (26,991). It is 1.2% higher than the AMD Ryzen AI 5 340 (26,909).

Q: What is the frame rate at 4K Ultra, and is it playable?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 365.3. This is far above the typical 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay and indicates that even at maximum settings and 4K resolution, this combo provides an exceptionally high frame rate.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination ranks 648th out of 1,650 tested combos in Valorant. This places it in the top 39.3% of all combinations tested for this game. The ranking reflects the balance between the CPU's 84th percentile performance and the GPU's 91st percentile performance. While the RTX 4090 is among the most powerful GPUs available, the Ryzen 7 5700, while capable, does not match the GPU's relative standing among processors. The 648th rank suggests that there are 647 combos that achieve higher frame rates in Valorant, likely including systems with newer or higher-clocked CPUs paired with similarly powerful GPUs.

The rank is notable because Valorant is a CPU-intensive title, and the Ryzen 7 5700's position in the 84th percentile of all CPUs means it is outperformed by a significant portion of the processor market. The measured FPS figures, however, remain extremely high, with even the lowest tested configuration (4K Ultra) producing 365.3 FPS. This indicates that while the combo may not top the ranking charts, it delivers performance that far exceeds the requirements of any current display technology, which max out at 360 Hz for the fastest gaming monitors.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 provides insight into which component is the primary limiter. At Low settings, the frame rate drops from 503.8 FPS at 1080p to 477.3 FPS at 1440p (a 5.3% reduction) and then to 439.4 FPS at 4K (a further 7.9% reduction). The total drop from 1080p to 4K is 12.8%. At High settings, the drop from 1080p to 4K is 48.3 FPS, representing an 11.6% reduction. Medium shows a similar pattern with a 11.3% reduction, and Ultra shows an 11.7% reduction.

These relatively modest scaling percentages indicate that the system is not heavily GPU-bound at lower resolutions. If the GPU were the sole limiting factor, one would expect a much larger FPS drop when pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K. The data shows that the CPU is likely the primary constraint, as frame rates remain high even when the GPU has substantially more work to do. The RTX 4090's immense compute power (82.58 TFLOPS FP32) and memory bandwidth (1.01 TB/s) mean that even at 4K, it can render frames faster than the CPU can feed it game state data. This is consistent with Valorant's design, which prioritizes low-latency input and high frame rates over graphical complexity.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 503.8 FPS, the highest score in the entire dataset. Medium follows at 426.1 FPS, then High at 417.4 FPS, and Ultra at 413.5 FPS. The performance ordering is consistent: Low > Medium > High > Ultra. The difference between Low and Medium is 77.7 FPS, while the difference between High and Ultra is just 3.9 FPS.

At 2560x1440, Low averages 477.3 FPS, Medium 403.0 FPS, High 400.3 FPS, and Ultra 388.4 FPS. The Low-to-Medium gap narrows to 74.3 FPS, while the High-to-Ultra gap widens slightly to 11.9 FPS. At this resolution, the RTX 4090's GPU load increases, but the CPU still appears to be the limiting factor given the relatively small FPS drop from 1080p.

At 3840x2160, Low averages 439.4 FPS, Medium 377.8 FPS, High 369.1 FPS, and Ultra 365.3 FPS. The Low-to-Medium gap is 61.6 FPS, and the High-to-Ultra gap is 3.8 FPS. Even at 4K Ultra, the system maintains an average of 365.3 FPS, which is more than six times the standard 60 FPS display refresh rate.

Across all resolutions, the pattern is clear: Low settings provide the highest frame rates, with diminishing returns as settings increase. The gap between High and Ultra is consistently small (3.8 to 11.9 FPS), suggesting that Ultra offers little performance advantage over High, while the gap between Low and Medium is substantial (61.6 to 77.7 FPS), indicating that Medium represents a significant visual upgrade at a noticeable performance cost. The data shows that this combination is capable of exceeding 350 FPS at every tested resolution and settings combination, making it suitable for the highest refresh rate displays available.