Valorant

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

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700 is an 8-core, 16-thread desktop processor built on the Zen 4 architecture (Raphael). It operates on the AMD Socket AM5 platform and runs at a base clock of 3.80 GHz with a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. The CPU draws 65 W TDP and is fabricated on TSMC's 5 nm process node with 6,570 million transistors on a 71 mm² die. It supports DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration with a memory bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s and includes 32 MB of shared L3 cache plus 1 MB of L2 cache per core.

In Valorant, the measured FPS data reveals a pattern consistent with a CPU that has ample headroom. At 1080p Low settings, the combo reaches 331 FPS average, which is the highest recorded value across all tested configurations. This suggests that at lower resolutions and graphical settings, the Ryzen 7 7700's single-thread performance is the primary driver. The CPU's single-core benchmark scores support this: it achieves 1,930 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 1,049 in 3DMark single-thread. These are strong numbers for a game that relies heavily on per-core performance for game logic and input response.

The processor's multi-threaded capabilities are not wasted, however. With 16 threads, it can handle background tasks, anti-cheat software, and streaming overlays without stealing cycles from the game's main thread. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 18,760 and the Geekbench multi-core score of 15,371 indicate robust overall throughput. In Valorant's measured data, the gap between Low and Ultra settings at the same resolution narrows as resolution increases, which points to the CPU becoming less of a bottleneck at higher GPU loads.

The Ryzen 7 7700 sits in the 87th percentile among all CPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 40,081. Its nearest rivals are tightly clustered: the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 scores 40,048 (0.1% higher), the Intel Core 5 221E scores 40,144 (0.2% lower), the AMD Ryzen 9 270 scores 40,246 (0.4% lower), and the Intel Core i9-13905H scores 40,313 (0.6% lower). This places the 7700 in a highly competitive band where small percentage differences separate it from peers. For Valorant specifically, the CPU's 5.30 GHz boost clock appears to be the decisive factor, as the game's frame rates scale more with clock speed than with core count beyond 8 threads.

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

The measured FPS data includes four settings presets—Low, Medium, High, and Ultra—across three resolutions. Analyzing the average FPS values reveals a consistent hierarchy, but the margins between presets vary significantly. At 1080p, Low delivers 331 FPS, Medium drops to 218 FPS (a 34% reduction), High delivers 207 FPS (37% below Low), and Ultra is 198 FPS (40% below Low). The step from Low to Medium is the largest single drop, while the difference between High and Ultra is relatively small at 9 FPS.

At 1440p, the same pattern holds: Low is 282 FPS, Medium is 186 FPS, High is 177 FPS, and Ultra is 169 FPS. The drop from Low to Medium is 96 FPS, which is a 34% reduction—consistent with the 1080p scaling. At 4K, Low is 225 FPS, Medium is 149 FPS, High is 141 FPS, and Ultra is 135 FPS. Again, Low to Medium shows the largest gap at 76 FPS (34% reduction).

For competitive play, Low settings at any resolution provide the highest frame rates and the lowest input latency potential. The data shows that Low settings consistently deliver more than 225 FPS even at 4K, which exceeds the refresh rate of most high-end monitors. Medium settings offer a compromise: at 1080p, 218 FPS is still very high, and at 1440p, 186 FPS remains competitive. However, the measured minimum FPS for Medium is 185 at 1080p, 158 at 1440p, and 126 at 4K. These minimums indicate that Medium can experience frame drops under load, which might be noticeable on a 240 Hz or 360 Hz display.

High and Ultra settings provide diminishing returns. At 1080p, Ultra's 198 FPS is only 9 FPS below High, and at 1440p, the gap is 8 FPS. The visual fidelity improvements from High to Ultra are typically marginal in Valorant, given the game's stylized art direction. The data suggests that High is the highest preset worth using if visual quality is a priority, as it stays within 13% of Low's performance at 1080p (207 vs. 331 FPS). For players who prioritize maximum frame rates and responsiveness, Low is the clear choice. For those who want some visual polish without sacrificing too much speed, Medium at 1440p delivers 186 FPS average with a 158 FPS minimum, which remains above the typical 144 Hz refresh rate threshold.

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

The measured FPS data shows how performance scales across resolutions for each settings preset. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 331 at 1080p to 282 at 1440p (an 85% retention) and then to 225 at 4K (a 68% retention from 1080p). At Medium settings, the progression is 218 → 186 → 149 (85% and 68% retention, respectively). High settings show 207 → 177 → 141 (85% and 68%). Ultra settings show 198 → 169 → 135 (85% and 68%). In every case, the drop from 1080p to 1440p is 15% of the 1080p value, and the drop from 1080p to 4K is 32% of the 1080p value.

This uniform scaling across all presets is significant. It means the performance limiting factor changes in a predictable way as resolution increases. At 1080p, the CPU is likely the primary constraint, as frame rates are very high and the GPU's workload is relatively light. As resolution increases to 1440p and then 4K, the GPU's pixel throughput becomes more demanding, but the Intel Arc B390's measured performance shows that it can still keep up with the CPU's frame generation up to a point.

The fact that the percentage drop is identical across all settings (85% at 1440p and 68% at 4K) suggests that the system is not hitting a hard CPU limit at lower resolutions. If the CPU were the sole bottleneck, we would expect the frame rate to stay roughly constant across resolutions at Low settings, since the CPU work per frame doesn't change with resolution. Instead, the consistent scaling indicates that both CPU and GPU contribute to performance, with the GPU becoming more dominant at higher resolutions.

At 4K Low, the combo still produces 225 FPS, which is remarkable for an integrated GPU. The Intel Arc B390's pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s provide the raw throughput needed for this level of performance. The data shows that the system scales gracefully from 1080p to 4K, losing about a third of its frame rate at the highest resolution but still maintaining playable framerates in all settings except Ultra at 4K (135 FPS average, which is still above 120 FPS).

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 and Intel Arc B390 ranks 2,534 out of 2,883 tested combos in Valorant. This places it in the 12th percentile of all tested combinations, meaning roughly 88% of tested combos perform better in this game. This low ranking is primarily attributable to the GPU's position: the Intel Arc B390 sits in the 9th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 1,482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12.

The GPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database are all NVIDIA parts from a much older era: the GeForce GT 520MX (1,463, 1.3% lower), GeForce 800M (1,460, 1.5% lower), GeForce GT 625 OEM (1,446, 2.5% lower), and GeForce GT 710 (1,443, 2.7% lower). This places the Arc B390 at the very bottom of the GPU performance spectrum, comparable to entry-level discrete GPUs from over a decade ago. However, in Valorant specifically, the measured FPS data shows that this combo still achieves playable frame rates because the game is not graphically demanding.

The ranking also reflects the CPU's position. While the Ryzen 7 7700 is in the 87th percentile among CPUs, the GPU drags the overall combo down. The 2,534th rank out of 2,883 means that many combos with weaker CPUs but stronger GPUs outperform this pairing in Valorant. This is expected for a game where GPU headroom matters less at competitive settings, but the combo's rank still shows that it cannot compete with systems using mid-range or high-end discrete GPUs.

Notably, the combo rank is specific to Valorant. The same CPU with a different GPU would rank differently, and the same GPU with a different CPU would also shift the ranking. The data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this pairing; the GPU's low benchmark scores and 9th percentile ranking are the primary reasons for the low combo rank.

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

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated GPU (IGP) based on the Xe3-LPG architecture with the Panther Lake chip, built on Intel's 3 nm process node. It has 1,536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, 24 ROPs, and 12 ray tracing cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 300 MHz with a boost clock of 2,500 MHz. It uses system shared memory, meaning it has no dedicated VRAM; the memory size, type, and bus width are all listed as "System Shared," and bandwidth is "System Dependent." The GPU's TDP is 80 W, and it has no power connectors since it is integrated.

In the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 benchmark, the Arc B390 scores 1,482, which places it in the 9th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are all NVIDIA parts from the GT 600/700 series era, with the GeForce GT 520MX being the closest at 1,463 (1.3% lower). This benchmark score indicates very low raw graphics performance, but the measured FPS in Valorant tells a different story.

Valorant's measured data shows that the Arc B390 can produce 331 FPS at 1080p Low and 225 FPS at 4K Low. This is possible because the game's rendering workload is modest, and the GPU's boost clock of 2,500 MHz provides sufficient compute throughput for the simple geometry and shaders used. The GPU's FP32 performance is 7.680 TFLOPS, and its FP16 performance is 15.36 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio). These figures are low compared to dedicated GPUs, but they are enough for Valorant's esports-oriented visuals.

The system shared memory configuration is a notable factor. Since the GPU uses the same DDR5 memory as the CPU, memory bandwidth is "System Dependent." The CPU's memory bandwidth is 83.2 GB/s, and the GPU shares that pool. In Valorant, this does not appear to be a bottleneck, as frame rates remain high across all tested settings. However, the shared memory means that higher resolutions and settings require more memory bandwidth, which could explain the more pronounced FPS drops at 4K Ultra (135 FPS) compared to 1080p Low (331 FPS).

The GPU's pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s are the physical limits that determine how quickly the GPU can fill the screen with pixels. At 4K (8.3 million pixels), the pixel rate allows approximately 7,200 frames per second of pure fill, but the actual frame rate is limited by other factors such as shader complexity and memory bandwidth. The measured 4K Ultra average of 135 FPS shows that the GPU is not fill-rate limited in this game; rather, other bottlenecks such as memory bandwidth and shader throughput are more relevant.

FAQ

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

A: The highest measured average FPS is 331, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K resolution?

A: At 3840x2160, the average FPS ranges from 225 at Low settings to 135 at Ultra settings. Medium settings deliver 149 FPS with a minimum of 126 and a maximum of 171.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested combinations in Valorant?

A: The combo ranks 2,534 out of 2,883 tested combinations, placing it in the lower 12% of all tested systems.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU limit performance in this game?

A: The data shows consistent FPS scaling across resolutions (85% retention at 1440p and 68% at 4K for all settings), which indicates that both CPU and GPU contribute, with the GPU becoming more dominant at higher resolutions.

Q: What are the minimum FPS values for Medium settings?

A: At 1080p Medium, the minimum FPS is 185. At 1440p Medium, it is 158. At 4K Medium, it is 126.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Intel Arc B390 scores 1,482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, which is 1.3% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1,463) and 2.7% higher than the GeForce GT 710 (1,443).

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

1920x1080:

• Low: 331 FPS average
• Medium: 218 FPS average, 185 FPS minimum, 250 FPS maximum
• High: 207 FPS average
• Ultra: 198 FPS average

2560x1440:

• Low: 282 FPS average
• Medium: 186 FPS average, 158 FPS minimum, 214 FPS maximum
• High: 177 FPS average
• Ultra: 169 FPS average

3840x2160:

• Low: 225 FPS average
• Medium: 149 FPS average, 126 FPS minimum, 171 FPS maximum
• High: 141 FPS average
• Ultra: 135 FPS average

The data shows a consistent pattern: Low settings always deliver the highest frame rates, and Ultra always delivers the lowest. The Medium preset is the only one with measured minimum and maximum values, providing insight into frame time consistency. At all resolutions, the gap between Low and Medium is the largest single step, while the gap between High and Ultra is the smallest. This suggests that the Medium preset includes a significant visual feature that impacts performance, while High and Ultra differ only slightly in their demands on the system.