Valorant

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X paired with the Intel Arc B390 in Valorant presents a striking performance paradox. The CPU is a high-end desktop part with a strong benchmark profile, while the GPU is an integrated graphics solution that ranks near the bottom of the database. The measured frame rates, however, tell a story of surprising playability across all tested resolutions and settings, driven almost entirely by the processor’s capabilities. This analysis breaks down the data from the FACT PACK to explain how this combination performs, what each component contributes, and which settings deliver the best experience.

FAQ

Q: What is the combo rank for this CPU and GPU pairing in Valorant?

A: The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X and Intel Arc B390 ranks 2534 out of 2883 tested combos for this game. This places it in the lower 12th percentile of all tested systems, indicating that while it is not a top-tier performer, it sits above a significant portion of the tested hardware configurations.

Q: How does the CPU’s multi-threaded performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Ryzen 7 7700X has an average benchmark score of 35909. Its closest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845, scores 35802, which is a 0.3% difference. The Intel Core 7 250H is 0.5% behind, and the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 350 is also 0.5% behind. The Intel Core Ultra 9 185H trails by 0.7% with a score of 35670.

Q: What is the GPU’s percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The Intel Arc B390 has a percentile ranking of 9 among all GPUs in the database. This means it performs better than only 9% of all other graphics cards, placing it in the very low end of the performance spectrum. Its average benchmark score is 1482.

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 331, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is the only tested configuration that breaks the 300 FPS mark, demonstrating the CPU’s ability to push frame rates when graphical load is minimized.

Q: What is the lowest average FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The lowest average FPS recorded is 135, which occurs at 3840x2160 resolution with Ultra settings. This is the most demanding configuration tested, showing that even at 4K with maximum settings, the combo maintains a playable frame rate above 130 FPS.

Q: Does the GPU have dedicated VRAM?

A: No, the Intel Arc B390 uses System Shared memory. Its memory size, type, and bus width are all listed as "System Shared," and its memory bandwidth is "System Dependent." This means it relies on the system’s main DDR5 memory rather than having its own dedicated video memory pool.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 2534 out of 2883 tested combinations places this system in the bottom 12% of all tested hardware pairs for Valorant. This low ranking is almost entirely attributable to the GPU, which holds a 9th percentile ranking among all graphics cards. The CPU, by contrast, sits in the 85th percentile among all processors. The data suggests that the GPU is the limiting factor for this pairing, dragging the overall combo rank down despite the CPU’s strong standing.

The measured FPS results, however, paint a more nuanced picture than the raw rank might suggest. Even at 4K Ultra settings, the combo achieves 135 average FPS, which is far above the threshold for smooth competitive play. The CPU’s high single-thread and multi-thread performance appears to compensate for the GPU’s weaknesses in this specific game. Valorant is known for being CPU-bound, and the data here supports that notion. The combination sits at rank 2534, but the actual frame rates in the measured rows are consistently high, indicating that the ranking may be heavily influenced by the GPU’s poor performance in other, more GPU-intensive benchmarks.

The deltaPct values for the CPU’s nearest rivals are all very small, ranging from 0.3% to 0.7%. This shows that the Ryzen 7 7700X is part of a tightly clustered group of processors at its performance level. For instance, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 is nearly identical in average score, with only a 0.3% difference. In the context of Valorant, this means that swapping the CPU for any of these rivals would likely produce nearly identical frame rates, as the bottleneck is clearly on the GPU side of the equation.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X is an 8-core, 16-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, codenamed Raphael. It operates on the AMD Socket AM5 platform and is manufactured on a 5 nm process by TSMC. Its base clock is 4.50 GHz, and it can boost up to 5.40 GHz. The CPU has a 105 W TDP and supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s. The cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and a shared 32 MB L3 cache.

In terms of benchmark scores, the processor achieves a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 19088 and a single-core score of 1987. Its Geekbench scores are 12451 for multicore and 2289 for single-core. These numbers place it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs. The single-thread performance is particularly relevant for Valorant, which relies heavily on a few cores for game logic and rendering commands. The 3DMark single-thread score of 1090 and the Passmark single-thread score of 4190 both indicate strong per-core performance.

The data shows that the CPU has 16 threads, which allows it to handle background tasks and game threads simultaneously without issue. The 32 MB of L3 cache is shared across all cores, which helps reduce latency when cores need to communicate. The high boost clock of 5.40 GHz is a key factor in the measured frame rates, as Valorant’s engine tends to scale with clock speed. The CPU’s performance in the 3DMark 16-thread test (8859) and max-thread test (8852) shows that it maintains consistent performance across all cores, which is beneficial for maintaining stable frame pacing in game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers three resolutions (1920x1080, 2560x1440, and 3840x2160) and four settings presets (Low, Medium, High, and Ultra). At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves 331 average FPS. Moving to Medium settings drops this to 218 average FPS, with a minimum of 185 and a maximum of 250. High settings yield 207 average FPS, and Ultra settings produce 198 average FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 133 FPS, showing a substantial impact from settings.

At 2560x1440, the pattern continues. Low settings produce 282 average FPS. Medium settings drop to 186 average FPS, with a minimum of 158 and a maximum of 214. High settings yield 177 average FPS, and Ultra settings produce 169 average FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 113 FPS. The relative drop from Low to Medium is significant, at 96 FPS, while the drop from Medium to High is only 9 FPS, and from High to Ultra is only 8 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates are lower but still playable. Low settings achieve 225 average FPS. Medium settings drop to 149 average FPS, with a minimum of 126 and a maximum of 171. High settings yield 141 average FPS, and Ultra settings produce 135 average FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 90 FPS. The data shows that the biggest performance hit comes from moving from Low to Medium settings at all resolutions, while the difference between High and Ultra is relatively small. For example, at 4K, the drop from Medium to High is 8 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 6 FPS.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics processor based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, with the chip codenamed Panther Lake. It is manufactured on a 3 nm process by Intel and belongs to the Arc Graphics-M (Panther Lake) generation. The GPU has a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz. Its TDP is 80 W, and it uses no power connectors, as it is designed as an IGP (Integrated Graphics Processor).

The GPU’s memory configuration is entirely system-shared. It has no dedicated VRAM, relying instead on the system’s DDR5 memory. The memory type, bus width, and bandwidth are all listed as either "System Shared" or "System Dependent." This is a significant limitation compared to discrete GPUs, which have their own dedicated memory pools. The GPU has 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units (TMUs), and 24 raster operations pipelines (ROPs). It also includes 12 ray tracing cores.

In terms of raw compute, the GPU delivers 7.680 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 15.36 TFLOPS of FP16 performance (with a 2:1 ratio). Its pixel rate is 60.00 GPixel/s, and its texture rate is 120.0 GTexel/s. Despite these specifications, its benchmark performance is very low. The only GPU benchmark recorded is 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, where it scores 1482. This places it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, with its nearest rivals being the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1463, 1.3% faster), NVIDIA GeForce 800M (1460, 1.5% faster), NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM (1446, 2.5% faster), and NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 (1443, 2.7% faster). All of these are very old, low-end discrete GPUs.

The GPU’s low percentile ranking and poor benchmark score suggest that it is not designed for heavy graphical workloads. However, the measured FPS in Valorant shows that it can still deliver playable frame rates, especially at lower resolutions and settings. The system-shared memory allows the GPU to access the CPU’s DDR5 memory, which has a bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s. This is likely sufficient for Valorant’s relatively modest graphical requirements.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the best settings preset depends on the resolution and the user’s priorities. At 1920x1080, Low settings provide the highest average FPS at 331, which is well above the refresh rate of most high-end monitors. However, Medium settings still provide 218 average FPS, which is more than sufficient for competitive play, and offers better visual quality. The minimum FPS at Medium is 185, which is still very high. For most users at 1080p, Medium settings strike the best balance between visual fidelity and performance, as the jump from Low to Medium costs 113 FPS but the jump from Medium to High only costs 11 FPS.

At 2560x1440, Low settings provide 282 average FPS, while Medium settings provide 186 average FPS. The drop from Low to Medium is 96 FPS, which is significant. High settings yield 177 average FPS, and Ultra yields 169 average FPS. For 1440p users with high refresh rate monitors (144 Hz or 165 Hz), Medium settings are the sweet spot, as the 186 average FPS is above 144 Hz. Users with 240 Hz monitors might prefer Low settings to get closer to that refresh rate, but the visual compromise may not be worth it.

At 3840x2160, Low settings provide 225 average FPS, which is excellent for 4K. Medium settings drop to 149 average FPS, which is still playable but below the 165 Hz threshold for high-end 4K monitors. High settings yield 141 average FPS, and Ultra yields 135 average FPS. For 4K users, Low settings are recommended for competitive play, as they provide the highest frame rate and minimize input lag. Medium settings are acceptable for casual play, but the 76 FPS drop from Low to Medium is substantial. The data suggests that Low settings at 4K offer the best overall experience for this combo, as the visual difference between Low and Medium in a fast-paced game like Valorant is often less noticeable than the frame rate difference.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data shows a clear trend of decreasing frame rates as resolution increases. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 331 at 1080p to 282 at 1440p and 225 at 4K. This represents a 15% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 32% drop from 1080p to 4K. At Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 218 at 1080p to 186 at 1440p and 149 at 4K. This is a 15% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 32% drop from 1080p to 4K. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 207 at 1080p to 177 at 1440p and 141 at 4K, which is a 14% drop and a 32% drop, respectively. At Ultra settings, the average FPS drops from 198 at 1080p to 169 at 1440p and 135 at 4K, a 15% drop and a 32% drop.

The consistency of these percentage drops across all settings presets is notable. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistently around 14-15%, while the drop from 1080p to 4K is consistently around 32%. This pattern suggests that the performance scaling with resolution is relatively uniform, regardless of the settings preset. The fact that the percentage drops are nearly identical across Low, Medium, High, and Ultra indicates that the bottleneck is not shifting between the CPU and GPU as settings change.

Instead, the data implies that the CPU is the primary limiter even as resolution increases. If the GPU were the main bottleneck, we would expect to see larger percentage drops at higher resolutions, as the GPU would be more heavily tasked. The consistent 32% drop from 1080p to 4K suggests that the CPU’s frame generation capability is the limiting factor. The GPU, while weak in absolute terms, is apparently able to keep up with the CPU’s frame output at all tested resolutions. This is likely because Valorant is a lightweight game in terms of GPU load, and the system-shared memory bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s is sufficient to feed the GPU’s relatively low pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s.

The resolution scaling data also reveals that the CPU’s 16 threads and high boost clock of 5.40 GHz are sufficient to maintain high frame rates even at 4K. The minimum FPS recorded at 4K Medium is 126, which is above the 120 Hz threshold for many monitors. The data shows that this combo can handle 4K gaming in Valorant, albeit with lower settings, which is a surprising result given the GPU’s low percentile ranking of 9. The limiting factor appears to be the CPU’s ability to feed the GPU with draw calls and game state updates, rather than the GPU’s ability to render pixels.