Valorant

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Valorant with the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 reveals a pattern where the game remains highly playable across all tested resolutions, but the scaling from 1080p to 4K shows a clear shift in workload. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 543 FPS average; dropping to 1440p Low yields 463 FPS, and 4K Low still delivers 370 FPS. This translates to a 14.7% performance drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a 31.8% drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings.

When moving to High settings, the scaling pattern changes noticeably. The 1080p High result is 341 FPS, 1440p High drops to 291 FPS (a 14.7% reduction), and 4K High falls to 232 FPS (a 32.0% reduction from 1080p). The consistency in percentage drops between Low and High settings suggests the limiting component shifts predictably with resolution rather than settings complexity.

The Medium preset shows a similar trend: 358 FPS at 1080p, 305 FPS at 1440p (down 14.8%), and 244 FPS at 4K (down 31.8%). Ultra settings produce 324 FPS at 1080p, 277 FPS at 1440p (down 14.5%), and 221 FPS at 4K (down 31.8%). The remarkable consistency in relative scaling — all settings show roughly 14-15% reductions from 1080p to 1440p and 32% from 1080p to 4K — indicates that the performance curve is dominated by resolution pixel count rather than settings-specific effects.

At 4K, the lowest average FPS recorded is 221 on Ultra settings, which still exceeds 200 FPS. This demonstrates that even at the highest resolution and quality preset, the combo maintains competitive frame rates for an FPS title. The smallest gap between resolutions occurs between 1440p and 4K at Ultra: 277 FPS down to 221 FPS, a 20.2% drop. The data suggests that Valorant's engine scales efficiently with resolution, and the RTX 2060's 6 GB VRAM does not appear to introduce any sudden cliff at 4K, as the average FPS remains well above refresh-rate thresholds.

The limiting component at 1080p is more likely the CPU, given that the Ryzen 7 9700F with 8 cores and 16 threads can push extremely high frame rates, but the RTX 2060 becomes more relevant as resolution increases. However, the fact that 4K Low (370 FPS) is still 68 FPS higher than 1080p Ultra (324 FPS) suggests that settings have a smaller impact than resolution on this particular pairing.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is built on the Turing architecture with a 12 nm process node and carries 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, yielding 336.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth. Its boost clock is 1680 MHz, and the card has 1920 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units. The GPU also features 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores, though Valorant does not typically leverage ray tracing or DLSS in the measured scenarios.

In this game, the RTX 2060's role becomes more pronounced at higher resolutions. The data shows that at 4K, the gap between Low (370 FPS) and Ultra (221 FPS) is 149 FPS, which is a 40.3% reduction. At 1080p, the gap between Low (543 FPS) and Ultra (324 FPS) is 219 FPS, a 40.3% reduction as well. This identical percentage reduction across resolutions suggests that the GPU's compute and memory resources scale linearly with the settings workload, with no evidence of VRAM capacity bottlenecks even at 4K Ultra.

The RTX 2060's 6 GB VRAM appears sufficient for Valorant at all tested presets. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra (221 FPS) and 4K Medium (244 FPS) indicate that memory capacity is not a limiting factor, as frame rates remain high and the scaling pattern is smooth. The GPU's memory clock runs at 1750 MHz with 14 Gbps effective speed, which contributes to the 336.0 GB/s bandwidth — a figure that seems adequate for this game's texture and geometry loads.

The GPU's percentile ranking of 58 among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 15290, positions it as a mid-range part. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (deltaPct 0), AMD Radeon 680M (deltaPct 0.1), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM (deltaPct 0.6), and AMD Radeon RX 7600 (deltaPct 0.8). These deltas are all under 1%, indicating that the RTX 2060 sits in a tightly contested performance bracket in general benchmarks, but the Valorant-specific results show it is more than adequate for this esports title.

The pixel rate of 80.64 GPixel/s and texture rate of 201.6 GTexel/s provide theoretical ceilings that the measured FPS numbers respect. At 4K (3840x2160), the 232 FPS High result means the GPU is processing roughly 1.93 billion pixels per second, which is well below the pixel rate limit. Even at 1080p Low with 543 FPS, the pixel throughput is approximately 1.13 billion pixels per second, still leaving headroom. This indicates the GPU is not pixel-bound in most scenarios, and the frame rate variations are driven by other factors such as draw calls and shader complexity.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 in Valorant achieves a rank of 2070 out of 2883 tested combos, placing it in the 28.2nd percentile of performance. This means that roughly 72% of tested CPU-GPU combinations deliver higher average frame rates in this game. Given that Valorant is known for being CPU-intensive at high frame rates, the Ryzen 7 9700F's strong single-thread performance (PassMark single-thread score of 4691) helps, but the RTX 2060's mid-range position holds the combo back in the ranking.

The combo's rank reflects a pairing where the GPU is the weaker link for this specific title. The CPU's PassMark multithread score of 36470 and percentile ranking of 94 among all CPUs indicate it is a high-end processor, while the GPU's percentile of 58 is decidedly mid-pack. This imbalance explains why the combo underperforms relative to other pairings that might use a stronger GPU with a similar or weaker CPU.

In the context of the nearest rivals for the CPU, the Ryzen 7 9700F is within 0.9% of the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X and within 0.2% of the Intel Core i7-14700KF in average benchmark score. This means that swapping the CPU for any of these rivals would not materially change the Valorant results — the GPU would remain the bottleneck. Conversely, the GPU's nearest rivals are all within 0.8% in average score, so upgrading the GPU to an AMD Radeon RX 7600 would likely produce similar Valorant FPS figures.

The rank of 2070 out of 2883 suggests that for users prioritizing maximum FPS in Valorant, this combo is serviceable but not optimal. The measured FPS values — even at 4K Ultra with 221 FPS — are far above what most monitors can display, so the ranking may overstate practical differences. For competitive play at 1080p, the 543 FPS Low result is exceptional, but the combo's rank indicates that many other configurations achieve even higher numbers.

FAQ

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

A: The highest average FPS is 543, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. At Medium settings, the 1080p result is 358 FPS, and at High settings it is 341 FPS.

Q: Does the combo maintain playable frame rates at 4K with maximum settings?

A: Yes, at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 221, with a minimum FPS of 207 recorded at Medium settings. Even at the highest quality preset, the frame rate remains well above typical display refresh rates.

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

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 341 at 1920x1080 to 291 at 2560x1440 (a 14.7% reduction) and further to 232 at 3840x2160 (a 32.0% reduction from 1080p).

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

A: The combo ranks 2070 out of 2883 total tested combos, placing it in the lower 72% of configurations. This rank reflects the GPU's mid-range position relative to the CPU's high-end performance.

Q: Does the RTX 2060's 6 GB VRAM cause any issues at higher resolutions?

A: The measured data shows no evidence of VRAM limitations. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 221, and the scaling from Medium (244 FPS) to Ultra (221 FPS) is consistent with the pattern seen at lower resolutions, indicating that 6 GB is sufficient for this game.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 9700F compare to its nearest CPU rivals in general benchmarks?

A: The Ryzen 7 9700F has an average benchmark score of 69996, which is 0.2% lower than the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX, 0.2% higher than the Intel Core i7-14700KF, 0.7% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, and 0.9% higher than the Intel Core i7-14700K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. The Low preset produces 543 FPS average, which is the peak measured result in the entire dataset. Medium settings yield 358 FPS with a minimum of 304 and maximum of 411. High settings produce 341 FPS average, and Ultra settings result in 324 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 219 FPS, representing a 40.3% reduction when moving to the highest quality preset.

At 2560x1440, the performance scales down proportionally. Low settings still deliver a very high 463 FPS average. Medium settings produce 305 FPS with a range of 259 to 351. High settings yield 291 FPS, and Ultra settings result in 277 FPS. The reduction from 1080p to 1440p is consistent at approximately 14.7% across all settings, with the Low preset showing 463 FPS versus 543 FPS at 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates remain competitive for an FPS title. Low settings produce 370 FPS, which is still higher than the 1080p Ultra result of 324 FPS. Medium settings yield 244 FPS with a minimum of 207 and maximum of 280 — the only preset in the dataset that includes min/max values. High settings deliver 232 FPS, and Ultra settings result in 221 FPS. The 4K results show that even at the most demanding resolution and settings combination, the combo never falls below 200 FPS average.

Comparing across resolutions, the Low preset shows the largest absolute drop from 1080p to 4K: 543 FPS down to 370 FPS, a difference of 173 FPS. The Ultra preset shows the smallest absolute gap between 1080p and 4K: 324 FPS down to 221 FPS, a difference of 103 FPS. This indicates that at higher quality settings, the GPU workload is more consistent across resolutions, whereas at Low settings, the CPU is able to push frame rates much higher at 1080p.

The Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum and maximum values across all resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the range is 304 to 411 FPS, a 107 FPS spread. At 1440p Medium, the range narrows to 259 to 351 FPS, a 92 FPS spread. At 4K Medium, the range is 207 to 280 FPS, a 73 FPS spread. This tightening of the frame time distribution at higher resolutions suggests that GPU-bound scenarios produce more consistent frame pacing, while CPU-bound scenarios at lower resolutions introduce more variance.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F is an 8-core, 16-thread processor from the 9000 series based on the Zen 5 architecture, codenamed Granite Ridge. It has a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU features 32 MB of shared L3 cache, 1 MB L2 per core, and 80 KB L1 per core. It supports DDR5 memory with dual-channel configuration and a memory bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s.

In Valorant, the CPU's role is significant, particularly at lower resolutions where frame rates are extremely high. The PassMark single-thread score of 4691 (ranked 94th percentile among all CPUs) indicates excellent per-core performance, which is crucial for this game's engine that often relies on a limited number of threads for game logic and rendering commands. The multithread score of 36470 further confirms the CPU's capability, but Valorant's workload likely does not fully utilize all 16 threads.

The CPU's benchmark scores in specific tests provide context: data compression scores 421988, floating point math scores 77955, and integer math scores 120788. These results indicate strong computational throughput that supports high frame rates. The CPU's boost clock of 5.50 GHz is particularly relevant, as Valorant's frame generation at 1080p Low (543 FPS) requires rapid single-thread execution.

The Ryzen 7 9700F's nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (deltaPct 0.2), Intel Core i7-14700KF (deltaPct -0.2), AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (deltaPct 0.7), and Intel Core i7-14700K (deltaPct 0.9). These rivals are all within 1% of the 9700F's score of 69996, suggesting that any of these CPUs would perform virtually identically in Valorant when paired with the same RTX 2060.

The CPU's 4 nm process node and 8,315 million transistors on a 70.6 mm² die represent a modern, efficient design. The 32 MB L3 cache is shared across all cores, which helps with data locality in games. The CPU supports PCIe Gen 5 with 24 lanes, though the RTX 2060 uses PCIe 3.0 x16, so the newer interface does not directly benefit this GPU pairing.

The combination of a high single-thread score and 8 cores means the CPU can handle both the primary game thread and background tasks without contention. In Valorant, where frame rates exceed 300 FPS at most settings, the CPU is clearly capable of feeding the GPU with draw calls. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the 543 FPS result is likely CPU-limited, as the RTX 2060 should theoretically handle more frames given its pixel rate capabilities. At 4K Ultra with 221 FPS, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, but the CPU still provides enough headroom to avoid causing frame drops.