Valorant

Valorant on the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 combination produces exceptionally high frame rates that scale in a revealing pattern across resolutions. The data shows this pairing is far more capable than the game demands, with the lowest average FPS recorded at 397 (4K Ultra) still being several times higher than typical high-refresh displays can use. The performance envelope suggests that this is a system where the CPU's single-thread strength and the GPU's raw throughput are both in surplus, creating a bottleneck dynamic that shifts depending on how much pixel work is thrown at the graphics card.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K in this dataset is remarkably shallow, which indicates the limiting component changes as resolution increases. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 715 FPS average; moving to 1440p Low only drops that to 678 FPS, a decrease of roughly 5.2%. Pushing to 4K Low yields 629 FPS, which is still 88% of the 1080p figure. For a game like Valorant, this suggests that even at 4K, the GPU is not being fully saturated, and the CPU is doing much of the heavy lifting to maintain these triple-digit numbers.

Looking at the High preset, the scaling pattern is more pronounced. The 1080p High average is 599 FPS, which declines to 521 FPS at 1440p (a 13% drop), and then further to 417 FPS at 4K (a 30% drop from 1080p). This steeper curve at higher settings implies that the RTX 4070's shading units and memory bandwidth start to become more relevant when pixel count and visual effects increase, but the absolute numbers remain so high that the GPU is never truly the limiting factor in a practical sense. The delta between Low and High at the same resolution is also telling: at 1080p, the difference is 116 FPS (715 vs 599), while at 4K it is 212 FPS (629 vs 417).

The Medium preset shows a similar trend, with 609 FPS at 1080p, 547 FPS at 1440p, and 437 FPS at 4K. The 4K Medium result includes a min FPS of 372 and a max of 503, which is the widest spread in the dataset. This variance at 4K Medium suggests that while the average is high, there are moments where scene complexity causes the frame time to spike, possibly due to CPU draw-call limits or memory latency. The Ultra preset follows the expected pattern, delivering 582 FPS at 1080p, 496 FPS at 1440p, and 397 FPS at 4K, which is the lowest average recorded in the entire test set.

The implication is that for competitive play at 1080p, this combination is massively overprovisioned. The data shows that the RTX 4070's 12 GB of VRAM and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are never stressed by Valorant's modest asset sizes, even at 4K. The scaling behavior points to a system where the CPU's Zen 5 architecture, with its 5.50 GHz boost clock, is the primary driver of frame rates, particularly at lower resolutions where the GPU has less work to do.

GPU Role

The RTX 4070's role in this configuration is almost secondary, given the game's engine. The GPU's base clock is 1920 MHz with a boost of 2475 MHz, and it operates with 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs. These specifications produce a PassMark G3D score of 26927, which places the GPU in the 81st percentile of all GPUs. However, in Valorant, the benchmark results indicate that the GPU is not the bottleneck at any resolution or setting tested.

The memory configuration — 12 GB of GDDR6X on a 192-bit bus with 21 Gbps effective speed — provides 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. For a game like Valorant, which has relatively small textures and simple geometry, this bandwidth is more than sufficient. The data shows that even at 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 397, which is still far above the refresh rate of most monitors. The GPU's pixel rate of 158.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 455.4 GTexel/s are not being fully utilized, as evidenced by the relatively small gap between Low and Ultra settings at the same resolution.

The GPU's compute capabilities, including 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores, are irrelevant for Valorant, which does not use ray tracing or DLSS in the measured scenarios. The FP32 performance of 29.15 TFLOPS is also largely untapped. The benchmark scores for the GPU, such as the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3854 and the Geekbench Vulkan score of 174152, reflect its general purpose power, but in this specific game, the GPU's role appears to be that of a high-fidelity renderer that is waiting for the CPU to feed it frames.

Comparing to nearest rivals, the RTX 4070's average benchmark score is 37648, which is 0.1% higher than the NVIDIA Tesla P4 (37628) and 0.4% higher than the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (37507). It is 1.3% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile (38135) and 1.3% higher than the AMD Radeon PRO W6400 (37157). These small deltas suggest that the GPU's performance tier is well established, but the Valorant results show that even a GPU in this range is far beyond what the game requires.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 7 9700F and RTX 4070 ranks 183rd out of 2883 tested combos in Valorant. This places it in the top 6.3% of all possible pairings in the benchmark database. The rank is impressive given that many higher-ranked combos likely use more expensive CPUs or GPUs, but the data shows that for Valorant specifically, this pairing is near the peak of practical performance.

The CPU's benchmark scores are relevant here. The Ryzen 7 9700F has a PassMark single-thread score of 4691 and a multithread score of 36470, with an average benchmark score of 69996. This places it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (avg score 69875, delta 0.2%), the Intel Core i7-14700KF (avg score 70163, delta -0.2%), the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (avg score 69515, delta 0.7%), and the Intel Core i7-14700K (avg score 69355, delta 0.9%). The small deltas (all within 1%) indicate that the CPU is in a very tight performance band, but its 8 cores and 16 threads with a 5.50 GHz boost clock are particularly well-suited for Valorant's engine, which favors high clock speeds over many cores.

The combo rank of 183 out of 2883 suggests that there are 182 other combinations that perform better in this game. Given that the RTX 4070 is in the 81st percentile and the CPU is in the 94th percentile, the rank is likely limited by the GPU rather than the CPU. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo hits 715 FPS, which is close to the ceiling for many CPUs. The fact that it is not rank 1 indicates that some combos with even faster CPUs (or possibly overclocked variants) can push slightly higher frame rates, but the differences are likely marginal and not perceptible in real-world play.

FAQ

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

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 715 at 1080p with Low settings. The lowest average is 397 at 4K with Ultra settings.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 9700F compare to its closest rival in CPU benchmarks?

A: The Ryzen 7 9700F has an average benchmark score of 69996. It is 0.2% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (69875) and 0.2% lower than the Intel Core i7-14700KF (70163). It is also 0.7% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (69515) and 0.9% higher than the Intel Core i7-14700K (69355).

Q: Is the RTX 4070 a bottleneck in Valorant?

A: The data suggests it is not. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 397, which is still very high. The GPU's PassMark G3D score of 26927 and its 81st percentile ranking indicate it has ample power, but the game's engine is more CPU-bound, as evidenced by the small performance differences between Low and Ultra settings at the same resolution.

Q: What is the frame time consistency like at 1440p Medium?

A: At 1440p Medium, the average FPS is 547, with a minimum of 465 and a maximum of 629. This range of 164 FPS between min and max suggests some variability, but the minimum is still well above 144 Hz refresh rates.

Q: How does this combo rank overall in the database for Valorant?

A: It ranks 183rd out of 2883 total tested combinations. This places it in the top 6.3% of all combos tested for this game.

Q: What is the difference between 1080p and 4K performance at High settings?

A: At 1080p High, the average FPS is 599. At 4K High, it drops to 417. This is a 30% reduction in average FPS, which is the largest relative drop across the settings presets.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the frame rates are consistently above 580 FPS across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 715 FPS, Medium yields 609 FPS (with a min of 518 and max of 701), High gives 599 FPS, and Ultra provides 582 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 133 FPS, which is significant but still leaves the lowest setting well above any practical display refresh rate.

At 1440p, the averages are 678 FPS for Low, 547 FPS for Medium (min 465, max 629), 521 FPS for High, and 496 FPS for Ultra. The drop from Low to Ultra at 1440p is 182 FPS, which is a larger absolute gap than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is starting to play a slightly bigger role as pixel count increases.

At 4K, the performance remains high but shows more variation. Low settings average 629 FPS, Medium averages 437 FPS (min 372, max 503), High averages 417 FPS, and Ultra averages 397 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 232 FPS, which is the largest across all resolutions. This suggests that at 4K, the GPU's shading and memory subsystems are more taxed, but the absolute performance is still extraordinary for a competitive FPS.

The Medium preset is the only one that includes min and max FPS data across all resolutions. At 1080p, the range is 183 FPS (518 to 701). At 1440p, the range is 164 FPS (465 to 629). At 4K, the range is 131 FPS (372 to 503). The narrowing range at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU's workload becomes more consistent as it becomes the dominant factor, whereas at 1080p, CPU-related frame time spikes can cause wider variations.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 7 9700F is the star of this show in Valorant. With 8 cores and 16 threads, a base clock of 3.80 GHz, and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, it is built for high-frequency workloads. Its PassMark single-thread score of 4691 is the key metric for this game, as Valorant is notoriously sensitive to single-core performance. The 94th percentile ranking among all CPUs confirms that this processor is at the top end of the spectrum.

The CPU's cache hierarchy — 80 KB L1 per core, 1 MB L2 per core, and 32 MB shared L3 — provides low-latency access to frequently used game data. Its 4 nm process node and 8,315 million transistors on a 70.6 mm² die indicate a modern, efficient design. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo hits 715 FPS, which is likely near the engine's maximum frame rate cap or the CPU's single-thread limit. The fact that increasing resolution to 4K only drops the Low setting average to 629 FPS suggests that the CPU is still the primary driver even when the GPU has four times as many pixels to render.

Comparing to rivals, the CPU's average benchmark score of 69996 is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (69875, +0.2%) and the Intel Core i7-14700KF (70163, -0.2%). This indicates that the 9700F is in a performance tier where differences are negligible in synthetic tests, but its 5.50 GHz boost clock may give it an edge in games that rely on single-thread speed. The data's frame rates suggest that the CPU is not the limiting factor in most scenarios, as the GPU begins to show its limitations at 4K Ultra (397 FPS) more than the CPU does at 1080p Ultra (582 FPS).

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the best experience for competitive play is the 1080p Low preset, which delivers 715 FPS average. This maximizes frame rate and minimizes input latency, which is critical for a tactical FPS like Valorant. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 133 FPS, but most players cannot perceive anything above 240 Hz, so the Low preset provides a significant margin of safety for frame time consistency.

For players with 1440p monitors, the Low preset at 678 FPS is the best choice for competitive integrity. The Medium preset at 547 FPS (min 465) is also viable if visual clarity is preferred, as the minimum FPS is still above 144 Hz. The High preset at 521 FPS and Ultra at 496 FPS are more than sufficient for casual play, and the data shows that the GPU can handle these settings without dropping below 496 FPS average.

At 4K, the Low preset at 629 FPS is the only setting that makes sense for high-refresh gaming. The Medium preset at 437 FPS (min 372) is acceptable for 144 Hz displays, but the min FPS of 372 indicates potential dips below that threshold. The High preset at 417 FPS and Ultra at 397 FPS are better suited for 60 Hz or 120 Hz displays, as the averages are still very high but the frame time consistency is less critical at lower refresh rates.

The data implies that the Ultra preset is never worth the performance cost in Valorant, as the visual differences between Medium and Ultra are minimal in a fast-paced FPS, while the FPS penalty ranges from 27 FPS at 1080p to 40 FPS at 4K. The best overall experience per the measured rows is the 1080p Low preset for maximum frame rate, or the 1440p Medium preset for a balance of visual fidelity and high performance, given that its 465 FPS minimum still exceeds all but the most extreme refresh rate displays.