Valorant

Valorant is a competitive FPS where frame rate consistency often matters more than absolute visual fidelity, and the measured data for the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X paired with the Intel Arc B370 provides a clear picture of the system's behavior across common resolutions and presets. The dataset reveals a configuration that is heavily constrained by its graphics component at higher settings, but which showcases the processor's strength when the graphical load is reduced. The following analysis breaks down the measured FPS rows to detail how this specific combination performs, where its bottlenecks lie, and how it stacks up against other tested hardware pairings.

Resolution Scaling

The measured data shows a pronounced and predictable impact as resolution increases, but the magnitude of the performance drop is highly dependent on the chosen settings preset. At the Low preset, the system demonstrates impressive headroom, with average frame rates of 299 FPS at 1920x1080. Moving to 2560x1440 reduces this to 255 FPS, a 14.7% decrease, and further scaling to 3840x2160 yields 204 FPS, which is a 31.8% drop from the 1080p baseline. This scaling pattern at Low settings suggests that the CPU, the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X, is capable of feeding frames faster than the Intel Arc B370 can render them, but the GPU still manages to keep up with the reduced pixel count demands.

The situation changes drastically when the preset is set to High or Ultra. At the High preset, the average frame rate falls from 187 FPS at 1920x1080 to 160 FPS at 2560x1440, a 14.4% reduction. However, the jump to 3840x2160 results in a much steeper decline to 128 FPS, which is a 31.5% drop from the 1440p figure and a 31.5% drop from the 1080p figure. This non-linear scaling, particularly the sharp drop between 1440p and 4K, indicates that the graphics card is becoming the primary limiting factor as the pixel fill rate demand increases significantly. The Medium preset follows a similar trajectory, with 197 FPS at 1080p, 168 FPS at 1440p, and 134 FPS at 4K, showing a consistent 14.7% decrease from 1080p to 1440p and a 31.9% decrease from 1440p to 4K.

The data indicates that the limiting component shifts based on the workload. At lower resolutions and lower settings, the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X provides a strong foundation, allowing the system to reach very high frame rates. However, as resolution and graphical fidelity increase, the Intel Arc B370's limited processing power becomes apparent, causing frame rates to plateau and then drop significantly. The gap between the Low and High presets at 4K is 76 FPS, while at 1080p, the gap is 112 FPS, highlighting that the GPU's shortcomings are most visible when it is forced to render more pixels, not necessarily when handling more complex shading.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate this combo achieves in the measured data?

A: The highest recorded average frame rate is 299 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset.

Q: How does the system perform at 4K compared to 1080p on the High preset?

A: At 3840x2160 with High settings, the average frame rate is 128 FPS, whereas at 1920x1080 with the same preset, it reaches 187 FPS. This represents a 31.5% performance drop when moving to the higher resolution.

Q: Is there a significant difference in performance between the Medium and High presets?

A: The measured data shows a relatively small difference. At 2560x1440, the Medium preset averages 168 FPS, while the High preset averages 160 FPS, a difference of only 8 FPS. At 1920x1080, the difference is 10 FPS, with Medium at 197 FPS and High at 187 FPS.

Q: Which component appears to be the bottleneck at 4K resolution?

A: The data suggests the Intel Arc B370 graphics card is the limiting factor at 3840x2160. The frame rate drops sharply from 204 FPS on Low settings to 122 FPS on Ultra settings, indicating that the GPU is struggling with the increased pixel workload.

Q: What are the minimum and maximum frame rates recorded at 2560x1440 on Medium settings?

A: At 2560x1440 with the Medium preset, the measured minimum average frame rate is 143 FPS, and the maximum is 193 FPS, alongside an average of 168 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU's performance compare to its nearest rivals in general benchmarks?

A: The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X has an average benchmark score of 57498, which is 0.1% lower than the AMD EPYC 9015 and 0.2% higher than the AMD EPYC 7313. It also scores 1.1% higher than the Intel Core i9-14900 and 1.4% higher than the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M.

Settings Recommendations

Based solely on the measured FPS data, the optimal balance between visual quality and frame rate appears to be the Medium preset for most users. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers 197 FPS, which is 10 FPS higher than High and 19 FPS higher than Ultra, while still being 102 FPS lower than the Low preset. This suggests that Medium offers a significant improvement over the lower preset without incurring the performance penalty of the higher ones. At 2560x1440, the Medium preset again provides the best balance, with 168 FPS, which is 8 FPS higher than High and 16 FPS higher than Ultra.

For users who prioritize maximum frame rates, such as competitive players, the Low preset is the clear choice, offering 299 FPS at 1080p and 255 FPS at 1440p. The data shows that the jump from Low to Medium costs 102 FPS at 1080p and 87 FPS at 1440p, which is a substantial trade-off for the graphical improvements. At 4K resolution, the Medium preset is the highest playable option based on the numbers, providing an average of 134 FPS, while the High and Ultra presets dip to 128 FPS and 122 FPS, respectively. Given that the difference between Medium and High at 4K is only 6 FPS, users with 4K displays might find the High preset acceptable, but the data points to Medium as the sweet spot for maintaining a robust frame rate buffer.

The Ultra preset offers the lowest measured performance across all resolutions, with 178 FPS at 1080p, 152 FPS at 1440p, and 122 FPS at 4K. The performance gap between High and Ultra is 9 FPS at 1080p, 8 FPS at 1440p, and 6 FPS at 4K, suggesting that the extra visual features of the Ultra preset do not provide a proportional return in frame rate. Therefore, the data recommends the Medium preset as the default choice, with Low reserved for high-refresh-rate competitive scenarios and High being a viable alternative for 4K users who prefer slightly better visuals.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested hardware combinations for Valorant, this pairing of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and the Intel Arc B370 holds a rank of 2645 out of 2883 total combos. This places the system in the lower percentile of tested configurations, around the 8th percentile, indicating that most other CPU-GPU pairings deliver higher average frame rates in this specific game. The low rank is primarily attributable to the graphics card, which sits in the 5th percentile when compared against all other GPUs in the database.

The GPU's benchmark score of 1184 in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test puts it in close competition with older or lower-tier graphics solutions. Its nearest rivals include the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570, which scores 1186, and the ATI Radeon HD 5770, which scores 1190, both of which are only 0.2% and 0.5% faster, respectively. This context is crucial because it explains why the combo rank is so low; the CPU is capable of much higher performance, but the GPU's raw output limits the entire system. The CPU itself is in the 92nd percentile compared to all other CPUs, showing a stark contrast in capability between the two main components.

The data shows that while the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X is a high-end processor, the Intel Arc B370 is not a suitable partner for achieving top-tier frame rates in Valorant. The combination's rank of 2645 suggests that users would need to significantly upgrade the graphics card to move up the leaderboard, as the CPU is not the constraining factor in most scenarios. The delta between the CPU's high percentile ranking and the GPU's low ranking highlights a significant imbalance in system capability, resulting in a final performance outcome that is far below what the processor alone could support.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture, with a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. In the context of Valorant, which is known to be sensitive to single-thread performance, the CPU's 3DMark single-thread score of 1286 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2253 indicate a strong foundation for high frame rates. The data supports this, as the system achieves its highest frame rates at 1080p Low settings, where the CPU is less likely to be the bottleneck.

The processor's multi-threaded capabilities are also robust, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 32172 and a Passmark multithread score of 54643. However, Valorant does not typically scale well with many cores, so the 12-core configuration is more than sufficient for the game's demands. The CPU's 64 MB of L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support provide low-latency access to game data, which is beneficial for maintaining consistent frame times. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low, the system reaches 299 FPS, which is close to the 300 FPS threshold often sought by competitive players.

The CPU's overall benchmark performance, with an average score of 57498, places it in the 92nd percentile, and it is within 1.4% of its nearest rivals, including the Intel Core i9-14900 and the AMD EPYC 7313. This suggests that in CPU-bound scenarios, the Ryzen 9 9900X will perform admirably. In this specific combo, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU as fast as possible, and the data indicates that it is capable of doing so at 1080p and 1440p on lower settings, but its potential is not fully realized at higher resolutions where the GPU becomes the limiting factor.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The dataset provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the system achieves an average of 299 FPS on Low, 197 FPS on Medium, 187 FPS on High, and 178 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset has a recorded range of 167 to 226 FPS, while the other presets do not have min/max values listed. Moving to 2560x1440, the average frame rates are 255 FPS on Low, 168 FPS on Medium, 160 FPS on High, and 152 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset at this resolution shows a range of 143 to 193 FPS.

At the highest resolution, 3840x2160, the performance drops are more significant. The Low preset still manages an average of 204 FPS, but the Medium preset falls to 134 FPS, with a range of 114 to 154 FPS. The High preset averages 128 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 122 FPS. These numbers clearly illustrate the GPU's struggle at 4K, especially when compared to the 1080p results. The difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 4K is 82 FPS, whereas at 1080p, the difference is 121 FPS, showing that the GPU has less headroom to absorb the graphical load at higher resolutions.

The data also shows a consistent pattern where the Medium preset is only slightly faster than High, with a 10 FPS difference at 1080p and an 8 FPS difference at 1440p. The gap between High and Ultra is even smaller, at 9 FPS and 8 FPS, respectively. This suggests that the visual settings between Medium and Ultra do not have a linear impact on performance, and the GPU's capabilities are taxed more by resolution than by the specific preset level.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370 is an integrated graphics solution based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2400 MHz. It features 1280 shading units, 40 TMUs, and 20 ROPs, with a pixel rate of 48.00 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 96.00 GTexel/s. The GPU's memory is system-shared, meaning its performance is dependent on the system's RAM and memory bandwidth, which is a significant limitation for gaming.

The GPU's benchmark results are modest, with a single 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1184, placing it in the 5th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the ATI Radeon HD 5770, which scores 1190, and the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570, which scores 1186. This indicates that the Arc B370's raw performance is comparable to older discrete GPUs, which explains its poor showing in Valorant at higher resolutions.

In this game, the GPU's role is to render the frame after the CPU has processed the game logic. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the GPU can keep up with the CPU's output, achieving 299 FPS. However, as the resolution increases, the GPU's fill rate and shading capabilities become the bottleneck. At 4K Ultra, the frame rate drops to 122 FPS, which is a 59.2% reduction from the 1080p Low result. The GPU's 20 ROPs and relatively low texture rate are insufficient for the high pixel counts of 4K, leading to the significant performance drops observed in the data. The system-shared memory architecture also means that the GPU competes with the CPU for memory bandwidth, further limiting its performance in demanding scenarios.