Valorant

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate recorded for this Intel Core i3-12100F and RTX 4090 combination in Valorant?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 526.5, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is the peak among all tested configurations, with the next closest being 498.7 FPS at 2560x1440 on Low.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Intel Core i3-12100F has an average benchmark score of 13516, placing it 0.4% ahead of the Intel Core i7-1250U (13462) and 0.6% ahead of the Intel Core i3-10105 (13430). It trails the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX by a marginal 0.1% and sits 1.8% behind the Intel Core i7-7700K.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all tested graphics cards?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks in the 91st percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 66473. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla T4, scores 66733, which is 0.4% higher, while the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 trails by 0.9%.

Q: Which resolution and settings combination yields the lowest frame rate?

A: The lowest measured average FPS is 379.8, recorded at 3840x2160 (4K) resolution with Ultra settings. This represents the most demanding configuration tested, showing a significant drop from the 1080p Low result.

Q: What is the CPU's single-thread performance score in Cinebench R23?

A: The Cinebench R23 single-core score is 1681, while the multi-core score is 11912. The single-thread score in PassMark is 3444, and the 3DMark single-thread test yields 893, indicating strong per-core capability relative to the CPU's modest core count.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested system combinations?

A: This specific CPU-GPU pairing ranks 508th out of 1650 total tested combos for Valorant, placing it in the upper-middle portion of the database despite the high-end GPU.

Settings Recommendations

The data reveals a clear pattern: Low settings consistently deliver the highest frame rates across all resolutions. At 1920x1080, Low produces 526.5 FPS, which is 82.6 FPS higher than High (435.4) and 92.7 FPS higher than Ultra (433.8). The gap narrows at higher resolutions but remains significant—at 4K, Low achieves 458.9 FPS versus 379.8 FPS for Ultra, a difference of 79.1 FPS.

For competitive play, Low settings at 1080p offer the best raw performance, maximizing the refresh rate potential of high-end monitors. However, the frame rates at Medium and High are still exceptionally high—435.4 FPS at 1080p High and 443.9 FPS at Medium—meaning players can sacrifice some performance for visual fidelity without dropping below 400 FPS. The Ultra preset, while producing the worst results, still maintains 433.8 FPS at 1080p, which exceeds the refresh rate of virtually all displays. Given the minimal FPS difference between Medium and High (only 8.5 FPS at 1080p), High settings appear to offer the best balance of visual quality and performance, though Low remains optimal for pure responsiveness.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is a formidable graphics card with 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. Its boost clock reaches 2520 MHz, with a base clock of 2235 MHz. The card's 16384 shading units and 176 ROPs contribute to its 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 performance. In Valorant, a game known for being CPU-bound at high frame rates, the GPU's role is somewhat unusual.

The measured FPS data shows that even at 4K Ultra, the RTX 4090 produces 379.8 FPS, which is far beyond what most competitive titles require. This suggests the GPU is barely stressed by Valorant's engine. The GPU's 91st percentile ranking and average benchmark score of 66473 indicate massive headroom. Interestingly, the GPU's nearest rivals include workstation cards like the Tesla T4 and Quadro P6000, but in gaming, the RTX 4090's advantage is pronounced. The memory clock of 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective) and 512 tensor cores are largely irrelevant for Valorant, which does not utilize DLSS or ray tracing in these measurements. The card's 450 W TDP and 850 W suggested PSU are extreme for a game where the GPU likely operates well below its limits.

How This Combo Ranks

This CPU-GPU pairing ranks 508th out of 1650 tested combinations for Valorant, placing it in the 69th percentile of all combos. This is a surprising result given the RTX 4090's top-tier status and the i3-12100F's respectable benchmark scores. The rank suggests that Valorant's performance is heavily influenced by factors beyond raw GPU power. The combo's position in the middle-upper tier indicates that many other pairings—likely with more powerful CPUs—achieve better results.

The i3-12100F's average benchmark score of 13516 places it in the 72nd percentile of all CPUs, while the RTX 4090 sits in the 91st percentile of GPUs. The discrepancy between these percentiles and the combo's 508th rank out of 1650 (69th percentile) highlights a potential bottleneck. The CPU's 4 cores and 8 threads, while sufficient for many games, may limit Valorant's ability to fully utilize the GPU's capabilities. The fact that the combo ranks lower than the CPU's individual percentile suggests that other tested combos with higher-tier CPUs outperform this pairing, even if they use weaker GPUs.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F is a 4-core, 8-thread processor from the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. It features 12 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 cache per core. The CPU's 58 W TDP and 10 nm process node reflect its efficiency focus. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 11912 and a single-core score of 1681, with a PassMark single-thread score of 3444.

Valorant is widely recognized as a CPU-sensitive title, and the data supports this. At 1080p, increasing GPU workload from Low to Ultra only reduces FPS from 526.5 to 433.8, a drop of 92.7 FPS (17.6%). Meanwhile, moving from 1080p Low to 4K Low reduces FPS from 526.5 to 458.9, a drop of 67.6 FPS (12.8%). The relatively small performance penalty from resolution scaling suggests the CPU is the primary limiter. The i3-12100F's 4 cores are adequate for Valorant, but the 8 threads may not provide the headroom needed to push beyond 500 FPS consistently. The CPU's percentile ranking of 72 versus the GPU's 91 indicates that the processor is the weaker link in this pairing.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the frame rates are remarkably high across all settings. Low settings produce 526.5 FPS, Medium produces 443.9 FPS, High produces 435.4 FPS, and Ultra produces 433.8 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 92.7 FPS, but the gap between Medium, High, and Ultra is minimal—only 10.1 FPS separates Medium from Ultra.

At 2560x1440, the pattern shifts. Low produces 498.7 FPS, Medium produces 425.1 FPS, High produces 416.1 FPS, and Ultra produces 406.8 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra is 91.9 FPS, nearly identical to the 1080p difference. However, the absolute values are lower across the board, with the largest drop occurring between Low and Medium (73.6 FPS).

At 3840x2160, the frame rates remain impressive but show further decline. Low produces 458.9 FPS, Medium produces 392.7 FPS, High produces 386.6 FPS, and Ultra produces 379.8 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 79.1 FPS, slightly narrower than at lower resolutions. Notably, the difference between Medium, High, and Ultra at 4K is only 12.9 FPS, indicating diminishing returns from settings changes at higher resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The data reveals how FPS scales from 1080p to 4K across settings. For Low settings, the drop from 1080p to 1440p is 27.8 FPS (526.5 to 498.7), and the drop from 1440p to 4K is 39.8 FPS (498.7 to 458.9). The total decline from 1080p to 4K is 67.6 FPS, representing a 12.8% reduction. For Medium settings, the decline is 18.8 FPS from 1080p to 1440p (443.9 to 425.1) and 32.4 FPS from 1440p to 4K (425.1 to 392.7), totaling 51.2 FPS or 11.5%. High settings show a 19.3 FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p (435.4 to 416.1) and a 29.5 FPS drop from 1440p to 4K (416.1 to 386.6), totaling 48.8 FPS or 11.2%. Ultra settings decline by 27 FPS from 1080p to 1440p (433.8 to 406.8) and by 27 FPS from 1440p to 4K (406.8 to 379.8), totaling 54 FPS or 12.4%.

The relatively flat scaling across resolutions—with 4K only being 11-13% slower than 1080p—strongly indicates a CPU bottleneck. If the GPU were the limiting factor, the performance drop from 1080p to 4K would be far steeper, given the 4x increase in pixel count. The RTX 4090's immense bandwidth and compute power easily handle the resolution increase, while the i3-12100F's 4 cores struggle to feed the GPU at any resolution. This explains why frame rates remain so high even at 4K Ultra, and why the combo ranks lower than expected—the CPU caps performance regardless of resolution, making the GPU's power largely moot in this specific title.