Valorant

The Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 570 delivers a remarkably consistent experience in Valorant, with the data showing that the primary bottleneck shifts decisively based on resolution and settings. The benchmark results indicate this is a capable combination for competitive play, but the performance ceiling is defined by the GPU at higher resolutions and by CPU frame pacing at lower ones.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of GPU dependency as resolution increases, particularly at higher settings. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 288.2 FPS, which drops to 245.8 FPS at 1440p Low and then to 198.7 FPS at 4K Low. This scaling shows a 22% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a further 19% reduction from 1440p to 4K, indicating that even at Low settings, the RX 570's rendering workload grows substantially with pixel count.

The scaling is much steeper at Ultra settings. The 1080p Ultra result of 172.1 FPS falls to 146.8 FPS at 1440p Ultra, and then plummets to 117.3 FPS at 4K Ultra. The 32% total drop from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings contrasts with the 31% drop at Low settings, suggesting that the GPU's fill-rate and memory bandwidth limits become more pronounced as both resolution and graphical complexity increase.

Notably, the gap between Low and Ultra settings narrows as resolution rises. At 1080p, the difference is 116.1 FPS (288.2 vs 172.1), but at 4K, that gap shrinks to 81.4 FPS (198.7 vs 117.3). This indicates that at 4K, the GPU is saturated enough that the settings choice matters less, while at 1080p, the CPU has enough headroom to let the GPU's settings scaling show through fully.

CPU Role

The Core i5-10400F provides the foundational frame delivery for this combo, with its 6 cores and 12 threads operating at a base clock of 2.90 GHz and boost clock of 4.30 GHz. The CPU's 3DMark benchmarks show a single-thread score of 688 and a max-thread score of 4735, with Cinebench R23 results of 1453 single-core and 10297 multi-core. These figures position the 10400F in the 73rd percentile of all CPUs, indicating it has adequate single-thread performance for Valorant's engine.

The game's dependence on CPU single-thread performance is evident from the 1080p Low result of 288.2 FPS, which is the highest measured score across all configurations. This suggests that at lower resolutions, the CPU's boost clock of 4.30 GHz is the limiting factor, as the GPU can render frames faster than the CPU can issue draw calls. However, the 10400F's 12 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support at 42.7 GB/s help sustain high average FPS without severe dips, as the data shows no min-FPS figures below playable thresholds.

At 4K Low, the CPU still manages 198.7 FPS, which is 69.5 FPS lower than the 1080p Low result. This gap is primarily due to the GPU's increased workload, not CPU limitations. The CPU's nearest rival, the AMD EPYC 7552, scores 0.4% higher in average benchmarks, while the Intel Core i5-8500 is 1.1% lower, confirming the 10400F sits in a competitive mid-range position for this workload.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 570, built on the Polaris 20 chip with GCN 4.0 architecture, is the primary constraint at higher resolutions and settings. Its 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which becomes a limiting factor at 4K Ultra where the frame rate drops to 117.3 FPS. The GPU's base clock of 1168 MHz and boost clock of 1244 MHz, combined with 2048 shading units and 32 ROPs, deliver a pixel rate of 39.81 GPixel/s and texture rate of 159.2 GTexel/s.

The RX 570's 5.095 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is adequate for Valorant's stylized visuals, but the data shows diminishing returns at 4K. The 4K Ultra result of 117.3 FPS is only 2.4 FPS higher than the 4K High result of 119.7 FPS, indicating that the GPU's memory bandwidth is saturated beyond a certain settings threshold. The GPU's 74th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 30158, places it within 0.2% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 and 0.6% of the NVIDIA Tesla M60, showing it remains competitive for this specific game despite its 2017 release date.

The GPU's VRAM capacity of 4 GB does not appear to be a bottleneck in Valorant, as even the 4K Ultra result maintains a playable frame rate. The memory clock of 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective) supports the bandwidth needed for 4K textures, though the data suggests that the ROP throughput, not VRAM capacity, is the more likely constraint at ultra-high resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the combo delivers its strongest results. Low settings produce 288.2 FPS, while Medium achieves 191.1 FPS and High reaches 179.2 FPS. The Ultra setting at 1080p yields 172.1 FPS, which is the lowest 1080p result but still well above the 144Hz refresh rate common in competitive monitors.

At 1440p, the frame rates remain high but show a clear step down. Low settings hit 245.8 FPS, Medium drops to 162.3 FPS, High falls to 152.2 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 146.8 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 99.0 FPS, compared to 116.1 FPS at 1080p, indicating that the GPU's workload is becoming more uniform across settings.

At 4K, the results show the GPU's limits. Low settings still manage 198.7 FPS, but Medium drops to 126.7 FPS, High to 119.7 FPS, and Ultra to 117.3 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra at 4K is only 2.4 FPS, suggesting that the GPU is fully saturated and additional graphical fidelity has minimal impact on frame rate. Across all resolutions, the Low setting consistently provides at least 70 FPS more than Ultra, confirming that the RX 570's compute resources are best leveraged at lower settings for maximum frame rates.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo capable of 144Hz gaming at 1080p?

A: Yes. The measured data shows 1080p High achieves 179.2 FPS and 1080p Ultra reaches 172.1 FPS, both comfortably above 144 FPS. Even 1080p Medium at 191.1 FPS exceeds this threshold.

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU-GPU pairing?

A: The data indicates 1440p is the optimal balance. At 1440p High, the combo delivers 152.2 FPS, which is only 27 FPS lower than 1080p High but provides significantly more screen detail. 4K remains playable but drops below 120 FPS at High and Ultra settings.

Q: How does the RX 570 compare to its nearest GPU rivals in this game?

A: The RX 570's average benchmark score of 30158 is within 0.2% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 and 0.2% of the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT. Its 0.6% lead over the NVIDIA Tesla M60 confirms it holds its own despite being an older architecture.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at any resolution?

A: At 1080p Low, the 288.2 FPS result suggests the CPU's 4.30 GHz boost clock is the limiting factor, as the GPU cannot render frames faster than the CPU can feed it. At 4K, the GPU is clearly the bottleneck, with frame rates dropping to 117.3 FPS at Ultra.

Q: What settings provide the best competitive advantage?

A: Low settings at any resolution maximize frame rate, with 1080p Low delivering 288.2 FPS. For competitive play, the 245.8 FPS at 1440p Low offers a strong balance of visual clarity and frame rate headroom.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 1547th out of 1650 tested combinations in Valorant, placing it in the bottom 6% of all possible pairings. This low rank reflects the GPU's age relative to modern hardware, but the measured FPS shows it remains highly playable.

Settings Recommendations

For players prioritizing competitive performance, the Low setting at 1080p provides the highest measured frame rate at 288.2 FPS. This configuration minimizes GPU workload and lets the CPU's single-thread performance shine, making it ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors. At 1440p, Low still delivers 245.8 FPS, which is sufficient for 240Hz displays while offering more screen detail.

For a balance of visual quality and performance, Medium settings at 1440p achieve 162.3 FPS, which exceeds the 144Hz threshold common in gaming monitors. The 1080p Medium result of 191.1 FPS is also strong, but the 1440p Medium offers better image clarity without sacrificing frame rate competitiveness.

The Ultra setting is only recommended for players with 120Hz or lower refresh displays. At 1080p, Ultra achieves 172.1 FPS, which is still playable, but the 117.3 FPS at 4K Ultra is borderline for fast-paced FPS gameplay. High settings provide a marginal improvement over Ultra at 4K (119.7 vs 117.3 FPS), making High the better choice if visual fidelity is desired at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-10400F and AMD Radeon RX 570 ranks 1547th out of 1650 tested combos in Valorant, placing it in the bottom 6% of all pairings. This low ranking is primarily driven by the GPU's age, as the RX 570's 4 GB VRAM and 5.095 TFLOPS performance are modest by modern standards. However, the measured FPS data tells a more nuanced story.

Despite the low combo rank, the actual gameplay experience is strong. The 1080p Low result of 288.2 FPS places this combo in the upper tier of competitive performance, while the 1440p High result of 152.2 FPS remains above the 144Hz standard. The CPU's 73rd percentile ranking and the GPU's 74th percentile ranking suggest both components are mid-range performers, but their pairing in Valorant yields results that exceed what the raw benchmark scores might suggest.

The delta between this combo's rank and its measured performance indicates that Valorant is not particularly demanding on either component. The data shows that the GPU is the limiting factor at 4K and high settings, but the CPU has sufficient headroom to maintain high frame rates at lower resolutions. For players with 1080p or 1440p monitors, this combo delivers a competitive experience that belies its low overall ranking.