Valorant

The Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the Intel Arc B570 delivers a remarkably smooth Valorant experience across all tested settings and resolutions. With average frame rates ranging from 207 FPS at 4K Ultra to 386 FPS at 1080p Low, this combination consistently exceeds the refresh rates of all but the most extreme gaming monitors. The data indicates that the system is heavily CPU-bound at lower resolutions, a common trait in esports titles like Valorant, where the Arc B570’s capabilities are only fully utilized when graphical load increases. This analysis breaks down the measured performance, offering clear guidance on optimal settings, component roles, and how this combo stacks up against other tested configurations.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data across four presets—Low, Medium, High, and Ultra—at three resolutions reveals a clear hierarchy in performance scaling. At 1920x1080, the Low preset yields an average of 386 FPS, which drops by 57 FPS to 329 FPS on Medium, further to 319 FPS on High, and finally to 304 FPS on Ultra. The gap between Low and Medium (57 FPS) is nearly double the gap between High and Ultra (15 FPS), indicating diminishing returns as settings increase. For competitive play, where frame rate is paramount, the Low preset offers the highest headroom, but the Medium preset still provides an excellent 329 FPS average with a minimum of 280 FPS, ensuring no dips below the 240Hz threshold for most high-refresh displays.

At 2560x1440, the pattern holds, with Low averaging 366 FPS, Medium at 286 FPS, High at 272 FPS, and Ultra at 259 FPS. The delta between Low and Medium is 80 FPS, while the gap from High to Ultra narrows to just 13 FPS. This suggests that the Medium preset is the sweet spot at this resolution, as it maintains a substantial 286 FPS average while offering improved visual fidelity over Low. The minimum FPS on Medium at 1440p is 243, which stays above the 240Hz refresh rate, making it a viable choice for high-refresh 1440p monitors. Pushing to High or Ultra only sacrifices performance without proportional visual gains, as evidenced by the small deltas.

At 3840x2160, the performance curve flattens considerably. Low averages 340 FPS, Medium 228 FPS, High 217 FPS, and Ultra 207 FPS. Here, the drop from Low to Medium is a significant 112 FPS, indicating a sharp transition in GPU load. The Medium preset at 4K shows a minimum of 194 FPS, which falls below the 240Hz mark but remains well above 144Hz. For 4K gaming, the Low preset is the only option that fully saturates a 240Hz display, while Medium is better suited for 144Hz panels. Ultra at 4K, with its 207 FPS average, offers marginal gains over High (10 FPS) and should be avoided unless visual quality is the absolute priority over frame rate.

The optimal preset depends on the target refresh rate and resolution. For 1080p and 1440p, the Medium preset delivers the best balance, offering average frame rates of 329 FPS and 286 FPS respectively, with minimums that stay above 240Hz. At 4K, the Low preset is recommended for competitive play, while Medium is acceptable for 144Hz displays. The Ultra preset provides no competitive advantage, as its performance deltas over High are negligible across all resolutions, making it a poor trade-off for the visual uplift.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570’s role in Valorant is clearly defined by the frame rate scaling across resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 386 FPS, a figure that is more likely limited by the CPU’s single-thread performance than the GPU. The GPU’s 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus with 380.0 GB/s bandwidth provides ample headroom for Valorant’s modest VRAM requirements, which is reflected in the minimal performance drops from Low to High at 1080p (67 FPS). The core clock of 2500 MHz and 2304 shading units deliver sufficient raw throughput to handle the game’s particle effects and environmental details without bottlenecking at lower resolutions.

As resolution increases, the GPU’s role becomes more prominent. At 4K, the difference between Low and Medium is 112 FPS, compared to just 57 FPS at 1080p. This indicates that the Arc B570’s fill rate and memory bandwidth are being taxed more heavily at higher pixel counts. The pixel rate of 200.0 GPixel/s and texture rate of 360.0 GTexel/s are adequate for 4K, but the GPU’s 11.52 TFLOPS of FP32 performance begins to show its limits when settings are raised, as evidenced by the 340 FPS to 207 FPS swing from Low to Ultra at 4K. The GPU’s 150 W TDP and dual-slot design are consistent with its mid-range positioning, and the data suggests it is well-matched for 1080p and 1440p gaming in Valorant.

The Arc B570’s benchmark scores further contextualize its performance. Its Passmark G3D score of 14195 places it in the 65th percentile of all GPUs, with nearest rivals including the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile and Intel Arc A750, both within 0.1% of its average score. This positioning indicates that the Arc B570 is a solid mid-range contender, but its Valorant performance is not solely dependent on raw compute. The game’s engine is known to be sensitive to driver overhead and CPU performance, which explains why the GPU’s advantage over its rivals does not translate into proportionally higher frame rates at 1080p. At 4K, however, the GPU’s memory bandwidth and compute capabilities become the limiting factor, aligning with its benchmark standing.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear scaling pattern as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At the Low preset, the average frame rate drops from 386 FPS at 1080p to 366 FPS at 1440p, a reduction of 20 FPS (5.2%), and then to 340 FPS at 4K, another 26 FPS (7.1%) decrease. This relatively mild scaling indicates that at Low settings, the system is heavily CPU-bound, as the GPU has ample headroom to render frames at all resolutions without becoming a bottleneck. The CPU’s 6 cores and 12 threads, with a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, are likely the primary limiter, as Valorant’s performance at low settings is often constrained by single-threaded game logic.

At the Medium preset, the scaling becomes more pronounced. The average FPS drops from 329 at 1080p to 286 at 1440p (a 43 FPS or 13.1% decrease) and then to 228 at 4K (a further 58 FPS or 20.3% decrease). This steeper decline suggests that the GPU is starting to play a larger role, as the increased settings raise the graphical load. The minimum FPS on Medium also scales similarly, from 280 at 1080p to 243 at 1440p to 194 at 4K. The larger percentage drops at higher resolutions indicate that the Arc B570’s capabilities are being increasingly taxed, moving the system from a CPU-bound state at 1080p to a more balanced state at 4K.

The High and Ultra presets show even more aggressive scaling. At High, the average FPS drops from 319 at 1080p to 272 at 1440p (14.7% decrease) and then to 217 at 4K (20.2% decrease). At Ultra, the figures are 304 at 1080p, 259 at 1440p (14.8% decrease), and 207 at 4K (20.1% decrease). The consistency of these percentage drops across High and Ultra suggests that the GPU is now the limiting component at these settings, as the resolution scaling directly impacts the GPU’s workload. The data indicates that at 1080p, the CPU is the primary bottleneck, while at 4K, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, with the transition occurring somewhere between 1440p and 4K depending on the preset.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for a 144Hz monitor at 1440p?

A: The Medium preset at 2560x1440 delivers an average of 286 FPS with a minimum of 243 FPS, which stays above 144Hz. Higher presets like High and Ultra still exceed 144Hz on average, but the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual quality and frame rate headroom.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K for competitive play?

A: At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 340 FPS, making it suitable for 240Hz displays. The Medium preset averages 228 FPS with a minimum of 194 FPS, which is better suited for 144Hz monitors. High and Ultra presets drop to 217 FPS and 207 FPS respectively, which are still above 144Hz but offer no competitive advantage.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in Valorant?

A: The data indicates that at 1080p, the system is CPU-bound, as the frame rate only drops by 20 FPS from Low to High (386 to 319 FPS). At 4K, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, as the frame rate drops by 133 FPS from Low to Ultra (340 to 207 FPS). The transition occurs around 1440p, where both components contribute equally.

Q: How does this combo rank against other tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 3040 out of 3708 tested combos in Valorant, placing it in the bottom 18% of configurations. This is notable given the high absolute frame rates, suggesting that many other combos with more powerful CPUs or GPUs achieve even higher performance in this esports title.

Q: What is the minimum FPS on Medium settings at 1080p?

A: On the Medium preset at 1920x1080, the minimum FPS is 280, with a maximum of 379 and an average of 329. This ensures that the frame rate never drops below 240Hz, making it ideal for high-refresh gaming.

Q: Does the Ultra preset provide a significant boost over High?

A: No. Across all resolutions, the average FPS difference between High and Ultra is minimal. At 1080p, the difference is 15 FPS (319 to 304), at 1440p it is 13 FPS (272 to 259), and at 4K it is 10 FPS (217 to 207). The visual gains from Ultra are not worth the performance cost.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-10400F and Intel Arc B570 ranks 3040 out of 3708 tested combos in Valorant, placing it in the 82nd percentile from the bottom. This ranking is surprising given the high absolute frame rates measured, which suggests that the database contains many configurations with more powerful components that push even higher FPS in this highly optimized esports title. The combo’s position indicates that while it delivers excellent performance in isolation, it is outperformed by a significant majority of other tested setups.

The CPU’s percentile ranking against all CPUs is 68, meaning it outperforms 68% of all tested processors in synthetic benchmarks. Its average benchmark score of 14185 places it in close competition with the Intel Xeon 6756E (0.2% higher score) and Intel Core 7 160UL (0.3% lower score). Similarly, the GPU’s percentile ranking is 65, with an average benchmark score of 20556, placing it near the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (0.1% higher) and Intel Arc A750 (0.1% lower). These relative positions suggest that both components are mid-range performers, but their combined ranking in Valorant is lower than their individual percentiles might imply.

The disparity between the component’s synthetic benchmark performance and the game-specific ranking can be attributed to Valorant’s engine characteristics. The game is known to favor high single-threaded CPU performance, which the i5-10400F provides with its boost clock of 4.30 GHz. However, many other combos in the database likely feature newer CPUs with higher IPC or more cores, which can achieve even higher frame rates in Valorant’s CPU-bound scenarios at lower resolutions. The Arc B570’s GPU capabilities are less relevant at 1080p, where the CPU is the bottleneck, but its performance at 4K is competitive with its rivals. Overall, this combo ranks in the lower quartile, indicating that while it is a capable setup, it is not among the top performers in this specific game.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F plays a crucial role in Valorant’s performance, particularly at lower resolutions where the game is CPU-bound. With 6 cores and 12 threads, a base clock of 2.90 GHz, and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, this Comet Lake processor provides solid single-threaded performance, which is essential for Valorant’s game logic and rendering pipeline. The CPU’s L3 cache of 12 MB shared across all cores is sufficient for the game’s data requirements, as evidenced by the high frame rates at 1080p. The measured data shows that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 386 FPS, which is only 46 FPS higher than at 4K Low (340 FPS), indicating that the CPU is not the primary limiter even at high resolutions.

The CPU’s synthetic benchmark scores provide context for its gaming performance. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 10283 and single-core score of 1451 place it in the 68th percentile of all CPUs. The Geekbench scores of 6257 (multi-core) and 1420 (single-core) further confirm its mid-range standing. The 3DMark tests show a scaling pattern from 1350 (2 threads) to 4748 (16 threads), with a max thread score of 4735, indicating that the processor scales well with additional threads but does not have exceptional multi-threaded capabilities. This is consistent with its 6-core, 12-thread configuration, which is adequate for modern games but not on par with higher-core-count rivals.

In Valorant, the CPU’s single-threaded performance is the key differentiator. At 1080p, the frame rate is nearly identical across Low (386 FPS), Medium (329 FPS), High (319 FPS), and Ultra (304 FPS), with a total spread of 82 FPS. This narrow range indicates that the GPU is not the bottleneck at this resolution; instead, the CPU’s ability to process game logic and issue draw calls is the limiting factor. The boost clock of 4.30 GHz ensures that the CPU can maintain high frame rates, but the data suggests that a processor with higher IPC or a higher boost clock could push even higher. At 4K, the CPU’s role diminishes, as the GPU becomes the bottleneck, but the i5-10400F still provides enough throughput to support the Arc B570’s output. Overall, the CPU is a capable performer for Valorant, but its mid-range positioning is reflected in the combo’s lower ranking among all tested configurations.