Valorant

The Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is a highly capable combination for Valorant, a fast-paced tactical FPS. The measured frame rates across all tested resolutions and settings are exceptionally high, consistently surpassing the refresh rate ceilings of most gaming monitors. This data indicates that the combo is never the bottleneck in typical gameplay scenarios, delivering a fluid and responsive experience that is critical for competitive play.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1920x1080 with Low settings?

A: The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings is 388.8. This is the highest average frame rate recorded for this combination in the entire dataset.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 compare to its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M?

A: The RTX 2060 has an average benchmark score of 16074, while the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M scores 16351. The deltaPct is -1.7, indicating the RTX 2060 is 1.7% slower than that specific rival in general GPU benchmarks.

Q: What is the performance difference between the i5-10400F and the Intel Core i5-8500?

A: The i5-10400F has an average benchmark score of 14168, and the Intel Core i5-8500 scores 14332. The deltaPct is -1.1, meaning the i5-10400F trails the i5-8500 by 1.1% in aggregate CPU benchmarks.

Q: What is the best average FPS recorded at 2560x1440?

A: The best average FPS at 2560x1440 is 370, achieved with Low settings. This is followed by 305.5 FPS on Medium and 291.1 FPS on High settings.

Q: Does the RTX 2060 have dedicated ray tracing and tensor cores?

A: Yes, the RTX 2060 is based on the Turing architecture and features 30 RT cores and 240 Tensor cores, alongside its 1920 shading units.

Q: What is the difference in average FPS between High and Ultra settings at 3840x2160?

A: At 3840x2160, the average FPS on High settings is 232.7, while on Ultra settings it drops to 219.7. This represents a difference of 13 frames per second between the two presets.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is the primary rendering engine in this configuration, and its specifications are well-suited for Valorant's engine. The GPU features 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is more than sufficient for the textures and assets used in Valorant, even at the highest settings and 4K resolution. The core clock operates at a base of 1365 MHz and boosts up to 1680 MHz, allowing for substantial processing throughput.

In the measured results, the GPU demonstrates its capability by maintaining high frame rates even at demanding settings. For instance, at 3840x2160, the RTX 2060 manages an average of 232.7 FPS on High settings and 219.7 FPS on Ultra. The performance scaling with resolution is clear: when moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440, the average FPS drops by roughly 30-50 frames depending on the preset, and further drops when moving to 3840x2160. The data shows that the GPU is powerful enough to keep frame rates far above 200 FPS in all tested scenarios, making its VRAM capacity and clock speeds non-limiting factors for this title. The GPU's 12 nm process node and TU106 chip are part of the Turing architecture, which supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, ensuring modern API compatibility.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of how settings impact performance. At every resolution, the "Low" preset delivers the highest average frame rate, while the "Ultra" preset yields the lowest. The performance deltas between presets are relatively small, suggesting that the game is not heavily GPU-bound at lower resolutions.

For players with high-refresh-rate monitors (e.g., 240 Hz or 360 Hz), the Low preset at 1920x1080 is the only setting that pushes the average beyond 380 FPS, reaching 388.8. However, at 2560x1440, the Low preset still provides an excellent 370 FPS average, which is ideal for competitive play. The Medium preset offers a good balance, with 327.3 FPS at 1920x1080 and 305.5 FPS at 2560x1440, providing a visual quality upgrade with only a modest FPS penalty compared to Low.

Given that the minimum FPS is not recorded, the analysis relies on averages. The data suggests that the "High" preset is the most sensible choice for visual fidelity without sacrificing competitive performance. At 1920x1080, High settings still achieve an average of 321.8 FPS, which is above the refresh rate of most high-end monitors. At 2560x1440, High settings maintain a robust 291.1 FPS. For users prioritizing maximum frame rates above all else, the Low preset is the recommendation, but for a balanced experience, High is the optimal preset based on the measured rows.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The dataset provides a comprehensive look at average frame rates across three resolutions and four quality presets. At 1920x1080, the results are consistently high. The Low preset leads with an average of 388.8 FPS. Medium follows at 327.3 FPS, with High at 321.8 FPS. Ultra is the slowest at this resolution, still delivering a strong 315.5 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains remarkably strong. The Low preset achieves an average of 370 FPS, maintaining a high level of fluidity. Medium settings produce 305.5 FPS, while High settings yield 291.1 FPS. The Ultra preset rounds out the options with an average of 276.4 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the RTX 2060 begins to show the strain of higher pixel counts, though frame rates remain very playable. The Low preset is the fastest here, with an average of 337.8 FPS. Medium settings drop to 241.4 FPS, and High settings are close behind at 232.7 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K produces the lowest average FPS in the entire dataset, at 219.7 FPS. This data indicates a consistent performance hierarchy where Low > Medium > High > Ultra, with the gap between presets widening as resolution increases.

How This Combo Ranks

In the benchmark database, this specific combination of the Intel Core i5-10400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is ranked 1330 out of 1650 tested combos for Valorant. This places it in the 81st percentile of all tested systems, indicating that it performs better than the majority of configurations in this game. The high ranking is a direct result of the exceptionally high frame rates measured, which are likely limited more by the CPU's single-thread performance than the GPU's raw power.

The combo's ranking suggests that while it is not at the very top tier of performance—likely occupied by newer, higher-core-count CPUs and faster GPUs—it is firmly in the upper echelon. The data shows that the system is well-balanced for a competitive FPS, as it avoids the CPU bottlenecks that can plague lower-end processors and the GPU limitations of weaker cards. This rank confirms the i5-10400F's strong single-core performance and the RTX 2060's ability to push high frame rates at lower resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F serves as the central processing unit in this combo, and its characteristics are crucial for Valorant's performance. It features 6 cores and 12 threads, based on the Comet Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. The CPU has a 12 MB shared L3 cache and supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with a bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s. These specifications provide a solid foundation for gaming.

Valorant is known to be sensitive to CPU single-thread performance. The i5-10400F's boost clock of 4.30 GHz and its 3dmark_single_thread score of 688 indicate strong single-core capabilities. In the measured results, the CPU keeps pace with the GPU even at 1920x1080, where the average frame rates are highest. For example, at 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves 388.8 FPS, which is a high enough frame rate to potentially become CPU-bound in certain scenes, but the average indicates the processor handles the workload effectively.

The CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are more than adequate for the game's multi-threaded tasks, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 10297. The data suggests that the i5-10400F is a capable partner for the RTX 2060, providing enough processing power to ensure the GPU is utilized efficiently across all tested settings and resolutions. The processor's 65W TDP and Socket 1200 interface are standard for its generation, and its performance ranks in the 73rd percentile among all CPUs, confirming its position as a solid mid-range gaming chip.