Valorant

Valorant is a competitive FPS where frame rates often matter more than absolute visual fidelity, and the combination of an Intel Core i5-10400F with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 delivers extreme performance that pushes well beyond the requirements of most high-refresh-rate monitors. The data shows this pairing sits at rank 1299 out of 1650 tested combos in this game, which places it in the middle of the pack, but that ranking is heavily influenced by the fact that many faster CPUs exist for this title. With measured average frame rates ranging from 278.1 FPS at 4K Ultra to 385.4 FPS at 1080p Low, the RTX 4090 is clearly not the limiting factor here; instead, the i5-10400F’s six cores and twelve threads are the bottleneck, especially at lower resolutions where the GPU has more headroom.

FAQ

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

A: The Intel Core i5-10400F plus NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination ranks 1299th out of 1650 tested combos, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database. This relatively low ranking is surprising given the GPU’s power, but it highlights how CPU-bound Valorant is at high frame rates.

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo can achieve?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 385.4, which occurs at 1080p with Low settings. Even at 4K with Ultra settings, the average FPS remains above 278, indicating the system never dips below a very playable threshold.

Q: Is the RTX 4090 being fully utilized by the i5-10400F?

A: No. Benchmark results indicate the CPU is the limiting component. The performance difference between Low and Ultra settings is relatively small (e.g., 385.4 FPS vs 316.4 FPS at 1080p), which suggests the GPU is waiting on the CPU to feed it frames rather than being maxed out.

Q: How does the i5-10400F compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i5-10400F has an average benchmark score of 14168, which is nearly identical to the AMD EPYC 7552 (14115, 0.4% faster) and slightly behind the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (14277, -0.8%). It is also within 1.2% of the Intel Core i5-8500 and AMD Ryzen Embedded V2546.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth of the i5-10400F, and why does it matter?

A: The i5-10400F supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with a bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s. In a game like Valorant, which is sensitive to CPU performance, this memory bandwidth can affect frame pacing and minimum FPS, though the measured averages here remain exceptionally high.

Q: Does the RTX 4090’s 24 GB of VRAM make a difference in Valorant?

A: No. Valorant is not a VRAM-intensive title, and the 24 GB GDDR6X buffer with 1.01 TB/s bandwidth is massively over-provisioned for this game. The data shows that settings changes have a minimal impact on FPS, confirming that VRAM capacity is not a constraint in any tested scenario.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is an absolute monster of a graphics card, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with 16,384 shading units and a boost clock of 2520 MHz. Its 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus delivers 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth, and the card’s FP32 compute reaches 82.58 TFLOPS. In Valorant, however, this GPU is largely idle. The measured FPS data shows that moving from 1080p Low (385.4 FPS) to 4K Ultra (278.1 FPS) only reduces performance by about 28%, which is a remarkably small drop for a 4x increase in pixel count. This indicates that the game is heavily CPU-limited; the RTX 4090 could easily render far more frames if the i5-10400F could supply them.

The GPU’s role here is to remove any possibility of a graphics bottleneck. At 4K Ultra, the card still pushes 278.1 FPS, which is well above the refresh rate of even the fastest gaming monitors. The RTX 4090’s 128 ray tracing cores and 512 tensor cores are irrelevant for Valorant’s competitive settings, but they ensure that if you were to enable any demanding visual features, the card would not break a sweat. The data suggests that in this pairing, the GPU is effectively overkill, and the performance ceiling is defined entirely by the CPU’s single-thread and multi-thread capabilities, which are modest by modern standards.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the best experience comes from using Low settings, not because the GPU needs the reduction, but because it provides the highest frame rates with no downside in a competitive shooter. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 385.4 FPS average, which is 69 FPS higher than Ultra at the same resolution (316.4 FPS). This 21.8% improvement is significant for competitive play, where every millisecond of input latency matters. The jump from Low to Medium at 1080p costs 53.3 FPS (385.4 to 332.1), and High costs another 9.7 FPS (322.4), which shows diminishing returns for visual quality.

At 1440p, the pattern holds: Low delivers 365.6 FPS, while Ultra drops to 300.4 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 65.2 FPS, or roughly 18%. At 4K, the spread narrows slightly, with Low at 338.9 FPS and Ultra at 278.1 FPS, a 60.8 FPS gap. For a game like Valorant, where visibility of enemy models is paramount and shadows can obscure details, Low settings are often preferred by professional players. The data supports this choice: Low provides the highest average FPS at every resolution, and since the GPU is not stressed, there is no reason to increase graphical load unless you specifically want a more visually rich environment.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s ranking of 1299 out of 1650 tested configurations places it in the 21st percentile of all combinations tested for Valorant. This is a surprisingly low rank for a system with an RTX 4090, but it makes sense when you consider that the i5-10400F is a mid-range CPU from 2020. The i5-10400F’s percentileVsAllCpus is 73, meaning it outperforms 73% of all CPUs in the database, but in a game that favors high single-thread performance, its 3dmark_single_thread score of 688 and passmark_single_thread score of 2541 are not exceptional.

The nearest rivals to the i5-10400F in synthetic benchmarks are all within a 1.2% margin, including the AMD EPYC 7552 and Ryzen 3 7320C, which shows that the CPU’s absolute performance is competitive with other mid-range parts. However, the RTX 4090’s percentileVsAllGpus is 91, meaning it is faster than 91% of GPUs. The disconnect between the GPU’s high percentile and the combo’s low rank in Valorant underscores that the CPU is holding back the system. If you were to pair this GPU with a higher-tier CPU, the combo rank would likely improve dramatically, but with the i5-10400F, the system is firmly CPU-limited.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data across resolutions reveals a classic CPU-bottleneck signature. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 385.4 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low only drops that to 365.6 FPS (a 5.1% decrease), and at 4K Low, it still holds 338.9 FPS (a 6.9% decrease from 1440p). This is a very flat scaling curve, meaning the GPU is not the limiting factor even at 4K. If the RTX 4090 were the bottleneck, you would expect a much steeper drop, perhaps 30-40% from 1080p to 4K, as the pixel count quadruples.

Instead, the data shows that the i5-10400F is the primary constraint. The CPU must prepare each frame, and at 1080p, it can only feed the GPU enough data to hit 385.4 FPS. As resolution increases, the GPU takes longer to render each frame, but it still finishes before the CPU is ready to send the next one. This is why the FPS numbers stay relatively high even at 4K Ultra (278.1 FPS). The implication for builders is straightforward: if you want to push beyond 385 FPS in Valorant, you need a faster CPU, not a faster GPU. The RTX 4090 has ample headroom, but the i5-10400F’s 6 cores and 12 threads, with a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, cap the system’s output.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the performance is consistently high across all settings. Low settings yield an average of 385.4 FPS, which is the peak for this combo. Medium drops to 332.1 FPS, High to 322.4 FPS, and Ultra to 316.4 FPS. The difference between the lowest and highest settings is 69 FPS, or 21.8%, which is modest and indicates that the CPU is the primary limiter. Even at Ultra, the frame rate is far above what any monitor can display, so players can choose any preset without worrying about performance degradation.

At 2560x1440, the pattern is similar but with slightly lower absolute numbers. Low settings produce 365.6 FPS, Medium 310.3 FPS, High 307.5 FPS, and Ultra 300.4 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is 65.2 FPS (21.7%), nearly identical to 1080p. This consistency confirms that the bottleneck is not resolution-dependent; the CPU is simply maxed out at around 385 FPS regardless of pixel count.

At 3840x2160, the GPU begins to take on more work, but the FPS remains extremely high. Low settings deliver 338.9 FPS, Medium 290.2 FPS, High 283.5 FPS, and Ultra 278.1 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 60.8 FPS (21.8%), again matching the other resolutions. Notably, the drop from 1080p Low to 4K Low is only 46.5 FPS (12.1%), which is remarkably small. This reinforces that the RTX 4090 is never the limiting factor; even at 4K, it has plenty of spare capacity. The i5-10400F’s performance is the wall, and this combo will deliver between 278 and 385 FPS depending on your resolution and settings, with no configuration falling below the refresh rate of high-end gaming monitors.