Valorant

The Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT delivers exceptionally high frame rates in Valorant, with the measured data showing that even the most demanding preset at 4K remains far above competitive refresh rates. The combination of a six-core, twelve-thread Rocket Lake processor and a 16 GB RDNA 3.0 graphics card produces a broad performance envelope where the primary differentiator between presets is not playability but the margin of headroom above display refresh limits. Benchmark results indicate that the Low preset yields the highest average frame rates across all three resolutions, reaching 453 FPS at 1920x1080, 429 FPS at 2560x1440, and 398 FPS at 3840x2160. However, the data also shows that the Ultra preset maintains remarkably high averages—373 FPS at 1080p, 319 FPS at 1440p, and 255 FPS at 4K—which suggests that visual fidelity can be maximized without compromising the frame rate targets required for high-refresh-rate monitors. The measured FPS spread between Low and Ultra is relatively narrow, approximately 80 FPS at 1080p and 143 FPS at 4K, indicating that the system is not severely constrained by graphics settings in this title.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data for Valorant with this combo reveals that the Ultra preset delivers an optimal balance of visual quality and performance headroom. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset achieves an average of 373 FPS, which is only 80 FPS lower than the Low preset's 453 FPS but provides substantially better graphical fidelity. The Medium preset at 1080p produces 386 FPS with a minimum of 328 FPS and a maximum of 444 FPS, showing tight frame pacing that remains well above the refresh rates of typical esports monitors. For players using 2560x1440 displays, the Ultra preset's 319 FPS average still provides ample margin above 240 Hz displays, while the High preset at 335 FPS offers a slight improvement with minimal visual difference. At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset drops to 255 FPS, which remains playable on 240 Hz panels but begins to show the GPU becoming a more significant contributor to performance. The data suggests that the High preset at 4K, with its 268 FPS average, is the recommended choice for 4K users seeking the best visual-to-performance ratio, as it retains most of the Ultra preset's quality while adding 13 FPS of headroom. Conversely, the Low preset is only advisable for scenarios where maximum frame rates are paramount, such as competitive play on 360 Hz or higher refresh rate displays, where the 453 FPS at 1080p and 429 FPS at 1440p provide the greatest possible responsiveness.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate this combo achieves in Valorant?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 453 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset. The Low preset also produces the highest averages at 2560x1440 (429 FPS) and 3840x2160 (398 FPS).

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to the Low preset in terms of performance?

A: At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset averages 373 FPS compared to 453 FPS on Low, a difference of 80 FPS. At 2560x1440, Ultra averages 319 FPS versus 429 FPS on Low (110 FPS difference), and at 3840x2160, Ultra averages 255 FPS versus 398 FPS on Low (143 FPS difference).

Q: Is the frame rate stable across different resolutions?

A: The Medium preset provides the only complete min/max data. At 1920x1080, it averages 386 FPS with a minimum of 328 FPS and maximum of 444 FPS. At 2560x1440, the average is 351 FPS with a minimum of 299 FPS and maximum of 404 FPS. At 3840x2160, the average is 281 FPS with a minimum of 239 FPS and maximum of 323 FPS.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in Valorant?

A: Yes, the measured data shows that at 3840x2160, even the Ultra preset maintains an average of 255 FPS. The High preset achieves 268 FPS, Medium reaches 281 FPS, and Low tops out at 398 FPS, all of which are well above standard 60 Hz and 144 Hz display refresh rates.

Q: How does the combination rank among all tested combos for this game?

A: The combo ranks 2448th out of 3708 tested combinations, which places it in the 34th percentile of all recorded systems. This ranking reflects the fact that Valorant is highly optimized and many higher-end CPUs and GPUs can achieve even greater frame rates.

Q: What does the difference between High and Ultra settings tell us about the system?

A: The performance gap between High and Ultra settings is minimal. At 1080p, High averages 380 FPS versus 373 FPS for Ultra (7 FPS difference). At 1440p, High averages 335 FPS versus 319 FPS for Ultra (16 FPS difference). At 4K, High averages 268 FPS versus 255 FPS for Ultra (13 FPS difference), indicating that the extra visual effects in Ultra have a modest impact on this GPU.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT provides substantial graphics processing power for Valorant, evidenced by its ability to maintain triple-digit frame rates even at 3840x2160 resolution. The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for a competitive FPS title where texture loads are modest. The card's boost clock of 2755 MHz and game clock of 2470 MHz, combined with 2048 shading units, allow it to process the game's relatively simple geometry and lighting effects with considerable efficiency. The GPU's 64 ROPs and 128 TMUs contribute to the high fill rates observed in the measured results, with the pixel rate of 176.3 GPixel/s and texture rate of 352.6 GTexel/s ensuring that even at 4K resolution, the rendering pipeline remains unconstrained. The measured FPS data shows that the GPU's role becomes more pronounced as resolution increases; at 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra settings is 80 FPS, but at 4K, this gap widens to 143 FPS, indicating that the GPU is being pushed harder at higher pixel counts. The RX 7600 XT's 22.57 TFLOPS of FP32 compute performance is a strong indicator of its ability to handle the game's shader workloads, while the 32 ray accelerators, though not heavily utilized in Valorant, provide future-proofing for other titles. The GPU's average benchmark score of 17083 places it in the 60th percentile of all GPUs, with its nearest rival being the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, which scores 17208 (0.7% higher). This suggests that the RX 7600 XT is a capable mid-range performer that pairs well with the i5-11400F for achieving the high frame rates Valorant players expect.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080 resolution, the measured frame rates show a clear hierarchy across settings. The Low preset delivers the highest average at 453 FPS, followed by Medium at 386 FPS with a minimum of 328 FPS and maximum of 444 FPS. High settings produce 380 FPS, while Ultra trails slightly at 373 FPS. The narrow spread between High and Ultra (7 FPS) suggests that the GPU has ample headroom at this resolution, and the CPU is likely the primary limiter for maximum frame rates. Moving to 2560x1440, the Low preset still leads with 429 FPS, a 24 FPS drop from 1080p. Medium maintains 351 FPS (minimum 299, maximum 404), High achieves 335 FPS, and Ultra settles at 319 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra grows to 110 FPS at this resolution, indicating that the GPU begins to take on a more significant role. At 3840x2160, the performance scaling becomes more pronounced. Low still produces 398 FPS, but Medium drops to 281 FPS (minimum 239, maximum 323), High reaches 268 FPS, and Ultra falls to 255 FPS. The 143 FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is nearly double the 80 FPS difference seen at 1080p, confirming that the GPU is becoming the dominant constraint at higher resolutions. The Medium preset's min/max data across all resolutions shows consistent frame pacing, with the minimums staying within 15% of the averages, which is crucial for maintaining smooth gameplay in a competitive shooter.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 reveals important characteristics about this system's bottleneck behavior. At Low settings, the frame rate drops from 453 FPS at 1080p to 429 FPS at 1440p (a 5.3% decrease) and then to 398 FPS at 4K (a 12.1% decrease from 1080p). This relatively modest scaling suggests that at Low settings, the CPU is heavily involved in determining performance, as the GPU has sufficient headroom to handle the increased pixel count without significant frame rate penalties. At Medium settings, the decrease is more pronounced: 386 FPS at 1080p drops to 351 FPS at 1440p (9.1% decrease) and 281 FPS at 4K (27.2% decrease from 1080p). The High preset shows a similar pattern, going from 380 FPS at 1080p to 335 FPS at 1440p (11.8% decrease) and 268 FPS at 4K (29.5% decrease). The Ultra preset exhibits the steepest scaling curve: 373 FPS at 1080p falls to 319 FPS at 1440p (14.5% decrease) and 255 FPS at 4K (31.6% decrease from 1080p). This increasing percentage drop with higher settings indicates that the GPU becomes more of a limiting factor as both resolution and graphical complexity increase. The fact that even at 4K with Ultra settings, the system maintains 255 FPS, suggests that this combo is well-balanced for Valorant, with neither component creating a severe bottleneck at any tested configuration. The data implies that the CPU is the primary limiter at 1080p and low settings, while the GPU takes over as the constraint at 4K and higher presets.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F plays a crucial role in achieving the high frame rates observed in Valorant, particularly at lower resolutions where the CPU's processing power is more influential. This six-core, twelve-thread processor based on Rocket Lake architecture features a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, with 12 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU's single-thread performance, measured at 868 in 3dmark_single_thread and 2024 in cinebench_r23_singlecore, is essential for Valorant's game logic and physics calculations, which are typically single-thread bound. The processor's multi-threaded capabilities, demonstrated by a cinebench_r23_multicore score of 14340 and a passmark_multithread score of 16908, ensure that background tasks and game server communication do not interfere with frame rendering. The CPU's average benchmark score of 17177 places it in the 71st percentile of all CPUs, with its nearest rival being the Intel Core i5-12450H at 17239 (0.4% higher). The 3dmark results show strong scaling from 2 threads (1691) to 8 threads (4691) and max threads (5652), indicating that the processor efficiently utilizes its 12 threads. In Valorant, the measured data shows that at 1080p Low settings, the 453 FPS average is likely CPU-limited, as the GPU is not heavily taxed. The relatively small FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p (80 FPS) compared to 4K (143 FPS) supports this interpretation, as the CPU's performance ceiling becomes the constraining factor at lower resolutions. The CPU's 65 W TDP and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth provide adequate memory throughput for the game's data streaming requirements.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-11400F and AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT ranks 2448th out of 3708 tested combinations in Valorant, placing it in the 34th percentile of all recorded systems. This ranking is notable given the high absolute frame rates achieved, suggesting that many other tested combinations utilize more powerful CPUs and GPUs that push frame rates even higher. The CPU's 71st percentile ranking among all CPUs and the GPU's 60th percentile ranking among all GPUs indicate that both components are above average individually, but their combination does not place them in the top tier of systems tested for this game. The nearest CPU rivals to the i5-11400F include the AMD EPYC 7H12 (0.3% higher score), Intel Core Ultra 7 164U (0.6% higher), Intel Core i5-12450H (0.4% lower), and AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G (0.6% lower), showing that the processor is closely matched with a range of server and mobile chips. The GPU's nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 (0.3% higher), AMD Radeon HD 7970M (0.4% higher), NVIDIA Tesla M4 (0.9% higher), and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 (0.7% lower), indicating that the RX 7600 XT performs similarly to older flagship GPUs and a modern mid-range card. The combo's rank of 2448 out of 3708 suggests that while this system delivers exceptional Valorant performance in absolute terms, the game's high optimization means that many higher-end configurations achieve even more extreme frame rates. The measured data shows that this combo is well-suited for high-refresh-rate gaming, with all tested settings and resolutions producing averages above 255 FPS, but the ranking reflects the presence of numerous systems with more powerful components that can exceed 500 FPS or more in this title.