Valorant

# Valorant with Intel Core i5-11400F + AMD Radeon RX 7700

The Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 delivers exceptional frame rates in Valorant, with the measured data showing average FPS ranging from 305 at 4K Ultra settings to 453 at 1080p Low settings. This combination ranks 1590th out of 2883 tested combos in this game, placing it in the upper-middle tier of the database, yet the absolute performance is far beyond what competitive play requires. The data reveals a system where the GPU is never the bottleneck, as even the most demanding preset at 4K resolution produces over 300 FPS on average, making this pairing primarily limited by CPU single-thread performance in lighter settings.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is remarkably small, which tells a clear story about where the bottleneck lies in this system. At Low settings, the average FPS goes from 453 at 1920x1080 down to 398 at 3840x2160 — a reduction of 55 FPS, or roughly 12%. Moving from 1440p to 4K at Low settings shows an even smaller gap: 429 FPS at 2560x1440 versus 398 FPS at 4K, a difference of only 31 FPS. This pattern indicates that the CPU, with its 6 cores and 12 threads running at a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, is the primary limiting factor at lower resolutions and settings, as the GPU has ample headroom to render frames faster than the processor can feed it.

At Medium settings, the scaling is similarly gentle. The average FPS at 1080p is 386, at 1440p it drops slightly to 366, and at 4K it falls to 336. The step from 1080p to 1440p costs only 20 FPS, while the step from 1440p to 4K costs 30 FPS. This gradual decline suggests that as settings increase, the GPU begins to take on more of the workload, but even at 4K Medium the system still delivers 336 FPS average with a minimum of 286 FPS — far above the refresh rates of most displays. The min FPS data at Medium settings shows a consistent pattern: 328 at 1080p, 311 at 1440p, and 286 at 4K, with the gap between min and max FPS widening slightly at higher resolutions, indicating increased frame time variance as the GPU works harder.

High settings show a similar trend with averages of 380 FPS at 1080p, 360 FPS at 1440p, and 320 FPS at 4K. Ultra settings produce the lowest but still impressive numbers: 373 FPS at 1080p, 354 FPS at 1440p, and 305 FPS at 4K. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at Ultra is 68 FPS, which is the largest absolute drop across all settings presets, yet it still represents only an 18% reduction. This modest scaling across a 4x increase in pixel count strongly suggests that Valorant is not GPU-bound at any resolution tested, and the RX 7700 with its 16 GB of GDDR6 memory and 624.1 GB/s bandwidth is more than sufficient for this game's demands.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable with this combo?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 453, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This represents the maximum frame rate in the dataset, with the 1440p Low setting close behind at 429 FPS.

Q: How does the RX 7700 compare to its nearest rivals in overall GPU benchmarks?

A: The RX 7700 has an average benchmark score of 15852, placing it within 1.7% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (score 16129) and 1% behind the AMD Radeon RX 9060 (score 16014). It slightly outperforms the AMD Radeon R9 370X by 0.1% and trails the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 by 1.1%.

Q: Is the i5-11400F a bottleneck at 1080p Low settings?

A: Yes, the data strongly indicates CPU limitation. The 1080p Low average of 453 FPS is only 55 FPS higher than the 4K Low average of 398 FPS, despite the 4K resolution requiring four times the pixel throughput. This minimal scaling suggests the CPU, not the GPU, is the limiting factor.

Q: What is the best resolution for competitive play based on the data?

A: For maximum frame rates, 1920x1080 with Low settings provides the highest average at 453 FPS. However, 1440p Low at 429 FPS and 1080p High at 380 FPS also offer excellent performance, with the choice depending on whether the player prioritizes maximum FPS or better visual quality.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combos in Valorant?

A: This combo ranks 1590th out of 2883 tested combinations, placing it in approximately the 45th percentile. This ranking reflects that while the absolute performance is very high, many other combos in the database achieve even higher frame rates in this highly optimized competitive title.

Q: Does the RX 7700 have enough VRAM for Valorant?

A: The RX 7700 features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, which is far beyond what Valorant requires. The game's modest GPU demands are evidenced by the high frame rates even at 4K Ultra, where the average FPS remains above 300.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700, built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with a Navi 32 chip, plays a surprisingly minor role in limiting performance in Valorant. The GPU's specifications are substantial — 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, 96 render output units, and 40 ray tracing cores — yet the game's measured frame rates suggest that these resources are largely underutilized. The boost clock of 2459 MHz and game clock of 2041 MHz provide ample compute throughput, but the data shows that even at 4K Ultra settings, the GPU still delivers 305 FPS average, indicating it is not being pushed to its limits.

The 16 GB of GDDR6 memory with 624.1 GB/s bandwidth is another sign of overprovisioning for this title. Valorant's visual complexity does not demand large frame buffers, and the memory subsystem of the RX 7700 is far more capable than what the game requires. The GPU's 25.18 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 393.4 GTexel/s texture rate are impressive on paper, but the measured FPS data across all resolutions and settings shows that the GPU is never the primary constraint. Instead, the differences between settings presets at the same resolution are relatively small — for example, at 1080p the gap between Low (453 FPS) and Ultra (373 FPS) is only 80 FPS, suggesting that even the most demanding preset does not significantly tax the GPU.

The GPU's benchmark scores provide context for its overall capabilities. With a PassMark G3D score of 20974 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2865, the RX 7700 sits at the 58th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 9060 (1% faster), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (1.7% faster), and the AMD Radeon R9 370X (0.1% slower). These moderate benchmark scores, combined with the exceptional in-game performance, reinforce the conclusion that Valorant is not a demanding title for this GPU, and the RX 7700 has substantial headroom for future titles or higher fidelity settings.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings preset depends on the player's priority between maximum frame rate and visual fidelity. For competitive play where every frame counts, the Low preset at 1920x1080 delivers the highest average FPS at 453, with the 1440p Low setting close behind at 429 FPS. The 1080p Medium preset offers 386 FPS average with a minimum of 328 FPS, which still exceeds the refresh rate of most high-end monitors while providing improved visual quality over Low.

For players with 1440p displays, the Medium preset at 2560x1440 provides 366 FPS average with a minimum of 311 FPS, making it an excellent balance of performance and visual quality. The High preset at 1440p delivers 360 FPS average, nearly identical to Medium, suggesting that the additional graphical features in High settings do not meaningfully impact performance. At 4K, the Medium preset offers 336 FPS average with a minimum of 286 FPS, which remains playable on high-refresh-rate 4K displays, though the Low preset at 398 FPS is the better choice for competitive integrity.

The Ultra preset provides the lowest frame rates across all resolutions — 373 FPS at 1080p, 354 FPS at 1440p, and 305 FPS at 4K — but even these numbers are well above the threshold for smooth competitive play. The data suggests that the Medium preset at any resolution offers the best experience, as the average FPS barely decreases from Low (453 vs 386 at 1080p, 429 vs 366 at 1440p, 398 vs 336 at 4K) while providing noticeably better visuals. The min FPS values at Medium settings (328 at 1080p, 311 at 1440p, 286 at 4K) all remain above 240 FPS, ensuring consistent frame pacing even in demanding scenes.

How This Combo Ranks

In the comprehensive database of tested hardware combinations for Valorant, the Intel Core i5-11400F with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 ranks 1590th out of 2883 total combos. This position places the pairing in the 55th percentile of all tested configurations, meaning roughly 55% of tested combos achieve higher average frame rates in this game. This ranking is somewhat surprising given the high absolute FPS numbers, but it reflects the nature of Valorant as a highly optimized esports title where even modest hardware can achieve extremely high frame rates, and many top-tier combos with flagship CPUs and GPUs push well beyond the 500-600 FPS range.

The combo's ranking is influenced more by the CPU than the GPU. The i5-11400F, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, achieves a PassMark multithread score of 16908 and a single-thread score of 2981, placing it at the 71st percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest CPU rivals include the AMD EPYC 7H12 (0.3% faster), the Intel Core i5-12450H (0.4% slower), and the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G (0.6% slower). While these scores are respectable, they are not at the very top of the CPU hierarchy, and in a game that heavily favors single-thread performance, this limits the combo's ranking. The GPU's 58th percentile rank among all GPUs is less relevant here, as the data shows the RX 7700 is not the limiting factor in Valorant.

The ranking disparity between the combo's position (1590th) and its actual in-game performance highlights the importance of CPU selection for esports titles. Many combos with less capable GPUs but faster CPUs likely outrank this pairing, as Valorant's frame rates are primarily determined by processor speed at the settings and resolutions tested. Players seeking higher rankings in this database would need to pair the RX 7700 with a CPU offering better single-thread performance, such as higher-clocked 11th Gen or newer processors.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values span from 453 at Low settings down to 373 at Ultra settings. The Medium preset provides 386 FPS average with a minimum of 328 FPS and a maximum of 444 FPS, while the High preset delivers 380 FPS average. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a consistent but modest decline of 80 FPS total, with the largest single drop occurring between Low (453) and Medium (386) — a 67 FPS reduction that likely reflects the addition of more demanding visual effects.

At 2560x1440, the average FPS values are 429 at Low, 366 at Medium, 360 at High, and 354 at Ultra. The Medium preset's minimum FPS is 311 with a maximum of 421, showing a range similar to the 1080p Medium measurement. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 75 FPS, slightly less than at 1080p. Notably, the gap between Medium and High at 1440p is only 6 FPS, suggesting that the High preset adds minimal GPU load compared to Medium.

At 3840x2160, the average FPS values are 398 at Low, 336 at Medium, 320 at High, and 305 at Ultra. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 286 FPS and a maximum of 387 FPS, representing the widest variance in the dataset. The total spread from Low to Ultra at 4K is 93 FPS, the largest across all resolutions. This indicates that at 4K, the GPU begins to play a more significant role in determining frame rates, though the absolute numbers remain very high.

The overall pattern across all resolutions and settings reveals that Low settings consistently provide the highest frame rates, followed by Medium, then High, with Ultra being the slowest. The differences between Medium, High, and Ultra at any given resolution are relatively small — at 1080p, the gap between Medium and Ultra is only 13 FPS, while at 4K it is 31 FPS — suggesting that the visual improvements from higher presets come at a modest performance cost in this game.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F, a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Rocket Lake architecture, plays a dominant role in determining Valorant's frame rates. With a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, this CPU delivers strong single-thread performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2024 and PassMark single-thread score of 2981. These scores, combined with the measured FPS data showing minimal scaling from 1080p to 4K, confirm that the CPU is the primary bottleneck in this system for Valorant.

The CPU's cache hierarchy — 80 KB of L1 per core, 512 KB of L2 per core, and 12 MB of shared L3 — is well-suited for the game's computational patterns. Valorant's engine relies heavily on single-thread performance for game logic, physics, and frame pacing, and the i5-11400F's 4.40 GHz boost clock provides the necessary speed. The 3DMark single-thread score of 868 and PassMark physics score of 842 further indicate that this processor handles the type of workloads Valorant presents effectively.

The CPU's overall benchmark performance places it at the 71st percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17177. Its nearest rivals in the CPU benchmark database include the AMD EPYC 7H12 (0.3% faster), the Intel Core i5-12450H (0.4% slower), and the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G (0.6% slower). The i5-11400F's 14 nm process node and 65 W TDP indicate efficient operation, and its support for DDR4 memory with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth ensures adequate data throughput for the game.

The measured FPS data strongly supports the conclusion that the CPU is the limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 453 FPS, but at 4K Low it still manages 398 FPS — only 12% lower despite a 4x increase in pixel count. If the GPU were the bottleneck, the 4K frame rate would be significantly lower. Similarly, at Medium settings, the drop from 1080p (386 FPS) to 4K (336 FPS) is only 50 FPS, reinforcing that the CPU's single-thread speed, not the GPU's pixel throughput, constrains the system. For players seeking even higher frame rates, a CPU with a higher boost clock or newer architecture would provide the most significant improvement, as the RX 7700 clearly has substantial headroom in this title.