Valorant

The Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is a balanced mid-range combination that delivers extremely high frame rates in Valorant, a competitive FPS where high refresh rates matter more than graphical bells and whistles. Benchmark results show this combo comfortably pushes well past 240 FPS at 1080p and even at 1440p, with 4K performance remaining exceptionally strong for a game of this type. The data indicates that this pairing is well-suited for high-refresh-rate monitors, with the primary bottleneck shifting from the GPU to the CPU as resolution drops.

FAQ

Q: What is the combination's overall rank in Valorant?

A: This combo ranks 2544 out of 3708 tested combinations in the database for Valorant, placing it in the upper third of all tested setups. With an average benchmark score of 17177 for the CPU and 18093 for the GPU, the pairing lands in the 71st percentile for the CPU and 62nd percentile for the GPU compared to all tested parts.

Q: How many cores and threads does the Intel Core i5-11400F have?

A: The i5-11400F has 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. It comes with 12 MB of shared L3 cache, with 80 KB of L1 cache per core and 512 KB of L2 cache per core.

Q: What is the GPU's memory specification?

A: The RTX 2060 SUPER has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, with a memory clock of 1750 MHz running at 14 Gbps effective and 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock is 1470 MHz and boost clock is 1650 MHz.

Q: What are the measured FPS numbers at 1080p with Medium settings?

A: At 1920x1080 with Medium settings, the average frame rate is 386 FPS, with a minimum of 328 FPS and a maximum of 444 FPS. This is one of the few configurations for this combo where min and max FPS data was recorded.

Q: How does FPS change from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 374 at 1920x1080 to 319 at 2560x1440, and finally to 255 at 3840x2160. This represents a 31.8% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 20.1% drop from 1440p to 4K, for a total drop of 31.8% from 1080p to 4K.

Q: What are the CPU's nearest rivals based on average benchmark score?

A: The closest rivals to the i5-11400F are the AMD EPYC 7H12 (0.3% slower), the Intel Core i5-12450H (0.4% faster), the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G (0.6% faster), and the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U (0.6% slower).

GPU Role

The RTX 2060 SUPER's memory configuration is well suited to Valorant's demands. With 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, the GPU has ample memory capacity for a game with relatively modest texture requirements. The 256-bit bus width ensures data can be fed to the GPU cores efficiently, which is important when frame rates climb into the hundreds. The memory clock of 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) provides high throughput for the game's asset streaming.

The GPU itself uses the Turing architecture, fabricated on a 12 nm process at TSMC. It has 2176 shading units, 136 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output units. It also includes 34 RT cores and 272 tensor cores, though these are largely irrelevant for Valorant since the game does not use ray tracing or DLSS. The GPU's pixel rate is 105.6 GPixel/s and its texture rate is 224.4 GTexel/s, with 7.181 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. These numbers suggest the GPU can handle the game's rendering pipeline with ease, but the measured FPS data shows that the GPU often has more headroom than the CPU can feed it.

The GPU's boost clock of 1650 MHz is a modest overclock from the base 1470 MHz, but the card's performance is more influenced by its memory subsystem than by raw core clocks. The 256-bit memory bus and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are rare in this class and help push high frame rates. The GPU's 62nd percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 18093, places it slightly below the RTX 3060 Mobile (0.4% higher) and Radeon Pro 5700 (0.5% higher), and just above the Radeon RX 460 (1.5% higher) and Intel Arc A770M (1.6% higher).

In Valorant specifically, the GPU's role becomes more pronounced as resolution increases. At 1080p Low settings, the combo hits 453 FPS, which equals the performance of the CPU's capabilities. The GPU is not the limiting factor at this resolution, but the gap between 1080p and 4K at the same settings shows where GPU load becomes heavier. At 4K Low settings, FPS drops to 398, a 12.1% decline, which tells us that even at 4K the GPU still isn't the primary bottleneck.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a consistent pattern across settings when moving from 1080p to 4K. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 453 at 1080p to 429 at 1440p and 398 at 4K. That's a 12.1% drop from 1080p to 4K, which is remarkably small for a resolution with four times the pixels. This indicates that the game is CPU-bound at low settings, and the GPU has enough headroom to handle the extra pixels without major FPS loss.

At Medium settings, the pattern is similar but with a slightly more pronounced drop: 386 at 1080p, 335 at 1440p, and 268 at 4K. This represents a 30.6% drop from 1080p to 4K. The presence of min and max FPS data at this setting gives us more insight: at 1080p Medium, the range is 328 to 444 FPS; at 1440p Medium, the range is 285 to 385 FPS; and at 4K Medium, the range is 227 to 308 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p shows a 13.2% FPS drop, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 20.0%.

The High settings preset shows a similar trend: 374 at 1080p drops to 319 at 1440p (a 14.7% drop) and then to 255 at 4K (a 20.1% drop from 1440p). The total drop from 1080p to 4K is 31.8%. The Ultra preset shows the smallest absolute FPS numbers but the same relative pattern: 356 at 1080p, 304 at 1440p (14.6% drop), and 243 at 4K (20.1% drop from 1440p).

The overall picture is that the game scales much better from 1440p to 4K than from 1080p to 1440p, which is a strong indicator that the CPU becomes more of a bottleneck as resolution decreases. At 1080p, the CPU is already stretched to its limits, so the GPU's extra capacity isn't utilized. At 4K, the GPU is finally getting enough work to make a difference, but even then the drop is not severe.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination holds the 2544th position out of 3708 tested combinations. The data places it in the upper 31.4% of all tested combos, which is a solid result for a mid-range CPU and GPU pairing. The CPU percentile of 71 means the i5-11400F outperforms 71% of all CPUs in the database, while the GPU percentile of 62 places the RTX 2060 SUPER above 62% of all GPUs.

The combo's ranking in Valorant is heavily influenced by the CPU's strong single-thread performance, which is critical for a game engine that relies heavily on a few threads. The i5-11400F scores 868 in 3dmark single-thread, 204 in Cinebench R15 single-core, 850 in Cinebench R20 single-core, and 2024 in Cinebench R23 single-core. These are solid numbers for a 6-core CPU and put it ahead of many older CPUs with more cores but weaker per-thread performance.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 18093 is also strong, but in Valorant the CPU is the more critical component. The combo rank of 2544 out of 3708 means that there are 1164 combos that perform better in this specific game. This is a very good result considering that the CPU and GPU are both mid-range parts. The data suggests that for Valorant, the CPU matters more than the GPU, and this combo's CPU is its stronger asset.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread desktop processor based on the Rocket Lake architecture, fabricated on Intel's 14nm process. It has a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, with a 65W TDP. It supports DDR4 memory in a dual-channel configuration, with a memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s. The CPU uses the Intel Socket 1200 interface and features PCIe Gen 4 with 20 lanes (CPU only). It has no integrated graphics, which is why it's the "F" variant. The CPU's release date was March 15, 2021.

In the benchmark suite, the i5-11400F delivers a single-thread score of 868 in 3DMark, and multi-thread scores of 5619 (16 threads), 3171 (4 threads), 4691 (8 threads), and 5652 (max threads). In Cinebench R15, it scores 1445 in multi-core and 204 in single-core; in R20, it scores 6022 multi-core and 850 single-core; and in R23, it scores 14340 multi-core and 2024 single-core. Geekbench shows 7737 multi-core and 1777 single-core. The PassMark suite gives 2981 in single-thread, 16908 in multi-thread, and 34127 in floating-point math.

The CPU's average benchmark score is 17177, putting it in the 71st percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals are the AMD EPYC 7H12 (0.3% higher), the Intel Core i5-12450H (0.4% lower), the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G (0.6% lower), and the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U (0.6% higher). This shows that the i5-11400F sits in a close pack of CPUs with similar average scores, but its per-thread strength in this game gives it an advantage.

In Valorant, the CPU's role is central. The game is known to be highly sensitive to CPU performance, particularly in scenarios with many players on screen and during firefights. The 6-core, 12-thread configuration with a 4.40 GHz boost clock is well-suited to the game's engine, which often runs on a single thread but can benefit from extra threads for background tasks. The CPU's 12 MB of shared L3 cache and per-core L1/L2 caches help reduce memory latency, which is good for the game's input response.

The data shows that the CPU is the main bottleneck in this combo for Valorant. At 1080p Low settings, the FPS is 453, which is close to the CPU's maximum frame rate potential. Even at 4K Low settings, the FPS is 398, which is still very high. The fact that the FPS drops by only 12.1% from 1080p to 4K at Low settings proves that the GPU isn't the limiting factor. The CPU's strong single-thread performance allows it to maintain high FPS even when the GPU is given more work at higher resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured FPS data is as follows:

• Low settings: 453 average FPS
• Medium settings: 386 average FPS, with a minimum of 328 and maximum of 444
• High settings: 374 average FPS
• Ultra settings: 356 average FPS

The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 97 FPS, which is a 21.4% drop from Low to Ultra. The Medium preset shows a 14.8% drop from Low, and High is 17.4% below Low. This shows that the game's settings have a moderate impact on performance at 1080p, but even at Ultra the FPS is still above 350.

At 2560x1440, the FPS numbers are:

• Low settings: 429 average FPS
• Medium settings: 335 average FPS, with a minimum of 285 and maximum of 385
• High settings: 319 average FPS
• Ultra settings: 304 average FPS

The drop from Low to Ultra at 1440p is 125 FPS, a 29.1% decrease. The Medium preset at 1440p offers a 2.4% drop from Low, while High is 4.8% lower than Medium. The Ultra preset is 4.7% lower than High. The min FPS at Medium is 285, which is still very high for competitive play.

At 3840x2160, the measured FPS is:

• Low settings: 398 average FPS
• Medium settings: 268 average FPS, with a minimum of 227 and maximum of 308
• High settings: 255 average FPS
• Ultra settings: 243 average FPS

The drop from Low to Ultra at 4K is 155 FPS, a 39.0% reduction. The Medium preset shows a 32.7% drop from Low, and High is 4.8% lower than Medium. The Ultra preset is 4.7% lower than High. The minimum FPS at 4K Medium is still 227, which is well above the refresh rate of most monitors.

Comparing across resolutions, the combination of 1080p Low to 4K Ultra shows a total drop from 453 to 243 FPS, a 46.4% decrease. The settings scaling is more pronounced at higher resolutions, which is expected, but the FPS remains high throughout. The data indicates that the combo can handle Valorant at any resolution and settings with a high frame rate, with the only exception being that the CPU becomes the limiting factor at low settings and low resolutions.