Valorant

Valorant is a competitive FPS where frame rates far above display refresh rates are the norm, and this combination of an Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 delivers exactly that. The measured data shows average frame rates ranging from 287.2 FPS at 4K Ultra to 454.1 FPS at 1080p Low, placing this combo at rank 918 out of 1650 tested configurations. This pairing sits in the 75th percentile for the CPU and 66th percentile for the GPU, indicating a balanced mid-range setup that is heavily overqualified for Valorant's modest graphical demands.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a system that remains firmly CPU-bound even at the highest resolutions. At Low settings, the drop from 1080p to 1440p is a modest 23.4 FPS (from 454.1 to 430.7), and moving to 4K reduces the average to 400.6 FPS—a total decline of just 11.8% from the 1080p baseline. This shallow curve demonstrates that the RTX 4060 is nowhere near its limits, as even a 4K resolution increase fails to meaningfully stress the GPU.

The High settings preset tells a similar story, with frame rates of 377.6 FPS at 1080p, 361.3 FPS at 1440p, and 301.9 FPS at 4K. The 4K figure represents a 20.0% drop from 1080p, which is more pronounced than the Low preset but still indicates that the GPU has ample headroom. The Ultra preset shows the largest scaling penalty, falling from 372.4 FPS at 1080p to 287.2 FPS at 4K—a 22.9% reduction. This suggests that even at maximum settings, the game's visual effects are lightweight enough that the processor's single-thread performance remains the primary limiter.

What the data indicates is that resolution scaling in Valorant is unusually flat for this hardware. Typically, a 4x pixel increase from 1080p to 4K would halve frame rates on a GPU-bound system, but here the reduction is only between 11.8% and 22.9% depending on the preset. The i5-11400F's boost clock of 4.40 GHz and strong single-core performance, evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2029, keep the frame pipeline fed regardless of resolution. The RTX 4060, with its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 272.0 GB/s bandwidth, simply has no trouble rendering Valorant's simple geometry at any resolution.

GPU Role

The RTX 4060's role in this Valorant configuration is almost secondary, as the game's engine places far more weight on CPU throughput. The GPU's base clock of 1830 MHz and boost clock of 2460 MHz are more than sufficient for the game's DirectX 11 rendering path, which does not heavily utilize the Ada Lovelace architecture's newer features. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is effectively irrelevant here, as Valorant's texture sets and draw calls are modest enough that even a 4 GB card would likely suffice, though the 4060's 118.1 GPixel/s pixel rate and 236.2 GTexel/s texture rate ensure there is no bottleneck at any setting.

The GPU's benchmark scores reinforce this assessment. With a Passmark G3D score of 19545 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2302, the RTX 4060 sits in the 66th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6600M, scores 23321 (0.6% higher), while the Intel Arc B580 trails by 0.7% with a score of 23021. These comparisons show that the 4060 is a solid mid-range performer, but Valorant's frame rates are so far above the competition's typical results that the GPU's exact positioning among rivals matters little for the playable experience.

What matters more is the GPU's interaction with the CPU. The i5-11400F's 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and boost of 4.40 GHz, produce a Passmark multithread score of 16908 and a single-thread score of 2981. This single-thread performance is critical for Valorant, as the game's tick rate and hit registration are highly dependent on processor speed. The RTX 4060's job is simply to keep pace with the CPU's frame generation, and the data shows it does so with ease—even at 4K Ultra, the system maintains 287.2 FPS, which is well beyond any display's refresh rate capabilities.

FAQ

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

A: The highest measured average is 454.1 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: How does the frame rate drop when moving from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average drops from 377.6 FPS at 1080p to 301.9 FPS at 4K, a reduction of 75.7 FPS or approximately 20%.

Q: Is the RTX 4060 the bottleneck at 4K Ultra?

A: No. Even at 4K Ultra, the combo produces 287.2 FPS, and the shallow scaling curve across resolutions indicates the i5-11400F is the limiting component, not the GPU.

Q: How does the i5-11400F compare to its nearest rival in CPU benchmarks?

A: The i5-11400F has an average benchmark score of 17181, which is essentially tied with the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U at 17189 and the Intel Core i7-1260P at 17212 (0.2% lower).

Q: What is the RTX 4060's percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The RTX 4060 sits in the 66th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 23181.

Q: Does the Ultra preset offer a meaningful frame rate advantage over High?

A: No. At 1080p, Ultra runs at 372.4 FPS compared to High's 377.6 FPS, so the Ultra preset actually runs slightly slower while providing marginally better visuals.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the optimal preset for this hardware is High at any resolution. At 1080p, High delivers 377.6 FPS, which is only 5.2 FPS slower than Medium's 387.6 FPS but provides better visual fidelity. The Ultra preset at 1080p yields 372.4 FPS, a negligible 1.4% difference from High, but the extra visual effects do not justify even this minor frame rate cost in a competitive shooter where clarity is paramount.

For players using 1440p displays, High settings at 361.3 FPS is the best balance. The drop from 1080p High is only 16.3 FPS, and the visual improvement from Medium (367.1 FPS) is worth the small performance trade-off. At 4K, High settings produce 301.9 FPS, which remains far above any high-refresh-rate display's capabilities, making it the recommended choice over Ultra's 287.2 FPS.

The Low preset, while producing the highest frame rates (454.1 FPS at 1080p), is not recommended for competitive play because it sacrifices visibility of certain visual cues. The data shows that Low settings provide only a 16.8% frame rate advantage over High at 1080p, which is negligible given that both are well above 300 FPS. Medium settings offer a middle ground, but High's combination of frame rate and visual clarity makes it the clear winner across all resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080: The lowest resolution tested produces the highest frame rates across all presets. Low settings lead with 454.1 FPS, followed by Medium at 387.6 FPS, High at 377.6 FPS, and Ultra at 372.4 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is 81.7 FPS, with the gap narrowing significantly between Medium, High, and Ultra—only 15.2 FPS separates the latter three.

2560x1440: At 1440p, the frame rates remain exceptionally high. Low settings average 430.7 FPS, Medium drops to 367.1 FPS, High is close behind at 361.3 FPS, and Ultra rounds out at 355.7 FPS. The difference between Medium and Ultra here is just 11.4 FPS, showing that the GPU handles increased resolution with minimal penalty. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is most pronounced at Low settings (23.4 FPS) and least at Ultra (16.7 FPS).

3840x2160: Even at 4K, this combo stays above 280 FPS. Low settings produce 400.6 FPS, Medium delivers 316.7 FPS, High manages 301.9 FPS, and Ultra falls to 287.2 FPS. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is steeper than from 1080p to 1440p, with Low losing 30.1 FPS and Ultra losing 68.5 FPS. This indicates that while the CPU remains dominant, the GPU's workload begins to matter more at 4K, yet the RTX 4060 still has substantial headroom—the 4K Ultra figure is 77.2% of the 1080p Low result.