Valorant

The Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER in Valorant delivers exceptionally high frame rates across all tested settings and resolutions, with performance firmly in the upper echelon of recorded combinations.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with Low settings?

A: The combination achieves an average of 453 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings, which is the highest recorded average across all tested configurations in this data set.

Q: How much slower is 4K Ultra compared to 4K Low?

A: At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset yields an average of 329 FPS, while the Low preset produces 398 FPS. This represents a drop of 69 FPS, or roughly 17% lower performance when moving from Low to Ultra.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU act as the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: The difference between Low (453 FPS) and Ultra (373 FPS) at 1080p is 80 FPS, while at 4K the same preset gap is 69 FPS. The relatively narrow gap at both resolutions suggests the CPU is the primary bottleneck for this game, as the GPU is far more capable than needed to reach these frame rates.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded at Medium settings?

A: At 1080p Medium, the minimum FPS is 328, while at 1440p Medium it drops to 311, and at 4K Medium it is 289. These are the only minimum FPS values recorded in the measured data.

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

A: This CPU-GPU pairing ranks 2016th out of 3708 tested combinations, placing it in the 54th percentile of all recorded systems for this game.

Q: What is the boost clock of the i5-11400F and how might it affect gameplay?

A: The Intel Core i5-11400F has a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. The combination of a 6-core, 12-thread design with high single-thread performance (as evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2024) is likely why the system sustains high FPS even at lower resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data shows that the Low preset consistently provides the highest average frame rates at every resolution. At 1080p, Low averages 453 FPS, which is 67 FPS higher than High and 74 FPS higher than Ultra. At 1440p, Low produces 429 FPS, while at 4K, Low yields 398 FPS. This pattern is consistent across all three resolutions.

For players prioritizing maximum competitive performance, the Low preset is the obvious choice based on the data. The difference between Low and Medium is nearly identical at each resolution: at 1080p it is 67 FPS, at 1440p 63 FPS, and at 4K 58 FPS. This suggests that the visual uplift from Medium does not come at a proportionally higher cost compared to the step from Low to Medium.

However, the data also shows that High and Ultra presets still deliver extremely high FPS. At 4K Ultra, the system averages 329 FPS, which is far beyond the refresh rate of most monitors. Players with high-refresh displays (240Hz or 360Hz) may prefer the slight visual upgrade of High or Ultra, since the frame rate remains comfortably above 300 FPS even at 4K.

The most efficient choice for a 144Hz monitor would be the Low preset at 1080p, as it provides headroom beyond the display's refresh rate with minimal visual trade-offs. For those with 240Hz panels, the Ultra preset at 1080p still exceeds 373 FPS, making the Ultra preset a viable option for high-refresh gaming.

The data suggests a clear recommendation: for competitive play where every frame matters, select Low. For a balanced experience, Medium offers the next-best FPS with a modest visual upgrade. Given that the game is highly CPU-bound, the GPU is rarely the limiting factor, so players can comfortably use higher presets without worrying about FPS drops below 300.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is a high-end GPU with 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s. Its boost clock is 2475 MHz and it has 7168 shading units. The GPU's benchmark percentile is the 83rd among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 43,223.

In Valorant, the GPU's role is largely underutilized. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (453 FPS) and 4K Low (398 FPS) shows only a moderate reduction when resolution is increased, reinforcing that the GPU is not the limiting factor in this game. The difference between 1080p and 4K Low is 55 FPS, which is notable but not proportional to the 4x increase in pixel count.

The RTX 4070 SUPER's 12 GB VRAM is far more than Valorant requires, since the game is not VRAM-intensive. The GPU's compute and shading power are also excessive for this title. This is reflected in the small FPS deltas between settings: at 1080p, Low (453 FPS) vs Ultra (373 FPS) is only an 80 FPS difference, suggesting the GPU has ample headroom.

Players running Valorant at high refresh rates will easily max out the GPU's capabilities. The data implies the RTX 4070 SUPER is being held back by the CPU in this title, as the GPU is capable of far higher frame rates than the system is able to deliver. The GPU's 504.2 GB/s memory bandwidth and 35.48 TFLOPS FP32 performance are not being used to their full capacity.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination of the Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER ranks 2016 out of 3,708 tested combos for Valorant. This places it in the 54th percentile of all tested configurations for this game. While this is a solid performance, it is not at the very top of the rankings.

The ranking suggests that while this combo delivers very high FPS, there are many other combinations that achieve even higher frame rates. This is likely due to the CPU being a mid-range 6-core part, as Valorant is heavily CPU-bound. The GPU is overkill for this title, so the CPU becomes the performance limiter.

The combo's rank is not a reflection of poor absolute performance — 453 FPS at 1080p Low is extremely high. Instead, the ranking indicates that the game can run even faster with a more powerful CPU. The data shows that the i5-11400F is a solid but not top-tier processor, with a percentile of 71 among all CPUs.

In short, this pairing delivers excellent results for Valorant, but the rank reflects that the CPU holds the system back from achieving the absolute highest FPS possible.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. It has 12 MB of L3 cache and supports DDR4 memory, which is typical for a mid-range desktop chip. The CPU's benchmark scores show strong single-thread performance: Cinebench R23 single-core 2024, Geekbench single-core 1777, and 3DMark single-thread 868.

Valorant is a game that relies heavily on CPU performance, particularly single-thread throughput. The measured FPS numbers reflect this, as the frame rates remain high even at 4K, where the GPU is usually the bottleneck. The small FPS drop from 1080p to 4K (from 453 to 398 at Low) suggests that the CPU is the primary limiting factor.

The CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are highly effective for this game, as the engine does not scale across many threads. The boost clock of 4.40 GHz is sufficient for high frame rates, as evidenced by the 4K Low average of 398 FPS. The 12 MB L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth also contribute to the CPU's ability to feed the GPU with enough data to maintain high FPS.

The CPU's average benchmark score is 17,177, which is the 71st percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7H12, which scores 17,120 (0.3% higher), and the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U at 17,074 (0.6% lower). This demonstrates that the i5-11400F is a mid-range part, but one that performs well in single-thread tests, which is what Valorant needs.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers 3 resolutions (3840x2160, 2560x1440, 1920x1080) and 4 settings (Low, Medium, High, Ultra), with average FPS for all, and min/max for Medium.

1920x1080:

• Low: 453 FPS average
• Medium: 386 FPS average, min 328, max 444
• High: 380 FPS average
• Ultra: 373 FPS average

2560x1440:

• Low: 429 FPS average
• Medium: 366 FPS average, min 311, max 421
• High: 360 FPS average
• Ultra: 354 FPS average

3840x2160:

• Low: 398 FPS average
• Medium: 340 FPS average, min 289, max 391
• High: 334 FPS average
• Ultra: 329 FPS average

The data shows a consistent pattern: Low settings always yield the highest FPS, and Ultra yields the lowest. The difference between Low and Ultra is 80 FPS at 1080p, 75 FPS at 1440p, and 69 FPS at 4K. The 1440p and 4K differences are both 75 FPS and 69 FPS, respectively, suggesting that the settings impact is slightly less at higher resolutions.

The Medium min FPS values are also noteworthy: at 4K Medium, the min is 289 FPS, which is still above the 240Hz threshold. This indicates that even the lowest recorded frame rates are very high.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drops from 1080p to 4K are relatively small, which indicates that the system is CPU-bound. At Low settings, the FPS goes from 453 at 1080p to 429 at 1440p (a 5.3% drop) and then to 398 at 4K (a 12.1% drop from 1080p). For High settings, the drop is from 380 at 1080p to 360 at 1440p (5.3% drop) and 334 at 4K (12.1% drop). The similar relative drops across settings reinforce that the GPU has enough headroom to render the game at 4K without a major frame penalty.

The fact that 4K Low (398 FPS) is still higher than 1080p Ultra (373 FPS) indicates that the GPU is far from being a bottleneck. The resolution scaling data points to the CPU as the limiting component. The i5-11400F's single-thread performance and 4.40 GHz boost clock are enough to push the game to 4K at high frame rates, but the FPS ceiling is likely set by the CPU architecture rather than the GPU.

The relatively small FPS gap between 1080p and 4K (55 FPS at Low) is unusual for a typical game, but Valorant is known for being CPU-bound. This data confirms that behavior. The GPU's 12 GB VRAM and high bandwidth are not stressed by the game, and the 8.3% FPS difference between the lowest and highest resolution is a clear sign that the CPU is the limiting factor.

For players looking to maximize FPS, the data shows that reducing resolution from 1080p to 4K will only cost about 12% performance, while lowering settings from Ultra to Low will gain about 17% performance. To make the most of the system, the recommended setting is Low at 1080p for the absolute highest FPS, but the system can handle 4K Ultra at 329 FPS.