Valorant

Valorant is a competitive FPS built around precision and reaction speed, and the combination of an Intel Core i5-11400F with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER delivers frame rates that far exceed the needs of any high-refresh-rate monitor. The measured data shows a system with massive headroom, where the GPU is rarely the primary constraint, even at 4K resolution. This pairing places in the 2016th position out of 3708 tested combos, putting it in the upper half of all possible configurations for this title, a strong showing for a mid-range CPU from 2021 paired with a flagship-tier GPU.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of performance scaling across resolutions. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 453 FPS. Moving up to 2560x1440 at the same Low settings, the average drops to 429 FPS, a reduction of 24 FPS or roughly 5.3%. The jump to 3840x2160 at Low settings yields an average of 398 FPS, which is 31 FPS lower than the 1440p result and 55 FPS lower than the 1080p result. This scaling pattern indicates that the CPU is the primary limiting factor at lower resolutions, as the frame rate does not increase proportionally when the GPU has less work to do.

The High settings preset shows a similar trend. At 1080p, the average is 380 FPS, at 1440p it is 360 FPS, and at 4K it drops to 334 FPS. The delta between 1080p and 4K at High settings is 46 FPS, which is a 12.1% decrease. This is a relatively modest drop compared to what would be expected in a GPU-bound scenario, reinforcing that the i5-11400F's single-thread performance is the bottleneck. The RTX 4080 SUPER, with its 52.22 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 736.3 GB/s of memory bandwidth, is more than capable of handling Valorant's low graphical demands, so the frame rate ceiling is set by the processor's ability to feed the render pipeline.

At the Medium preset, the measured data includes minimum and maximum FPS values, providing insight into frame time consistency. At 1080p Medium, the average is 386 FPS with a minimum of 328 FPS and a maximum of 444 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average is 366 FPS with a minimum of 311 FPS and a maximum of 421 FPS. At 4K Medium, the average is 340 FPS with a minimum of 289 FPS and a maximum of 391 FPS. The spread between minimum and maximum FPS is consistent across resolutions, suggesting that the CPU's frame pacing remains stable even as resolution increases, which is a positive indicator for competitive play where consistency matters more than raw peak FPS.

The Ultra preset shows the smallest numerical differences between resolutions. At 1080p, the average is 373 FPS, at 1440p it is 354 FPS, and at 4K it is 329 FPS. The difference between 1080p and 4K at Ultra is only 44 FPS, which is 11.8% lower. This suggests that the Ultra preset adds enough GPU work that the RTX 4080 SUPER begins to have a more noticeable influence on performance, though the CPU still remains the dominant factor. The data indicates that Resolution Scaling is remarkably flat for this combination, with the game never dropping below 289 FPS (the 4K Medium minimum), meaning any resolution is viable for competitive play.

How This Combo Ranks

The comboRankInGame field places this specific configuration at rank 2016 out of 3708 tested combos for Valorant. This rank of 2016 puts it in the 54th percentile of all tested combinations, meaning it outperforms slightly more than half of the other CPU-GPU pairings in this game. This is a respectable position, though it highlights that the i5-11400F is not the strongest possible CPU for Valorant, which is known to be highly sensitive to single-thread performance. The RTX 4080 SUPER is clearly not the limiting factor here, as its benchmark scores are far above what any current game would require at 1080p or 1440p.

Looking at the CPU's position relative to its nearest rivals in general benchmarks, the i5-11400F has an average benchmark score of 17177, which places it in the 71st percentile of all CPUs. Its closest rival, the AMD EPYC 7H12, scores 17120, a delta of 0.3% in favor of the Intel part. The Intel Core i5-12450H scores 17239, which is 0.4% higher than the i5-11400F, and the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G scores 17278, which is 0.6% higher. These deltas are negligible, indicating that the i5-11400F is competitively positioned in general processing tasks, but its Rocket Lake architecture and 14 nm process node mean it lacks the raw single-thread dominance of newer designs.

For the GPU, the RTX 4080 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 54209, placing it in the 86th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, scores 54247, a delta of -0.1%, meaning the SUPER variant is effectively identical in performance to the non-SUPER model. The AMD Radeon Pro W5700X scores 54828, which is 1.1% higher, and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB scores 55698, which is 2.7% higher. These are all within a narrow band, showing that the GPU is in the top tier of available hardware. The combination of a top-tier GPU with a mid-range CPU results in a combo rank that is solidly above average, but not elite, because Valorant's engine favors CPU clock speed and IPC over raw graphics throughput.

FAQ

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

A: The highest measured average FPS is 453, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset.

Q: Does the RTX 4080 SUPER become the bottleneck at 4K resolution?

A: No. At 4K with Ultra settings, the combo still averages 329 FPS, and the minimum FPS across all 4K presets is 289 (Medium). The data shows the CPU remains the primary limiter, as the FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is only 11-12% across presets.

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

A: The i5-11400F has an average benchmark score of 17177, which is 0.3% higher than the AMD EPYC 7H12 (17120) and 0.6% lower than the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G (17278). The differences are within 1% across all four nearest rivals.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested combinations for Valorant?

A: This combination ranks 2016th out of 3708 tested combos, placing it in the upper half of all configurations for this game.

Q: Which settings preset offers the highest minimum FPS at 1440p?

A: The Medium preset at 2560x1440 has a minimum FPS of 311, which is the only preset with a reported minimum at that resolution. It averages 366 FPS with a maximum of 421.

Q: Is the RTX 4080 SUPER's performance significantly different from the non-SUPER RTX 4080?

A: No. The RTX 4080 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 54209, while the RTX 4080 scores 54247, a delta of -0.1%, indicating essentially identical performance in general benchmarks.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data suggests that the choice of settings preset has minimal impact on playability for this combo, but there are nuances worth considering for competitive integrity. The Low preset at 1080p delivers the highest average FPS at 453, which is ideal for players seeking maximum responsiveness. However, the difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is only 80 FPS (453 vs 373), which is a 17.7% reduction. In a game like Valorant, where the visual differences between Low and Ultra are often subtle, the Low preset provides the best competitive advantage by maximizing frame rate and minimizing input latency.

For players using 1440p monitors, the Low preset averages 429 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 354 FPS. The 75 FPS difference is noticeable but not game-changing, and the Medium preset offers a balanced choice with a 366 FPS average and a reported minimum of 311 FPS, ensuring no significant frame drops during intense firefights. The data shows that even at Ultra settings, the frame rate remains above 350 FPS, which exceeds the refresh rate of virtually all gaming monitors on the market.

At 4K resolution, the Low preset averages 398 FPS, while Ultra averages 329 FPS. The Medium preset provides a minimum FPS of 289, which is the lowest measured value across all configurations in this dataset. For 4K users, the High preset at 334 FPS average is a reasonable compromise, but the Low preset offers the highest headroom. Given that Valorant is a tactical shooter where every millisecond matters, the recommendation is to use the Low preset at any resolution to achieve the highest FPS and most consistent frame pacing, as the visual fidelity trade-off is minimal in this stylized game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset provides a detailed picture of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 453 FPS, the Medium preset averages 386 FPS with a minimum of 328 and a maximum of 444, the High preset averages 380 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 373 FPS. The spread between the lowest and highest average at 1080p is 80 FPS, with Low being the clear leader.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 429 FPS, the Medium preset averages 366 FPS with a minimum of 311 and a maximum of 421, the High preset averages 360 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 354 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 75 FPS, which is slightly less than at 1080p, indicating a small shift toward GPU dependency as resolution increases.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 398 FPS, the Medium preset averages 340 FPS with a minimum of 289 and a maximum of 391, the High preset averages 334 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 329 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra at 4K is 69 FPS, which is the smallest spread across all resolutions. This confirms that the RTX 4080 SUPER is handling the increased pixel count efficiently, but the i5-11400F's 4.40 GHz boost clock and 12 MB of L3 cache are still the limiting factors, as the frame rates do not scale down drastically with resolution.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Rocket Lake architecture, built on Intel's 14 nm process node. It has a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, with 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 512 KB of L2 cache per core, and 12 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU's single-thread benchmark scores are particularly relevant for Valorant: it scores 868 in 3dmark_single_thread, 204 in cinebench_r15_singlecore, 850 in cinebench_r20_singlecore, and 2024 in cinebench_r23_singlecore. These scores place it in the 71st percentile of all CPUs, which is solid but not exceptional.

Valorant is a game that relies heavily on single-thread performance because its engine processes game logic, physics, and player input on a limited number of threads. The i5-11400F's boost clock of 4.40 GHz is competitive, but its Rocket Lake architecture, while an improvement over previous generations, is outpaced by newer designs like Intel's 12th Gen Alder Lake and AMD's Zen 3 and Zen 4. The benchmark data shows that the CPU's multi-threaded performance is strong for its class, with a cinebench_r23_multicore score of 14340 and a geekbench_multicore score of 7737, but this is largely irrelevant for Valorant, which rarely utilizes more than a few cores.

The measured FPS data supports this analysis. If the GPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see a significant FPS drop when moving from 1080p to 4K, as the RTX 4080 SUPER would have to render four times as many pixels. Instead, the average FPS only drops by about 12% across all presets, which indicates that the CPU is the limiting factor. The i5-11400F's 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient to avoid multi-threading bottlenecks, but its single-core performance at 4.40 GHz is what determines the frame rate ceiling. The data shows that this CPU can push over 450 FPS in Valorant at low settings, which is more than enough for competitive play, but it is not the top-tier performer that a newer, higher-clocked processor would be.