Valorant

The Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER combination delivers exceptionally high frame rates in Valorant, positioning it as a strong contender for competitive play. The data indicates that this pairing is heavily CPU-bound at lower settings, while the GPU becomes more relevant at higher resolutions and quality presets. This analysis breaks down the measured performance, component roles, and how this specific configuration ranks against the broader test pool.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i5-12400 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Alder Lake-S architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, featuring an 18 MB shared L3 cache. Its benchmark scores show strong single-thread performance, with a 3dmark_single_thread score of 910 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2249. This single-thread capability is critical for Valorant, an FPS title that relies heavily on a few primary threads for game logic and rendering commands.

In the measured FPS data, the CPU's influence is most apparent when comparing Low settings across resolutions. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves 528.5 FPS, while at 2560x1440 Low, it reaches 503 FPS, and at 3840x2160 Low, it still manages 406.3 FPS. The relatively small drop from 1080p to 1440p (about 5%) compared to the drop from 1440p to 4K (about 19%) suggests that at lower resolutions, the CPU is the primary limiter, and the processor's high boost clock and efficient architecture keep frame rates near their ceiling. The CPU's passmark_single_thread score of 3456 further confirms its capability to handle the game's per-frame processing demands without becoming a bottleneck until the resolution becomes extremely demanding.

The processor's multi-threaded performance is also respectable, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 15935 and a 3dmark_max_threads score of 5890. However, Valorant does not scale perfectly with many cores, so the 6-core/12-thread configuration is more than adequate; the data shows that the CPU's single-core strength is the determining factor for high refresh rates. Compared to its nearest rivals, the i5-12400 has an average benchmark score of 19850, which is 0.1% ahead of the Intel Core i7-9700 and 0.4% ahead of the Intel Core i5-11600K. This indicates that in CPU-bound scenarios, the i5-12400 offers performance parity with those older flagship parts, making it a capable choice for maximizing frame rates in Valorant.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is based on the Turing architecture, utilizing the TU106 chip manufactured on TSMC's 12 nm process. It features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1470 MHz with a boost clock of 1650 MHz, and its memory runs at an effective speed of 14 Gbps. With 2176 shading units, 136 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, the card provides a solid foundation for modern gaming, though its FP32 performance of 7.181 TFLOPS indicates it is not a top-tier part by today's standards.

In Valorant, the GPU's role becomes more pronounced as settings and resolution increase. The data shows that at 1920x1080 High settings, the combo achieves 372.9 FPS, but at 3840x2160 High, it drops to 251.7 FPS. This 32.5% reduction highlights how the GPU's rendering workload scales with pixel count. More telling is the comparison between Low and Ultra settings at the same resolution. At 2560x1440, the difference between Low (503 FPS) and Ultra (303.5 FPS) is roughly 40%, and at 3840x2160, the gap between Low (406.3 FPS) and Ultra (240.2 FPS) is nearly 41%. These substantial gaps demonstrate that while the RTX 2060 SUPER is more than sufficient for low-settings competitive play, it becomes a limiting factor when visual fidelity is prioritized, especially at higher resolutions.

The GPU's memory capacity of 8 GB is ample for Valorant, which is not a VRAM-intensive title, so the card's bandwidth and compute capacity are the key constraints. The passmark_g3d score of 16462 places the card at the 63rd percentile among all GPUs, and its average benchmark score of 19774 is 0.3% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN and 0.5% ahead of the GeForce RTX 2070. This indicates that the 2060 SUPER is well-positioned for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but for 4K Ultra settings, the data shows that frame rates dip below 250 FPS, suggesting that the GPU is the primary bottleneck in those scenarios.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: What is the maximum average frame rate achieved by this combo in Valorant?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 528.5 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K resolution with the highest settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the combo achieves an average of 240.2 FPS, which is the lowest measured result but still well above typical 144 Hz refresh rates.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more of a bottleneck at 1080p Low settings?

A: The data suggests the CPU is the primary limiter at 1080p Low, as the frame rate of 528.5 FPS is only slightly higher than the 503 FPS at 1440p Low, indicating that the GPU has headroom but the CPU hits its limit.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 SUPER compare to its closest rival, the RTX 2070?

A: According to benchmark scores, the RTX 2060 SUPER has an average score of 19774, which is 0.5% higher than the RTX 2070's score of 19680, showing a marginal performance advantage in synthetic tests.

Q: What is the difference in performance between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the average frame rate drops from 503 FPS on Low to 303.5 FPS on Ultra, a reduction of approximately 40%, indicating a significant GPU workload increase.

Q: Does the i5-12400 outperform or underperform its nearest rival, the i7-9700?

A: The i5-12400 has an average benchmark score of 19850, which is 0.1% higher than the i7-9700's score of 19831, showing a negligible performance edge in aggregate benchmarks.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of how this combo scales across three resolutions and four quality presets. Starting at 1920x1080, the performance is exceptional across the board. Low settings yield 528.5 FPS, Medium settings produce 392.4 FPS, High settings drop to 372.9 FPS, and Ultra settings settle at 353.2 FPS. The transition from Low to Medium is notable, with a 25.7% reduction in frame rate, while the drop from Medium to High is only 5%, and from High to Ultra is 5.3%. This pattern suggests that the CPU maintains high throughput, but the GPU's fill rate and shader complexity begin to matter more as settings increase.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show a clear scaling trend. Low settings achieve 503 FPS, which is 4.8% lower than the 1080p Low result. Medium settings reach 330.1 FPS, High settings hit 314.9 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 303.5 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium at 1440p is 34.4%, larger than the 25.7% gap seen at 1080p, indicating that the GPU's workload increases disproportionately with resolution and settings. The difference between High and Ultra at 1440p is 3.6%, a smaller margin than at 1080p, suggesting that the GPU is approaching its performance ceiling for this title.

Moving to 3840x2160, the performance remains playable but with more pronounced GPU limitation. Low settings yield 406.3 FPS, Medium settings produce 264.1 FPS, High settings reach 251.7 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 240.2 FPS. The scaling from Low to Medium at 4K is dramatic, with a 35% reduction in frame rate, while the subsequent drops from Medium to High (4.7%) and High to Ultra (4.6%) are modest. This indicates that at 4K, the RTX 2060 SUPER's compute and memory bandwidth are the limiting factors, and the CPU's role is diminished. Across all resolutions, the data shows that Low settings always deliver over 400 FPS, ensuring that competitive players can achieve maximum refresh rates, while Ultra settings at 4K still exceed 240 FPS, which is sufficient for high-end monitors.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

In the aggregate database of tested configurations for Valorant, this specific combination of the Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER ranks 1054 out of 1650 total combos. This ranking places it in the 36th percentile of all tested systems, meaning that 596 other combinations outperform it in terms of average measured FPS. While this might seem low given the high absolute frame rates, it reflects the fact that Valorant is a highly optimized esports title where many modern high-end CPUs and GPUs can achieve similarly high or higher frame rates.

The rank of 1054 suggests that this combo is not at the top of the performance hierarchy, but it is also far from the bottom. The data indicates that the primary limitation is the CPU's single-thread performance relative to newer flagship processors, as well as the GPU's mid-range position within the GeForce 20-series lineup. Given that the i5-12400's average benchmark score of 19850 places it just 0.1% ahead of the i7-9700 and 0.4% ahead of the i5-11600K, it is clear that this CPU is competitive with older high-end parts but not with the latest generation's top models.

On the GPU side, the RTX 2060 SUPER's average score of 19774 is 0.5% ahead of the RTX 2070, but it lags behind more modern cards. The combination of a mid-range GPU with a capable yet not top-tier CPU results in a system that excels at 1080p and 1440p gaming but cannot compete with configurations featuring flagship processors and GPUs in the aggregate ranking. The measured FPS data confirms that this combo is well-suited for achieving high refresh rates in competitive play, but the 1054th rank out of 1650 indicates that there are many other tested combinations that deliver even higher average frame rates, particularly those with more powerful CPUs that can push past the 528.5 FPS ceiling seen at 1080p Low.