Valorant

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti ranks 542nd out of 1,650 tested combos for Valorant. This places the configuration in the upper third of all possible pairings, a strong result for a competitive FPS where high frame rates directly translate to smoother aiming and faster reaction times. The rank reflects a combination that sits well above the median tested setup, though it is not at the very top tier reserved for the most extreme hardware.

Looking at the individual components, the Core i5-12400 holds a 77th percentile ranking against all CPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 19,850. Its nearest rivals in the CPU benchmark charts are telling: the Intel Core i7-9700 scores 19,831 (a delta of 0.1 percent), the Intel Core i7-8700 scores 19,894 (a delta of -0.2 percent), and the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5995WX scores 19,928 (a delta of -0.4 percent). The i5-12400 essentially trades blows with these processors, coming within a fraction of a percent of each. This indicates that for Valorant, the six-core Alder Lake chip is not leaving performance on the table relative to older eight-core designs or even a high-end workstation part.

On the graphics side, the RTX 3070 Ti sits at the 74th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 30,849. Its nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon RX 590 GME (30,755, a delta of 0.3 percent), the AMD Radeon RX 6700 (31,112, a delta of -0.8 percent), the NVIDIA Quadro M5000 (31,142, a delta of -0.9 percent), and the NVIDIA GRID M60-1Q (31,220, a delta of -1.2 percent). The data shows the RTX 3070 Ti is effectively neck-and-neck with these cards in aggregate benchmarks, though its real-world performance in Valorant is what matters for this analysis.

The overall combo rank of 542 out of 1,650 suggests that while neither component is a top-10 performer in its category, the pairing works harmoniously for Valorant's engine. The game is known for being CPU-sensitive, and the i5-12400's strong single-thread performance, evidenced by a PassMark single-thread score of 3,456, likely contributes more to the final frame rate than the GPU's raw compute. This is a balanced setup where neither part is a clear bottleneck at most settings.

FAQ

Q: How does the RTX 3070 Ti compare to its closest GPU rivals in aggregate benchmarks?

A: The RTX 3070 Ti scores 30,849 on average, which is 0.3 percent ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 590 GME (30,755), 0.8 percent behind the AMD Radeon RX 6700 (31,112), 0.9 percent behind the NVIDIA Quadro M5000 (31,142), and 1.2 percent behind the NVIDIA GRID M60-1Q (31,220). These deltas are minimal, indicating near-identical aggregate performance.

Q: What is the best frame rate this combo achieves in Valorant?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 530.4 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. At 2560x1440 Low, it reaches 502.6 FPS, and at 3840x2160 Low, it delivers 464.3 FPS. The Low preset consistently yields the highest frame rates across all resolutions.

Q: How much does the CPU matter for this game compared to the GPU?

A: The data indicates the CPU plays a significant role. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 530.4 FPS, but even at 4K Low, it still achieves 464.3 FPS. The relatively small drop from 1080p to 4K (about 66 FPS) suggests the CPU is heavily involved, as a purely GPU-bound scenario would show a larger gap between resolutions. The i5-12400's 3DMark single-thread score of 910 and PassMark single-thread score of 3,456 support this.

Q: What is the i5-12400's launch MSRP?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400 had a launch MSRP of $199. This is a factual data point from the spec sheet and does not reflect current market pricing.

Q: At which settings does the combo cross the 400 FPS threshold at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the combo exceeds 400 FPS on all tested presets: Low (502.6 FPS), Medium (422.5 FPS), High (419.9 FPS), and Ultra (410.3 FPS). All four settings remain above 400 FPS, making 1440p a fully viable resolution for high-refresh-rate monitors.

Q: How does the i5-12400's multi-threaded performance compare to its single-threaded performance?

A: The i5-12400 scores 15,935 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2,249 in single-core. In 3DMark, it scores 5,890 at max threads versus 910 for single-thread. The PassMark multithread score is 18,747 versus 3,456 for single-thread. This shows strong scaling across its 6 cores and 12 threads, which benefits games that can use multiple threads.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the optimal settings depend on the target refresh rate. For a 1080p monitor at 144Hz or 240Hz, any preset works, but the data shows diminishing returns beyond Medium. At 1920x1080, Low delivers 530.4 FPS, Medium delivers 446.8 FPS, High delivers 440.2 FPS, and Ultra delivers 434.5 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium costs about 84 FPS, but the jump from Medium to Ultra costs only about 12 FPS. This suggests that Medium is the sweet spot for visual fidelity without sacrificing much performance.

For 1440p users, the same pattern holds. Low hits 502.6 FPS, Medium hits 422.5 FPS, High hits 419.9 FPS, and Ultra hits 410.3 FPS. The gap between Medium and Ultra is just over 12 FPS, making Ultra a reasonable choice if visual quality is preferred. The difference between Low and Medium is 80 FPS, which may be worth it for players who want better visibility of enemy models without needing the absolute maximum frame rate.

At 4K, the story shifts slightly. Low delivers 464.3 FPS, Medium delivers 378.5 FPS, High delivers 358.9 FPS, and Ultra delivers 338.3 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is nearly 86 FPS, and the gap between Medium and Ultra is about 40 FPS. For 4K gaming, Low is recommended for competitive play, as it keeps frame rates above 460 FPS. Medium is a viable alternative for those who want better visuals while staying above 370 FPS.

The data indicates that the best experience for competitive play is Low settings at any resolution, as it maximizes frame rate. For a balance of visuals and performance, Medium is the recommended preset, as it provides a significant improvement over Low in graphical quality while remaining within 90 FPS of Low at 1080p, 80 FPS at 1440p, and 86 FPS at 4K. Ultra offers minimal gains over High at all resolutions, so High is preferable to Ultra unless every visual detail is desired.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce 530.4 FPS average. Medium settings yield 446.8 FPS. High settings achieve 440.2 FPS. Ultra settings round out the resolution at 434.5 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 95.9 FPS, with the largest drop occurring between Low and Medium (83.6 FPS). From Medium to High, the drop is only 6.6 FPS, and from High to Ultra, it is 5.7 FPS. This indicates that the GPU and CPU are both capable of handling 1080p easily, and the engine is not heavily taxed at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain impressive. Low settings hit 502.6 FPS. Medium settings reach 422.5 FPS. High settings produce 419.9 FPS. Ultra settings deliver 410.3 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 92.3 FPS, nearly identical to 1080p. The drop from Low to Medium is 80.1 FPS, while the drop from Medium to High is only 2.6 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 9.6 FPS. The minimal difference between Medium and High at 1440p suggests that the extra graphics work is not creating a bottleneck.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates start to show more variation. Low settings still deliver 464.3 FPS. Medium settings produce 378.5 FPS. High settings achieve 358.9 FPS. Ultra settings yield 338.3 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 126.0 FPS, wider than at lower resolutions. The drop from Low to Medium is 85.8 FPS, from Medium to High is 19.6 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 20.6 FPS. At 4K, the GPU begins to play a larger role, but the CPU still keeps frame rates far above typical monitor refresh rates.

Across all resolutions, Low settings consistently provide the highest frame rates, with 1080p Low being the peak at 530.4 FPS. Ultra settings are the lowest at each resolution, with 4K Ultra at 338.3 FPS being the minimum measured value. The data shows no min or max FPS values are available, so only average frame rates are considered.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is modest across all settings, which reveals a CPU-bound workload. At Low settings, 1080p produces 530.4 FPS, 1440p produces 502.6 FPS, and 4K produces 464.3 FPS. The total drop from 1080p to 4K is 66.1 FPS, or about 12.5 percent, even though 4K has four times the pixel count of 1080p. This small percentage decrease indicates that the CPU is the primary limiter, as a GPU-bound scenario would typically show a much larger frame rate reduction when pixel count quadruples.

At Medium settings, the pattern is similar but slightly more pronounced. 1080p yields 446.8 FPS, 1440p yields 422.5 FPS, and 4K yields 378.5 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 4K is 68.3 FPS, about 15.3 percent. At High settings, 1080p gives 440.2 FPS, 1440p gives 419.9 FPS, and 4K gives 358.9 FPS. The drop is 81.3 FPS, or 18.5 percent. At Ultra settings, 1080p gives 434.5 FPS, 1440p gives 410.3 FPS, and 4K gives 338.3 FPS. The drop is 96.2 FPS, or 22.1 percent.

The widening gap at higher settings suggests that the RTX 3070 Ti becomes more involved as graphical load increases, but even at Ultra, the frame rate at 4K remains above 338 FPS. The limiting component is clearly the CPU, particularly at lower settings where the GPU has spare capacity. The i5-12400's 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz, appear to be the ceiling for Valorant's engine. The fact that 4K Low still achieves 464.3 FPS, only 66 FPS below 1080p Low, confirms that valorant is not demanding on the GPU for this setup.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, with 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB of L2 cache per core. Its benchmark results show strong single-thread performance, which is critical for Valorant's engine. The 3DMark single-thread score is 910, the 3DMark 2-thread score is 1,692, and the PassMark single-thread score is 3,456. These numbers indicate that the CPU can handle the game's primary thread efficiently.

In multi-threaded workloads, the i5-12400 scores 5,890 in 3DMark at max threads, 15,935 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, and 18,747 in PassMark multithread. The scaling from 2 threads to max threads is nearly linear (1,692 to 5,890, roughly 3.5x), which suggests the CPU can distribute work across its cores effectively. For Valorant, which typically uses fewer threads, the single-thread and 2-thread scores are more relevant. The 3DMark 4-thread score of 3,012 shows that even with four threads, the CPU performs well.

The CPU's role in this combo is evident from the resolution scaling data. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 530.4 FPS, but at 4K Low, it still hits 464.3 FPS. If the GPU were the bottleneck, the 4K result would be much lower. Instead, the CPU's single-thread performance appears to cap the frame rate around 530 FPS at 1080p and around 464 FPS at 4K, with the difference being due to the GPU's load increasing at higher resolutions. The i5-12400's 77th percentile ranking among all CPUs, and its near-parity with older i7 models (within 0.4 percent), confirms it is a capable processor for this game. The data suggests that upgrading the GPU would yield minimal gains in Valorant unless the CPU is also upgraded, as the i5-12400 is already at the edge of what the game's engine can utilize.