Valorant

The Intel Core i5-12400F pairs with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER to deliver exceptionally high frame rates in Valorant, making this combination one of the stronger mid-range pairings in the database. With a 6-core, 12-thread Alder Lake-S design running at a 2.50 GHz base clock and 4.40 GHz boost, the CPU delivers strong single-threaded performance, which is critical for a competitive FPS like Valorant. The RTX 4070 SUPER, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 1980 MHz base and 2475 MHz boost clock, provides ample graphical headroom. Together, they produce average frame rates that consistently exceed 380 FPS even at 4K Ultra settings, highlighting how well this hardware handles the game’s engine.

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

The Core i5-12400F’s six physical cores and twelve threads are more than sufficient for Valorant, a title that rarely scales beyond a handful of threads. The CPU’s single-thread capabilities are reflected in its benchmark scores: it posts a 3dmark_single_thread score of 909 and a cinebench_r23_singlecore score of 2332. These figures place the chip in the 77th percentile against all CPUs, indicating solid performance for gaming workloads. The boost clock of 4.40 GHz ensures that the processor can respond quickly to the rapid-fire, frame-by-frame demands of a tactical shooter.

In multi-threaded tests, the CPU shows a cinebench_r23_multicore score of 16518, but Valorant rarely stresses all cores simultaneously. The game’s engine favors high-frequency, low-latency execution, which the 12400F provides. The processor’s nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-8700K, scores an average of 19210 versus the 12400F’s 19221, a negligible 0.1% difference. This near-tie suggests that older high-end CPUs and this modern mid-range chip are functionally equivalent for Valorant’s CPU-bound scenarios.

The 12400F’s 18 MB of shared L3 cache also plays a role in maintaining smooth frame delivery. While cache size is not directly listed in the measured FPS data, the combination of high clock speeds and adequate cache ensures that the CPU does not bottleneck the GPU. At 1080p Low settings, the combo hits 533 FPS average, which is the highest measured result in the dataset. This suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU far beyond typical monitor refresh rates, even at lower resolutions where CPU overhead is more pronounced.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

The measured FPS data reveals that Valorant’s graphical presets have a modest impact on performance with this hardware. At 1080p, moving from Low to Medium reduces the average frame rate by roughly 15%, from 533 FPS to 453.7 FPS, while High and Ultra presets sit at 447.1 and 438.6 FPS respectively. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is only about 94 FPS, which is significant in absolute terms but still leaves the user with hundreds of frames per second in reserve.

For competitive play, the Low preset at 1080p offers the highest average frame rate at 533 FPS, which minimizes input latency and maximizes responsiveness. However, the Medium preset at 453.7 FPS still provides an exceptionally smooth experience, and the visual upgrade may be worth the ~80 FPS cost for some players. At 1440p, the pattern holds: Low yields 503.3 FPS, Medium drops to 425.4, and Ultra falls to 413.2. Even at 4K, Low produces 466.6 FPS, meaning the game remains playable at high refresh rates across all resolutions.

The data suggests that the best experience depends on the user’s display refresh rate. For a 144 Hz or 240 Hz monitor, even the Ultra preset at 4K (384.6 FPS) exceeds the display’s capability, so there is no practical need to drop below High or Medium. For users with 360 Hz or faster panels, the Low preset at 1080p or 1440p is the only way to fully utilize the display’s potential. The Ultra preset at 1440p still delivers 413.2 FPS, which is above most high-refresh displays, making it a strong choice for players who prioritize visual fidelity without sacrificing competitive performance.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear picture of which component is the primary limiter. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 533 at 1080p to 503.3 at 1440p, a decline of about 5.6%, and then to 466.6 at 4K, another 7.3% reduction. This relatively shallow curve indicates that at Low settings, the CPU is heavily involved, and the GPU has enough headroom to handle the increased pixel count without significant slowdown.

At Ultra settings, the scaling is more pronounced. The average FPS falls from 438.6 at 1080p to 413.2 at 1440p (a 5.8% drop) and then to 384.6 at 4K (a 6.9% further drop). This steeper decline at higher settings suggests that the GPU begins to take on a larger role as graphical complexity increases. However, even at 4K Ultra, the system still produces 384.6 FPS, which is far above the 60 FPS standard and well beyond the refresh rate of most gaming monitors.

The data indicates that the RTX 4070 SUPER is not the bottleneck in this configuration, even at 4K. The GPU’s passmark_g3d score of 29995 and its 84th percentile ranking against all GPUs confirm that it is a high-performance part. The fact that frame rates remain above 380 FPS across all settings and resolutions suggests that the CPU, while strong, is still the limiting factor in lower-resolution scenarios. At 1080p Low, the 533 FPS average is likely close to the maximum achievable with this CPU, as the GPU is barely stressed.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This specific combination of the Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER ranks 427 out of 1650 tested combos in Valorant. This places it in the top 26% of all configurations in the database, which is a strong showing for a mid-range CPU paired with a high-end GPU. The ranking reflects the system’s ability to deliver consistently high frame rates across all tested resolutions, even if it does not top the charts.

The CPU’s nearest rivals provide context for its performance tier. The Intel Core i7-8700K, which scores nearly identically in average benchmark score, would likely produce similar results in Valorant. The AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS, which is 0.7% faster in average score, might edge out the 12400F by a small margin, but the difference is within the noise of real-world testing. The AMD EPYC 7773X, despite being 1.3% faster in synthetic benchmarks, is a server-class chip that would not be a sensible choice for gaming, but the data shows it would not dramatically alter frame rates.

On the GPU side, the RTX 4070 SUPER’s nearest rival is the NVIDIA RTX A6000, which scores 0.2% higher in average benchmarks. In practice, this means the GPU is performing at the expected level for its class. The AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE is 0.3% slower, and the AMD Radeon Pro 580X is 1.4% slower, indicating that the 4070 SUPER is well-positioned among its peers. The combination’s rank of 427 suggests that while there are many faster configurations, this pairing delivers exceptional performance for the hardware class.

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER brings 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s. For Valorant, this memory configuration is overkill; the game’s textures and geometry are lightweight, and the GPU never approaches the 12 GB capacity at any resolution in the measured data. The memory clock runs at 1313 MHz with 21 Gbps effective speed, which contributes to the card’s ability to handle high frame rates without memory-related stutters.

The GPU’s boost clock of 2475 MHz, combined with 7168 shading units and 80 ROPs, provides more than enough raw compute for Valorant’s stylized visuals. The card achieves a passmark_g3d score of 29995 and a passmark_gpu_compute score of 17108, placing it in the 84th percentile of all GPUs. In this game, the GPU’s role is largely secondary; the measured frame rates show that even at 4K Ultra, the RTX 4070 SUPER is not stressed to its limits.

The GPU’s 220 W TDP and dual-slot design are typical for this performance class, but the power draw is not a factor in the measured FPS results. The card’s 35.48 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 554.4 GTexel/s texture rate are far beyond what Valorant requires, confirming that the game is CPU-bound in most scenarios. The fact that frame rates drop only slightly from 1080p Low to 4K Ultra indicates that the GPU has substantial headroom, and the limiting factor in this system is the CPU’s ability to issue draw calls and process game logic.

The RTX 4070 SUPER’s 12 GB VRAM is more than sufficient for current and future titles, but for Valorant specifically, it is a non-issue. The GPU’s high pixel rate of 198.0 GPixel/s ensures that even at 4K, the card can fill pixels faster than the CPU can feed it. The data shows that this combination is well-balanced for Valorant, with the CPU providing the foundation for high frame rates and the GPU ensuring that visual settings do not become a bottleneck.