Valorant

Valorant is a competitive FPS where frame rates far beyond display refresh rates are the norm, and the measured data for the Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER reflects this. The benchmark results show a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-limited at lower resolutions but transitions to a more balanced profile as resolution increases. The data indicates that this combination is exceptionally fast, never dropping below an average of 386.5 FPS even under the heaviest load tested, which positions it in the upper echelon of tested configurations. The following analysis breaks down how the system scales across resolutions, what settings provide the best experience, and how each component contributes to the final frame counts.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate data across the three tested resolutions reveals a clear pattern of diminishing returns as pixel count increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 530.6 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops this to 505.2 FPS, a reduction of approximately 4.8%. At 4K Low, the average falls to 468 FPS, which is another 7.4% reduction from the 1440p figure. This scaling shows that even at 4K, the system is not being pushed to its absolute limit, as the frame rate remains astronomically high.

The scaling story is similar for the High preset. At 1080p High, the average is 443.5 FPS. This drops to 420.1 FPS at 1440p High, a 5.3% decrease, and then to 388.1 FPS at 4K High, another 7.6% decrease. The consistent percentage drops between each resolution step suggest that the workload is scaling predictably with the number of pixels being rendered. The fact that the 4K High result (388.1 FPS) is still higher than the 1080p Ultra result of many lesser systems underscores the raw capability of this pairing.

What is most telling about the limiting component is the delta between settings at each resolution. At 1080p, the gap between Low (530.6 FPS) and Ultra (437.1 FPS) is 93.5 FPS, or roughly 21%. At 4K, the gap between Low (468 FPS) and Ultra (386.5 FPS) is 81.5 FPS, or about 21% as well. This consistency indicates that the GPU is scaling with the settings load at all resolutions. The data suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU efficiently even at high frame rates, but the GPU is the component that determines the ceiling when settings are increased. The system is never CPU-bound in a way that would cause frame rates to plateau across different resolutions; instead, every resolution and settings change results in a measurable FPS shift.

Settings Recommendations

Examining the four settings presets across all resolutions, the data shows that the Low preset consistently delivers the highest average frame rates, but the question is whether the performance gain justifies the visual compromise. At 1080p, Low yields 530.6 FPS, while Medium produces 454.4 FPS, a difference of 76.2 FPS. High produces 443.5 FPS, and Ultra drops to 437.1 FPS. The incremental cost of moving from Medium to High is only 10.9 FPS, and from High to Ultra is a mere 6.4 FPS.

The data suggests that the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience at 1080p, as it provides a substantial frame rate (454.4 FPS) while likely offering a significant visual improvement over Low. The jump from Medium to High is marginal in percentage terms (around 2.4% slower), but it still maintains an average above 440 FPS. For competitive play, the Low preset at 1080p provides the absolute highest FPS, but the difference between Low and Medium is unlikely to be perceptible on most high-refresh-rate monitors, which typically cap at 360 Hz or 500 Hz. The measured 530.6 FPS at Low is beyond the refresh rate of virtually all displays, so the extra frames are academic.

At 4K, the recommendation shifts slightly. The Low preset (468 FPS) is still the fastest, but the Medium preset (397 FPS) remains above the 360 Hz threshold for many high-end monitors. The Ultra preset at 386.5 FPS is also playable, but the data shows that the performance cost of Ultra over Medium is only 10.5 FPS, which is a 2.6% reduction. Given that all presets at 4K are above 380 FPS, the choice comes down to visual fidelity versus a marginal FPS gain. The benchmark results indicate that for this specific game, the Medium preset at 1440p (425.5 FPS) provides the best combination of high frame rates and likely visual quality, as it sits comfortably above the 4K High result while offering a resolution advantage over 1080p.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is the primary driver of the frame rate differences between settings. With 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus delivering 736.3 GB/s of bandwidth, the card has ample resources for Valorant, which is not a memory-intensive title at these settings. The GPU's boost clock of 2550 MHz and base clock of 2295 MHz are high, and the data shows that the card scales its performance effectively when settings are increased. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra (386.5 FPS) versus 4K Low (468 FPS) demonstrates a 21% performance range, which is directly attributable to the GPU's shading units and texture rate.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it in the 88th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 53610. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, scores 53489, a delta of only 0.2%. This indicates that the RTX 4080 SUPER is essentially tied with that competitor in synthetic tests, yet the measured FPS in Valorant are exceptional. The GPU's FP32 performance of 52.22 TFLOPS and its 10240 shading units are more than sufficient for a game like Valorant, which is designed to run on much weaker hardware. The data shows that the GPU is never the bottleneck in a way that would cause frame rates to drop below 380 FPS, even at the most demanding settings tested. The 16 GB VRAM is never a limiting factor in this title, as the game's asset requirements are far below this capacity, allowing the card to focus its full bandwidth on rendering frames.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the benchmark database, this specific combination of the Intel Core i5-12400F and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER ranks 432nd out of 1650 tested combos for Valorant. This places it in the top 26.2% of all configurations tested, which is a strong showing given that the CPU is a mid-range part from 2022 while the GPU is a high-end part from 2024. The ranking suggests that while the GPU is the star of the show, the CPU is not holding it back significantly, as the combo outperforms the median tested system by a wide margin.

The CPU's own benchmark data helps contextualize this ranking. The Core i5-12400F has an average benchmark score of 19221, placing it in the 77th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-8700K, scores 19210, a delta of 0.1%, meaning they are statistically equivalent in synthetic tests. However, in this game, the combo rank of 432 suggests that the CPU's performance is adequate for the GPU's output. The fact that the combo is not ranked higher is likely due to the presence of even faster CPUs in the database, such as those with higher single-thread scores, which can push the RTX 4080 SUPER even further. The data indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor in this pairing, as the CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient for Valorant's engine, which does not heavily utilize multi-threading.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its L3 cache is 18 MB shared, and it supports dual-channel DDR4 and DDR5 memory. In Valorant, the data shows that the CPU is capable of sustaining frame rates well above 500 FPS at lower settings, which indicates that its single-thread performance is strong. The benchmark scores support this, with a 3dmark single-thread score of 909 and a passmark single-thread score of 3481. These scores are in line with what is expected for a modern mid-range desktop CPU.

The CPU's multi-threaded capabilities are less relevant for Valorant, but they do contribute to overall system responsiveness. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 16518 and the 3dmark max-threads score of 5912 show that the CPU can handle background tasks without impacting game performance. The data indicates that the CPU is not a bottleneck at 4K, as the frame rate drops from 1080p to 4K are consistent with a GPU-bound scenario. However, at 1080p with Low settings, the 530.6 FPS result approaches the practical limits of what the CPU can feed to the GPU, as the frame rate is so high that any CPU overhead becomes significant. The CPU's 65 W TDP and 10 nm process node are not directly reflected in the game data, but the benchmark results suggest that the processor delivers sufficient performance to keep the RTX 4080 SUPER well-fed at all tested resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achieved by this combo?

A: The highest average frame rate recorded is 530.6 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How much does the frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K on High settings?

A: The average frame rate drops from 443.5 FPS at 1920x1080 High to 388.1 FPS at 3840x2160 High, which is a reduction of 55.4 FPS or approximately 12.5%.

Q: Which setting preset provides the best balance of performance and quality at 1440p?

A: The Medium preset at 2560x1440 yields an average of 425.5 FPS, which is only 15.4 FPS less than the Low preset (505.2 FPS) but likely offers better visual fidelity. The High preset is close at 420.1 FPS, making Medium the recommended choice.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU the limiting factor at 4K?

A: The data shows a consistent frame rate drop between resolutions and settings, indicating that the GPU is the limiting factor at 4K. The CPU's performance is sufficient to avoid bottlenecking, as the 4K Low result (468 FPS) is still very high.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400F has an average benchmark score of 19221, which is 0.1% higher than the Intel Core i7-8700K's score of 19210.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested configurations?

A: This specific CPU and GPU combination ranks 432nd out of 1650 tested combos for Valorant, placing it in the top 26.2% of all systems tested.