Valorant

Valorant is not a typical GPU stress test; it is a competitive FPS where frame rates are driven by a combination of CPU throughput and GPU rendering efficiency. The data for the Intel Core i5-12600KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti shows a system that is overwhelmingly powerful for this title, with the average FPS never dropping below 430.4 across all tested configurations. The measured results reveal that the Limiting component shifts depending on the preset and resolution, but the system consistently delivers performance far beyond the requirements of high-refresh-rate monitors.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 with this hardware reveals a modest performance drop that is characteristic of a CPU-bound scenario at lower resolutions. At the High preset, the average frame rate moves from 499 FPS at 1080p to 472.1 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 438.7 FPS at 4K. This represents an 11.9% reduction in average FPS from 1080p to 4K. The scaling is similarly gentle for the Ultra preset, where the average drops from 491.5 FPS at 1080p to 430.4 FPS at 4K, a 12.4% decline.

This pattern indicates that the RTX 4070 Ti is not being fully utilized until the resolution increases significantly. At 1080p, the i5-12600KF is the primary bottleneck, as the GPU can process frames faster than the CPU can feed it. The data supports this: the difference between the Low preset at 1080p (599.2 FPS) and the Low preset at 4K (529 FPS) is only 11.7%, which is a small penalty for a 4x increase in pixel count. When the resolution scales to 4K, the GPU workload increases, but the frame rate remains exceptionally high, showing that the RTX 4070 Ti has ample headroom even at 3840x2160. The fact that the frame rate at 4K High is still 438.7 FPS confirms that the limiting component in most scenarios is the CPU’s ability to handle the game’s logic, not the GPU’s rendering capacity.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate recorded for this combination?

A: The highest average frame rate recorded is 599.2 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low settings preset.

Q: How does the Low preset compare to the Ultra preset at 2560x1440?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset delivers an average of 567.1 FPS, while the Ultra preset delivers 467.8 FPS. This shows a performance gap of 99.3 FPS between the two presets.

Q: Is the performance difference between High and Ultra settings significant at 4K?

A: The data shows a minimal difference. At 3840x2160, the High preset averages 438.7 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 430.4 FPS. The delta of 8.3 FPS suggests that the visual gains from Ultra come at a negligible performance cost.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU limit performance at 1920x1080?

A: Benchmark results indicate the CPU is the limiting component at 1920x1080. The frame rates at 1080p are extremely high, and the scaling from Low to Ultra presets is relatively flat, suggesting the GPU has spare capacity while the CPU works near its limit.

Q: What is the performance difference between the Low preset at 1080p and the Low preset at 4K?

A: The Low preset at 1080p averages 599.2 FPS, while the Low preset at 4K averages 529 FPS. This is a 70.2 FPS reduction, or approximately 11.7%, which is a modest penalty for the significant increase in resolution.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 Ti's benchmark score position it against the RTX 5090 Mobile?

A: The RTX 4070 Ti has an average benchmark score of 44900, while the nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile, has an average score of 45152, resulting in a delta of -0.6%.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is a high-end graphics card based on the Ada Lovelace architecture, built on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It features 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s. The card’s clock speeds are substantial, with a base clock of 2310 MHz and a boost clock of 2610 MHz. These specifications, combined with 7680 shading units, allow for immense raw compute throughput.

In Valorant, the GPU’s role is less about raw pixel pushing and more about maintaining high frame rates at any settings. The measured FPS data shows that the RTX 4070 Ti is more than capable of handling the game at 4K with Ultra settings, delivering 430.4 FPS. The GPU’s performance headroom is evident when comparing the Low preset at 1080p (599.2 FPS) to the High preset at 4K (438.7 FPS). This indicates that the GPU is not the primary bottleneck in most scenarios; rather, the CPU’s performance dictates the upper bounds of the frame rate. The card’s 85th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with a Passmark G3D score of 31624, further confirms its high-end status, though the in-game results show that Valorant does not push this GPU to its limits until very high resolutions are combined with demanding presets.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system demonstrates its peak performance. The Low preset yields an average of 599.2 FPS, while the Medium preset averages 510.4 FPS. The High preset averages 499 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 491.5 FPS. The spread between the lowest and highest presets is 107.7 FPS, showing that the game’s settings have an impact even at this resolution, but the CPU is the limiting factor.

Moving to 2560x1440, the average frame rates remain exceptionally high. The Low preset delivers 567.1 FPS, while the Medium preset averages 479.6 FPS. The High preset averages 472.1 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 467.8 FPS. The performance gap between the Low and Ultra presets narrows to 99.3 FPS, indicating that the GPU is beginning to handle more of the workload.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is more heavily utilized. The Low preset averages 529 FPS, while the Medium preset averages 449.1 FPS. The High preset averages 438.7 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 430.4 FPS. The delta between the Low and Ultra presets is 98.6 FPS, which is similar to the 1440p results. The data shows that even at 4K, the system is not struggling; the lowest average FPS recorded at this resolution is 430.4 FPS, which is still far above the refresh rate of most high-end monitors.

Settings Recommendations

For players with a high refresh rate monitor, the data suggests that the Low preset at 1080p offers the highest possible frame rate, with an average of 599.2 FPS. This is the optimal configuration for competitive play where maximizing FPS is the priority. However, the performance difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is only 107.7 FPS, meaning that even at Ultra settings, the frame rate remains above 490 FPS.

At 1440p, the High preset appears to be the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, delivering 472.1 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra at this resolution is just 4.3 FPS, making the Ultra preset a viable option for those who want maximum visual quality without a significant performance penalty. For 4K gaming, the Ultra preset is recommended, as it delivers 430.4 FPS, which is only 8.3 FPS less than the High preset. Given that the game is CPU-bound in many scenarios, the data indicates that users can select the Ultra preset without worrying about a substantial drop in performance. The optimal experience is subjective, but the measured results clearly show that this CPU-GPU combination can handle the highest settings at any resolution while maintaining frame rates well above 400 FPS.