Valorant

Valorant on the Intel Core i5-14400F and AMD Radeon RX 570 combination delivers playable frame rates across all tested settings, but the data shows that the Low preset is the clear choice for competitive play, while High and Ultra settings provide diminishing returns. The measured results indicate that this combo ranks 1563 out of 1650 tested combinations, placing it in the lower tier of hardware for this title, yet the game's optimization still allows for high refresh rate experiences at 1080p.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data is unequivocal: the Low preset at 1920x1080 produces an average of 286.2 FPS, which is the highest measured frame rate for this configuration and represents a substantial 69.5% improvement over the Ultra preset's 168.9 FPS at the same resolution. This delta is critical for a competitive FPS where higher frame rates translate directly to lower input latency and smoother target tracking. The Medium preset at 1080p delivers 191 FPS, which is still excellent, but the jump from Medium to Low yields an additional 95.2 FPS—a massive gain for zero cost in competitive integrity, as Valorant's visual fidelity is not a determining factor in gameplay outcomes.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset again leads with 243.7 FPS, comfortably above the 144Hz refresh rate that most competitive monitors use. The High preset at 1440p produces 156.1 FPS, which is still viable but offers no competitive advantage over the Low setting. For 4K resolution, the Low preset at 3840x2160 provides 196.4 FPS, which is surprisingly high and indicates that the CPU is doing the heavy lifting in this title. The Ultra preset at 4K drops to 118.6 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for high-refresh-rate displays. The data suggests that users should prioritize the Low preset for maximum frame rates, with Medium as a fallback if visual quality is desired, as it maintains over 190 FPS at 1080p and 159.5 FPS at 1440p.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 570 features 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its Polaris 20 chip, built on the GCN 4.0 architecture with a 14 nm process, operates at a base clock of 1168 MHz and a boost clock of 1244 MHz. The card's memory runs at 1750 MHz, translating to 7 Gbps effective. These specifications position the RX 570 as a capable 1080p card, and the benchmark results confirm this—the GPU's 74th percentile ranking among all GPUs indicates it is above average, though the nearest rivals listed include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 and AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT, which have average scores within 0.2% of the RX 570's 30158 average benchmark score, suggesting that raw compute performance is not the limiting factor in Valorant.

The GPU's 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 32 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 39.81 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 159.2 GTexel/s. With 5.095 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, the RX 570 is not a powerhouse by modern standards, but Valorant's low graphical overhead means the GPU is rarely the bottleneck. The data shows that at 4K Low, the FPS drops to 196.4 from 286.2 at 1080p Low, a 31.4% reduction, which is modest compared to most titles. This indicates that even at higher resolutions, the RX 570 can keep pace, though the 4 GB VRAM capacity may become a constraint in other games, it does not appear to hinder performance here.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this hardware in Valorant?

A: The 1920x1080 Low preset yields the highest average FPS at 286.2, making it the optimal choice for competitive play. At 2560x1440 Low, the average drops to 243.7 FPS, which is still excellent for high-refresh monitors.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to Low in terms of frame rate?

A: At 1080p, the Ultra preset averages 168.9 FPS compared to 286.2 FPS on Low, representing a 69.5% performance penalty. At 4K, the gap narrows slightly: Ultra averages 118.6 FPS while Low averages 196.4 FPS, a 65.6% difference.

Q: Is this CPU-GPU combination capable of 144Hz gaming at 1440p?

A: Yes, the Low preset at 2560x1440 produces 243.7 FPS, which is well above 144Hz. Even the High preset at 1440p achieves 156.1 FPS, exceeding the 144Hz threshold.

Q: Does the RX 570's 4 GB VRAM limit performance in Valorant?

A: The benchmark data does not show VRAM-related stuttering or frame drops. The 4 GB GDDR5 memory with 224.0 GB/s bandwidth appears sufficient for this game at all tested resolutions and settings.

Q: How does this combo rank against other tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 1563 out of 1650 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 5.3% of all tested hardware pairings for this game.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Medium and High settings?

A: At 1080p, Medium averages 191 FPS while High averages 177 FPS, a 14 FPS difference. At 1440p, the gap is 3.4 FPS (159.5 vs 156.1), and at 4K, it is 3.9 FPS (126.3 vs 122.4).

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-14400F and AMD Radeon RX 570 combination ranks 1563 out of 1650 tested combos in Valorant, placing it in the bottom 5.3% of all tested hardware pairings. This low ranking is surprising given the playable frame rates, but it reflects the competitive nature of the benchmark database where high-end GPUs dominate. The CPU itself ranks in the 88th percentile among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 32508, and its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-12800H with a deltaPct of 0, the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 at 0.2% higher, and the AMD Ryzen 7 250 at -0.2% lower. This indicates that the CPU is performing as expected for its class.

The GPU, ranking in the 74th percentile among all GPUs, has an average benchmark score of 30158, with its nearest rival being the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 at 0.2% higher, followed by the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT at 0.2% higher. This suggests that the GPU is also performing at its expected level. The combination's low rank in Valorant is therefore not a reflection of component defects but rather the sheer number of higher-performing combos that have been tested. The data reveals that this setup is adequate for 1080p competitive play, but users seeking top-tier performance rankings should look toward higher-end GPUs.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz, with a 65W TDP. The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 20 MB of shared L3 cache. Its benchmark scores are strong for a mid-range desktop chip: Cinebench R23 multi-core reaches 21914, single-core hits 3093, and Geekbench multi-core scores 11209. The CPU's 88th percentile ranking among all CPUs indicates it is well above average, and its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-12800H, matches its average score with a deltaPct of 0.

In Valorant, the CPU's role is paramount. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 286.2 FPS, and at 4K Low, it still manages 196.4 FPS. This relatively small drop of 31.4% from 1080p to 4K indicates that the game is heavily CPU-bound, as the GPU's workload increases significantly at higher resolutions yet the frame rate does not collapse. The i5-14400F's high single-thread performance, evidenced by its Passmark single-thread score of 3723, is crucial for Valorant's engine, which relies on a single main thread for game logic. The 16 threads and 20 MB L3 cache also help maintain consistent frame times in team fights, where multiple agents' abilities and hit registration are processed.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS ranges from a low of 168.9 on Ultra to a high of 286.2 on Low. The Medium preset averages 191 FPS, while High averages 177 FPS. The progression from Low to Medium to High to Ultra shows a consistent decline, but the gap between Medium and High is only 14 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is 8.1 FPS. This suggests that the Ultra preset offers minimal visual improvement over High for a noticeable 8.1 FPS cost.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 243.7 FPS, Medium averages 159.5 FPS, High averages 156.1 FPS, and Ultra averages 146.5 FPS. The drop from Low to Medium is substantial at 84.2 FPS, but the differences between Medium, High, and Ultra are relatively small, with only 13 FPS separating Medium from Ultra. This indicates that at 1440p, the GPU starts to become more of a factor, but the CPU still dominates the performance profile.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 196.4 FPS, Medium averages 126.3 FPS, High averages 122.4 FPS, and Ultra averages 118.6 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 70.1 FPS, which is the largest relative drop across all resolutions. The difference between Medium, High, and Ultra at 4K is minimal, with only 7.7 FPS separating the three. This suggests that at 4K, the GPU is nearing its limits, but the Low preset still provides a highly playable experience.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals important insights about the bottleneck in this system. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 286.2 at 1080p to 243.7 at 1440p (a 14.8% reduction) and then to 196.4 at 4K (a 19.4% reduction from 1440p). This relatively gentle scaling curve indicates that the CPU is the primary limiting factor, as the GPU has enough headroom to handle the increased pixel count without significant frame rate collapse. The total drop from 1080p to 4K at Low is 89.8 FPS, or 31.4%.

At Ultra settings, the scaling is more pronounced: 168.9 FPS at 1080p drops to 146.5 FPS at 1440p (a 13.3% reduction) and then to 118.6 FPS at 4K (a 19% reduction from 1440p). The total drop from 1080p to 4K at Ultra is 50.3 FPS, or 29.8%. This indicates that at higher settings, the GPU becomes more involved, but the CPU still plays a significant role. The fact that the Low preset at 4K (196.4 FPS) outperforms the Ultra preset at 1080p (168.9 FPS) by 16.3% is a clear signal that graphical settings have a greater impact on performance than resolution in this title. This data confirms that Valorant is CPU-bound on this hardware, and users should prioritize CPU performance and lower graphical settings to maximize frame rates, regardless of their chosen resolution.