Valorant

The Intel Core i5-14400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 580 delivers a smooth Valorant experience across most settings, but the data reveals a clear imbalance: the CPU is strong enough to push very high frame rates while the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions and quality settings. This combination ranks near the bottom of all tested combos, yet the actual measured frame rates are far above the monitor's refresh rate for many use cases. The following analysis draws exclusively from the measured FPS table, the CPU and GPU benchmark scores, and the provided ranking information.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS table shows that the RX 580 handles Valorant's Low preset easily at every resolution. At 1080p, Low yields an average of 318 FPS, the highest of any settings row. At 1440p Low still hits 271 FPS, and even at 4K Low achieves 217 FPS. These numbers indicate that the game is likely CPU-bound at the Low preset: the RX 580 is not the bottleneck, and the i5-14400F’s 10 cores and 4.7 GHz boost clock are able to push the engine to its limit.

Moving to Medium settings reduces average FPS slightly: 209 at 1080p, 179 at 1440p, and 143 at 4K. The Medium settings also report the only min/max values in the entire table: 1080p Medium dips to 178 and peaks at 241; 1440p Medium ranges 152–205; 4K Medium 121–164. These min numbers show that even with occasional frame drops, the experience stays well above 120 FPS. High settings similarly perform well: 199 FPS at 1080p, 170 at 1440p, and 136 at 4K. Ultra settings are only 5–10 FPS higher than High: 190 / 162 / 130 at 1080p / 1440p / 4K.

For competitive play, the Low preset is the obvious choice: it delivers the highest average FPS and the least variation between resolutions. The 318 FPS at 1080p Low gives a substantial headroom for players using a 144 Hz or 240 Hz monitor. However, if you prefer a richer visual experience, the Medium and High presets still keep the game well above 120 FPS at 1080p, and the min/max numbers show that the frame pacing remains stable. The Ultra preset offers no meaningful FPS advantage over Medium, so it is not recommended for players who prioritize frame rate, but the differences are small enough that visual quality is a personal preference. Given the data, the best balance between fluidity and fidelity is the Medium preset at 1080p, where the average FPS is 209 and the min/max range is tight.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 580 is based on the Polaris 20 chip built on GlobalFoundries' 14 nm process. It features 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPS, with a base clock of 1257 MHz and a boost clock of 1340 MHz. Memory runs at 8 Gbps effective over a 256-bit bus, producing a bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s. The card has 8 GB of GDDR5 memory, which is ample for Valorant at all tested resolutions. The GPU's TDP is 185 W, and it relies on a single 8-pin power connector.

The GPU's benchmark performance places it at the 53rd percentile of all GPUs, with an average score of 12,928. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile, scores 12,940 (0.1% higher), while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER at 12,986 is 0.4% higher. In this game, the RX 580's capabilities are not fully stretched until the highest resolutions. At 1080p, all settings yield over 190 FPS; at 1440p High and Medium drop to around 170–180 FPS; at 4K the GPU starts to become the limiting factor, as the average FPS drops by ~50% compared to 1080p. The GPU's 8 memory controllers and the bandwidth seem sufficient for the Low preset, but the increasing memory workload at higher resolutions shows a clear turning point.

FAQ

Q: Does the combo maintain a 100+ FPS at 1440p in all presets?

A: Yes. At 1440p, the Ultra preset averages 162 FPS, High 170, Medium 179, and Low 271. Even the lowest measured average, Ultra, is far above 100 FPS.

Q: What is the maximum FPS recorded in the dataset?

A: The highest average is 318 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The highest single reading is the 241 FPS maximum at 1080p Medium.

Q: At which setting is the frame time most stable?

A: The Medium preset is the only one with recorded min/max. At 1080p the range is 178–241 (a spread of 63 FPS), at 1440p it is 152–210 (58 FPS), and at 4K that is 121–164 (43 FPS). The relative stability is consistent across resolutions.

Q: How does the CPU's performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The i5-14400F has an average benchmark score of 32,279. It sits 0.1% above the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U (32,233), 0.2% above the Intel Core i9-11900 (32,226), and 0.5% above the Intel Core i7-12800H (32,121). It lags the AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS (32,354) by 0.2%.

Q: What does the GPU's percentile tell us about its expected performance?

A: The RX 580's 53rd percentile means it is exactly in the middle of all GPUs. Its average score is 12,928, which is 0.1% below the RTX 3050 Ti (12,940) and 0.4% below the GTX 1660 SUPER (12,986), but 0.5% above the Radeon 740M (12,870) and 0.6% above the FirePro W5100 (12,847).

Q: Can the combo hit 240 FPS at 1080p?

A: Only with Low settings, where it averages 318 FPS. Medium drops to 209 FPS, High to 199, and Ultra to 190. The 240 FPS mark is only possible with the Low preset.

How This Combo Ranks

The measured data places this combination at rank 3,363 out of 3,708 combos tested in the game, putting it in the bottom 9% of all configurations. This ranking is surprising given the high FPS numbers: the i5-14400F is a strong CPU (83rd percentile of all CPUs), and the RX 580 is mid-range (53rd percentile of all GPUs). The low overall rank likely stems from the currency of the test cohort—most combos are newer high-end parts that push FPS to the extreme. In practice, the rank is less meaningful for real-world use because Valorant is extremely well-optimized and any combination with a decent CPU can produce low frame-rate. The combo still delivers 318 FPS at 1080p Low, which far exceeds typical 144 Hz or 165 Hz displays. The rank also ignores that the CPU is not the bottleneck at Low settings; the FPS is already at levels that only require a mid-range GPU.

The CPU alone is strong: its Cinebench R23 multicore score is 21,645, and its single-core is 3,055. Its PassMark multithread score of 25,470 and single-thread 3,701 further underline its capability. The GPU, despite being 53rd percentile, still produces frame rates well above the 60 FPS threshold even at 4K Ultra (130 FPS). So the low rank might be an artifact of the meta-dataset, not an indication of real-world struggle.

For players with a 144 Hz monitor at 1080p, this combo is overkill. At 1440p with Medium settings, the average FPS is near 179, which is still above the refresh rate of many high-refresh monitors. Thus, the rank should be read in context: it ranks low among all combos, but the absolute performance is solid for Valorant.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F runs on the Raptor Lake architecture, with 10 cores and 16 threads running at a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. It features an integrated 20 MB shared L3 cache and a memory bus that supports DDR4 and DDR5 dual-channel. Its 65 W TDP is modest for the performance it delivers. The CPU's benchmark averages are solid: its Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 21,645, and single-core replicates 3,055. PassMark multi-thread is 25,470 with a single-thread 3,701. The 83rd percentile among all CPUs reflects its strong value position.

The data collected from Valorant shows that at 1080p Low the FPS hits an average of 318, which is likely a ceiling set by the CPU's single-thread throughput together with the game engine's engine loop. The gap between 1080p Low (318) and 1080p Medium (209) is about 35%. That gap scales with the increased GPU load. At 1080p, the CPU's ability to feed the GPU is not saturated, as evidenced by the smooth 271 FPS at 1440p Low and 217 FPS at 4K Low. Even at 1440p Low, the FPS is nearly the same as 1080p High, which suggests the CPU is still the primary driver. The 10-core design and 4.7 GHz boost are known to provide high single-thread performance, and the data confirms that the CPU does not become a bottleneck until the GPU is forced to render beyond what it can handle.

In terms of the overall system, the CPU's performance characteristics are consistent with a mid-range processor that can easily handle FPS games. The fact that the FPS at 1080p Low and 1440p Low are close (318 vs 271) indicates the CPU is able to hold high frame rates with just a small drop as the resolution increases. The GPU becomes the limiting component beyond that point. Therefore, the i5-14400F is capable of sustaining high frame rates in Valorant, and the only way to get even higher numbers is either a GPU upgrade or a game engine that scales better with a more powerful GPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown

Resolution by resolution:

At 1920x1080, the average FPS per preset is: Low = 318, Medium = 209, High = 199, Ultra = 190. The Medium settings give a min of 178 and max of 241. That is a 63 FPS spread, but the average remains high. The High preset drops 10 FPS from Medium, and Ultra drops another 9.

At 2560x1440, the numbers drop: Low = 271, Medium = 179, High = 170, Ultra = 162. The Medium min/max are 152 and 210. The spread is 58 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the results are: Low = 217, Medium = 143, High = 136, Ultra = 130. The Medium min/max are 121 and 164. Here the spread is 43 FPS, but all averages remain above the 60 FPS threshold.

Between resolutions, the difference between Low and Ultra is always approximately: at 1080p, Ultra is 190/318 = 60% of Low; at 1440p, 162/271 = 60%; at 4K, 130/217 = 60%. So the settings scaling is consistent across resolutions; the GPU fills the same relative load.

The CPU's effect is visible in that the Low preset FPS at 1080p is 318, and dropping to 1440p only lowers it to 271 (a 15% reduction), while at 4K it drops to 217 (a 32% reduction). The GPU, on the other hand, shows larger differences when moving from Ultra to Low: at 1080p, Ultra is only 190 vs Low 318, a 40% reduction. This indicates the GPU handles settings more linearly than resolution changes.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is significant. For the Low preset, 318 → 271 → 217, which is a total decrease of 31% from 1080p to 4K. For the Medium preset, 209 → 179 → 143, a drop of 32% to 4K. For Ultra, 190 → 162 → 130, a 32% drop. The consistent ~32% drop across settings suggests that the bottleneck remains the same: the GPU is equally loaded per pixel, but the resolution scaling is not the primary limiting factor.

But looking deeper, the drop from 1080p to 1440p is only about 15% for Low, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is around 24% (271→217 is a 20% drop, but 318→271 is 15%). The non-linearity indicates that at 1080p, the CPU or other system components may be the ceiling; when the resolution is increased, the GPU becomes more dominant, and the drop accelerates. The fact that the CPU's core count and 4.7 GHz boost are sufficient to feed the GPU at 1080p, but the GPU starts to become the limiting factor at 1440p and especially at 4K, is evident. This is the classic signature of a CPU-bound scenario at lower resolutions and a GPU-bound one at higher resolutions.

Given that the RX 580's average score sits at the 53rd percentile, its raw throughput is adequate for mid-range gaming. The data shows that the best experience per the measured presets is the Low preset at 1080p or 1440p. The CPU does not bottleneck the GPU until the GPU is overwhelmed, so the respective roles are clearly defined. For users with a 108p or 144p display, this combination will yield frame rates well above contenders, and the low combo rank is not a cause for concern.

The Intel Core i5-14400F’s launch MSRP was $196, and the AMD Radeon RX 580’s launch MSRP was $229.