Valorant

Valorant with the Intel Core i5-14400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 produces exceptionally high frame rates across all tested configurations, with the data indicating that the combination is far more capable than what the game demands at any resolution. The measured results show a system that is heavily skewed toward CPU-bound performance at lower resolutions, while the GPU begins to assert more influence as resolution increases, yet even at 4K the frame rates remain well above the thresholds required for competitive play.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of diminishing returns as resolution increases, though the absolute numbers remain high throughout. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo delivers 563 FPS average, which drops to 534 FPS at 1440p and further to 481 FPS at 4K. This progression shows a 14.6% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a 10% reduction from 1440p to 4K when using Low settings. The relatively small percentage drops between resolutions indicate that the CPU is the primary limiting factor at these settings, as the workload does not scale heavily with pixel count.

Moving to High settings, the pattern shifts. At 1080p High, the average is 443 FPS, dropping to 378 FPS at 1440p (a 14.7% reduction) and then to 302 FPS at 4K (a 20.1% reduction from 1440p). The larger drop from 1440p to 4K at High settings suggests that the GPU is beginning to play a more significant role, as higher quality settings increase the per-pixel workload. The RTX 4060, with its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 272.0 GB/s bandwidth, starts to feel the pressure of 4K rendering, though it still manages to maintain over 300 FPS.

The Medium settings row shows a similar trend, with 465 FPS at 1080p, 397 FPS at 1440p (a 14.6% drop), and 317 FPS at 4K (a 20.2% drop). This consistency across Low, Medium, and High settings indicates that the resolution scaling behavior is stable regardless of the quality preset, with the CPU bottleneck at lower resolutions and the GPU bottleneck emerging at 4K. The Ultra preset follows the same pattern: 422 FPS at 1080p, 360 FPS at 1440p (a 14.7% drop), and 288 FPS at 4K (a 20% drop).

The data suggests that at 1080p and 1440p, the Core i5-14400F is the limiting component, as the frame rates do not improve dramatically when lowering settings from Ultra to Low. For example, at 1080p, going from Ultra (422 FPS) to Low (563 FPS) yields a 33.4% improvement, which is substantial but still indicates that the CPU is doing most of the heavy lifting. At 4K, the same settings change from Ultra (288 FPS) to Low (481 FPS) produces a 67% improvement, showing that the GPU is much more constrained at this resolution.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend heavily on the target refresh rate and resolution. For players with a 1080p monitor running at 240 Hz or 360 Hz, the Low preset at 563 FPS provides the highest headroom, ensuring that frame times remain consistently low even during intense firefights. However, the Medium preset at 465 FPS still offers more than enough performance for any current high-refresh display, while providing better visual quality through improved textures and effects.

At 1440p, the Medium preset delivers 397 FPS, which is more than sufficient for 360 Hz displays. The High preset at 378 FPS is nearly identical in performance and offers better visuals, making it a strong choice for players who prioritize image quality without sacrificing competitive responsiveness. The Ultra preset at 360 FPS is also viable, though the minimal visual gains over High may not justify the slight reduction in frame rate for esports-focused players.

For 4K, the situation changes. The Low preset at 481 FPS is the only configuration that keeps the average above 400 FPS, while Medium drops to 317 FPS and High to 302 FPS. The Ultra preset at 288 FPS is the weakest performer, though still well above the 240 FPS threshold for high-refresh 4K monitors. Given that Valorant is a competitive shooter where frame rate consistency matters more than graphical fidelity, the Low preset at 4K appears to be the most sensible choice for maximizing performance, though Medium provides a better balance for those who want some visual enhancements.

The min FPS data, available only for the Medium preset, shows that at 1080p the minimum is 395 FPS, at 1440p it is 337 FPS, and at 4K it is 270 FPS. These minimum values are still extremely high, indicating that the combo maintains stable frame pacing even under load. The gap between average and minimum FPS is relatively small, ranging from 70 FPS at 1080p to 47 FPS at 4K, which suggests that frame drops are infrequent and mild.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor from the Raptor Lake refresh generation, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. It features 20 MB of shared L3 cache, with 1.25 MB of L2 cache per core and 80 KB of L1 cache per core. The CPU supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration, and its 65 W TDP suggests efficient power delivery for a desktop part.

In Valorant, the CPU role is critical because the game engine is heavily dependent on single-thread performance for game logic and physics calculations. The i5-14400F's boost clock of 4.70 GHz is well-suited for this task, and the benchmark results confirm its strength: the Cinebench R23 single-core score is 3055, while the multi-core score is 21645. The Geekbench single-core score of 2058 and multi-core score of 11268 further illustrate the processor's capability.

The 10 cores and 16 threads provide ample parallelism for background tasks and streaming overhead, but Valorant's primary thread benefits most from the high boost clock. The data supports this interpretation: at 1080p Low, the frame rate of 563 FPS is nearly identical to the 4K Low result of 481 FPS, with only a 14.6% difference. This relatively small gap indicates that the CPU is not being significantly stressed by the game's logic at any resolution, and the performance difference comes almost entirely from GPU workload.

The percentile vs all CPUs of 83 places the i5-14400F in the upper echelon of processors, and its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U (0.1% ahead), Intel Core i9-11900 (0.2% ahead), AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS (0.2% behind), and Intel Core i7-12800H (0.5% ahead). These small delta percentages show that the i5-14400F is competitive with mobile and older desktop parts, though its desktop-oriented design with a higher boost clock likely provides an edge in latency-sensitive scenarios like competitive shooters.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-14400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 ranks 1547 out of 3708 tested combos in Valorant, placing it in the 58.3rd percentile of all configurations. This ranking is somewhat surprising given the high absolute frame rates, but it reflects the fact that many higher-end combos with flagship CPUs and GPUs achieve even higher numbers in this particular title.

The RTX 4060, with its 3072 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 48 ROPs, is a mid-range GPU that sits in the 61st percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon HD 7790 (0.2% ahead), AMD Radeon 780M (0.3% behind), AMD Radeon Pro 560 (0.5% behind), and AMD Radeon Pro 460 (0.7% behind). These comparisons are based on average benchmark scores, which include other workloads beyond gaming, but they give context to the GPU's overall standing.

The combo's rank of 1547 out of 3708 indicates that there are many configurations that perform better in Valorant, primarily those with higher-end GPUs like the RTX 4070 or RTX 4080, or CPUs with even higher single-thread performance. However, the measured FPS data shows that this combo is already delivering frame rates that exceed the refresh rate capabilities of virtually all monitors on the market. At 1440p Medium, the 397 FPS average is well above the 360 Hz maximum refresh rate available in consumer displays, meaning that the extra performance from higher-ranked combos would not translate into a visible improvement for most players.

The rank of 1547 also reflects the fact that Valorant is not a demanding game by modern standards, and even mid-range hardware can achieve extremely high frame rates. The combo's performance is more than adequate for competitive play, and the data suggests that the primary benefit of higher-ranked combos would be in other, more GPU-intensive titles.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves in Valorant?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 563, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K with Medium settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Medium settings, the combo delivers an average FPS of 317, with a minimum of 270 FPS and a maximum of 365 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: The data indicates the CPU is the primary limiting factor at 1080p, as the frame rate difference between Low (563 FPS) and Ultra (422 FPS) is 25%, which is smaller than the 67% difference observed at 4K between the same settings.

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

A: The combo ranks 1547 out of 3708 tested combinations, placing it in the upper half of all configurations.

Q: How much does the average FPS drop when going from 1080p to 4K on High settings?

A: The average FPS drops from 443 at 1920x1080 to 302 at 3840x2160, a reduction of 31.8%.

Q: Does the RTX 4060 have enough VRAM for 4K in Valorant?

A: The RTX 4060 has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory, and the measured data shows that even at 4K Ultra, the combo maintains 288 FPS average, indicating that VRAM capacity is not a limiting factor in this game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS data for this combo is as follows:

At 1920x1080:

• Low settings: 563 FPS average
• Medium settings: 465 FPS average, 395 FPS minimum, 535 FPS maximum
• High settings: 443 FPS average
• Ultra settings: 422 FPS average

At 2560x1440:

• Low settings: 534 FPS average
• Medium settings: 397 FPS average, 337 FPS minimum, 456 FPS maximum
• High settings: 378 FPS average
• Ultra settings: 360 FPS average

At 3840x2160:

• Low settings: 481 FPS average
• Medium settings: 317 FPS average, 270 FPS minimum, 365 FPS maximum
• High settings: 302 FPS average
• Ultra settings: 288 FPS average

The Medium preset is the only one with reported minimum and maximum FPS values, which allows for a more detailed analysis of frame consistency. At 1080p, the spread between minimum and maximum is 140 FPS, while at 1440p it is 119 FPS, and at 4K it is 95 FPS. This narrowing spread at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU becomes more consistently loaded, while at lower resolutions, the CPU-bound nature of the game leads to more variable frame delivery.

The settings scaling within each resolution shows a consistent pattern. At 1080p, moving from Low to Ultra reduces the average FPS by 141 FPS (from 563 to 422), a 25% reduction. At 1440p, the same transition reduces FPS by 174 FPS (from 534 to 360), a 32.6% reduction. At 4K, the reduction is 193 FPS (from 481 to 288), a 40.1% reduction. These increasing percentages confirm that the GPU becomes more of a bottleneck as resolution and settings increase, while the CPU remains the dominant factor at lower resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process node from TSMC, containing 18,900 million transistors on a 159 mm² die. The GPU has a base clock of 1830 MHz and a boost clock of 2460 MHz, with memory running at 2125 MHz (17 Gbps effective). The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory is accessed via a 128-bit bus, providing 272.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

In Valorant, the GPU's role becomes more pronounced at higher resolutions and settings. The measured data shows that at 4K Low, the combo achieves 481 FPS, which is only 14.6% lower than the 1080p Low result of 563 FPS. This relatively small difference suggests that the GPU is not heavily taxed by the game's low settings even at 4K. However, at 4K Ultra, the frame rate drops to 288 FPS, a 32.9% reduction from the 4K Low result, which demonstrates that the GPU is working much harder to render the higher-quality effects and textures.

The RTX 4060's 3072 shading units and 48 ROPs provide sufficient compute for Valorant's relatively simple geometry and lighting. The 96 texture mapping units handle texture filtering efficiently, and the 24 RT cores and 96 tensor cores are not utilized by this game, as Valorant does not support ray tracing or DLSS. The GPU's FP32 performance of 15.11 TFLOPS is more than adequate for the game's requirements, and the pixel rate of 118.1 GPixel/s and texture rate of 236.2 GTexel/s ensure that even the highest settings are processed without issue.

The GPU's TDP of 115 W and suggested 300 W PSU indicate that this is a power-efficient card, and its dual-slot design with a 240 mm length makes it suitable for most cases. The PCIe 4.0 x8 interface provides sufficient bandwidth for the 8 GB frame buffer, and the 272.0 GB/s memory bandwidth is not a limiting factor in Valorant, as evidenced by the high frame rates even at 4K.

Comparing the RTX 4060 to its nearest rivals, the average benchmark score of 17639 places it close to the AMD Radeon HD 7790 (17666, 0.2% higher), AMD Radeon 780M (17588, 0.3% lower), AMD Radeon Pro 560 (17551, 0.5% lower), and AMD Radeon Pro 460 (17509, 0.7% lower). These rivals are generally older or lower-tier parts, which underscores that the RTX 4060's raw compute is modest when compared to the broader GPU market, yet in Valorant it still produces frame rates that exceed any practical need. The percentile vs all GPUs of 61 indicates that the RTX 4060 sits slightly above the median of all GPUs, which is consistent with its position as a mainstream adapter that excels in less demanding titles like Valorant while potentially struggling in more graphically intensive games.