Valorant

Valorant with an Intel Core i5-14600K and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is a pairing aimed at high-refresh competitive play. The data shows the combination delivers over 500 FPS on average at 1080p across all presets, peaking at 649 FPS on Low settings. This falls squarely within territory where the CPU's strong single-thread performance and the GPU's high output produce a system that never appears to be the bottleneck in this specific title.

FAQ

Q: What is the launch MSRP of the CPU and GPU in this pairing?

A: The Intel Core i5-14600K had a launch MSRP of $319, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 had a launch MSRP of $599.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in general-purpose benchmarks?

A: The i5-14600K holds an average benchmark score of 48618, placing it at the 90th percentile among all CPUs. Its closest rival, the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H, scores 48698 (a delta of –0.2%), while the AMD EPYC 4345P scores 48470 (a delta of +0.3%). The Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX is within the same band at 48287 (+0.7%), and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 scores 48995 (–0.8%). The CPU's average score sits almost exactly at the median of its rivals.

Q: What is the GPU's raw compute performance relative to its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 4070 has an average benchmark score of 37648, at the 81st percentile of all GPUs. The NVIDIA Tesla P4 (score 37628) is within 0.1%, the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (37507) is 0.4% slower, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile (38135) is 1.3% ahead, and the AMD Radeon PRO W6400 (37157) is 1.3% behind. This places the RTX 4070 in a tight competitive bracket, with all rivals within a ±1.3% band.

Q: Does the measured FPS ever drop below 300?

A: According to the measured frames, the lowest average FPS is 397, occurring at 4K Ultra. The minimum FPS recorded in any test row is 372, seen only at 4K Medium. No test combination in this preset/resolution matrix falls below 372 FPS.

Q: How much FPS difference exists between the lowest and highest settings at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 571 FPS, while Ultra dips to 397 FPS. That is a 174 FPS difference (about 30% higher frame rate), which is relatively modest compared to the CPU-heavy nature of the game. The drop from Low to Medium is 134 FPS (571→437), while High sits at 417 FPS.

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

The measured data yields a rank of 429 out of 3708 total combinations. This places the system in the top 11.6% of all tested hardware pairs for Valorant.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K is a 14-core, 20-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture. It runs with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, with 24 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU’s single-thread performance is key for Valorant, as the game’s graphics are light and frame delivery depends heavily on the time between consistent frames. The measured FPS results escalate with settings, and the CPU’s high boost clock is evident in the 649 FPS result at 1080p Low.

Looking at its general benchmark scores, the i5-14600K achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 24491 and a single-core score of 1364 (from the nearestRivals table – wait, that's not in the pack: actually the R23 scores in fact pack are 24491 and 2064? That's single-core 2064, multi 24491. The pack has: cinebench_r23_multicore: 24491, cinebench_r23_singlecore: 2064. Correct. In Geekbench single-core it scores 2491, multi 16673. In PassMark single-thread it is 4270. These encode the CPU's strength for single-thread-heavy tasks; the i5-14600K is at the 90th percentile overall. The nearest rival deltas are within a couple of percent – the evidence points to a chip that is a solid peer of Xeon and EPYC parts on aggregate scores, but the game’s results are far above typical CPU benchmarks because Valorant is notoriously CPU-bound with fast cache and low latency.

Considering the CPU's architecture, it uses an Intel 10 nm process with 14 cores: 6 performance cores (P-cores) and 8 efficiency cores (E-cores) – the exact topology is not listed in the FACT PACK, so we only note the core count. The multi-thread score of 24491 in R23 is high, but Valorant is a fast-moving competitive title where frame pacing matters more than pure multi-thread throughput. The high boost clock of 5.30 GHz is the key. The data shows that at 1080p Low the system delivers 649 FPS, which indicates the CPU is delivering almost maximum throughput for that setting. When comparing CPU-centric workloads, the i5-14600K is 0.2% slower than a Xeon Gold 5318H and 0.3% faster than an EPYC 4345P, but those are server-grade parts with different validation spheres.

The CPU also supports DDR4 and DDR5, with dual-channel memory and a PCIe Gen 5 interface. These are relevant for Valorant because fast memory latency directly affects the frame time.

In this benchmark group, the CPU is never a limiting factor – the FPS differences across resolutions suggest a staged GPU ceiling rather than processor saturation.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is based on the Ada Lovelace architecture, fabricated at 5 nm by TSMC. It contains 35,800 million transistors on a 294 mm² die, and offers 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s. The base clock is 1920 MHz with a boost of 2475 MHz. The GPU’s raw compute stands at 29.15 TFLOPS FP32, with 46 ray-tracing cores and 184 tensor cores, though Valorant does not use ray tracing. The card holds an 81st percentile ranking across all GPUs.

Given that Valorant is a light esports-style shooter, the GPU is often not the primary constraint. However, the measured data shows that at 4K Ultra the FPS drops to 397, which is still far above any refresh rate typical of these systems. The GPU delivers between 397 and 571 FPS depending on settings and resolution. At 1080p, the FPS range is 535 (Ultra) to 645 (Low). The GPU is strong enough that the price of resolution scaling is small.

The RTX 4070 has a 192-bit memory bus 504.2 GB/s bandwidth, which is ample for the game's texture loads. In comparison to its competitor scores, the RTX 4070 is 1.3% ahead of the RTX 4080 Mobile and 0.1% behind a Tesla P4, but the mobile parts run at different heat and power targets. The data shows that the RTX 4070 is capable of supplying 12 GB of VRAM, which is far beyond Valorant's requirement; official VRAM usage likely doesn't exceed a few GB.

In the FPS breakdown, the GPU utilization as a whole is generally over 400 FPS at even the highest settings. The evidence suggests the GPU does not bottleneck the CPU. However, scaling from 1080p to 4K carries a performance penalty that is more than a linear factor because of the GPU's rendering load.

Thus, the RTX 4070 is a smooth fit for this CPU, providing enough memory bandwidth to avoid frame stalls and the processing to keep up with the CPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The Fact Pack provides average FPS, and for with Medium settings it also includes min and max FPS, while other presets only have averages. We will reference the averages in all cases and use the min/max for context.

1080p (1920x1080):

• Low: avg 649 FPS
• Medium: avg 553 FPS, min 470, max 636
• High: avg 544 FPS
• Ultra: avg 535 FPS

The spread is small: 649 on Low -> 535 on Ultra, a difference of 114 FPS (18% drop). The data shows that 1080p tests never fall below 535 FPS even at 4.4% .

1440p (2560x1440):

• Low: 615 FPS
• Medium: 525 FPS, min 446, max 604
• High: 516 FPS
• Ultra: 496 FPS

Here, the gap narrows slightly: 615→496, a drop of 119 FPS (19%). Minimum at Medium 446 FPS is also above any helpful threshold.

2160p (3840x2160):

• Low: 571 FPS
• Medium: 437 FPS, min 372, max 503
• High: 417 FPS
• Ultra: 397 FPS

The 4K performance is notable. The lowest average (Ultra) is 397 FPS, which is still extremely high. The min FPS of 372 in Medium is above 144Hz monitors.

From Low to Ultra at 4K, the drop is 174 FPS (30%). The factor between an average 572 FPS at 4K Low and 397 at 4K Ultra is 1.44x, which is less than the GPU's compute capability might suggest. This indicates that the game is lighter relative to resolution, but still the GPU contributes.

Comparing versions: 1080p Low (649) vs 1440p Low (615) vs 2160p Low (571) = a delta of 34% (a factor of 1.13x between 1080 and 1440) and 2x between 1080 and 4K. However, 4K Low loses 12% to 1080p Low that same. The GPU's fixed 4080 and core count the 192-bit bus becomes the throughput that the renderer needs.

Overall, the FPS table confirms that this compilation is overpowered for the game; every setting is playable at 250 Hz and beyond.

Resolution Scaling

As resolution increases from 1080 (pixel count 2.1 million) to 1440p (3.7 million, a 1.78x increase) to 2160p (8.3 million, a 3.95x increase), the measured FPS naturally descends. Looking at the Low preset: 1080p 649 -> 1440p 615 -> 4K 571. That is a 5.2% drop from 360 to 1440p, and another 7% drop to 2160p. The total change is 78 FPS (649-571), or 12%. In contrast, comparing the Ultra preset: 535 -> 496 -> 397, which is a 25.8% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and an additional 20% from 1440p to 4K. The performance loss is much larger at the Ultra (the combination of heavy settings and higher resolution). This is a clear sign that the GPU becomes a more weight factor as both resolution and settings increase.

The scaling behavior reveals the limiting component. At Low settings, the CPU is the primary performance gate – the GPU does far less work and thus the resolution only mildly impacts. At Ultra, the graphics pipeline uses more of the GPU's resources, substantially increasing the workload per pixel. The absolute FPS values are so high that no real-world difference exists; however, the data indicates that for a user holding high refresh rates 240/360 Hz, any setting at 1080p delivers 500+ FPS. At 4K Ultra, the 397 average still satisfies 360 Hz monitors (though 397 < 360? Actually 397 > 360, so yes). But min FPS of 372 for Medium at 4K is curtain.

Thus the resolution scaling is a mild and expected degradation, and the limiting component shifts depending on preset. In all cases the system never goes below 397 average FPS, demonstrating that the GPU is never sufficient to hit the customary minimum.

One interesting note: From 1080p to 1440p, the Low preset's drop is only 5.6%, while at Ultra it's 12.8%. This matches the classic binding, where Low effects are not GPU related; at Ultra more shaders and textures are activated, leading to a higher cost. The GPU's memory of 504.2 GB/s and 12 GB capacity are ample.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the recommendation is to play Valorant with maximal refresh to push visual fidelity. Every preset yields at least 397 FPS (4K Ultra). If prioritizing frame-rate Head, also for 240 Hz monitors, the Low preset provides 649 FPS at 1080p and 615 FPS at 1440p, which are superfluous beyond the measurement. The Medium setting, which included min/max figures, shows a min of 470 FPS at 1080p and 446 FPS at 1440p, Meeting the expectation of any high refresh screen.

The question of "best" preset depends on the refresh. For a 360 Hz display, High at 1080 (544 FPS) is far above; at Medium 123 FPS higher (min 470) is also above. The real user likely wants to push graphics to the highest possible visual fidelity. At 1080p Ultra, 535 FPS is still higher than almost any monitor. Since Ultra adds reactive effects, shadows, and anti-aliasing, that's the best balance.

At 1440p, Ultra achieves 496 FPS, still enough for 360 Hz. 4K Ultra 397 FPS may be a negative for 400 Hz displays, but that's an extreme. The low frame times on this engine are consistent.

If the user prefers minimal 1% Lows – the one piece of data the pack provides: at Medium 1080p min 470, 1440p min 446, 4K min 372, these all are above 300, so any preset is safe. Giving the resolution and preset choice to monitor limits, we recommend: if you have a 360 Hz 1080p panel, High or Ultra vs Low. If you have 4K 120, use 4K Ultra. Since Ultra only sees a 11% drop from High, it's fine.

Thus the optimal preset is Ultra at any resolution, because the average FPS remains at worst 397, and there is no tangible downside.

How This Combo Ranks

This Intel Core i5-14600K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 combination is ranked at position 429 out of 3708 tested combos. That puts it in the top 11.6% of all configurations. By comparison, the CPU's own percentile is 90th among all CPUs, and the GPU's percentile is 81st. The combined result places the system in the first decile of Valorant performance. The CPU's strength (with 5.3 GHz boost) and GPU's great memory bandwidth produce a rank that is above the product of the percentiles (0.9 * 0.81 = 0.477, but the rank is much higher), meaning the pairing synergy exceeds the individual parts’ aggregate. The nearest CPU rivals (Xeon Gold 5318H, EPYC 4345P) have similar raw skills, but the i5-14600K’s single-core capability is constructive.

In summary, this system is a top-tier Valorant machine. The CPU provides a 5.3 GHz boost and 24 MB L3, while the GPU offers 504 GB/s bandwidth and 12 GB VRAM. The measured FPS reaches 649 on Low at 1080p, and the rank of 429 of 499 is a strong indicator that the combo is well-optimized.