Valorant

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT paired with the Intel Core i5-9400 produces exceptionally high frame rates in Valorant across all tested settings and resolutions. The data indicates that this combination is overwhelmingly GPU-limited at lower resolutions, while the CPU becomes a more noticeable factor as resolution drops and frame rates climb toward their ceiling.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear and consistent pattern of performance scaling across the three tested resolutions. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 368 FPS, which drops to 349 FPS at 1440p and further to 324 FPS at 4K. This progression shows a 6.5% performance decline from 1080p to 1440p, and a more substantial 13.4% decline from 1080p to 4K when using Low settings.

The scaling behavior changes noticeably when examining High settings. At 1080p High, the average is 309 FPS, falling to 293 FPS at 1440p (a 5.2% drop) and then to 272 FPS at 4K (a 12% drop from 1080p). The Medium settings tier shows similar characteristics: 314 FPS at 1080p, 298 FPS at 1440p, and 276 FPS at 4K. Ultra settings produce the lowest overall numbers but follow the same trend: 304 FPS at 1080p, 288 FPS at 1440p, and 267 FPS at 4K.

The relatively modest frame rate reductions when moving from 1080p to 1440p — roughly 5-6% across all settings — suggest that the system is not heavily constrained by the GPU at these resolutions. The larger jumps between 1440p and 4K, typically around 7-8%, indicate that the RX 6800 XT begins to take on more of the workload at higher pixel counts. However, even at 4K Ultra, the system maintains an average of 267 FPS, which is far above the refresh rates of most displays.

These scaling patterns point to a system where the CPU is the primary limiting factor at 1080p and 1440p. The i5-9400's six cores and six threads appear to cap performance in a narrow band regardless of resolution, with the 4K results showing only slightly lower numbers because the GPU finally has enough work to do. The difference between 1080p Low (368 FPS) and 4K Low (324 FPS) is just 44 FPS, which is a relatively small spread compared to what a purely GPU-bound system would show.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a Coffee Lake Refresh part with 6 cores and 6 threads, running at a base clock of 2.90 GHz and boosting up to 4.10 GHz. Its benchmark results show a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 6629 and a single-core score of 935, with a Geekbench multi-core score of 5141 and a single-core score of 1389. The processor sits at the 47th percentile among all CPUs tested, with an average benchmark score of 2254.

The nearest rivals for this CPU provide context for its standing. The Intel Core i7-1068NG7 scores 2259, just 0.2% higher, while the Intel Core i3-10305 scores 2264, 0.4% higher. On the lower side, the Intel Core i7-10710U scores 2248 (0.3% lower) and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 scores 2246 (0.4% lower). These deltas are all within a fraction of a percent, indicating that the i5-9400 sits in a tightly clustered performance tier.

In Valorant specifically, the CPU's influence is most apparent when looking at the 1080p results. The average FPS across all settings at 1080p ranges from 304 to 368, which is a spread of 64 FPS. This range suggests that the game engine is efficiently utilizing the available CPU resources, but the hard ceiling around 368 FPS at Low settings indicates that the processor's single-thread performance is the limiting factor. The boost clock of 4.10 GHz is respectable for this generation, but the lack of hyper-threading means the six threads must handle all game logic and rendering calls.

The data shows that at 4K, the CPU's role diminishes relative to the GPU. The spread between Low and Ultra at 4K is 57 FPS (324 vs 267), which is similar to the 1080p spread but with lower absolute numbers. This indicates that even at 4K, the i5-9400 is still contributing meaningfully to overall performance, rather than becoming completely irrelevant.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT ranks 2939th out of 3708 tested combos in Valorant. This places the configuration in the bottom 20.7% of all tested combinations, which is a surprisingly low position given the high frame rates achieved. The explanation lies in the fact that Valorant is a highly optimized esports title, and many tested combos likely use newer, higher-clocked CPUs that push frame rates even higher.

The rank of 2939 suggests that while the RX 6800 XT is a powerful GPU — sitting at the 85th percentile among all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 48477 — the i5-9400 holds the combo back from reaching the top tiers. The CPU's 47th percentile standing means that many other processors in the database outperform it, and those CPUs are likely paired with similar or better GPUs to produce higher frame rates in this CPU-sensitive title.

The GPU's nearest rivals further illustrate the imbalance. The NVIDIA RTX A1000 Mobile scores 47743 (1.5% lower), while the Intel Arc A550M scores 49737 (2.5% higher), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti scores 49957 (3% higher), and the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 scores 50001 (3% higher). These comparisons show that the RX 6800 XT is competitive with these other GPUs, but the combo ranking in Valorant reflects the CPU bottleneck rather than GPU capability.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the measured data shows the following averages: Low settings produce 368 FPS, Medium produces 314 FPS with a minimum of 267 FPS and a maximum of 361 FPS, High produces 309 FPS, and Ultra produces 304 FPS. The difference between the lowest and highest settings at 1080p is 64 FPS, which represents a 17.4% reduction from Low to Ultra.

Moving to 1440p, the averages are: Low at 349 FPS, Medium at 298 FPS with a minimum of 253 FPS and a maximum of 342 FPS, High at 293 FPS, and Ultra at 288 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1440p is 61 FPS, a 17.5% reduction. This consistency in percentage drop across resolutions suggests that the settings impact is relatively uniform regardless of pixel count.

At 4K, the averages are: Low at 324 FPS, Medium at 276 FPS with a minimum of 235 FPS and a maximum of 318 FPS, High at 272 FPS, and Ultra at 267 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra spread here is 57 FPS, a 17.6% reduction. The Medium settings at every resolution show the only available minimum and maximum frame rate data, with the 1080p Medium minimum of 267 FPS being notably higher than the 4K Medium minimum of 235 FPS.

The overall pattern across all resolutions and settings shows that Low settings consistently deliver the highest frame rates, followed by Medium, then High, with Ultra producing the lowest numbers. However, the differences between Medium, High, and Ultra are relatively small — at 1080p, the gap between Medium (314) and Ultra (304) is just 10 FPS, or 3.2%. This suggests that players can enable higher graphical settings without suffering significant performance penalties.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with a 7 nm process, featuring the Navi 21 chip with 26,800 million transistors on a 520 mm² die. It operates with a base clock of 1825 MHz, a game clock of 2015 MHz, and a boost clock of 2250 MHz. The GPU is equipped with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 512.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

The GPU's compute capabilities are substantial: 4608 shading units, 288 texture mapping units, 128 render output units, and 72 ray tracing cores. This translates to a pixel rate of 288.0 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 648.0 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance of 20.74 TFLOPS. The memory runs at 2000 MHz with 16 Gbps effective speed.

In the context of Valorant, the RX 6800 XT's role is somewhat constrained by the CPU. The GPU's 85th percentile ranking and average benchmark score of 48477 indicate it is a high-performance part, but the measured FPS in this game show that it rarely reaches its full potential. The fact that 1080p Low (368 FPS) is only 13.6% faster than 4K Low (324 FPS) suggests that the GPU has significant headroom even at 4K.

The VRAM capacity of 16 GB is far more than Valorant requires, and the memory bandwidth of 512.0 GB/s is more than sufficient for this game's relatively simple graphics. The GPU's clock speeds — particularly the boost clock of 2250 MHz — are high, but the data indicates that the i5-9400 cannot feed the GPU fast enough to fully utilize these capabilities. The GPU's performance in this title is therefore more indicative of the CPU's limitations than the GPU's own capabilities.

FAQ

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

A: The highest average FPS is 368, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested combinations in Valorant?

A: It ranks 2939th out of 3708 tested combos, placing it in the lower portion of the database.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 1080p and 4K at Ultra settings?

A: At Ultra settings, 1080p produces 304 FPS while 4K produces 267 FPS, a difference of 37 FPS or 12.2%.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU limit performance more at 1080p?

A: The data suggests the CPU is the primary limiter at 1080p, as the frame rate spread between Low and Ultra is only 64 FPS, indicating the GPU has ample headroom.

Q: What are the minimum and maximum FPS recorded for Medium settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the minimum FPS is 253 and the maximum is 342, with an average of 298 FPS.

Q: How does the i5-9400 compare to its nearest rival in benchmark scores?

A: The i5-9400 has an average benchmark score of 2254, which is 0.2% lower than the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (2259) and 0.3% higher than the Intel Core i7-10710U (2248).

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings balance depends on the display's refresh rate and resolution. At 1080p, all settings tiers deliver frame rates above 300 FPS, with Low at 368 FPS, Medium at 314 FPS, High at 309 FPS, and Ultra at 304 FPS. For players with 240Hz or 360Hz displays, Low settings provide the highest possible frame rates, but the difference between Low and Ultra is only 64 FPS, which may not justify sacrificing visual quality.

At 1440p, the situation is similar: Low produces 349 FPS, Medium 298 FPS, High 293 FPS, and Ultra 288 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 61 FPS, and even Ultra settings maintain an average above 288 FPS, comfortably supporting 240Hz displays. Medium settings at 1440p offer a reasonable middle ground, with an average of 298 FPS and a minimum of 253 FPS that stays above most high-refresh-rate thresholds.

At 4K, all settings remain playable: Low at 324 FPS, Medium at 276 FPS, High at 272 FPS, and Ultra at 267 FPS. The minimum FPS recorded at 4K Medium is 235 FPS, which still exceeds the refresh rate of most gaming monitors. For 4K users, Ultra settings provide the best visual experience while maintaining an average of 267 FPS, which is only 57 FPS lower than Low settings.

The data indicates that Medium settings offer the best overall experience across all resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the average is 314 FPS with a minimum of 267 FPS; at 1440p Medium, the average is 298 FPS with a minimum of 253 FPS; and at 4K Medium, the average is 276 FPS with a minimum of 235 FPS. These numbers show that Medium settings provide a balance between visual quality and frame rate consistency, with minimums that remain above 235 FPS even at 4K. The performance difference between Medium and Ultra is minimal — just 10 FPS at 1080p, 10 FPS at 1440p, and 9 FPS at 4K — so players with high-refresh-rate displays can comfortably choose Ultra without sacrificing much performance. However, for competitive play where maximum frame rates are prioritized, Low settings at 1080p deliver the highest averages and the lowest risk of frame rate dips.