Valorant

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7600 delivers exceptionally high frame rates in Valorant, a competitive FPS. The measured data shows that this combination is heavily CPU-bound at lower resolutions, with the GPU only becoming a more significant factor as the resolution increases to 4K. The following analysis breaks down the performance characteristics, settings impact, and component roles based strictly on the provided benchmark data.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic CPU-bound scenario at lower resolutions, transitioning to a more balanced load at 4K. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves 368 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 Low drops this to 349 FPS, a reduction of 19 FPS or approximately 5.2%. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is more pronounced: at 3840x2160 Low, the average FPS falls to 324, a further 25 FPS drop (7.2%). This pattern indicates that at 1080p and 1440p, the Intel Core i5-9400's six cores are the primary limiter, as the GPU has ample headroom to render frames quickly. The relatively small FPS penalty for increasing resolution suggests the RX 7600 is not being fully utilized until the pixel count rises significantly.

The trend is consistent across all settings presets. For High settings, the FPS goes from 309 at 1080p to 293 at 1440p (a 5.2% drop) and then to 256 at 4K (a 12.6% drop from 1440p). The larger percentage decrease between 1440p and 4K compared to 1080p to 1440p indicates that the GPU's rendering load is starting to catch up with the CPU's frame generation capability. At 4K, the RX 7600's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 128-bit bus are being pushed harder, though the absolute frame rates remain extremely high. The data shows that even at 4K Ultra, the combo maintains 243 FPS, which is far above the refresh rate of most monitors, meaning the CPU is still a significant factor even at the highest resolution tested.

The Medium preset data, which includes min and max FPS, provides additional insight. At 1080p Medium, the average is 314 FPS with a minimum of 267 FPS and a maximum of 361 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average is 298 FPS with a minimum of 253 FPS and a maximum of 342 FPS. At 4K Medium, the average drops to 268 FPS with a minimum of 228 FPS and a maximum of 309 FPS. The spread between min and max FPS narrows as resolution increases, from 94 FPS at 1080p to 89 FPS at 1440p and 81 FPS at 4K. This tightening of the frame time variance suggests that at higher resolutions, the GPU's consistent workload smooths out some of the CPU-induced frame pacing inconsistencies.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data shows that the difference between Low and Ultra settings is relatively small in percentage terms, but the absolute FPS gains from lowering settings are substantial for high-refresh-rate displays. At 1080p, the jump from Ultra (304 FPS) to Low (368 FPS) represents a 64 FPS increase, or 21.1%. This is a significant margin that could be the difference between a stable 360 Hz experience and one that occasionally dips below it. For competitive play, the Low preset at 1080p offers the highest average FPS at 368, which is the best measured result in the entire dataset.

However, the Medium preset at 1080p provides a more balanced experience. With an average of 314 FPS and a minimum of 267 FPS, it offers a 10 FPS advantage over High (309 FPS) and a 10 FPS advantage over Ultra (304 FPS). The Medium preset's minimum FPS of 267 is notably higher than the average FPS of the Ultra preset, indicating better frame time consistency. For players who want a visual quality improvement over Low without sacrificing too much performance, Medium at 1080p is the optimal choice, as it maintains an average above 300 FPS while providing a minimum that stays well above 240 FPS.

At 1440p, the recommendation shifts slightly. The Low preset delivers 349 FPS, which is the highest at this resolution. The Medium preset delivers 298 FPS with a minimum of 253 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1440p delivers 288 FPS. Given that the difference between Medium and Ultra at 1440p is only 10 FPS (298 vs 288), and the Medium preset has a documented minimum of 253 FPS, the Medium preset is the better choice for 1440p gaming. It provides a higher average and a known minimum, whereas the Ultra preset's lack of min/max data suggests it may have more variance. For 4K, the Low preset at 324 FPS is the only option that breaks the 300 FPS barrier, making it the clear choice for players prioritizing frame rate over visual fidelity at this resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-9400 + AMD Radeon RX 7600 combination ranks 2973 out of 3708 tested combos in Valorant. This places it in the 80.2nd percentile of all tested combinations, meaning it outperforms roughly 80% of the systems in the database for this specific game. This is a strong result for a mid-range CPU and GPU pairing, indicating that Valorant's engine is well-optimized for the six-core, six-thread configuration of the i5-9400 and the RDNA 3.0 architecture of the RX 7600.

The rank is more impressive when considering the individual component percentiles. The i5-9400 sits at the 47th percentile among all CPUs, while the RX 7600 sits at the 57th percentile among all GPUs. The combo's 80.2nd percentile rank in Valorant is significantly higher than either component's individual percentile, demonstrating that this pairing is particularly well-suited for this game. The data suggests that Valorant is not heavily dependent on the multi-threaded performance that the i5-9400 lacks (it has only 6 threads), nor does it require the absolute top-tier GPU performance. Instead, the game benefits from the i5-9400's strong single-core performance (boost clock of 4.10 GHz) and the RX 7600's high raw throughput.

The nearest rivals for the CPU include the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (avg score 2259, deltaPct -0.2) and the Intel Core i3-10305 (avg score 2264, deltaPct -0.4), both of which are within 0.4% of the i5-9400's average benchmark score of 2254. For the GPU, the nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM (avg score 15199, deltaPct -0.2), which is essentially tied with the RX 7600's average score of 15171. The fact that this combo ranks in the 80th percentile despite having components that are near the 50th percentile individually underscores how well this specific pairing works for Valorant's engine.

Measured FPS Breakdown

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

1920x1080:

• Low: 368 FPS average
• Medium: 314 FPS average, 267 FPS minimum, 361 FPS maximum
• High: 309 FPS average
• Ultra: 304 FPS average

2560x1440:

• Low: 349 FPS average
• Medium: 298 FPS average, 253 FPS minimum, 342 FPS maximum
• High: 293 FPS average
• Ultra: 288 FPS average

3840x2160:

• Low: 324 FPS average
• Medium: 268 FPS average, 228 FPS minimum, 309 FPS maximum
• High: 256 FPS average
• Ultra: 243 FPS average

The data reveals a consistent pattern: the Low preset always delivers the highest average FPS, followed by Medium, then High, and finally Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra is 64 FPS at 1080p (368 vs 304), 61 FPS at 1440p (349 vs 288), and 81 FPS at 4K (324 vs 243). The larger gap at 4K indicates that the Ultra preset's additional graphical effects (likely including higher-resolution textures and more complex shading) have a proportionally larger impact on the GPU at higher resolutions.

The Medium preset is the only one with complete min/max data. At 1080p, the minimum of 267 FPS is 85% of the average, while at 4K, the minimum of 228 FPS is 85% of the average. This consistent ratio suggests that the frame time distribution is stable across resolutions for the Medium preset. The maximum FPS values show a similar pattern: 361 at 1080p, 342 at 1440p, and 309 at 4K, representing 115%, 115%, and 115% of their respective averages. This consistency indicates that the game's frame pacing is predictable with this hardware.

FAQ

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

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

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K resolution?

A: At 3840x2160, the combo delivers 324 FPS on Low, 268 FPS on Medium, 256 FPS on High, and 243 FPS on Ultra settings. Even at the highest settings, the average FPS remains above 240.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The data indicates the CPU is the primary limiter at 1080p and 1440p, as FPS drops only slightly when increasing resolution. At 4K, the GPU becomes more significant, evidenced by the larger FPS drop between 1440p and 4K compared to 1080p to 1440p.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The lowest minimum FPS recorded is 228, which occurs at 3840x2160 with Medium settings. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 267 FPS.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: This combo ranks 2973 out of 3708 tested combinations in Valorant, placing it in the 80.2nd percentile of all tested systems.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 368 FPS while the Ultra preset delivers 304 FPS, a difference of 64 FPS or 21.1%.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a six-core, six-thread processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture, manufactured on a 14 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. The CPU's 9 MB of shared L3 cache and 256 KB L2 cache per core are relevant for gaming workloads, though the data does not directly measure cache impact. The processor supports DDR4 memory with a dual-channel bus and a memory bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s, which is sufficient for Valorant's requirements.

The CPU's benchmark scores place it at the 47th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 2254. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (deltaPct -0.2) and the Intel Core i3-10305 (deltaPct -0.4), indicating that the i5-9400's performance is tightly clustered with these other mid-range parts. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 6629 and single-core score of 935 provide context for its computational capabilities, though these are general benchmarks rather than game-specific metrics.

In Valorant, the CPU's role is critical. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 368 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's maximum frame generation capability. The fact that increasing resolution from 1080p to 1440p only reduces FPS by 5.2% (from 368 to 349 on Low) suggests that the CPU is still the bottleneck at 1440p. The i5-9400's six cores and six threads are sufficient for Valorant's engine, which appears to be well-optimized for this configuration. The boost clock of 4.10 GHz is likely the key factor, as Valorant tends to favor high single-core performance. The CPU's 65 W TDP and end-of-life production status indicate it is an older part, but its performance in this game remains competitive.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 is based on the RDNA 3.0 architecture and the Navi 33 chip, manufactured on a 6 nm process at TSMC. It features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. The GPU has a base clock of 1720 MHz, a game clock of 2250 MHz, and a boost clock of 2655 MHz. The memory operates at 2250 MHz with 18 Gbps effective speed. The GPU contains 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation pipelines, along with 32 ray tracing cores.

The RX 7600's benchmark scores place it at the 57th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 15171. Its nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM (deltaPct -0.2), which is essentially performance-equivalent in synthetic benchmarks. The PassMark G3D score of 16634 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2310 provide additional context for its raw performance capabilities.

In Valorant, the GPU's role becomes more pronounced at higher resolutions. The data shows that at 4K, the FPS drops more significantly between settings presets: from 324 FPS on Low to 243 FPS on Ultra, a 25% reduction. This indicates that the GPU is being pushed harder at 4K, and the 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for the game's textures at this resolution. The GPU's 21.75 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 169.9 GPixel/s pixel rate are more than adequate for Valorant's relatively simple graphics. The 165 W TDP and dual-slot design suggest it is a mainstream card, and its PCIe 4.0 x8 interface provides sufficient bandwidth for this game. The GPU's boost clock of 2655 MHz is likely the key factor in maintaining high frame rates, as Valorant's rendering workload benefits from high clock speeds.