Valorant

Valorant is a competitive FPS where frame rate matters more than absolute visual fidelity, and the data for the Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the Intel Arc B570 shows a combo that is heavily skewed toward CPU performance. This pairing is ranked 2358 out of 2883 tested combinations, placing it in the lower half of the database, yet the measured frames per second (FPS) are consistently high across all tested resolutions and settings. The bottleneck here is clearly the processor, not the graphics card, as the Arc B570 is capable of pushing far more frames than the i5-9400 can feed it. The following analysis breaks down how this system behaves in Valorant, what settings to use, and where the true limits of the hardware lie.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is surprisingly mild, which is a strong indicator that the Intel Core i5-9400 is the limiting component in this configuration. At Low settings, the average frame rate moves from 368 FPS at 1920x1080 to 349 FPS at 2560x1440 and finally to 324 FPS at 3840x2160. That is a total decline of just 44 FPS (roughly 12%) when quadrupling the pixel count from 1080p to 4K. In a GPU-bound scenario, such a resolution jump would typically halve or even quarter the frame rate, so this small delta proves the graphics card is not being fully utilized even at 4K.

The pattern holds across other presets. Moving from 1080p to 4K on High settings results in a drop from 309 FPS to 217 FPS, a reduction of 92 FPS. On Ultra, the same resolution change goes from 304 FPS down to 207 FPS, a 97 FPS difference. While these drops are larger in absolute terms than the Low setting, they are still proportionally small compared to what a GPU-heavy game would show. The Intel Arc B570 is a 10 GB GDDR6 card with a 160-bit bus and 380.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is more than enough for Valorant’s modest visual demands, so the frame rate ceiling at each resolution is being set by the CPU’s six cores and six threads.

The most telling comparison is between the Medium preset’s minimum FPS values. At 3840x2160 Medium, the system reports a minimum of 194 FPS, while at 1920x1080 Medium it reports a minimum of 267 FPS. The gap of 73 FPS between the 4K minimum and the 1080p minimum is larger than the average FPS gap, which suggests that while the average frame rates are close, the lows are more sensitive to resolution. This indicates that the CPU is still the primary driver, but the GPU’s workload at 4K does introduce some additional frame time variance. Still, a 194 FPS minimum at 4K is exceptionally playable for a competitive shooter.

Settings Recommendations

The data strongly suggests that the Low preset is the optimal choice for competitive play, not because higher settings are unplayable, but because the marginal FPS gain is significant. At 1920x1080, Low yields an average of 368 FPS, which is 59 FPS higher than the next best preset (Medium at 314 FPS) and 64 FPS higher than High. That is a substantial lead for a setting that typically reduces visual clutter, which is often desirable in Valorant for spotting enemies. The jump from Low to Medium at 1080p costs 54 FPS on average, which is a steep price for minor visual improvements.

At 2560x1440, the story is identical. Low averages 349 FPS, while Medium drops to 286 FPS and High falls to 272 FPS. The 63 FPS difference between Low and Medium at 1440p is even more pronounced than at 1080p. At 4K, Low still holds a commanding lead with 324 FPS, versus 228 FPS for Medium and 217 FPS for High. In every resolution, Low is the clear winner for raw performance, and given Valorant’s esports nature, prioritizing frame rate over fidelity is the practical choice.

For players who cannot tolerate the stripped-down visuals of Low, Medium is the best compromise. It provides a playable average of 314 FPS at 1080p and 286 FPS at 1440p, with minimums of 267 FPS and 243 FPS respectively. The Ultra preset is the least attractive option, as it offers almost nothing over High: at 1080p, Ultra averages 304 FPS versus 309 FPS for High, a negligible 5 FPS difference. The recommendation is clear: use Low for maximum competitive advantage, or Medium if you want a balance, but avoid Ultra entirely as it provides no measurable benefit over High in this configuration.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570 is a 5 nm part from TSMC with a die size of 272 mm² and 19,600 million transistors. It features 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 80 render output units, with a boost clock of 2500 MHz. The card’s memory subsystem consists of 10 GB of GDDR6 on a 160-bit bus, delivering 380.0 GB/s of bandwidth. These specifications are far beyond what Valorant requires, which is why the GPU never becomes the primary bottleneck in this pairing.

The Arc B570’s compute capabilities are substantial, with an FP32 throughput of 11.52 TFLOPS and a pixel rate of 200.0 GPixel/s. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 14195 in Passmark G3D and 83514 in Geekbench OpenCL, placing it at the 65th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (average score 20534, delta 0.1%) and the Intel Arc A750 (average score 20582, delta -0.1%), showing that the B570 sits in a competitive mid-range tier. However, in Valorant, these raw numbers are largely irrelevant because the game’s engine is so light on the GPU.

The memory clock of 2375 MHz (19 Gbps effective) and the 380.0 GB/s bandwidth are more than sufficient for Valorant’s textures and geometry. Even at 4K Ultra, the system never dips below 207 FPS on average, which proves the GPU is not being stressed. The card’s 10 GB VRAM is also a non-factor here, as Valorant’s memory footprint is tiny compared to modern AAA titles. The GPU’s role in this system is to provide a high frame rate ceiling that the CPU cannot reach, making the Arc B570 effectively overkill for this specific game and processor combination.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the Intel Core i5-9400 and Intel Arc B570 deliver the following average frame rates: Low 368 FPS, Medium 314 FPS, High 309 FPS, and Ultra 304 FPS. The Medium preset also provides minimum and maximum values of 267 FPS and 361 FPS respectively, showing a consistent frame time distribution. The gap between Low and all other presets is the defining feature at this resolution, with Low being 54 FPS faster than the next closest preset.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages are: Low 349 FPS, Medium 286 FPS, High 272 FPS, and Ultra 259 FPS. The Medium preset reports a minimum of 243 FPS and a maximum of 329 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is modest across all settings, with Low losing 19 FPS, Medium losing 28 FPS, High losing 37 FPS, and Ultra losing 45 FPS. This scaling behavior reinforces the CPU-bound nature of the system, as the GPU is absorbing the extra pixel workload without major frame rate penalties.

At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low 324 FPS, Medium 228 FPS, High 217 FPS, and Ultra 207 FPS. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 194 FPS and a maximum of 263 FPS. The most notable observation at 4K is the widening gap between Low and the other presets: Low is 96 FPS faster than Medium, which is a much larger delta than at lower resolutions. This suggests that at 4K, the GPU is finally starting to feel some pressure, but the CPU is still the primary limiter, as even the Ultra preset manages 207 FPS, which is above the refresh rate of most high-end monitors.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU and GPU combo in Valorant?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 provides the highest frame rates across all settings, with Low averaging 368 FPS, Medium at 314 FPS, and High at 309 FPS. Even at 3840x2160, the system stays above 207 FPS on Ultra, so any resolution is playable, but 1080p maximizes the competitive advantage.

Q: How much FPS does the Low preset gain over Medium at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 368 FPS, while Medium averages 314 FPS, resulting in a 54 FPS advantage for Low. This is the largest single-preset jump in the entire dataset and makes Low the clear choice for competitive play.

Q: Is the Intel Arc B570 the bottleneck in this system?

A: No. The benchmark data indicates the CPU is the limiting factor. The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is only 44 FPS on Low settings (from 368 to 324), which is far too small for a GPU-bound scenario. A GPU bottleneck would show a much larger percentage decline with quadrupled pixel count.

Q: What is the minimum FPS at 1440p Medium, and is it playable?

A: At 2560x1440 Medium, the minimum FPS is 243, with an average of 286 FPS. This is well above the 144 Hz threshold for most monitors and provides a smooth experience even during intense team fights, making it a viable alternative to Low.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High at 1080p?

A: The difference is negligible. At 1920x1080, High averages 309 FPS, while Ultra averages 304 FPS, a mere 5 FPS difference. Given that Ultra typically adds visual effects that can obscure enemy visibility, High is the better choice if you want slightly better visuals without sacrificing frame rate.

Q: Where does this combo rank among all tested systems in Valorant?

A: This pairing ranks 2358 out of 2883 tested combinations, placing it in the 18th percentile. Despite this low ranking, the actual frame rates are high because Valorant is not a demanding game, and the CPU bottleneck prevents the GPU from showing its full potential.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a six-core, six-thread processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel’s 14 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU features 9 MB of shared L3 cache, with 64 KB of L1 and 256 KB of L2 per core. Memory support is dual-channel DDR4 with a bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 6629 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 935 in single-core, placing it at the 47th percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 2254.

The nearest rivals to the i5-9400 include the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (average score 2259, delta -0.2%), the Intel Core i7-10710U (average score 2248, delta 0.3%), and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (average score 2246, delta 0.4%). This places the i5-9400 in a tight cluster of mid-range processors that all perform similarly in general workloads. However, in Valorant, the single-core performance is what matters most, and the i5-9400’s 4.10 GHz boost clock is adequate for the game’s engine.

The data shows that the CPU is the definitive bottleneck in this system. The fact that the average FPS at 1080p Low (368) is only 44 FPS higher than at 4K Low (324) proves that the processor is maxed out regardless of resolution. The six threads are not enough to fully utilize the Arc B570’s capabilities, which is why the GPU’s percentile ranking (65th) is much higher than the combo’s rank in game (2358th). In practice, this means that upgrading the CPU to a newer, faster model would yield a larger frame rate increase in Valorant than upgrading the GPU, as the Arc B570 has headroom that the i5-9400 cannot exploit. For a competitive FPS player, this CPU is serviceable but not ideal, as higher refresh rate monitors (240 Hz and above) would benefit from a processor with better single-core performance and more threads.