Valorant

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 produces exceptionally high frame rates in Valorant, with the data showing an average of 369.2 FPS at 1080p Low settings. This combination ranks 1322nd out of 1650 tested combos in this game, placing it in the upper 20% of all configurations. The measured performance indicates that the system is heavily CPU-limited in this title, as the frame rate deltas between resolutions are relatively modest compared to what the GPU alone could deliver.

Resolution Scaling

The progression from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear pattern of CPU limitation. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 369.2 FPS, which drops to 347.9 FPS at 1440p Low, and then to 325.7 FPS at 4K Low. This represents only an 11.8% reduction from 1080p to 4K, which is remarkably small for a resolution jump that increases pixel count by roughly 4x. When the GPU is the limiting factor, such a resolution increase would typically cause a much larger frame rate drop.

The data shows that the RTX 3070 is never fully utilized even at 4K Ultra, where the combo still maintains 269.2 FPS. The difference between 1080p Ultra (305.5 FPS) and 4K Ultra (269.2 FPS) is only 11.9%, indicating that the CPU's six threads are the primary constraint across all tested configurations. The i5-9400's 2.90 GHz base clock and 4.10 GHz boost clock, combined with its 6 cores and 6 threads, appear to be the limiting factor in this esports title.

At higher settings, the scaling pattern shifts slightly. From 1080p High (307.7 FPS) to 1440p High (292 FPS) is a 5.1% drop, while from 1440p High to 4K High (273.9 FPS) is a 6.2% drop. This suggests that even when visual quality increases, the CPU remains the bottleneck, as the GPU has ample headroom to handle the additional rendering load without significant frame rate penalties.

FAQ

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

A: The highest recorded average is 369.2 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: How does the RTX 3070's VRAM capacity affect performance in Valorant?

A: The GPU's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory is more than sufficient for Valorant, as the frame rate differences between Low and Ultra settings at any given resolution are small, indicating no VRAM-related bottlenecks.

Q: Is the i5-9400 a significant bottleneck for the RTX 3070 in this game?

A: Yes. The relatively small frame rate drops between 1080p and 4K (roughly 12% at Low settings) indicate the CPU is the limiting component, not the GPU.

Q: What is the lowest average FPS recorded in the test suite?

A: The lowest average is 269.2 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, which is still far above competitive refresh rates.

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

A: It ranks 1322nd out of 1650 combos, placing it in the 80th percentile of all tested systems for Valorant.

Q: Does increasing settings from Low to Ultra have a significant impact on frame rates?

A: The impact is modest. At 1080p, the difference between Low (369.2 FPS) and Ultra (305.5 FPS) is 17.3%, while at 4K the difference is 17.4% (325.7 vs 269.2 FPS).

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 1322 out of 1650 places it in the top 20% of all tested configurations for Valorant. This positioning is notable because the hardware combination itself is mid-range by 2020 standards, yet the game's low system requirements allow it to perform exceptionally well. The RTX 3070's percentileVsAllGpus of 72 indicates it outperforms 72% of all GPUs in the database, while the i5-9400's percentileVsAllCpus of 50 places it exactly at the median.

The ranking suggests that many higher-end configurations achieve only marginally better results in Valorant, since the game's frame rate ceiling is often dictated by CPU single-thread performance rather than raw GPU power. The i5-9400's Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1125 and multi-core score of 7969 provide context for its capability, though Valorant's engine appears to favor the boost clock of 4.10 GHz.

Compared to the CPU's nearest rivals, the i5-9400's average benchmark score of 2305 is effectively tied with the Intel Core i3-10305 (2300, 0.2% delta) and Intel Core i3-1125G4 (2299, 0.2% delta), while slightly ahead of the Intel Xeon E-2134 (2295, 0.4% delta) and behind the Intel Core i7-8809G (2319, -0.6% delta). This tight clustering indicates that CPU performance in this range is similar across several Intel offerings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest results. Low settings produce 369.2 FPS, followed by Medium at 315.7 FPS, High at 307.7 FPS, and Ultra at 305.5 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 63.7 FPS, representing a 17.3% reduction. This suggests that the CPU's six threads handle the game logic well, but the frame rate ceiling is reached even at the lowest settings.

Moving to 2560x1440, the results show a similar pattern with slightly lower absolute numbers. Low settings yield 347.9 FPS, Medium produces 297.1 FPS, High achieves 292 FPS, and Ultra delivers 288.8 FPS. The delta from Low to Ultra here is 59.1 FPS (17.0%), nearly identical to the 1080p spread, reinforcing that the CPU is the consistent limiting factor.

At 3840x2160, the GPU begins to show slightly more influence. Low settings achieve 325.7 FPS, Medium drops to 275.8 FPS, High reaches 273.9 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 269.2 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra delta is 56.5 FPS (17.4%), still a modest reduction. Interestingly, the difference between Medium and High at 4K is only 1.9 FPS, suggesting that those two settings impose nearly identical GPU loads.

The data reveals that Low settings consistently outperform Ultra by roughly 17% at every resolution, while the resolution scaling from 1080p to 4K costs only 11.8% at Low settings and 11.9% at Ultra settings. This consistency points to a stable CPU bottleneck that scales predictably with both resolution and quality settings.

GPU Role

The RTX 3070's specifications place it well above the requirements for Valorant. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is far more than this game needs. The GPU's boost clock of 1725 MHz and base clock of 1500 MHz, combined with 5888 shading units, give it massive compute headroom that remains largely untapped in this title.

The GPU's benchmark scores demonstrate its overall capability: a Passmark G3D score of 22214 and a Geekbench OpenCL score of 123479. Its percentileVsAllGpus of 72 means it outperforms nearly three-quarters of all GPUs in the database. In Valorant, however, the measured FPS at 4K Ultra (269.2 FPS) versus 1080p Low (369.2 FPS) shows only a 27.1% difference, indicating the GPU is rarely the constraint.

The nearest rivals to the RTX 3070 in overall benchmark terms include the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT (27985, 0.9% delta) and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (27956, 1% delta), with the AMD FirePro S7150 (28409, -0.6% delta) and AMD Radeon R9 M295X (28541, -1.1% delta) slightly ahead. In Valorant specifically, the RTX 3070's performance advantage over these rivals would be minimal due to the CPU bottleneck, making GPU choice less impactful in this particular game.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400's six cores and six threads, running at a base clock of 2.90 GHz and boost clock of 4.10 GHz, are the primary determinants of Valorant's frame rates in this combo. The CPU's 9 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 42.7 GB/s bandwidth provide adequate bandwidth for the game's demands.

Benchmark results show the i5-9400 achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 7969 and single-core score of 1125, with a Cinebench R20 multi-core score of 3346 and single-core score of 472. The average benchmark score of 2305 places it at the 50th percentile of all CPUs, exactly median. Its nearest rivals in average score are tightly grouped, with the Core i3-10305 (2300, 0.2% delta) and Core i3-1125G4 (2299, 0.2% delta) essentially matching it.

Valorant's engine appears to be sensitive to single-thread performance, given that the i5-9400's boost clock of 4.10 GHz allows it to sustain 369.2 FPS at 1080p Low. The fact that frame rates stay above 269 FPS even at 4K Ultra suggests the CPU's six threads are sufficient to feed the RTX 3070 consistently. The 65 W TDP of the i5-9400, while modest, does not appear to limit sustained performance in this game, as the measured FPS remain consistently high across all test scenarios.