Valorant

Valorant is a competitive FPS that scales unusually well across hardware, and the measured data for the Intel Core i7-12700KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti shows a combination that pushes frame rates far beyond what most displays can even use. The benchmark rows in the FACT PACK cover three resolutions and four quality presets, providing a full picture of how this specific CPU-GPU pairing behaves under varying loads. The data indicates that this combo sits at rank 784 out of 3708 tested combinations, placing it in the top tier of configured systems for this title.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K reveals a system that remains heavily CPU-bound even at the highest resolution. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo produces 605 FPS average. Moving to 2560x1440 Low drops that to 574 FPS, a decline of roughly 5.1%, while 3840x2160 Low still manages 532 FPS, which is only 12.1% below the 1080p figure. This pattern is consistent across all settings presets: the drop from 1080p to 1440p is modest, and the drop from 1440p to 4K is larger but still far smaller than what a GPU-limited system would show.

For High settings, the scaling is similar: 507 FPS at 1080p, 450 FPS at 1440p, and 360 FPS at 4K. The 4K figure represents a 29% reduction from 1080p, but the absolute number remains exceptionally high for a competitive shooter. Medium settings show 516 FPS at 1080p, 473 FPS at 1440p, and 378 FPS at 4K. Ultra settings, which are the most demanding preset in the data, yield 499 FPS at 1080p, 429 FPS at 1440p, and 343 FPS at 4K. The consistent pattern across all four presets—where 4K remains above 340 FPS even at Ultra—strongly suggests that the GPU is not the limiting factor in this configuration.

The narrow spread between resolutions points to the CPU as the primary constraint. In a GPU-bound scenario, the difference between 1080p and 4K would typically exceed 40-50%, as the graphics card’s fill rate and memory bandwidth become saturated. Here, the largest observed gap is 32% between 1080p Low (605 FPS) and 4K Ultra (343 FPS), but that comparison changes both resolution and settings. Holding settings constant, the worst case is Ultra: 499 FPS at 1080p versus 343 FPS at 4K, a 31.3% reduction. For Low settings, the reduction is only 12.1%. This asymmetry—where lower settings see smaller resolution penalties—indicates that the GPU still has headroom at lower presets, while the CPU’s frame generation ceiling becomes the binding constraint.

At 4K Ultra, the system still delivers 343 FPS average, which exceeds the refresh rate of virtually all commercially available monitors. The fact that the combo can maintain over 300 FPS at 4K with the highest preset suggests that Valorant’s engine is highly optimized for this hardware class. The data shows no resolution or settings combination where the frame rate approaches a level that would cause perceptible stutter on standard 144Hz or 240Hz displays.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is built on the Ampere architecture with a GA104 chip, fabricated on an 8 nm process from Samsung. The GPU contains 6144 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units, along with 48 ray tracing cores and 192 tensor cores. Its memory subsystem consists of 8 GB of GDDR6X on a 256-bit bus, providing 608.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The base clock is 1575 MHz with a boost clock of 1770 MHz, and the memory operates at 1188 MHz, translating to 19 Gbps effective.

In Valorant, the GPU’s role is secondary to the CPU, but the data still shows measurable differences between settings presets that are attributable to graphics load. At 1080p, the spread between Low and Ultra is 106 FPS (605 versus 499), which is a 17.5% reduction. At 1440p, that spread widens to 145 FPS (574 versus 429), a 25.3% reduction. At 4K, the spread grows further to 189 FPS (532 versus 343), a 35.5% reduction. This widening gap as resolution increases confirms that the GPU becomes more influential at higher pixel counts, even though it never becomes the dominant bottleneck.

The RTX 3070 Ti’s 8 GB VRAM is more than sufficient for Valorant, which is not a VRAM-intensive title. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra (343 FPS) indicates that the GPU can handle the rendering workload without frame drops that would typically accompany memory capacity exhaustion. The pixel rate of 169.9 GPixel/s and texture rate of 339.8 GTexel/s provide ample throughput for the game’s relatively simple geometry and effects. The FP32 compute performance of 21.75 TFLOPS is far beyond what Valorant requires, further supporting the conclusion that the GPU is underutilized in most scenarios.

The benchmark scores for the GPU place it at the 75th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 29945. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile (delta of +0.1%), the AMD Radeon RX 6800 (delta of -0.5%), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (delta of +0.5%), and the AMD Radeon RX 6700 (delta of -1.6%). These small deltas indicate that the RTX 3070 Ti sits in a tightly contested performance band, but in Valorant specifically, the measured FPS shows that even a modest GPU like this can drive frame rates well beyond competitive thresholds.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-12700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti achieves a rank of 784 out of 3708 tested combos in Valorant. This places it in the 78.9th percentile of all configurations, meaning roughly 21% of tested combos perform better in this game. Given that many higher-ranked combos likely feature newer CPUs with higher single-thread performance or more powerful GPUs that matter less in this title, the rank is strong but not top-tier.

The CPU itself sits at the 85th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35365. Its nearest rivals are the Intel Core i7-13700T (avg score 35403, delta -0.1%), Intel Core i5-13600T (avg score 35305, delta +0.2%), Intel Core 5 213PE (avg score 35428, delta -0.2%), and Intel Core i7-12700K (avg score 35287, delta +0.2%). These deltas are all within 0.2%, meaning the i7-12700KF is statistically identical in general compute performance to its closest competitors. However, in Valorant, the game’s sensitivity to single-thread performance and cache hierarchy means that the CPU’s specific characteristics—12 cores, 20 threads, 25 MB shared L3 cache, and a 5.00 GHz boost clock—determine its effectiveness.

The GPU, at the 75th percentile among all GPUs, is the weaker link in this pairing. Its average benchmark score of 29945 and nearest rivals (RTX 5070 Mobile at 29928, RX 6800 at 30095, RTX 2080 Ti at 29783, RX 6700 at 30433) show that it is mid-pack relative to modern hardware. Yet in Valorant, the GPU’s percentile matters less because the game is not graphically demanding. The combo’s rank of 784 out of 3708 suggests that the CPU is doing most of the heavy lifting, and that combos ranked higher likely pair similar CPUs with faster GPUs or use CPUs with even higher single-core clocks.

The delta between the CPU’s 85th percentile and the combo’s 78.9th percentile indicates a slight performance loss from the GPU pairing, but the absolute FPS numbers are so high that this loss is irrelevant for practical play. The data shows that this combo can exceed 600 FPS at 1080p Low and remains above 340 FPS at 4K Ultra, which are both far beyond what any display can present.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The dataset provides 12 measured FPS rows, covering three resolutions and four settings each. At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 605 (Low) to 499 (Ultra). The Medium preset shows 516 FPS with a minimum of 438 and maximum of 593. High settings yield 507 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 106 FPS, which is 17.5% of the Low figure.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages are 574 (Low), 473 (Medium), 450 (High), and 429 (Ultra). The Medium preset records a minimum of 402 and maximum of 544. The Low-to-Ultra spread is 145 FPS, or 25.3% of Low. This widening spread indicates that the GPU’s workload increases more rapidly at 1440p, but the CPU still keeps the average frame rate above 400 FPS for all presets.

At 3840x2160, the averages drop to 532 (Low), 378 (Medium), 360 (High), and 343 (Ultra). The Medium preset shows a minimum of 321 and maximum of 435. The Low-to-Ultra spread is 189 FPS, or 35.5% of Low. Even the minimum FPS recorded across the entire dataset—321 FPS at 4K Medium—is well above any competitive display’s refresh rate.

The minimum and maximum values are only provided for the Medium preset at each resolution. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 438 and the maximum is 593, giving a range of 155 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the minimum is 402 and the maximum is 544, a range of 142 FPS. At 4K Medium, the minimum is 321 and the maximum is 435, a range of 114 FPS. This narrowing range as resolution increases suggests that the GPU’s frame pacing becomes more consistent under higher load, which is counterintuitive but likely reflects that the CPU is no longer the sole limiter.

For competitive play, the most relevant rows are 1080p Low (605 FPS) and 1080p High (507 FPS). Both exceed 500 FPS, ensuring that even with frame time spikes, the system will not drop below the refresh rate of 360Hz monitors. The 1440p rows are also strong, with the lowest average being 429 FPS at Ultra. The 4K rows, while lower, still provide over 340 FPS at Ultra, which is more than enough for any current display technology.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700KF is a 12-core, 20-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel’s 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, with a 125 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 25 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration and uses the Intel Socket 1700.

In Valorant, the CPU’s single-thread performance is the dominant factor. The benchmark scores show a single-thread score of 1043 in 3dmark, 410 in Cinebench R15, 1709 in R20, 4071 in R23, 2255 in Geekbench, and 3984 in Passmark single-thread. These scores are strong but not class-leading. The 5.00 GHz boost clock is critical for Valorant’s physics and game logic, which typically rely on one or two primary threads.

The multi-thread performance is also robust, as shown by scores like 28838 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 34092 in Passmark multi-thread. However, Valorant does not scale well with core count beyond a certain point, so the 12-core configuration provides diminishing returns. The 20 threads are more than sufficient for any background tasks or streaming overhead, but they do not directly translate to higher FPS in this game.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in general benchmarks are all within 0.2% in average score, but in Valorant, the specific boost behavior and cache latency matter. The i7-12700KF’s 25 MB L3 cache is shared across all cores, which helps with data reuse in the game’s entity and rendering systems. The processor’s P-core (performance core) design, which is part of Alder Lake’s hybrid architecture, provides the high single-thread clocks that Valorant demands.

The data shows that the CPU is the limiting component in this combo. Evidence comes from the resolution scaling: at 1080p Low, the FPS is 605, but at 4K Ultra, it is only 343. If the GPU were the bottleneck, the 4K Ultra frame rate would be much lower relative to 1080p Low, often dropping below 50% of the 1080p figure. Here, the 4K Ultra figure is 56.7% of the 1080p Low figure, which is a mild reduction. Additionally, the fact that 1080p Low (605 FPS) is only 11.8% higher than 4K Low (532 FPS) shows that the GPU can handle the higher resolution with minimal loss, reinforcing that the CPU’s frame generation rate is the ceiling.

FAQ

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

A: The highest measured average FPS is 605, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next highest is 574 at 2560x1440 Low, and then 532 at 3840x2160 Low.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the combo delivers an average FPS of 343. This is the lowest average in the dataset but still well above any display’s refresh rate, including 360Hz panels.

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

A: The data indicates the CPU is the primary limiter. The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is only 12.1% at Low settings, which would be much larger if the GPU were saturated. The CPU’s 5.00 GHz boost clock and single-thread performance determine the frame ceiling.

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

A: The combo ranks 784 out of 3708 tested combos in Valorant, placing it in the top 21% of all configurations. The CPU ranks at the 85th percentile among CPUs, while the GPU ranks at the 75th percentile among GPUs.

Q: What are the minimum FPS figures recorded?

A: The only minimum FPS values provided are for Medium settings: 438 at 1080p, 402 at 1440p, and 321 at 4K. These minimums are all above 300 FPS, ensuring smooth frame delivery even in heavy scenes.

Q: Which settings preset provides the highest frame rate at each resolution?

A: Low settings provide the highest average FPS at all three resolutions: 605 at 1080p, 574 at 1440p, and 532 at 4K. Ultra settings provide the lowest, with 499, 429, and 343 respectively.

Settings Recommendations

For players using this Intel Core i7-12700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti combination, the measured FPS data offers clear guidance on preset selection. At 1920x1080, the difference between Low (605 FPS) and Ultra (499 FPS) is 106 FPS, which is a 17.5% reduction. Given that both figures exceed 480 FPS, the choice depends on whether a player prioritizes maximum frame rate or visual quality. For competitive play where response time matters most, the Low preset at 1080p delivers the highest possible FPS. However, High settings at 507 FPS still provide a 98 FPS margin over a 360Hz display, making it a viable middle ground that improves visibility without sacrificing responsiveness.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset yields 574 FPS, while Ultra yields 429 FPS. The 145 FPS gap is more pronounced, but even Ultra remains above 400 FPS. For players with 1440p 240Hz monitors, the Medium preset (473 FPS) offers a good balance, with a minimum of 402 FPS that stays above the display’s refresh rate. The High preset at 450 FPS is also acceptable, but Ultra’s 429 FPS leaves a smaller margin for frame time spikes. The data suggests that Medium or High at 1440p is the sweet spot for visual fidelity without risking any perceptible stutter.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset produces 532 FPS, while Ultra produces 343 FPS. The 189 FPS spread is the largest of any resolution. For 4K displays, which typically have refresh rates of 144Hz or 160Hz, even the Ultra preset’s 343 FPS is more than double what the display can show. The Medium preset at 378 FPS with a minimum of 321 FPS provides a comfortable margin over 144Hz displays. Given that 4K High (360 FPS) and Ultra (343 FPS) are within 5% of each other, players with 4K 144Hz monitors can safely select Ultra without any practical downside.

The overall recommendation is to choose settings based on the display’s refresh rate and refresh rate headroom. For 1080p 360Hz displays, Low or High both work, with Low providing the maximum frame generation. For 1440p 240Hz displays, Medium or High are optimal, as they keep average FPS above 450 and minimums above 400. For 4K 144Hz displays, Ultra is the best choice because the 343 FPS average is far above the display’s capability, and the visual improvements are free. In all cases, the combo’s measured performance ensures that no preset will cause the frame rate to drop below 300 FPS, making Valorant’s competitive integrity unaffected by graphics settings.