Valorant

The Intel Core i7-12700KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 produces exceptionally high frame rates in Valorant across all tested configurations. The dataset reveals a system that is primarily limited by the CPU at lower resolutions, with the GPU becoming more relevant as resolution increases. The measured average frame rates range from a low of 427.9 FPS at 4K Ultra to a high of 605.5 FPS at 1080p Low, indicating that this combination is designed for high-refresh-rate competitive play. The following analysis breaks down the scaling behavior, component roles, and performance rankings based strictly on the provided measured data.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K demonstrates how the workload shifts between the CPU and GPU. At 1080p Low settings, the system achieves 605.5 FPS, which drops to 577.7 FPS at 1440p and 531.4 FPS at 4K. This represents a 12.2% decrease in performance from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, suggesting a strong CPU bottleneck at lower resolutions where the GPU is not fully utilized. The relatively small absolute drop of 74.1 FPS indicates that even at 4K, the RTX 5070 is not being pushed to its limits in this game.

Moving to High settings, the scaling behavior changes. The 1080p High result of 506.4 FPS decreases to 483.7 FPS at 1440p (a 4.5% drop) and then to 443.9 FPS at 4K (an additional 8.2% drop). The total reduction from 1080p to 4K at High settings is 62.5 FPS, or 12.3%. This pattern shows that as settings increase, the GPU begins to take on more work, but the CPU still remains a significant factor, as the frame rates remain well above what would indicate a pure GPU bottleneck.

The Ultra preset shows the most consistent scaling pattern. Starting at 498.6 FPS at 1080p, it drops to 471.5 FPS at 1440p (5.4% decrease) and then to 427.9 FPS at 4K (9.3% decrease). The total drop of 70.7 FPS from 1080p to 4K represents a 14.2% reduction. This slightly larger percentage decrease compared to High settings suggests that the Ultra preset introduces enough GPU workload to make resolution scaling more pronounced, although the absolute frame rates remain extremely high.

The data indicates that the limiting component shifts gradually. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 106.9 FPS, showing that settings have a substantial impact. At 4K, this difference narrows to 103.5 FPS. This narrowing gap suggests that while the CPU remains the primary limiter, the GPU's role becomes more significant at higher resolutions. The overall pattern is that this system is heavily CPU-bound in Valorant, with the RTX 5070 having considerable headroom even at 4K Ultra.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 features 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 672.0 GB/s. The memory operates at 1750 MHz with 28 Gbps effective speed. These specifications are more than sufficient for Valorant, which is not a graphically demanding title. The GPU's boost clock of 2512 MHz and base clock of 2325 MHz contribute to its ability to maintain high frame rates, but the benchmark results show that the GPU is rarely the bottleneck.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it in the 83rd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 41687. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 with a deltaPct of 0.2, the NVIDIA Tesla M40 at -0.5, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 at 0.6, and the AMD Radeon Pro 580X at -0.7. These rival comparisons indicate that the RTX 5070 performs similarly to the RTX 3090 in general benchmarks, though the exact gaming performance in Valorant is specific to this measured dataset.

The GPU's memory capacity of 12 GB is ample for Valorant, which does not require large texture pools. The measured frame rates show that even at 4K Ultra, the system maintains 427.9 FPS, which is far above the refresh rate of most monitors. The GPU's role in this specific game is to provide enough rendering horsepower to avoid becoming the limiting factor, and the data confirms that it succeeds in this regard. The pixel rate of 201.0 GPixel/s and texture rate of 482.3 GTexel/s are more than adequate for the game's simple geometry and effects.

The fact that the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 106.9 FPS, while at 4K it is 103.5 FPS, suggests that the GPU's workload scaling is relatively modest. This indicates that the RTX 5070 is operating well within its capabilities, and the CPU is the primary constraint on performance. The GPU's 30.87 TFLOPS FP32 performance is not fully utilized in this scenario, as the frame rates are limited by the CPU's ability to process game logic and draw calls.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i7-12700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 ranks 210th out of 1650 tested combos in Valorant, placing it in the top 12.7% of all configurations. This ranking reflects the system's ability to deliver exceptionally high frame rates, though it is not at the very top of the leaderboard. The high rank is driven primarily by the CPU's strong single-threaded performance, which is critical for Valorant's engine.

The CPU itself has an average benchmark score of 35355, placing it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i5-14400 with a deltaPct of 0.1, the Intel Core i7-13800H at -0.2, the Intel Core i9-12900HX at 0.2, and the Intel Core i5-13600T at 0.3. These deltas are all within 0.3% of the i7-12700KF's score, indicating that the CPU's performance is closely matched by several other processors. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 28979 and single-core score of 4091 demonstrate strong overall capability, though the single-core performance is what matters most for Valorant.

The GPU's rank of 83rd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 41687, is slightly lower than the CPU's percentile ranking. However, in Valorant, the GPU is less important than the CPU, so the combo's overall rank of 210 out of 1650 is likely influenced more by the CPU's capabilities. The fact that the combo ranks in the top 13% suggests that while this is a very fast system for Valorant, there are other configurations that achieve even higher frame rates, likely those with newer or higher-clocked CPUs.

The rank of 210 out of 1650 means that 1440 other tested combos perform worse in this game. This places the system firmly in the upper echelon of performance, suitable for competitive play at the highest refresh rates. The data does not provide information on the specific combos that rank higher, but the relative performance of the CPU and GPU components suggests that the limiting factor for achieving a higher rank would be the CPU's single-threaded performance.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the Low preset at any resolution provides the highest average FPS. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 605.5 FPS, which is the maximum measured value in the entire dataset. At 1440p Low, the frame rate drops to 577.7 FPS, and at 4K Low, it remains at 531.4 FPS. These frame rates are far above the refresh rate of any current gaming monitor, making the Low preset the best choice for maximizing performance.

However, the data also shows that the Medium and High presets provide nearly identical performance to each other, with a slight advantage to High. At 1080p, Medium achieves 514.3 FPS while High achieves 506.4 FPS, a difference of only 7.9 FPS. At 1440p, the difference narrows to 3.3 FPS (487 vs 483.7), and at 4K, High is actually faster than Medium by 12.4 FPS (443.9 vs 456.3). This suggests that the High preset offers better visual quality with minimal performance cost compared to Medium.

The Ultra preset provides the lowest frame rates across all resolutions, with 498.6 FPS at 1080p, 471.5 FPS at 1440p, and 427.9 FPS at 4K. While these are still extremely high frame rates, the difference between Ultra and High is 7.8 FPS at 1080p, 12.2 FPS at 1440p, and 16 FPS at 4K. Given that the frame rates are already well above 400 FPS, the Ultra preset is viable for players who prioritize visual quality, but it offers no competitive advantage.

The optimal recommendation depends on the user's display refresh rate. For a 360 Hz monitor, the High preset at 1080p provides 506.4 FPS, which is sufficient. For a 500 Hz monitor, the Low preset at 1080p would be necessary to fully utilize the display's capabilities. The data indicates that the High preset offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, as it consistently delivers frame rates above 440 FPS even at 4K. The Low preset is recommended only for users with the highest refresh rate displays who demand absolute maximum FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset of measured average frame rates reveals a consistent pattern across all resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the frame rates range from 498.6 FPS at Ultra to 605.5 FPS at Low. The Medium setting achieves 514.3 FPS, while High achieves 506.4 FPS. This 1080p resolution provides the highest overall frame rates, with the Low preset exceeding 600 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates decrease slightly but remain remarkably high. The Low preset achieves 577.7 FPS, followed by Medium at 487 FPS, High at 483.7 FPS, and Ultra at 471.5 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 106.2 FPS, which is very similar to the 106.9 FPS difference at 1080p. This consistency suggests that the performance scaling between settings is uniform across resolutions.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates show the expected decrease but still remain above 425 FPS. The Low preset achieves 531.4 FPS, Medium achieves 456.3 FPS, High achieves 443.9 FPS, and Ultra achieves 427.9 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 103.5 FPS, which is slightly less than at lower resolutions, indicating that the GPU is becoming a more significant factor at 4K.

The overall pattern shows that the Low preset consistently outperforms other settings by a significant margin. At 1080p, Low is 91.2 FPS faster than Medium, 99.1 FPS faster than High, and 106.9 FPS faster than Ultra. At 1440p, Low is 90.7 FPS faster than Medium, 94 FPS faster than High, and 106.2 FPS faster than Ultra. At 4K, Low is 75.1 FPS faster than Medium, 87.5 FPS faster than High, and 103.5 FPS faster than Ultra.

The Medium and High presets show very similar performance across all resolutions, with differences of only 7.9 FPS at 1080p, 3.3 FPS at 1440p, and 12.4 FPS at 4K. This indicates that the game's High preset does not add significant GPU workload compared to Medium. The Ultra preset consistently delivers the lowest frame rates, but the absolute numbers remain exceptionally high, with the minimum measured value of 427.9 FPS still being more than sufficient for competitive play. The data confirms that this system is capable of driving even the highest refresh rate displays at 4K resolution with all settings enabled.