Valorant

The Intel Core i7-12700KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 delivers exceptional performance in Valorant, ranking 545th out of 3,708 tested combos in this game. This places the combination in the top 14.7% of all systems tested, a strong result for a competitive FPS where high frame rates are the primary metric. The data shows that this pairing is not bottlenecked in meaningful ways at any of the tested resolution and settings combinations, consistently delivering frame rates well above what even high-refresh-rate monitors can display.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 545 out of 3,708 tested combos positions this system in the 85th percentile of all configurations tested in Valorant. This ranking reflects the combination of the i7-12700KF's strong multi-threaded performance and the RTX 5090's raw throughput. The CPU alone holds the 85th percentile rank among all tested processors, while the GPU sits in the 92nd percentile among all tested graphics cards. The slight difference between the component percentiles and the combined system rank suggests that in Valorant, the CPU is the more significant contributor to overall performance consistency.

The i7-12700KF's average benchmark score of 35,365 is remarkably close to its nearest rivals. The Intel Core i7-13700T scores 35,403, a difference of only 0.1%, while the Intel Core i5-13600T scores 35,305, a delta of 0.2%. The Intel Core 5 213PE scores 35,428, and the Intel Core i7-12700K scores 35,287. These margins are within measurement noise, meaning the i7-12700KF performs essentially identically to its closest competitors in synthetic benchmarks. The 12 cores and 20 threads of this Alder Lake processor are more than sufficient to keep the RTX 5090 fed with data in Valorant.

The RTX 5090's average benchmark score of 79,842 places it in the 92nd percentile of all tested GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB with a score of 79,605 (0.3% ahead), the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB at 79,396 (0.6% ahead), and the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT at 78,940 (1.1% ahead). The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X scores 80,959, putting it 1.4% ahead of the RTX 5090. These data points show the 5090 is operating in a performance band with other high-end cards, though the comparison pool is diverse in terms of workload suitability.

GPU Role

The RTX 5090 is based on the GB202 chip with Blackwell 2.0 architecture, manufactured on a 5 nm process at TSMC. The GPU contains 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die, giving it a transistor density of 122.9 million per square millimeter. The card has 21760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 render output units. It also includes 170 ray tracing cores and 680 tensor cores for hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI workloads.

Memory capacity and bandwidth are substantial components of this card's performance profile. The 32 GB of GDDR7 memory is accessed across a 512-bit bus, providing a theoretical bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s. The memory runs at 1750 MHz with an effective data rate of 28 Gbps. In Valorant, which does not typically stress video memory capacity, the 32 GB size is essentially a non-factor; frame rates will be governed by clock speeds and architectural efficiency rather than memory allocation.

The GPU's clock behavior shows a base clock of 2017 MHz and a boost clock of 2407 MHz. The pixel rate reaches 423.6 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 1,636.8 GTexel/s. The FP32 compute throughput is 104.8 TFLOPS. These figures suggest the card is capable of massive parallel work, but Valorant is known for being less demanding on raw compute and more dependent on driver efficiency and single-threaded CPU performance. The benchmark data supports this assessment: the frame rates across all resolutions and settings are high but do not scale linearly with the GPU's compute capabilities.

The card's TDP is 575 W with a suggested power supply of 950 W. It requires a single 16-pin power connector and is a dual-slot design. The dimensions are 304 mm in length, 137 mm in height, and 40 mm in width. It supports PCIe 5.0 x16 for data transfer. The display outputs include one HDMI 2.1b and three DisplayPort 2.1b connections, which allow high refresh rate output at 4K and beyond. The card supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides insight into how the settings presets affect performance. At 1080p, the Low preset yields an average of 605 FPS, which is the highest of any measured configuration. The Medium preset produces an average of 516 FPS, High yields 507 FPS, and Ultra yields 499 FPS. The difference between the lowest and highest presets at 1080p is about 17.5%, but even the Ultra preset still delivers an average of nearly 500 FPS.

At 1440p, the pattern continues with the Low preset achieving 574 FPS average, Medium at 489 FPS, High at 481 FPS, and Ultra at 473 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is about 21.4%, showing a slight reduction in the performance hit when compared with 1080p. At 4K, the Low preset delivers 532 FPS average, Medium at 454 FPS, High at 447 FPS, and Ultra at 439 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is about 18.5%.

Considering the data as a whole, the Medium preset represents the most balanced experience. It maintains a high average FPS across all resolutions while also providing additional visual fidelity over the Low preset. The minimum FPS value for the Medium preset is 386 at 4K, which is still exceptionally high. The Medium preset's minimum of 386 at 4K is only 56 FPS lower than the Low preset's average at the same resolution. Given that the Ultra preset only offers a negligible FPS difference compared to Medium, but the Medium preset includes a measured minimum FPS value, the Medium preset is the recommended starting point for most players.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data provides clear frame rate values for each resolution and setting combination. At 1080p High, the average is 507 FPS. At 1080p Low, the average is 605 FPS. At 1080p Medium, the average is 516 FPS with a minimum of 438 and a maximum of 593. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 499 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium is about 85 FPS, which is a substantial drop, but the subsequent steps from Medium to High (1.7% decrease) and High to Ultra (1.6% decrease) are very small.

At 1440p High the average is 481 FPS. At 1440p Low, the average is 574 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average is 489 FPS with a minimum of 416 and a maximum of 563. At 1440p Ultra, the average is 473 FPS. The scaling pattern shows a notable difference between Low and Medium at 1440p, a 14.8% decrease in average FPS. Medium to High shows a 1.6% drop, and High to Ultra shows a 1.7% drop.

At 4K High, the average is 447 FPS. At 4K Low, the average is 532 FPS. At 4K Medium, the average is 454 FPS with a minimum of 386 and a maximum of 522. At 4K Ultra, the average is 439 FPS. The difference between Low and Medium at 4K is 14.7% in favor of Low, while Medium to High shows a 1.5% drop, and High to Ultra shows a 1.8% drop. These data indicate that the detailed settings beyond Medium have a very limited effect on frame rate in this game.

The measured minimum FPS values are only available for the Medium preset at each resolution. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 438 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the minimum is 416 FPS. At 4K Medium, the minimum is 386 FPS. These minimums show a steady decrease with resolution, but they remain high enough for 240 Hz or 360 Hz monitors. The maximum FPS at 1080p Medium is 593, at 1440p Medium is 563, and at 4K Medium is 522. The range between minimum and maximum is similar across resolutions, suggesting the CPU is maintaining a stable frame pacing.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K shows how the CPU and GPU interact in this game. At the Low preset, the average FPS goes from 605 at 1080p to 574 at 1440p, a drop of 5.1%. From 1440p to 4K, it drops to 532, another 7.3% reduction. This indicates that at Low settings, the CPU is the primary limiter even at 4K, as the GPU has plenty of headroom to render the simple geometry at maximum speed.

At the Medium preset, the scaling is similar: 516 at 1080p, 489 at 1440p, and 454 at 4K. These are drops of 5.2% and 7.2% respectively. At the High preset, the numbers are 507, 481, and 447, with drops of 5.1% and 7.1%. The Ultra preset shows a slightly steeper drop: 499 to 473 to 439, which are changes of 5.2% and 7.2%. The consistency of these percentages across all presets indicates that the relative performance scaling is independent of the visual quality settings.

The total drop from 1080p Low to 4K Low is 605 to 532, a 12.1% reduction. The total drop from 1080p Ultra to 4K Ultra is 499 to 439, an 11.9% reduction. These figures show that the game is not heavily bottlenecked by the GPU at higher resolutions in this configuration. The RTX 5090 is so powerful that even at 4K, the CPU is still the limiting component. This is unusual for most modern games, but Valorant's low graphical complexity and emphasis on draw calls make it a CPU-sensitive title.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for high refresh rate gaming?

A: The Low preset provides the highest average FPS at all resolutions, reaching 605 FPS at 1080p, 574 at 1440p, and 532 at 4K. The Medium preset provides a more balanced experience with a 7% reduction in average FPS at each resolution but includes additional features and a measured minimum FPS that stays above 386 at all tested resolutions.

Q: Is the RTX 5090 overkill for Valorant?

A: The data shows that the GPU is not the limiting factor in this game. The frame rate differences between Low and Ultra settings are small (around 20%), and resolution scaling has a minimal impact, with a 4K to 1080p difference of only 12.1%. The CPU's performance is the primary constraint on frame rates in this configuration.

Q: How does the i7-12700KF compare to its rivals?

A: The i7-12700KF has an average benchmark score of 35,365. The Intel Core i7-13700T scores 35,403 (0.1% higher), the Intel Core 5 213PE scores 35,428 (0.2% higher), and the Intel Core i5-13600T scores 35,305 (0.2% lower). The Intel Core i7-12700K scores 35,287 (0.2% lower). These are negligible differences.

Q: What is the highest average FPS measured for this combination?

A: The highest average FPS is 605, achieved at 1080p with the Low preset. The next highest is 574 FPS at 1440p Low, followed by 532 FPS at 4K Low.

Q: Does the Ultra preset provide a significantly better experience than Medium?

A: No. The difference between Ultra and Medium is 17 FPS at 1080p, 16 FPS at 1440p, and 15 FPS at 4K. These differences are within a 3.3% margin and are likely imperceptible in actual gameplay.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded in the benchmarks?

A: The minimum FPS recorded is 386 FPS, which appears only in the Medium preset at 4K. The CPU keeps the minimum FPS above 386 in all other preset and resolution combinations where min FPS is measured.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700KF is the processor in this combination. It has 12 cores and 20 threads, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. The CPU is based on Alder Lake architecture, released in 2021, and is built on Intel's 10 nm process. It has an L3 cache of 25 MB shared, with 1.25 MB L2 per core and 80 KB L1 per core. The socket is Intel 1700, and it supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory.

The CPU's benchmark results show strong multi-threaded performance. In Cinebench R23, it scores 28,838 in multi-core and 4,071 in single-core. In Geekbench, it scores 14,367 in multi-core and 2,255 in single-core. The 3DMark scores are 9,982 for max threads, 12,355 for 16 threads, 7,211 for 8 threads, 4,011 for 4 threads, 2,065 for 2 threads, and 1,043 for single-thread. These scores place the CPU in the 85th percentile of all tested CPUs.

For Valorant, the single-thread performance is critical. The Cinebench R15 single-core score of 410 and the 3DMark 2-thread score of 2,065 suggest strong per-core performance. The boost clock of 5.00 GHz is the key factor in maintaining high frame rates, as the game's physics and game logic are mostly single-threaded. The multi-threaded scores are less relevant for Valorant but still indicate that the CPU will not bottleneck in other tasks. The passmark multi-thread score of 34,092 and the passmark single-thread score of 3,984 confirm the CPU's strong overall performance.

The combination of a high boost clock and 12 cores means the CPU can handle the game engine's main thread while also processing audio and background tasks without frame dips. The measured FPS data shows no evidence of CPU-induced stuttering or low frame spikes, with minimum FPS values remaining above 386 FPS in all Medium settings. The CPU's performance is sufficient to feed the RTX 5090 at 4K without becoming a bottleneck.

The passmark data compression score of 441,960 and data encryption score of 23,181 are high, showing strong multi-threaded capacity. However, these are not directly relevant to Valorant. The CPU's memory support of DDR4 and DDR5 provides flexibility for system builders. The 125W TDP is moderate for a desktop processor, but the 'KF' suffix indicates no integrated graphics, which is a consideration for troubleshooting. The unlocked multiplier allows for overclocking, which could further boost the already high frame rates, though the measured data suggests this is unnecessary for Valorant.