Valorant

The Intel Core i7-12700KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D delivers a staggering performance profile in Valorant, a game where frame rates far exceed standard display refresh rates. The measured data shows this combination is heavily skewed toward CPU-bound scenarios, with the GPU rarely breaking a sweat. The following analysis breaks down how this pairing behaves across resolutions and settings, using only the measured figures provided.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a system that is firmly CPU-limited at lower resolutions. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 605 at 1920x1080 to 574 at 2560x1440, a modest decline of 5.1%. Moving to 3840x2160, the average falls to 532, which is 12.1% below the 1080p figure. This relatively gentle slope — a total drop of 73 FPS from 1080p to 4K — indicates that the RTX 5090 D is being held back by the processor even at the highest resolution.

The scaling pattern shifts slightly with higher graphical presets. At High settings, the averages are 507 (1080p), 481 (1440p), and 447 (4K). The percentage drops are 5.1% from 1080p to 1440p, then 7.1% from 1440p to 4K. The Ultra preset tells a similar story: 499 FPS at 1080p, 473 at 1440p, and 439 at 4K. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 93 FPS (532 vs 439), while at 1080p the gap is 106 FPS (605 vs 499). This narrowing delta at higher resolutions suggests that while the GPU becomes slightly more involved, the CPU still dominates the performance ceiling.

What is remarkable is the absolute magnitude of these numbers. Even at 4K Ultra, the system maintains an average of 439 FPS, which is more than double what most competitive displays can present. The data shows that resolution scaling has a minimal practical impact on playability — the limiting factor is not the GPU's ability to render frames, but the CPU's capacity to feed it draw calls. The measured Medium preset, which includes min and max values, shows 4K averages of 454 FPS with a min of 386 and max of 522, reinforcing that even at the most demanding tested configuration, the frame rate never dips below the high triple digits.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is an absolute monster of a graphics card, yet in Valorant it operates well below its potential. The GPU's specifications include 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. The base clock is 2017 MHz with a boost clock of 2407 MHz, and memory runs at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). This hardware is designed for 4K ray tracing and massive compute workloads, not for a tactical shooter that can run on integrated graphics.

The benchmark results underscore this mismatch. At 1080p Low, the system produces 605 FPS, but the GPU's own benchmark scores suggest it is nowhere near taxed. The Passmark G3D score is 44065, and the Geekbench OpenCL score is 310674, figures that place it in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs. Yet in Valorant, the GPU's role is almost trivial — the frame rate is determined by how fast the CPU can process game logic and issue rendering commands.

The GPU does show its influence in the resolution scaling. At 4K, the difference between Low and Ultra settings is 93 FPS, which is the largest spread across all resolutions. This indicates that at 4K, the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth begin to matter more. However, even the most demanding setting combination — 4K Ultra at 439 FPS — is far below the GPU's compute ceiling. The 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores are essentially idle in this workload, as Valorant does not utilize ray tracing or DLSS in the measured data.

The VRAM capacity of 32 GB is entirely irrelevant for this game. Valorant's texture and geometry requirements are minimal, and even at 4K Ultra, the frame buffer usage would be a fraction of what the card offers. The GPU's 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 423.6 GPixel/s pixel rate are wasted on a game that could run on a tenth of this hardware. In essence, the RTX 5090 D is overkill for Valorant, and the data confirms that its role is limited to ensuring that frame rates never dip, regardless of what the CPU can deliver.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700KF is the true star of this benchmark, and its specifications explain why. This Alder Lake-S processor features 12 cores and 20 threads, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 25 MB of shared L3. It supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory, though the measured results do not specify which was used.

The CPU's benchmark scores paint a picture of a processor that excels at both single-threaded and multi-threaded tasks. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 28838, while the single-core score is 4071. The Geekbench scores are 14367 (multi-core) and 2255 (single-core). The 3DMark 16-thread score is 9282, and the max-thread score is 9983. These figures place the CPU in the 85th percentile of all processors, with an average benchmark score of 35365.

In Valorant, the CPU's single-thread performance is paramount. The game's engine is notoriously single-thread bound, and the 5.00 GHz boost clock is likely the primary driver of the high frame rates. The data supports this: the 1080p Low average of 605 FPS is only 7.1% higher than the 4K Low average of 532 FPS, indicating that the CPU is the bottleneck across all resolutions. Even with the GPU scaling down its workload at lower resolutions, the CPU cannot push beyond the ~600 FPS mark.

The 12-core/20-thread configuration is more than sufficient for Valorant's thread usage. The game typically uses only a few threads, so the extra cores are idle. However, the CPU's high boost clock and efficient Alder Lake architecture ensure that the active threads receive maximum throughput. The Passmark single-thread score of 3984 and the 3DMark single-thread score of 1043 both indicate strong per-core performance, which directly translates to high frame rates in this game.

The CPU's TDP of 125 W is modest, and its unlocked multiplier allows for overclocking, though the measured data does not indicate whether the chip was running at stock settings. The fact that the 12700KF outperforms its nearest rival, the 12700K, by 0.2% in average benchmark score suggests that the "F" variant (without integrated graphics) offers a slight edge, likely due to better thermal headroom or binning. In Valorant, this CPU is the definitive performance limiter, and the data shows it is capable of sustaining frame rates that exceed the refresh rate of virtually any monitor on the market.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance on which settings offer the best balance of visual fidelity and performance. The Ultra preset, while producing the highest visual quality, offers the lowest frame rates: 499 FPS at 1080p, 473 at 1440p, and 439 at 4K. The High preset is nearly identical in performance, with averages of 507 FPS at 1080p, 481 at 1440p, and 447 at 4K. The difference between High and Ultra is a mere 8 FPS at 1080p and 8 FPS at 4K, making High the more sensible choice for players who want maximum visual quality without sacrificing measurable performance.

The Medium preset sits between High and Low in terms of frame rate, but it is the only settings level that includes min and max FPS data. At 1080p Medium, the average is 516 FPS with a min of 438 and a max of 593. At 1440p, the average is 489 FPS with a min of 416 and a max of 563. At 4K, the average is 454 FPS with a min of 386 and a max of 522. The min FPS values are particularly important for competitive play, as frame time consistency matters more than raw averages. The Medium preset shows tighter min-to-max ranges relative to its average, suggesting more consistent frame pacing.

The Low preset delivers the highest average frame rates: 605 FPS at 1080p, 574 at 1440p, and 532 at 4K. However, the visual sacrifice is significant, and for a game like Valorant, the difference between Low and Medium is unlikely to impact competitive performance given that both exceed 500 FPS at 1080p. The data suggests that Medium is the optimal choice for most players: it provides a 9 FPS improvement over High at 1080p (516 vs 507) and a 17 FPS improvement over Ultra at 4K (454 vs 439), while likely offering superior visual clarity compared to Low.

For players with 144 Hz or 240 Hz monitors, any setting above Low is overkill. Even at 4K Ultra, the system produces 439 FPS, which is 83% higher than a 240 Hz display's refresh rate. The recommendation is to use Medium settings for the best combination of visual quality and frame rate stability, particularly because the min FPS values at Medium (438 at 1080p, 416 at 1440p, 386 at 4K) all remain well above the refresh rate of even the most demanding competitive monitors.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i7-12700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D ranks 413th out of 2883 tested combos in Valorant, placing it in the top 14.3% of all configurations. This ranking is notable because it is considerably lower than what the individual component benchmarks would suggest. The GPU ranks in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs, and the CPU ranks in the 85th percentile, yet their combined ranking in Valorant is only 85.7th percentile.

This discrepancy is explained by the game's CPU-bound nature. The RTX 5090 D's massive compute resources are irrelevant in Valorant, meaning that combos with a faster CPU (even paired with a much weaker GPU) could achieve higher frame rates. The ranking of 413 out of 2883 indicates that there are 412 combinations that outperform this setup in Valorant, many of which likely feature higher-clock CPUs or CPUs with better single-thread performance.

The CPU's nearest rivals provide context. The Intel Core i7-13700T has an average benchmark score of 35403, which is -0.1% relative to the 12700KF's 35365. The Intel Core i5-13600T scores 35305, a 0.2% difference. The Intel Core 5 213PE scores 35428, a -0.2% difference. The Intel Core i7-12700K scores 35287, a 0.2% difference. These are all extremely close scores, suggesting that the 12700KF is in a tightly contested performance tier. In Valorant, any of these CPUs would likely produce nearly identical frame rates, meaning the 413th ranking is more about the CPU's position relative to other processors than any deficiency in the setup.

The GPU's nearest rivals are oddly mismatched, with AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (1.1% higher score), AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (-1.6% lower), and NVIDIA Tesla P100 variants (-2.1% and -2.4% lower). These comparisons are irrelevant for Valorant, as any modern GPU can handle the game at high frame rates. The combo's ranking is essentially determined by the CPU choice, and the 12700KF's position in the 85th percentile of all CPUs translates to a top-15% ranking in this specific game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS data for the Intel Core i7-12700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D in Valorant is as follows:

At 1920x1080, the system produces its highest frame rates. Low settings yield an average of 605 FPS. Medium settings produce an average of 516 FPS, with a minimum of 438 FPS and a maximum of 593 FPS. High settings average 507 FPS. Ultra settings average 499 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is 106 FPS, with the Low preset being 21.3% faster than Ultra.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain remarkably high. Low settings average 574 FPS. Medium settings average 489 FPS, with a minimum of 416 FPS and a maximum of 563 FPS. High settings average 481 FPS. Ultra settings average 473 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is 101 FPS, with Low being 21.4% faster than Ultra. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 31 FPS (5.1%) at Low settings, and 26 FPS (5.0%) at Ultra settings.

At 3840x2160, the system still delivers exceptional performance. Low settings average 532 FPS. Medium settings average 454 FPS, with a minimum of 386 FPS and a maximum of 522 FPS. High settings average 447 FPS. Ultra settings average 439 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is 93 FPS, with Low being 21.2% faster than Ultra. The drop from 1440p to 4K is 42 FPS (7.3%) at Low settings, and 34 FPS (7.2%) at Ultra settings.

The Medium preset's min FPS values are the only min/max data available, and they show that even in the most demanding scenarios, the system never drops below 386 FPS (at 4K). This is a critical finding: the minimum frame rate at 4K Medium is higher than the maximum refresh rate of most commercial monitors. The consistency of the data — with averages across all settings and resolutions staying within a 166 FPS range (439 to 605) — demonstrates that this combination is extraordinarily well-suited for high-refresh-rate competitive play, with the CPU being the sole constraint on performance.