Valorant

Valorant is a competitive FPS where frame rates far beyond typical display refresh rates are the norm for high-end hardware. The benchmark data for the Intel Core i7-14700F and AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT combination shows exceptionally high performance, positioning this pairing near the top of the database. With the combo ranking 444th out of all 3,708 tested combinations, the data indicates that this system is capable of delivering extremely high frame rates that will easily satisfy the demands of even the most competitive players.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data shows consistent performance across all settings, but the differences between presets reveal the sweet spot for this hardware combination. At 1920x1080 resolution, the average frame rates are 647 for Low, 552 for Medium, 543 for High, and 534 for Ultra. While the Low preset offers the highest raw numbers, the difference between the Low and Ultra presets is only 113 FPS, which represents about a 17% drop when moving from the absolute minimum to the maximum visual quality preset.

For most players, the Medium preset presents the best balance of experience and performance. At 1440p, Medium produces an average 524 FPS, which is only 90 frames behind the Low preset's 614 FPS but includes the visual improvements that make the game look more polished. The Medium preset is also the only settings level in the entire dataset that includes both minimum and maximum frame data, showing a minimum of 445 FPS and a maximum of 602 FPS at 1440p. This indicates a tighter consistency window that remains far above the refresh rate of any common display.

The data suggests that the Ultra preset should only be considered when visual fidelity is prioritized above all else. At 1080p, Ultra averages 534 FPS, a difference of only 9 frames from the High preset's 543 FPS. The gap between Medium and Ultra is similarly narrow at just 18 frames. Since the frame rate impact of moving from Medium to Ultra is minimal in percentage terms, players with high refresh rate monitors can comfortably choose Medium settings for a slightly higher frame, while those who prefer better image quality can select Ultra without sacrificing playability.

GPU Role

The AMD RX 9070 XT's specifications reveal a substantial hardware foundation under the hood. The GPU features 4096 shading units, 256 texture mapping units, and 128 render output units, working across a 256-bit memory bus connected to 16 GB of GDDR6 memory. The memory operates at a rate of 20.1 Gbps effective, delivering a memory bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s. The high memory bandwidth is relevant for Valorant, as the game loads many assets and maps into memory. The GPU's core clock runs at a base frequency of 1660 MHz, with a game clock of 2400 MHz and a boost clock of 2970 MHz. These clock speeds help explain the high frame counts seen in the measured data, as the GPU is capable of rendering frames at a rate that exceeds the needs of a typical CPU in this game.

In the context of Valorant, the GPU's role is not to create a bottleneck but to provide enough headroom so that the CPU becomes the limiting factor at lower resolutions. The data shows that at 1080p, the average frame rates range from 534 FPS to 647 FPS depending on settings. Even at the most demanding 4K Ultra preset, the RX 9070 XT maintains an average of 396 FPS. The 16 GB VRAM capacity is far more than the game requires, and as a result, the memory capacity should not constrain performance. The GPU's performance metrics, such as its 48.66 TFLOPS FP32 compute throughput, indicate a very capable part.

The GPU's benchmark scores reflect its strong positioning. In the Passmark G3D test, the card scores 26795, ranking in the 55th percentile of all GPUs. Its scores in other tests show consistency: a Geekbench Vulkan score of 65879, a Geekbench OpenCL score of 17428, and a Passmark GPU Compute score of 15864. These absolute numbers are high, but the GPU's percentileVsAllGpus of 55 indicates that while the card performs well in raw compute tasks, its gaming performance in this title is heavily dependent on the CPU and the game's engine. The nearest rivals in the GPU's overall benchmark rankings include the AMD Radeon HD 7770M with an average score of 13536 (0.1% difference), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 with a score of 13515 (0.2% difference), the NVIDIA P106-090 with a score of 13470 (0.5% lower), and the AMD Radeon Pro 555 with a score of 13407 (1.0% lower). These rivals are all older or lower-end parts, so the RX 9070 XT's overall benchmark average is not necessarily indicative of its gaming performance in this specific title.

Resolution Scaling

The measured data shows a clear pattern of frame rate scaling as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K. At the Low preset, the average frame rate is 647 at 1080p, 614 at 1440p, and 570 at 4K. This represents a 5.1% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a further 7.2% drop from 1440p to 4K, for a total drop of 12.2% from 1080p to 4K. For the Medium preset, the averages are 552 at 1080p, 524 at 1440p, and 437 at 4K. That is a 5.1% reduction and then a 16.6% reduction, totaling a 20.8% drop. The High preset shows 543 at 1080p, 515 at 1440p, and 416 at 4K (a 5.2% and 19.2% step, 23.4% total), while the Ultra preset shows 534 at 1080p, 496 at 1440p, and 396 at 4K (a 7.1% and 20.2% step, 25.8% total).

The relatively modest scaling from 1080p to 1440p across all presets indicates that the system is heavily CPU-limited at these resolutions. A drop of only 5-7% when the pixel count increases by 77% is a classic sign that the CPU is the primary bottleneck. At 4K, the gap between settings becomes more pronounced, and the frame, with High and Medium presets falling much further behind Low. The largest resolution impact is observed in the Ultra preset, which loses 25.8% of its 1080p frames at 4K, whereas the Low preset only loses 12.2%. This suggests that at higher resolutions and higher settings, the GPU begins to play a more significant role, though the 396 FPS minimum at 4K Ultra remains extremely high.

The frame scaling pattern confirms that Valorant's engine is extremely well-optimized for high frame rates and that the RX 9070 XT has substantial headroom. Even at the most demanding resolution and settings combo tested (4K Ultra), the card averages 396 FPS, which is still far above the refresh rate limits of any mainstream monitor. The limiting component in this system is the CPU, as evidenced by the minimal frame drop from 1080p to 1440p, and the GPU does not become the primary bottleneck until 4K Ultra, where it still delivers near-400 FPS performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS data for the Valorant benchmark with the Intel Core i7-14700F and AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is as follows.

At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 647 FPS. The Medium preset averages 552 FPS, with a minimum of 469 FPS and a maximum of 635 FPS. The High preset averages 543 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 534 FPS. The spread between the highest average (Low) and the lowest average (Ultra) is 113 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset delivers an average of 614 FPS. The Medium preset averages 524 FPS, with a minimum of 445 FPS and a maximum of 602 FPS. The High preset averages 515 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 496 FPS. The spread between the highest and lowest averages is 118 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset delivers an average of 570 FPS. The Medium preset averages 437 FPS, with a minimum of 372 FPS and a maximum of 503 FPS. The High preset averages 416 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 396 FPS. The spread between the highest and lowest averages is 174 FPS.

The data shows a consistent ordering by settings at every resolution: Low produces the highest average, followed by Medium, then High, and Ultra the lowest. The gap between Medium and High is relatively narrow, ranging from 9 FPS at 1080p to 21 FPS at 4K. The gap between High and Ultra is also small, ranging from 9 FPS at 1080p to 20 FPS at 4K. In contrast, the gap between Low and Medium is the largest at each resolution, ranging from 174 FPS at 1080p to 133 FPS at 4K. This indicates that the performance difference between Low and Medium is the most significant settings transition.

Only the Medium preset includes minimum and maximum frame data. At 1080p, the minimum of 469 FPS and maximum of 635 FPS represent a 35.4% range from the average. At 1440p, the minimum of 445 FPS and maximum of 602 FPS represent a 30.0% range. At 4K, the minimum of 372 FPS and maximum of 503 FPS represent a 30.0% range. These figures suggest that the Medium preset maintains a relatively stable frame, with the minimum remaining well above the 300 FPS threshold at all resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate recorded in the benchmark?

A: The highest average frame rate is 647 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset.

Q: How much performance is lost when switching from 1080p to 4K at the Highest quality setting?

A: At the Ultra preset, the average frame rate drops from 534 FPS at 1080p to 396 FPS at 4K, a 25.8% reduction.

Q: Is the system more CPU-bound or GPU-bound in Valorant?

A: The data indicates the system is heavily CPU-bound at lower resolutions; the frame rate drops by only 5.1% to 7.1% when moving from 1080p to 1440p, which is a much smaller change than the resolution increase. The GPU becomes more relevant at 4K, where the frame drop is more pronounced.

Q: What is the performance difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 1080p?

A: The Low preset averages 647 FPS while the Ultra preset averages 534 FPS, a difference of 113 FPS or about 17.5%.

Q: Which settings preset offers the best match between visual quality and frame rate?

A: The Medium preset offers a strong balance, averaging 552 FPS at 1080p, 524 FPS at 1440p, and 437 FPS at 4K. It is the only preset with recorded minimum and maximum frames, showing a minimum of 469 FPS at 1080p and 372 FPS at 4K.

Q: How does the system perform at 4K resolution with Medium settings?

A: At 4K Medium, the system averages 437 FPS, with a minimum of 372 FPS and a maximum of 503 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F is a 20-core, 28-thread desktop processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.10 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, and it supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory. The CPU's role in Valorant is critical because the game is not demanding on the GPU. The benchmark data shows that at 1080p, the frame rate is 647 FPS on Low settings, which is far above the refresh rate of any monitor. The fact that the frame rate drops only slightly when the resolution increases from 1080p to 1440p confirms that the CPU is the limiting factor at these settings. The CPU's 33 MB of shared L3 cache helps ensure that the game's data is accessible to the cores, and the 28 threads provide ample headroom for the game's processing.

The CPU's benchmark scores are outstanding. It scores 35122 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 4958 in Cinebench R23 single core. In Geekbench, it scores 19620 multicore and 2429 single core. The Passmark single thread score is 4254, and the multithread score is 41317. These numbers place the CPU in the 91st percentile of all CPUs in the database. The nearest rivals in the CPU benchmark data are the Intel Xeon 6505P with an average score of 53701 (0.2% difference), the Intel Xeon Phi 7290 with 53469 (0.3% difference), the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X with 53288 (0.6% difference), and the AMD EPYC 7313P with 53206 (0.8% difference). The i7-14700F's 53620 average is within a single percentage point of these rivals, indicating that it sits in a tightly contested performance tier.

The high single-thread score is particularly important for Valorant, which is a game that typically relies heavily on few cores. The single-thread performance of 4958 in Cinebench R23 and 4257 in Passmark single-thread ensures that the primary game thread has ample processing power. The CPU's ability to maintain frame rates above 500 FPS at 1080p across all settings shows that the processor is not a bottleneck for this title. The only time the CPU begins to relax its grip is at 4K resolution, where the GPU becomes more involved, but even then, the system remains at over 396 FPS.

The CPU's 21 MB of L3 cache is another factor in its performance. Valorant's maps and game logic benefit from a large cache, reducing the need to fetch data from the main memory. The CPU's support for both DDR4 and DDR5 memory means that users can pair it with either memory type, depending on their motherboard and budget. The 65 W TDP is modest, but the processor is not unlocked for overclocking. For the purposes of this benchmark, the i7-14700F demonstrates that it can comfortably feed the RX 9070 XT in Valorant, providing frame rates that are far beyond what is required for competitive play.