Valorant

The Intel Core i7-14700K paired with the Intel Arc B390 produces a fascinating benchmark dataset in Valorant, a combination that pits a top-tier 14th Gen desktop processor against an integrated graphics solution based on the Xe3-LPG architecture. The data reveals a system where the CPU’s immense computational power is almost entirely held in check by the GPU’s limited throughput, resulting in frame rates that are playable but far below what the processor alone could theoretically drive. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS across three resolutions and four settings presets, interpreting the results within the context of the hardware’s specifications and its standing among comparable components.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i7-14700K is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, built on a 10 nm process node. Its configuration includes a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, with a 125W TDP. The cache hierarchy is substantial, featuring 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 33 MB of shared L3 cache. This CPU is designed for high multi-threaded throughput, evidenced by its benchmark scores: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 33440.5 and a single-core score of 2160, alongside a Geekbench multi-core score of 20767 and single-core score of 2569.

In the context of Valorant, a competitive FPS known for being CPU-sensitive, the 14700K’s single-thread performance is critical. The measured FPS data, however, shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this configuration. At 1080p Low settings, the average frame rate is 331 FPS, which is high but not exceptional for a processor of this caliber. The bottleneck is clearly the GPU, as evidenced by the fact that lowering resolution from 1440p to 1080p increases FPS significantly (e.g., from 282 to 331 FPS on Low settings), indicating that the CPU has ample headroom to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic data. The 14700K’s high boost clock and large L3 cache are more than sufficient to handle the game’s physics and entity updates, but the Arc B390 cannot convert that data into pixels fast enough to saturate the CPU’s potential.

The CPU’s benchmark standing further contextualizes its role. The processor holds a 94th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 69355. Its nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, have an average score of 69515, a delta of -0.2%, placing them statistically at parity. The AMD EPYC 9115 scores 69288 (delta 0.1%), also essentially equal. This indicates the 14700K is not just a strong performer in isolation but is at the very top tier of available desktop processors. Yet in this game, that performance is largely idle, as the frame rate caps are dictated by the GPU’s render output, not the CPU’s instruction processing.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achieved in the measured data for Valorant?

A: The highest average frame rate is 331 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is the only measured configuration that surpasses the 300 FPS mark, with the next highest being 282 FPS at 2560x1440 on Low.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B390’s performance compare to its nearest rival in the benchmark database?

A: The Arc B390’s average benchmark score is 1482, which places it 1.3% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (score 1463) and 1.5% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce 800M (score 1460). It sits just 2.5% ahead of the GeForce GT 625 OEM (1446) and 2.7% ahead of the GT 710 (1443).

Q: What is the difference in average FPS between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset delivers an average of 282 FPS, while the Ultra preset delivers 169 FPS. This represents a 113 FPS drop, or approximately 40% lower performance, when moving from the lowest to the highest quality preset.

Q: Does the Intel Core i7-14700K have a higher or lower average benchmark score than the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X?

A: The Core i7-14700K has an average benchmark score of 69355, which is 0.2% lower than the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X’s score of 69515. The delta is minimal, indicating near-identical overall performance in synthetic benchmarks.

Q: What is the minimum frame rate recorded in any of the measured configurations?

A: The lowest minimum frame rate recorded is 126 FPS, which occurs at 3840x2160 resolution with Medium settings. The corresponding average for that configuration is 149 FPS, with a maximum of 171 FPS.

Q: Based on the data, is the Arc B390 more likely to be the bottleneck at 1080p or 4K?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the bottleneck at all resolutions, but the effect is more pronounced at 1080p. For example, at 1080p Low, the system achieves 331 FPS, while at 4K Low it achieves 225 FPS. The CPU’s performance ceiling is not reached in either case, as the frame rate scales inversely with resolution, a classic indicator of GPU limitation.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data reveals a clear and consistent pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases, which is a textbook indicator that the Intel Arc B390 is the primary limiting component in this system. Analyzing the Low settings preset, which minimizes GPU load, shows the most dramatic scaling: the average FPS drops from 331 at 1920x1080 to 282 at 2560x1440, and then further to 225 at 3840x2160. This is a 32% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K, a significant decline that cannot be attributed to CPU overhead, as the Core i7-14700K is more than capable of handling the increased pixel count’s associated draw calls.

For the Medium preset, the scaling is similar but with lower absolute numbers. The average FPS goes from 218 at 1080p to 186 at 1440p, and then to 149 at 4K. The minimum FPS also scales down, from 185 at 1080p to 158 at 1440p and 126 at 4K. This consistent drop across all presets, including the GPU-intensive High and Ultra settings, confirms that the render pipeline is saturated. At 4K, the GPU’s pixel throughput is the limiting factor, as the shading units and ROPs are overwhelmed by the 8.3 million pixels per frame.

The data also suggests that the CPU is not a bottleneck even at the lowest resolution. If the CPU were the limiting factor, the frame rate at 1080p would be similar to that at 1440p, as the CPU’s workload is largely resolution-independent. Instead, we see a 49 FPS jump from 1440p to 1080p on Low settings (282 to 331 FPS), which demonstrates that the GPU has more headroom at lower resolutions but is still unable to fully utilize the CPU’s capabilities. The conclusion is unambiguous: the Arc B390’s performance ceiling is the primary constraint, and the 14700K is effectively waiting on the GPU to finish rendering each frame.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the system’s capabilities across a matrix of settings. At 1920x1080, the lowest resolution tested, the system delivers its best performance. The Low preset averages 331 FPS, which is the highest score in the entire dataset. The Medium preset averages 218 FPS, with a minimum of 185 and a maximum of 250. High settings average 207 FPS, and Ultra averages 198 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 133 FPS, indicating that the GPU’s workload scales significantly with visual fidelity.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates drop noticeably. The Low preset averages 282 FPS, a 49 FPS decrease from 1080p. Medium averages 186 FPS (min 158, max 214), High averages 177 FPS, and Ultra averages 169 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 113 FPS. At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain high frame rates. Low averages 225 FPS, Medium averages 149 FPS (min 126, max 171), High averages 141 FPS, and Ultra averages 135 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 90 FPS, which is smaller in absolute terms but represents a 40% reduction from the Low preset’s average.

It is important to note that only the Medium preset has recorded minimum and maximum FPS values. For the other settings, only the average is provided. The Medium data points show that the minimum FPS scales from 185 at 1080p to 126 at 4K, suggesting that the frame pacing degrades with resolution, which could lead to stutter in fast-paced gameplay. The average FPS for Ultra at 4K is 135, which is below the 144 Hz refresh rate common on high-end monitors, but the Low preset’s 225 FPS average at 4K is more than sufficient for competitive play.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, with a chip codename of Panther Lake. It is manufactured on a 3 nm process node by Intel. The GPU has 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units (TMUs), and 24 render output units (ROPs), along with 12 ray tracing cores. Its clock speeds are a base of 300 MHz and a boost of 2500 MHz. The memory configuration is entirely system-dependent, with the memory size, type, and bus width all listed as "System Shared," meaning it relies on the host system’s DDR4 or DDR5 RAM. The bandwidth is also listed as "System Dependent."

The GPU’s performance in Valorant is heavily constrained by its specifications. With a pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s, the Arc B390 is capable of filling pixels, but its FP32 performance of 7.680 TFLOPS is modest compared to discrete solutions. The 24 ROPs are a particularly limiting factor for high-resolution rendering, as they handle the final pixel output. The benchmark data supports this: at 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 135, while at 1080p Ultra it is 198. The GPU’s 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 1482, placing it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. This is in stark contrast to the CPU’s 94th percentile ranking.

The nearest rivals for the Arc B390 are all legacy NVIDIA discrete GPUs from over a decade ago, such as the GeForce GT 520MX (score 1463) and the GeForce GT 710 (score 1443). The Arc B390 scores 1.3% higher than the GT 520MX and 2.7% higher than the GT 710. This context is crucial: while the iGPU is newer and more feature-rich (supporting DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4), its raw compute and memory bandwidth are comparable to entry-level cards from 2012-2014. For Valorant, which is not graphically demanding, this is sufficient to produce playable frame rates, but the system is perpetually GPU-bound, unable to leverage the 14700K’s massive single-thread performance advantage.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings preset depends on the user’s resolution and performance targets. For competitive play, where high and consistent frame rates are paramount, the Low preset is the clear recommendation at every resolution. At 1920x1080, it achieves an average of 331 FPS, which is ideal for a 240 Hz or 360 Hz monitor. At 2560x1440, the Low preset still delivers 282 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate 1440p panels. Even at 3840x2160, the Low preset maintains a 225 FPS average, which is more than sufficient for any current display.

If visual fidelity is a higher priority, the Medium preset offers a balanced compromise. At 1080p, it averages 218 FPS with a minimum of 185 FPS, ensuring that frame drops are unlikely to fall below the refresh rate of most 144 Hz monitors. At 1440p, the Medium preset averages 186 FPS, which is still smooth, but the minimum of 158 FPS indicates that occasional drops could be noticeable. At 4K, the Medium preset’s average of 149 FPS and minimum of 126 FPS are acceptable, but the frame pacing may be inconsistent.

The High and Ultra presets are not recommended for this configuration. At 1080p, they average 207 and 198 FPS respectively, which is a negligible visual improvement over Medium but with a measurable performance cost. At 1440p, High (177 FPS) and Ultra (169 FPS) are playable but offer no competitive advantage. At 4K, High (141 FPS) and Ultra (135 FPS) are borderline, and the data shows that the system cannot maintain a stable 144 FPS experience at these settings. The best experience per the measured rows is the Low preset at 1080p, which maximizes frame rate and minimizes latency, followed by the Low preset at 1440p and 4K for users with higher-resolution displays. The Medium preset is a viable alternative for those who prefer better shadows and textures, but the performance headroom is smaller.