Valorant

# Valorant with Intel Core i7-14700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060

The benchmark data for Valorant with the Intel Core i7-14700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 shows a combination that is firmly in the upper echelon of tested systems, ranking 1319th out of 3708 total combos. This places the pairing in roughly the 64th percentile of all tested configurations, a solid position for a competitive FPS where high frame rates are the primary goal. The measured results across twelve distinct resolution and settings permutations reveal a system that delivers exceptional performance at every tier, with the data indicating that the CPU's strong single-thread capabilities and the GPU's adequate throughput combine to produce frame rates that far exceed the needs of most competitive play.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data for this Valorant configuration shows a clear hierarchy across the four available presets: Low, Medium, High, and Ultra. At 1080p, the most common resolution for competitive play, the Low preset delivers an average of 677 FPS, while Medium drops to 465 FPS, High to 443 FPS, and Ultra to 422 FPS. The delta between Low and Medium is substantial at 212 FPS, whereas the gap from Medium to High is a much smaller 22 FPS, and from High to Ultra is another 21 FPS. This pattern suggests that the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience, capturing the majority of the performance ceiling while providing better visual fidelity than the Low preset.

At 1440p, the same trend holds: Low averages 602 FPS, Medium 397 FPS, High 378 FPS, and Ultra 360 FPS. The drop from Low to Medium is 205 FPS, but the subsequent steps are only 19 FPS and 18 FPS respectively. At 4K, Low averages 481 FPS, Medium 317 FPS, High 302 FPS, and Ultra 288 FPS, with the Low-to-Medium gap widening to 164 FPS and the higher tiers showing even smaller incremental differences.

The data indicates that the Medium preset is the optimal choice for this combination. It provides a substantial performance boost over High and Ultra while maintaining a frame rate that is more than sufficient for any display refresh rate currently on the market. The Medium preset also shows the only recorded minimum and maximum FPS values in the dataset, with 395 and 535 at 1080p, 337 and 456 at 1440p, and 270 and 365 at 4K. These ranges indicate that even at the lowest recorded minimum, the system never dips below 270 FPS, which is well above the threshold for competitive play. For players who prioritize maximum visual quality, the Ultra preset remains viable with averages above 288 FPS at all resolutions, but the performance cost relative to Medium is difficult to justify given the marginal visual improvements.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture, utilizing the AD107 chip fabricated on a 5 nm process from TSMC. The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 272.0 GB/s. Its base clock is 1830 MHz with a boost clock of 2460 MHz, and memory runs at 2125 MHz with 17 Gbps effective speed. The GPU's compute capabilities include 3072 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units, along with 24 ray tracing cores and 96 tensor cores. The pixel rate is 118.1 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 236.2 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance rated at 15.11 TFLOPS.

In the context of Valorant, the GPU's role is less about raw compute and more about maintaining consistent frame delivery at high refresh rates. The benchmark results show that the RTX 4060 is never the limiting factor in this pairing, as even the most demanding Ultra preset at 4K produces an average of 288 FPS. The GPU's 8 GB VRAM is more than adequate for a game like Valorant, which is not VRAM-intensive, and the 128-bit memory bus does not appear to create a bottleneck at the measured settings. The GPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the AMD Radeon HD 7790 with a deltaPct of -0.2, the AMD Radeon 780M at 0.3, the AMD Radeon Pro 560 at 0.5, and the AMD Radeon Pro 460 at 0.7, indicating that the RTX 4060 sits in a narrow performance band relative to these comparables.

The fact that the RTX 4060 is marked as end-of-life in production status does not diminish its measured performance here. The data shows a GPU that handles the game's requirements with significant headroom, and the 115 W TDP suggests that power delivery is not a constraint in sustained gameplay scenarios. The GPU's PCIe 4.0 x8 interface is sufficient for this workload, as Valorant's frame generation does not rely heavily on PCIe bandwidth.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K reveals important information about which component is driving performance in this setup. At the Low preset, the average FPS drops from 677 at 1080p to 602 at 1440p (an 11.1% decrease) and then to 481 at 4K (a 20.1% decrease from 1440p). At the Medium preset, the averages are 465 at 1080p, 397 at 1440p (a 14.6% decrease), and 317 at 4K (a 20.2% decrease). The High preset shows 443 at 1080p, 378 at 1440p (a 14.7% decrease), and 302 at 4K (a 20.1% decrease). The Ultra preset follows a similar pattern: 422 at 1080p, 360 at 1440p (a 14.7% decrease), and 288 at 4K (a 20.0% decrease).

The consistency of these percentage drops across all four presets is notable. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p consistently shows a 14-15% reduction in FPS for the Medium, High, and Ultra presets, while the Low preset shows a smaller 11.1% reduction. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is remarkably uniform at approximately 20% for all presets. This uniformity suggests that the system is not hitting a hard CPU or GPU limit at any resolution, but rather scaling predictably with the increase in pixel count.

The data indicates that the CPU is the primary driver of performance at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 677 FPS, which is a frame rate that most GPUs would struggle to feed, but the RTX 4060 manages to keep up. The relatively mild FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p (around 14%) is smaller than what would be expected if the GPU were the sole bottleneck, suggesting that the CPU's strong single-thread performance is maintaining high frame rates even as resolution increases. At 4K, the system still delivers over 300 FPS on Medium settings, which indicates that the GPU is taking on more of the load but still has ample headroom.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank for this Intel Core i7-14700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 pairing in Valorant is 1319 out of 3708 tested combinations. This places the system in the top 35.6% of all configurations, which is a strong showing for a mid-range GPU paired with a high-end CPU. The CPU itself ranks in the 94th percentile of all CPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 69355. Its nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 9115 with a deltaPct of 0.1, the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X with a deltaPct of -0.2, the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX with a deltaPct of -0.7, and the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F with a deltaPct of -0.9. This places the i7-14700K at the top of a tight cluster of high-performance CPUs, with less than 1% separating the four closest competitors.

The GPU ranks in the 61st percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17639. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon HD 7790 with a deltaPct of -0.2, the AMD Radeon 780M with a deltaPct of 0.3, the AMD Radeon Pro 560 with a deltaPct of 0.5, and the AMD Radeon Pro 460 with a deltaPct of 0.7. The GPU's position in the 61st percentile is lower than the CPU's 94th percentile, which means the CPU is performing at a much higher level relative to its peers than the GPU is relative to its own peer group.

The combo rank of 1319 suggests that this pairing is well-balanced for Valorant, with the CPU's superior relative performance compensating for the GPU's more modest standing. The data shows that the system is not held back by any single component, as the FPS numbers are consistently high across all settings and resolutions. The rank of 1319 out of 3708 is competitive, and the system would be a strong choice for players who want to maximize frame rates in Valorant without investing in a top-tier GPU.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo in Valorant?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 677, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset.

Q: How does the i7-14700K compare to its nearest CPU rivals in terms of average benchmark score?

A: The i7-14700K has an average benchmark score of 69355, which is 0.1% higher than the AMD EPYC 9115 (69288), 0.2% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (69515, where a negative deltaPct means the rival scored higher), 0.7% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (69875), and 0.9% higher than the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F (69996).

Q: What is the lowest minimum FPS recorded across all tested settings?

A: The lowest minimum FPS recorded is 270, which occurs at 3840x2160 resolution with the Medium settings preset. This is the only resolution where the Medium preset shows a minimum below 300 FPS.

Q: How much FPS does the system lose when moving from 1080p to 4K at the High preset?

A: At the High preset, the average FPS drops from 443 at 1920x1080 to 378 at 2560x1440, and then to 302 at 3840x2160. This represents a total decrease of 141 FPS, or 31.8%, from 1080p to 4K.

Q: Which settings preset provides the best balance of performance and visual quality based on the data?

A: The Medium preset provides the best balance, as it delivers 465 FPS at 1080p, 397 FPS at 1440p, and 317 FPS at 4K, while also being the only preset with recorded minimum and maximum FPS values, indicating stable performance within a predictable range.

Q: How does the RTX 4060's percentile rank compare to that of the i7-14700K?

A: The RTX 4060 ranks in the 61st percentile of all GPUs, while the i7-14700K ranks in the 94th percentile of all CPUs. This indicates that the CPU is performing at a much higher level relative to its peers than the GPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080 resolution, the system delivers an average of 677 FPS on Low settings, 465 FPS on Medium, 443 FPS on High, and 422 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 395 FPS and a maximum of 535 FPS, providing the only full range of data at this resolution. The other presets do not have recorded minimum or maximum values, but the averages indicate a clear performance hierarchy: Low is fastest, followed by Medium, then High, and finally Ultra.

At 2560x1440 resolution, the averages are 602 FPS on Low, 397 FPS on Medium, 378 FPS on High, and 360 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset again shows the only minimum and maximum values, with a minimum of 337 FPS and a maximum of 456 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p shows reductions of 75 FPS on Low, 68 FPS on Medium, 65 FPS on High, and 62 FPS on Ultra, demonstrating that the higher presets are slightly less impacted by the resolution increase.

At 3840x2160 resolution, the system produces averages of 481 FPS on Low, 317 FPS on Medium, 302 FPS on High, and 288 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset records a minimum of 270 FPS and a maximum of 365 FPS, which is the lowest minimum across all resolutions. The scaling from 1440p to 4K shows reductions of 121 FPS on Low, 80 FPS on Medium, 76 FPS on High, and 72 FPS on Ultra, indicating that the Low preset is most heavily impacted by the move to 4K.

The data reveals a consistent pattern: the Low preset always provides the highest frame rate, and the gap between Low and Medium is always the largest. The differences between Medium, High, and Ultra are relatively small, averaging around 20 FPS at each resolution. This suggests that the game's rendering engine is well-optimized for the higher presets, and that the RTX 4060 has sufficient processing power to handle the additional visual effects without a major performance penalty.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700K is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, manufactured on a 10 nm process by Intel. It has a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, with a TDP of 125 W. The CPU features 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 2 MB of L2 cache per core, and 33 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration, and its integrated graphics are provided by UHD Graphics 770. The CPU's benchmarks show strong multi-threaded performance with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 33440.5 and a single-core score of 2160, while Geekbench reports 20767 multi-core and 2569 single-core.

In Valorant, the CPU's single-thread performance is critical, as the game's engine is heavily reliant on fast per-core processing. The i7-14700K's boost clock of 5.60 GHz and its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2160 indicate that it is well-suited to this workload. The data supports this assessment: at 1080p Low, the system achieves 677 FPS, which is a frame rate that requires extremely fast CPU processing to maintain. The fact that the system can deliver over 600 FPS at 1440p Low (602 FPS) further emphasizes the CPU's capability, as this is a resolution where GPU load is typically higher.

The CPU's 20 cores and 28 threads provide substantial multi-threaded headroom, even though Valorant may not fully utilize all of them. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 33440.5 and the PassMark multi-thread score of 52392 indicate that the CPU would not be a bottleneck in any scenario, including background tasks running alongside the game. The CPU's percentile rank of 94 and its average benchmark score of 69355 place it among the top processors in the database, and its nearest rivals are all within 1% of its score, showing that it competes at the highest level.

The data suggests that the CPU is the primary performance driver in this pairing, particularly at lower resolutions where the GPU has less work to do. The FPS differences between settings presets are consistent across resolutions, but the absolute FPS numbers are high enough that the CPU's single-thread performance is clearly the limiting factor at 1080p. As resolution increases, the GPU becomes more involved, but the CPU still maintains frame rates above 288 FPS even at 4K Ultra, demonstrating that this processor has more than enough capability for Valorant's requirements.