Valorant

The pairing of the Intel Core i7-14700K with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 produces exceptionally high frame rates in Valorant, consistently exceeding 420 FPS across all tested configurations. The measured data indicates that this combination ranks 66th out of 1650 tested combos for this title, placing it in the top 4% of all possible pairings, with the CPU percentile ranking at 96 and the GPU percentile at 83. The benchmark results show a system capable of far exceeding the refresh rate capabilities of virtually all displays, with performance scaling predictably across resolution and settings presets.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average FPS achievable with this hardware in Valorant?

A: The highest recorded average frame rate is 681.9 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. At 4K resolution with Ultra settings, the average drops to 427.8 FPS, still well above the threshold for competitive play.

Q: How does this system rank compared to other CPU/GPU combinations?

A: The combo ranks 66th out of 1650 combinations tested for Valorant, putting it in the top 4% of all tested configurations. The CPU scores in the 96th percentile among all processors, while the GPU scores in the 83rd percentile among all graphics cards.

Q: Which settings preset delivers the best balance for competitive play?

A: The data shows that Low settings at 1080p yields the highest FPS at 681.9, but Medium settings at 1080p still delivers 577.6 FPS. For most competitive scenarios, Low settings provide the maximum frame rate advantage, though even Ultra settings at 4K remain above 420 FPS.

Q: Does the GPU bottleneck the CPU at any resolution?

A: The frame rate difference between 1080p Low (681.9 FPS) and 4K Low (599.7 FPS) is only 82.2 FPS, suggesting that the CPU remains a significant performance factor even at higher resolutions. The relatively small drop indicates the GPU handles the load well.

Q: How does the RTX 5070 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RTX 5070 has an average benchmark score of 41687, placing it 0.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 5300, 0.6% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, and 0.5% behind the NVIDIA Tesla M40 based on deltaPct values.

Q: What is the impact of Ultra settings on frame rate compared to Low?

A: At 1080p, switching from Low (681.9 FPS) to Ultra (560.3 FPS) reduces the average frame rate by 121.6 FPS, representing a 17.8% performance decrease. At 4K, the same settings change drops performance from 599.7 FPS to 427.8 FPS, a 28.7% reduction.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data reveals that Valorant scales modestly with settings changes, making the choice of preset largely dependent on the user’s display refresh rate and preference for visual fidelity. For players using 1080p displays with refresh rates up to 240Hz, the Low preset at 681.9 FPS provides an enormous margin of headroom, ensuring frame times remain consistently low. However, the Medium preset at 577.6 FPS still offers performance far above typical high-refresh displays, while providing better visual clarity for enemy visibility.

At 1440p, the Low preset delivers 642.4 FPS, while Medium drops slightly to 550.4 FPS. Given that the difference between these two presets is only 92 FPS, and both remain above 500 FPS, the Medium preset represents a sensible choice for users seeking a balance between visual quality and raw performance. The High preset at 540.8 FPS remains suitable for 240Hz displays, though the Ultra preset at 528.7 FPS shows diminishing returns for the additional visual load.

For 4K resolution, the data indicates that even Ultra settings at 427.8 FPS exceed the needs of the vast majority of displays, which typically peak at 240Hz. The Low preset at 599.7 FPS offers maximum competitive performance, but the Medium preset at 467.2 FPS achieves a reasonable compromise. The key observation is that Valorant’s engine is well-optimized, so the settings preset primarily affects visual fidelity rather than creating playability issues at any tested configuration.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals important characteristics about this system’s behavior. At Low settings, the transition from 1920x1080 (681.9 FPS) to 2560x1440 (642.4 FPS) drops performance by 39.5 FPS, and further down to 3840x2160 (599.7 FPS) costs an additional 42.7 FPS. This total reduction of 82.2 FPS from 1080p to 4K represents a 12.1% performance loss, which is relatively small considering the pixel count increases by a factor of four.

At Ultra settings, the scaling is more pronounced. The 1080p result of 560.3 FPS drops to 528.7 FPS at 1440p, then to 427.8 FPS at 4K, representing a total decrease of 132.5 FPS or 23.6%. This larger drop at higher settings suggests that the GPU becomes more involved in the rendering pipeline when visual effects are enabled, but the CPU still maintains a dominant role. The fact that 4K Ultra still produces 427.8 FPS indicates that neither component is being pushed to its limits.

The data suggests that the limiting component shifts subtly with resolution. At 1080p, the relatively close performance across settings (ranging from 560.3 to 681.9 FPS) indicates a CPU-bound scenario where the RTX 5070’s capabilities are not fully exercised. At 4K, the wider spread between Low (599.7 FPS) and Ultra (427.8 FPS) shows the GPU beginning to take on more responsibility, though the frame rates remain remarkably high.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the benchmark results show a clear progression of performance based on settings. The Low preset achieves the highest average at 681.9 FPS, followed by Medium at 577.6 FPS, High at 567.1 FPS, and Ultra at 560.3 FPS. The difference between the fastest and slowest presets is 121.6 FPS, with the gap between Medium and Ultra being only 17.3 FPS, suggesting that the higher presets incur similar costs.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Low preset remains the fastest at 642.4 FPS. The Medium preset records 550.4 FPS, High reaches 540.8 FPS, and Ultra produces 528.7 FPS. The total spread here is 113.7 FPS, slightly smaller than at 1080p. Notably, the difference between Medium and Ultra narrows to 21.7 FPS, indicating that the additional visual effects in High and Ultra have similar performance impacts.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset still leads with 599.7 FPS, while Medium delivers 467.2 FPS, High achieves 445.9 FPS, and Ultra rounds out the results at 427.8 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra expands to 171.9 FPS, the largest of any resolution. This suggests that at 4K, the GPU’s workload becomes more significant, particularly when higher-quality textures and effects are enabled, but the absolute performance remains exceptional.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 features 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 672.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2325 MHz with a boost clock of 2512 MHz, and its memory runs at 1750 MHz with 28 Gbps effective speed. These specifications contribute to a PassMark G3D score of 29137, with the GPU achieving an average benchmark score of 41687.

In Valorant, the GPU’s role becomes more evident at higher resolutions and settings. The shift from 1080p to 4K at Low settings only costs 82.2 FPS, indicating that the GPU has substantial headroom even at 4K. The larger performance drop at Ultra settings (132.5 FPS across the same resolution range) shows that the RTX 5070’s rendering capabilities are engaged more heavily when visual features are enabled, but the card still maintains high frame rates.

The GPU’s 83rd percentile ranking among all graphics cards, combined with its proximity to the GeForce RTX 3090 (0.6% ahead), suggests that the RTX 5070 offers strong performance for this title. The benchmark results indicate that the GPU is rarely the primary bottleneck in Valorant, only becoming more relevant at 4K Ultra where the frame rate still exceeds 420 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700K provides 20 cores and 28 threads, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. This Raptor Lake processor has 33 MB of shared L3 cache and scores 44534 in Cinebench R23 multi-core tests, with a single-core score of 6287. The CPU ranks in the 96th percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 70074.

The CPU’s influence on Valorant performance is clear from the frame rate data. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 681.9 FPS, which is only 82.2 FPS higher than at 4K Low (599.7 FPS). This relatively small difference across a fourfold pixel increase shows that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough data to maintain high frame rates regardless of resolution. The fact that 4K Ultra still produces 427.8 FPS further demonstrates the CPU’s strength in this game.

The CPU’s nearest rivals include the Core i7-14700KF with a deltaPct of 0, the AMD EPYC 9115 at 0.3% ahead, and the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X at 0.5% behind. These tight margins indicate that the i7-14700K is well-positioned among top processors. In Valorant, where frame rates are exceptionally high, the CPU’s strong single-thread performance, evidenced by the Geekbench single-core score of 2932, contributes to the system’s ability to maintain high minimum frame rates and consistent performance across all tested configurations.