Valorant

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate this combo achieves in Valorant?

A: The best measured result is 680 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next highest is 647.6 FPS at 2560x1440 with Low settings, showing that frame rates scale upward as resolution drops.

Q: How does the Intel Core i7-14700K compare to its closest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i7-14700K scores an average benchmark score of 70074, which is essentially tied with the Intel Core i7-14700KF at 70104 (0% delta). It sits 0.3% above the AMD EPYC 9115 (69887) and 0.5% below the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X (70420).

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, Low settings produce 597.9 FPS, while Ultra produces 494.6 FPS. This represents a gap of 103.3 FPS, or roughly 20.9% higher frame rates on Low compared to Ultra.

Q: Does the RTX 5090's nearest rival in GPU benchmarks show a meaningful performance gap?

A: The RTX 5090 has an average benchmark score of 84306, placing it 0.1% above the RTX 5090 D (84241) and 0.2% above the RTX 5050 Mobile (84171). The AMD Radeon PRO W6600 trails by 1.3% with a score of 83209.

Q: How many CPU cores and threads does the i7-14700K bring to this pairing?

A: The i7-14700K features 20 cores and 28 threads, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. It also includes 33 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB of L2 cache per core.

Q: What memory capacity does the RTX 5090 offer for this game?

A: The RTX 5090 comes with 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, providing 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. Its memory clock is 1750 MHz with 28 Gbps effective speed.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a GB202 chip fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It houses 21,760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 raster output pipelines. The GPU's base clock runs at 2017 MHz with a boost clock of 2407 MHz, and its memory operates at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). These specifications place the card in the 94th percentile among all GPUs.

In Valorant, the GPU's role is substantial but not overwhelming. The measured frame rates at 3840x2160 with High settings reach 500.2 FPS, which is already far beyond typical display refresh rates. The memory configuration—32 GB of GDDR7 with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth—provides ample headroom for texture streaming and asset loading, though Valorant's relatively modest graphics demands mean the card is rarely the limiting factor.

The RTX 5090's transistor count of 92,200 million on a 750 mm² die contributes to its compute capabilities: 104.8 TFLOPS for both FP32 and FP16 operations. The pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s are reflected in the high frame rates observed. At 1080p Low, the GPU pushes 680 FPS, which suggests the card is operating near its efficiency sweet spot for this title. The difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p is 118.3 FPS (680 vs 561.7), indicating that the GPU has enough overhead to handle higher graphical loads without severe frame rate penalties.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data shows a clear hierarchy across all three resolutions: Low settings consistently produce the highest average frame rates, followed by Medium, then High, with Ultra trailing. At 1920x1080, Low delivers 680 FPS, Medium drops to 577.8 FPS, High falls to 566.6 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 561.7 FPS. The gap between Medium and Ultra is only 16.1 FPS, while the jump from Low to Medium costs 102.2 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the pattern repeats: Low achieves 647.6 FPS, Medium reaches 550.4 FPS, High hits 541 FPS, and Ultra manages 529.4 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra here is 118.2 FPS. At 3840x2160, Low yields 597.9 FPS, Medium produces 509.4 FPS, High delivers 500.2 FPS, and Ultra falls to 494.6 FPS.

Given that even Ultra settings at 4K exceed 490 FPS, the data suggests that players with high-refresh monitors (e.g., 360 Hz or 500 Hz displays) can afford to use Medium or High settings without sacrificing competitive responsiveness. However, for maximum frame rate headroom—particularly for future titles or streaming workloads—Low settings at 1080p provide the largest buffer. The recommended approach based on measured results is to prioritize frame rate consistency: Medium settings at 1440p offer a balanced compromise, delivering 550.4 FPS while retaining more visual fidelity than Low.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the lowest resolution tested, the combo achieves its peak performance. Low settings yield 680 FPS, Medium produces 577.8 FPS, High reaches 566.6 FPS, and Ultra delivers 561.7 FPS. The spread across settings is 118.3 FPS, with Low outperforming Ultra by 21.1%.

Moving to 2560x1440, frame rates remain exceptionally high. Low settings produce 647.6 FPS, a 4.8% reduction compared to 1080p Low. Medium at 1440p reaches 550.4 FPS, High hits 541 FPS, and Ultra manages 529.4 FPS. The resolution increase from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 32-47 FPS depending on the settings preset, with the smallest absolute drop occurring at Ultra (561.7 to 529.4, a 32.3 FPS reduction).

At 3840x2160, the highest resolution tested, performance remains strong but shows the expected decline. Low settings achieve 597.9 FPS, Medium reaches 509.4 FPS, High delivers 500.2 FPS, and Ultra produces 494.6 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 103.3 FPS, slightly narrower than at lower resolutions. Compared to 1080p Low, 4K Low represents a 12.1% performance decrease (680 to 597.9 FPS). Across all resolutions, the data indicates that this pairing maintains frame rates well above 480 FPS even under the most demanding settings tested.

How This Combo Ranks

In the benchmark database, this pairing of Intel Core i7-14700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 holds the 42nd position out of 1,650 tested combos in Valorant. This places it in the top 2.5% of all configurations cataloged for this game. The rank reflects the combination's ability to sustain extremely high frame rates across all tested resolutions and settings.

The CPU contributes a percentile rank of 96 among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 70074. Its nearest rivals—the i7-14700KF at 70104, AMD EPYC 9115 at 69887, and AMD Ryzen 9 9950X at 70420—are all within 1.4% of its score. The GPU's percentile rank of 94 among all graphics cards, with an average score of 84306, similarly places it near the top of the hierarchy. The RTX 5090 D (84241) and RTX 5050 Mobile (84171) are within 0.2% of the RTX 5090's score, while the AMD Radeon PRO W6600 trails by 1.3%.

The 42nd rank out of 1,650 combos suggests that while this configuration is exceptionally fast, there are 41 other pairings that achieve even higher frame rates in Valorant. Given that the measured FPS numbers are already in the 494-680 range, those higher-ranked combos likely feature CPUs with even greater single-thread performance or are operating under different benchmark conditions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700K is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake-R architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process with a die size of 257 mm². It operates with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, and includes 33 MB of shared L3 cache plus 2 MB of L2 cache per core. The CPU supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration and connects via PCIe Gen 5 with 16 lanes.

In Valorant, the CPU's role is critical because the game's frame rates are strongly influenced by single-thread performance. The i7-14700K scores 6287 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 633 in Cinebench R15 single-core, which are strong indicators of its ability to drive high frame rates. Its PassMark single-thread score of 4472 further corroborates this. The boost clock of 5.60 GHz is particularly relevant for a game like Valorant that relies on rapid input processing and physics calculations for hit registration.

The CPU's 20 cores and 28 threads provide substantial multi-threading headroom, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44534 and a Geekbench multi-core score of 18896. However, Valorant is not heavily multi-threaded, so the single-core performance matters more. The measured FPS data shows that frame rates scale with both CPU and GPU capabilities: at 1080p Low, the 680 FPS result approaches the practical limit for many display technologies. The CPU's percentile rank of 96 among all processors, with nearest rivals within 1.4% in average benchmark score, indicates that the i7-14700K is near the top of the current CPU hierarchy—a position that aligns well with the GPU's high-end standing.