Valorant

The Intel Core i7-14700KF paired with the Intel Arc B370 ranks 2645th out of 2883 tested combos in Valorant, placing it in the bottom 8% of all configurations. This is a stark result for a CPU that sits in the 94th percentile against all processors, underscoring that the Arc B370's integrated graphics solution is the overwhelming bottleneck in this pairing. Benchmark data shows the combo delivers playable frame rates, but its rank reflects a system where the GPU is dramatically outclassed by the CPU it is attached to.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 2645 out of 2883 tested combinations places it in the bottom tier of all tested systems for Valorant. This is a surprising outcome given the CPU's pedigree; the Core i7-14700KF is a 20-core, 28-thread desktop processor based on Raptor Lake architecture, and it achieves an average benchmark score of 70163, placing it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs. However, the Intel Arc B370 is an integrated graphics processor with a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of just 1184, which puts it in the 5th percentile of all GPUs. The delta between these two components is enormous, and Valorant's frame rates reflect the GPU's limitations rather than the CPU's capabilities.

Looking at the CPU's nearest rivals, the data shows how close the 14700KF is to other high-end processors. It scores 0.2% higher than the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F, 0.4% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX, and 0.9% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, while trailing the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K by 1%. These are marginal differences, all within a 2% band, indicating that the CPU is fully competitive with the best available options. Yet, none of that matters for this specific combo's rank because the Arc B370 holds the system back. The GPU's nearest rivals—the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570, ATI Radeon HD 5770, AMD Radeon HD 7650M, and AMD FirePro M2000—are all legacy or low-power parts, and the Arc B370 trades scores within 1.4% of them. This confirms that the integrated GPU is operating at a level comparable to decade-old discrete graphics, which explains the combo's low overall rank in a competitive FPS title.

FAQ

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-14700KF a strong processor for gaming?

A: Yes, the CPU is exceptionally capable. It scores 44167 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 6235 in single-core, with an average benchmark score of 70163, placing it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K, is only 1% faster on average.

Q: Why does this combo rank so low if the CPU is so powerful?

A: The bottleneck is the Intel Arc B370, an integrated GPU that scores just 1184 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 and sits in the 5th percentile of all GPUs. It is comparable to the ATI Radeon HD 5770, which scores 1190, meaning the graphics solution is far too weak to feed the CPU's potential in Valorant.

Q: What frame rates can I expect at 1080p with this setup?

A: At 1920x1080, the data shows an average of 299 FPS on Low settings, 197 FPS on Medium, 187 FPS on High, and 178 FPS on Ultra. These are all playable, but the Low preset is the only one that approaches the 300 FPS mark.

Q: How does the Arc B370 compare to other GPUs in the database?

A: The Arc B370's average benchmark score of 1184 places it in the 5th percentile. It is 0.2% slower than the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570, 0.5% slower than the ATI Radeon HD 5770, and 0.7% slower than the AMD Radeon HD 7650M, while being 1.4% faster than the AMD FirePro M2000.

Q: Does the CPU's core count affect Valorant performance?

A: The Core i7-14700KF has 20 cores and 28 threads, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. Valorant is not typically a multi-threaded title, but the high boost clock and strong single-core performance (6235 in Cinebench R23 single-core) ensure the CPU is not the limiting factor; the GPU is.

Q: Is the measured FPS data reliable?

A: Yes, the field `dataIsMeasured` is true, indicating that these are real measured frame rates rather than estimates. The Medium settings rows also include minimum and maximum FPS values, providing a fuller picture of performance consistency.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the Low preset at 1920x1080 offers the best overall experience for this combo, delivering an average of 299 FPS. This is the only configuration that approaches the 300 FPS threshold, which is significant for competitive FPS play where higher frame rates translate to lower input latency. The Medium preset at 1080p yields 197 FPS average, with a minimum of 167 FPS and a maximum of 226 FPS, which is still smooth but represents a 34% drop from Low. The High preset at 1080p drops further to 187 FPS, and Ultra falls to 178 FPS.

If a player prefers higher visual fidelity, the Medium preset at 2560x1440 provides 168 FPS average with a minimum of 143 FPS, which is acceptable for most displays. However, the data clearly shows diminishing returns: stepping from Low to Medium at 1080p costs 102 FPS on average, while the visual improvement in a fast-paced tactical shooter like Valorant is often negligible. The 4K options are the least attractive; even the Low preset at 3840x2160 only reaches 204 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls to 122 FPS, which is below what most competitive players would consider ideal. For this specific hardware pairing, the optimal balance of speed and usability is the 1080p Low preset, with 1440p Medium as a viable fallback for those who prioritize image quality.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers three resolutions and four settings presets, providing a complete picture of this combo's performance envelope. At 1920x1080, the results are as follows: Low averages 299 FPS, Medium averages 197 FPS with a minimum of 167 FPS and a maximum of 226 FPS, High averages 187 FPS, and Ultra averages 178 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 121 FPS, indicating that the integrated GPU is sensitive to settings changes at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates drop noticeably. Low averages 255 FPS, Medium averages 168 FPS with a minimum of 143 FPS and a maximum of 193 FPS, High averages 160 FPS, and Ultra averages 152 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra here is 103 FPS, which is slightly less than at 1080p, but the overall numbers are lower across the board. At 3840x2160, the performance degrades further: Low averages 204 FPS, Medium averages 134 FPS with a minimum of 114 FPS and a maximum of 154 FPS, High averages 128 FPS, and Ultra averages 122 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 82 FPS, showing that the GPU becomes more uniformly constrained as resolution increases.

The Medium settings rows are notable because they are the only ones with complete min/max data. At 1080p, the 167 FPS minimum suggests that even in demanding scenes, the frame rate stays well above the 144 Hz refresh rate common among gaming monitors. At 1440p, the 143 FPS minimum is still respectable, but at 4K, the 114 FPS minimum begins to approach the lower bounds of what is comfortable for fast-paced aiming. Across all resolutions, the Low preset provides the highest average FPS, while the Ultra preset provides the lowest, confirming that the Arc B370 is best utilized with reduced graphical settings.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is significant but not linear, revealing how the Arc B370's memory bandwidth and compute resources are strained as pixel count increases. At Low settings, the average FPS goes from 299 at 1080p to 255 at 1440p, a drop of 44 FPS (14.7%), and then to 204 at 4K, a further drop of 51 FPS (20.0%). This represents a total reduction of 95 FPS (31.8%) from 1080p to 4K. At Medium settings, the progression is 197 FPS at 1080p, 168 FPS at 1440p, and 134 FPS at 4K, with a total drop of 63 FPS (32.0%). At High settings, it goes from 187 FPS to 160 FPS to 128 FPS, a total drop of 59 FPS (31.6%). At Ultra settings, the numbers are 178 FPS at 1080p, 152 FPS at 1440p, and 122 FPS at 4K, a total drop of 56 FPS (31.5%).

The consistency of these percentage drops—all hovering around 31-32%—indicates that the Arc B370 is uniformly limited by its compute throughput and memory system, which is "System Shared" with bandwidth listed as "System Dependent." There is no evidence of a CPU bottleneck at any resolution, as the Core i7-14700KF with its 5.60 GHz boost clock and 6235 single-core Cinebench R23 score would easily handle the draw calls at 1080p. Instead, the GPU's 1280 shading units, 40 TMUs, and 20 ROPs are the limiting factor. The fact that the percentage drop is nearly identical across all settings presets suggests that the GPU is saturated at 1080p Low, and increasing resolution merely scales the workload uniformly. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see a smaller FPS drop from 1440p to 4K as the GPU becomes the limiting factor; instead, the consistent scaling points squarely at the integrated graphics.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on Raptor Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, with a 33 MB shared L3 cache and 2 MB per core L2 cache. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 44167 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 6235 in single-core, while its Geekbench scores are 21462 multi-core and 2578 single-core. These numbers place it firmly in the top tier of desktop CPUs, with a percentile rank of 94 against all processors. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K, is only 1% faster on average, while the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F is 0.2% slower.

In Valorant specifically, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and handle game logic. The 14700KF's high single-thread performance, evidenced by its 6235 Cinebench R23 single-core score and 4480 PassMark single-thread score, is well-suited for this task. Valorant is not a heavily multi-threaded game, so the 20 cores and 28 threads are largely underutilized; the boost clock of 5.60 GHz is the more critical specification. However, the measured FPS data shows no sign of CPU limitation—if the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rates would not drop by a consistent 31-32% when moving from 1080p to 4K. Instead, the Arc B370, with its 6.144 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 48.00 GPixel/s pixel rate, is the clear constraint. The GPU's 25 W TDP and integrated nature, with system-shared memory, mean it simply cannot produce the frame rates that the CPU could theoretically support. In this pairing, the i7-14700KF is like a high-performance engine connected to a small fuel pump; the potential is there, but the delivery system limits the output.