Valorant

The Intel Core i7-14700KF paired with the Intel Arc B390 produces a fascinating—and heavily skewed—performance profile in Valorant. The data indicates a system where the integrated GPU is the definitive bottleneck, yet the sheer computational power of the CPU ensures that frame rates remain competitive even at 4K. This combination ranks in the bottom 12% of tested combos for this title, a direct consequence of the graphics solution's limitations, but the measured FPS reveals a playable experience that scales predictably with resolution.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 provides a clear picture of where the performance ceiling lies. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 331 FPS. Moving to 1440p drops that figure to 282 FPS, a 14.8% reduction in average frame rate. The jump to 4K is more punishing, with the average falling to 225 FPS, another 20.2% decline from the 1440p result. This scaling pattern—a significant but not catastrophic drop at each step—is typical of a system that is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions.

The same trend is visible across all settings presets. At High settings, the average FPS descends from 207 at 1080p to 177 at 1440p (a 14.5% loss) and then to 141 at 4K (a 20.3% loss from 1440p). The consistency of these percentages across Low and High presets is telling; it suggests that the Arc B390's rendering throughput is the primary constraint, and that the i7-14700KF is not struggling to feed it frames at any resolution. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect the 4K performance to be closer to the 1080p numbers, as higher resolutions typically offload work from the processor.

The scaling from Medium to Ultra settings further confirms this dynamic. At 4K, the average FPS moves from 149 on Medium to 135 on Ultra, a 9.4% performance penalty for the highest preset. At 1080p, the corresponding drop is from 218 to 198, a 9.2% penalty. The fact that the relative cost of Ultra is nearly identical at all resolutions indicates a uniform increase in shader complexity and pixel work, which the GPU must handle. The data suggests that this integrated solution is the limiting component at every resolution tested; the CPU is never the bottleneck, as evidenced by the large absolute FPS numbers even at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand scheme of tested hardware configurations for Valorant, this pairing sits at rank 2534 out of 2883 combos. That places it in the 12th percentile of all systems measured, a low position that reflects the Arc B390's standing in the broader GPU hierarchy. The GPU's individual benchmark percentile is 9, meaning it performs better than only 9% of all graphics cards tested on the site. This is the anchor dragging the combo down.

The CPU, by contrast, is a high performer. The i7-14700KF sits in the 94th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 70163. This massive disparity between the CPU's capability and the GPU's output explains the combo's low rank; the system is essentially a top-tier processor shackled to an entry-level graphics solution. The data shows that while the CPU is capable of far more, the measured FPS in Valorant is capped by the GPU's limits. The combo rank is therefore a reflection of the weakest link, not the average of the two components.

The nearest rivals for the GPU are legacy NVIDIA parts like the GeForce GT 520MX, GT 625 OEM, and GT 710. The Arc B390's average benchmark score of 1482 is only 1.3% higher than the GT 520MX's 1463, and 2.7% higher than the GT 710's 1443. This is a critical context for the measured FPS. While the i7-14700KF can push the Arc B390 to produce 331 FPS at 1080p Low, the GPU is operating at a performance tier that is historically associated with basic display output and light workloads, not competitive esports. The high frame rates are evidence of Valorant's scalability, not the GPU's raw power.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics processor based on the Xe3-LPG architecture and built on a 3 nm process node. Its clocks are modest, with a base of 300 MHz and a boost of 2500 MHz, and it features 1536 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 24 ROPs. The memory configuration is entirely system-dependent, with the GPU using shared system memory for both capacity and bandwidth. This architecture is the primary reason for the performance ceiling observed in the measured FPS.

The GPU's peak pixel rate is 60.00 GPixel/s and its texture rate is 120.0 GTexel/s, resulting in a FP32 performance of 7.680 TFLOPS. These are not impressive figures for a modern gaming GPU, and the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482 confirms its low position in the performance hierarchy. The data shows that this GPU is designed for efficiency and basic graphical output, not high-refresh gaming. In Valorant, this manifests as the consistent FPS drops seen when moving from Low to Ultra settings—the GPU simply runs out of processing power to maintain higher frame rates as the rendering load increases.

The measured FPS data reveals the GPU's limitations clearly. At 4K Ultra, the average is 135 FPS, a 40% reduction from the 225 FPS at 4K Low. This scaling is expected for a GPU that is handling a pixel count increase while also managing more complex shaders. The fact that the 4K Medium preset yields an average of 149 FPS, with a minimum of 126 FPS, indicates that the GPU is struggling to maintain consistent frame pacing under load. The lack of a dedicated VRAM pool means the system memory bandwidth is a shared resource, likely contributing to these frame time inconsistencies at higher resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

Given the measured data, the optimal balance between visual quality and performance lies within the Medium preset. At 1920x1080, Medium provides an average of 218 FPS, which is only 11 FPS lower than Low's 331 FPS but offers a substantial visual upgrade over the barebones Low preset. The minimum FPS at 1080p Medium is 185, ensuring that even in intense firefights, the frame rate stays well above the refresh rate of most standard monitors. The Ultra preset at 1080p yields 198 FPS average, but the 20 FPS cost over Medium is not justified by the marginal visual improvements in a competitive FPS.

For 1440p users, Medium remains the sensible choice. It delivers an average of 186 FPS with a minimum of 158 FPS, which is still smooth for competitive play. The High preset at 1440p drops to 177 FPS average, and while that is playable, the Medium preset offers a higher average and a better minimum frame rate, which is crucial for consistency in a fast-paced shooter. At 4K, the Medium preset is the only viable option for a high-refresh experience, producing an average of 149 FPS and a minimum of 126 FPS. The Ultra preset at this resolution falls to 135 FPS average, which is below the 144 Hz threshold that many competitive players target.

The data suggests that Low settings are unnecessary for this CPU-GPU combo at 1080p, as the system can handle Medium with ease. The performance headroom is substantial, and the i7-14700KF ensures that the CPU is never the cause of frame drops. For players prioritizing maximum frame rates on a 360 Hz monitor, the Low preset's 331 FPS at 1080p is the only preset that approaches those speeds, but for the vast majority of users, Medium provides a superior experience without sacrificing competitive viability.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance across all tested configurations. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers the highest average at 331 FPS. The Medium preset follows at 218 FPS, with a minimum of 185 and a maximum of 250. High settings produce an average of 207 FPS, while Ultra is the slowest at 198 FPS. This 1080p data shows a clear hierarchy where Low is significantly faster, and the gap between Medium, High, and Ultra is relatively small, indicating that the GPU can handle moderate increases in visual fidelity without major FPS losses.

At 2560x1440, the same pattern holds but with lower absolute numbers. Low settings achieve an average of 282 FPS. Medium produces 186 FPS average, with a minimum of 158 and a maximum of 214. High settings average 177 FPS, and Ultra averages 169 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent across presets, with an approximate 15-20% reduction in average FPS, confirming that the GPU is scaling with pixel count as expected. The minimum FPS values are only recorded for the Medium preset, but the data shows that 158 FPS is the floor at 1440p Medium, which is still a solid frame rate.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's limitations become more pronounced. Low settings average 225 FPS, which is still high, but the scaling from 1440p is steep. Medium averages 149 FPS, with a minimum of 126 and a maximum of 171. High settings drop to 141 FPS average, and Ultra is the lowest at 135 FPS. The 4K data reveals that the Arc B390 is pushed to its limits, with the Ultra preset only managing 61% of the frame rate achieved at 1080p Low. The minimum FPS of 126 at 4K Medium is the lowest recorded value in the entire dataset, indicating that this configuration is the most demanding on the system.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF is a 20-core, 28-thread processor from the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. It features 33 MB of shared L3 cache and supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory. Its benchmark results are outstanding, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 44167 and a single-core score of 6235, placing it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs. This processing power is the reason the system can achieve such high frame rates in Valorant, a game that is known to be sensitive to single-core performance.

The CPU's PassMark single-thread score of 4480 and its Geekbench single-core score of 2578 are exceptionally high, explaining why the measured FPS at 1080p Low can reach 331. The game's engine relies heavily on the primary thread for game logic and input processing, and the i7-14700KF's high boost clock ensures that this thread is never starved. In contrast to the GPU, which sits in the 9th percentile, the CPU's 94th percentile ranking means it is providing far more performance than the GPU can utilize in this title.

The data shows that the CPU is not a limiting factor at any resolution or setting. Even at 4K Ultra, where the GPU is clearly struggling, the average FPS of 135 is still high enough to suggest the CPU is delivering frames without issue. The nearest CPU rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K, have average scores within 1% of the i7-14700KF, indicating that this processor is at the top of its class. In Valorant, this translates to a system that is always GPU-bound, allowing the CPU to operate well below its maximum capacity while still delivering the frame data required for the high FPS numbers observed. The CPU's 125W TDP and support for PCIe Gen 5 are irrelevant in this context, as the integrated GPU does not use a discrete PCIe interface, but the processor's raw speed is the driving force behind the playable frame rates.