Valorant

Valorant is a competitive FPS that tends to reward high frame rates, and the data for the Intel Core i7-14700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 combination shows a system that is heavily CPU-bound at lower resolutions. Across all measured settings, the average frame rates are exceptionally high, ranging from a low of 424.1 FPS at 4K Ultra to a peak of 681.8 FPS at 1080p Low. The performance ceiling is clearly dictated by the processor's capabilities, as the GPU has significant headroom to render frames far faster than the CPU can feed it, particularly at 1080p and 1440p.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is relatively modest, which is a strong indicator of a CPU bottleneck. At the High preset, the average frame rate falls from 571.9 FPS at 1920x1080 to 537.3 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 34.6 FPS. Moving to 3840x2160, the average drops further to 448.2 FPS. This means that even at 4K, the system is still delivering well over 400 FPS, and the total scaling loss from 1080p to 4K is 123.7 FPS, or roughly 21.6%.

The pattern is similar across other presets. At Low settings, the system averages 681.8 FPS at 1080p, which drops to 645.5 FPS at 1440p and then to 597.4 FPS at 4K. The scaling from 1080p to 4K on Low is a reduction of 84.4 FPS. This relatively small penalty for a fourfold increase in pixel count demonstrates that the limiting factor is not the GPU's pixel throughput but the CPU's ability to process game logic and draw calls. The RTX 5070, with its 12 GB of GDDR7 memory and 672.0 GB/s of bandwidth, is more than capable of handling the rendering load, but it is being held back by the processor at all tested resolutions.

The most significant frame rate jump occurs when moving from 4K to 1440p, suggesting that the GPU becomes slightly more relevant at the highest resolution. However, the fact that the 1080p Low preset is the only configuration to break the 600 FPS barrier, while the 4K Ultra preset is the only one to fall below 450 FPS, reinforces that the combination is operating in a state where CPU performance is the primary governor of the final frame rate.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data shows that the Low preset consistently delivers the highest average frame rates at every resolution, while the Ultra preset delivers the lowest. At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 681.8 FPS, which is 121.2 FPS higher than the Ultra preset's 560.6 FPS. This performance gap is substantial and suggests that for competitive play, where maximum frame rate is often prioritized, the Low preset offers the best experience.

However, the difference between the Medium and High presets is quite small. At 1080p, Medium averages 576.5 FPS, and High averages 571.9 FPS, a negligible difference of 4.6 FPS. At 1440p, the gap widens slightly, with Medium at 548.3 FPS and High at 537.3 FPS. At 4K, Medium averages 468 FPS, while High averages 448.2 FPS. Given that the system already exceeds 500 FPS at 1440p with Medium settings, players seeking a balance between visual fidelity and performance might find this preset to be the optimal choice. The Ultra preset provides the lowest frame rates, but even its 424.1 FPS average at 4K is far above the refresh rate of most monitors.

For players with high-refresh-rate displays, the Low preset at 1080p is the only configuration that approaches the 700 FPS mark. The data suggests that the performance difference between Low and Medium is more pronounced than between Medium and High, indicating that the Low preset likely disables certain CPU-intensive effects that have a disproportionate impact on frame time. The best experience per the measured rows is either Low for maximum frame rate or Medium for a reasonable trade-off, as the jump from Medium to High or Ultra yields diminishing returns in performance.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. In Valorant, a game that is known to be sensitive to single-thread performance, this processor's high boost clock is a critical factor in achieving the frame rates seen in the data. The CPU's benchmark scores reflect its strength, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 6290 and a multi-core score of 44557. The processor also holds a 96th percentile ranking among all CPUs, indicating top-tier performance.

The measured frame rates suggest that the CPU is the primary bottleneck at all settings. The fact that the average frame rate at 1080p Low (681.8 FPS) is significantly higher than at 1080p Ultra (560.6 FPS) implies that the game's engine is limited by the CPU's ability to issue draw calls and process game state, and lowering graphical settings does not alleviate this pressure. The processor's large 33 MB of shared L3 cache likely helps with game data locality, but the core clock speed is the dominant factor.

When compared to its nearest rivals, the i7-14700KF shows a negligible performance delta. It is essentially tied with the Intel Core i7-14700K, with a deltaPct of 0, and is only 0.4% behind the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X. This indicates that for this specific workload, the CPU is operating at the very top of its class, and any differences in frame rate between these processors would be imperceptible in practice. The CPU's 20 cores and 28 threads are more than sufficient for Valorant, which likely does not utilize all of them, but the high single-core clock speed ensures that the main game thread is processed as quickly as possible.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-14700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 ranks 65th out of 1650 tested combos for Valorant. This places the pairing in the top 4% of all configurations in the database, which is an excellent result. The high rank is primarily attributable to the CPU's exceptional single-threaded performance, as the game is not heavily reliant on GPU capabilities. The combo's position suggests that it outperforms the vast majority of systems, including many that might have more powerful GPUs but weaker processors.

The rank of 65 out of 1650 means that there are 64 other combinations that achieve higher average frame rates in Valorant. These are likely to feature processors with even higher boost clocks, such as the Intel Core i9 series or AMD's top-tier X3D chips, which are known for their gaming performance. The data shows that the RTX 5070 is not the limiting factor, as its performance percentile is 83, which is lower than the CPU's 96. This implies that upgrading the GPU would yield no tangible benefit in this game, while upgrading the CPU could potentially push the system higher in the rankings.

The deltaPct values for the CPU's nearest rivals are all within 1.3% of each other, which further solidifies the idea that the combo's rank is determined by the CPU's position in the hierarchy. Since the i7-14700KF is essentially tied with the i7-14700K and Ryzen 9 9950X, the frame rates produced by this combo are representative of the best possible performance for a non-specialized gaming CPU. The 65th rank out of 1650 combos is a strong indicator that this pairing is well-balanced for Valorant, even though the GPU is significantly underutilized.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 is a high-end graphics card based on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture, with 6144 shading units and a boost clock of 2512 MHz. It features 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 672.0 GB/s. In Valorant, the GPU's role is diminished compared to other titles, as the frame rates are largely determined by the CPU. The GPU's benchmark scores, such as a Passmark G3D score of 29137, show it is a capable performer, but the data indicates it is not being fully utilized.

The evidence for GPU underutilization is clear when examining the scaling between presets. At 4K, the difference between Low and Ultra is 173.3 FPS (597.4 FPS vs 424.1 FPS), which shows that the GPU does have some impact at higher resolutions. However, the fact that the system still averages 424.1 FPS at 4K Ultra demonstrates that the GPU is more than powerful enough for this game. The RTX 5070's 12 GB of VRAM is likely more than sufficient for Valorant's textures and geometry, and its 80 ROPs are capable of handling the pixel fill rate required at 4K.

The GPU's percentile ranking of 83 is lower than the CPU's, which is unusual and confirms the bottleneck. In most games, the GPU would be the limiting factor at 4K Ultra, but here the CPU is still the constraint. The RTX 5070's nearest rivals, such as the GeForce RTX 3090, show a deltaPct of 0.6%, meaning they would perform almost identically in this context. This suggests that for Valorant, the specific GPU model is irrelevant as long as it is reasonably modern, and the focus should be on the processor. The GPU's high bandwidth and large memory pool do not translate into higher frame rates in this scenario, as the game's frame time is dominated by CPU processing.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achieved by this combo?

A: The highest average frame rate is 681.8 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low preset.

Q: How much faster is the Low preset compared to Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 681.8 FPS, which is 121.2 FPS higher than the Ultra preset's 560.6 FPS.

Q: Does the frame rate drop significantly when moving from 1440p to 4K?

A: At the High preset, the frame rate drops from 537.3 FPS at 2560x1440 to 448.2 FPS at 3840x2160, a reduction of 89.1 FPS.

Q: Is this combo ranked highly among all tested systems?

A: Yes, the combo ranks 65th out of 1650 tested combos, placing it in the top 4% of all configurations.

Q: Which component is the primary bottleneck in this game?

A: The data indicates the Intel Core i7-14700KF is the primary bottleneck, as frame rates are exceptionally high and show relatively small scaling with resolution, which is consistent with a CPU-limited scenario.

Q: What is the average frame rate at 4K with Medium settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with the Medium preset, the system achieves an average frame rate of 468 FPS.