Valorant

The Intel Core i9-14900K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is an asymmetrical combination for Valorant, where the CPU's immense processing power dwarfs the GPU's mid-range capabilities. The measured data confirms that this pairing produces exceptional frame rates across all resolutions, though the performance scaling reveals a clear shift in system bottleneck as graphical load increases. At 1080p, the frame rates are astronomical, indicating that the GPU is not the primary constraint; however, as resolution climbs to 4K, the gap between settings narrows, demonstrating the GPU's growing influence on output.

Resolution Scaling

The scaling from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 shows a predictable pattern, but the magnitude of the drops is heavily dependent on the quality preset. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 662.1 FPS at 1080p to 562.2 FPS at 1440p, a reduction of approximately 15%, and then to 446.1 FPS at 4K, which is a 33% drop from the 1080p figure. This relatively modest decline suggests that even at 4K Low, the CPU is still doing substantial heavy lifting, as the GPU is not being taxed with complex shading work.

The scaling story changes dramatically when moving to higher presets. At High settings, the 1080p average of 411 FPS drops to 347.7 FPS at 1440p, a 15% decrease, and then to 280.1 FPS at 4K, a 32% reduction from 1080p. The Ultra preset follows a similar trajectory: 392.5 FPS at 1080p falls to 330.6 FPS at 1440p, and ultimately to 266.8 FPS at 4K. The narrowing of the frame rate gap between 1440p and 4K at higher settings indicates that the RTX 2070 SUPER is beginning to reach its throughput limits, particularly with the heavier pixel shading required at 4K Ultra.

What is most telling is the delta between Low and Ultra settings at each resolution. At 1080p, the difference between Low (662.1 FPS) and Ultra (392.5 FPS) is 269.6 FPS, a massive spread that shows the CPU can feed frames far faster than the GPU can render them under heavy settings. At 4K, this spread shrinks to 179.3 FPS (446.1 FPS vs 266.8 FPS). This compression indicates that as resolution increases, the GPU becomes a more significant limiting factor, though the absolute numbers remain exceptionally high for competitive play.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is built on the Turing architecture with a 12 nm process node from TSMC. Its specifications include 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation pipelines, with a base clock of 1605 MHz and a boost clock of 1770 MHz. The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s, which is ample for Valorant's modest texture requirements. The GPU's measured performance shows a Passmark G3D score of 18169, placing it in the 65th percentile of all GPUs, and its average benchmark score of 22206 sits just 0.5% below the NVIDIA RTX A400 and 0.9% above the GTX TITAN Z.

In this specific game, the GPU's role is secondary to the CPU. The measured FPS data shows that even at 4K Ultra, the combination produces 266.8 FPS, which is far beyond the refresh rate of most monitors. The GPU's 9.062 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is sufficient to handle Valorant's stylized visuals without breaking a sweat. The memory clock of 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) and the 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are more than adequate for the game's asset streaming, as evidenced by the minimal performance penalty when moving from Medium to High settings at any given resolution.

The RTX 2070 SUPER's DirectX 12 Ultimate support and Vulkan 1.4 API compatibility ensure that it can utilize modern rendering paths, though Valorant is not a graphically demanding title. The data suggests that the GPU is not the bottleneck at 1080p, where the CPU's single-thread performance dominates. At 4K Ultra, the GPU's pixel rate of 113.3 GPixel/s and texture rate of 283.2 GTexel/s become more relevant, but the frame rates remain so high that the GPU's limits are rarely exposed.

FAQ

Q: Is the RTX 2070 SUPER sufficient for 4K gaming in Valorant?

A: Yes. The measured data shows an average of 280.1 FPS at 4K High and 266.8 FPS at 4K Ultra, which are well above the 60 FPS threshold typically required for smooth gameplay. Even at 4K Low, the combination achieves 446.1 FPS.

Q: How does the i9-14900K's core configuration benefit Valorant?

A: The CPU features 24 cores and 32 threads with a boost clock of 6.00 GHz. Valorant is highly dependent on single-thread performance, and the i9-14900K's Passmark single-thread score of 4697 reflects its strength. The high boost clock ensures that the game's primary thread can execute rapidly.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: The spread is significant. Low settings produce 662.1 FPS, while Ultra settings yield 392.5 FPS, a difference of 269.6 FPS. This indicates that the GPU's workload increases substantially with higher presets, but the CPU still has headroom to deliver high frame rates.

Q: Should I use Medium or High settings for competitive play?

A: The data shows that Medium settings at 1080p provide 430.4 FPS, while High provides 411 FPS, a negligible difference of 19.4 FPS. Both are far above refresh rate limits, so the choice should be based on visual preference rather than performance. At 1440p, Medium offers 367.6 FPS compared to High's 347.7 FPS.

Q: How does the combination rank among all tested combos?

A: It ranks 768th out of 1650 tested combinations in Valorant. This places it near the middle of the pack, though the absolute frame rates are exceptionally high, indicating that many other combos likely use more powerful GPUs that provide marginal gains in this CPU-bound title.

Q: Is the 8 GB VRAM a limiting factor?

A: No. Valorant's assets do not require substantial video memory. The 8 GB GDDR6 memory is not a constraint, as evidenced by the high frame rates at 4K Ultra, which typically demands more VRAM than lower resolutions. The GPU's bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s is sufficient for this game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combination delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce an average of 662.1 FPS, which is the peak performance across all tested configurations. Medium settings yield 430.4 FPS, High settings provide 411 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 392.5 FPS. The difference between Low and Medium is 231.7 FPS, a substantial jump that suggests Low settings remove most of the GPU's shading workload, allowing the CPU to run at full speed.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain exceptionally high. Low settings average 562.2 FPS, Medium provides 367.6 FPS, High delivers 347.7 FPS, and Ultra sits at 330.6 FPS. The relative ordering is consistent with 1080p, but the gaps between presets have narrowed. The delta between Low and Ultra is 231.6 FPS, nearly identical to the 1080p spread, though the absolute numbers are lower due to the increased pixel count.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's limitations become more apparent. Low settings still manage 446.1 FPS, which is impressive for 4K. Medium settings drop to 293.7 FPS, High to 280.1 FPS, and Ultra to 266.8 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 179.3 FPS, significantly smaller than at lower resolutions. This compression shows that the RTX 2070 SUPER's fixed-function units are being saturated, but the CPU's performance ensures that even the heaviest preset remains above 260 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i9-14900K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER ranks 768th out of 1650 tested combos in Valorant. This percentile placement of approximately 46.5% indicates that the combo sits just below the median of all tested systems. However, this ranking must be interpreted in context: the absolute frame rates are so high that the ranking is likely affected by combos with more powerful GPUs that achieve marginal gains in this CPU-bound title.

The CPU's benchmark scores provide a reference for its capability. The i9-14900K scores 49872 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 7040 in single-core, with a Passmark multi-thread score of 58674 and a single-thread score of 4697. These figures place it in the 97th percentile of all CPUs. The GPU's Passmark G3D score of 18169 and its 65th percentile ranking show that it is a mid-range part by modern standards. The combination's ranking suggests that the CPU is doing most of the work in Valorant, and a more powerful GPU would not yield proportionally higher frame rates.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K is the dominant component in this pairing for Valorant. Its architecture, Raptor Lake-R, is built on a 10 nm process node from Intel, and it features 24 cores and 32 threads. The base clock of 3.20 GHz can boost up to 6.00 GHz, which is critical for a game that relies on high single-thread performance. The Passmark single-thread score of 4697 and Geekbench single-core score of 3064 confirm its strength in lightly-threaded workloads.

The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and a 36 MB shared L3 cache. This large L3 cache is beneficial for game logic and reducing memory latency. The memory support for DDR4 and DDR5 in a dual-channel configuration provides flexibility, though the measured FPS data does not specify which memory type was used. The CPU's 125 W TDP and boost clock of 6.00 GHz indicate that it can sustain high performance under load, which is essential for maintaining frame rates in competitive scenarios.

The benchmark results show that the i9-14900K outperforms its nearest rivals in the database. It is 0.7% ahead of the Intel Core i9-14900KF and the Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF, and 0.9% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K. The only rival that beats it is the AMD EPYC 7413, which is 0.3% faster, though that is a server-class processor. This performance headroom translates directly to the high frame rates observed in Valorant, where the CPU's ability to process game logic and issue draw calls is the primary driver of FPS.