Valorant

Valorant is a competitive FPS where frame rate directly translates to input responsiveness, and the measured data for the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 shows a configuration that is overwhelmingly capable of pushing this game to its limits. Across all tested resolutions and settings, the average frame rates never dip below 288 FPS, which places this combo in the top 35% of all tested configurations in the database. The following analysis breaks down the measured FPS data, component roles, and scaling behavior to provide a methodical overview of what this hardware pairing delivers in Riot’s tactical shooter.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows provide four distinct settings presets—Low, Medium, High, and Ultra—across three resolutions. For competitive play, the data strongly favors the Low preset at 1080p, where the combo achieves an average of 670 FPS. This is the highest measured frame rate in the entire dataset, and it represents a 20% improvement over the High preset at the same resolution (443 FPS) and a 14% improvement over Medium (465 FPS). The Low preset’s advantage is not merely numeric; in a fast-paced shooter, the gap between 670 and 465 FPS translates to a reduction in frame time variance, which is critical for tracking moving targets and landing precise shots.

For players who prioritize visual fidelity over raw frame rate, the Ultra preset at 1080p still delivers a very playable 422 FPS average, which is only 6% lower than High (443 FPS) and 9% lower than Medium (465 FPS). The scaling from Medium to Ultra is remarkably consistent, with only a 43 FPS drop (465 to 422), suggesting that the GPU has ample headroom even at maximum settings. However, the data shows that the Low preset is the clear choice for esports-focused play, as it provides the highest possible frame rate and likely minimizes input latency, which is a decisive factor in Valorant’s one-shot-kill mechanics.

At 1440p, the same pattern holds. Low settings yield 602 FPS average, which is 39% higher than High (378 FPS) and 34% higher than Medium (397 FPS). The Ultra preset at 1440p drops to 360 FPS, still well above the refresh rate of most high-end monitors. At 4K, the Low preset (481 FPS) remains the best option for pure performance, but the Medium preset (317 FPS) offers a better balance for players with 4K displays, as it provides a 5% improvement over High (302 FPS) and a 9% improvement over Ultra (288 FPS). The Medium preset at 4K also includes the only complete min/max FPS data in the dataset (270 min, 365 max), indicating a stable frame delivery window.

Given the competitive nature of Valorant, the recommended preset is Low at 1080p for maximum frame rate. For players using higher-resolution displays, the Low preset at 1440p (602 FPS) is still preferable over Medium or High, while at 4K, Low (481 FPS) remains the top choice unless visual clarity is prioritized, in which case Medium (317 FPS) provides the best compromise between performance and quality.

FAQ

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

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 670 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is the peak performance point in the dataset, exceeding the next highest result (602 FPS at 1440p Low) by 11%.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K resolution with Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average frame rate is 288 FPS. This is the lowest measured score in the entire dataset but still represents a highly playable experience, as it is well above the 240 Hz refresh rate common in competitive gaming monitors.

Q: Is there a significant frame rate difference between Medium and High settings?

A: Yes, but the magnitude varies by resolution. At 1080p, Medium (465 FPS) is 5% higher than High (443 FPS). At 1440p, Medium (397 FPS) is 5% higher than High (378 FPS). At 4K, Medium (317 FPS) is 5% higher than High (302 FPS). The consistency of this ~5% gap suggests that the Medium preset offers a slight performance advantage over High across all resolutions.

Q: What are the minimum and maximum frame rates recorded?

A: The dataset includes min/max data only for the Medium preset. At 1080p, the range is 395 to 535 FPS. At 1440p, the range is 337 to 456 FPS. At 4K, the range is 270 to 365 FPS. These ranges indicate that the frame delivery is stable, with the minimum never dropping below 270 FPS even at 4K.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations for Valorant?

A: The combo ranks 1011 out of 2883 tested combinations, placing it in the 65th percentile of all configurations. This rank reflects the high average frame rates achieved across all settings and resolutions.

Q: Does the GPU’s 8 GB VRAM become a limiting factor in Valorant?

A: The data shows no evidence of VRAM limitations. The lowest average FPS (288 at 4K Ultra) is still extremely high, and the game’s performance scales smoothly from Low to Ultra, indicating that the 8 GB GDDR6 memory is sufficient for Valorant’s texture and geometry loads at all tested settings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is the primary driver of the frame rate differences across settings, as Valorant’s workload scales with resolution and graphical detail. The GPU’s 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus with 272.0 GB/s bandwidth provides ample headroom for this game, which is evidenced by the minimal performance penalty when moving from Low to High settings. At 1080p, the average FPS drops from 670 (Low) to 443 (High), a 34% reduction that is directly attributable to increased pixel shading and texture filtering demands. The GPU’s boost clock of 2460 MHz and its 3072 shading units handle these tasks efficiently, as shown by the fact that even the Ultra preset at 1080p (422 FPS) only trails Low by 37%.

The GPU’s role becomes more pronounced at higher resolutions. At 4K, the pixel count quadruples compared to 1080p, and the RTX 4060’s 48 ROPs and 118.1 GPixel/s pixel rate must work harder to fill the frame. The data shows a clear scaling pattern: at 4K, Low settings yield 481 FPS, while Ultra settings drop to 288 FPS, a 40% reduction. This is a steeper drop than the 37% reduction seen at 1080p (670 to 422 FPS), confirming that the GPU becomes a more significant bottleneck as resolution increases. However, even at the most demanding settings, the RTX 4060 never falls below the 288 FPS threshold, which is far beyond what most displays can refresh.

The GPU’s compute capabilities, measured at 15.11 TFLOPS FP32, are more than sufficient for Valorant’s DirectX 12 workload. The game does not appear to stress the GPU’s ray tracing cores (24 RT cores) or tensor cores (96), as the measured FPS does not show any anomalies that would suggest these specialized units are being utilized. The 8 GB VRAM allocation is never a limiting factor, as evidenced by the smooth scaling from Low to Ultra across all resolutions. In summary, the RTX 4060 provides a robust foundation for high-refresh-rate play, with its performance being the primary variable that changes with settings and resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The dataset provides a comprehensive matrix of average FPS across three resolutions and four settings presets, with min/max data available for the Medium preset at each resolution. At 1920x1080, the results are as follows: Low settings produce an average of 670 FPS, which is the highest score in the entire dataset. Medium settings yield 465 FPS, with a measured range of 395 to 535 FPS. High settings produce 443 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 422 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 248 FPS, representing a 37% performance drop at the highest settings.

At 2560x1440, the same settings hierarchy is maintained but with reduced absolute numbers. Low settings average 602 FPS, which is 10% lower than the 1080p Low result. Medium settings average 397 FPS, with a range of 337 to 456 FPS. High settings average 378 FPS, and Ultra settings average 360 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 242 FPS, representing a 40% drop. Notably, the difference between Medium (397 FPS) and High (378 FPS) at 1440p is only 19 FPS, indicating that the High preset does not significantly tax the GPU compared to Medium.

At 3840x2160, the performance scales down further. Low settings average 481 FPS, Medium averages 317 FPS with a range of 270 to 365 FPS, High averages 302 FPS, and Ultra averages 288 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 193 FPS, representing a 40% drop, consistent with the 1440p scaling. The 4K results show that even the lowest average FPS (288 at Ultra) is still above the 240 FPS threshold that is considered standard for high-end competitive monitors. The min/max data at 4K Medium (270 to 365 FPS) shows a 95 FPS range, which is proportionally similar to the 140 FPS range at 1080p Medium (395 to 535 FPS) and the 119 FPS range at 1440p Medium (337 to 456 FPS), indicating stable frame pacing across all resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K reveals how the hardware combo responds to increasing pixel counts. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 670 at 1080p to 602 at 1440p (a 10% reduction) and then to 481 at 4K (a 20% reduction from 1440p). The total drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings is 28%. At Medium settings, the progression is from 465 FPS at 1080p to 397 FPS at 1440p (a 15% drop) and then to 317 FPS at 4K (a 20% drop from 1440p), for a total reduction of 32%. At High settings, the numbers are 443 FPS at 1080p, 378 FPS at 1440p (a 15% drop), and 302 FPS at 4K (a 20% drop), totaling a 32% reduction. At Ultra settings, the progression is 422 FPS at 1080p, 360 FPS at 1440p (a 15% drop), and 288 FPS at 4K (a 20% drop), again totaling a 32% reduction.

The pattern is remarkably consistent: the drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistently around 10-15%, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is consistently around 20%. This indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting component as resolution increases, as the pixel count grows by 1.78x from 1080p to 1440p and by 2.25x from 1440p to 4K. The fact that the FPS does not drop proportionally to the pixel count (e.g., a 2.25x pixel increase at 4K vs 1440p only causes a 20% FPS drop) suggests that the CPU is still able to feed the GPU enough data to maintain high frame rates, but the GPU’s rendering throughput becomes the bottleneck at higher resolutions.

The scaling behavior also reveals that the CPU is not a limiting factor in this game. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see flat FPS numbers across resolutions, as the CPU would be maxed out regardless of pixel count. Instead, the FPS drops consistently with resolution, confirming that the GPU is the active constraint. The 28% total drop at Low settings from 1080p to 4K, compared to the 32% drop at Ultra settings, further supports this, as the lower graphical load at Low settings allows the GPU to operate closer to its peak capability, making the resolution scaling more pronounced.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 is a 10-core, 10-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. Its 20 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support (102.4 GB/s bandwidth) provide the necessary bandwidth for feeding the GPU in a game like Valorant, which is known for being CPU-sensitive in high-frame-rate scenarios. The CPU’s single-thread performance, measured at 3655 in Cinebench R23 and 4412 in Passmark, is critical for Valorant’s game logic and physics, which are largely single-threaded.

The data shows that the CPU is not a bottleneck in this configuration. At 1080p Low settings, the combo achieves 670 FPS, which is the highest measured result. If the CPU were limiting, we would expect to see a ceiling around 400-500 FPS, but the data shows no such constraint. The CPU’s multi-thread performance, measured at 25891 in Cinebench R23 and 30459 in Passmark, is more than adequate for the game’s background tasks, but the single-thread score is the more relevant metric for Valorant. The CPU’s 85th percentile ranking among all tested CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 36938, places it in the upper tier of processors, and its nearest rivals (AMD Ryzen 5 5600F, Ryzen 5 5500X3D, Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450, Intel Core i9-12900T) all have average scores within 0.5% of the Ultra 5 225, indicating that it is well-matched for this workload.

The CPU’s 10 cores and 10 threads are not fully utilized by Valorant, which typically uses 4-6 threads for its main game loop and rendering pipeline. However, the high boost clock of 4.90 GHz ensures that the active threads run at maximum speed, which is essential for maintaining high frame rates. The CPU’s 65W TDP and 3 nm process node (TSMC) contribute to efficient power delivery, allowing sustained boost clocks without thermal throttling, which is crucial for long gaming sessions. In summary, the Ultra 5 225 provides the single-thread performance and memory bandwidth necessary to keep the RTX 4060 fed, and the measured FPS data confirms that it does so without becoming a limiting factor at any resolution or settings level.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 combination ranks 1011 out of 2883 tested combos in the database for Valorant, placing it in the 65th percentile of all configurations. This rank is driven by the exceptionally high frame rates achieved across all test scenarios, with the lowest average FPS (288 at 4K Ultra) still being higher than what many systems can achieve at 1080p. The rank reflects the balance between the CPU’s strong single-thread performance and the GPU’s capable rasterization throughput, which together produce a system that is optimized for high-refresh-rate competitive play.

The rank of 1011 out of 2883 means that roughly 65% of tested combos deliver lower average FPS in Valorant, while 35% deliver higher. The combos that rank higher likely include more powerful GPUs (e.g., RTX 4070 or higher) or CPUs with even higher single-thread clocks, but the data shows that this combo is already in the top tier for Valorant’s specific demands. The measured FPS numbers are consistently above the 240 Hz refresh rate that many competitive players target, and even the 4K Ultra result (288 FPS) exceeds this threshold, suggesting that the combo is overkill for most Valorant use cases.

The rank also reflects the efficiency of the pairing: the RTX 4060, which ranks in the 61st percentile among all GPUs, is not a top-tier card, but its combination with the Ultra 5 225 (85th percentile among CPUs) produces results that are disproportionately strong in Valorant. This is because the game is more CPU-sensitive than GPU-heavy, and the CPU’s high single-thread performance compensates for the GPU’s mid-range position. The combo’s rank of 1011 indicates that it outperforms its component-level averages would suggest, making it a well-balanced pairing for this specific title. For players seeking maximum frame rates in Valorant, this configuration delivers performance that is competitive with systems costing significantly more, as evidenced by its position in the upper third of all tested combos.