Valorant

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER pairing produces extraordinary frame rates in Valorant, with the data indicating a system that is heavily CPU-limited at lower resolutions and remains remarkably fluid even at 4K. The measured results place this combination in the top tier of tested hardware, with the RTX 4080 SUPER’s immense throughput rarely being the limiting factor, even when the resolution scales to 3840x2160. The following analysis explores how this specific combo handles the game’s demands, drawing exclusively from the provided dataset.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is surprisingly contained, which is a strong indicator that the CPU is the primary bottleneck at lower resolutions. At High settings, the average frame rate moves from 584 FPS at 1920x1080 to 554 FPS at 2560x1440, and finally to 514 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a total decline of 70 FPS (roughly 12%) when moving from Full HD to 4K. The magnitude of this drop suggests that the RTX 4080 SUPER is not being fully utilized at 1080p; the GPU has so much headroom that it can easily render frames as fast as the CPU can feed it.

The pattern holds across all settings presets. For Low settings, the average FPS at 1080p is 697, which falls to 661 at 1440p and 613 at 4K. The delta between 1080p and 4K here is 84 FPS, slightly larger than at High settings, but still proportionally small when considering the 4x increase in pixel count. This indicates that even when the graphical load is light, the CPU’s ability to process the game's simulation and draw calls remains the limiting factor. The GPU is waiting for instructions, not struggling to render pixels.

At Medium settings, the measured data includes minimum and maximum FPS values, providing a clearer picture of frame pacing. The average at 1080p is 594 FPS, with a minimum of 505 and a maximum of 683. At 4K, the average drops to 523 FPS, with a minimum of 445 and a maximum of 601. The consistency of these minimums suggests that the system maintains high frame rates without significant stutters, even when the resolution is maxed out. The spread between minimum and maximum is roughly 130 FPS at both resolutions, indicating that the variance is more tied to game scene complexity than to resolution.

Ultra settings show the smallest absolute drop: 575 FPS at 1080p, 545 FPS at 1440p, and 505 FPS at 4K. This is only a 70 FPS decline from 1080p to 4K. The data implies that the RTX 4080 SUPER is so powerful that even at 4K Ultra, the bottleneck remains upstream. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is just 108 FPS (613 vs 505), which is a modest gap for a game that scales its visual complexity. In essence, the resolution scaling analysis reveals a system that is CPU-bound in all tested scenarios; the GPU is capable of delivering well over 500 FPS at 4K, and only the game's engine and CPU limits prevent even higher numbers.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank in Valorant is 91 out of 2883 tested combinations. This places it in the top 3.2% of all tested systems, which is an exceptional result. This ranking is not surprising given the individual components’ strengths, but the specific rank highlights how well they work together for this particular title. The fact that it is not ranked #1, despite the RTX 4080 SUPER being one of the most powerful GPUs available, reinforces the notion that Valorant is a game where CPU performance and memory latency often dictate the final score.

This high rank is driven by the CPU’s strong single-threaded performance, which is crucial for a competitive FPS. The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 has a boost clock of 5.10 GHz and a single-core Cinebench R23 score of 4648. This places it in the 90th percentile of all CPUs, which is a strong indicator that it can handle the game's main thread efficiently. The nearest rivals for the CPU include the AMD Ryzen 9 7900, which has an average benchmark score that is 0.5% higher, and the Intel Core i5-14600K, which is 0.8% lower. The differences are minimal, suggesting that the Ultra 5 245 is in the same performance class as these established chips.

The GPU’s rank is also strong, sitting in the 86th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival is the standard RTX 4080, which is 0.1% faster in average benchmark scores. This close margin suggests that the SUPER variant offers only a marginal improvement in raw compute, but its other characteristics, like memory bandwidth, may contribute to the overall combo ranking. The high combo rank of 91 out of 2883 demonstrates the synergy between the CPU’s high clock speeds and the GPU’s massive rendering capability. The data shows that this pairing is in the elite tier for Valorant, and the measured FPS confirms that it can push frame rates far beyond the refresh rates of most high-end monitors.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is a behemoth of a graphics card, and its role in Valorant is almost entirely about ensuring that the frame rate never dips due to rendering limitations. With 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, the card has a memory bandwidth of 736.3 GB/s. For a game like Valorant, which is not known for requiring massive texture memory, this bandwidth is overkill; it ensures that the GPU can load assets and render frames with no memory-related bottlenecks. The card’s base clock is 2295 MHz, and it boosts to 2550 MHz, providing a substantial amount of compute power.

The GPU’s compute specifications are staggering: 10240 shading units, 320 TMUs, and 112 ROPs. This hardware allows for a raw FP32 throughput of 52.22 TFLOPS. In the context of Valorant’s relatively simple geometry, this means the card is essentially idle. The measured FPS data supports this, as the difference between Low and Ultra settings at any given resolution is relatively small. For example, at 1080p, the spread is 697 FPS on Low versus 575 FPS on Ultra, a difference of 122 FPS. This shows that the GPU is so fast that even increasing the graphical workload has a limited impact on the final frame rate.

The RTX 4080 SUPER’s role is therefore to remove any doubt about the GPU being a bottleneck. It provides a safety margin so large that the CPU becomes the sole determinant of performance. The card’s 80 RT cores and 320 Tensor cores are irrelevant for Valorant, but they speak to the card's overall capability. The memory clock is 1438 MHz, running at 23 Gbps effective, which is another indicator of the card's high-end nature. The benchmark results for the GPU show a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6600 and a Passmark G3D score of 34245, placing it in the 86th percentile. This data confirms that the GPU is not the limiting factor, and its primary job is to keep up with the CPU’s instructions without breaking a sweat.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Valorant with this combo if I want the highest frame rate?

A: The data shows that the highest average FPS is achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings, yielding 697 FPS. If you prefer higher visual fidelity, 4K Ultra still delivers an average of 505 FPS.

Q: Is this system more limited by the CPU or GPU in Valorant?

A: The benchmark results indicate a clear CPU limitation. The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is only about 12% (70 FPS on High settings), suggesting that the GPU has significant headroom and is waiting on the CPU to process the game simulation.

Q: How does the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 compare to its closest rivals?

A: The Ultra 5 245 has an average benchmark score of 48995. This is 0.4% lower than the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G, 0.5% lower than the AMD Ryzen 9 7900, 0.6% higher than the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H, and 0.8% higher than the Intel Core i5-14600K.

Q: Does the RTX 4080 SUPER’s 16 GB of VRAM matter for this game?

A: The data suggests it does not. Valorant’s requirements are low enough that the 16 GB of GDDR6X memory and 736.3 GB/s of bandwidth are far more than necessary, ensuring that memory is never a bottleneck.

Q: What is the minimum FPS I can expect at 1440p Medium settings?

A: The measured data for 2560x1440 Medium settings shows an average FPS of 564, with a minimum of 479 FPS and a maximum of 648 FPS.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested systems for this game?

A: This specific combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER ranks 91st out of 2883 tested combos, placing it in the top 3.2% of all systems.

Settings Recommendations

For players who prioritize the absolute maximum frame rate, the Low preset at 1920x1080 is the clear choice, delivering an average of 697 FPS. This setting minimizes GPU load, allowing the CPU to work at its full potential. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 122 FPS, which is a significant margin that could matter for competitive play. However, the data suggests that the game is so well optimized that even at Ultra settings, the frame rate remains exceptionally high.

The most balanced experience appears to be at 2560x1440 with Medium settings. This configuration yields an average of 564 FPS, with a minimum of 479 FPS. This provides a high-resolution image with a smooth frame rate that is still far above any practical refresh rate limit. The minimum FPS of 479 is important; it shows that the system can maintain a high frame rate even in demanding scenes, avoiding the stutters that can occur when the frame rate dips below the monitor’s refresh rate.

At 4K, the data shows that High settings (514 FPS) and Ultra settings (505 FPS) are nearly identical in performance. The difference is just 9 FPS, which is negligible. This means that if you have a 4K monitor, there is no reason not to use Ultra settings, as the visual upgrade comes at almost no performance cost. The RTX 4080 SUPER has enough power to handle 4K Ultra with ease, and the CPU is still the limiting factor. The worst-performing preset is Ultra at 4K, but even that yields an average of 505 FPS, which is far beyond the capabilities of most displays. The data clearly shows that this system can handle any setting and resolution combination with exceptional fluidity, making the choice more about personal preference for visual quality versus a slight FPS increase.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 is the central component in this pairing, and its performance dictates the frame rates. It has 14 cores and 14 threads, which is an unusual configuration that omits hyper-threading. The base clock is 3.50 GHz, and the boost clock is 5.10 GHz, which is critical for a game that relies heavily on single-threaded performance. The CPU’s architecture is Arrow Lake-S, built on a 3 nm process by TSMC, and it has 24 MB of shared L3 cache. These specifications contribute to its strong benchmark scores.

The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4648 is a key metric for Valorant, as it indicates how fast the CPU can process the game’s main logic thread. This score places the CPU in the 90th percentile of all CPUs. The multicore score of 32924 is also strong, but it is less relevant for this game. The Passmark single-thread score is 4394, which aligns with the Cinebench results. The CPU’s memory support is DDR5 with a dual-channel bus, providing a bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s. This is important for feeding the CPU with data quickly, which can affect frame times in CPU-bound scenarios.

The data implies that the CPU is the limiting factor in all tested configurations. The FPS does not scale down significantly with resolution, which is a classic sign of a CPU bottleneck. The CPU is working at its maximum capacity, sending draw calls to the GPU as fast as it can. The RTX 4080 SUPER is so fast that it can process these calls instantly, leaving no room for the GPU to be the bottleneck. The 65W TDP of the CPU is modest, but this does not prevent it from achieving high clock speeds. The combo’s rank of 91 out of 2883 is a direct result of the CPU’s ability to keep up with the GPU’s demands. The nearest rivals, such as the Ryzen 9 7900 and Core i5-14600K, show similar average scores, indicating that the Ultra 5 245 is a top-tier performer for this specific workload.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following is a complete breakdown of the measured FPS data for Valorant with this hardware combination.

At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers the highest average at 697 FPS. The High preset follows with 584 FPS, the Medium preset with 594 FPS, and the Ultra preset with 575 FPS. The Medium preset has a measured minimum of 505 FPS and a maximum of 683 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 661 FPS. The High preset averages 554 FPS, Medium averages 564 FPS, and Ultra averages 545 FPS. For Medium, the minimum FPS is 479 and the maximum is 648.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 613 FPS. The High preset averages 514 FPS, Medium averages 523 FPS, and Ultra averages 505 FPS. The Medium preset at this resolution shows a minimum of 445 FPS and a maximum of 601 FPS.

The data reveals a consistent pattern: the difference between Low and Ultra is roughly 120 FPS at 1080p, 116 FPS at 1440p, and 108 FPS at 4K. This narrowing gap at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU starts to take on slightly more of the workload, but it is still far from being the bottleneck. The Medium preset’s minimum FPS values are notably high, with the lowest being 445 FPS at 4K. This indicates that the system rarely experiences significant frame drops, even under load. The overall consistency of the results, regardless of resolution and settings, points to a system that is incredibly well-suited for high-refresh-rate competitive gaming.