Valorant

Valorant is a notoriously CPU-bound esports title, and the data for this combination of the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 confirms that dynamic, but with an unusual twist. The benchmark results show that this pairing produces an extraordinary level of performance, with average frame rates never dropping below 532 FPS at any resolution or settings preset in the measured data. The most striking finding is the relatively small performance delta between 1080p and 4K, which indicates that the processor is doing the heavy lifting, while the RTX 4090 is effectively cruising. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS data to explain how this combo behaves, what settings to use, and where it stands among thousands of other tested configurations.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear and consistent pattern: resolution scaling has a surprisingly muted effect on this combination, which points directly to a CPU-bound scenario. At the High preset, moving from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 results in a drop from 615 FPS to 541 FPS, a reduction of roughly 12%. Similarly, on the Low preset, the drop is from 733 FPS at 1080p to 645 FPS at 4K, an approximately 12% decrease. This is a remarkably small penalty for a 4x increase in pixel count, signaling that the game's frame generation is limited by the processor's ability to feed the GPU, not the GPU's rendering throughput.

The pattern holds across all settings. With the Medium preset, the average FPS goes from 625 at 1080p to 593 at 1440p, and finally to 550 at 4K. The Ultra preset shows a similar trend, starting at 605 FPS at 1080p and ending at 532 FPS at 4K. In every case, the difference between 1080p and 1440p is smaller than the difference between 1440p and 4K, but even the largest gap—the 88 FPS difference between Low at 1080p and Low at 4K—is far less than what would be expected if the GPU were the limiting factor. The data suggests that the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus, with its 24 cores and 24 threads, is more than capable of keeping up with the RTX 4090's demands, even at lower resolutions.

The implication is that users can crank the resolution up to 4K without sacrificing a meaningful number of frames. The RTX 4090's 24 GB of GDDR6X memory and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth are more than sufficient for Valorant's modest graphical requirements, so the GPU never becomes a bottleneck. Instead, the limiting component is the game engine's single-threaded performance, which is why the frame rates stay so high regardless of pixel count. The data shows that this combo is not just a high-refresh-rate 1080p machine; it is a high-refresh-rate 4K machine as well, with the 4K High preset still delivering 541 FPS, which is far beyond the refresh rate of any current monitor.

Settings Recommendations

Given the CPU-bound nature of the workload, the choice of graphics preset has a measurable but modest impact on performance. The data shows that the Low preset is the fastest, achieving 733 FPS at 1080p, 695 FPS at 1440p, and 645 FPS at 4K. The High preset is the second-fastest, with 615 FPS at 1080p, 583 FPS at 1440p, and 541 FPS at 4K. The Medium and Ultra presets are nearly identical in performance, with Medium slightly edging out Ultra at every resolution. For example, at 1440p, Medium produces 593 FPS while Ultra produces 573 FPS, a difference of only 20 FPS.

For competitive play, the Low preset offers the highest possible frame rates, providing a 118 FPS advantage over Ultra at 1080p (733 vs. 605). This could be relevant for players using 500 Hz monitors, though the practical benefit of going from 605 FPS to 733 FPS is minimal for most. However, the data indicates that the visual quality trade-off is unnecessary for performance reasons at lower resolutions, as even the Ultra preset at 4K maintains an average of 532 FPS. The best experience, balancing frame rate and visual fidelity, appears to be the High preset at 1440p, which delivers 583 FPS while likely offering a more detailed image than Low.

The measured rows show that the Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum and maximum FPS values. At 1080p, the Medium preset has a minimum of 531 FPS and a maximum of 719 FPS; at 1440p, the minimum is 504 FPS and the maximum is 682 FPS; at 4K, the minimum is 468 FPS and the maximum is 633 FPS. These figures suggest that the frame time consistency is excellent, with minimums that are still far above the refresh rate of standard high-end monitors. Based on this data, the recommendation is to use the High preset at 1440p for the optimal combination of smoothness and visual quality, or the Low preset at 1080p for the absolute maximum frame rate.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 plays a supporting role in this pairing, as the benchmark results clearly show that Valorant's frame rates are not limited by the GPU. The GPU's specifications—including its 16384 shading units, 512 tensor cores, and 128 RT cores—are far beyond what a game like Valorant requires. Its memory configuration, consisting of 24 GB of GDDR6X on a 384-bit bus with 1.01 TB/s bandwidth, is similarly overkill for a game that is not graphically intensive. The GPU's clocks, with a base of 2235 MHz and a boost of 2520 MHz, are high, but they are not the primary driver of the FPS numbers.

Instead, the data suggests that the GPU's role is to ensure that it never becomes a bottleneck, even at 4K with Ultra settings. The fact that the frame rate only drops by about 12% from 1080p to 4K on the Low preset indicates that the GPU has ample headroom. The RTX 4090's 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 1,290.2 GTexel/s texture rate are more than sufficient to handle the game's rendering load at any resolution. The GPU's end-of-life production status and launch MSRP of 1,599 USD are noted, but in this context, its raw power is the relevant factor.

The data for the GPU's nearest rivals shows that it scores an average benchmark score of 60347, which places it in the 88th percentile of all GPUs. Its closest competitor, the Intel Arc Pro A60, has a delta of 0%, indicating they are statistically tied in average score. This is an interesting comparison, as the Arc Pro A60 is a workstation card, not a gaming GPU, yet the aggregate benchmark scores are similar. However, this aggregate metric does not reflect gaming performance, and the measured FPS in Valorant shows the RTX 4090's dominance in this specific title. The GPU's VRAM and clock speeds are not the limiting factor here; the CPU is, which confirms the RTX 4090's power.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is placed at rank 12 out of 2883 tested combos for Valorant. This places it in the top 0.4% of all configurations, which is an exceptional result. The rank is based on the average FPS across all measured settings and resolutions, and the data shows that this combo outperforms the vast majority of systems. The high rank is a direct result of the CPU's excellent performance in single-threaded workloads, which is critical for Valorant.

The CPU itself, the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus, has an average benchmark score of 84003, placing it in the 96th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, has an average score of 83807, a delta of 0.2% in favor of the 290K Plus. This shows that the 290K Plus is marginally faster than its predecessor in synthetic benchmarks. The GPU, while ranked 88th percentile overall, is not the reason for the high combo rank; rather, it is the CPU's ability to push high frame rates that secures the top-12 position. The data indicates that this combo is a top-tier choice for Valorant, with only 11 other combinations out of 2883 managing to beat its average frame rate.

The rank also highlights the efficiency of the pairing. While the RTX 4090 is a high-end GPU, its performance in Valorant is not what sets this combo apart; instead, it is the synergy with the top-tier CPU. The measured FPS data shows that the combo is consistently above 500 FPS at all settings and resolutions, which is a level of performance that most systems cannot achieve. The 12th-place rank out of 2883 combos is a strong endorsement of this configuration for competitive gaming.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with the Low preset?

A: The average FPS at 1920x1080 with the Low preset is 733 FPS. This is the highest average frame rate recorded in the measured data for this combo.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K on the High preset?

A: On the High preset, the average FPS drops from 615 at 1920x1080 to 541 at 3840x2160. This represents a decrease of 74 FPS, or approximately 12%.

Q: What is the lowest average FPS recorded for this combination?

A: The lowest average FPS recorded is 532 FPS, which occurs at 3840x2160 resolution with the Ultra settings preset. Even at this lowest point, the frame rate is exceptionally high.

Q: Which graphics preset is fastest at 1440p, and what is the FPS?

A: The Low preset is the fastest at 2560x1440, achieving an average of 695 FPS. The High preset is next with 583 FPS, followed by Medium at 593 FPS and Ultra at 573 FPS.

Q: Does the RTX 4090's VRAM capacity affect the results?

A: No, the data does not indicate that the 24 GB of VRAM is a factor. The frame rates stay consistently high across resolutions, suggesting the GPU is not a bottleneck, and the VRAM size is more than sufficient for the game's requirements.

Q: Where does this combo rank among all tested configurations in Valorant?

A: This combo ranks 12th out of 2883 tested combos. This places it in the top percentile of all systems tested for Valorant, indicating exceptional performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following is a complete breakdown of the measured average FPS for each resolution and settings preset combination:

1920x1080:

• Low: 733 FPS
• Medium: 625 FPS (min 531, max 719)
• High: 615 FPS
• Ultra: 605 FPS

2560x1440:

• Low: 695 FPS
• Medium: 593 FPS (min 504, max 682)
• High: 583 FPS
• Ultra: 573 FPS

3840x2160:

• Low: 645 FPS
• Medium: 550 FPS (min 468, max 633)
• High: 541 FPS
• Ultra: 532 FPS

The data shows a consistent hierarchy where Low is always the fastest, followed by High, then Medium, and Ultra is the slowest. The Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum and maximum FPS values, which are provided above for reference. Across all 12 measured scenarios, the average FPS remains above 530, confirming that this combo delivers an exceptionally smooth experience in Valorant at any settings combination.