Introduction
VALORANT isn’t a demanding game. Riot built it that way on purpose, as they wanted it to run on as many machines as possible, and they succeeded. But if you follow the pro scene at all, you’ll know that ‘it runs’ and ‘it runs at competitive framerates’ are two very different things. Pretty much every analyzed professional VALORANT player is on a 240Hz setup or higher, with a large portion of them already on 360Hz. If you’re trying to keep up with that, you need a setup that can actually push those frame rates consistently, as gaming on a high refresh rate setup gives you a huge advantage.
Luckily, VALORANT isn’t terribly hard to run. It’s nicely optimized and will run smoothly on even low-mid tier hardware, so if you want to build a PC gaming setup for competitive VALORANT gameplay you can absolutely get away with mid-tier components if you don’t need to maximize every single frame. We’ve gone through the lineup of currently available cards and in this article, we’ll tell you what to expect from them. The cards in this article are in no particular order.
What makes a GPU good for VALORANT?
VALORANT doesn’t ask much of your hardware graphically, so you don’t need the most powerful GPU on the market to get a great experience. What you do need, however, is a card that can keep your frame rate well above your monitor’s refresh rate, preferably without drops. And, going by the pro data on our website, you’ll want a card that can output at least 360 frames per second.
Of course, if you’re more of a casual gamer, you can target lower framerates. There are diminishing returns with these ultra high framerates after all. With that said, we wouldn’t recommend going under a 144 frames per second setup. In today’s market, that’s easy to achieve even with budget components, provided you’re willing to lower some settings and are playing at 1080p.
Finally, it’s also worth noting that VALORANT is a CPU-oriented game at competitive video settings and lower resolutions. As such, the graphics card only really comes into play at very high framerates or higher resolutions. So if you’re building a PC for dedicated VALORANT action, we recommend figuring out what your target framerate is, and building from there.
In this article, we’ll give you framerate estimates, but take those with a grain of salt, as your CPU and the rest of your system also plays a huge part. You should always pair the cards in this list with a fast and modern CPU, otherwise you’re bottlenecking your entire setup.
Framerate estimates in this article assume you’re using something like an Intel Core i7-14700K or better. If you’re using a CPU below that performance level, you may want to look up the performance differences and extrapolate them to the framerates you’re seeing in this article.
| Rank |
|
Perc. |
| 1 |
NVIDIA
|
96% |
| 2 |
AMD
|
4% |
NVIDIA Reflex 2
For years now, NVIDIA’s Reflex Low Latency Technology has been in VALORANT. This is a technology that allows you to do two things: namely measure your system latency (and as such find out if there’s a latency problem somewhere) and reduce your system latency. The low latency mode does that by making your CPU work together with a Reflex-capable GPU (GeForce 900 series and up) more efficiently. How this works exactly takes a long explanation (see here for Nvidia’s article and here for our own more surface level article) but it’s safe to say that a lower system latency is always better so this is definitely a feature that’s worth experimenting with.
Recently, NVIDIA also announced Reflex 2. This takes things a step further by introducing Frame Warp. To put it shortly: Frame Warp samples your latest mouse position at the very last moment before the frame is sent to the display and ‘warps’ the rendered image to account for that final bit of movement. Thanks to a predictive rendering algorithm, the image on your screen remains extremely fluid, without any black spots or stuttering. In theory, Reflex 2 with its Frame Warp technology should reduce your input latency even more, to the point where your display and mouse are basically completely in sync.
Over on the AMD side, there’s Anti-Lag 2, which aims to achieve the same reduced latency in supported games. And while that does work in supported games, Riot has not integrated Anti-Lag 2 to the same extent as they did with Reflex 2, which gives NVIDIA an edge in VALORANT. If these technologies aren’t something you’ll use, this is of no consequence, but it can be worth knowing before you decide on a GPU.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080
Used by 36 VALORANT players ()
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Demon1
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something
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derrek
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d4v41
Staff's Choice
Pro's Choice
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is an impressive graphics card. In terms of pricing, it offers quite a good deal (at MSRP and in today’s pricing market, that is) for players who want to maximize their framerates in competitive games.
Read review (03/2026)
Specs
| NVIDIA CUDA Cores | 10752 |
|---|
| Boost Clock | 2.617GHz |
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| Memory Size | 16GB GB |
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| Memory Type | GDDR7 |
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The RTX 5080 is the most popular GPU among analyzed VALORANT pros. However, it’s arguably an overkill card if you’re not someone who is looking to squeeze out every last bit of performance.
Paired with a good CPU, it pushes way past even the 500 fps mark on average at 1080p, with averages in the low 800 fps range. Even at max settings, it won’t drop below 360Hz. So if you’re playing on a very high refresh rate monitor and you want an extremely consistent experience, this is it.
Even at 1440p, the 5080 absolutely demolishes VALORANT. At max settings, it still stays well above 700 fps, and the same obviously goes for low settings.
At 4K, average frames will occasionally drop below 400 on max, but there’s still plenty of room to fully saturate a high refresh rate 4K panel and the frames will be sitting above 400 most times. Drop the settings down and you’re good to go on a 4K 360Hz monitor, as you’ll be getting over 700 fps on average.
This is the card to get if you want to maximize your performance and you also want to play other, more demanding games at max settings. If you’re a more casual user, we would honestly recommend a lower-tier card, unless you want to future-proof your build for many years to come.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070
The RTX 5070 is a mid tier card in NVIDIA’s 50-series lineup.
Specs
| NVIDIA CUDA Cores | 6144 |
|---|
| Boost Clock | 2.512GHz |
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| Memory Size | 12GB GB |
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| Memory Type | GDDR7 |
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The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 would be our pick for a dedicated VALORANT card for most users. It handles VALORANT at 1080p with extreme ease, delivering more or less the same amount of frames that the RTX 5080 does. Even at 1440p with competitive settings, you can reasonably expect over 700 fps with this card.
The differences start to appear at higher resolutions and graphical settings. At 1440p max, average fps sits at about 650 frames per second. To be clear: that’s still an insane number, but it’s less than what the RTX 5080 puts out. At 4K max, you’re looking at around 350-360 fps in terms of framerates with this card.
So, in essence, the RTX 5070 puts out performances that are similar to the much more expensive RTX 5080 at most resolutions and graphical tiers, making this a great ‘allrounder’ pick. If you’re looking for a more budget-oriented build, this one should be first on your list. If you like to max everything out and you’ve got a super high refresh rate monitor, you could consider the RTX 5080. Otherwise, the RTX 5070 is our go-to pick for a dedicated VALORANT GPU.
AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT
AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT
The Radeon RX 9070 XT is a high-end GPU produced by AMD.
Specs
| Boost Clock | 2.97GHz |
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| Memory Size | 16GB GB |
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| Memory Type | GDDR6 |
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If you’re willing to step away from Team Green, the RX 9070 XT is a strong option. In terms of fps performances, it trades punches with NVIDIA’s RTX 5070 (Ti) line, which makes it a good option for people who want that type of performance from a non-NVIDIA card. Its MSRP is also lower, so if you’re looking for value, this absolutely comes into play.
Much like the other mid-to-high-tier GPUs in this list, the RX 9070 XT absolutely demolishes VALORANT at pretty much all levels when paired with a good CPU. At 1080p low, you can expect framerates in the high 700s. Raise those settings up a bit and you’re looking at around 700 fps. It’s the same story for 1440p. At low, you’re going to the high 700s. At max, you’re getting high 600s.
At 4K low, you’re (again) looking at mid-to-high 700s. 4K max puts a lot more strain on the GPU, so there you’re going to get around 380 frames per second on average.
In essence, the RX 9070 XT is the AMD alternative to the NVIDIA RTX 5070 Ti. It’s a good card to get at that price tier, provided you’re not going to use NVIDIA Reflex in VALORANT.
AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT
AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT
The Radeon RX 9060 XT is a lower-tier card in AMD’s lineup.
Specs
| Boost Clock | 3.130GHz |
|---|
| Memory Size | 16GB GB |
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| Memory Type | GDDR6 |
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The AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT is a more budget-oriented card. However, with VALORANT being so easy to run and mostly CPU-bound at lower settings, it’s still a great choice for people who are playing at higher framerates.
At 1080p, you’re getting around 600 fps on both low as well as max settings. The same goes for 1440p low. Go to 1440p max, and you can expect framerates in the high 500s.
So far, so good in terms of performances against the higher-tier cards. It’s at 4K that the differences really start to become apparent. At max settings, you can expect around 260 fps. Drop those down to low and you’re looking at around 450 frames per second on average.
Those are still fantastic numbers to achieve in a competitive game, so if you’re on a budget then the RX 9060 XT is a really attractive option. It’s not going to be the most future-proof card out there if you also like to play other games at max settings, however.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090
Used by 3 VALORANT players ()
The RTX 5090 is NVIDIA’s most performant card in the 50 series of GPUs.
Specs
| NVIDIA CUDA Cores | 21760 |
|---|
| Boost Clock | 2.407GHz |
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| Memory Size | 32GB GB |
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| Memory Type | GDDR7 |
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If you want the best of the best, the RTX 5090 is what you’re looking at. Even at 4K max, you’ll be seeing fps results of 400+ comfortably. Drop those settings or resolutions down, and you’ll pretty much never see the framerate go below 600. At 1080p low, you can even hug the 900 fps mark with this card.
As you no doubt have deduced from this article, a card like the RTX 5090 is absolute overkill for VALORANT. It’s also a lot more expensive than all the other options in this list. As such, we’d only recommend this if you’re a true enthusiast for optimizing your setup to the finest details, or if you just want to get the best of the best and money is no issue.
For all others, we recommend the other cards in this list.
Conclusion
As you’ll have gathered by now, VALORANT doesn’t ask much of a GPU. Reaching competitive framerates is an absolute breeze for any card on this list, so which one you should go for mostly comes down to your monitor, your budget, and what other games you’d like to play.
Even budget-oriented cards can very comfortably reach well over the current standard of 360 frames per second, so if you’re building a machine that’s dedicated to VALORANT, you can save quite some money on components by not opting for the top-tier stuff.
One last piece of advice: make sure you don’t bottleneck your system. Getting a top-tier GPU and pairing with a mid-tier CPU from three generations ago is a recipe for frustrating framerate drops and horrible performance. Make sure your CPU (and the rest of your system) matches your GPU, and you’ll be able to run VALORANT at pretty much all resolutions and settings levels with any GPU in this list.
