Valorant
Riot’s free tactical shooter is one of the lightest competitive games ever made. It runs on integrated graphics — but stable 144–240 FPS for competitive play is decided by your CPU, not your GPU.
Valorant is a 5v5 tactical FPS built on a modified Unreal Engine, deliberately optimised to run on almost any hardware so the playing field stays even. It’s one of the most-played games in Singapore’s LAN shops and homes alike. Because the graphics load is so light, the bottleneck at high frame rates is almost always the processor — which is why two PCs with the same GPU can have wildly different FPS.
Genre: Tactical FPS | Developer: Riot Games | Price: Free-to-play
- CPU: The most important part. A modern 6-core i5 or Ryzen 5 holds 240+ FPS; older dual-cores cap you at 60–100.
- RAM: 8 GB works, 16 GB recommended so Discord and browser tabs don’t cause stutter.
- GPU: Almost anything — a GTX 1050 Ti or GTX 1650 pushes 144+ FPS at 1080p. An RTX card is overkill for Valorant alone.
- Monitor: The real upgrade — a 144 Hz or 240 Hz display is what actually makes the game feel different.
Can Valorant run without a graphics card?
Yes — integrated graphics like Intel UHD or AMD Vega will run Valorant at 60+ FPS on low settings. But for 144 FPS competitive play, a cheap dedicated GPU plus a decent CPU makes a huge difference.
Why is my Valorant FPS low even with a good GPU?
Because Valorant is CPU-bound. An old or slow processor, single-channel RAM, or thermal throttling will cap your FPS regardless of graphics card. A CPU upgrade or a clean thermal paste job often fixes it.
We sell tested used gaming desktops from $480 that hold 144+ FPS in Valorant — matched to your budget and monitor.
