PC for Valorant: system requirements and advice

Official system requirements from Riot Games

Riot publishes three levels on its support page, each with a target in frames per second. These are the processors and graphics cards as Riot lists them:

Part	Minimum (30 FPS)	Recommended (60 FPS)	High end (144 FPS)
Processor	Intel i3-540 or AMD Athlon 200GE	Intel i3-4150 or AMD Ryzen 3 1200	Intel i5-9400F 2.90 GHz or AMD Ryzen 5 2600X
Graphics card	Intel HD 4000 or AMD Radeon R5 220	NVIDIA GeForce GT 730 or AMD Radeon R7 240	NVIDIA GTX 1050 Ti, AMD Radeon R7 370 or Intel Arc A310

What else Riot asks for

Memory: 4 GB. With a dedicated graphics card you also need at least 1 GB of video memory.
Operating system: Windows 10 (build 19041 or later, 64-bit) or Windows 11 (64-bit). On Windows 11, Riot also requires TPM 2.0 and UEFI Secure Boot.
Processor and DirectX: support for SSE 4.2 or AVX and for DirectX 11. ARM processors are not supported.
Not supported: cloud gaming and virtual machines.

Why the processor matters so much in Valorant

Look at the high end column. For 144 FPS, Riot names a 6-core processor, the i5-9400F or the Ryzen 5 2600X, next to a modest graphics card such as the GTX 1050 Ti. So Valorant asks fairly little of the graphics card and a lot of the processor.

Competitive players often turn the settings down and want as many frames per second as possible, for a screen of 144 Hz, 240 Hz or more. How high you get then depends mostly on the processor. A modern processor with 6 cores or more is a good choice. Upgrading an existing PC? Have a look at our processors.

Screen, mouse and headset

A high frame rate only makes sense if your screen shows those frames. For Valorant, a screen of 144 Hz or more is the logical step; see our monitors. A light gaming mouse and a headset that lets you hear footsteps clearly often help more in a shooter than a more expensive graphics card.

Which gaming PC suits Valorant?

Valorant runs smoothly on a gaming PC from our entry level. Want to play heavier games too, or at 1440p? Look at the mid range. What a PC costs per graphics card today is in how much does a gaming PC cost.

These are gaming PCs in stock today, each with a different graphics card. Their graphics card is a lot newer than the cards in Riot's high end column.

Valorant and Windows 11

Valorant uses Riot Vanguard, Riot's anti-cheat software. On Windows 11, Riot requires TPM 2.0 and UEFI Secure Boot. Modern motherboards support both, but they are not always switched on. If the game won't start, check in the BIOS that TPM (often fTPM on AMD, PTT on Intel) and Secure Boot are enabled.

Frequently asked questions

Can I play Valorant on an old PC?

Often, yes. Riot's minimum is an Intel i3-540 with Intel HD 4000 and 4 GB of memory, for 30 frames per second. On Windows 11 you do need TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot.

How much RAM do I need for Valorant?

Riot names 4 GB. For gaming we recommend 16 GB, so Discord and a browser can stay open next to the game.

Does Valorant lean more on the processor or the graphics card?

For a high frame rate, mostly on the processor. In the high end requirements for 144 FPS, Riot names a 6-core processor next to a modest graphics card.

Does Valorant run on a PC with an ARM processor?

No. Riot states at every level that ARM is not supported. Cloud gaming and virtual machines aren't supported either.

Do I need a 240 Hz screen?

No. A 144 Hz screen is already a big step up from 60 Hz. A 240 Hz screen only makes sense if your PC also delivers that many frames per second.