Counter-Strike 2

Counter-Strike 2 with an AMD Ryzen 5 4600G and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 produces a profoundly CPU-bound experience at most settings, yet the raw power of the GPU still forces massive resolution scaling penalties. The data indicates that the RTX 5090 is capable of delivering over 530 FPS at 1080p Low, but the Ryzen 5 4600G's Zen 2 architecture becomes the limiting factor as resolution drops, preventing the system from reaching the GPU's true potential. Across all resolutions, the pattern is consistent: Low settings yield the highest frame rates, Ultra settings impose the heaviest penalty, and the gap between 1080p and 4K narrows as settings increase, revealing where the processor takes over as the bottleneck.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows that resolution scaling is highly dependent on the graphics preset. At Low settings, the frame rate drops from 530 FPS at 1920x1080 to 463.2 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 66.8 FPS, and then to 288.8 FPS at 3840x2160, a further drop of 174.4 FPS. This represents a total decrease of 45.5% from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the GPU is still heavily engaged at lower resolutions but becomes increasingly strained at 4K.

At High settings, the scaling is less steep in absolute terms but still substantial: 443.6 FPS at 1080p, 320.3 FPS at 1440p, and 177.6 FPS at 4K. The 4K figure is 60% lower than the 1080p result. The Medium preset follows a similar trajectory, with 496 FPS at 1080p, 425.3 FPS at 1440p, and 236.8 FPS at 4K.

The Ultra preset shows the smallest absolute drop from 1080p to 4K: 371.7 FPS to 247.4 FPS to 138.4 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is 62.8% lower than 1080p Ultra. This pattern suggests that at Ultra settings, the workload shifts more toward the GPU, but the CPU still cannot maintain the frame rates seen at lower settings. The limiting component is clearly the processor at 1080p, where even the weakest preset (Ultra) delivers 371.7 FPS, but the GPU's headroom cannot be fully exploited because the Ryzen 5 4600G's single-thread performance, as evidenced by its 3dmark_single_thread score of 726, caps the output.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combination achieves in Counter-Strike 2?

A: The highest recorded average FPS is 530 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the peak measured value across all tested configurations.

Q: How much faster is Low settings compared to Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, Low settings produce 530 FPS, while Ultra produces 371.7 FPS. This means Low is 42.6% faster than Ultra at the same resolution.

Q: Does the RTX 5090 struggle at 4K with this CPU?

A: The GPU does not appear to be the limiting factor. At 4K Ultra, the system achieves 138.4 FPS, and at 4K Low it reaches 288.8 FPS. The scaling between Low and Ultra at 4K is a 2.09x difference, which aligns with the GPU's capability, but the absolute numbers are lower than what the RTX 5090 alone could deliver.

Q: Which resolution offers the most balanced performance across all settings?

A: 2560x1440 provides a strong middle ground. The average FPS across all four settings ranges from 247.4 (Ultra) to 463.2 (Low), with Medium at 425.3 and High at 320.3. This resolution keeps all presets above 240 FPS, which is beneficial for competitive play.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 4600G a bottleneck for the RTX 5090?

A: Benchmark results indicate yes. The CPU's 3dmark_max_threads score is 4889 and its passmark_single_thread score is 2653, which are modest figures. The fact that 1080p Low (530 FPS) is only 14.5% faster than 1080p Ultra (371.7 FPS) suggests the CPU is preventing the GPU from scaling fully with lower settings.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: This combination ranks 88th out of 1632 tested combos in Counter-Strike 2. This places it in the top 5.4% of all tested systems, indicating strong overall performance despite the CPU bottleneck.

Settings Recommendations

For competitive play, the data strongly favors Low settings at any resolution. At 1920x1080, Low delivers 530 FPS, which is the highest measured result and provides the maximum frame rate advantage. At 2560x1440, Low still achieves 463.2 FPS, while at 4K it drops to 288.8 FPS. The Low preset minimizes GPU load and allows the CPU to push frames as fast as it can.

For players prioritizing visual quality over raw frame rate, Medium settings offer the best compromise. At 1080p, Medium delivers 496 FPS, only 6.4% lower than Low, while providing better visuals. At 1440p, Medium achieves 425.3 FPS, and at 4K it reaches 236.8 FPS. Medium is consistently between 6% and 18% faster than High at the same resolution, making it the optimal preset for balanced performance.

High settings are the least attractive option. At every resolution, High is slower than Medium (443.6 vs 496 at 1080p, 320.3 vs 425.3 at 1440p, 177.6 vs 236.8 at 4K) but offers no clear visual benefit over Medium in the measured data. Ultra settings should be reserved for players with 4K displays who prioritize image quality, as it still maintains 138.4 FPS at 4K, but the 1080p Ultra result of 371.7 FPS is lower than 1440p Medium (425.3 FPS).

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full range of settings shows a clear hierarchy. Low leads with 530 FPS, followed by Medium at 496 FPS, High at 443.6 FPS, and Ultra at 371.7 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 158.3 FPS, representing a 29.9% penalty for maximum quality.

At 2560x1440, the order remains the same but the gaps narrow. Low achieves 463.2 FPS, Medium 425.3 FPS, High 320.3 FPS, and Ultra 247.4 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 215.8 FPS, which is a 46.6% reduction from Low.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops significantly across the board. Low still leads with 288.8 FPS, Medium follows at 236.8 FPS, High at 177.6 FPS, and Ultra at 138.4 FPS. The penalty from Low to Ultra is 150.4 FPS, equivalent to a 52.1% reduction. Notably, the 4K Ultra result of 138.4 FPS is lower than the 1080p Ultra result of 371.7 FPS, highlighting the substantial cost of 4K rendering.

The data reveals that the CPU becomes the dominant factor at 1080p, where the GPU is underutilized. The 1080p Low result of 530 FPS is likely near the CPU's maximum frame output, given the 3dmark_single_thread score of 726 and the cinebench_r23_singlecore score of 1919.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 5 4600G and RTX 5090 ranks 88th out of 1632 tested combos in Counter-Strike 2. This places it in the 94.6th percentile of all tested systems, meaning it outperforms approximately 94.6% of all configurations tested for this game.

This ranking is notably high given the CPU's relatively modest benchmark scores. The Ryzen 5 4600G's avgBenchmarkScore is 17489, and it sits at the 75th percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 5355GE (avgScore 17482, deltaPct 0), the Intel Core i5-12450H (avgScore 17475, deltaPct 0.1), and the Intel Core i3-14100T (avgScore 17636, deltaPct -0.8).

The GPU, meanwhile, has an avgBenchmarkScore of 84306 and sits at the 94th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D (avgScore 84241, deltaPct 0.1) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile (avgScore 84171, deltaPct 0.2). The high combo rank suggests that Counter-Strike 2 is not as GPU-intensive as other titles, allowing the mid-range CPU to pair effectively with the top-tier GPU in this specific game.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 4600G is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 2 architecture, codenamed Renoir. It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz, with 8 MB of shared L3 cache. Its benchmark scores reveal moderate single-thread performance: 3dmark_single_thread scores 726, cinebench_r23_singlecore scores 1919, and passmark_single_thread scores 2653.

In Counter-Strike 2, the CPU's role is critical at lower resolutions. The data shows that at 1080p, the frame rate is largely capped by the CPU. The difference between Low (530 FPS) and Ultra (371.7 FPS) is 158.3 FPS, but this gap is smaller relative to the GPU's capability. If the CPU were not the bottleneck, the RTX 5090 would likely push much higher frame rates at 1080p Low.

The CPU's multi-threaded performance is also relevant. Its 3dmark_max_threads score is 4889, and cinebench_r23_multicore scores 13593. These scores indicate that the 6-core/12-thread configuration is adequate for Counter-Strike 2, which does not heavily utilize many threads. However, the single-thread performance is the limiting factor, as the game's engine relies heavily on per-core performance. The passmark_physics score of 676 further supports this, as physics calculations often bottleneck on single-thread speed.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is a flagship GPU with 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, providing 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. It has 21760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs, with a boost clock of 2407 MHz. Its compute capabilities are substantial, with fp32 performance of 104.8 TFLOPS and a passmark_g3d score of 39650.

In Counter-Strike 2, the GPU's role becomes more pronounced at higher resolutions and settings. At 4K Ultra, the system achieves 138.4 FPS, which is 62.8% lower than 1080p Ultra. This indicates that the GPU is heavily taxed at 4K, even with a powerful CPU pairing. The RTX 5090's 32 GB of VRAM is far more than Counter-Strike 2 requires, and the memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s ensures no memory-related bottlenecks.

However, the GPU's performance is constrained by the CPU at lower resolutions. The 1080p Low result of 530 FPS is likely close to the CPU's maximum output, leaving the RTX 5090 with significant headroom. The GPU's high pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s are not fully utilized at 1080p, as the CPU cannot feed frames fast enough. At 4K, the GPU's workload increases sufficiently to become the primary factor, but the CPU still prevents it from reaching the frame rates it could achieve with a stronger processor.