Counter-Strike 2

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured data for Counter-Strike 2 with the AMD Ryzen 5 5600G and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 shows a clear and consistent scaling pattern across all four settings presets as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 294 FPS at 1080p to 194 FPS at 1440p, a reduction of 100 FPS, and then to 109 FPS at 4K, representing a further drop of 85 FPS. This trajectory indicates that at Low settings, the frame rate is initially extremely high at 1080p, which suggests the CPU is heavily involved in maintaining those high numbers, but the GPU begins to take over as the resolution climbs.

At Medium settings, the pattern is similar but slightly compressed: 244 FPS at 1080p, 162 FPS at 1440p, and 90 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 82 FPS, and from 1440p to 4K is 72 FPS. This consistency across the two lower presets implies a balanced scaling curve where neither component is dramatically overwhelmed at any single step. However, at High settings, the numbers are 182 FPS at 1080p, 121 FPS at 1440p, and 67 FPS at 4K. The percentage loss from 1080p to 1440p here is roughly 33%, while the loss from 1440p to 4K is roughly 45%. This accelerating drop as resolution increases is a classic signature of the GPU becoming the primary limiting factor at higher pixel counts.

The most revealing data point comes from the Ultra preset. At 1080p, Ultra delivers 142 FPS, which drops to 94 FPS at 1440p and then to 52 FPS at 4K. The decline from 1440p to 4K is 42 FPS, which is a 45% reduction, mirroring the High preset's behavior. This suggests that at the highest quality settings, the RTX 2060's rendering workload grows disproportionately with pixel count, and the GPU is definitively the bottleneck at 4K Ultra. Conversely, the fact that Low settings at 1080p produce 294 FPS—nearly double the 4K Low result of 109 FPS—indicates that at lower resolutions, the CPU is still capable of feeding the GPU enough frames to reach very high refresh rates, but the GPU's fill rate and shading capacity limit the absolute ceiling at 4K.

The data shows that the scaling factor from 1080p to 4K is largest at Low settings (a 185 FPS difference) and smallest at Ultra settings (a 90 FPS difference). This inverse relationship between preset quality and resolution scaling magnitude is typical for a system where the CPU is strong enough to push high frame rates at low resolutions but the GPU's compute resources become saturated as both resolution and graphical complexity increase. For this specific combination, the 1440p to 4K transition is where the GPU role becomes dominant, while the 1080p to 1440p step still benefits from the CPU's single-thread performance.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is built on the Turing architecture with a TU106 chip manufactured on a 12 nm process. Its base clock is 1365 MHz, boosting to 1680 MHz, and it operates with 1920 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units. The GPU carries 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, yielding a memory bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s. For Counter-Strike 2, which is not typically a VRAM-heavy title at the tested resolutions, the 6 GB capacity appears sufficient, as the benchmark results show playable frame rates even at 4K Ultra with 52 FPS, suggesting no memory capacity-related stutters or crashes within the measured rows.

The GPU's pixel rate is 80.64 GPixel/s and texture rate is 201.6 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance rated at 6.451 TFLOPS. These figures directly relate to the frame rate drops observed at higher resolutions. At 4K, the GPU must process four times the pixels of 1080p, and the measured 4K Ultra average of 52 FPS versus the 1080p Ultra average of 142 FPS illustrates a 63% reduction in frame rate. This aligns with the GPU's fill rate limits becoming the binding constraint. The memory clock of 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) provides sufficient bandwidth for the game's asset streaming, and the 336.0 GB/s figure is adequate for the 6 GB frame buffer at 4K, given that the game's texture sizes do not appear to exceed capacity.

The RTX 2060's 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores are present in the hardware but have limited relevance to Counter-Strike 2's traditional rasterization-based rendering. The benchmark scores reflect this: the PassMark G3D score is 14111, and the Geekbench Vulkan score is 65846. The GPU's percentile vs all GPUs is 58, placing it slightly above the median. In the context of this game, the GPU's role becomes more pronounced as settings increase. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 152 FPS (294 to 142), which is a substantial gap driven by the GPU's shading units and TMUs having to handle more complex lighting and post-processing effects at Ultra. The RTX 2060's 160 W TDP and dual-slot design indicate a mid-range power envelope that sustains these performance levels, but the data does not show thermal throttling in the measured FPS rows, as the frame rates remain consistent within each preset.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600G is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture (Cezanne codename), with a base clock of 3.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. It has 16 MB of L3 cache, 512 KB of L2 cache per core, and 64 KB of L1 cache per core. The CPU's memory support is DDR4 with dual-channel configuration and a bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s. For Counter-Strike 2, which is known to be sensitive to single-thread performance, the 5600G's boost clock of 4.40 GHz is critical. The benchmark results show that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 294 FPS, which is a frame rate that far exceeds what the GPU alone could produce if the CPU were not delivering high per-core throughput. The CPU's single-thread benchmarks reinforce this: Geekbench single-core score of 1801 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1409 indicate strong per-core capability.

The CPU's 3DMark 2-thread score of 1705 and 4-thread score of 3258 show that the first few threads scale well, which matters for a game engine that typically uses a handful of primary threads for game logic and render thread. The 12 threads available are more than sufficient for Counter-Strike 2's multi-threaded workload, and the PassMark multithread score of 19717 shows the CPU can handle concurrent tasks. The 65 W TDP and the fact that the CPU has integrated Radeon Vega 7 graphics (which are not used in this discrete GPU configuration) mean the thermal headroom is ample, allowing the boost clock to be sustained during gameplay. The CPU's percentile vs all CPUs is 74, placing it in the upper quartile, which explains why the frame rates at 1080p Low are so high.

The data shows that at 1080p Low, the CPU is likely the primary limiter, as the GPU is underutilized with such minimal graphical load. This is evidenced by the fact that the frame rate drops by 100 FPS when moving from 1080p Low to 1440p Low, but the CPU's performance characteristics do not change with resolution. Instead, the GPU becomes more loaded, and the CPU has more headroom to feed frames. At 4K Low, the 109 FPS average suggests that the GPU is now the bottleneck, as the CPU's 4.40 GHz boost clock is more than capable of exceeding 109 FPS in this game. The nearest rivals for the 5600G include the Intel Core i3-1220P with a delta of 0.1% and the Intel Core Ultra 7 256V with a delta of -0.1%, indicating that the 5600G's CPU performance is essentially on par with these mobile-oriented chips, yet the desktop 5600G provides this level of performance in a consistent desktop environment.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600G and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 ranks 2936 out of 3719 tested combos in Counter-Strike 2, placing it in the 21st percentile from the top (or 79th percentile from the bottom). This rank is surprisingly low given the frame rates measured, which are generally playable even at 4K. The discrepancy arises because the combo rank includes all possible CPU-GPU pairings, and many higher-ranked combos likely feature more recent high-end GPUs that can push 4K Ultra past 100 FPS. However, within the context of this specific CPU and GPU pairing, the data shows that the system is well-balanced for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but falls behind at 4K Ultra where the RTX 2060's 52 FPS average is below the 60 FPS threshold often considered the minimum for smooth gameplay.

The rank of 2936 out of 3719 indicates that roughly 78% of tested combos perform better in this game. This is not a poor result for a mid-range system, but it does highlight that the RTX 2060 is an older GPU (released in 2019) and the 5600G is a 2021 CPU with integrated graphics that are not leveraged here. The combo's performance is competitive with systems that pair similar-generation parts, but the data shows that the GPU's 58th percentile ranking (vs all GPUs) is the limiting factor, as the CPU's 74th percentile ranking is higher. In other words, the CPU is relatively stronger than the GPU, and the combo's overall rank is dragged down by the GPU's lower relative standing. For a user with this combo, the measured FPS numbers are the practical reality, and the rank serves as a relative comparison point for upgrading decisions—though the data does not show what specific combos are above or below this rank.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and refresh rate. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 294 FPS, which is ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors (144Hz or 240Hz). However, the Medium preset at 244 FPS still exceeds 240Hz, and High at 182 FPS comfortably supports 144Hz. The Ultra preset at 142 FPS is also above 144Hz, but with a lower margin. For competitive play where maximum frame rate is paramount, the Low preset at 1080p is the clear choice, but the data shows that Medium at 244 FPS is a better balance of visual quality and performance, as it offers a 50 FPS improvement over High while still being far above the refresh rate of most displays. The Medium preset also has the only min/max FPS data: 208 min and 281 max, indicating a stable frame delivery.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset produces 194 FPS, which is still very high, while Medium delivers 162 FPS with min/max of 137/186. High at 121 FPS is suitable for 120Hz displays, and Ultra at 94 FPS is borderline for 100Hz. For 1440p, the Medium preset is recommended as it offers 162 FPS, which is above 144Hz, and the min FPS of 137 suggests only occasional dips below the refresh rate. The High preset at 121 FPS is acceptable for 120Hz monitors, but Ultra at 94 FPS may introduce noticeable frame pacing issues on 144Hz displays. At 3840x2160, the situation is more constrained. Low at 109 FPS is the only preset that exceeds 100 FPS, making it the recommended choice for 4K gaming. Medium at 90 FPS is playable but may feel less smooth, High at 67 FPS is borderline, and Ultra at 52 FPS is not recommended for a fluid experience. The data indicates that for 4K, dropping to Low settings provides the best experience, as the 109 FPS result is nearly double the Ultra result and remains above the 60 FPS threshold. Across all resolutions, the Medium preset at 1080p and 1440p offers the best balance of visual fidelity and frame rate, while Low is the go-to for 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are: Low at 294 FPS, Medium at 244 FPS, High at 182 FPS, and Ultra at 142 FPS. The Medium preset has a minimum FPS of 208 and a maximum of 281, providing the only variance data at this resolution. The spread from Low to Ultra is 152 FPS, which is the largest of any resolution, indicating that the GPU's workload scaling is most pronounced at 1080p because the CPU is not the primary bottleneck.

At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low at 194 FPS, Medium at 162 FPS, High at 121 FPS, and Ultra at 94 FPS. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 137 FPS and a maximum of 186 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 100 FPS, which is smaller than at 1080p, suggesting that the GPU is beginning to dominate the performance equation. The 1440p results are all above 90 FPS, making this resolution viable for all settings except Ultra on very high refresh rate displays.

At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low at 109 FPS, Medium at 90 FPS, High at 67 FPS, and Ultra at 52 FPS. The Medium preset has a minimum of 77 FPS and a maximum of 104 FPS. The decline from Low to Ultra is 57 FPS, which is the smallest absolute difference of all resolutions, but the percentage drop is consistent with the other resolutions. The 4K results show that only the Low preset exceeds 100 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls below 60 FPS, making it the only setting that dips into the range of noticeable stutter. Across all 12 measured data points, the frame rates are monotonically decreasing with both resolution and settings, which confirms a well-behaved scaling curve without anomalies.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable with this combo in Counter-Strike 2?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 294, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the only data point above 290 FPS in the measured rows.

Q: Can this system run the game at 4K with playable frame rates?

A: Yes, at 4K Low settings, the average FPS is 109, which is above the 60 FPS threshold. At 4K Medium, the average is 90 FPS, while 4K High produces 67 FPS, and 4K Ultra drops to 52 FPS.

Q: Which settings preset provides the best balance for 1440p gaming?

A: The Medium preset at 2560x1440 delivers an average of 162 FPS with a minimum of 137 FPS, which is the best combination of frame rate and visual quality for this resolution.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 5600G's CPU performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The 5600G has an average benchmark score of 21088, which is 0.1% higher than the Intel Core i3-1220P and 0.1% lower than the Intel Core Ultra 7 256V. It is also 0.2% lower than the AMD Ryzen 5 7530U and 0.4% lower than the Intel Core Ultra 7 155U.

Q: What is the GPU's relative performance ranking compared to all GPUs?

A: The RTX 2060 has a percentile rank of 58, meaning it performs better than 58% of all GPUs in the database. Its average benchmark score is 15290, which is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (0% delta) and slightly higher than the AMD Radeon 680M (0.1% delta).

Q: Does the combo rank in-game reflect poor performance?

A: The combo ranks 2936 out of 3719, which places it in the lower 79% of tested combos. However, the measured frame rates are generally playable, so the rank reflects the presence of many higher-performing combinations rather than a fundamentally broken pairing.