Counter-Strike 2

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates for Counter-Strike 2 with the AMD Ryzen 5 5600G and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 reveal a clear pattern of scaling across the three tested resolutions. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo delivers 637.8 FPS average. Moving to 1440p Low drops this to 511.8 FPS, a reduction of approximately 19.7%. At 4K Low, the average falls further to 285.3 FPS, which represents a 44.3% decline from the 1440p figure. This scaling behavior indicates that the system transitions from a CPU-bound state at lower resolutions to a progressively more GPU-bound state as pixel count increases.

The High preset tells a similar story but with lower absolute numbers. At 1080p High, the average is 478.7 FPS; at 1440p High, it drops to 315.8 FPS (a 34.0% reduction); and at 4K High, it reaches 179.1 FPS (a 43.3% reduction from 1440p). The percentage drops between 1440p and 4K are remarkably consistent across presets, hovering around 43-44%. This consistency suggests that the GPU is becoming the limiting factor at 4K regardless of quality settings, while at 1080p the CPU's ceiling becomes more apparent.

Ultra settings show the steepest scaling curve. From 374.4 FPS at 1080p to 243.9 FPS at 1440p (a 34.8% drop) and then to 137.7 FPS at 4K (a 43.5% drop from 1440p). The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 147.6 FPS, whereas at 1080p that same gap is 263.4 FPS. This narrowing gap at higher resolutions reinforces that the RTX 5090's rendering workload, not the CPU, dominates the 4K results.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 brings substantial hardware to this pairing. Its 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus provides 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, with memory clocked at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). The GPU's boost clock reaches 2407 MHz, and its 21760 shading units deliver 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. These specifications place it in the 94th percentile among all tested GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 84306.

In Counter-Strike 2 specifically, the data shows the RTX 5090 is rarely the bottleneck until 4K Ultra. At 1080p Low, the 637.8 FPS result far exceeds what the GPU's raw throughput would suggest is necessary for this title, indicating the CPU is holding the framerate back. However, at 4K Ultra, the 137.7 FPS average reflects the GPU being pushed harder by the combination of high resolution and demanding settings. The RTX 5090's nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D, scores nearly identically in synthetic benchmarks (84241 vs 84306, a 0.1% delta), which suggests the two cards would perform similarly in this game, though the measured data here applies specifically to the RTX 5090.

The GPU's memory subsystem is particularly relevant for 4K gaming. The 32 GB capacity is more than sufficient for Counter-Strike 2's needs, and the 1.79 TB/s bandwidth ensures that texture streaming at 4K Ultra does not become a limiting factor. The pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s are both exceptionally high, which explains why the card maintains 179.1 FPS at 4K High and 137.7 FPS at 4K Ultra despite the demanding resolution.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600G is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 3 (Cezanne) architecture, built on TSMC's 7 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 3.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, with 16 MB of L3 cache and 512 KB of L2 per core. The CPU's memory bandwidth is rated at 51.2 GB/s over a dual-channel DDR4 interface. Its average benchmark score is 19983, placing it in the 78th percentile among all CPUs.

In the measured results, the CPU's influence is most visible at 1080p. The jump from Low (637.8 FPS) to Medium (596.4 FPS) is relatively small, and even Ultra (374.4 FPS) maintains a high framerate. The fact that 1080p High (478.7 FPS) is only 24.9% lower than 1080p Low suggests that the CPU is already near its effective ceiling for this game engine. The 5600G's single-thread performance, evidenced by its 3dmark single-thread score of 872 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2365, is adequate for Counter-Strike 2's primarily single-threaded rendering logic, but it cannot fully feed the RTX 5090 at lower resolutions.

The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the Intel Core i7-11600H (0.2% higher average score) and the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5995WX (0.3% higher). These tiny deltas indicate that the 5600G's compute capability is competitive with these parts, yet in Counter-Strike 2 the framerate ceiling at 1080p Low (637.8 FPS) versus 1440p Low (511.8 FPS) shows a 19.7% drop that is not purely GPU-driven. The CPU's 16 MB L3 cache and 12 threads are sufficient for the game's workload, but the architecture's memory latency and IPC appear to cap performance around the 600 FPS mark at 1080p.

How This Combo Ranks

Among all 1632 tested CPU-GPU combinations in Counter-Strike 2, this pairing of the Ryzen 5 5600G and RTX 5090 ranks 47th. This places it in the top 2.9% of all combinations, which is notable given that the CPU is a mid-range part from 2021 while the GPU is a flagship from 2025. The ranking reflects the game's sensitivity to GPU throughput at higher resolutions, where the RTX 5090's 104.8 TFLOPS and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth dominate the results.

The rank disparity between the CPU's 78th percentile and the combo's 47th position out of 1632 suggests that the GPU is doing most of the heavy lifting in this pairing. If the CPU were the primary driver, one would expect the combo to rank closer to the 78th percentile relative to other combos. Instead, the 47th rank indicates that the RTX 5090 boosts the system well above what the 5600G alone would achieve. However, the data also shows that this combo does not crack the top 46, meaning there are 46 other pairings that achieve higher average FPS in this title, likely those with more powerful CPUs paired with the same or similar GPUs.

The measured data covers four presets at three resolutions, and the combo's rank likely benefits from the High and Ultra 4K results, where the GPU's strengths are fully utilized. At 1080p, the CPU's limitations prevent the system from reaching the framerates that top-ranked combos with faster processors would achieve. This is a classic imbalance: a flagship GPU constrained by a mid-range CPU at low resolutions, but fully realized at 4K.

Settings Recommendations

For 4K gaming, the High preset provides the best balance in the measured data. At 3840x2160, High delivers 179.1 FPS, which is 41.4 FPS higher than Ultra (137.7 FPS) but only 60.5 FPS lower than Medium (239.6 FPS). Given that the visual difference between High and Ultra is typically minimal in competitive titles, choosing High over Ultra yields a 30.1% framerate improvement. The Low preset at 4K (285.3 FPS) offers even higher performance, but the graphical fidelity reduction is substantial for a game where visibility matters.

At 1440p, Medium is the recommended preset. It produces 427.1 FPS, which is 84.7 FPS higher than High (315.8 FPS) and only 84.7 FPS lower than Low (511.8 FPS). The Medium preset at 1440p provides a strong balance of visual quality and performance, especially for players with high-refresh-rate monitors in the 240-360 Hz range. The Ultra preset at 1440p (243.9 FPS) is still playable but offers diminishing returns over Medium.

For 1080p, Low is the optimal choice for competitive play, delivering 637.8 FPS. This is 41.4 FPS higher than Medium (596.4 FPS) and 159.1 FPS higher than High (478.7 FPS). The gap between Low and Medium at 1080p is only 6.5%, making Low the clear choice for maximizing framerate. The Ultra preset at 1080p (374.4 FPS) is unnecessary for most competitive scenarios, as the 263.4 FPS difference between Low and Ultra is significant, but the visual gains are marginal in fast-paced gameplay.

FAQ

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

A: The highest measured average is 637.8 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K on High settings?

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 478.7 at 1920x1080 to 179.1 at 3840x2160, a reduction of 299.6 FPS or approximately 62.6%.

Q: Is the RTX 5090 or the Ryzen 5 5600G the limiting factor at 4K Ultra?

A: At 4K Ultra, the combo produces 137.7 FPS, and the scaling pattern suggests the GPU is the limiting factor, as the framerate drops consistently by 43-44% from 1440p to 4K across presets.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to all tested combinations?

A: It ranks 47th out of 1632 tested CPU-GPU combinations in Counter-Strike 2, placing it in the top 2.9% of all pairings.

Q: What settings should I use for 1440p gaming with this combo?

A: Medium at 2560x1440 delivers 427.1 FPS, which is the recommended balance, as it is only 84.7 FPS lower than Low but provides better visual quality.

Q: Does the CPU hold back the GPU at 1080p?

A: Yes, the data suggests CPU limitation at 1080p, as the framerate at Low settings (637.8 FPS) is substantially below what the RTX 5090 could theoretically render, and the drop from 1080p to 1440p Low is only 19.7%, indicating the CPU is capping performance.