Counter-Strike 2

Resolution Scaling

Counter-Strike 2 shows a predictable but steep performance curve as resolution climbs, and the data from the AMD Ryzen 5 8400F + Intel Arc B570 combo makes the bottleneck shift clear. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system delivers 275 FPS average. Dropping to 2560x1440 Low yields 182 FPS, a 34% reduction, and 3840x2160 Low lands at 102 FPS, another 44% cut from the 1440p figure. That scaling pattern is typical for a game where the CPU can feed frames quickly at lower resolutions, but the GPU becomes the limiting factor as pixel count rises.

The High preset tells a similar story with a gentler slope. From 171 FPS at 1080p, the average falls to 113 FPS at 1440p (34% drop) and then to 63 FPS at 4K (44% drop from 1440p). The consistency of these percentage losses across Low and High settings suggests the rendering workload scales almost linearly with resolution, which is expected for a competitive FPS that relies on straightforward rasterization rather than heavy post-processing.

Medium settings show the only rows with min and max FPS data, and those reveal tighter variance at higher resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the range spans 194 to 263 FPS with a 229 FPS average. At 1440p Medium, the range tightens to 129-174 FPS with a 151 FPS average. At 4K Medium, the range narrows further to 72-97 FPS with an 85 FPS average. This compression of the frame-time envelope as resolution increases is a strong indicator that the GPU is becoming the primary constraint — the CPU has more headroom per frame, so the worst-case dips shrink relative to the average.

The Ultra preset, by contrast, shows the most dramatic scaling collapse. At 1080p Ultra the average is 133 FPS, which is still playable. At 1440p Ultra it drops to 88 FPS, a 34% reduction. At 4K Ultra the system manages just 49 FPS, a 44% drop from 1440p and only 37% of the 1080p figure. The fact that 4K Ultra lands below 60 FPS tells you this combo is not built for maxed-out 4K in Counter-Strike 2, even though the game is generally considered light on GPU resources compared to modern AAA titles.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570 brings 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus, delivering 380.0 GB/s of bandwidth. That memory configuration is generous for a 1080p-focused card, and the Counter-Strike 2 results reflect that — even at 4K High the system holds 63 FPS, which suggests VRAM capacity is not the limiting factor at any measured setting. The card's 18 ray tracing cores and 2304 shading units are more than adequate for a game that does not rely heavily on RT effects, and the 72.1M transistors per square millimeter on TSMC's 5 nm process gives it a solid efficiency base.

Clock behavior is a key detail here. The Arc B570's base clock is 2500 MHz and the boost clock is also 2500 MHz, meaning there is no dynamic headroom built into the spec sheet — the card runs at a flat 2500 MHz under load. That fixed clock profile simplifies the analysis: the performance differences between settings and resolutions come purely from workload changes, not from boost variability. The 11.52 TFLOPS FP32 throughput and 360.0 GTexel/s texture rate are the raw numbers that scale with resolution, and the measured FPS drops align closely with what those figures would predict.

The card's percentile standing at 65 versus all GPUs puts it in the upper-middle tier, and its nearest rivals bracket it tightly. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile scores 0.1% higher, the Intel Arc A750 scores 0.1% lower, and the AMD Radeon R9 M390X sits 0.5% higher. This tells you the Arc B570 is a mid-pack performer in absolute terms, but in Counter-Strike 2 specifically, the 4K Ultra result of 49 FPS shows it struggles when pushed to the extremes. The 1080p Low figure of 275 FPS, however, demonstrates that the card can easily keep up with high-refresh-rate monitors at competitive settings.

FAQ

Q: Does the Intel Arc B570 hit 60 FPS at 4K in Counter-Strike 2?

A: Yes, but only on Low and Medium settings. The 4K Low average is 102 FPS, and the 4K Medium average is 85 FPS with a 72 FPS minimum. At 4K High the average drops to 63 FPS, and at 4K Ultra it falls to 49 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: What is the best resolution for high-refresh-rate play with this combo?

A: The 1920x1080 Low preset delivers 275 FPS average, which is the highest measured result. Even at 1080p Medium the system holds 229 FPS with a 194 FPS minimum, so competitive players have substantial headroom above 144 Hz at standard HD.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 8400F compare to its closest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F scores 24964 in average benchmark score, which is 0.2% lower than the 8400F's 25005. The Intel Core i7-11850H is 0.3% higher at 24935, and the AMD EPYC 9474F is 0.4% higher at 25103.

Q: Is the Arc B570's 10 GB VRAM enough for Counter-Strike 2 at Ultra settings?

A: The measured data shows the card maintains 133 FPS at 1080p Ultra and 88 FPS at 1440p Ultra, with 4K Ultra at 49 FPS. The frame rates decline with resolution, but there is no evidence in the data that VRAM capacity is causing stalls or texture pop-in — the bottleneck appears to be raw compute throughput.

Q: What kind of frame pacing can players expect at 1440p Medium?

A: The measured min and max FPS at 1440p Medium are 129 and 174 respectively, with an average of 151 FPS. That 45 FPS spread between minimum and maximum indicates reasonably consistent frame pacing, though not as tight as the 69 FPS spread seen at 1080p Medium.

Q: Does the 8400F's single-thread performance hold up for Counter-Strike 2?

A: The CPU's 3DMark single-thread score is 951, and its Cinebench R23 single-core score is 2943. The measured FPS at 1080p Low reaches 275, which indicates the single-thread capabilities are sufficient to drive high frame rates in this title, especially given the 4.70 GHz boost clock.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS table for the AMD Ryzen 5 8400F + Intel Arc B570 combination covers four presets across three resolutions. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves 275 FPS average, which is the peak result in the entire dataset. The Medium preset at 1080p averages 229 FPS with a 194 FPS minimum and a 263 FPS maximum. High at 1080p averages 171 FPS, and Ultra at 1080p averages 133 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a 142 FPS spread, which is the largest range among all resolutions.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 182 FPS, which is 66% of the 1080p Low figure. Medium at 1440p averages 151 FPS with a 129 FPS minimum and a 174 FPS maximum. High at 1440p averages 113 FPS, and Ultra at 1440p averages 88 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 94 FPS, narrower than at 1080p, reflecting the increased GPU load.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 102 FPS, which is the only 4K result above the 100 FPS mark. Medium at 4K averages 85 FPS with a 72 FPS minimum and a 97 FPS maximum. High at 4K averages 63 FPS, and Ultra at 4K averages 49 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra spread at 4K is 53 FPS, the tightest of the three resolutions, which reinforces that the GPU is the primary limiter at this resolution.

The Medium preset is the only one with complete min/max data across all resolutions, making it the most informative for frame-time analysis. At 1080p the min/max spread is 69 FPS, at 1440p it is 45 FPS, and at 4K it is 25 FPS. This tightening of the frame-time range as resolution increases is a classic sign of a GPU-bound scenario — the CPU has enough headroom to minimize stutter, but the GPU's workload becomes the dominant factor in determining average performance.

Settings Recommendations

For players prioritizing maximum frame rate in Counter-Strike 2, the 1080p Low preset is the clear choice from the measured data. The 275 FPS average is the highest result across the entire dataset, and it provides ample headroom for high-refresh-rate displays. The step from Low to Medium at 1080p costs 46 FPS on average (275 to 229), which is a 17% reduction for a modest visual upgrade. Competitive players who value every frame will likely prefer Low, while those who want slightly better visuals can still enjoy a 194 FPS minimum on Medium.

At 1440p, the Low preset delivers 182 FPS, which remains comfortably above 144 Hz. The Medium preset at 1440p drops to 151 FPS average with a 129 FPS minimum, which still clears 120 Hz but begins to approach the refresh-rate ceiling of standard 144 Hz monitors. For players with 1440p displays, Low or Medium are the only viable presets if they want to maintain high refresh rates — High at 113 FPS and Ultra at 88 FPS are playable but leave less headroom for competitive play.

For 4K, the data shows that Low is the only preset that delivers a truly fluid experience at 102 FPS. Medium at 85 FPS is acceptable for casual play, and High at 63 FPS is borderline. Ultra at 49 FPS should be avoided unless visual fidelity is the absolute priority and frame rate is secondary. The 4K Medium preset's 72 FPS minimum is worth noting — it never drops below 60 FPS, making it the highest visual quality option that guarantees a playable floor.

The best balance of visual quality and performance appears to be the Medium preset at 1080p or 1440p. The 1080p Medium result of 229 FPS average with a 194 FPS minimum provides a smooth experience with better texture filtering and shadow quality than Low. At 1440p Medium, the 151 FPS average and 129 FPS minimum still deliver a responsive competitive experience, making it the recommended choice for users who want higher resolution without sacrificing too much speed.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor built on the Zen 4 architecture with the Phoenix codename. Its base clock is 4.20 GHz and boost clock is 4.70 GHz, which are strong figures for a desktop chip. The CPU's 3DMark single-thread score of 951 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2943 indicate solid per-core performance, which matters in Counter-Strike 2 because the game's engine typically relies on a few heavily loaded threads rather than scaling perfectly across many cores.

The 8400F's multi-threaded results are also relevant. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 20851, and its 3DMark max-threads score is 6165. The CPU sits at the 77th percentile versus all CPUs, and its average benchmark score of 25005 places it 0.2% above the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F, 0.3% above the Intel Core i7-11850H, and 0.4% above the Intel Core i7-13620H. The AMD EPYC 9474F is 0.4% higher, but that is a server-class chip with a different design target.

The measured FPS data shows the CPU is not the limiting factor at 1080p Low, where the system reaches 275 FPS. At 4K Ultra, the 49 FPS result is clearly GPU-bound, as the CPU has far more headroom than the 49 FPS figure requires. The fact that the 1080p Low result (275 FPS) is more than 5 times the 4K Ultra result (49 FPS) while using the same CPU demonstrates that the processor can handle the game's logic at very high frame rates, but the GPU cannot keep pace when pixel count and settings increase.

The CPU's 16 MB of shared L3 cache and 1 MB L2 per core provide the low-latency memory access that competitive shooters benefit from. The dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 83.2 GB/s bandwidth is also well-suited to the game's data access patterns. The 8400F's 65 W TDP and 4 nm process node from TSMC mean it runs cool and efficient, which is an advantage for sustained gaming sessions where frame rates stay consistently high. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 6091 and 8-thread score of 5275 show that scaling from 8 to 16 threads adds roughly 15% performance, indicating the CPU has some headroom for background tasks while gaming.