Counter-Strike 2

Resolution Scaling

The benchmark data for Counter-Strike 2 with the AMD Ryzen 5 8400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 reveals a pronounced shift in performance scaling as resolution increases. At 1080p High settings, the combo delivers 328.3 FPS, but this drops to 217.3 FPS at 1440p and further to 119 FPS at 4K. This represents a 63.8% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the GPU becomes progressively more limiting at higher resolutions.

The scaling pattern across settings tells a clearer story. At Low settings, the frame rate drops from 527.3 FPS at 1080p to 350.4 FPS at 1440p, then to 194.1 FPS at 4K — a 63.2% decline from the lowest to highest resolution. In contrast, at Ultra settings, the drop is from 252.7 FPS at 1080p to 170.1 FPS at 1440p, then 95.8 FPS at 4K, a 62.1% reduction. These similar percentage drops across all settings suggest that neither the CPU nor GPU is creating a disproportionate bottleneck at any single resolution; instead, the system scales predictably with pixel count.

What is more revealing is the gap between Low and Ultra settings at each resolution. At 1080p, the difference is 274.6 FPS (527.3 vs 252.7), while at 4K, the gap narrows to 98.3 FPS (194.1 vs 95.8). This compression of the settings spread at higher resolutions confirms that the RTX 4070's raw throughput is the dominant constraint at 4K, whereas at 1080p, the settings choice has a much larger relative impact on the final frame rate. The data indicates a balanced system where the CPU keeps pace at lower resolutions, but the GPU workload clearly dominates once pixel count rises.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 brings 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. In Counter-Strike 2, these specifications prove sufficient for even the most demanding settings tested. The 4K Ultra result of 95.8 FPS remains above the 90 FPS threshold that many competitive players consider playable, and the memory bandwidth is not exposed as a limiting factor in any measured configuration.

Clock behavior is notable. The GPU has a base clock of 1920 MHz and a boost clock of 2475 MHz, and the benchmark results suggest the card is boosting effectively throughout the test suite. The 4K High result of 119 FPS versus 4K Ultra at 95.8 FPS indicates a 24.2% performance penalty from the Ultra preset's additional graphical demands, which is consistent with the RTX 4070's 29.15 TFLOPS FP32 compute capability being tasked harder at higher settings.

The GPU's 5888 shading units and 184 TMUs provide the texture throughput necessary for Counter-Strike 2's environments, and the data shows no signs of texture-related stuttering. The RTX 4070 ranks in the 81st percentile among all GPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 37283. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56, scores 37507, a 0.6% difference, indicating the RTX 4070 sits in a competitive mid-to-high tier. The 504.2 GB/s memory bandwidth is more than adequate for this game, as even the most extreme 4K Ultra configuration does not appear to be bandwidth-starved based on the smooth scaling behavior observed.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 achieves a combo rank of 382 out of 1632 tested combinations in Counter-Strike 2. This places the system in the top 23.4% of all tested combos, which is a strong result for a mid-range CPU paired with a high-end GPU. The ranking reflects the game's ability to leverage both components effectively, with the CPU's single-thread performance and the GPU's rasterization power working in concert.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 25064 places it in the 82nd percentile among all processors, with its nearest rival being the AMD Ryzen 7 2700X at a nearly identical score of 25057 (0% delta). The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F trails by just 0.3% with a score of 24993, showing that the 8400F is well-matched within its architectural family. This strong CPU showing, combined with the RTX 4070's 81st percentile GPU ranking, explains why the combo performs as well as it does — neither component is a weak link that drags down the overall result.

The rank of 382 suggests that roughly three-quarters of tested combos deliver lower performance in Counter-Strike 2. This is particularly impressive given that the game is known to be CPU-sensitive at high frame rates, and the 8400F's performance metrics support this — its 3DMark single-thread score of 951 and multi-thread score of 6165 indicate solid per-core capabilities that translate well to esports titles.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers the following average frame rates: Low settings produce 527.3 FPS, Medium produces 437.4 FPS, High produces 328.3 FPS, and Ultra produces 252.7 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra represents a 52.1% performance drop, with each settings tier costing roughly 20-25% of the previous tier's frame rate.

Moving to 2560x1440, the results are: Low at 350.4 FPS, Medium at 288.7 FPS, High at 217.3 FPS, and Ultra at 170.1 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 51.5%, nearly identical to the 1080p ratio, which suggests the scaling penalty from settings is resolution-independent. The transition from 1080p to 1440p costs approximately 33-35% of frame rate at each settings level.

At 3840x2160, the numbers are: Low at 194.1 FPS, Medium at 163.5 FPS, High at 119 FPS, and Ultra at 95.8 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra gap narrows to 50.6%, and the resolution transition from 1440p to 4K costs approximately 44-45% of frame rate across all settings. This larger resolution penalty at 4K compared to the 1440p penalty indicates the GPU is approaching its throughput ceiling at 4K, particularly at High and Ultra settings.

Settings Recommendations

For competitive play at 1080p, the Low preset's 527.3 FPS is the optimal choice for maximizing refresh rate headroom, but the Medium preset at 437.4 FPS offers a better balance of visual fidelity and performance that still far exceeds any 240Hz display's capabilities. At 1440p, the Low preset's 350.4 FPS and Medium's 288.7 FPS both provide ample headroom for high-refresh monitors, while High at 217.3 FPS remains sufficient for 144Hz displays.

At 4K, the data suggests a clear preference for the High preset. The 119 FPS result at High is 24.2% faster than Ultra's 95.8 FPS, and the visual difference between High and Ultra in Counter-Strike 2 is typically minimal for competitive visibility. The Low preset at 4K delivers 194.1 FPS, but this sacrifices too much graphical detail for most users; Medium at 163.5 FPS is the reasonable middle ground for players who prioritize frame rate over visual quality at 4K.

The single best overall recommendation based on the measured rows is the High preset at 1440p, which delivers 217.3 FPS. This provides high visual quality while maintaining frame rates that exceed the refresh rate of virtually all mainstream gaming monitors. For players with 240Hz displays at 1080p, the Medium preset's 437.4 FPS is the sensible ceiling, as the Low preset's additional 89.9 FPS offers diminishing returns in actual on-screen smoothness.

FAQ

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

A: The maximum measured frame rate is 527.3 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: Can this system maintain 4K gaming at competitive frame rates?

A: Yes. At 4K High settings, the combo delivers 119 FPS, and at 4K Ultra it drops to 95.8 FPS. Both exceed the 90 FPS threshold generally considered acceptable for competitive play.

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

A: The frame rate drops from 328.3 FPS at 1080p to 217.3 FPS at 1440p, then to 119 FPS at 4K. This represents a 63.8% reduction from 1080p to 4K.

Q: Which settings preset provides the largest performance jump?

A: The largest single-tier jump is from Ultra to High at 1080p, where frame rate increases from 252.7 FPS to 328.3 FPS, a 29.9% improvement.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 compare to its nearest GPU rival in overall benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4070 scores 37283 on average, while the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 scores 37507, a 0.6% difference. The RTX 4070 also trails the GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile by 2.2%.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 1440p, Low produces 350.4 FPS while Ultra produces 170.1 FPS, a difference of 180.3 FPS or 51.5% lower performance at Ultra settings.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 4 (Phoenix) architecture, manufactured on TSMC's 4 nm process. Its base clock of 4.20 GHz and boost clock of 4.70 GHz provide the single-thread performance that Counter-Strike 2 demands. The CPU's 3DMark single-thread score of 951 and 2-thread score of 1874 indicate strong per-core capability, which is critical for a game engine that typically relies on one or two primary threads for game logic and rendering commands.

The CPU's cache hierarchy — 64 KB L1 per core, 1 MB L2 per core, and 16 MB shared L3 — is adequate for the game's working set. The 83.2 GB/s memory bandwidth from dual-channel DDR5 support ensures that the CPU can feed the GPU without creating a data bottleneck. The 65 W TDP reflects efficient power usage, and the processor's 82nd percentile ranking among all CPUs confirms its competitive position.

In the measured results, the CPU's role becomes apparent at 1080p Low settings, where the system achieves 527.3 FPS. This high frame rate ceiling is only possible with a CPU capable of issuing draw calls rapidly enough to keep the GPU saturated. The 8400F's 12 threads allow background tasks to run without interfering with the main game thread, and the 3DMark 16-thread score of 6091 suggests the processor can handle the game's multi-threaded workload distribution effectively.

The CPU's nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 2700X, scores 25057 in average benchmarks versus the 8400F's 25064, a 0% delta that places them statistically equal. However, the 8400F's newer architecture and higher boost clock provide better single-thread performance, which is the metric that matters most for Counter-Strike 2's frame rate ceiling. The data confirms that the Ryzen 5 8400F is not the limiting component in this combo at any resolution or settings level tested.