Counter-Strike 2

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D paired with the Intel Arc B390 produces a highly constrained experience in Counter-Strike 2, with the benchmark data showing a system that is fundamentally limited by its graphics solution. The Arc B390, operating as an integrated processor, ranks in the 9th percentile among all GPUs, which heavily dictates the performance ceiling across all tested configurations.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data reveals a clear hierarchy of playability across the four settings presets at the native resolution of 1920x1080. The Low preset delivers the highest average frame rate at 179 FPS, which is the only configuration in the entire dataset that approaches competitive refresh rates. The Medium preset follows at 149 FPS average, representing a 16.8% reduction from Low, but still maintaining a fluid experience. The High preset drops to 111 FPS average, which is a 38% decrease from Low, while the Ultra preset falls to 86 FPS, representing a 52% reduction from the Low preset’s performance.

Given the data, the Low preset at 1920x1080 is the only sensible recommendation for players seeking maximum responsiveness. The 179 FPS average is 30 FPS higher than Medium and 68 FPS higher than High, demonstrating that the graphics settings have a profound impact on this specific hardware combination. While the Medium preset at 149 FPS could be considered acceptable for less demanding users, the frame rate advantage of Low is substantial enough to warrant its selection for any competitive scenario.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset produces 118 FPS average, which is still playable but shows a significant drop from the 1080p result. The Medium preset at this resolution yields 98 FPS, while High falls to 73 FPS and Ultra to 57 FPS. The data suggests that even at 1440p, Low remains the optimal choice, with the 20 FPS gap between Low and Medium being meaningful for smoothness. The 3840x2160 results are uniformly poor, with the best preset (Low) achieving only 66 FPS average, which is below the threshold for competitive play. The Ultra preset at 4K produces an unplayable 32 FPS average.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is the dominant bottleneck in this system, a conclusion supported by its benchmark scores and percentile ranking. The GPU achieves a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482, placing it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. This score is remarkably close to its nearest rivals, with the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX scoring 1463 (a 1.3% difference), the NVIDIA GeForce 800M at 1460 (1.5% difference), and the NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM at 1446 (2.5% difference). These comparisons illustrate that the Arc B390 is positioned at the very bottom tier of graphics hardware, alongside legacy entry-level discrete solutions.

The GPU operates with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz, but the memory configuration is particularly telling: the system uses "System Shared" memory, meaning the GPU has no dedicated VRAM. The memory bandwidth is listed as "System Dependent," which introduces variability based on the host system’s memory configuration. The Arc B390 has 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster output units, along with 12 ray tracing cores. Its pixel rate is 60.00 GPixel/s and texture rate is 120.0 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance at 7.680 TFLOPS.

These specifications, while numerically modest, must be contextualized by the fact that this is an integrated graphics processor with a 80 W TDP. The lack of dedicated memory means that the GPU is competing with the CPU for system memory bandwidth, which explains the dramatic frame rate variations observed across different settings and resolutions. The fact that Counter-Strike 2 is not a graphically demanding title by modern standards, yet this GPU struggles to maintain high frame rates, underscores its fundamental limitations.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achievable with this hardware combination?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 179 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to Low at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset produces an average of 86 FPS, which is 93 FPS lower than the Low preset’s 179 FPS average, representing a 52% reduction in performance.

Q: Is this combination capable of 4K gaming?

A: The data shows that at 3840x2160, the best result is 66 FPS average on Low settings, while Ultra drops to 32 FPS average, indicating that 4K is not a viable resolution for this hardware.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 1080p and 1440p on the Low preset?

A: The Low preset at 1920x1080 achieves 179 FPS average, while at 2560x1440 it achieves 118 FPS average, a difference of 61 FPS.

Q: How does the Arc B390 compare to its closest GPU rivals?

A: The Arc B390 scores 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, which is 1.3% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1463) and 2.7% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 (1443).

Q: Does the Medium preset provide a better experience than Low?

A: No, the Medium preset at 1080p yields 149 FPS average compared to Low’s 179 FPS, and at 1440p it yields 98 FPS versus 118 FPS, meaning Low consistently provides higher frame rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset provides a clear picture of how this combination performs across all tested scenarios. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 179 FPS, establishing the performance ceiling. The Medium preset produces 149 FPS average with a minimum of 126 FPS and a maximum of 171 FPS, showing a relatively tight frame time distribution. High settings reduce the average to 111 FPS, while Ultra drops further to 86 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the scaling pattern continues but with a notable performance penalty. The Low preset achieves 118 FPS average, which is still the only playable option. Medium delivers 98 FPS average with a minimum of 84 FPS and maximum of 113 FPS, demonstrating that even the minimum frame rate remains above 60 FPS. High settings produce 73 FPS average, while Ultra falls to 57 FPS average, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay on many displays.

The 3840x2160 results are uniformly poor across all settings. Low achieves 66 FPS average, Medium produces 55 FPS average with a minimum of 47 FPS and maximum of 63 FPS, High drops to 41 FPS, and Ultra plummets to 32 FPS. These numbers indicate that even the most minimal settings at 4K cannot provide a consistently smooth experience, with the Ultra preset producing frame rates that would be considered unplayable for any fast-paced shooter.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D and Intel Arc B390 ranks 2535 out of 2870 tested combinations in Counter-Strike 2, placing it in the bottom 12% of all systems. This ranking reflects the severe bottleneck imposed by the GPU, which limits what would otherwise be a capable CPU. The CPU itself ranks in the 77th percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 24709, but this strength is entirely negated by the graphics solution’s 9th percentile ranking.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks provide context for its standalone capability. The AMD Ryzen 5 7600X3D scores 24728 (a 0.1% difference), the AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX scores 24822 (0.5% difference), the Intel Core i5-12450HX scores 24576 (0.5% difference), and the Intel Core i5-11600 scores 24563 (0.6% difference). These differences are negligible in real-world terms, meaning the CPU is performing exactly as expected for its class.

The massive discrepancy between the CPU’s 77th percentile ranking and the GPU’s 9th percentile ranking, combined with the overall combo ranking of 2535 out of 2870, illustrates a fundamental imbalance. The data suggests that this system would perform identically with a much weaker CPU, as the GPU is the limiting factor in virtually every scenario.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D provides substantial processing power that is underutilized in this configuration. The CPU features 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, with a base clock of 3.00 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. It includes 96 MB of shared L3 cache, which is a hallmark of the X3D series, along with 64 KB of L1 cache per core and 512 KB of L2 cache per core. The processor has a 105 W TDP and supports DDR4 memory with dual-channel configuration.

Synthetic benchmarks confirm the CPU’s strength. The Cinebench R23 multicore score is 22366, while the single-core score is 3157. Geekbench results show 11086 for multicore and 1849 for single-core. PassMark scores include 26318 for multithread and 2970 for single-thread. The 3DMark results show a maximum thread score of 6755 and a single-thread score of 804.

In Counter-Strike 2, the CPU’s role is secondary due to the GPU limitation. The measured frame rates show that even the best case scenario (179 FPS at 1080p Low) is far below what this CPU could theoretically support in a properly balanced system. The 5700X3D’s large L3 cache is particularly beneficial for gaming workloads, but this advantage is masked by the GPU bottleneck. The data indicates that CPU utilization is likely low in most scenarios, as the GPU cannot feed frames fast enough to stress the processor.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling behavior provides clear evidence of GPU limitation. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 on the Low preset reduces the average frame rate from 179 FPS to 118 FPS, a 34% decrease. Further scaling to 3840x2160 reduces the average to 66 FPS, which is a 44% decrease from the 1440p result and a 63% decrease from 1080p.

The Medium preset shows similar scaling patterns: 149 FPS at 1080p, 98 FPS at 1440p (34% decrease), and 55 FPS at 4K (44% decrease from 1440p). The High preset follows with 111 FPS at 1080p, 73 FPS at 1440p (34% decrease), and 41 FPS at 4K (44% decrease from 1440p). The Ultra preset demonstrates the steepest scaling: 86 FPS at 1080p, 57 FPS at 1440p (34% decrease), and 32 FPS at 4K (44% decrease from 1440p).

The consistent 34% decrease from 1080p to 1440p and 44% decrease from 1440p to 4K across all settings indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting component. A CPU-bound scenario would show less dramatic drops when increasing resolution, as the CPU’s workload remains constant while the GPU’s workload increases. The fact that frame rates drop proportionally with pixel count confirms that the Arc B390 is saturated at even the lowest settings, and the system would benefit most from a more powerful discrete GPU.

The data also reveals that resolution scaling affects all settings equally, which is typical of a GPU-bound scenario. The performance gap between Low and Ultra settings remains relatively consistent across resolutions, further supporting the conclusion that the GPU is the bottleneck. The 5700X3D’s processing power is ample for Counter-Strike 2, but the Arc B390’s integrated nature and lack of dedicated memory prevent the system from achieving its potential at any resolution or setting combination.