Counter-Strike 2

Counter-Strike 2 is a competitive FPS where frame rate matters more than visual fidelity, and the measured data for the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 shows a combo that is heavily CPU-bound at lower resolutions. The gap between Low and Ultra settings shrinks dramatically as resolution increases, which reveals where the bottleneck shifts. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is a massive 201.6 FPS, but at 4K, that same gap collapses to just 69 FPS. This pattern indicates that the RTX 4060 has enough headroom at 1080p to let the Ryzen 7 5800X dictate performance, while at 4K, the GPU becomes the limiting factor. The data suggests this pairing is well-balanced for high-refresh 1080p play, but users targeting 4K will see the GPU cap out much sooner.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep but not uniform across settings. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 384.7 FPS at 1080p to 253.8 FPS at 1440p, then down to 139.8 FPS at 4K. That is a 63.7% reduction from 1080p to 4K. At High settings, the drop is from 236.2 FPS at 1080p to 157 FPS at 1440p, and finally 90.9 FPS at 4K, a 61.5% reduction. The scaling pattern shows that the RTX 4060’s 8 GB frame buffer and 128-bit memory bus start to feel pressure at 4K, even with a relatively light esports title like Counter-Strike 2. The 1440p results sit in a comfortable middle ground, with Low hitting 253.8 FPS and High at 157 FPS, suggesting that this resolution is the sweet spot for balancing frame rate and visual quality on this hardware.

The fact that Ultra at 4K still manages 70.8 FPS is notable, but the gap between Ultra and Low at 4K is only 69 FPS, compared to a 201.6 FPS gap at 1080p. This compression of performance across settings at 4K points to the GPU being the primary constraint at that resolution. The Ryzen 7 5800X’s 8 cores and 16 threads are not the limiting factor here; the RTX 4060’s 15.11 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is being maxed out. For players who insist on 4K, the data shows that dropping from Ultra to High only gains 20.1 FPS, while going from High to Medium gains another 27 FPS. The largest single jump at 4K comes from switching to Low, which adds 48.9 FPS over Medium, indicating that shader complexity and texture quality are the main GPU load drivers in this title.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is built on the AD107 chip with 3072 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output pipelines. Its boost clock of 2460 MHz and 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus deliver 272.0 GB/s of bandwidth. In Counter-Strike 2, the measured data shows that the GPU’s role becomes more pronounced as resolution increases. At 1080p Low, the RTX 4060 is barely breaking a sweat, producing 384.7 FPS, but the CPU is likely the ceiling. At 4K Ultra, the GPU’s 15.11 TFLOPS of compute is clearly saturated, yielding only 70.8 FPS. The memory bandwidth of 272.0 GB/s is adequate for this game, but the 128-bit bus width means that higher resolutions with larger textures can cause a measurable performance penalty.

The RTX 4060’s 24 RT cores and 96 tensor cores are present, but Counter-Strike 2 does not appear to leverage ray tracing or DLSS heavily based on the measured rows. The performance delta between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 201.6 FPS, which shows that the GPU can handle the extra visual load without becoming the bottleneck. However, at 4K, the same settings delta is only 69 FPS, confirming that the GPU is running out of headroom. The card’s 8 GB VRAM is sufficient for this game at all tested settings, as no min FPS data was provided to suggest stuttering or memory swapping. The pixel rate of 118.1 GPixel/s and texture rate of 236.2 GTexel/s are more than enough for a competitive FPS, but the data indicates that 4K Ultra is not a realistic target for sustained high frame rates.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 ranks 911th out of 1632 tested combos in Counter-Strike 2. That places it in the lower-middle portion of the database, which is surprising given the high frame rates measured. This is because the database includes many combos with much more powerful GPUs and newer CPUs, such as those with higher core counts or faster memory subsystems. The combo’s rank is dragged down by the fact that the RTX 4060 is an end-of-life product, and the Ryzen 7 5800X, while still capable, is from the 5000 series that launched in 2020. The CPU’s percentile versus all CPUs is 84, which is strong, but the GPU’s percentile versus all GPUs is only 66. This imbalance suggests that the GPU is the weaker link in this pairing for Counter-Strike 2 at higher resolutions.

The Ryzen 7 5800X’s nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 5800 with a delta of 0.3%, the AMD Ryzen 5 8500GE at -0.4%, and the Intel Core i7-13700H at -0.4%. These deltas are tiny, meaning the 5800X is effectively tied with those chips in general compute. The GPU’s nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6600M at -0.6%, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti at -0.7%, and the Intel Arc B580 at 0.7%. The RTX 4060 is essentially on par with these GPUs in synthetic benchmarks, but in Counter-Strike 2, the measured FPS shows that the combo can push well beyond 300 FPS at 1080p Low, which is competitive even with higher-ranked combos that may have more powerful GPUs but weaker CPUs.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the results are exceptional for competitive play. Low settings deliver 384.7 FPS, Medium drops to 318.9 FPS, High comes in at 236.2 FPS, and Ultra still manages 183.1 FPS. These numbers indicate that the combo is capable of driving high-refresh-rate monitors at 1080p without compromise. The step from Low to Medium costs 65.8 FPS, while the step from Medium to High costs 82.7 FPS, which is a larger penalty. Ultra over High costs 53.1 FPS, bringing the total from Low to Ultra to a 201.6 FPS loss. At 2560x1440, the numbers remain very playable: Low hits 253.8 FPS, Medium 211.7 FPS, High 157 FPS, and Ultra 124.7 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Low is a 34% drop, but at Ultra it is a 31.9% drop, showing that the GPU is becoming more relevant.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates fall to levels that are still playable but not ideal for high-refresh esports. Low delivers 139.8 FPS, Medium 117.9 FPS, High 90.9 FPS, and Ultra 70.8 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium at 4K is 21.9 FPS, which is smaller than at 1080p, further confirming the GPU bottleneck. The data shows that for a 144Hz 4K monitor, only Low settings can clear the refresh rate, and even then by a slim margin. For 240Hz 1080p monitors, every setting above Ultra is viable, with Low nearly hitting 400 FPS. The measured rows provide no min or max FPS, so the consistency of these averages is unknown, but the averages themselves are strong indicators of the combo’s capabilities.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X features 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. Its 32 MB of L3 cache is a significant asset for gaming, and the 4,150 million transistors on a 7 nm process deliver strong single-thread performance, as evidenced by a 3dmark_single_thread score of 943. In Counter-Strike 2, the CPU’s role is most apparent at 1080p, where the frame rates are high enough that the GPU is not the limiting factor. The 384.7 FPS at 1080p Low suggests that the CPU is still the ceiling, as the GPU could likely produce more frames if the CPU could feed it. The CPU’s multi-threaded performance, with a cinebench_r23_multicore score of 23571, ensures that the 16 threads handle any background tasks without impacting game performance.

At 4K, the CPU’s influence wanes, as the GPU becomes the bottleneck. The fact that the combo ranks 911th out of 1632 in this game is partly due to the CPU’s age, but its 84th percentile ranking versus all CPUs shows it is still highly capable. The nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i5-12600KF at -0.8% delta, show that the 5800X is competitively positioned. For Counter-Strike 2, which is known to be CPU-intensive in certain scenarios, the 5800X’s 4.70 GHz boost clock and 32 MB L3 cache are well-suited to keep frame rates high. The measured data confirms that the CPU can sustain over 300 FPS at 1080p Medium, which is more than enough for any competitive player.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the best experience for competitive play is at 1920x1080 with Low settings, which delivers 384.7 FPS. This maximizes the refresh rate potential and minimizes input latency, which is critical in a game like Counter-Strike 2. For players who want better visuals without sacrificing too much performance, Medium at 1080p still offers 318.9 FPS, which is well above any high-refresh monitor’s capability. High at 1080p is a reasonable compromise at 236.2 FPS, but Ultra at 183.1 FPS may not be worth the visual upgrade for strict competitive play. At 1440p, Low settings at 253.8 FPS are ideal for high-refresh 1440p monitors, while Medium at 211.7 FPS is also excellent. High at 1440p at 157 FPS is suitable for 144Hz displays, but Ultra at 124.7 FPS may feel less responsive.

At 4K, the recommendation is to stick with Low settings at 139.8 FPS if you have a 144Hz display, as Medium drops to 117.9 FPS and High falls to 90.9 FPS. Ultra at 4K at 70.8 FPS is only suitable for 60Hz displays or non-competitive play. The data shows that the combo is best utilized at 1080p or 1440p, where it can leverage the Ryzen 7 5800X’s strong single-thread performance. The single largest FPS gain at any resolution comes from switching from Ultra to Low at 1080p, a 201.6 FPS jump, which is the most impactful settings change for competitive players. For a balanced experience, 1440p Medium at 211.7 FPS offers the best mix of visual fidelity and frame rate, while 1080p Low remains the pure performance option.