Counter-Strike 2

# Counter-Strike 2 with AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT + Intel Arc B390

This combo places very deep in the database, ranking 3302 out of 3719 tested combinations in Counter-Strike 2. With a percentile standing of just 9 for the GPU and 81 for the CPU, the pairing creates a stark imbalance: an upper-tier processor shackled to an entry-level integrated graphics solution. The measured frame rates confirm this bottleneck, with the system struggling to maintain playable performance at higher resolutions and settings, though it manages respectable numbers at 1080p with reduced graphical loads.

How This Combo Ranks

The 3302nd position out of 3719 combos places this configuration in the bottom 12% of all tested systems for Counter-Strike 2. That ranking is heavily influenced by the Intel Arc B390's performance class, which sits at the 9th percentile against all GPUs in the database. The GPU's average benchmark score of 1482 places it in company with legacy mobile parts — its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (deltaPct 1.3), GeForce 800M (deltaPct 1.5), GT 625 OEM (deltaPct 2.5), and GT 710 (deltaPct 2.7). These are all sub-2% differences, meaning the Arc B390 performs essentially on par with decade-old entry-level discrete GPUs.

The CPU side tells a different story. The Ryzen 7 5800XT ranks in the 81st percentile against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 29879. Its nearest rivals — the Ryzen 7 7840H (deltaPct 0), Ryzen 7 8845HS (deltaPct -0.3), Ryzen 7 7840HS (deltaPct -0.3), and Ryzen 5 9600X (deltaPct 0.6) — are all within 0.6% of its score, indicating the 5800XT delivers competitive multi-threaded performance for its generation. The massive gap between CPU and GPU percentiles (81 vs 9) suggests the processor is never the limiting factor in this configuration.

In Counter-Strike 2 specifically, the combo's rank reflects what the measured FPS data confirms: the GPU consistently caps performance far below what the CPU could theoretically drive. The ranking is not a reflection of the CPU's capability but rather the integrated GPU's inability to translate that processing power into frame rates competitive with even mid-range discrete solutions.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) built on the Xe3-LPG architecture, using Intel's 3 nm process. Its base clock runs at 300 MHz, boosting to 2500 MHz, with 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster output pipelines. The GPU includes 12 ray tracing cores and delivers 7.680 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, with a pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s.

Memory is entirely system-shared, with the GPU drawing from the host's DDR4 RAM through a system-dependent bandwidth configuration. The bus width and memory type are both marked as system shared, meaning performance scales with whatever memory configuration the Ryzen 7 5800XT is paired with — the CPU supports dual-channel DDR4 with 51.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's TDP is 80 W, and it requires no power connectors, consistent with its integrated nature.

In Counter-Strike 2, the GPU's limitations manifest clearly. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 179 FPS average, but this drops to 111 FPS at High and 86 FPS at Ultra. At 4K, the same settings yield 66 FPS (Low), 41 FPS (High), and 32 FPS (Ultra). The GPU's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482 places it in a performance class where even modest graphical demands in a competitive FPS push it to its limits. The 12 ray tracing cores are largely irrelevant for this title, but the raw rasterization throughput — limited by 24 ROPs — becomes the binding constraint at higher resolutions and quality presets.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data suggests that Low settings provide the only consistently playable experience across all resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo delivers 179 FPS average, which comfortably exceeds the 144 Hz refresh rates common in competitive play. At 1440p Low, the 118 FPS average remains playable for most users, though it falls short of high-refresh monitors. At 4K Low, the 66 FPS average drops below the 70 FPS threshold many players consider minimum for smooth competitive play.

Medium settings offer a compromise but only at 1080p, where the 149 FPS average (with min/max of 126/171) still provides good performance. At 1440p Medium, 98 FPS average (with min/max of 84/113) is borderline — playable for casual matches but potentially problematic in fast-paced scenarios. The 4K Medium result of 55 FPS average (with min/max of 47/63) is not recommended for competitive play.

High and Ultra settings are only viable at 1080p. High delivers 111 FPS average, while Ultra drops to 86 FPS — both are playable but represent significant compromises versus Low settings. At 1440p, High yields 73 FPS and Ultra 57 FPS, both below ideal competitive thresholds. At 4K, High (41 FPS) and Ultra (32 FPS) are not viable for gameplay.

The data indicates Low settings at 1080p is the optimal configuration for this combo, with Medium at 1080p as a secondary option for those prioritizing visual fidelity over maximum frame rates. For players with 1440p displays, Low settings are the only reasonable choice.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest performance. Low settings produce 179 FPS average, representing the highest measured result across all configurations. Medium settings achieve 149 FPS with a recorded range of 126 to 171 FPS. High settings drop to 111 FPS average, while Ultra falls to 86 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra represents a 52% reduction in average frame rate, showing how heavily the settings preset impacts this GPU.

At 2560x1440, performance declines noticeably. Low settings yield 118 FPS average — a 34% drop from the 1080p Low result. Medium settings produce 98 FPS with a range of 84 to 113 FPS. High settings achieve 73 FPS, and Ultra drops to 57 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 61 FPS, or roughly 52% — similar to the percentage drop seen at 1080p, indicating the settings scaling is consistent across these two resolutions.

At 3840x2160, the GPU struggles significantly. Low settings produce 66 FPS average — a 44% reduction from 1440p Low and a 63% reduction from 1080p Low. Medium settings yield 55 FPS with a range of 47 to 63 FPS. High settings drop to 41 FPS, and Ultra falls to 32 FPS. The 4K Ultra result represents just 18% of the 1080p Low performance, demonstrating how quickly this integrated GPU saturates at higher pixel counts.

The data shows that the minimum FPS values, where recorded, track closely with averages. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 126 FPS versus the 149 average; at 1440p Medium, 84 versus 98; at 4K Medium, 47 versus 55. This consistency suggests stable frame pacing without severe stuttering, though the overall performance ceiling remains low.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 1440p yields an average FPS reduction of approximately 34-37% across all settings. Specifically, Low drops from 179 to 118 FPS (34% reduction), Medium from 149 to 98 (34%), High from 111 to 73 (34%), and Ultra from 86 to 57 (34%). This uniform scaling indicates the GPU is the primary bottleneck — a purely CPU-limited scenario would show much smaller drops when pixel count increases.

Moving from 1440p to 4K produces a more severe penalty. Low settings drop from 118 to 66 FPS (44% reduction), Medium from 98 to 55 (44%), High from 73 to 41 (44%), and Ultra from 57 to 32 (44%). The consistency of these percentages across all settings and resolution transitions is remarkable, suggesting the GPU's memory bandwidth and fill rate are being stressed in a linear fashion.

The cumulative impact from 1080p Low to 4K Low is a 63% reduction in frame rate (179 to 66 FPS). For a purely GPU-bound workload, this aligns with the 4x pixel count increase from 1080p to 4K, though the reduction is not proportional (a 4x pixel increase would theoretically yield a 75% frame rate reduction if perfectly fill-rate limited). The less-than-proportional drop indicates some CPU involvement in frame generation, but the consistently high reductions across all settings point to the GPU as the dominant limiter.

The data implies that the Ryzen 7 5800XT, with its 8 cores and 16 threads, is never starved for work at any resolution. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect similar frame rates across resolutions — instead, we see dramatic scaling that clearly attributes performance loss to the integrated GPU's rendering capabilities.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT brings substantial processing power to this combo, yet Counter-Strike 2 results show it operating far below its potential. Built on the Zen 3 architecture (Vermeer codename) using TSMC's 7 nm process, the CPU features 8 cores and 16 threads with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and boost clock of 4.80 GHz. Its 32 MB of shared L3 cache, along with 64 KB L1 and 512 KB L2 per core, provides ample cache for game workloads.

The CPU's benchmark results demonstrate its capability. Cinebench R23 multicore score of 23794 and single-core score of 3359 indicate strong multi-threaded and single-threaded performance. The 3DMark tests show scaling from 959 (single thread) to 7683 (16 threads), with 8-thread performance at 6141 — roughly 80% of the max-thread score, suggesting efficient core utilization. PassMark multi-thread score of 28053 and single-thread score of 3535 corroborate this strength.

With a 105 W TDP and support for DDR4-3200 dual-channel memory (51.2 GB/s bandwidth), the CPU provides a solid foundation for gaming. Its 81st percentile ranking against all CPUs places it above the majority of processors in the database, and its nearest rivals — all within 0.6% in average benchmark score — include modern mobile and desktop parts like the Ryzen 7 7840H and Ryzen 5 9600X.

In Counter-Strike 2, the CPU's role is to feed frames to the GPU, but the Arc B390 cannot keep pace. At 1080p Low, the 179 FPS average likely approaches the CPU's frame generation limit, but at 4K Ultra, the 32 FPS result shows the GPU is the sole constraint. The CPU's 16 threads are more than sufficient for this title, which typically scales well with fewer threads. The data suggests the processor could support significantly higher frame rates if paired with a more capable GPU, but in this configuration, it spends most of its time idle, waiting on the integrated graphics to complete rendering.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combo for competitive play?

A: The measured data shows 1920x1080 with Low settings delivers 179 FPS average, the highest of any configuration. Medium settings at 1080p provide 149 FPS average with a minimum of 126 FPS, which remains viable for competitive play. Higher resolutions or settings drop below 120 FPS, which many players consider the minimum for smooth competitive performance.

Q: Why does the combo rank so low (3302 of 3719) despite having a strong CPU?

A: The ranking is driven by the GPU's performance class. The Intel Arc B390 sits at the 9th percentile against all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 1482, placing it alongside legacy parts like the GT 520MX and GT 710. The Ryzen 7 5800XT ranks in the 81st percentile for CPUs, but the GPU bottleneck dominates game performance.

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

A: At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 179 at 1080p to 66 at 4K — a 63% reduction. At Ultra settings, the drop is from 86 to 32 FPS, also a 63% reduction. The consistent scaling across settings indicates the GPU is the primary limiting factor at all resolutions.

Q: Is the CPU holding back the GPU in any scenario?

A: The data does not indicate CPU limitation. The 5800XT's single-thread score of 3359 in Cinebench R23 and 959 in 3DMark single-thread suggest ample headroom. The consistent FPS reductions across resolution changes (34% from 1080p to 1440p, 44% from 1440p to 4K) point to GPU-bound performance at every settings level.

Q: Are the minimum FPS values stable, or are there stutters?

A: Where minimum FPS was recorded (Medium settings at all resolutions), the values are consistent relative to averages. At 1080p Medium, the min is 126 FPS versus 149 average; at 1440p Medium, 84 versus 98; at 4K Medium, 47 versus 55. These ranges suggest stable frame pacing without severe drops.

Q: How does this GPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Arc B390's average benchmark score of 1482 puts it within 2.7% of the GT 520MX (1463), GeForce 800M (1460), GT 625 OEM (1446), and GT 710 (1443). These deltaPct values range from 1.3 to 2.7, indicating the B390 performs essentially on par with these older entry-level GPUs.