Counter-Strike 2

Counter-Strike 2 at 4K Ultra is the only measured configuration that dips below 100 FPS, hitting 94 FPS average. That is still a playable number for most competitive titles, but it marks a clear turning point where the GeForce RTX 4070 starts to feel the pressure. The gap between Low and Ultra at 3840x2160 is a massive 101 FPS — 195 FPS on Low versus 94 FPS on Ultra — which suggests the GPU’s shading and memory bandwidth are being pushed hard as pixel count and effects scale. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 527 FPS, which is a completely different regime: the CPU and memory subsystem are doing the heavy lifting, and the GPU is effectively along for the ride. The data shows a progressive, nonlinear drop as resolution climbs, which is typical of a game that is relatively light on GPU load at lower resolutions but becomes more rasterization-bound at 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS rows reveal how this AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D + RTX 4070 pairing behaves across three resolutions. At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 254 on Ultra to 527 on Low. Moving to 2560x1440, those numbers fall to 168 on Ultra and 349 on Low. At 3840x2160, the range tightens to 94 on Ultra and 195 on Low. The percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p is roughly 34% on Ultra (254 to 168) and 34% on Low (527 to 349). From 1440p to 4K, the drop is about 44% on Ultra (168 to 94) and 44% on Low (349 to 195). These are not identical deltas across settings, but the pattern is consistent: each resolution step costs roughly a third to nearly half of the frame rate, with the steepest decline occurring at the highest resolution.

What does this imply about the limiting component? At 1080p, the CPU’s 8 cores and 16 threads, boosted by 96 MB of shared L3 cache, are clearly feeding the GPU fast enough to hit 527 FPS on Low. The RTX 4070’s 5888 shading units and 184 texture mapping units are not the bottleneck at that point; otherwise, we would see a smaller spread between Low and Ultra. The fact that 1080p Low (527 FPS) is 2.7 times faster than 4K Ultra (94 FPS) indicates that the GPU’s fillrate and memory bandwidth — 504.2 GB/s on a 192-bit bus — become the dominant constraint as resolution rises. The RTX 4070’s boost clock of 2475 MHz and base clock of 1920 MHz are fixed, so the scaling is purely a function of pixel throughput and shader work.

At 4K, even Medium settings dip to 162 FPS average, with a minimum of 138 FPS and a maximum of 186 FPS. That minimum is still above the 144 Hz refresh rate of many monitors, but the gap between Medium and Ultra (162 vs 94) is a 68 FPS difference, which is larger than the gap between Low and Medium (195 vs 162, a 33 FPS difference). This nonlinearity suggests that Ultra settings introduce effects that disproportionately tax the GPU’s 12 GB of GDDR6X memory or its 64 ROPs. The 158.4 GPixel/s pixel rate is likely the ceiling for 4K Ultra, as each pixel requires more shader work and memory fetches.

The data also shows that the CPU’s role diminishes at higher resolutions. At 1080p Low, the Ryzen 7 9850X3D’s 5.60 GHz boost clock and 4.70 GHz base clock allow for extremely high frame generation, but at 4K, the GPU’s 29.15 TFLOPS FP32 throughput is the limiting factor. This is a classic example of a balanced combo that becomes GPU-bound as resolution scales. For players targeting 4K, the measured FPS on Ultra (94) is still above 60, but it is far from the 527 FPS possible at 1080p Low.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank in Counter-Strike 2 is 609 out of 2870 tested combinations, placing it in the top 21.2% of all CPU-GPU pairings for this game. That is a strong showing, especially considering that the RTX 4070 is an end-of-life product and the Ryzen 7 9850X3D was released in January 2026. The rank reflects the measured FPS across all settings and resolutions, which means the combo’s ability to maintain high frame rates even at 4K (94 FPS on Ultra) contributes to its position.

Compared to the CPU’s nearest rivals, the Ryzen 7 9850X3D scores 58386 on average across all benchmarks, placing it at the 92nd percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M, scores 58323, a delta of 0.1% — essentially identical. The Intel Xeon w5-2545 trails by 0.2% (58504 vs 58386), while the Intel Core i9-14900 is 0.5% behind (58115). The AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 470 leads by 0.7% (58826). These deltas are all within 1%, indicating that the CPU’s raw compute power is not the differentiator in Counter-Strike 2; instead, the game likely benefits from the 96 MB L3 cache, which is a unique feature of the 3D V-Cache lineup.

On the GPU side, the RTX 4070 scores 37648 on average across all benchmarks, ranking at the 81st percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla P4, scores 37628 (0.1% behind), while the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 is 0.4% behind (37507). The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile leads by 1.3% (38135), and the AMD Radeon PRO W6400 trails by 1.3% (37157). Again, the deltas are small, but the RTX 4070’s 12 GB of VRAM and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are more than sufficient for Counter-Strike 2, which is not a VRAM-heavy title at these settings.

The combo rank of 609 out of 2870 means that roughly 2261 other combinations perform better in this game. That might sound like a lot, but given that the dataset likely includes higher-end GPUs like the RTX 4080 Super or RTX 4090, the position is respectable. The data implies that this pairing is optimized for high-refresh-rate 1440p gaming, where it hits 216 FPS on High and 349 FPS on Low, rather than for 4K Ultra where it dips to 94 FPS. Players who prioritize competitive frame rates will find the 1080p and 1440p results more compelling than the 4K numbers.

FAQ

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

A: The highest measured average FPS is 527, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next highest is 438 FPS at 1080p Medium, followed by 349 FPS at 1440p Low.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K with Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS drops to 94. This is the lowest measured result in the entire dataset. For comparison, 4K Medium averages 162 FPS, and 4K Low averages 195 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 1080p Low?

A: At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 527 FPS, which is far above the GPU’s capabilities at higher resolutions. The Ryzen 7 9850X3D’s 8 cores, 16 threads, and 5.60 GHz boost clock are likely the primary drivers, as the RTX 4070 is not fully utilized at such low graphical loads.

Q: What is the combo’s rank among all tested CPU-GPU pairs in this game?

A: The combo ranks 609 out of 2870 tested combinations, placing it in the top 21.2%. This is based on measured FPS across all resolutions and settings.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 compare to its nearest GPU rivals in average benchmark score?

A: The RTX 4070 scores 37648 on average. The NVIDIA Tesla P4 is 0.1% behind at 37628, the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 is 0.4% behind at 37507, and the AMD Radeon PRO W6400 is 1.3% behind at 37157. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile leads by 1.3% at 38135.

Q: Does the 12 GB VRAM on the RTX 4070 limit performance in Counter-Strike 2?

A: The measured data shows that 4K Ultra averages 94 FPS, which is still above 60 FPS. The 12 GB of GDDR6X memory is not exhausted at any measured setting, as the game’s memory usage is not listed in the data. The 504.2 GB/s bandwidth is likely sufficient for the texture and shader loads at 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The dataset provides 12 measured FPS rows, covering three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset yields an average of 527 FPS. Medium settings reduce that to 438 FPS, with a minimum of 372 FPS and a maximum of 503 FPS. High settings average 327 FPS, and Ultra averages 254 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 273 FPS, which is a 2.07x difference. This indicates that the GPU’s workload increases substantially with preset quality, but the CPU is still able to maintain high frame rates.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 349 FPS. Medium averages 290 FPS, with a minimum of 246 FPS and a maximum of 333 FPS. High averages 216 FPS, and Ultra averages 168 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 181 FPS, a 2.08x difference. The minimum FPS at 1440p Medium (246) is higher than the average FPS at 4K Medium (162), which shows that resolution has a greater impact on frame rates than preset changes alone.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 195 FPS. Medium averages 162 FPS, with a minimum of 138 FPS and a maximum of 186 FPS. High averages 121 FPS, and Ultra averages 94 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 101 FPS, a 2.07x difference. The minimum FPS at 4K Medium (138) is 44 FPS lower than the average FPS at 1440p High (216), which underscores the steep cost of 4K rendering.

The data shows that the ratio between Low and Ultra is remarkably consistent across resolutions: 2.07x at 1080p, 2.08x at 1440p, and 2.07x at 4K. This suggests that the preset scaling is uniform, and the GPU’s architecture handles the additional effects (shadows, reflections, anti-aliasing) in a linear fashion. However, the absolute FPS numbers drop dramatically with resolution, which points to the GPU’s pixel throughput as the primary limiter.

For players seeking the highest frame rates, 1080p Low at 527 FPS is the clear choice. For those with 144 Hz monitors, 1440p High at 216 FPS or 4K Medium at 162 FPS both exceed that refresh rate. The 4K Ultra result of 94 FPS is still above 60, making it viable for single-player or casual play, but it is not competitive-grade.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture, using a 5 nm process from TSMC. It has a base clock of 1920 MHz and a boost clock of 2475 MHz, with 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs. The memory subsystem consists of 12 GB of GDDR6X on a 192-bit bus, providing 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The pixel rate is 158.4 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 455.4 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance is 29.15 TFLOPS.

In Counter-Strike 2, the GPU’s role becomes more pronounced as resolution increases. At 1080p, the measured FPS ranges from 254 to 527, which suggests that the GPU is not fully saturated even at Ultra settings. The 527 FPS at Low is likely CPU-limited, as the GPU’s 29.15 TFLOPS is more than enough for simple geometry and lighting. At 1440p, the FPS drops to 168–349, indicating that the GPU is beginning to do more work. At 4K, the FPS drops to 94–195, and the GPU is clearly the limiting factor.

The 12 GB VRAM is not a constraint in this game, as the measured FPS does not show any sudden drops that would indicate memory swapping. The 504.2 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for the texture loads at 4K Ultra, which is evidenced by the 94 FPS average. If the VRAM were a bottleneck, we would expect the 4K Ultra result to be lower or to show stuttering, but the minimum FPS at 4K Medium (138) suggests the memory system is handling the load.

The RTX 4070’s nearest rivals in average benchmark score are the Tesla P4 (0.1% behind), the Radeon RX Vega 56 (0.4% behind), and the Radeon PRO W6400 (1.3% behind). The RTX 4080 Mobile leads by 1.3%. These small deltas imply that the RTX 4070 is a mid-range performer, but in Counter-Strike 2, its 81st percentile ranking among all GPUs is more relevant. The game is not particularly demanding on GPU compute, so the RTX 4070’s strengths — 12 GB VRAM and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth — are more than adequate.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D is a Zen 5 architecture processor, codenamed Granite Ridge, built on a 4 nm process from TSMC. It has 8 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 4.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. The L3 cache is 96 MB shared, which is a defining feature of the X3D series. The CPU supports DDR5 memory on a dual-channel bus, with a memory bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s. It uses the AMD Socket AM5 and has a TDP of 120 W.

In Counter-Strike 2, the CPU’s role is most evident at 1080p Low, where the combo hits 527 FPS. This is a very high frame rate that requires the CPU to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic at an extremely rapid pace. The 96 MB L3 cache is likely instrumental in this, as it reduces memory latency for frequently accessed game data. The boost clock of 5.60 GHz is also a factor, as Counter-Strike 2 is known to be sensitive to single-thread performance.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in average benchmark score are all within 1% of the 9850X3D’s 58386. The Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M is 0.1% behind, the Xeon w5-2545 is 0.2% behind, the Core i9-14900 is 0.5% behind, and the Ryzen AI 9 HX 470 leads by 0.7%. These tiny deltas suggest that the CPU’s raw compute is not the differentiator; rather, the 96 MB L3 cache provides a unique advantage in games that benefit from large, fast caches.

The data implies that the CPU is not the bottleneck at 4K, where the GPU is clearly limiting performance. At 4K Ultra, the FPS drops to 94, which is more than 5 times lower than the 527 FPS at 1080p Low. This indicates that the CPU has headroom even at 4K, as the GPU is unable to keep up with the CPU’s output. For players using high refresh rate monitors at 1080p or 1440p, the CPU’s 16 threads and 5.60 GHz boost clock are more than sufficient.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal preset depends on the target resolution and refresh rate. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 527 FPS, which is ideal for competitive play on a 360 Hz or 500 Hz monitor. Medium settings at 1080p still provide 438 FPS, so players who want better visuals without sacrificing frame rates can choose Medium. High settings at 327 FPS are also viable for 240 Hz displays, while Ultra at 254 FPS is still above 240 but closer to the limit.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 349 FPS, which is excellent for 240 Hz or 360 Hz monitors. Medium settings at 290 FPS are also above 240, making them a good choice for players who want a balance between visual quality and performance. High settings at 216 FPS are sufficient for 144 Hz displays, but not for 240 Hz. Ultra at 168 FPS is still above 144, so it is playable, but the visual upgrade over High may not justify the 48 FPS loss.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 195 FPS, which is above 144 Hz, making it a viable option for 4K 144 Hz monitors. Medium settings at 162 FPS also exceed 144, and the minimum FPS of 138 is close to that threshold. High settings at 121 FPS are above 120, so they work for 120 Hz displays. Ultra at 94 FPS is above 60 but below 120, so it is only recommended for players who prioritize image quality over frame rate.

The best experience per the measured rows is subjective, but the data suggests that 1440p Medium (290 FPS) or 1440p High (216 FPS) offers the best trade-off between visual fidelity and performance. Both are well above 144 Hz, and the minimum FPS at 1440p Medium (246) is higher than the average FPS at 4K High (121). For players with 4K monitors, 4K Medium at 162 FPS is the recommended setting, as it provides a smooth experience while maintaining reasonable graphical details. The 4K Ultra setting at 94 FPS is the only configuration that drops below 100 FPS, so it should be avoided for competitive play.