Counter-Strike 2

Counter-Strike 2 is a competitive FPS that rewards high frame rates and low latency, and the data for the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 shows a combination that is heavily skewed toward CPU performance. This pairing ranks 381st out of 1632 tested combos in this game, placing it in the top quarter of all systems tested. The measured frame rates are exceptionally high across all resolutions, but the way they scale suggests that the 12-core, 24-thread processor is doing the heavy lifting, leaving the graphics card with plenty of headroom.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and reveals a system that is entirely CPU-bound at lower resolutions. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 527.1 at 1920x1080 to 348.8 at 2560x1440, a reduction of about 34%. Moving to 4K, the Low preset still delivers 198.2 FPS, which is a further 43% drop from 1440p. This steep decline indicates that as resolution increases, the GPU begins to take on more of the workload, but even at 4K, the frame rates remain high enough to saturate most high-refresh-rate monitors.

With the High preset, the scaling pattern is similar but less extreme: 329.5 FPS at 1080p, 216.2 FPS at 1440p, and 120.7 FPS at 4K. The 4K result is less than half of the 1080p figure, showing that the RTX 4070 is being increasingly taxed. The Ultra preset shows the most pronounced drop, going from 253.9 FPS at 1080p to 170 FPS at 1440p and finally to 93.4 FPS at 4K. The data suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is the limiting factor, as even the most demanding preset cannot push the frame rate below the 250 FPS mark. At 4K, however, the GPU becomes the primary constraint, especially on higher presets.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 9 9900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture, with a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. Its benchmark scores are impressive, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 46438 and a single-core score of 6555. This single-thread performance is critical for Counter-Strike 2, which relies heavily on a few fast cores for game logic and draw calls. The processor's 64 MB of shared L3 cache also helps keep frequently accessed data close at hand, reducing latency.

The data shows that this CPU is entirely capable of pushing frame rates well beyond what most displays can show. At 1080p Low, the system hits 527.1 FPS, which reflects the processor's speed. The fact that the FPS drops significantly when moving from Low to Ultra at the same resolution (from 527.1 to 253.9) indicates that the graphics settings, not the CPU, are the bottleneck at 1080p. The CPU's 3DMark single-thread score of 1286 and max-thread score of 13929 further confirm its balanced capability. Relative to its nearest rivals, the 9900X sits just 0.4% behind the Ryzen 9 9900X3D and 0.7% ahead of the Intel Core i7-14700F in average benchmark score, making it a very competitive choice for this title.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a boost clock of 2475 MHz and 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. Its 5888 shading units and 64 ROPs handle the pixel processing, and the 46 RT cores are ready for ray tracing, though Counter-Strike 2 does not heavily utilize them. The GPU's Passmark G3D score of 26927 and 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 3854 place it in the 81st percentile of all GPUs.

In this game, the RTX 4070's role becomes more apparent as resolution increases. At 4K Ultra, the system drops to 93.4 FPS, which is the only measured result below 100 FPS. This indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor at this resolution and settings combination. The VRAM capacity is not a concern here, as the game's requirements are modest, but the raw compute power is what is being tested. The GPU's performance relative to its nearest rivals is interesting: it sits 0.6% behind the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 and 2.2% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile, but it is 2.5% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 5300M. These deltas are small, suggesting that in this specific title, the GPU is not the primary driver of performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 9 9900X and RTX 4070 achieves a rank of 381 out of 1632 tested combos in Counter-Strike 2, putting it in the top 23% of all systems. This is a strong showing, but it is not at the very top, which would likely be reserved for combinations with higher-end GPUs like the RTX 4090 or more specialized CPUs. The rank is a result of the CPU's exceptional single-thread performance and the GPU's solid, but not class-leading, rasterization throughput.

The data suggests that this combo is well-balanced for high-refresh-rate gaming at 1440p, where it delivers over 200 FPS on High settings. At 1080p, it is overkill for most competitive scenarios, as even Ultra settings produce over 250 FPS. The rank would likely be higher if the GPU were more powerful, but the CPU is doing its job admirably. For players who prioritize frame rate over visual fidelity, this combo is a solid choice, but those seeking maximum 4K performance might find the GPU to be the weaker link.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the best experience for competitive play is the Low preset, which maximizes frame rates at every resolution. At 1080p, Low produces 527.1 FPS, which is more than enough to take advantage of a 360Hz or 500Hz monitor. Even at 1440p, Low delivers 348.8 FPS, which is still exceptionally high. The Medium preset is a good compromise, offering slightly better visuals with only a modest FPS penalty: 437.1 FPS at 1080p and 287.2 FPS at 1440p.

For players who prefer visual quality, the High preset is the sweet spot. It provides a significant visual upgrade over Medium while still maintaining high frame rates: 329.5 FPS at 1080p, 216.2 FPS at 1440p, and 120.7 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset is not recommended for competitive play, as it drops frame rates below 100 FPS at 4K and below 200 FPS at 1080p. The data indicates that the performance cost of Ultra is not worth the marginal visual improvement, especially in a fast-paced game where every millisecond matters. For most players, Medium or High at 1440p offers the best balance of visual clarity and responsiveness.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers 527.1 FPS on Low, 437.1 FPS on Medium, 329.5 FPS on High, and 253.9 FPS on Ultra. These are all extremely high numbers, with the Low preset nearly doubling the Ultra result. Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates are still very high: 348.8 FPS on Low, 287.2 FPS on Medium, 216.2 FPS on High, and 170 FPS on Ultra. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is roughly 34% on Low, 34% on Medium, 34% on High, and 33% on Ultra, showing a consistent scaling pattern.

At 3840x2160, the results are 198.2 FPS on Low, 162.9 FPS on Medium, 120.7 FPS on High, and 93.4 FPS on Ultra. The 4K Low result is still above 1440p Ultra, which demonstrates the CPU's strength. The 4K Ultra result is the only measurement below 100 FPS, making it the least viable option for smooth gameplay. Overall, the data shows that this combo can handle 4K at Medium settings with playable frame rates, but it is best suited for high-refresh-rate 1080p or 1440p gaming.