Counter-Strike 2

FAQ

Q: What is the combo rank of the Intel Core i3-12100F with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 in Counter-Strike 2?

A: This combination ranks 735th out of 1,632 tested combos in the database for this game, placing it in the upper-middle portion of the field.

Q: How much faster is the GPU than its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 3070's average benchmark score is 28,238, which is 0.9% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT and 1% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti. It trails the AMD FirePro S7150 by 0.6% and the AMD Radeon R9 M295X by 1.1%.

Q: What is the CPU's single-thread performance relative to its multi-thread performance?

A: The Core i3-12100F scores 1,681 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 11,912 in multi-core. The single-thread score represents roughly 14% of the multi-core result, which is typical for a 4-core, 8-thread part where scaling is limited by thread count.

Q: What is the largest FPS gap between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, Low settings produce 436.6 FPS while Ultra produces 210.9 FPS, a difference of 225.7 FPS. This indicates that Ultra settings impose a substantial rendering load even at the lowest resolution tested.

Q: Does the RTX 3070's 8 GB VRAM appear to limit performance at 4K in this game?

A: The data shows a 4K High result of 101.1 FPS versus a 1080p High result of 269.8 FPS. The scaling is consistent with GPU compute limits rather than VRAM capacity issues, as the game runs well above 60 FPS even at 3840x2160 with High settings.

Q: How does the CPU's average benchmark score compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The i3-12100F averages 13,516, which is 0.1% below the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX and 0.4% above the Intel Core i7-1250U. It also sits 0.6% above the Intel Core i3-10105 and 1.8% above the Intel Core i7-7700K.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is built on the Ampere architecture with a GA104 chip manufactured on Samsung's 8 nm process. The GPU operates with a base clock of 1500 MHz and a boost clock of 1725 MHz, while its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory runs at 14 Gbps effective across a 256-bit bus, yielding 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is substantial for a 1080p-focused card, and the data shows it handles Counter-Strike 2's requirements without obvious VRAM bottlenecks.

The GPU's shading units number 5,888, paired with 184 texture mapping units and 96 raster output units. Its FP32 compute throughput is 20.31 TFLOPS, which is the same figure as its FP16 rate (1:1). These specifications place the card in the 72nd percentile of all GPUs tested, with an average benchmark score of 28,238. The synthetic data positions it closely against the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT (0.9% faster) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (1% faster), while it trails the AMD FirePro S7150 by 0.6%.

In Counter-Strike 2, the GPU's role is most evident when comparing Low and Ultra settings at the same resolution. At 1080p, the jump from Low to Ultra drops average FPS from 436.6 to 210.9, a 51.7% reduction. At 4K, the same setting change drops from 161 to 76.1, a 52.7% reduction. This consistent proportional drop across resolutions suggests the GPU is the primary scaling factor when settings change, rather than the CPU introducing a variable bottleneck.

The RTX 3070's DirectX 12 Ultimate support (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4 API compatibility are relevant for modern game engines. Counter-Strike 2 leverages these APIs, and the measured results indicate the GPU delivers playable frame rates even at 4K Ultra (76.1 FPS), though the 4K Low result of 161 FPS shows the headroom available when graphical load is reduced.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals clear scaling patterns as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 269.8 FPS at 1080p to 181.3 FPS at 1440p (a 32.8% decrease), then further to 101.1 FPS at 4K (a 44.2% decrease from 1440p). This downward trend is expected, but the magnitude of the 4K drop indicates that the GPU's pixel throughput becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

Low settings show the steepest absolute decline: 436.6 FPS at 1080p, 290.1 FPS at 1440p, and 161 FPS at 4K. The 4K Low result is still well above the 1440p High result of 181.3 FPS, which suggests that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at lower resolutions, but the GPU's rendering limits become apparent as pixel count rises. The 4K Low figure of 161 FPS is 63.1% lower than the 1080p Low figure, indicating a significant resolution penalty.

Medium settings follow a similar pattern: 359.3 FPS at 1080p, 236.6 FPS at 1440p, and 132.4 FPS at 4K. The proportional drops are 34.1% from 1080p to 1440p and 44.0% from 1440p to 4K. Ultra settings produce the lowest absolute numbers: 210.9 FPS at 1080p, 138.3 FPS at 1440p, and 76.1 FPS at 4K, with the 4K result being 63.9% lower than the 1080p figure.

The resolution scaling data suggests that the Core i3-12100F is not the primary limiter at any tested resolution. At 1080p Low, the 436.6 FPS result is far above typical display refresh rates, and even 4K Low at 161 FPS remains high. The consistent proportional drops across settings and resolutions point to the RTX 3070's rasterization throughput as the main constraint, particularly at 4K where pixel fill rate becomes critical.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 achieves a rank of 735 out of 1,632 total tested combinations in Counter-Strike 2. This places the combo in the 45th percentile of all tested systems, meaning roughly 55% of combinations outperform it and 45% perform worse. The rank reflects the balance between the CPU's modest 4-core/8-thread configuration and the GPU's strong 1080p and 1440p performance.

The CPU itself sits in the 72nd percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 13,516. Its nearest rivals in synthetic testing include the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX (0.1% faster) and the Intel Core i7-1250U (0.4% slower), indicating that the i3-12100F delivers competitive compute performance for its class. However, the CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 11,912 is relatively modest compared to higher-core-count parts, which could limit performance in CPU-intensive scenarios.

The GPU's 72nd percentile ranking (average score 28,238) aligns closely with the CPU's percentile, suggesting a well-matched pairing. The RTX 3070's nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT, is only 0.9% slower in synthetic benchmarks, yet the combo's in-game rank of 735 indicates that many other GPU combinations achieve higher frame rates in Counter-Strike 2. This discrepancy likely stems from the CPU's limited thread count, which may cap frame rates in certain game scenarios even when the GPU has headroom.

The combo rank of 735 out of 1,632 means the system is positioned in the upper-middle tier of tested configurations. Given that the measured FPS at 1080p High is 269.8, the system clearly exceeds the requirements for competitive play, but it does not reach the top tier of combinations that achieve 400+ FPS at 1080p Low.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings balance depends on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1920x1080, High settings deliver 269.8 FPS, which is more than sufficient for any high-refresh-rate display. Medium settings yield 359.3 FPS, and Low settings push to 436.6 FPS, but the incremental gain from High to Low is 166.8 FPS, which may not be perceptible on most monitors.

At 2560x1440, High settings produce 181.3 FPS, which remains above the 144 Hz threshold common on modern gaming displays. Medium settings at this resolution reach 236.6 FPS, offering a meaningful improvement for 240 Hz monitors. Ultra settings at 1440p drop to 138.3 FPS, which is still playable but below the 144 Hz mark, making High the recommended preset for 1440p.

For 3840x2160, High settings yield 101.1 FPS, which is suitable for 60-100 Hz displays. Medium settings at 4K reach 132.4 FPS, providing headroom for 120 Hz panels, while Low settings achieve 161 FPS. Ultra at 4K drops to 76.1 FPS, which remains above 60 FPS but offers diminishing returns over High settings given the visual quality difference.

The data suggests that the High preset is the best overall recommendation across resolutions, as it provides the highest visual quality while maintaining frame rates above 100 FPS at all tested resolutions. For competitive play where maximum frame rate is prioritized, Low settings at 1080p (436.6 FPS) or 1440p (290.1 FPS) are optimal. Medium settings offer a middle ground, with 4K Medium at 132.4 FPS being the highest quality 4K option that exceeds 120 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average frame rates are as follows: Low settings produce 436.6 FPS, Medium settings produce 359.3 FPS, High settings produce 269.8 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 210.9 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 225.7 FPS, with each step up in settings reducing performance by roughly 60-90 FPS. The 1080p Low result of 436.6 FPS is the highest measured value across all resolution and setting combinations, indicating that the CPU-GPU pairing has substantial headroom at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the results are: Low at 290.1 FPS, Medium at 236.6 FPS, High at 181.3 FPS, and Ultra at 138.3 FPS. The 1440p Low result is 146.5 FPS lower than the 1080p Low result, demonstrating the impact of increased pixel count. The 1440p Ultra result of 138.3 FPS is the only sub-140 FPS measurement outside of 4K, suggesting that Ultra settings at 1440p push the GPU harder than High settings at 4K.

At 3840x2160, the results are: Low at 161 FPS, Medium at 132.4 FPS, High at 101.1 FPS, and Ultra at 76.1 FPS. The 4K Low result of 161 FPS is the only 4K measurement above 150 FPS, and it is still lower than the 1080p Ultra result of 210.9 FPS. The 4K Ultra result of 76.1 FPS is the minimum measured value across all tests, though it remains above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

The data across all resolutions shows a consistent pattern: Low settings provide the highest frame rates, Ultra settings the lowest, and the relative differences between settings are similar at each resolution. The 4K High result of 101.1 FPS is particularly notable, as it demonstrates that this combination can handle 4K gaming with High settings while maintaining triple-digit frame rates. The 1080p High result of 269.8 FPS indicates that the system is well-suited for high-refresh-rate competitive play at standard resolutions.