Counter-Strike 2

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Counter-Strike 2 shows a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 406.5 FPS, which drops to 268.7 FPS at 1440p and further to 149.3 FPS at 4K. This represents a 63.3% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, indicating that the GPU becomes increasingly constrained as pixel count rises.

The scaling behavior becomes more pronounced at higher settings. With Ultra settings, the frame rate falls from 197.6 FPS at 1080p to 128.5 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 74.6 FPS at 4K — a 62.3% drop from 1080p to 4K. The High preset shows similar characteristics: 251.2 FPS at 1080p, 168 FPS at 1440p, and 95.2 FPS at 4K, representing a 62.1% reduction. Medium settings produce 336.2 FPS at 1080p, 220.3 FPS at 1440p, and 124.2 FPS at 4K, a 63.0% decrease.

These percentages are remarkably consistent across all four settings presets, which suggests the scaling bottleneck is resolution-driven rather than settings-driven. The near-uniform percentage drops indicate that the limiting component at higher resolutions is the GPU's rendering throughput, not any specific settings feature. The data reveals that moving from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 34% of the frame rate, while moving from 1440p to 4K costs another 44% on average across settings. This compounding effect demonstrates that 4K gaming with this combo is feasible but requires accepting significantly lower frame rates, particularly at Ultra settings where the 74.6 FPS average falls below the 100 FPS threshold many competitive players prefer.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 brings 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock runs at 2280 MHz with a boost clock of 2497 MHz, and it houses 3840 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. The GPU's 19.18 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, combined with 30 RT cores and 120 tensor cores, provides the computational foundation for the frame rates observed in this benchmark.

The GPU's role becomes evident when examining the performance spread between Low and Ultra settings at each resolution. At 1080p, the gap between Low (406.5 FPS) and Ultra (197.6 FPS) is 208.9 FPS, or roughly a 51.4% reduction. At 1440p, the same comparison yields 268.7 FPS versus 128.5 FPS, a 52.2% drop. At 4K, the gap narrows slightly: 149.3 FPS versus 74.6 FPS, a 50.0% reduction. This consistent halving of performance when moving from Low to Ultra settings points to the GPU being the primary driver of settings-based performance differences.

The RTX 5060's average benchmark score of 30109 places it at the 73rd percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT, scores 30097, representing a 0% delta — essentially a statistical tie. The NVIDIA Tesla M60 trails by 0.5% with a score of 29969, while the RTX 5070 Mobile leads by 0.6% at 29928. Notably, the AMD Radeon RX 570 scores 30158, which is 0.2% higher than the RTX 5060, indicating the benchmark average is tightly clustered. For Counter-Strike 2 specifically, the GPU's 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for the game's texture and geometry demands, as evidenced by the playable frame rates even at 4K Ultra, though the 74.6 FPS result shows the GPU is working near its limits.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F provides 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. This Comet Lake processor features 12 MB of shared L3 cache, 256 KB of L2 per core, and 64 KB of L1 per core. Its dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 42.7 GB/s of bandwidth, combined with PCIe Gen 3 connectivity, forms the platform foundation for this gaming combo.

The CPU's benchmark results reveal its multi-threaded capability: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 10297 and a single-core score of 1453. The Geekbench scores show 5783 multi-core and 1454 single-core performance. The 3DMark results demonstrate scaling from 688 single-thread to 4748 with 16 threads, while the 2-thread score of 1350 and 4-thread score of 2560 indicate modest thread scaling efficiency. PassMark multi-thread performance reaches 12115, with a single-thread score of 2541.

In Counter-Strike 2, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p Low settings, where the 406.5 FPS result approaches the practical ceiling for this processor. The CPU's 73rd percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 14168, places it near the AMD EPYC 7552 (14115, 0.4% higher) and the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (14277, 0.8% lower). The Intel Core i5-8500 scores 14332 (1.1% higher), while the AMD Ryzen Embedded V2546 achieves 14336 (1.2% higher). These narrow deltas suggest the i5-10400F is competitive with these alternatives in general compute, but the 4.30 GHz boost clock is the key attribute for Counter-Strike 2's frame rate generation, particularly at lower resolutions where the CPU must feed frames faster than the GPU can render them.

FAQ

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

A: The maximum recorded average FPS is 406.5, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in Counter-Strike 2?

A: Yes, but with compromises. At 4K, the combo delivers 149.3 FPS on Low, 124.2 FPS on Medium, 95.2 FPS on High, and 74.6 FPS on Ultra settings.

Q: How much performance is lost when switching from High to Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, High settings produce 168 FPS while Ultra drops to 128.5 FPS, representing a 39.5 FPS reduction or approximately a 23.5% performance decrease.

Q: What is the CPU's single-thread performance score in Cinebench R23?

A: The Intel Core i5-10400F scores 1453 in Cinebench R23 single-core, which is relevant for Counter-Strike 2's frame generation.

Q: What is the GPU's memory bandwidth and how does it affect performance?

A: The RTX 5060 provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth through 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus, which supports the texture streaming demands of Counter-Strike 2 at high resolutions.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations in this game?

A: The combo ranks 764th out of 1632 tested combinations, placing it in the upper-middle portion of the field.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo of Intel Core i5-10400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 ranks 764th out of 1632 tested combinations in Counter-Strike 2. This position places it in the 46.8th percentile of all combos, meaning roughly 53% of tested systems perform better in this specific game. The ranking reflects the balance between the CPU's 73rd percentile standing (average benchmark score 14168) and the GPU's 73rd percentile standing (average benchmark score 30109).

The rank suggests that while each component performs near the middle of the distribution individually, the combination does not boost to a higher tier in Counter-Strike 2 specifically. This is likely due to the game's sensitivity to both CPU frame generation and GPU rendering throughput. The i5-10400F's 6-core/12-thread configuration with a 4.30 GHz boost clock provides adequate single-thread performance for competitive frame rates, but the 4K Ultra result of 74.6 FPS indicates that the GPU becomes the limiting factor at maximum settings. Conversely, the 1080p Low result of 406.5 FPS shows the CPU can drive high frame rates when the GPU has less work, though this is below the 500+ FPS territory achieved by higher-end CPUs in this title.

The ranking's context within the 1632 tested combos indicates that users seeking higher positions in Counter-Strike 2 would need either a CPU with higher single-thread performance or a GPU with greater rasterization throughput. The delta between this combo's rank and the percentile rankings of its components (both at 73rd) highlights how game-specific optimization can shift relative performance compared to synthetic benchmarks.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, Low settings deliver 406.5 FPS average, Medium produces 336.2 FPS, High achieves 251.2 FPS, and Ultra results in 197.6 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a step-down pattern: Low to Medium costs 70.3 FPS (17.3% reduction), Medium to High costs 85 FPS (25.3% reduction), and High to Ultra costs 53.6 FPS (21.3% reduction).

At 2560x1440, the frame rates are 268.7 FPS on Low, 220.3 FPS on Medium, 168 FPS on High, and 128.5 FPS on Ultra. The step-down from Low to Medium is 48.4 FPS (18.0%), Medium to High is 52.3 FPS (23.7%), and High to Ultra is 39.5 FPS (23.5%). These percentage drops are slightly larger than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU's workload scaling with resolution amplifies the impact of higher settings.

At 3840x2160, the results show 149.3 FPS on Low, 124.2 FPS on Medium, 95.2 FPS on High, and 74.6 FPS on Ultra. The Low to Medium drop is 25.1 FPS (16.8%), Medium to High is 29 FPS (23.3%), and High to Ultra is 20.6 FPS (21.6%). The absolute frame rate differences shrink at 4K because the baseline is lower, but the percentage reductions remain consistent with lower resolutions.

Across all resolutions, the Ultra preset consistently delivers approximately half the frame rate of the Low preset. At 1080p, the ratio is 197.6/406.5 (48.6%), at 1440p it is 128.5/268.7 (47.8%), and at 4K it is 74.6/149.3 (50.0%). This consistency indicates that the settings presets scale predictably with resolution, providing users with reliable expectations for frame rate adjustments. The data confirms that 1080p at any settings exceeds 190 FPS, 1440p stays above 128 FPS, and 4K remains above 74 FPS, making all configurations playable but with diminishing returns at higher resolutions and settings.