Counter-Strike 2

The Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the Intel Arc B580 presents a balanced mid-range configuration for Counter-Strike 2. Benchmark data shows this combo achieves high frame rates across all tested settings, with performance scaling that clearly delineates the roles of the CPU and GPU. The measured results indicate that at lower resolutions the processor becomes the primary constraint, while at 4K the graphics card takes over as the limiting factor, providing a clear picture of the system's capabilities.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a predictable decline in performance as resolution increases, though the rate of decline varies significantly by settings preset. At Low settings, the average frame rate drops from 311 FPS at 1920x1080 to 206 FPS at 2560x1440, representing a 34% reduction; moving to 3840x2160 yields 115 FPS, a 63% drop from the 1080p figure. This steep scaling curve at Low settings indicates that the system is heavily CPU-bound at 1080p, as the GPU is not fully utilized and can absorb the additional pixel workload at higher resolutions without a proportional loss in frame rate.

The Medium preset shows a different scaling pattern. At 1920x1080, the average is 259 FPS, dropping to 171 FPS at 2560x1440 (a 34% reduction) and 96 FPS at 3840x2160 (a 63% reduction from 1080p). This near-identical percentage drop to the Low preset suggests that the CPU remains the dominant factor through Medium settings, with the Arc B580 having sufficient headroom to handle the increased resolution demands. The min FPS figures for Medium at 1080p (220 FPS) and 1440p (146 FPS) confirm that even the lowest frame rates remain well above playable thresholds.

High settings introduce a more complex scaling relationship. The 1080p average of 193 FPS drops to 128 FPS at 1440p (a 34% reduction) and 72 FPS at 4K (a 63% reduction from 1080p). The consistent 34% and 63% reductions across Low, Medium, and High presets strongly indicate that the CPU's single-thread performance is the bottleneck at 1080p and 1440p, while the 4K results begin to show GPU limitations. The Ultra preset at 4K produces only 56 FPS, the lowest measured score, which shows that the most demanding settings combined with the highest resolution fully saturate the Arc B580's capabilities.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Rocket Lake architecture, built on Intel's 14 nm process. Its base clock of 2.60 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz provide the foundation for Counter-Strike 2's performance, which relies heavily on fast single-threaded execution. The CPU's 12 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for the game's engine, but the data suggests that core count is less critical than clock speed for this title.

Benchmark results for the i5-11400F show a single-thread score of 868 in 3dmark and 2981 in Passmark, placing it in the 71st percentile against all CPUs. The multi-threaded scores are more variable: Cinebench R23 multicore yields 14340, while the 3dmark max threads score is 5652. These figures indicate that the processor has competent multi-core performance for general workloads, but Counter-Strike 2's engine appears to favor the single-thread capabilities, as evidenced by the frame rate scaling at 1080p.

The nearest rivals to the i5-11400F, based on average benchmark scores, include the AMD EPYC 7H12 (only 0.3% higher), the Intel Core i5-12450H (0.4% lower), and the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G (0.6% lower). This clustering suggests that the i5-11400F sits in a competitive performance tier, but the 4.40 GHz boost clock is the key differentiator for Counter-Strike 2, where the measured 311 FPS at 1080p Low settings demonstrates that the processor can feed the Arc B580 at very high frame rates without becoming a severe bottleneck.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achieved by this combo?

A: The highest measured average is 311 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings, followed by 259 FPS at Medium and 193 FPS at High settings at the same resolution.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K resolution?

A: At 3840x2160, the average FPS ranges from 115 FPS at Low settings to 56 FPS at Ultra settings, with Medium producing 96 FPS and High producing 72 FPS.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded in the measurements?

A: The lowest minimum FPS recorded is 81 FPS at 3840x2160 with Medium settings, while the 2560x1440 Medium preset shows a minimum of 146 FPS and 1920x1080 Medium shows 220 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more limiting for this game?

A: At 1080p and 1440p, the CPU is the primary limiter, as frame rates scale similarly across Low, Medium, and High presets. At 4K, the GPU becomes the bottleneck, particularly at Ultra settings where the average drops to 56 FPS.

Q: What is the combo's ranking among all tested configurations?

A: This combo ranks 2787th out of 3719 tested combos for Counter-Strike 2, placing it in the lower half of all configurations tested.

Q: Does the Ultra preset provide playable performance at any resolution?

A: Yes, at 1920x1080 Ultra yields 150 FPS average, at 2560x1440 Ultra yields 99 FPS, and at 3840x2160 Ultra yields 56 FPS, all of which are technically playable but with diminishing returns at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 2787 out of 3719 tested configurations places this system in the 25th percentile of all tested combos for Counter-Strike 2. This ranking is notably lower than the individual component percentiles — the CPU sits in the 71st percentile and the GPU in the 68th percentile — which suggests that the combination of these specific parts does not yield performance proportionate to their individual benchmark standings. The discrepancy indicates that while each component is capable on its own, their interaction in this game creates a suboptimal pairing.

The ranking becomes more understandable when examining the measured FPS data. At 1080p, the combo achieves 311 FPS at Low settings, which is undeniably high, but many other combos in the database likely exceed this figure. The CPU's 71st percentile ranking means that roughly 29% of tested CPUs outperform it, and when paired with GPUs that have similar or better performance, those systems would rank higher. The Arc B580's 68th percentile GPU ranking similarly indicates that a significant portion of tested GPUs outperform it, further suppressing the combo's overall position.

The deltaPct values for the GPU's nearest rivals show that the Arc B580 is essentially tied with the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP (0.2% lower), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (0.6% higher), and the NVIDIA P106-100 (1% lower). This tight clustering around the 23000 average benchmark score suggests that the GPU is not a standout performer in its class, which directly impacts the combo's ranking. The CPU's nearest rivals similarly show a narrow spread of performance, meaning that the i5-11400F does not offer a significant advantage over its immediate competitors.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B580, based on the Xe2-HPG architecture and built on TSMC's 5 nm process, provides 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus with 456.0 GB/s bandwidth. The GPU's 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 80 ROPs are complemented by 20 ray tracing cores. Its boost clock of 2670 MHz translates to a pixel rate of 213.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 427.2 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance rated at 13.67 TFLOPS.

In Counter-Strike 2, the GPU's role becomes increasingly important as resolution rises. At 4K, the measured frame rates show a clear dependence on the graphics preset: Low settings produce 115 FPS, Medium 96 FPS, High 72 FPS, and Ultra 56 FPS. The 115 FPS at 4K Low indicates that the GPU can handle the pixel workload when graphical effects are minimized, but the drop to 56 FPS at Ultra reveals the limits of the 13.67 TFLOPS FP32 throughput and the 456.0 GB/s memory bandwidth.

The GPU's benchmark performance, measured at 15748 in Passmark G3D and 3068 in 3dmark Steel Nomad, places it in the 68th percentile of all GPUs. The nearest rival comparisons show the Arc B580's average score of 23021 is nearly identical to the RTX 2080's 22895 (0.6% higher for the Arc) and the RTX 3080's 23172 (0.7% lower for the Arc). This indicates that the Arc B580 performs in the same tier as these established NVIDIA cards, which is notable for a new architecture but also means it does not surpass them. The 12 GB VRAM capacity is not a limiting factor at the tested resolutions, as Counter-Strike 2's memory requirements are modest, but the GPU's overall throughput becomes the deciding factor at 4K Ultra.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average frame rates are 311 FPS at Low, 259 FPS at Medium, 193 FPS at High, and 150 FPS at Ultra. The Medium preset also recorded a minimum of 220 FPS and a maximum of 298 FPS, providing a narrow range that indicates consistent frame pacing. The 311 FPS Low figure is the highest of any resolution and settings combination, showing that at 1080p the system has substantial headroom for competitive play.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages drop to 206 FPS at Low, 171 FPS at Medium, 128 FPS at High, and 99 FPS at Ultra. The Medium preset at this resolution shows a minimum of 146 FPS and a maximum of 197 FPS, with the 51 FPS spread between min and max being slightly wider than at 1080p, indicating more frame time variance. The 99 FPS at Ultra is still comfortably playable but represents a 34% drop from the 150 FPS at 1080p Ultra.

At 3840x2160, the performance decreases significantly: 115 FPS at Low, 96 FPS at Medium, 72 FPS at High, and 56 FPS at Ultra. The Medium preset at 4K is the only configuration with complete min/max data, showing a minimum of 81 FPS and a maximum of 110 FPS. The 81 FPS minimum is the lowest recorded frame rate across all tests, though it remains above the threshold for smooth gameplay. The progression from 115 FPS at Low to 56 FPS at Ultra demonstrates that the GPU is the limiting factor at 4K, with each settings increase costing roughly 20 FPS on average.

Settings Recommendations

For competitive play at 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers the highest average frame rate at 311 FPS, which provides the maximum responsiveness for fast-paced gameplay. The Medium preset at 259 FPS offers a strong balance between visual quality and performance, with a minimum of 220 FPS ensuring that frame rates never dip below the refresh rate of most high-end monitors. Given that the data shows only a 52 FPS difference between Low and Medium at 1080p, the Medium preset is the recommended choice for players who want both high frame rates and improved visual fidelity.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset at 171 FPS represents the best combination of quality and speed, with the Low preset at 206 FPS being the choice for those prioritizing maximum frame rates. The High preset at 128 FPS is still viable for 144Hz monitors, but the 43 FPS drop from Medium to High suggests that the graphical improvements are not worth the performance cost. The Ultra preset at 99 FPS should only be used on 60Hz displays, as it does not provide enough headroom for competitive play.

For 4K gaming, the Low preset at 115 FPS is the only configuration that approaches high refresh rate territory, while Medium at 96 FPS is suitable for 90Hz displays. The High preset at 72 FPS and Ultra at 56 FPS are best reserved for slower-paced gameplay or when visual quality takes priority over frame rate. Overall, the data indicates that Medium settings at 1080p or 1440p provide the optimal experience for this combo, balancing the CPU's high frame rate capabilities with the GPU's rendering power.