Counter-Strike 2

# Counter-Strike 2 with Intel Core i5-11400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D: A CPU-Limited Powerhouse

The combination of the Intel Core i5-11400F and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D in Counter-Strike 2 produces extraordinary frame rates across all tested resolutions, but the data reveals a profound imbalance: this pairing is overwhelmingly CPU-bound at lower resolutions, with the GPU's immense power only becoming fully relevant at 4K Ultra settings. At 1080p, the system delivers between 392 and 596 FPS depending on settings, while at 4K, it ranges from 145 to 301 FPS. The i5-11400F, a 6-core, 12-thread Rocket Lake processor with a 2.60 GHz base clock and 4.40 GHz boost clock, becomes the limiting factor below 1440p, while the RTX 5090 D's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth only flex its muscles at the highest resolution and quality presets.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic CPU-bound scenario that gradually transitions to GPU-bound territory. At Low settings, the drop from 1080p to 1440p is a modest 12.9% (596 to 519 FPS), and from 1440p to 4K, a steep 42.0% (519 to 301 FPS). This pattern indicates that at 1080p Low, the CPU is the ceiling—the RTX 5090 D has ample headroom, and the i5-11400F cannot feed frames fast enough to push higher. The 77 FPS difference between 1080p and 1440p at Low settings is relatively small compared to the 218 FPS drop from 1440p to 4K, suggesting that the GPU begins to matter more as pixel count increases.

At Medium settings, the scaling curve steepens more uniformly: 1080p to 1440p drops 19.7% (558 to 448 FPS), and 1440p to 4K drops 44.2% (448 to 250 FPS). The 4K Medium result of 250 FPS is still remarkably high, but the delta between 1440p and 4K grows larger than the delta between 1080p and 1440p, confirming that resolution is increasingly taxing the GPU while the CPU remains relatively constant in its per-frame workload. High settings show a similar relative pattern: 502 to 334 FPS (33.5% drop) from 1080p to 1440p, then 334 to 187 FPS (44.0% drop) from 1440p to 4K.

Ultra settings produce the most dramatic scaling, with 1080p delivering 392 FPS, 1440p dropping to 260 FPS (33.7% decrease), and 4K falling to 145 FPS (44.2% decrease from 1440p). The 4K Ultra result of 145 FPS is the only configuration that approaches anything resembling a typical GPU-bound workload, yet it still exceeds 144 Hz refresh rates. The consistent pattern across all settings—a larger percentage drop from 1440p to 4K than from 1080p to 1440p—indicates that at 1080p, the i5-11400F is nearly always the bottleneck, while at 4K, the RTX 5090 D starts to share the load more evenly. The data suggests that users with 1080p or 1440p high-refresh monitors will be limited by the CPU in most scenarios, while 4K users will extract more value from the GPU.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on Rocket Lake architecture, built on Intel's 14 nm process with a 65 W TDP. Its 2.60 GHz base clock and 4.40 GHz boost clock, combined with 12 MB of shared L3 cache, provide the single-thread performance that Counter-Strike 2 heavily relies upon. The benchmark data shows a 3dmark_single_thread score of 868 and a passmark_single_thread score of 2981, which are respectable but not elite numbers for a processor from this era. The i5-11400F ranks in the 71st percentile against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17177, placing it just 0.3% above the AMD EPYC 7H12 (17120) and 0.6% above the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U (17074), while trailing the Intel Core i5-12450H by 0.4% and the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G by 0.6%.

In Counter-Strike 2, the CPU's role is most apparent at 1080p Low, where the system produces 596 FPS—likely near the practical ceiling for this processor in this game. The gap between 1080p Low (596 FPS) and 1080p High (502 FPS) is 94 FPS, a 15.8% difference, which is relatively small compared to the scaling seen from GPU-side changes. This suggests that even at Low settings, the CPU is already working near its limit, and increasing graphics quality does not free up additional CPU headroom—the processor is consistently the constraint at 1080p.

The Cinebench R23 results (14340 multicore, 2024 single-core) and Geekbench scores (7737 multicore, 1777 single-core) indicate a processor that can handle the game's logic, physics, and draw call processing without issue, but the architecture's 14 nm process and 2.60 GHz base clock limit its peak throughput. The 3dmark_16_threads score of 5619 and 3dmark_max_threads score of 5652 show that the 12 threads are well-utilized, but the 3dmark_2_threads score of 1691 highlights that the processor's strength lies in multi-threaded workloads rather than raw single-thread speed. For Counter-Strike 2, which typically relies on one or two primary threads for game logic, the i5-11400F's single-thread performance of 868 in 3dmark_single_thread may not be sufficient to fully saturate the RTX 5090 D at lower resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear hierarchy of settings presets, with the optimal choice depending on the user's resolution and refresh rate priorities. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers 596 FPS, Medium delivers 558 FPS, High delivers 502 FPS, and Ultra delivers 392 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium costs only 38 FPS (6.4% reduction) while likely providing meaningful visual improvements, making Medium the recommended preset for 1080p users seeking a balance. High costs an additional 56 FPS (10.0% reduction from Medium) and may be worthwhile for those with 360 Hz displays, while Ultra's 392 FPS still exceeds most monitors' capabilities but represents a 34.2% reduction from Low.

At 1440p, the pattern shifts: Low produces 519 FPS, Medium 448 FPS, High 334 FPS, and Ultra 260 FPS. Medium at 1440p (448 FPS) is only 13.7% slower than Low (519 FPS), making it the sweet spot for 1440p high-refresh gaming. High at 1440p (334 FPS) is still extremely fast and suitable for 240 Hz panels, while Ultra (260 FPS) remains playable on 240 Hz displays but sacrifices 49.9% of the Low preset's performance. The 4K results show Low at 301 FPS, Medium at 250 FPS, High at 187 FPS, and Ultra at 145 FPS. At 4K, Medium (250 FPS) is the recommended preset for most users, as it provides 83.1% of Low's performance while offering substantially better image quality. High at 4K (187 FPS) is suitable for 144 Hz displays, and Ultra (145 FPS) barely misses the 144 Hz mark, making it a marginal choice for those with 120 Hz panels.

The measured data includes min/max FPS values only for Medium settings across all resolutions: 1080p Medium shows 474 min and 642 max FPS, 1440p Medium shows 380 min and 515 max FPS, and 4K Medium shows 213 min and 288 max FPS. The 4K Medium min FPS of 213 suggests that even in demanding scenes, the system maintains high frame rates, but the 1080p Medium min of 474 indicates that the CPU can cause occasional frame dips even at lower resolutions. For competitive play, the Low or Medium presets at 1080p or 1440p provide the highest and most consistent frame rates, while for visually oriented play, Medium at 4K offers an excellent balance.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D ranks 84th out of 2870 tested combos in Counter-Strike 2, placing it in the top 2.9% of all configurations. This ranking is notable because the CPU is a mid-range 11th-gen part from 2021, while the GPU is one of the most powerful consumer graphics cards available, with the RTX 5090 D sitting in the 92nd percentile against all GPUs. The top 83 combos are presumably built around even more capable CPUs that can better feed the RTX 5090 D at lower resolutions, where this combo's i5-11400F becomes the limiting factor.

The rank of 84 out of 2870 reflects the system's extreme performance at higher resolutions and settings, where the GPU's power shines, but also its relative weakness at 1080p Low, where the CPU bottleneck prevents it from achieving the truly astronomical frame rates that a newer, higher-clocked processor might enable. The i5-11400F's average benchmark score of 17177 places it just 0.3% above the AMD EPYC 7H12 and 0.6% above the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U, while trailing the Intel Core i5-12450H by 0.4% and the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G by 0.6%. These rival CPUs are all within 1% of the i5-11400F's performance, suggesting that swapping to any of them would yield only marginal improvements in Counter-Strike 2.

The combo's ranking is impressive given the CPU's age and market position, but the data clearly shows that a stronger CPU would push this combination higher. The RTX 5090 D's immense compute resources—104.8 TFLOPS FP32, 21760 shading units, and 680 tensor cores—are underutilized at 1080p, where the i5-11400F's 6 cores and 12 threads cannot generate enough frames to keep the GPU busy. At 4K Ultra, the combo's 145 FPS shows the GPU finally working harder, but even then, the CPU's single-thread performance may limit peak frame rates in CPU-intensive scenes.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is a Blackwell 2.0 architecture GPU built on TSMC's 5 nm process, featuring 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die. Its 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus provides 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, while the 2017 MHz base clock and 2407 MHz boost clock drive 21760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs. The GPU's 170 ray tracing cores and 680 tensor cores deliver 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 104.8 TFLOPS of FP16 performance (1:1 ratio). With a 575 W TDP and a suggested 950 W PSU, this is a power-hungry flagship that sits in the 92nd percentile against all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 77712.

In Counter-Strike 2, the GPU's role becomes dominant only at 4K Ultra, where it produces 145 FPS—a 63.0% reduction from 4K Low's 301 FPS. The GPU's benchmark results show it trailing the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT by 1.6% and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 (16 GB) by 2.4%, while leading the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT by 1.1% and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 (12 GB) by 2.1%. These nearest rivals are all within 2.5% of the RTX 5090 D's average score, suggesting that in synthetic benchmarks, the card's performance is comparable to these alternatives, though the 5090 D's 32 GB VRAM and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth provide substantial headroom for future titles.

The GPU's 3dmark_steel_nomad_dx12 score of 14326 and passmark_g3d score of 44065 indicate strong raw performance, but Counter-Strike 2 is not a GPU-intensive title. At 1080p Low, the 596 FPS result is likely near the CPU's limit, not the GPU's—the RTX 5090 D could probably render 1000+ FPS if the i5-11400F could feed it. The GPU's 423.6 GPixel/s pixel rate and 1,636.8 GTexel/s texture rate are more than sufficient for this game's relatively simple graphics, and its 176 ROPs ensure efficient pixel throughput. The 92nd percentile ranking confirms that this is an elite GPU, but the combo's 84th place ranking out of 2870 shows that the CPU holds it back from the very top.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS data across all resolutions and settings is as follows:

3840x2160 (4K):

• Ultra: 145 FPS average (no min/max recorded)
• High: 187 FPS average (no min/max recorded)
• Medium: 250 FPS average, 213 FPS minimum, 288 FPS maximum
• Low: 301 FPS average (no min/max recorded)

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Ultra: 260 FPS average (no min/max recorded)
• High: 334 FPS average (no min/max recorded)
• Medium: 448 FPS average, 380 FPS minimum, 515 FPS maximum
• Low: 519 FPS average (no min/max recorded)

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Ultra: 392 FPS average (no min/max recorded)
• High: 502 FPS average (no min/max recorded)
• Medium: 558 FPS average, 474 FPS minimum, 642 FPS maximum
• Low: 596 FPS average (no min/max recorded)

The data reveals a consistent pattern: at every resolution, the gap between Low and Medium is smaller than the gap between High and Ultra. At 1080p, Low to Medium is a 38 FPS difference, Medium to High is 44 FPS, and High to Ultra is 110 FPS. At 1440p, the gaps are 71 FPS (Low to Medium), 114 FPS (Medium to High), and 74 FPS (High to Ultra). At 4K, the gaps are 51 FPS (Low to Medium), 63 FPS (Medium to High), and 42 FPS (High to Ultra). The Ultra preset consistently imposes the largest performance penalty at 1080p and 1440p, suggesting that Ultra enables features that are disproportionately expensive in Counter-Strike 2.

The min/max data for Medium settings provides insight into frame time consistency: at 1080p, the 474-642 FPS range shows a 35.4% spread from min to max, while at 1440p, the 380-515 FPS range shows a 35.5% spread, and at 4K, the 213-288 FPS range shows a 35.2% spread. This consistent relative spread suggests that frame pacing is stable regardless of resolution, with the CPU and GPU both contributing to occasional dips and spikes. The 4K Medium min of 213 FPS ensures that even the most demanding scenes remain far above typical refresh rates, while the 1080p Medium max of 642 FPS approaches the CPU's practical limit. Overall, this combo delivers exceptional performance in Counter-Strike 2, with the CPU as the primary bottleneck at lower resolutions and the GPU taking on more responsibility as resolution and settings increase.