Counter-Strike 2

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates for Counter-Strike 2 with the Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 reveal a steep performance curve as resolution climbs. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo delivers 695.8 FPS average, but dropping to 1440p Low reduces that to 511.3 FPS, and at 4K Low it falls further to 288.6 FPS. This represents a 58.5% decline from 1080p to 4K at the lowest preset, indicating that even at Low settings the GPU is increasingly burdened by pixel count. The RTX 5090’s 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 512-bit bus width provide ample bandwidth, yet the frame rate still scales downward consistently with resolution.

The High preset shows a similar pattern: 482 FPS at 1080p, 320.7 FPS at 1440p, and 179.2 FPS at 4K. That is a 62.8% drop across the resolution range. The Medium preset goes from 639.8 FPS at 1080p to 425.5 FPS at 1440p and 234.8 FPS at 4K, a 63.3% reduction. Ultra settings are the most demanding, starting at 370.5 FPS at 1080p, falling to 245 FPS at 1440p, and bottoming out at 138.9 FPS at 4K — a 62.5% decline.

The consistency of these percentage drops across presets suggests that resolution scaling is largely uniform in Counter-Strike 2 for this hardware pairing. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 149.7 FPS, while at 1080p that gap is 325.3 FPS. This narrowing at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU becomes the primary limiting factor as pixel count increases, while at 1080p the CPU’s performance ceiling plays a larger role. The i5-12400’s 6 cores and 12 threads with a boost clock of 4.40 GHz are sufficient to feed the RTX 5090 at lower resolutions, but the data shows diminishing returns as resolution rises.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested CPU-GPU combinations for Counter-Strike 2, this pairing ranks 18th out of 1,632 combos. That places it in the top 1.1% of all tested configurations, a strong showing for a mid-range processor paired with a flagship graphics card. The i5-12400 itself holds a 77th percentile ranking among all CPUs, while the RTX 5090 sits in the 94th percentile among all GPUs. The combination of a high-percentile GPU with a solidly above-average CPU produces a system that excels in this esports title.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in general benchmark scores include the Intel Core i7-9700 with a deltaPct of 0.1, meaning the i5-12400 performs essentially identically to that older i7. The Intel Core i7-8700 trails by 0.2%, while the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5995WX is 0.4% behind. The Intel Core i5-11600K is 0.4% ahead. These tight margins show that the i5-12400 competes directly with older high-end chips and even a workstation-class Threadripper in aggregate CPU workloads, though Counter-Strike 2’s specific engine behavior may differ.

For the GPU, the RTX 5090’s nearest rivals are the RTX 5090 D (0.1% ahead in average score), the RTX 5050 Mobile (0.2% ahead), the AMD Radeon PRO W6600 (1.3% ahead), and the NVIDIA CMP 40HX (1.6% behind). The deltaPct values here are all within 1.6%, indicating that the RTX 5090’s aggregate benchmark score is closely matched by a range of cards with very different market positions. This does not directly translate to game performance, but it contextualizes the GPU’s raw compute standing.

Given the combo’s 18th place finish, the data indicates that this pairing outperforms the vast majority of tested systems in Counter-Strike 2. The rank reflects a combination that can push well beyond typical refresh rates at all but the most demanding settings and resolutions.

GPU Role

The RTX 5090’s specifications explain much of its behavior in Counter-Strike 2. The GPU operates with a base clock of 2017 MHz and a boost clock of 2407 MHz, with memory running at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). The 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus yields 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for this game’s asset streaming and texture requirements at any resolution tested.

The GPU’s 21,760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs provide the raw throughput needed to sustain high frame rates. The pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s are directly relevant to how the card handles Counter-Strike 2’s relatively simple geometry but potentially complex smoke and lighting effects. The 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 performance gives the card headroom that is not fully utilized at 1080p, where the measured frame rates suggest other bottlenecks.

At 4K Ultra, the card still manages 138.9 FPS average, which is well above typical display refresh rates. The fact that Low settings at 4K produce 288.6 FPS while Ultra produces 138.9 FPS shows a 149.7 FPS spread attributable entirely to graphical settings. This indicates that the GPU has significant performance reserves even at the highest resolution tested. The 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores are present but not heavily leveraged in a title like Counter-Strike 2, which does not rely on ray tracing or DLSS in these measurements.

The GPU’s 575 W TDP and dual-slot design with a single 16-pin connector are notable for system planning, but the measured data shows that the card delivers its performance headroom consistently across all tested configurations.

Settings Recommendations

Examining the measured FPS rows, the Medium preset at 1440p delivers 425.5 FPS average, which is more than sufficient for any competitive display. At 1080p Medium, the combo reaches 639.8 FPS, and even at 4K Medium it holds 234.8 FPS. The Medium preset appears to be the sweet spot for balancing visual quality and frame rate headroom, as it sits roughly halfway between Low and High in both performance and presumably visual fidelity.

For players targeting 240 Hz or 360 Hz displays at 1080p, the Low preset at 695.8 FPS provides maximum headroom, though Medium at 639.8 FPS still exceeds the refresh rate of most monitors. At 1440p, Low at 511.3 FPS and Medium at 425.5 FPS both clear the 360 Hz threshold. At 4K, the High preset at 179.2 FPS is sufficient for 144 Hz displays, while Medium at 234.8 FPS can drive a 240 Hz panel.

The Ultra preset, while delivering 370.5 FPS at 1080p and 245 FPS at 1440p, drops to 138.9 FPS at 4K. This is still playable but represents the largest performance penalty relative to other presets. Given that Counter-Strike 2 is a competitive title where frame rate consistency matters, the data suggests that Medium at 1080p or 1440p offers the best combination of visual quality and performance margin. The High preset at 1440p (320.7 FPS) is also a strong choice for those wanting better visuals without sacrificing competitive viability.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the measured results show a clear hierarchy across settings. Low delivers 695.8 FPS average, Medium 639.8 FPS, High 482 FPS, and Ultra 370.5 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 56 FPS, between Medium and High is 157.8 FPS, and between High and Ultra is 111.5 FPS. The largest single-setting jump occurs from Medium to High, suggesting that preset introduces significant rendering cost.

At 1440p, the same pattern holds with lower absolute numbers. Low produces 511.3 FPS, Medium 425.5 FPS, High 320.7 FPS, and Ultra 245 FPS. The difference between Low and Medium is 85.8 FPS, Medium to High is 104.8 FPS, and High to Ultra is 75.7 FPS. The proportional gaps are more compressed than at 1080p, reflecting the increased GPU load at this resolution.

At 4K, Low drops to 288.6 FPS, Medium to 234.8 FPS, High to 179.2 FPS, and Ultra to 138.9 FPS. The Low-to-Medium gap is 53.8 FPS, Medium-to-High is 55.6 FPS, and High-to-Ultra is 40.3 FPS. The overall spread from Low to Ultra at 4K is 149.7 FPS, which is the smallest absolute spread of the three resolutions, confirming that the GPU becomes increasingly dominant as the bottleneck at higher pixel counts.

Across all resolutions, the data shows that this combo never drops below 138.9 FPS even at the most demanding settings, which is the 4K Ultra result. This means the pairing is viable for high-refresh-rate competitive play at any resolution, though the optimal settings depend on the specific refresh rate of the display being used.