Counter-Strike 2

# How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-13400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER ranks 2,620th out of 3,719 tested combos in Counter-Strike 2. This places the combo in the 29.6th percentile of all systems measured, meaning roughly 70% of tested configurations deliver higher average frame rates in this title. The ranking reflects a balanced pairing where neither component is dramatically over- or under-powered for the game's demands, but the overall position is dragged down by the GPU's mid-range standing. For context, the CPU alone sits in the 77th percentile against all processors, while the GPU sits in the 62nd percentile against all graphics cards. The gap between those two percentile figures suggests the graphics card is the more limiting factor in this specific game, which is a pattern that becomes more evident when examining resolution scaling in later sections.

# GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER brings 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its memory clock runs at 1750 MHz, which translates to 14 Gbps effective. The GPU's base clock is 1470 MHz, boosting to 1650 MHz under load. With 2176 shading units, 136 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output units, the card also includes 34 RT cores and 272 tensor cores, supporting DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The TU106 chip is built on a 12 nm process at TSMC, with 10,800 million transistors on a 445 mm² die. The card's FP32 throughput is 7.181 TFLOPS, with a texture rate of 224.4 GTexel/s and a pixel rate of 105.6 GPixel/s.

In Counter-Strike 2, the GPU's 8 GB VRAM capacity is more than sufficient at 1080p and 1440p, as the measured frame rates indicate no memory-related bottlenecks at those resolutions. At 4K, however, the card's compute resources become the limiting factor rather than VRAM capacity. The measured data shows a steep drop from 119 FPS at 4K Low to 57 FPS at 4K Ultra, a decline that aligns with the GPU's raw shading power being overwhelmed by higher settings. The GPU's percentile rank of 62 against all GPUs places it in the lower half of the distribution, and its nearest rivals include the RTX 3060 Mobile (0.4% lower average score) and the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 (0.5% lower). The RTX 2060 SUPER's average benchmark score of 18,093 puts it within 1.6% of the Intel Arc A770M, indicating that this card competes with entry-level and older mid-range options rather than current-generation performers.

# FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Counter-Strike 2?

A: The data shows 1080p delivers the highest frame rates, with 322 FPS at Low settings and 200 FPS at High settings. At 1440p, the combo still maintains 213 FPS on Low and 132 FPS on High. At 4K, frame rates drop to 119 FPS on Low and 74 FPS on High, which remains playable but less competitive for high-refresh-rate displays.

Q: How much does the RTX 2060 SUPER's VRAM matter in this game?

A: The 8 GB GDDR6 memory is not a limiting factor in Counter-Strike 2 across any measured resolution or settings preset. The game's demands at 4K Ultra are met with 57 FPS average, indicating the GPU's compute throughput, not memory capacity, is the bottleneck at higher settings.

Q: Is the Core i5-13400F holding back the RTX 2060 SUPER in this game?

A: Benchmark results indicate the CPU is not the primary constraint. The i5-13400F scores 22,604 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 3,191 in single-core, placing it in the 77th percentile of all CPUs. The GPU's 62nd percentile rank suggests it is the limiting component, particularly at 4K where frame rates scale more directly with GPU load.

Q: What settings preset gives the highest frame rate at 1080p?

A: Low settings produce 322 FPS average, which is 54 FPS higher than Medium (268 FPS), 122 FPS higher than High (200 FPS), and 167 FPS higher than Ultra (155 FPS). The jump from Low to Medium costs 54 FPS, while the jump from High to Ultra costs 45 FPS.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K compared to 1080p?

A: At Low settings, 4K delivers 119 FPS versus 322 FPS at 1080p, a 63% reduction. At High settings, 4K delivers 74 FPS versus 200 FPS at 1080p, a 63% reduction. At Medium settings, 4K delivers 99 FPS versus 268 FPS at 1080p, a 63% reduction. The consistent percentage drop indicates CPU and GPU scaling remain proportional across resolutions.

Q: What is the highest playable frame rate achievable with this combo?

A: The maximum measured average is 322 FPS at 1080p with Low settings. The minimum measured average is 57 FPS at 4K with Ultra settings. For competitive play, 1080p Medium at 268 FPS or 1440p Low at 213 FPS offer strong alternatives to the maximum.

# Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates for this combo in Counter-Strike 2 span three resolutions and four settings presets, providing a complete picture of performance scaling.

At 1080p, the average frame rates range from 322 FPS at Low settings down to 155 FPS at Ultra settings. Medium settings deliver 268 FPS with a minimum of 228 FPS and maximum of 308 FPS, while High settings produce 200 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 54 FPS, between Medium and High is 68 FPS, and between High and Ultra is 45 FPS. The Medium preset's min-max range of 228 to 308 FPS shows a spread of 80 FPS, indicating some frame time variability under load.

At 1440p, the frame rates drop but remain high. Low settings produce 213 FPS, Medium delivers 177 FPS with a min-max range of 151 to 204 FPS, High yields 132 FPS, and Ultra drops to 103 FPS. The difference between Low and Medium is 36 FPS, between Medium and High is 45 FPS, and between High and Ultra is 29 FPS. The 1440p Medium range of 151 to 204 FPS shows a spread of 53 FPS, narrower than at 1080p.

At 4K, the frame rates become more modest. Low settings deliver 119 FPS, Medium produces 99 FPS with a min-max range of 84 to 114 FPS, High yields 74 FPS, and Ultra drops to 57 FPS. The difference between Low and Medium is 20 FPS, between Medium and High is 25 FPS, and between High and Ultra is 17 FPS. The 4K Medium range of 84 to 114 FPS shows a spread of 30 FPS, the tightest of all resolutions, suggesting the GPU is more consistently loaded at higher resolutions.

Across all resolutions, the Medium preset provides the only complete min-max data, which allows for frame time analysis. At 1080p, the 228 FPS minimum is still well above the 144 Hz refresh rate common on gaming monitors, while at 1440p the 151 FPS minimum remains competitive. At 4K, the 84 FPS minimum on Medium is the only sub-100 FPS reading in the dataset, indicating that 4K gaming requires settings adjustments to maintain smoothness.

# Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K follows a consistent pattern across all settings presets. At Low settings, the drop from 322 FPS at 1080p to 213 FPS at 1440p to 119 FPS at 4K represents a 34% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a 44% reduction from 1440p to 4K. At High settings, the progression from 200 FPS to 132 FPS to 74 FPS shows a 34% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 44% drop from 1440p to 4K. At Medium settings, the progression from 268 FPS to 177 FPS to 99 FPS shows a 34% drop and then a 44% drop. At Ultra settings, the progression from 155 FPS to 103 FPS to 57 FPS shows a 34% drop and then a 45% drop.

The consistency of these percentages across settings presets is notable. Regardless of whether the game runs at Low or Ultra settings, the resolution scaling penalty remains nearly identical. This suggests that the limiting component is not changing in character as settings increase; rather, the same component is being pushed proportionally harder at each resolution step. The GPU, with its 7.181 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, is the component that scales with pixel count, and the data indicates it is the primary driver of these performance drops.

The fact that the scaling penalty does not worsen at higher settings — the 4K-to-1080p ratio at Low is 37% (119/322) and at Ultra is 37% (57/155) — indicates that the CPU is not becoming a bottleneck at lower resolutions. If the CPU were limiting, we would expect the percentage drop to be smaller at lower settings where the GPU has less work to do. Instead, the consistent scaling points to a balanced pairing where the RTX 2060 SUPER is the dominant constraint across all settings, but the Core i5-13400F provides sufficient headroom to avoid becoming a secondary bottleneck.

# CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor based on Raptor Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 20 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in dual-channel configuration, and it connects via PCIe Gen 5 with 16 lanes. Its process node and die size of 215 mm² place it in the mid-range desktop segment.

In Counter-Strike 2, the CPU's performance is more than adequate for the GPU pairing. The i5-13400F scores 22,604 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 3,191 in single-core, with a PassMark single-thread score of 3,634. The 3DMark single-thread score of 960 and 2-thread score of 1,880 indicate strong per-core performance that is critical for a game like Counter-Strike 2, which typically relies on one or two primary threads for game logic and physics. The CPU's 16 threads provide ample capacity for background tasks and streaming, but the game's frame rates at 1080p — where CPU load is highest relative to GPU — show no signs of CPU limitation.

The CPU's nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS (0% delta), the Intel Core 5 120 (-0.3% delta), and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D (-0.3% delta). The 77th percentile ranking against all CPUs means the i5-13400F outperforms the majority of processors in synthetic benchmarks, and in Counter-Strike 2 specifically, the measured frame rates at 1080p Low (322 FPS) suggest the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU well beyond the point where the RTX 2060 SUPER becomes the bottleneckament.

# Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the optimal settings preset depends on the target resolution and the player's performance priorities.

At 1080p, the Medium preset delivers 268 FPS average with a minimum of 228 FPS and maximum of 308 FPS. This is the most balanced option: it provides a 68 FPS improvement over High settings (200 FPS) while sacrificing only 54 FPS compared to Low settings (322 FPS). For competitive play on a 144 Hz or 240 Hz monitor, Medium settings ensure the frame rate never drops below 228 FPS, which is well above the refresh rate threshold. High settings at 200 FPS are also viable for 144 Hz displays, but the 68 FPS difference between Medium and High makes Medium the better choice for maintaining maximum headroom.

At 1440p, Medium settings deliver 177 FPS with a minimum of 151 FPS and maximum of 204 FPS. This is the sweet spot for high-refresh-rate 1440p monitors, as the minimum frame rate stays above 150 FPS. Low settings at 213 FPS provide additional headroom for 240 Hz displays, but the visual quality trade-off is significant. High settings at 132 FPS are suitable for 120 Hz or 144 Hz monitors, but Medium offers a 45 FPS improvement over High, making it the preferred choice for maintaining smoothness while keeping reasonable visual fidelity. Ultra at 103 FPS is playable on 100 Hz displays but offers diminishing returns compared to Medium.

At 4K, the choice is more constrained. Medium settings produce 99 FPS with a minimum of 84 FPS and maximum of 114 FPS, which is the only preset that maintains an average above 90 FPS. Low settings deliver 119 FPS and are the best option for players prioritizing frame rate at this resolution, while High at 74 FPS and Ultra at 57 FPS are better suited for 60 Hz displays where visual quality takes precedence over frame rate. For 4K gaming, Low or Medium settings are recommended to keep frame rates above the 100 FPS threshold, which is important for a fast-paced FPS like Counter-Strike 2.

Overall, the data indicates that Medium settings provide the best balance of frame rate and visual quality across all resolutions. The Medium preset consistently delivers frame rates that are 30-40% higher than High settings, with only a modest visual quality reduction. For players with high-refresh-rate monitors, Low settings at 1080p or 1440p offer the highest possible frame rates, while those with 4K displays should stick to Low or Medium to avoid dropping below 100 FPS average.