Counter-Strike 2

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates for Counter-Strike 2 across the three tested resolutions reveal a classic CPU-bound scenario at lower settings, with the GPU asserting dominance only as resolution and graphical load increase. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combination of the Intel Core i5-13400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER produces an average of 669.2 FPS. This figure is extraordinarily high and indicates that the rendering pipeline is largely limited by the CPU's ability to feed the GPU draw calls, rather than by the graphics card's raw throughput.

Scaling to 2560x1440 on Low settings yields 444.8 FPS, a reduction of approximately 33.5% from the 1080p result. The drop from 444.8 FPS at 1440p to 245.5 FPS at 4K (3840x2160) on Low settings is a further 44.8% reduction. These are substantial declines, but the absolute numbers remain far above the refresh rates of typical high-end monitors. The pattern changes noticeably when moving to higher presets. At 4K with Ultra settings, the average FPS falls to 118.7, which is a 50.3% drop compared to the 4K High setting result of 153.3 FPS. This steep decline from High to Ultra at 4K, contrasted with the more moderate scaling at lower resolutions, suggests that the Ultra preset introduces rendering features that heavily tax the GPU's shading and memory subsystems.

The data shows that at 1080p, the frame rate ceiling is dictated by the processor. The spread between Low (669.2 FPS) and High (416.6 FPS) at 1080p is a 37.7% performance penalty. At 4K, the same preset comparison shows a smaller relative gap: Low (245.5 FPS) versus High (153.3 FPS) is a 37.5% penalty. While the percentages are similar, the limiting factor shifts. At 1080p, even the High preset leaves the GPU underutilized, as the CPU cannot generate enough frames to saturate the RTX 4080 SUPER. At 4K, the pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth become the primary constraints. The RTX 4080 SUPER's 736.3 GB/s memory bandwidth and 285.6 GPixel/s pixel rate are substantial, but the game's engine at 4K Ultra demands more than these resources can deliver to maintain the frame rates seen at lower settings. The conclusion is that for maximum frame rates, 1080p is the resolution of choice, but the system has enough headroom at 1440p to deliver competitive esports performance without compromise.

Settings Recommendations

For players prioritizing maximum responsiveness, the Low preset at 1080p delivers the highest measured average at 669.2 FPS. This setting minimizes graphical features that obscure enemy visibility and provides the largest margin over display refresh rates. However, the data suggests that the Medium preset at 1080p, with an average of 554.8 FPS, offers a more balanced experience. The performance difference between Low and Medium at 1080p is a 17.1% reduction, which is unlikely to be perceptible on most monitors, while the visual quality improvement from Medium over Low is often significant in Counter-Strike 2 due to texture filtering and shadow details.

At 1440p, the High preset achieves 279 FPS, which is still exceptionally high. The jump from Medium (367.4 FPS) to High (279 FPS) at 1440p is a 24.1% performance cost. Given that many high-refresh-rate monitors cap at 240 Hz or 360 Hz, the 1440p High setting provides a framerate that exceeds the capabilities of all but the most exotic displays, making it an excellent choice for competitive play with enhanced visual clarity. For 4K users, the High preset at 153.3 FPS is the recommended balance. The Ultra preset at 4K drops to 118.7 FPS, which is a 22.6% reduction from High. While 118.7 FPS is playable, the visual difference between High and Ultra in a fast-paced FPS is often marginal compared to the frame rate loss. The data indicates that the High preset is the sweet spot across all resolutions, providing a consistent experience that leverages the hardware's capabilities without succumbing to diminishing returns. The Medium preset at 4K (208.1 FPS) is also viable for those who prefer higher frame rates over maximum fidelity, but the High preset offers the best combination of visual clarity and performance headroom.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is a formidable component in this configuration, and its role in Counter-Strike 2 is clearly defined by the benchmark data. With 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, the card provides a memory bandwidth of 736.3 GB/s. This bandwidth is a critical factor for texture streaming and geometry processing, especially at 4K resolution where the data requirements increase substantially. The benchmark results show that the GPU is not the bottleneck at 1080p, where the CPU limits performance. However, at 4K Ultra, the GPU's capabilities are fully exercised, and the average FPS of 118.7 reflects the card's ability to handle the increased pixel load.

The card's boost clock of 2550 MHz and base clock of 2295 MHz are standard for the Ada Lovelace architecture. The FP32 performance of 52.22 TFLOPS is notable, but in a game like Counter-Strike 2, which is heavily optimized for CPU-bound scenarios, this raw compute power is not always the deciding factor. The benchmark data shows that at 4K, the delta between Low and High settings is 92.2 FPS (from 245.5 to 153.3), which indicates that the GPU's shading units and ROPs are being utilized more intensively as settings increase. The card's 112 ROPs and 320 TMUs contribute to the pixel and texture fill rates, which are essential for maintaining high frame rates at elevated resolutions. The GPU's 88th percentile ranking among all GPUs, based on an average benchmark score of 53610, places it just ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT by 0.2% and the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M by 0.4%, according to the nearestRivals data. This positioning confirms that the RTX 4080 SUPER is a top-tier performer, but in Counter-Strike 2, its full potential is only realized at higher resolutions and preset levels.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-13400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER achieves a rank of 111 out of 1632 tested combos in Counter-Strike 2. This places the setup in the top 6.8% of all configurations in the database. The ranking confirms the CPU's strong single-threaded performance and the GPU's high-end capabilities. The i5-13400F's single-thread benchmark score of 960 in 3dmark and 3004 in Cinebench R23 are strong indicators of its ability to drive high frame rates in a CPU-bound game. The combo's rank is not at the absolute top, which is likely dominated by processors with higher boost clocks and more cache. However, the 111th position out of 1632 is an impressive result, especially when considering that the CPU is a mid-range offering from the 13th generation.

The GPU's rank against its peers shows a tight grouping. The RTX 4080 SUPER is just 0.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT and 2.9% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti in average benchmark scores. This close competition suggests that the GPU is not the sole reason for the combo's high rank; the CPU's contribution is equally important. The data implies that in Counter-Strike 2, the i5-13400F provides enough processing power to avoid bottlenecking the RTX 4080 SUPER, allowing the combo to achieve frame rates that are competitive with systems using more expensive processors. The combo rank of 111 indicates that there are 110 other configurations that outperform this one, likely featuring flagship CPUs like the Core i9 series or Ryzen 9 parts with higher boost frequencies. Nevertheless, this combo's performance is exceptional for its price point, delivering frame rates that are more than sufficient for competitive play.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture. Its base clock of 2.50 GHz and boost clock of 4.60 GHz are key specifications for Counter-Strike 2, which is known to be sensitive to single-threaded performance. The benchmark data shows that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 669.2 FPS, a figure that is only possible with a CPU that can process game logic and issue draw calls at an extremely high rate. The CPU's L3 cache of 20 MB shared is also beneficial, as it reduces memory latency for frequently accessed game data. The i5-13400F's performance is further evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3004, which is a strong indicator of its capability in lightly-threaded workloads.

In terms of multi-threaded performance, the CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21279 and Passmark multithread score of 25032 show that it has ample headroom for background tasks, but these are not the primary drivers of frame rates in Counter-Strike 2. The game's engine scales well with a few fast cores, and the i5-13400F's boost clock of 4.60 GHz on its performance cores is well-suited to this task. The CPU's nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i7-13620H with a deltaPct of 0.1% and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D with a deltaPct of -0.5%, highlight how closely matched the i5-13400F is to other processors in its class. The 5600X3D, with its 3D V-Cache, is often favored in gaming, but the benchmark data shows that the i5-13400F is within a half a percent of its average score. This suggests that the i5-13400F provides excellent value in gaming scenarios, particularly when paired with a high-end GPU like the RTX 4080 SUPER. The CPU's role in this combo is to ensure that the GPU is never starved of data, and the measured FPS numbers confirm that it succeeds in this regard across all tested resolutions and settings.