Counter-Strike 2

# Counter-Strike 2 with Intel Core i5-14400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060

This combo sits near the middle of the pack in Counter-Strike 2, ranking 780th out of 1,632 tested combinations. That places it in the 52nd percentile of all tested system pairings for this title. The data reveals a fascinating split: at 1080p the system reaches extremely high frame rates that rival much more expensive setups, but at 4K Ultra it drops to just 73.4 FPS. This tells a story of a balanced pairing where neither component is a clear bottleneck at lower resolutions, but the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution and settings climb.

How This Combo Ranks

With a rank of 780 out of 1,632 combos, this system lands almost exactly at the median for Counter-Strike 2 performance. That might sound unremarkable, but the context matters. Counter-Strike 2 is a highly competitive FPS where frame rates above 200 are the norm for serious players, and this combo delivers that at 1080p Medium and High settings. The ranking reflects a pairing that is competent but not exceptional—it outperforms roughly half of all tested combinations while being beaten by the other half.

The CPU itself sits in the 88th percentile versus all CPUs tested, which is a strong showing. Its average benchmark score of 32,508 nearly matches the Intel Core i7-12800H (32,513, 0% delta) and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 (32,446, 0.2% delta). It slightly edges out the AMD Ryzen 7 250 (32,584, -0.2% delta) and Intel Core i7-13705H (32,586, -0.2% delta). The GPU places in the 73rd percentile among all GPUs, with an average score of 30,109 that is essentially tied with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT (30,097, 0% delta). The data suggests the CPU is the stronger half of this pairing relative to its peers, yet the game's measured results show the GPU taking over as the bottleneck at higher settings.

FAQ

Q: How does this system perform at 1080p with Low settings?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves 405.5 FPS average. This is the highest measured result in the entire dataset for this pairing, exceeding the 1080p Medium score of 334.4 FPS by over 70 frames.

Q: What happens when resolution increases to 4K?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS drops to 73.4. Even at 4K Low, the system only manages 149.1 FPS, which is less than half the 1080p Low result. The scaling shows a clear GPU limitation at higher resolutions.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The data indicates the GPU becomes the primary limiter at higher resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the system hits 405.5 FPS, suggesting the CPU can push very high frame rates. But at 4K Ultra, performance falls to 73.4 FPS, which points to the RTX 5060's 8 GB VRAM and memory bandwidth being insufficient for the load.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Intel Core i5-14400F scores 32,508 on average, matching the Intel Core i7-12800H (32,513, 0% delta) almost exactly. It outperforms the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 (32,446, 0.2% delta) by a tiny margin and trails the AMD Ryzen 7 250 (32,584, -0.2% delta) and Intel Core i7-13705H (32,586, -0.2% delta) by equally small amounts.

Q: What is the best preset for competitive play?

A: For maximum frame rates, 1080p Low at 405.5 FPS is the clear choice. For a balance of visuals and performance, 1440p Medium at 224 FPS offers high refresh rates while maintaining better image quality than Low settings.

Q: Does the GPU outperform its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 5060 scores 30,109 on average, essentially tied with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT (30,097, 0% delta). It trails the AMD Radeon RX 570 (30,158, -0.2% delta) slightly, while beating the NVIDIA Tesla M60 (29,969, 0.5% delta) and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile (29,928, 0.6% delta).

Resolution Scaling

The scaling behavior across resolutions reveals where this system's strengths and weaknesses lie. Moving from 1080p to 1440p at High settings, the frame rate drops from 251.3 to 167 FPS—a 33.5% reduction. At Ultra settings, the drop is even steeper: from 197.2 at 1080p to 126.9 at 1440p, a 35.6% loss. The pattern continues to 4K, where High settings yield just 94 FPS (a 62.6% drop from 1080p High), and Ultra falls to 73.4 FPS (a 62.8% drop from 1080p Ultra).

This scaling pattern strongly suggests the GPU is the limiting component at higher resolutions. The RTX 5060's 128-bit memory bus and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth become increasingly strained as pixel count rises. The CPU, with its 10 cores and 16 threads, clearly has headroom—the 1080p Low result of 405.5 FPS demonstrates the processor can feed the GPU far more frames than it can render at higher loads. The 4K Low score of 149.1 FPS versus 405.5 at 1080p Low highlights this GPU bottleneck with a 63.2% performance drop that cannot be attributed to CPU limitations.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1080p (1920x1080):

• Low: 405.5 FPS
• Medium: 334.4 FPS
• High: 251.3 FPS
• Ultra: 197.2 FPS

1440p (2560x1440):

• Low: 266.4 FPS
• Medium: 224 FPS
• High: 167 FPS
• Ultra: 126.9 FPS

4K (3840x2160):

• Low: 149.1 FPS
• Medium: 126.3 FPS
• High: 94 FPS
• Ultra: 73.4 FPS

The settings scaling at each resolution is telling. At 1080p, moving from Low to Ultra costs 208.3 FPS (from 405.5 to 197.2), a 51.4% reduction. At 1440p, the same settings change costs 139.5 FPS (from 266.4 to 126.9), a 52.4% reduction. At 4K, it costs 75.7 FPS (from 149.1 to 73.4), a 50.8% reduction. The consistency of this percentage drop across resolutions indicates that the GPU's rendering overhead scales predictably with settings, while the absolute frame rates are constrained by resolution.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. Its Raptor Lake-R architecture on a 10 nm process delivers strong single-thread performance, as evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3,093 and a Geekbench single-core score of 2,333. In Counter-Strike 2, which relies heavily on single-thread performance for game logic and physics, this processor has ample capability.

The CPU's multi-threaded performance is equally solid: Cinebench R23 multi-core reaches 21,914, and PassMark multi-thread scores 25,783. This headroom means the CPU is rarely the bottleneck in the measured results. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 405.5 FPS, which approaches the practical limits of what Counter-Strike 2's engine can deliver. The 20 MB of shared L3 cache helps maintain consistent frame times in busy scenes with many entities. The CPU's 88th percentile ranking versus all CPUs confirms it is a strong performer, though its nearest rivals (the i7-12800H and Ryzen 5 PRO 7645) trade blows within a 0.2% margin.

Settings Recommendations

For competitive play where frame rate is paramount, the 1080p Low preset at 405.5 FPS is the obvious choice. This delivers more than enough headroom for a 360 Hz monitor and ensures minimal input latency. The 1080p Medium preset at 334.4 FPS offers a reasonable compromise for players who want slightly better visuals without sacrificing much performance.

For high-refresh 1440p gaming, the Medium preset at 224 FPS provides an excellent balance—it keeps frame rates well above 200 while offering noticeably improved image quality over Low. The 1440p High preset at 167 FPS still supports 144 Hz displays, making it viable for players who prioritize visual fidelity. At 4K, the situation is less favorable. The High preset at 94 FPS is playable on 60 Hz displays, but the Ultra preset at 73.4 FPS approaches the lower boundary of acceptable performance for a competitive shooter.

The data suggests that the system's sweet spot is 1440p Medium, where it delivers 224 FPS while maintaining good visual quality. This configuration leverages the CPU's strength (high frame rates) while keeping the GPU's workload manageable. Pushing to 4K Ultra causes a precipitous drop to 73.4 FPS, which the benchmark data indicates is the worst-case scenario for this pairing.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 features 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its Blackwell 2.0 architecture on a 5 nm process includes 3,840 shading units and 30 ray tracing cores. The GPU's base clock runs at 2280 MHz with a boost clock of 2497 MHz, and it achieves 19.18 TFLOPS of FP32 performance.

In Counter-Strike 2, the GPU's role becomes increasingly apparent as resolution and settings escalate. At 1080p Low, the system hits 405.5 FPS, suggesting the GPU is not the limiting factor. But at 4K Ultra, performance collapses to 73.4 FPS—a 81.9% reduction from the 1080p Low result. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is a notable constraint at higher resolutions, as 4K textures and effects can exceed this limit, causing performance degradation.

The GPU's 73rd percentile ranking versus all GPUs places it behind the CPU's 88th percentile relative standing. Its average score of 30,109 is essentially identical to the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT (30,097, 0% delta), indicating the two cards perform at parity in synthetic benchmarks. The RTX 5060's 128-bit memory bus, while adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming, becomes a limiting factor at 4K where the 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is insufficient to maintain high frame rates. The measured 4K results—ranging from 149.1 FPS at Low to 73.4 FPS at Ultra—reflect this constraint clearly.