Counter-Strike 2

Counter-Strike 2 presents an interesting optimization puzzle with the Intel Core i5-14600K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080. The measured data shows that the Low preset at 1080p delivers an average of 674 FPS, which is the highest raw frame rate available in this dataset. However, the Medium preset at 1080p, with an average of 560 FPS and a minimum of 476 FPS, provides a more balanced experience. The gap between Low and Medium is 114 FPS, but the visual fidelity improvement typically justifies this trade-off for most players. At 1440p, the High preset achieves 277 FPS, which remains far above the refresh rates of most high-end monitors. For competitive play where maximum frame rates are paramount, the Low preset at 1080p is the clear choice, but for a blend of responsiveness and image quality, the Medium preset at 1080p or 1440p offers the best measured compromise.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data reveals a clear hierarchy across presets and resolutions. At 1080p, the Low preset produces 674 FPS average, while Medium drops to 560 FPS, High to 418 FPS, and Ultra to 325 FPS. The step from Low to Medium costs 16.9% performance, which is noticeable but not crippling. The step from Medium to High costs 25.4%, and from High to Ultra costs 22.3%. Given that Counter-Strike 2 is a fast-paced FPS where frame timing matters, the Medium preset at 1080p appears optimal: it maintains an average above 500 FPS while providing a substantial visual upgrade over Low. The minimum FPS of 476 on Medium is still exceptionally high, ensuring consistent frame delivery.

Moving to 1440p, the pattern shifts. Low yields 446 FPS, Medium 371 FPS, High 277 FPS, and Ultra 215 FPS. The Medium preset here still exceeds 360 FPS, which is beyond the capability of most 1440p high-refresh monitors (typically 240Hz or 360Hz). For users with 1440p 240Hz displays, the High preset at 277 FPS is sufficient, and it offers better visual quality than Medium. The Ultra preset at 1440p, with 215 FPS, remains playable and is suitable for those prioritizing image quality over maximum frame rates. At 4K, the situation changes dramatically: Low delivers 249 FPS, Medium 207 FPS, High 155 FPS, and Ultra 120 FPS. All presets at 4K are above 120 FPS, meaning even Ultra is viable for 120Hz displays, but for 144Hz or higher, the Medium preset is the highest quality option that maintains a comfortable margin above 200 FPS.

The data suggests that the Medium preset offers the best overall experience across all resolutions. It provides the largest FPS headroom relative to High and Ultra, while the visual difference from Low is typically significant in Counter-Strike 2’s detailed environments. At 1080p, Medium’s 560 FPS average is 34% higher than High’s 418 FPS, allowing for future-proofing against demanding maps or action-heavy scenes. At 1440p, Medium’s 371 FPS is 34% higher than High’s 277 FPS. At 4K, Medium’s 207 FPS is 33% higher than High’s 155 FPS. This consistent margin makes Medium the recommended preset for competitive integrity and smoothness.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of Intel Core i5-14600K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 ranks 237 out of 3719 tested combos in Counter-Strike 2, placing it in the top 6.4% of all configurations. This is a strong result, indicating that the pairing is well-suited for this title. The percentileVsAllCpus for the i5-14600K is 90, meaning it outperforms 90% of all CPUs in the database. The percentileVsAllGpus for the RTX 4080 is 86, outperforming 86% of all GPUs. The combo rank of 237 out of 3719 suggests that while both components are individually strong, the combination is not at the absolute top, likely due to other pairings with higher-end CPUs or GPUs achieving even higher frame rates in this CPU-bound game.

The i5-14600K’s nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H (0.2% lower average score), the AMD EPYC 4345P (0.3% higher), the Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX (0.7% higher), and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 (0.8% lower). These deltas are tiny, indicating that the i5-14600K is squarely in a competitive performance band. The RTX 4080’s nearest rivals include the RTX 4080 SUPER (0.1% higher), the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X (1.1% higher), the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB (2.6% higher), and the AMD Radeon 8060S (2.7% higher). The RTX 4080 sits slightly below these rivals in average score, but the differences are within a few percent.

In game-specific terms, the combo rank of 237 suggests that Counter-Strike 2 is heavily dependent on the CPU’s single-thread performance and the GPU’s ability to push high frame rates at lower resolutions. The i5-14600K’s boost clock of 5.30 GHz and 14 cores (20 threads) provide strong single-core performance, which is critical for CS2’s engine. The RTX 4080’s 16 GB of GDDR6X memory and 716.8 GB/s bandwidth ensure that the GPU is not a bottleneck at 1080p, where frame rates exceed 400 FPS. The ranking confirms that this combo is a high-tier performer, though not the absolute best, as some more powerful CPUs or newer GPUs may edge it out in specific scenarios.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 plays a crucial role in this pairing, particularly at higher resolutions. Its memory configuration includes 16 GB of GDDR6X on a 256-bit bus, yielding 716.8 GB/s of bandwidth. The boost clock is 2505 MHz, with a base clock of 2205 MHz. The GPU has 9728 shading units, 304 texture mapping units, and 112 render output units. These specifications drive the measured FPS across settings. At 1080p, the GPU is less stressed, and the CPU becomes more of a limiting factor. The RTX 4080’s performance at 1080p Low (674 FPS) versus 4K Low (249 FPS) shows a 63% reduction, indicating that the GPU is increasingly tasked as resolution rises.

At 4K, the RTX 4080’s memory bandwidth and compute throughput are fully utilized. The transition from Low to Ultra at 4K reduces FPS from 249 to 120, a 51.8% drop, which is substantial but expected given the increased shading and texture work. The GPU’s FP32 performance of 48.74 TFLOPS and texture rate of 761.5 GTexel/s support these high frame rates. The pixel rate of 280.6 GPixel/s is particularly relevant for 4K, where the number of pixels to process quadruples compared to 1080p. The data shows that the RTX 4080 can maintain over 200 FPS at 4K on Medium settings, which is a strong indicator of its capability.

Compared to its rivals, the RTX 4080’s average benchmark score of 54247 is 0.1% lower than the RTX 4080 SUPER (54209), making them effectively equivalent. The AMD Radeon Pro W5700X scores 54828 (1.1% higher), and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB scores 55698 (2.6% higher). These differences are minor, and in real-world gaming, the RTX 4080’s driver optimization and feature set may offset these synthetic deltas. In Counter-Strike 2 specifically, the GPU’s role is amplified at 4K, where the measured FPS drops from 249 on Low to 120 on Ultra, showing a clear scaling with graphical load.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across resolutions and settings. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers an average of 674 FPS. The Medium preset averages 560 FPS, with a minimum of 476 FPS and a maximum of 644 FPS. The High preset averages 418 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 325 FPS. These numbers show a consistent downward trend as settings increase. The minimum FPS on Medium (476) is higher than the average FPS on Ultra (325), indicating that even the worst-case frame times on Medium are better than the typical frame times on Ultra.

At 1440p, the Low preset averages 446 FPS, Medium averages 371 FPS (min 315, max 426), High averages 277 FPS, and Ultra averages 215 FPS. The Medium preset’s minimum of 315 FPS is still above the refresh rate of most 1440p monitors, making it a safe choice for competitive play. The High preset’s 277 FPS average provides a 23.7% improvement over Ultra’s 215 FPS, which is significant for maintaining smoothness in fast-paced scenarios. At 4K, the Low preset averages 249 FPS, Medium averages 207 FPS (min 176, max 238), High averages 155 FPS, and Ultra averages 120 FPS. The Medium preset’s minimum of 176 FPS means that even in demanding scenes, the frame rate stays above 170 FPS, which is suitable for 144Hz displays.

The data reveals that the step from Low to Medium is consistently around 17-20% across all resolutions (17.0% at 1080p, 16.8% at 1440p, 16.9% at 4K). The step from Medium to High is larger, at 25.4% at 1080p, 25.3% at 1440p, and 25.1% at 4K. The step from High to Ultra is also consistent, at 22.3% at 1080p, 22.4% at 1440p, and 22.6% at 4K. This uniform scaling suggests that the settings presets have a predictable impact on performance, allowing users to estimate the trade-offs.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial and reveals the limiting component. At Low settings, the average FPS goes from 674 at 1080p to 249 at 4K, a 63.1% reduction. At Medium settings, it goes from 560 to 207, a 63.0% reduction. At High settings, it goes from 418 to 155, a 62.9% reduction. At Ultra settings, it goes from 325 to 120, a 63.1% reduction. This near-constant 63% drop across all settings indicates that the performance scaling is primarily resolution-driven, not setting-driven. This suggests that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, as the pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K.

However, the absolute FPS at 4K are still high (120-249 FPS depending on settings), which means the RTX 4080 is not severely challenged. The CPU’s role becomes more apparent at 1080p, where the frame rates exceed 400 FPS. At 1080p Low, the 674 FPS average suggests that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough data to reach these extreme speeds. The i5-14600K’s boost clock of 5.30 GHz and single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2064) are critical here. At 4K, the GPU’s workload increases, and the CPU has more time to prepare frames, so the bottleneck shifts to the GPU.

The consistent 63% drop from 1080p to 4K indicates that the combination scales predictably with resolution. The data does not show a cliff or anomaly, which suggests a well-balanced system. If the CPU were the sole bottleneck, we would expect a smaller drop from 1080p to 1440p, but the drop from 1080p to 1440p is 33.8% (from 674 to 446 on Low), and from 1440p to 4K is 44.2% (from 446 to 249). This progressive scaling is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions, with the CPU handling the lower resolutions comfortably.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable with this combo?

A: The highest average FPS is 674, achieved at 1080p with the Low preset. This is the maximum measured value in the dataset.

Q: Does the RTX 4080 bottleneck the i5-14600K at 1080p?

A: The data shows a 63.1% FPS drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, indicating that the GPU becomes more limiting at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the CPU’s high boost clock allows frame rates above 400 FPS, suggesting the CPU is not a bottleneck at this resolution.

Q: Which setting provides the best balance of FPS and visual quality at 1440p?

A: The High preset at 1440p delivers 277 FPS average, which is above most 240Hz monitors. It offers a 22.4% improvement over Ultra (215 FPS) while providing better visuals than Medium (371 FPS).

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: It ranks 237 out of 3719 combos, placing it in the top 6.4% of all tested systems for Counter-Strike 2.

Q: Is the RTX 4080’s 16 GB memory sufficient for 4K gaming in CS2?

A: The measured data shows 4K performance ranging from 249 FPS on Low to 120 FPS on Ultra, indicating that the 16 GB memory and 716.8 GB/s bandwidth are adequate for this game at 4K.

Q: What is the minimum FPS on Medium settings at 1080p?

A: The Medium preset at 1080p has a minimum FPS of 476, which is higher than the average FPS of the Ultra preset (325) at the same resolution.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K is a 14-core, 20-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. Its cache configuration includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU achieves a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 24491 and a single-core score of 2064, with a Geekbench single-core score of 2491. These numbers indicate strong single-thread performance, which is essential for Counter-Strike 2’s engine that relies heavily on a few cores for game logic and rendering commands.

The CPU’s role in this combo is evident when examining the FPS at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the frame rates exceed 400 FPS on all settings, and at 1080p Low, it reaches 674 FPS. This high performance is driven by the CPU’s ability to process game state and issue draw calls quickly. The boost clock of 5.30 GHz is particularly important for single-threaded tasks, and the 14 cores provide ample multi-threading for background processes and the game’s audio and physics threads. The CPU’s percentileVsAllCpus of 90 confirms that it is in the top 10% of all CPUs, which aligns with its high single-thread scores.

In comparison to its nearest rivals, the i5-14600K’s average benchmark score of 48618 is nearly identical to the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H (48698, -0.2%) and the AMD EPYC 4345P (48470, +0.3%). The Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX scores 48287 (+0.7%), and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 scores 48995 (-0.8%). These deltas are within 1%, indicating that the i5-14600K is not significantly faster or slower than these alternatives in synthetic tests. However, in Counter-Strike 2, the CPU’s actual performance is influenced by its high boost clock and low latency, which are not fully captured by average benchmark scores. The measured FPS data shows that the CPU can sustain over 400 FPS at 1080p, which is a strong indicator of its gaming capability. The CPU’s TDP of 125 W and support for DDR4/DDR5 memory provide flexibility for system builders, though these factors do not directly impact the measured FPS. Overall, the i5-14600K is a capable partner for the RTX 4080, ensuring that the GPU is not starved of data at lower resolutions while allowing the GPU to take over at 4K.