Counter-Strike 2

The Intel Core i5-9400 and AMD Radeon RX 570 combination delivers a playable, but dated, Counter-Strike 2 experience. The data shows a system that is firmly entry-level for this title, with performance that scales predictably across resolutions and settings. The benchmark results indicate that the GPU is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions, while the CPU holds the system back from achieving triple-digit frame rates at the most competitive settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the best performance this combo can achieve in Counter-Strike 2?

A: The highest average frame rate recorded is 152.8 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the only configuration in the measured data that exceeds 150 FPS.

Q: How much of a performance drop occurs when moving from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: The average frame rate drops from 100 FPS at 1920x1080 to 67.1 FPS at 2560x1440, and finally to 38 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 62% reduction in average FPS from 1080p to 4K.

Q: Does the GPU have enough VRAM for this game's Ultra settings?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 570 has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory with a 256-bit bus width. The benchmark data shows that at Ultra settings, the average frame rate drops below 60 FPS at all resolutions, suggesting the GPU is struggling with the workload.

Q: What is the difference in performance between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the average frame rate is 104.3 FPS on Low settings. Switching to Ultra settings reduces the average to 51.2 FPS, a decrease of 53.1 FPS.

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

A: This Intel Core i5-9400 + AMD Radeon RX 570 combo is ranked 1550 out of 1632 tested combinations for Counter-Strike 2. It sits in the bottom 5% of all tested systems.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more responsible for the frame rate at 1080p Low settings?

A: The 152.8 FPS result at 1080p Low suggests the system is approaching a CPU-side limit. Given that the i5-9400 features six cores and six threads with a 4.10 GHz boost clock, the data indicates the processor is the bottleneck at this configuration, as lower graphical loads do not yield a proportional increase in performance.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 570, built on the GCN 4.0 architecture with a Polaris 20 chip, is the dominant performance factor in this configuration. Its 4 GB of VRAM and 224.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth are sufficient for the lower graphics presets, but the card's compute capabilities become the limiting factor at higher settings. The GPU's 5.095 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 32 ROPs are taxed heavily when the game's visual fidelity is increased.

The clock speeds of the GPU, with a base of 1168 MHz and a boost of 1244 MHz, are directly reflected in the scaling of the measured results. At 1080p, the difference between Low and High settings is 52.8 FPS, demonstrating how the GPU's shading units and texture units are saturated as the workload increases. The data shows that the RX 570 cannot maintain a stable 60 FPS average at 4K resolution on any setting, with the best result being 59.4 FPS on Low.

The GPU's memory configuration is a critical factor. The 4 GB VRAM capacity appears to be a limiting factor at Ultra settings, where the average frame rates plummet to 26.1 FPS at 4K and 73.3 FPS at 1080p. This suggests that the game is exceeding the available memory, forcing the system to rely on slower memory operations. The 256-bit memory bus provides 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is insufficient for the demands of high-resolution texture streaming.

Resolution Scaling

The performance degradation from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 100 FPS at 1920x1080 to 67.1 FPS at 2560x1440, and then to 38 FPS at 3840x2160. This scaling pattern is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario, where the rendering resolution directly increases the pixel fill rate requirements.

At Low settings, the scaling tells a different story. The system achieves 152.8 FPS at 1080p, which drops to 104.3 FPS at 1440p and 59.4 FPS at 4K. The 1080p result is disproportionately high relative to the 1440p result, indicating that the CPU is nearing its limit at the lower resolution. The Intel Core i5-9400, with its six cores and six threads, cannot push the frame rate higher once the GPU workload is reduced.

The data suggests that the optimal balance for this combo is at 1080p with Medium settings, where the average frame rate is 128.1 FPS. This configuration leverages the GPU's capabilities without overwhelming the CPU. At 1440p, the system becomes increasingly GPU-limited, with the gap between Low and Medium settings shrinking to 19.1 FPS, compared to a 24.7 FPS gap at 1080p. This indicates that the RX 570's fill rate is the primary constraint at higher resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers the highest frame rates across all settings. The Low preset achieves an average of 152.8 FPS, making it the only configuration in the dataset to clear the 150 FPS threshold. Medium settings produce 128.1 FPS, while High settings drop to 100 FPS. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, yielding an average of 73.3 FPS. This 79.5 FPS spread between Low and Ultra demonstrates the significant impact of graphical fidelity on this hardware.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance scales down proportionally. The Low preset still manages a respectable 104.3 FPS, which is suitable for competitive play. Medium settings deliver 85.2 FPS, and High settings produce 67.1 FPS. The Ultra preset falls below the 60 FPS threshold, averaging only 51.2 FPS. The data shows a consistent 30-35% performance reduction from 1080p to 1440p across all settings.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain playable frame rates. The Low preset is the only setting that approaches 60 FPS, with an average of 59.4 FPS. Medium settings drop to 46.2 FPS, and High settings fall to 38 FPS. The Ultra preset is virtually unplayable, averaging just 26.1 FPS. The 4K results highlight the RX 570's limitations with higher pixel counts, as the 224.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 32 ROPs are insufficient for the workload.

The frame rate deltas between settings are consistent across resolutions. The largest drop occurs between Medium and Ultra, which averages a 55-60% reduction in FPS. The smallest drop is between Low and Medium, averaging a 16-20% reduction. This pattern suggests that the Ultra preset introduces rendering features that disproportionately tax the GPU's compute units.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-9400 + AMD Radeon RX 570 combination is ranked 1550 out of 1632 tested combos for Counter-Strike 2. This places the system in the bottom 5% of the benchmark database, indicating that it is significantly outperformed by a majority of tested configurations. The combo's percentile ranking reflects its age and mid-range positioning at launch.

The CPU and GPU individually show contrasting standings in their respective benchmark pools. The Intel Core i5-9400 has a percentile rank of 50 against all CPUs, placing it squarely in the middle of the processor performance distribution. Its average benchmark score of 2305 is nearly identical to its nearest rivals, with a 0.2% delta compared to the Intel Core i3-10305 and a -0.6% delta against the Intel Core i7-8809G. This indicates the CPU is a balanced, average performer.

The AMD Radeon RX 570 has a much stronger individual standing, with a percentile rank of 74 against all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 30158 places it in a tight cluster of competitors. The RX 570 is within 0.2% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 and the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT in average score, despite being an older architecture. This suggests the GPU is not the primary reason for the combo's low ranking.

The discrepancy between the GPU's strong individual performance and the combo's weak in-game ranking indicates that the system's overall performance is hampered by the CPU. In Counter-Strike 2, a game that is sensitive to processor performance, the i5-9400's six-core, six-thread configuration and Coffee Lake architecture cannot feed the GPU efficiently, particularly at lower resolutions where the CPU is the bottleneck. The combo's ranking is therefore a reflection of the CPU's limitations in this specific title, rather than the GPU's raw compute power.