Counter-Strike 2

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 delivers a compelling, high-refresh-rate experience in Counter-Strike 2, though the data reveals a clear performance ceiling imposed by the six-core processor. Benchmark results indicate that this combination achieves a rank of 1092 out of 3719 tested combos, placing it in the upper third of all systems measured. The measured frames per second are exceptionally high across all resolutions, but the scaling pattern from 1080p to 4K exposes where the bottleneck shifts between the CPU and GPU.

FAQ

Q: What is the overall performance ranking of this CPU and GPU combination in Counter-Strike 2?

A: The combo ranks 1092 out of 3719 tested combinations, which places it in the top 29.4% of all systems. This indicates a strong performer, though not at the absolute top tier of the database.

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves at 1080p?

A: At 1080p with Low settings, the system reaches an average of 415 FPS. This is the single highest average frame rate recorded for this combination across all tested settings and resolutions.

Q: How does the i5-9400 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i5-9400 has an average benchmark score of 2254. This is nearly identical to the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (2259, delta -0.2%), the Intel Core i7-10710U (2248, delta 0.3%), and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (2246, delta 0.4%). The performance differences are within a fraction of a percent, making them effectively equivalent in compute power.

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

A: At 2560x1440, the system produces 349 FPS on Low settings and 168 FPS on Ultra settings. This represents a 51.9% reduction in frame rate when moving from the lowest to the highest graphical preset.

Q: Does the RTX 4070's memory bandwidth play a role in these results?

A: The RTX 4070 features 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s. This specification is a fixed attribute of the GPU and contributes to its overall capability, but the measured FPS data alone does not isolate its specific impact on Counter-Strike 2.

Q: At which resolution and settings does the system achieve a minimum FPS of 330 or higher?

A: The only recorded instance where the minimum FPS is at or above 330 is at 1080p with Medium settings, where the min FPS is 330 and the average is 389 FPS. All other configurations have either no recorded min FPS or a lower minimum.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a six-core, six-thread processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture, clocked at a 2.90 GHz base and 4.10 GHz boost. Its benchmark profile shows a Geekbench single-core score of 1389 and a multi-core score of 5141, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 6629. The CPU's percentile versus all CPUs is 47, indicating it sits just below the median of the entire database. Its nearest rivals, such as the Core i7-1068NG7 and the Ryzen 5 PRO 1500, have average scores within 0.4% of the i5-9400, confirming that this processor is a solid, mid-tier part that is neither a standout nor a weak link.

In Counter-Strike 2, the CPU's role is primarily to process game logic, physics, and the high-frequency tick rate of the simulation. The six threads are sufficient to maintain high frame rates, as evidenced by the 415 FPS average at 1080p Low. However, the data suggests a limiting factor emerges as graphical load decreases. At 1080p Low, the GPU is likely underutilized, and the CPU's six threads become the primary constraint on pushing beyond the 415 FPS ceiling. The lack of hyper-threading means the processor cannot handle as many concurrent tasks as an eight-thread part, which can cause frame time inconsistencies in busy scenes with many players, though the average FPS remains exceptionally high.

The synthetic benchmark scores provide context for this behavior. The single-core performance, which is critical for Counter-Strike 2's main game thread, is adequate but not top-tier, as shown by the 47th percentile ranking. This means that in scenarios with heavy single-threaded load, the i5-9400 may not deliver the same frame pacing as newer processors with higher IPC. Yet, the measured results show that even with this limitation, the combo is capable of exceeding the refresh rates of most high-end monitors at all tested resolutions, making the CPU a non-issue for the majority of players using this pairing.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture using a 5 nm process at TSMC. It features 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs, with a boost clock of 2475 MHz. The GPU is equipped with 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s. Its Passmark G3D score is 26927, placing it in the 81st percentile of all GPUs. The nearest rivals are the NVIDIA Tesla P4 (delta 0.1%) and the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (delta 0.4%), showing the RTX 4070 is positioned in a competitive performance tier.

In Counter-Strike 2, the GPU's role is to handle rendering, shadows, and texture filtering, which become more demanding at higher resolutions and quality settings. The data shows the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K, where the average frame rate drops to 94 FPS on Ultra settings. This is a significant reduction from the 254 FPS at 1080p Ultra, indicating that the GPU's rendering workload scales heavily with resolution. The RTX 4070's 12 GB of VRAM is more than sufficient for this game, even at 4K, as the title is not known for extreme memory usage, and the measured performance is limited by compute throughput rather than memory capacity.

The GPU's raw compute power, measured at 29.15 TFLOPS FP32, is what drives the high frame rates at lower resolutions. At 1080p and 1440p, the GPU is able to render frames faster than the CPU can feed it, leading to the CPU becoming the limiting factor. This is evident in the scaling from Low to Ultra at 1440p, where the frame rate drops from 349 to 168 FPS, a 51.9% decrease. The GPU is clearly capable of high throughput, but the overall system performance is a balance between the CPU's six threads and the GPU's processing power, with the balance shifting towards the GPU as resolution increases.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 ranks 1092 out of 3719 tested combos in Counter-Strike 2. This placement puts it in the top 29.4% of all systems, which is a strong showing for a CPU that was released several years prior to the GPU. The ranking is influenced by the high average FPS the combo achieves, particularly at 1080p and 1440p, where the system is capable of delivering smooth, competitive gameplay.

The rank of 1092 confirms the GPU's ability to push high frame rates, but it also reflects the CPU's limitations. A system with a more modern, higher-thread-count processor could potentially achieve a higher rank, as the CPU would not bottleneck the GPU as early. The data suggests that the RTX 4070 is underutilized at lower resolutions due to the CPU constraint, which prevents the combo from climbing higher in the rankings. However, the measured performance is still exceptional for most users, as the average FPS never drops below 94 in any tested configuration, which is well above the threshold for smooth gameplay.

The ranking also indicates that this combo is competitive with other pairings in the database. The delta between the CPU and its nearest rivals is negligible, meaning that swapping the i5-9400 for a similar-tier processor would not significantly change the combo's ranking. The GPU's 81st percentile performance is the primary driver of the system's overall placement, and the CPU's 47th percentile is a secondary factor. Overall, this combo represents a balanced system where the GPU is the dominant component, but the CPU is sufficient to avoid major performance degradation.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the user's refresh rate and resolution. For 1080p, the system achieves 389 FPS on Medium settings with a minimum of 330 FPS, making this the sweet spot for competitive play where frame consistency is paramount. Low settings yield 415 FPS, but the lack of a recorded minimum FPS makes it less certain for frame pacing. High settings at 327 FPS are also viable, but Medium offers a better balance of visual quality and performance, as the minimum FPS is higher than the High preset's average.

For 1440p, the Medium preset provides an average of 290 FPS with a minimum of 246 FPS, which is ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors. Low settings at 349 FPS are faster but offer reduced visual fidelity. High settings at 216 FPS are still excellent for most users, but the Medium preset's minimum FPS of 246 ensures a more consistent experience. At 4K, the system struggles to maintain high refresh rates on higher presets, so Medium settings at 162 FPS with a minimum of 138 FPS is the recommended choice for a balance of quality and smoothness. Ultra settings at 4K drop to 94 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for fast-paced competitive matches.

The data clearly shows that the Medium preset is the most balanced across all resolutions, offering the best combination of high average FPS and documented minimum FPS. For users prioritizing maximum frame rate, Low settings at 1080p or 1440p are the best options, but they come with a visual penalty. For those with 4K displays, sticking to Medium is advised, as the drop to Ultra results in a significant performance hit without a proportional visual improvement in a game like Counter-Strike 2, where clarity and speed are more important than graphical fidelity.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers an average of 415 FPS on Low settings, which is the highest recorded frame rate for this combo. Medium settings produce 389 FPS with a minimum of 330 FPS and a maximum of 447 FPS. High settings reduce the average to 327 FPS, and Ultra settings drop it further to 254 FPS. This shows a clear progression where each step up in quality reduces performance, with the largest drop occurring between Medium and High (62 FPS) and between High and Ultra (73 FPS).

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show a more pronounced impact from the GPU load. Low settings achieve 349 FPS, Medium settings hit 290 FPS with a minimum of 246 FPS and a maximum of 333 FPS, High settings reach 216 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 168 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 181 FPS, representing a 51.9% reduction. The minimum FPS data for Medium (246 FPS) is notably lower than the average, indicating some frame time variance under load.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. Low settings produce 195 FPS, Medium settings achieve 162 FPS with a minimum of 138 FPS and a maximum of 186 FPS, High settings drop to 121 FPS, and Ultra settings are the lowest at 94 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 4K on Ultra settings shows a reduction from 254 FPS to 94 FPS, a 63% decrease. This data illustrates that while the system is capable of high frame rates at lower resolutions, the 4K Ultra preset is the only configuration that approaches the limits of smooth gameplay, falling below the 100 FPS mark.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K reveals the shift in system bottleneck. At Low settings, the average FPS goes from 415 at 1080p to 349 at 1440p and 195 at 4K. This represents a 16% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 53% drop from 1080p to 4K. The relatively smaller drop at 1440p suggests that the CPU is still able to feed the GPU adequately, but the larger drop at 4K indicates that the GPU's rendering workload is increasing significantly.

At Ultra settings, the scaling is more severe. The average FPS goes from 254 at 1080p to 168 at 1440p and 94 at 4K. This is a 33.9% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 63% drop from 1080p to 4K. The larger percentage drop at Ultra settings compared to Low settings confirms that the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions and quality presets. At 1080p Ultra, the CPU is likely still a constraint, but as resolution increases, the GPU's fill rate and shading capacity become the dominant factor.

The data indicates that the system is CPU-bound at 1080p, where the frame rate does not scale linearly with the GPU's capabilities. At 4K, the system is clearly GPU-bound, as the frame rates drop to levels that are more consistent with the GPU's raw compute performance relative to higher-end parts. The sweet spot for this combo appears to be 1440p, where the frame rates are high enough to benefit from a 240 Hz monitor on Medium settings, and the system is not overly constrained by either component. This scaling analysis shows that the i5-9400 and RTX 4070 are well-matched for 1440p gameplay, with the CPU providing enough throughput to keep the GPU busy without becoming a significant bottleneck.