Counter-Strike 2

Counter-Strike 2 scales in a way that clearly separates the workload between the CPU and GPU across the three tested resolutions. From 1920x1080 to 2560x1440, the average frame rate drop is substantial across all settings, but the transition from 2560x1440 to 3840x2160 is where the GPU becomes the definitive bottleneck. At 1080p with Low settings, the system produces 568 FPS, which drops by 36% to 374.8 at 1440p, and then by another 44% to 210.1 at 4K. This pattern suggests that at lower resolutions, the Intel Core i7-14700F is feeding frames faster than the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT can render, but as pixel count rises, the GPU's rendering load begins to dominate the frame time.

The shape of the scaling curve is more telling than the raw deltas. At 1080p, moving from Low to Medium reduces performance by 96.3 FPS (568 to 471.7), while at 4K the same settings step costs only 36 FPS (210.1 to 174.1). This is a classic signature of a system where the CPU is the limiting component at 1080p and the GPU takes over at 4K. The data indicates that the 4K Ultra result of 99.6 FPS is the only configuration that dips below the 100 FPS threshold, while the 4K High setting maintains a comfortable 132.7 FPS. For competitive play, the 1080p Low result of 568 FPS shows that the combination of the 20-core processor and the RDNA 3.0 GPU is unlikely to be constrained by the CPU in typical esports scenarios.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide a clear hierarchy of performance versus visual fidelity, and the optimal choice depends on the target display refresh rate. For 1920x1080, every preset exceeds 270 FPS, meaning even Ultra at 273.6 FPS is playable on high-refresh monitors. However, the data suggests that High settings at 353.2 FPS offer a better balance than Ultra, since the 79.6 FPS penalty for the highest preset is significant relative to the visual gains typical in a fast-paced FPS. At 2560x1440, the recommendation shifts: High at 232.7 FPS is the sweet spot, while Ultra at 183.5 FPS still provides headroom for 165Hz displays but with diminishing returns.

At 3840x2160, the settings choice becomes critical. The Low preset delivers 210.1 FPS, but the Medium preset at 174.1 FPS is likely the best compromise for 4K users, as it maintains a high frame rate while avoiding the lowest quality assets. The Ultra preset at 99.6 FPS is the only configuration that fails to reach 100 FPS, making it unsuitable for competitive play on standard 144Hz panels. The High preset at 132.7 FPS is viable for 120Hz displays, but the data shows that Medium offers a 41.5 FPS advantage over High while still being a substantial visual upgrade over Low. For users with 240Hz monitors at 1080p, the Low preset at 568 FPS is the only configuration that fully saturates such a display, though Medium at 471.7 FPS still provides a comfortable margin above the refresh ceiling.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT is the primary determinant of performance at higher resolutions, as evidenced by the frame rate collapse from 1080p to 4K. The GPU's 20 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 320-bit bus, with 800.0 GB/s of bandwidth, is more than sufficient for Counter-Strike 2's asset loads, as none of the tested configurations showed signs of memory-related stuttering in the average FPS data. The boost clock of 2394 MHz and game clock of 2025 MHz on the Navi 31 chip provide the raw compute throughput, with the GPU achieving a 51.48 TFLOPS FP32 rating. This compute capability translates directly to the measured results: at 4K Ultra, the GPU's 192 ROPs and 336 TMUs are taxed to deliver 99.6 FPS, whereas at 1080p Low, the same hardware is underutilized as the CPU becomes the bottleneck.

The GPU's role is best understood by comparing the 1080p to 1440p scaling. At High settings, the drop from 353.2 to 232.7 FPS represents a 34% reduction, which is close to the pixel count increase of 78% from 1080p to 1440p, indicating that the GPU is partially limited by the CPU's frame delivery at the lower resolution. The 4K results tell a different story: from 1440p High at 232.7 FPS to 4K High at 132.7 FPS, the 43% drop closely matches the 2.25x pixel increase, confirming that the GPU is the sole limiter at 4K. The Radeon's 82nd percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 38358, places it slightly behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Mobile in synthetic tests, but in this specific game, the measured FPS data shows no such deficit.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full spectrum of settings produces a wide range of results. The Low preset yields 568 FPS, which is the highest measured value in the entire dataset. Medium drops to 471.7 FPS, representing a 17% reduction from Low. High further reduces performance to 353.2 FPS, a 25% drop from Medium. Ultra is the most demanding at 273.6 FPS, which is 52% below the Low preset's score. These results show that the 1080p resolution is primarily CPU-bound, as the Ultra preset still exceeds 270 FPS, meaning the 14700F's 20 cores and 28 threads are capable of feeding the GPU well above typical refresh rates.

Moving to 2560x1440, the scaling becomes more linear. Low produces 374.8 FPS, which is 34% lower than the 1080p Low result. Medium achieves 313.4 FPS, a 16% drop from Low at the same resolution. High settles at 232.7 FPS, a 26% reduction from Medium. Ultra delivers 183.5 FPS, which is 51% lower than the Low preset at this resolution. The transition from 1080p to 1440p at Ultra settings costs 90.1 FPS (273.6 to 183.5), which is a smaller absolute drop than the Low settings transition of 193.2 FPS (568 to 374.8), indicating that the GPU's rendering load is starting to dominate at higher quality presets.

At 3840x2160, the performance hierarchy compresses significantly. Low scores 210.1 FPS, Medium achieves 174.1 FPS, High reaches 132.7 FPS, and Ultra drops to 99.6 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra at 4K is 110.5 FPS, which is smaller than the 294.4 FPS delta at 1080p. This compression is a direct result of the GPU becoming the bottleneck: at 4K, even the lowest settings require substantial pixel shading, so the relative cost of higher-quality effects diminishes. The 4K Ultra result of 99.6 FPS is the only measured configuration below 100 FPS, making it the sole data point where the system fails to maintain high-refresh-rate playability.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable with this hardware in Counter-Strike 2?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 568, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the only configuration that exceeds 500 FPS in the dataset.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: The average FPS drops from 353.2 at 1080p High to 132.7 at 4K High, representing a 62.4% reduction in performance.

Q: Is the Ultra preset playable at 4K?

A: The 4K Ultra configuration produces an average of 99.6 FPS, which is below the 100 FPS threshold. It is the only measured preset across all resolutions that fails to reach 100 FPS.

Q: Which settings should a 144Hz 1440p monitor user choose?

A: The High preset at 2560x1440 delivers 232.7 FPS, which provides a comfortable margin above 144Hz. The Ultra preset at 183.5 FPS also exceeds the refresh rate, but with a 49.2 FPS penalty compared to High.

Q: How does the GPU's memory bandwidth affect 4K performance?

A: The RX 7900 XT's 800.0 GB/s bandwidth, paired with 20 GB of GDDR6 memory, is sufficient for the game's asset loads. The measured 4K results show no memory-related anomalies, as performance scales predictably with settings.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, Low produces 568 FPS while Ultra produces 273.6 FPS. This 294.4 FPS gap represents a 51.8% reduction in performance when using the highest preset.