Counter-Strike 2

Counter-Strike 2 is a competitive FPS that rewards high frame rates and consistent frame pacing. The data for the Intel Core i7-14700F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D shows a system capable of extreme performance, but the scaling between resolutions reveals where the bottleneck shifts. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 814 FPS average, which drops to 539 FPS at 1440p Low and further to 301 FPS at 4K Low. This steep decline as resolution increases indicates that the RTX 5090 D is being fed enough data by the CPU at lower resolutions, but the GPU becomes progressively more stressed as pixel count rises. The gap between 1080p and 1440p Low is 275 FPS, while the gap between 1440p and 4K Low is 238 FPS, showing a fairly consistent scaling curve that points to the GPU taking on more work at each step. At High settings, the same pattern holds: 505 FPS at 1080p, 334 FPS at 1440p, and 187 FPS at 4K. The fact that even at 4K Ultra, the system holds 145 FPS average tells you this is not a pairing that struggles with Counter-Strike 2 under any configuration tested.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling data reveals a classic pattern where the CPU dictates performance at lower resolutions and the GPU takes over as the workload grows. At 1080p Low, the i7-14700F with its 20 cores and 28 threads is clearly the limiting factor, as the RTX 5090 D is capable of far more than 814 FPS but is held back by the game's engine and CPU throughput. Moving to 1440p Low shows a 34% reduction in average FPS to 539, which is a significant drop that confirms the GPU is starting to matter more. At 4K Low, the average falls to 301 FPS, a 44% reduction from 1440p, which is a steep curve that indicates the GPU is now the primary constraint. This is expected for a 32 GB GDDR7 card with a 512-bit bus and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth, but the raw compute of 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 still has to render four times the pixels of 1080p. The Medium settings show a similar trajectory: 676 FPS at 1080p, 448 FPS at 1440p, and 250 FPS at 4K, with the 4K Medium result having a recorded min of 213 FPS and max of 288 FPS, showing a tight frame window. The High settings drop from 505 FPS at 1080p to 334 FPS at 1440p to 187 FPS at 4K, and the Ultra preset is the most demanding, going from 392 FPS at 1080p down to 260 FPS at 1440p and finally 145 FPS at 4K. What the data shows is that this combo can handle 4K Ultra at 145 FPS average, which is well above the 144 Hz refresh rate that many competitive players target, but dropping to Low or Medium unlocks headroom for 240 Hz or higher displays. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at Low settings is a 63% reduction, while at Ultra it is a 63% reduction as well, which suggests the relative performance drop is consistent regardless of preset. This consistency implies that the RTX 5090 D is scaling as expected with pixel count, and the i7-14700F is not introducing any unusual bottlenecks at higher resolutions, even though its boost clock of 5.40 GHz is doing heavy lifting at 1080p.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves in Counter-Strike 2?

A: The highest recorded average is 814 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the only configuration tested that breaks the 800 FPS barrier, and it shows the system is heavily CPU-bound at this resolution and preset.

Q: How does the 4K Ultra performance compare to 1080p Low?

A: At 4K Ultra, the combo delivers 145 FPS average, while 1080p Low reaches 814 FPS. This represents a 669 FPS difference, or approximately 82% lower performance at the most demanding settings versus the least demanding ones, which highlights how much the GPU workload increases with resolution and graphical fidelity.

Q: Is the RTX 5090 D's 32 GB VRAM ever a limitation in this game?

A: The benchmark data shows no indication of VRAM being a limiting factor. Counter-Strike 2 is not a VRAM-heavy title, and even at 4K Ultra, the average of 145 FPS and the consistent scaling across settings suggest the 32 GB GDDR7 memory is more than sufficient for this game's needs.

Q: What is the frame time consistency like at 1440p Medium?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the average FPS is 448, with a minimum of 380 FPS and a maximum of 515 FPS. This gives a 135 FPS spread, which represents a variance of about 30% from the average, indicating that while the frame rate is high, there is some fluctuation that could be noticeable on a very high refresh rate display.

Q: Does the i7-14700F hold back the RTX 5090 D at 1080p?

A: The data strongly suggests yes. At 1080p Low, the system produces 814 FPS, but the GPU's compute capability is far beyond what is being used. The fact that 4K Low produces 301 FPS and 1080p Low produces 814 FPS shows a 2.7x scaling factor, which is less than the 4x pixel count difference, confirming the CPU is the bottleneck at the lower resolution.

Q: Which setting preset should a player use for the best balance at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the High preset delivers 334 FPS average, while Medium delivers 448 FPS and Low delivers 539 FPS. The Ultra preset drops to 260 FPS. For competitive play, the Low or Medium presets offer the highest frame rates, but even Ultra at 260 FPS is far above what most displays can show, so visual quality can be prioritized without sacrificing competitive viability.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is the dominant component in this pairing when resolution and settings increase. Its 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus provides 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, which is far more than Counter-Strike 2 requires, but it ensures that memory bandwidth is never a constraint at any tested configuration. The GPU's boost clock of 2407 MHz and base clock of 2017 MHz are relatively modest for a flagship card, but the sheer size of the chip — 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die — gives it massive parallel throughput. The 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is what drives the 4K results, and the data shows that at 4K Ultra, the average of 145 FPS is a result of the GPU being fully utilized. The pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s are the specifications that matter for rasterization-heavy games like Counter-Strike 2, and the benchmark scores reflect this: the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 14326 and the Passmark G3D score of 44065 put it in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs. The nearest rivals in the benchmark database are the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT with a deltaPct of -1.6 and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB with a deltaPct of -2.4, but those are mobile or datacenter parts that do not directly compete in the desktop gaming space. At 1080p, the GPU is underutilized, as shown by the 814 FPS Low result, but even at 4K Low with 301 FPS, the GPU is still not pushed to its absolute limit. The RTX 5090 D's role in this combo is to provide enough headroom that the CPU becomes the bottleneck at low resolutions, and then to take over gracefully as the resolution climbs, maintaining playable frame rates even at the most demanding settings. The fact that the 4K Medium result shows a minimum of 213 FPS and maximum of 288 FPS against an average of 250 FPS indicates the GPU is delivering consistent performance without major frame spikes, which is critical for a competitive shooter.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of how this combo performs across all resolution and setting combinations. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves 814 FPS average, which is the highest number in the entire dataset. Medium at 1080p produces 676 FPS average with a minimum of 575 and maximum of 778, showing a 203 FPS range. High at 1080p drops to 505 FPS average, and Ultra brings it down to 392 FPS. These numbers indicate that at 1080p, even the Ultra preset is well above the refresh rate of any consumer monitor, so the CPU is the primary limiter across all settings. Moving to 2560x1440, the Low preset yields 539 FPS average, which is a significant drop from 1080p but still extremely high. Medium at 1440p shows 448 FPS average with a minimum of 380 and maximum of 515, and High produces 334 FPS. Ultra at 1440p rounds out at 260 FPS average. The 1440p results show a more pronounced difference between settings, with Ultra being 52% lower than Low, which indicates the GPU is starting to feel the load. At 3840x2160, the Low preset still manages 301 FPS average, which is remarkable for 4K. Medium at 4K delivers 250 FPS with a minimum of 213 and maximum of 288, and High produces 187 FPS. Ultra at 4K drops to 145 FPS average. The 4K results show a clear GPU-bound scenario, with Ultra being 52% lower than Low, matching the same percentage difference seen at 1440p. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at each setting is consistent: Low drops from 814 to 301 FPS (37% of original), Medium drops from 676 to 250 FPS (37%), High drops from 505 to 187 FPS (37%), and Ultra drops from 392 to 145 FPS (37%). This uniform scaling across presets suggests the GPU is scaling linearly with pixel count, and the CPU is not introducing any variable bottlenecks at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

In the benchmark database, this Intel Core i7-14700F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D combination ranks first overall in Counter-Strike 2, holding the top position out of 2870 tested combos. This is a notable achievement, as the rank of 1 out of 2870 puts it above every other CPU and GPU pairing that has been tested for this game. The CPU itself is in the 91st percentile of all processors, with an average benchmark score of 53620, and its nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon 6505P with a deltaPct of -0.2, the Intel Xeon Phi 7290 with a deltaPct of 0.3, and the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X with a deltaPct of 0.6. The GPU is in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 77712, and its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT with a deltaPct of 1.1 and the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT with a deltaPct of -1.6. While these individual component rankings are high, the combo ranking of 1 out of 2870 shows that the pairing is particularly well-suited for Counter-Strike 2. This is likely due to the CPU's strong single-core performance — it scores 4958 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 4257 in Passmark single-thread — which is critical for a game engine that relies heavily on a few threads. The GPU's high-end specs ensure that even at 4K Ultra, the frame rate never drops below 145 FPS, which keeps the combo at the top of the rankings regardless of the settings chosen. The data indicates that no other tested combination has been able to match the raw frame rates this pairing achieves, particularly at 1080p where the 814 FPS Low result is a standout figure. This top ranking is not just about peak performance; it also reflects the consistency across all tested configurations, as even the lowest result of 145 FPS at 4K Ultra is higher than what many other combos might achieve at 1080p.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F plays a critical role in this combo's success, particularly at lower resolutions where its 20 cores and 28 threads are put to work. Despite having a TDP of only 65 watts, the CPU boosts up to 5.40 GHz, which is the key specification for Counter-Strike 2's engine, as it relies on high single-thread performance. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4958 and the Passmark single-thread score of 4257 both place it well above average, and this is what enables the 814 FPS result at 1080p Low. The multi-core performance is also strong, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35122 and a Geekbench multi-core score of 19620, but this matters less for a game that does not scale perfectly across all 20 cores. The L3 cache of 33 MB shared is another important factor, as it helps keep frequently accessed game data close to the cores, reducing memory latency. The CPU's architecture is Raptor Lake-R, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process, and it supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration, though the benchmark data does not specify which memory type was used in testing. The CPU's percentile ranking of 91st among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 53620, places it just behind the Intel Xeon 6505P by 0.2% and slightly ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X by 0.6%, which shows it is competitive with other high-end desktop parts. At 1080p, the data shows the CPU is the bottleneck, as the frame rates at Low settings (814 FPS) are likely limited by the game engine's draw call processing and the CPU's ability to feed the GPU. As the resolution increases to 1440p and 4K, the CPU's role diminishes, but it still needs to maintain high single-thread performance to avoid causing frame drops. The fact that the combo achieves 301 FPS at 4K Low suggests the CPU is keeping up with the GPU's demands even at higher resolutions, which confirms the 5.40 GHz boost clock and the 28 threads available for background tasks. The CPU's launch MSRP of $359 positions it as a mid-range option, but its performance in Counter-Strike 2 rivals much more expensive processors, as evidenced by its top combo ranking.