Counter-Strike 2

FAQ

Q: What is the measured frame rate for Counter-Strike 2 with this combo at 1920x1080 on Low settings?

A: The measured average is 714.5 FPS, which is the highest result across all tested settings and resolutions in the data.

Q: How does the Intel Core i7-14700K compare to its closest rival, the Intel Core i7-14700KF?

A: The two CPUs are effectively tied in average benchmark score, with the 14700K scoring 70074 and the 14700KF scoring 70104, a delta of 0%.

Q: What is the GPU's memory bandwidth and capacity?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 has 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested combinations for Counter-Strike 2?

A: This CPU-GPU pairing ranks 68th out of 1632 tested combos in the game.

Q: What are the CPU's core and thread counts?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700K has 20 cores and 28 threads, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz.

Q: What is the measured FPS at 3840x2160 on Ultra settings?

A: The average frame rate is 126.9 FPS, the lowest recorded value in the dataset.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a GB203 chip fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It carries 45,600 million transistors on a 378 mm² die. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2295 MHz and a boost clock of 2617 MHz. Memory runs at 1875 MHz with 30 Gbps effective speed. The 16 GB GDDR7 pool, paired with a 256-bit bus, yields 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth — a figure that becomes increasingly relevant at higher resolutions where texture streaming and memory throughput matter more.

The GPU's 10752 shading units, 336 TMUs, and 112 ROPs drive a pixel rate of 293.1 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 879.3 GTexel/s. FP32 throughput is 56.28 TFLOPS, with FP16 at the same 56.28 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio). The 84 RT cores and 336 tensor cores support ray tracing and AI workloads, though Counter-Strike 2's competitive nature tends to favor raw rasterization over ray tracing. The card's percentile ranking of 89 among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 59188, places it in the upper tier of available hardware.

The measured FPS data shows the RTX 5080 scaling predictably with settings. At 1920x1080, dropping from Ultra to Low raises the average from 343.9 FPS to 714.5 FPS — a substantial 370.6 FPS jump. At 3840x2160, the same settings change moves the average from 126.9 FPS to 265.5 FPS. The GPU's 16 GB VRAM is sufficient for all tested configurations; none of the results indicate memory capacity becoming a limiting factor. The 960.0 GB/s bandwidth helps maintain consistent frame pacing at 4K, where the 2560x1440 Low result of 470.6 FPS and the 3840x2160 Low result of 265.5 FPS show a reasonable 43.6% drop when pixel count more than doubles.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700K belongs to the Core 14th Gen series, built on the Raptor Lake-R architecture with a 10 nm process at Intel's foundry. It has 20 cores and 28 threads, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. The L3 cache is 33 MB shared, while L1 and L2 are 80 KB and 2 MB per core, respectively. The CPU supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory over a dual-channel bus, and it includes UHD Graphics 770 as an integrated solution. The launch MSRP is $409.

In CPU benchmarks, the 14700K scores 44534 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 6287 in single-core. Geekbench results are 18896 multi-core and 2932 single-core. PassMark single-thread score is 4472, with a multi-thread score of 52392. The CPU's percentile ranking of 96 among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 70074, reflects its position near the top of the desktop stack. Its nearest rivals are the Intel Core i7-14700KF at 70104 (0% delta), the AMD EPYC 9115 at 69887 (+0.3% delta), the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X at 70420 (-0.5% delta), and the Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 at 71056 (-1.4% delta).

Counter-Strike 2 is known to be sensitive to single-thread performance, and the 14700K's boost clock of 5.60 GHz provides a strong foundation. The measured FPS data supports this: at 1920x1080 Low, the combo reaches 714.5 FPS, which is 43.7% higher than the 4K Low result of 265.5 FPS. The 20 cores and 28 threads ensure that background tasks and game logic don't introduce stutter, though the game rarely utilizes all cores. The 33 MB shared L3 cache helps maintain low latency for frequently accessed game data. The CPU's 96th percentile ranking indicates that it outperforms the vast majority of processors in general workloads, and the benchmark results show strong single-thread capability that directly benefits frame pacing in this title.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear picture across all four settings presets at each resolution. At 3840x2160, the High preset delivers 165.3 FPS, Medium delivers 220.3 FPS, Low delivers 265.5 FPS, and Ultra delivers 126.9 FPS. The jump from Ultra to High is a 38.4 FPS improvement, while moving from High to Medium adds another 55.0 FPS. At 2560x1440, High reaches 297.1 FPS, Medium reaches 390.1 FPS, Low reaches 470.6 FPS, and Ultra drops to 225.4 FPS. At 1920x1080, High hits 444.2 FPS, Medium hits 592.9 FPS, Low hits 714.5 FPS, and Ultra falls to 343.9 FPS.

For competitive play, the Low preset is the strongest choice at any resolution. At 1920x1080, it delivers 714.5 FPS, which is 24.9% higher than Medium's 592.9 FPS and 60.9% higher than High's 444.2 FPS. At 2560x1440, Low's 470.6 FPS is 20.6% above Medium's 390.1 FPS. At 3840x2160, Low's 265.5 FPS remains well above the 240 Hz threshold commonly associated with high-refresh displays.

The Medium preset offers a balanced alternative for users who want improved visual fidelity without sacrificing too much performance. At 3840x2160, Medium's 220.3 FPS is 33.3% higher than High's 165.3 FPS and 73.6% higher than Ultra's 126.9 FPS. The High preset at 2560x1440 delivers 297.1 FPS, which remains sufficient for 240 Hz monitors. The Ultra preset should be avoided except for visual benchmarking, as its 126.9 FPS at 4K and 343.9 FPS at 1080p represent the lowest results in the dataset.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination of the Intel Core i7-14700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 ranks 68th out of 1632 tested combos in Counter-Strike 2, placing it in the top 4.2% of all configurations. The CPU's 96th percentile ranking among all processors and the GPU's 89th percentile ranking among all graphics cards indicate that both components are individually strong, and their pairing produces a result that exceeds either component's standalone percentile position.

The rank of 68 out of 1632 suggests that there are 67 combos with higher measured FPS in this game, likely featuring even faster CPUs or GPUs such as the RTX 5090 or Core i9-14900K. However, the measured FPS at 1920x1080 Low (714.5 FPS) is already so high that the practical difference between this combo and higher-ranked ones will be minimal for most users. The data indicates that this pairing is well-balanced for Counter-Strike 2, with the CPU's strong single-thread performance complementing the GPU's high rasterization throughput.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The dataset contains 12 measured configurations, covering three resolutions and four settings presets each. At 3840x2160, the results are: Low at 265.5 FPS, Medium at 220.3 FPS, High at 165.3 FPS, and Ultra at 126.9 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 4K shows a total drop of 138.6 FPS, representing a 52.2% reduction. At 2560x1440, the results are: Low at 470.6 FPS, Medium at 390.1 FPS, High at 297.1 FPS, and Ultra at 225.4 FPS. The 4K to 1440p improvement at Low settings is 205.1 FPS (77.2% higher), while at Ultra it is 98.5 FPS (77.6% higher).

At 1920x1080, the results are: Low at 714.5 FPS, Medium at 592.9 FPS, High at 444.2 FPS, and Ultra at 343.9 FPS. The 1440p to 1080p improvement at Low settings is 243.9 FPS (51.8% higher), while at Ultra it is 118.5 FPS (52.6% higher). These consistent percentage improvements across settings presets suggest that the scaling behavior is stable, with resolution being the primary factor in frame rate variation.

The setting-to-setting deltas are also consistent. At 1920x1080, moving from Low to Medium reduces FPS by 121.6, from Medium to High by 148.7, and from High to Ultra by 100.3. At 2560x1440, the deltas are 80.5, 93.0, and 71.7, respectively. At 3840x2160, the deltas are 45.2, 55.0, and 38.4. The largest absolute drop between consecutive settings occurs at 1080p when moving from Medium to High, a 148.7 FPS reduction. The smallest absolute drop is at 4K from High to Ultra, at 38.4 FPS. These figures indicate that the RTX 5080 has sufficient headroom to maintain high frame rates even at the most demanding settings, though the Ultra preset at 4K falls below 144 FPS, which may be a consideration for users with 144 Hz displays.