Counter-Strike 2

Counter-Strike 2 is a competitive FPS where frame rate directly translates to input latency and target acquisition. The data for the Intel Core i7-14700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 combination shows a system that is heavily overqualified for standard competitive play, delivering performance that is bottlenecked by the CPU at lower resolutions. This analysis breaks down the measured results across different settings and resolutions, with a focus on how the specific hardware attributes influence the game's output.

FAQ

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

A: The combo ranks 237th out of 3719 tested combinations, placing it in the top 6.4% of all systems in the database for this specific title.

Q: How does the Core i7-14700KF compare to its closest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700KF has an average benchmark score of 70163, which is 0.2% higher than the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F's average score of 69996. This indicates near-identical synthetic CPU performance between the two.

Q: What is the performance delta between the RTX 4080 and the RTX 4080 SUPER?

A: The RTX 4080 scores an average of 54247, while the RTX 4080 SUPER scores 54209. This makes the RTX 4080 0.1% faster in this benchmark, a negligible difference that puts them on par with each other.

Q: At which resolution and settings does the system achieve its highest frame rate?

A: The highest average frame rate is 674 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: What is the minimum frame rate recorded for the Medium settings preset at 2560x1440?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the system records a minimum frame rate of 315 FPS, an average of 371 FPS, and a maximum of 426 FPS.

Q: What is the GPU's memory bandwidth and how does it relate to its class?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 has a memory bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s, paired with 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus. This high bandwidth is sufficient for the game's data throughput demands at all tested settings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is the primary driver for visual fidelity, and its specifications show why it handles Counter-Strike 2 with ease. Built on the 5 nm Ada Lovelace architecture with 45,900 million transistors, the GPU operates at a base clock of 2205 MHz and boosts up to 2505 MHz. The 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus provides 716.8 GB/s of bandwidth, ensuring that texture streaming and geometry data are fed to the processor without stutter.

In this game, the GPU's role becomes more pronounced as resolution increases. At 3840x2160, the scaling from Low to Ultra settings shows a clear progression: 249 FPS at Low, 207 FPS at Medium, 155 FPS at High, and 120 FPS at Ultra. This pattern indicates that the RTX 4080 is the limiting factor at 4K, as the load on the shading units, TMUs, and ROPs increases with each preset. The GPU's 9728 shading units and 112 ROPs manage the pixel workload, but the 48.74 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is what enables the high frame rates even at Ultra settings.

At lower resolutions, the GPU's dominance fades. The shift from 2560x1440 to 1920x1080 shows a massive jump in FPS, but this is not due to the GPU working harder; rather, it indicates that the CPU is taking over the performance ceiling. The RTX 4080's texture rate of 761.5 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 280.6 GPixel/s are more than adequate for 1080p, leaving headroom unused. The data shows that the GPU is not the bottleneck at 1080p, as the frame rates scale almost linearly with resolution, a typical sign of a CPU-limited scenario.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF provides the computational muscle for the game's physics, logic, and draw call processing. With 20 cores and 28 threads, this Raptor Lake-R architecture chip has a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. The 33 MB of shared L3 cache is particularly relevant for Counter-Strike 2, as the game's engine frequently accesses small, fast data sets. The CPU's benchmark scores, such as a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 44167 and a single-core score of 6235, indicate strong per-thread performance crucial for the game's main thread.

The CPU's percentile ranking is 94, meaning it outperforms 94% of all CPUs in the database. Its average benchmark score of 70163 is 0.2% higher than the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and 0.4% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX, but it lags the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K by 1%. This places the i7-14700KF firmly at the top of the consumer desktop stack, and the game's frame rates reflect this.

The CPU's influence is most visible at 1920x1080. Here, the average frame rates are 674 FPS at Low, 560 FPS at Medium, 418 FPS at High, and 325 FPS at Ultra. The gap between Low and Medium is 114 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is 93 FPS. These are significant margins, but the absolute numbers are high enough that the CPU is likely hitting its thread scheduling limits rather than raw compute limits. The 5.60 GHz boost clock ensures that the game's primary thread is processed as fast as possible, but the data suggests that at 1080p, the i7-14700KF is the limiting factor, not the RTX 4080.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance for optimizing the balance between visual quality and performance. For competitive play, where high frame rates are paramount, the Low preset at 1920x1080 is the clear winner, delivering an average of 674 FPS. This is the only setting that approaches the 600+ FPS territory, which is often considered the gold standard for esports titles.

For players who want a balance of visuals and speed, the Medium preset is the recommended sweet spot. At 1920x1080, it offers 560 FPS average with a minimum of 476 FPS, ensuring that even in intense firefights, the frame rate stays well above the refresh rate of most high-end monitors. The Medium preset at 2560x1440 also holds up well, with an average of 371 FPS and a minimum of 315 FPS, making it a viable option for those with 1440p 240Hz displays. The High preset at 2560x1440 (277 FPS) is also acceptable, but the jump to Ultra at this resolution (215 FPS) shows diminishing returns.

At 3840x2160, the situation changes. The Ultra preset drops to 120 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for competitive play. The High preset at 155 FPS is more acceptable for 4K gaming, but the Low preset at 249 FPS is the only one that approaches the performance levels seen at lower resolutions. The data suggests that for 4K, players should stick to High or Low settings, as the Medium preset's 207 FPS is a middle ground that does not offer a significant visual upgrade over Low for the frame rate cost.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-14700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 achieves a rank of 237 out of 3719 tested combos in Counter-Strike 2. This places the system in the top 6.4% of all tested configurations, a strong showing that reflects the high-end nature of both components. The rank is likely held back by the CPU's single-threaded limits at 1080p, where the GPU is not fully utilized, but it is still an exceptional result.

The GPU's own benchmark percentile is 86, meaning it outperforms 86% of all GPUs. The CPU's percentile is 94, outperforming 94% of all CPUs. When combined, the system's rank in this game is slightly lower than the individual percentiles might suggest, which is a common pattern in CPU-bound esports titles. The nearest rival GPUs—the RTX 4080 SUPER (0.1% slower), AMD Radeon Pro W5700X (1.1% faster), and AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB (2.6% faster)—show that the RTX 4080 is not the bottleneck, as its synthetic scores are competitive.

The combo's rank of 237 indicates that there are 236 other tested systems that perform better in this game. These are likely configurations with even faster CPUs, such as those with higher boost clocks or more optimized memory latency. However, the i7-14700KF's 5.60 GHz boost clock is already near the top of what is available, so the improvements from other combos are likely marginal in real-world play, despite the measurable differences in the rankings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates are consistent across all settings and resolutions, showing a clear hierarchy of performance.

At 1920x1080, the system delivers the highest frame rates in the test suite. The Low preset averages 674 FPS, which is the absolute peak. The Medium preset averages 560 FPS, with a minimum of 476 FPS and a maximum of 644 FPS, providing a stable experience. The High preset averages 418 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 325 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra is not linear; the difference between Low and Medium is 114 FPS, while the difference between Medium and High is 142 FPS, and between High and Ultra is 93 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates drop but remain very high. The Low preset averages 446 FPS, followed by Medium at 371 FPS (min 315, max 426), High at 277 FPS, and Ultra at 215 FPS. The scaling here is more uniform, with a drop of 75 FPS from Low to Medium, 94 FPS from Medium to High, and 62 FPS from High to Ultra. This resolution is a good balance for players with high-refresh-rate 1440p monitors, as even the Ultra preset stays above 200 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the system shows its first signs of GPU limitation. The Low preset averages 249 FPS, which is still excellent. The Medium preset averages 207 FPS (min 176, max 238), and the High preset averages 155 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 120 FPS, which is the lowest result in the entire test. The scaling from Low to Medium is 42 FPS, from Medium to High is 52 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 35 FPS. This shows that the RTX 4080 is being pushed harder at 4K, but it still delivers playable frame rates at all settings.

The data shows that the system is best utilized at 1920x1080 with Medium or Low settings for maximum competitive advantage, or at 2560x1440 with High settings for a blend of visual quality and performance. The 4K results are more suited to casual play or content creation, where the absolute frame rate is less critical.