Counter-Strike 2

# Counter-Strike 2 with Intel Core Ultra 5 245 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 — Benchmark Analysis

This combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 delivers exceptional frame rates across all tested resolutions in Counter-Strike 2, with the data showing a clear shift from GPU-bound at 4K to increasingly CPU-bound at 1440p and 1080p. The measured results place this combo at rank 109 out of 2870 tested combinations, placing it in the top 4% of all configurations in this title.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K reveals the expected inverse relationship between resolution and performance, but the magnitude of the drop varies significantly depending on the quality preset selected. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 745 FPS at 1920x1080 to 276 FPS at 3840x2160, representing a 63% reduction. This steep decline indicates that even at Low settings, the GPU is becoming the limiting factor as pixel count quadruples, though the absolute numbers remain extraordinarily high.

At Medium settings, the scaling pattern shows the same trend with 619 FPS at 1080p, 410 FPS at 1440p, and 229 FPS at 4K. The transition from 1080p to 1440p costs 34% of the frame rate, while moving from 1440p to 4K costs another 44%. This non-linear scaling suggests that the RTX 4090's memory bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s and 24 GB of GDDR6X memory are being utilized more heavily at higher resolutions, though the GPU still maintains playable frame rates even at 4K Ultra.

High settings produce 462 FPS at 1080p, 306 FPS at 1440p, and 171 FPS at 4K. The 1080p-to-1440p drop of 34% mirrors the Medium preset, but the 1440p-to-4K drop of 44% is slightly steeper, indicating that the additional visual fidelity of High settings increases the GPU's workload disproportionately at 4K. Ultra settings show the most dramatic scaling, with 359 FPS at 1080p falling to 238 FPS at 1440p (34% drop) and then to 133 FPS at 4K (44% drop).

The pattern across all presets reveals that the 1080p-to-1440p transition consistently costs about one-third of the frame rate, while the 1440p-to-4K transition costs roughly 44%. This consistency across quality levels suggests that the limiting component shifts gradually from the CPU at 1080p to the GPU at 4K, with the crossover point occurring somewhere around 1440p. At 1080p Low, the 745 FPS result is likely constrained by the CPU's single-thread performance of 4648 points in Cinebench R23, as the RTX 4090 would theoretically be capable of much higher output if the CPU could feed it faster.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for optimizing the balance between visual quality and frame rate. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 745 FPS, which is appropriate for competitive play where maximum refresh rates are prioritized. However, the Medium preset at 619 FPS still provides exceptional smoothness while offering improved visuals, and the minimum frame rate of 526 FPS indicates excellent frame pacing stability. For players with 360Hz monitors, the Medium preset at 1080p is the highest quality setting that maintains an average above 600 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the High preset delivers 306 FPS, which exceeds the refresh rate of most high-end monitors. The Medium preset at 410 FPS provides a substantial headroom for competitive play, while the Ultra preset at 238 FPS remains well above the 144Hz threshold. The data suggests that 1440p High is the sweet spot for this resolution, as it offers 306 FPS average with no reported minimum frame rate below the average, indicating consistent performance.

At 3840x2160, the situation changes markedly. The High preset at 171 FPS is still playable on 144Hz displays, and the Medium preset at 229 FPS provides excellent smoothness with a minimum of 195 FPS. The Ultra preset at 133 FPS drops below the 144Hz threshold, making it less ideal for high-refresh-rate displays. The Low preset at 276 FPS is available for players who prioritize frame rate over visual fidelity, but the Medium preset at 229 FPS offers a better balance of quality and performance at 4K.

For the best overall experience per the measured rows, the Medium preset at 1440p offers 410 FPS average with a minimum of 348 FPS, providing both high frame rates and reasonable visual quality. The High preset at 4K with 171 FPS is the recommended choice for 4K users who want smooth gameplay without sacrificing too much visual fidelity.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achieved with this combo?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 745 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings, followed by 619 FPS at the same resolution with Medium settings.

Q: Is this combo capable of 4K gaming in Counter-Strike 2?

A: Yes, at 3840x2160 the combo delivers 171 FPS on High, 229 FPS on Medium, and 133 FPS on Ultra, making it suitable for 4K gaming on displays up to 144Hz for most presets.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Ultra produces 238 FPS while High produces 306 FPS, a difference of 68 FPS or roughly 22% higher performance for High settings.

Q: What minimum frame rates are reported in the data?

A: Minimum frame rates are only reported for Medium settings: 526 FPS at 1080p, 348 FPS at 1440p, and 195 FPS at 4K. No minimums are listed for Low, High, or Ultra presets.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested combinations in this game?

A: The combo ranks 109th out of 2870 tested combinations in Counter-Strike 2, placing it in the top 3.8% of all configurations.

Q: Does the RTX 4090's 24 GB VRAM provide any advantage at 4K?

A: The 24 GB GDDR6X memory with 1.01 TB/s bandwidth ensures that VRAM capacity is not a limiting factor even at 4K Ultra, where the GPU still maintains 133 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

The comboRankInGame of 109 out of 2870 tested combinations places this configuration in the 96.2nd percentile of all tested systems for Counter-Strike 2. This ranking reflects the exceptional performance of the RTX 4090, which sits at the 88th percentile among all GPUs, paired with the Core Ultra 5 245, which sits at the 90th percentile among all CPUs.

The ranking is particularly noteworthy considering the CPU's position relative to its nearest rivals. The Core Ultra 5 245 has an average benchmark score of 48995, which is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G at 49196 (-0.4% delta) and the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 at 49228 (-0.5% delta). It also edges out the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H by 0.6% and the Intel Core i5-14600K by 0.8%. This tight grouping around the 49000 mark means the CPU's performance is highly competitive with its direct competitors, though none of these rivals would meaningfully change the gaming outcome given the GPU's dominance in this title.

The RTX 4090's average benchmark score of 60347 places it in a similar competitive position, with its nearest rival being the Intel Arc Pro A60 at 60326 (0% delta). The AMD Radeon Pro W6600M is 2.5% ahead, while the AMD Radeon PRO V710 is 2.9% behind. This clustering around the 60000 mark suggests that the RTX 4090 is performing at the expected level for its class, and the high combo ranking is a result of the synergistic combination rather than any single component exceeding expectations.

The ranking at 109 out of 2870 indicates that only 108 tested combinations achieve higher frame rates in Counter-Strike 2, likely consisting of configurations with even higher-end CPUs paired with the RTX 4090, or possibly overclocked variants. For a non-overclockable CPU with a locked multiplier, this ranking demonstrates that the Core Ultra 5 245 is well-matched to the RTX 4090 in this particular game.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 provides the graphical horsepower for this configuration, featuring 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus with 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's base clock of 2235 MHz boosts to 2520 MHz, delivering 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance across its 16384 shading units. The memory clock runs at 1313 MHz with 21 Gbps effective speed, ensuring that the GPU's compute capabilities are not starved by memory bandwidth.

In Counter-Strike 2, the RTX 4090's role becomes increasingly prominent as resolution increases. At 1080p Low, the GPU is clearly not the bottleneck, as the 745 FPS result suggests the CPU is limiting performance. However, at 4K Ultra, the GPU's workload increases dramatically, and the 133 FPS result indicates that the GPU is now the primary constraint. The progression from 745 FPS at 1080p Low to 276 FPS at 4K Low (63% reduction) and from 462 FPS at 1080p High to 171 FPS at 4K High (63% reduction) demonstrates that the GPU scales predictably with resolution.

The 24 GB VRAM capacity is more than sufficient for Counter-Strike 2, which is not a VRAM-intensive title. The GPU's 88th percentile ranking among all GPUs confirms its position as one of the fastest available, though the nearestRivals data shows that its average benchmark score of 60347 is closely matched by the Intel Arc Pro A60 at 60326. This suggests that the RTX 4090's gaming performance is not significantly ahead of its closest competitors in synthetic benchmarks, yet its real-world performance in Counter-Strike 2 is exceptional.

The GPU's texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s are relevant to Counter-Strike 2's rendering pipeline, which relies on fast texture sampling and pixel processing for its competitive gameplay. The 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores are not heavily utilized in this game, as Counter-Strike 2 does not employ ray tracing or DLSS in the tested configurations.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured results show a clear hierarchy across presets. Low settings produce the highest average at 745 FPS, followed by Medium at 619 FPS with a minimum of 526 FPS and maximum of 712 FPS. High settings deliver 462 FPS, and Ultra produces 359 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra represents a 386 FPS difference, or 52% of the Low setting's performance.

At 2560x1440, the same hierarchy persists but with lower absolute values. Low settings achieve 493 FPS, Medium delivers 410 FPS (minimum 348, maximum 471), High produces 306 FPS, and Ultra yields 238 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 255 FPS, or 52% of the Low setting's performance, matching the percentage spread seen at 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the results show 276 FPS on Low, 229 FPS on Medium (minimum 195, maximum 263), 171 FPS on High, and 133 FPS on Ultra. The spread from Low to Ultra is 143 FPS, again representing 52% of the Low setting's performance. This consistent 52% reduction from Low to Ultra across all resolutions indicates that the performance scaling between presets is resolution-independent.

The Medium preset is the only one with reported minimum and maximum frame rates, providing insight into frame pacing. At 1080p, the minimum of 526 FPS is 85% of the 619 FPS average, indicating tight frame pacing. At 1440p, the minimum of 348 FPS is 85% of the 410 FPS average, and at 4K, the minimum of 195 FPS is 85% of the 229 FPS average. This consistent 85% ratio suggests stable performance across resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 features 14 cores and 14 threads (no hyperthreading) with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and boost clock of 5.10 GHz. The CPU is built on TSMC's 3 nm process with 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die, and it supports DDR5 memory on a dual-channel bus with 102.4 GB/s bandwidth. The 24 MB shared L3 cache and per-core L2 cache of 3 MB provide substantial on-chip storage for game data.

In Counter-Strike 2, the CPU's role is most apparent at 1080p Low, where the 745 FPS result likely approaches the CPU's limit for frame generation. The CPU's single-thread performance of 4648 in Cinebench R23 and 4394 in Passmark single-thread tests indicates strong per-core performance, which is critical for Counter-Strike 2's physics and game logic. The 14 cores at 14 threads mean that the CPU does not benefit from simultaneous multithreading, but the high boost clock of 5.10 GHz compensates in lightly-threaded workloads.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 48995 places it at the 90th percentile among all CPUs, with its nearest rival being the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G at 49196 (-0.4% delta). The AMD Ryzen 9 7900 is also close at 49228 (-0.5% delta), while the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H is 0.6% behind and the Intel Core i5-14600K is 0.8% behind. This tight competition means that the Core Ultra 5 245 is competitive with its peers, though none of these rivals are likely to produce meaningfully different results in Counter-Strike 2 given the GPU's dominance.

The CPU's 65W TDP and efficient 3 nm process allow for sustained boost clocks without thermal throttling, which is beneficial for maintaining consistent frame rates during extended gaming sessions. The PCIe Gen 5 support with 20 lanes ensures that the RTX 4090 is not bandwidth-limited on the PCIe interface, though the GPU's PCIe 4.0 x16 interface means that Gen 5 bandwidth is not fully utilized.