Counter-Strike 2

Counter-Strike 2 with the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 delivers exceptional frame rates across all tested configurations, but the data clearly favors the Medium preset as the optimal balance of visual fidelity and performance. At 1080p, the Medium preset achieves an average of 402 FPS, which is 102 FPS higher than High (300 FPS) and only 82 FPS lower than Low (484 FPS). The gap between Medium and Low narrows dramatically at higher resolutions—at 1440p the difference is just 54 FPS (266 vs 320), and at 4K it shrinks to 30 FPS (149 vs 179). Meanwhile, Medium provides substantial visual improvements over Low, making it the recommended choice for competitive play where frame rate headroom matters but image quality should not be sacrificed entirely.

For players with high-refresh-rate monitors, the Ultra preset remains viable but demands careful consideration. At 1080p, Ultra still produces 233 FPS, which exceeds most 144Hz displays, but the drop to 154 FPS at 1440p and 86 FPS at 4K makes it less suitable for serious competitive play. The High preset offers a middle ground with 300 FPS at 1080p, 199 FPS at 1440p, and 111 FPS at 4K, but it consistently trails Medium by 15-20% at every resolution, making it harder to justify given the modest visual gains. The data suggests that Medium is the sweet spot—it maintains triple-digit averages even at 4K (149 FPS) while providing enough headroom for demanding scenarios.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark results indicate that the Medium preset delivers the best overall experience for this combo across all three tested resolutions. Starting with 1080p, Medium produces 402 FPS average, which is 84.5% of the Low preset's 484 FPS but with significantly improved visual quality. The min FPS of 342 recorded on Medium at 1080p still exceeds the average FPS of the High preset at that resolution (300 FPS), demonstrating that Medium provides both higher raw throughput and better frame time consistency than High.

Moving to 1440p, the pattern continues: Medium achieves 266 FPS average with a minimum of 226 FPS, while High averages 199 FPS and Ultra drops to 154 FPS. The 67 FPS advantage of Medium over High at this resolution is more than enough to justify the settings choice, especially considering that CS2's competitive nature rewards higher frame rates for reduced input lag. At 4K, Medium's 149 FPS average with 126 FPS minimum remains playable on high-refresh displays, while High drops to 111 FPS and Ultra falls below 90 FPS.

The Low preset, while fastest, sacrifices too much visual clarity for marginal gains at higher resolutions. At 1080p, Low's 484 FPS is only 82 FPS ahead of Medium—a 17% improvement that most players would not notice on standard 144Hz or 240Hz monitors. At 4K, the gap narrows to just 30 FPS (179 vs 149), making Low's visual compromises even harder to justify. The Ultra preset, conversely, offers minimal visual improvements over High while costing 19-35% performance at every resolution. For this hardware combination, Medium represents the optimal configuration where the RTX 4080's capabilities are fully utilized without the CPU becoming a bottleneck.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 brings substantial hardware resources to Counter-Strike 2, with 16 GB of GDDR6X memory and a 256-bit bus delivering 716.8 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's 9728 shading units, 304 texture mapping units, and 112 raster output pipelines provide the raw compute necessary to drive high frame rates at demanding resolutions. The boost clock of 2505 MHz, combined with the 48.74 TFLOPS FP32 performance, ensures that the GPU is rarely the limiting factor in this title, particularly at lower resolutions.

The 16 GB VRAM capacity is more than sufficient for CS2's current requirements, and the data shows no evidence of memory-related performance degradation even at 4K Ultra settings. The GPU's 76 RT cores and 304 tensor cores, while not directly relevant to CS2's rasterization-focused rendering, contribute to the overall efficiency of the Ada Lovelace architecture. The 320 W TDP and triple-slot cooler design indicate that this is a desktop-class GPU operating in a laptop, and the measured frame rates confirm that thermal constraints are not preventing it from reaching its performance potential.

The RTX 4080's role becomes increasingly important as resolution increases. At 1080p, the CPU likely limits performance—the 484 FPS Low average suggests the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H is working near its maximum capacity. However, at 4K, the GPU takes over as the primary bottleneck, evidenced by the dramatic scaling differences between settings. The 86 FPS Ultra average at 4K versus 179 FPS Low shows that the GPU is being stressed by the combination of high resolution and high settings, while the CPU has sufficient headroom to keep feeding frames.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling across resolutions reveals a balanced system that transitions from CPU-bound at 1080p to GPU-bound at 4K. At 1080p Medium, the combo achieves 402 FPS, which drops to 266 FPS at 1440p—a 33.8% decrease. Moving from 1440p to 4K Medium, the frame rate falls further to 149 FPS, representing another 44% drop. This scaling pattern is consistent with GPU-bound behavior at higher resolutions, where the number of pixels rendered quadruples from 1080p to 4K.

The Low preset shows the most dramatic resolution scaling, going from 484 FPS at 1080p to 320 FPS at 1440p (33.9% decrease) and then to 179 FPS at 4K (44.1% decrease from 1440p). This suggests that even with minimal settings, the GPU becomes increasingly important as resolution grows. Conversely, the Ultra preset exhibits less relative scaling: 233 FPS at 1080p, 154 FPS at 1440p (33.9% decrease), and 86 FPS at 4K (44.2% decrease). The consistent percentage drops across all settings indicate that the resolution scaling is primarily GPU-limited, with the CPU providing adequate frame delivery even at lower resolutions.

The data indicates that at 1080p, the CPU is the limiting component for the High, Medium, and Low presets, as evidenced by the relatively small frame rate differences between these settings. However, at 4K, the GPU becomes the bottleneck, with the Ultra preset's 86 FPS average representing a 62.7% reduction from the 1080p Ultra score. This transition from CPU-bound to GPU-bound behavior is typical for high-end GPU and mid-range CPU combinations in esports titles, and it explains why the Medium preset provides the best balance across all resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers exceptional performance across all settings. The Low preset achieves a remarkable 484 FPS average, while Medium produces 402 FPS with a minimum of 342 and maximum of 462. High settings yield 300 FPS average, and Ultra drops to 233 FPS. These numbers indicate that at 1080p, the system is capable of driving even the highest refresh rate monitors available, with the Low preset providing nearly 500 FPS for competitive play.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance remains extremely strong but shows the expected scaling. Low preset delivers 320 FPS average, Medium achieves 266 FPS with a minimum of 226 and maximum of 306, High produces 199 FPS, and Ultra falls to 154 FPS. The 1440p Medium result is particularly noteworthy—it exceeds the 4K Low preset's 179 FPS, demonstrating that resolution has a more significant impact than settings on this hardware.

At 3840x2160, the system still maintains playable frame rates across all settings. Low preset averages 179 FPS, Medium achieves 149 FPS with a minimum of 126 and maximum of 171, High produces 111 FPS, and Ultra drops to 86 FPS. The 4K Medium result of 149 FPS is competitive with many systems' 1080p performance, and the 126 FPS minimum ensures that even demanding scenes remain fluid. The Ultra preset at 4K, while only producing 86 FPS, still exceeds the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, though it may not be ideal for competitive play.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 873rd out of 2870 tested combinations in Counter-Strike 2, placing it in the top 30.4% of all systems tested. This ranking reflects the strong performance of the RTX 4080 GPU, which sits in the 86th percentile of all GPUs, combined with the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H's 83rd percentile CPU ranking. The combo's average benchmark score of 54247 places it in the upper echelon of systems, though the relatively modest CPU performance compared to desktop parts limits its overall ranking.

The CPU's nearest rivals provide context for its performance: the Intel Core i5-14600T scores 32707 (0% delta), the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 360 scores 32662 (0.1% slower), the AMD Ryzen 5 7400F scores 32750 (0.2% faster), and the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H scores 32812 (0.4% faster). These negligible differences indicate that the Core Ultra 7 155H is well-matched with its peers in this performance tier. The GPU's rivals show similar clustering: the RTX 4080 SUPER scores 54209 (0.1% slower), while the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X scores 54828 (1.1% faster) and the RX 6750 GRE 12 GB scores 55698 (2.6% faster).

The 873rd ranking out of 2870 combos suggests that while this system is fast, it is not at the very top of the performance hierarchy. Given that the RTX 4080 is a high-end GPU, the ranking is likely constrained by the CPU's mobile-class performance. In CS2, which is known to be CPU-sensitive, the Core Ultra 7 155H's 16 cores and 22 threads provide solid multi-threaded performance (15028 in Cinebench R23 multi-core), but its single-thread performance (1743 in Cinebench R23) may limit maximum frame rates at lower resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the best setting preset for competitive play?

A: The Medium preset offers the best balance, delivering 402 FPS at 1080p, 266 FPS at 1440p, and 149 FPS at 4K. It provides significantly better visuals than Low while maintaining frame rates that exceed most high-refresh monitors.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K resolution?

A: At 4K, the system maintains playable frame rates across all settings: 179 FPS on Low, 149 FPS on Medium, 111 FPS on High, and 86 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset's 126 FPS minimum ensures consistent performance in demanding scenes.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this system?

A: The data indicates the system transitions from CPU-bound at 1080p to GPU-bound at 4K. At 1080p Low, the 484 FPS average suggests CPU limitation, while at 4K Ultra, the 86 FPS average shows the GPU is the primary constraint.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested systems?

A: This combo ranks 873rd out of 2870 tested combinations, placing it in the top 30.4% of all systems. The ranking reflects the strong RTX 4080 GPU performance balanced against the mobile-class CPU.

Q: What frame rates can I expect with the High preset?

A: The High preset delivers 300 FPS at 1080p, 199 FPS at 1440p, and 111 FPS at 4K. These results consistently trail the Medium preset by 15-20% at every resolution, making High a less attractive option.

Q: Does the 16 GB VRAM affect performance in CS2?

A: The 16 GB GDDR6X memory with 716.8 GB/s bandwidth is more than sufficient for CS2. No performance degradation is evident at 4K Ultra settings, indicating VRAM capacity is not a limiting factor.