Counter-Strike 2

Counter-Strike 2 is famously a CPU-bound title at lower resolutions, but the data for the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 combination paints a more nuanced picture. This pairing produces extreme frame rates that often exceed the refresh rates of standard monitors, yet the scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear transition where the burden shifts from the processor to the graphics card. The measured results show a system capable of delivering highly competitive esports performance, but the shape of the performance curve tells a story about component balance that is worth examining in detail.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The performance delta between 1080p and 4K is the most telling statistic in the dataset. At Low settings, the average frame rate at 1920x1080 is 484 FPS, which drops to 320 FPS at 2560x1440 and further to 179 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 63% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K. The scaling is even more dramatic when considering the absolute drop: moving from 1080p to 1440p costs 164 FPS, while moving from 1440p to 4K costs another 141 FPS. This steep decline suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is the primary bottleneck, but as resolution increases, the GPU becomes increasingly responsible for the final framerate.

At Medium settings, the pattern holds but with slightly different magnitudes. The 1080p result is 402 FPS, dropping to 266 FPS at 1440p and 149 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K is roughly 63%, consistent with the Low setting results. However, the min FPS values at Medium tell an interesting story: at 1080p, the minimum is 342 FPS, but at 1440p it drops to 226 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 126 FPS. These minimums suggest that frame pacing becomes less consistent at higher resolutions, likely due to the increased GPU workload causing occasional spikes in render time.

For High settings, the scaling is slightly less steep in relative terms. The 1080p average is 300 FPS, falling to 199 FPS at 1440p and 111 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 4K here is 63%, mirroring the other presets. Interestingly, the Ultra preset shows the largest relative decline: from 233 FPS at 1080p to 154 FPS at 1440p and just 86 FPS at 4K. That is a 63% reduction from 1080p to 4K, identical to the other settings, which indicates the scaling behavior is consistent regardless of the graphical load.

The implication of these numbers is that the RTX 4080 is not the limiting factor at 1080p; the Core Ultra 7 165H is. At 1080p Low, the system produces 484 FPS, which is far beyond what most displays can show, yet the CPU is still able to feed the GPU at that rate. However, the fact that the frame rate does not scale infinitely with lower graphical settings suggests the CPU has a ceiling around 484 FPS in this game. The data indicates that as resolution increases, the GPU becomes the dominant constraint, with the 4K results showing the RTX 4080 working harder to produce 179 FPS at Low settings.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 in this combination has 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 716.8 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock is listed at 1400 MHz, with the boost clock set at 2505 MHz. For a game like Counter-Strike 2, which is not known for requiring massive VRAM allocations, the 16 GB capacity is more than sufficient. The data shows that even at 4K Ultra settings, which would be the most demanding scenario for memory usage, the system still manages an average of 86 FPS. This suggests the GPU is not running into memory capacity limits, as frame rates are still respectable.

The GPU's compute capabilities are substantial, with 9728 shading units and 76 ray tracing cores. The FP32 performance is rated at 48.74 TFLOPS, which is a strong indicator of raw rendering power. In Counter-Strike 2, which uses Source 2 engine features, the GPU's ability to handle draw calls and lighting effects at high resolutions is what drives the 4K results. The measured data shows that at 4K Medium, the average FPS is 149, which is a playable frame rate for most users, and the min FPS of 126 confirms relatively stable performance.

The RTX 4080 sits at the 86th percentile in terms of GPU benchmark scores, with an average benchmark score of 54247. Its nearest rival, the RTX 4080 SUPER, scores nearly identically with a delta of only 0.1%, while the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X is 1.1% slower. This places the GPU in a very high tier of performance, which aligns with the measured results in Counter-Strike 2. The GPU's role in this combo becomes more pronounced at 4K, where the difference between Low and Ultra settings is 93 FPS (179 vs 86), a 52% performance hit that is directly attributable to the graphics card's workload.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achieved by this combo at any tested setting?

A: The highest average frame rate is 484 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the peak performance point in the dataset.

Q: How does the frame rate scale from 1080p to 4K at Medium settings?

A: At Medium settings, the average frame rate drops from 402 FPS at 1920x1080 to 266 FPS at 2560x1440, and finally to 149 FPS at 3840x2160. The 4K result is 63% lower than the 1080p result.

Q: What is the minimum frame rate recorded in the entire dataset?

A: The lowest min FPS value is 126 FPS, which occurs at 3840x2160 with Medium settings. This indicates that even at 4K resolution, the system maintains a playable floor.

Q: Does the Ultra preset ever exceed 200 FPS at any tested resolution?

A: Yes, at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, the average frame rate is 233 FPS. At 2560x1440, it drops to 154 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 86 FPS.

Q: How does the GPU's benchmark percentile relate to its in-game performance?

A: The RTX 4080 is at the 86th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54247. This high percentile aligns with the strong 4K performance observed, where even Ultra settings produce a playable 86 FPS.

Q: What does the min FPS data at Medium settings reveal about frame consistency?

A: At Medium settings, the min FPS values are 342 at 1080p, 226 at 1440p, and 126 at 4K. The gap between average and min FPS widens as resolution increases, suggesting that frame pacing becomes less consistent at higher resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

For players targeting the highest possible frame rates, the Low preset at 1920x1080 delivers an average of 484 FPS, which is far beyond the refresh rate of any mainstream monitor. This setting is ideal for competitive play where response time is paramount, but the visual compromise may be unnecessary given the hardware's capabilities. The Medium preset at 1080p offers a slightly lower 402 FPS average, but with improved visual fidelity and a min FPS of 342, which still provides a smooth experience.

At 2560x1440, the High preset produces 199 FPS, which is a solid choice for users with 144Hz or 165Hz monitors. The Medium preset at 1440p yields 266 FPS, giving extra headroom for those with 240Hz displays. For 4K gaming, the Medium preset is the most balanced option, with 149 FPS average and a min FPS of 126 that keeps gameplay fluid. The Ultra preset at 4K drops to 86 FPS, which may be acceptable for slower-paced play but is less ideal for a competitive FPS.

The data suggests that the sweet spot for this combination is Medium settings at 1440p, which offers 266 FPS average and 226 FPS minimum. This provides a high refresh rate experience with better visuals than Low, without the significant performance penalty seen at Ultra. For 4K users, Medium is the recommended preset, as it maintains a playable frame rate while the High and Ultra presets show diminishing returns in visual quality for the FPS cost.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the results show a clear hierarchy across presets. The Low setting achieves an average of 484 FPS, the highest in the entire dataset. Medium produces 402 FPS, with a minimum of 342 and maximum of 462. High drops to 300 FPS, while Ultra falls to 233 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 251 FPS, representing a 52% reduction in performance when enabling the highest graphical features.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages decrease across all settings. Low yields 320 FPS, which is a 34% drop from the 1080p Low result. Medium provides 266 FPS, with a min of 226 and max of 306. High offers 199 FPS, and Ultra dips to 154 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 166 FPS, a smaller absolute gap than at 1080p but a similar relative difference.

At 3840x2160, the performance is significantly lower. Low averages 179 FPS, which is still very playable. Medium produces 149 FPS, with a min of 126 and max of 171. High drops to 111 FPS, and Ultra falls to 86 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 4K is 93 FPS, indicating that the GPU is the primary constraint at this resolution. The data shows a consistent pattern where each preset step down from Ultra to Low yields roughly a 20-30% performance increase, depending on the resolution.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core Ultra 7 165H is a 16-core, 22-thread processor with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. It is built on the Meteor Lake architecture using a 7 nm process, with 24 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU's benchmark scores are notable: it achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14551 and a single-core score of 1759. Its PassMark multi-thread score is 25933, with a single-thread score of 3509.

In Counter-Strike 2, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p, where the frame rates are extraordinarily high. The 484 FPS result at Low settings is likely near the CPU's maximum capability for this game, as reducing graphical settings further would not yield higher frame rates. The single-thread performance, indicated by the Cinebench R23 single-core score, is crucial for a game that relies heavily on a few primary threads for game logic and physics. The boost clock of 5.00 GHz provides the raw speed needed for such high frame rates.

The CPU sits at the 84th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 34083. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 5 338H, has a nearly identical average score with a delta of only 0.3%, while the AMD EPYC 4244P is 0.4% slower. This places the Core Ultra 7 165H in a strong position for gaming, though the data shows that at 4K, the GPU becomes the limiting factor. The 24 MB of L3 cache likely helps with the high data throughput required for frame rates exceeding 400 FPS, as the CPU needs to quickly access game state information.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 ranks 873rd out of 2870 tested combos in Counter-Strike 2, placing it in the top 30% of all configurations. This rank is somewhat surprising given the high individual component scores, but it reflects the fact that Counter-Strike 2 is heavily CPU-bound at lower resolutions, where the Core Ultra 7 165H's performance is good but not exceptional compared to desktop-class processors.

The GPU and CPU both sit at high percentiles individually (86th and 84th, respectively), but the combo's rank of 873 suggests that there are many other pairings that achieve higher frame rates in this specific game. This could be due to the mobile nature of the CPU, which has a TDP of 28 W and is designed for laptops, potentially limiting sustained performance compared to a desktop processor. The data shows that the combo excels at 4K, where the RTX 4080's power is fully utilized, but at 1080p, the CPU's limits prevent the system from reaching the absolute top of the rankings.

The measured results indicate that this is a capable pairing for high-refresh-rate gaming, particularly at 1440p where the balance between CPU and GPU is optimal. The combination of 16 cores and 5.00 GHz boost clock with the RTX 4080's 48.74 TFLOPS of compute power creates a system that can handle 300+ FPS at 1080p and still deliver 149 FPS at 4K Medium. The rank of 873 out of 2870 places it in the upper-middle tier, which is respectable for a mobile CPU paired with a high-end desktop GPU.