Counter-Strike 2

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER delivers a top-tier Counter-Strike 2 experience, ranking in the 93rd percentile among all CPUs and the 86th percentile among all GPUs, with measured frame rates that range from 120 FPS at 4K Ultra to 671 FPS at 1080p Low. This combo lands at rank 201 out of 2870 tested combinations, placing it in the top 7% of all pairings in the database for this title. The data shows a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-limited at higher resolutions but transitions to a CPU-bound scenario at 1080p, where the 20-core processor’s single-thread performance becomes the primary driver of the exceptionally high frame rates.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 201 out of 2870 tested combinations places this pairing firmly in the upper echelon of Counter-Strike 2 systems. This position is supported by the component-level percentiles: the CPU sits at the 93rd percentile versus all CPUs, while the GPU sits at the 86th percentile versus all GPUs. The combination of a top-decile processor with a near-top-decile graphics card produces a balanced system capable of maximizing frame rates across all settings and resolutions tested.

Benchmark results indicate that the CPU’s average benchmark score of 64640 places it in close competition with several server-class AMD EPYC parts. The nearest rival, the AMD EPYC 4464P, scores 64823, which is only 0.3% higher than the Core Ultra 7 265. Conversely, the Intel Core Ultra 7 265F scores 64438, a 0.3% deficit, and the AMD EPYC 7343 scores 64202, which is 0.7% lower. The AMD EPYC 9124 leads this group with 65104, a 0.7% advantage. These deltas are remarkably small, indicating that the Core Ultra 7 265’s compute performance is essentially on par with these enterprise offerings, despite being a desktop part with a 65 W TDP.

On the GPU side, the RTX 4080 SUPER’s average benchmark score of 54209 is nearly identical to the standard RTX 4080, which scores 54247, a delta of just -0.1%. The AMD Radeon Pro W5700X scores 54828, which is 1.1% higher, while the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB scores 55698, a 2.7% advantage, and the AMD Radeon 8060S scores 55757, 2.8% higher. These rival GPUs are close in synthetic benchmarks, yet in Counter-Strike 2 specifically, the measured FPS data shows the RTX 4080 SUPER delivering over 120 FPS at 4K Ultra, a result that speaks to its real-world gaming capability rather than raw compute scores.

The rank of 201 out of 2870 is particularly notable because Counter-Strike 2 is a highly competitive esports title where frame rate consistency matters more than absolute graphical fidelity. This pairing’s position suggests it outperforms the vast majority of tested systems, with only 200 combos achieving higher measured performance. The data shows that the bottleneck shifts depending on resolution, but at no point does this combo fall below 120 FPS average, even at the most demanding 4K Ultra preset.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows provide a clear hierarchy of performance across the four settings presets at each resolution. For players prioritizing maximum competitive advantage, the Low preset at 1080p delivers the highest average frame rate of 671 FPS, which is more than double the 323 FPS achieved at Ultra. However, the Medium preset at 1080p offers a compelling balance, with 557 FPS average and a minimum of 474 FPS, ensuring that even in the most chaotic firefights, the frame rate remains well above the refresh rate of any current monitor.

At 1440p, the Medium preset again stands out as the optimal choice for high-refresh gaming. The average of 369 FPS with a minimum of 313 FPS provides a 56 FPS margin above the minimum, which is the largest minimum-to-average gap among the 1440p settings. The Low preset at 1440p reaches 444 FPS average, but the Medium preset’s superior visual quality comes at a cost of only 75 FPS, a 17% reduction. For 4K gaming, the Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum and maximum FPS values, showing 175 FPS minimum and 237 FPS maximum against an average of 206. This consistency makes Medium the recommended 4K preset, as the High preset’s 154 FPS average and the Ultra preset’s 120 FPS average lack the same measured stability.

The data suggests that the Medium preset is the sweet spot across all three resolutions. At 1080p, it delivers 557 FPS average, which is 84 FPS higher than High and 234 FPS higher than Ultra. At 1440p, Medium’s 369 FPS average is 94 FPS higher than High and 155 FPS higher than Ultra. At 4K, Medium’s 206 FPS average is 52 FPS higher than High and 86 FPS higher than Ultra. The consistent pattern indicates that Medium provides the best balance of visual fidelity and frame rate headroom, with the measured minimums ensuring that frame pacing remains stable.

For esports purists who prioritize raw responsiveness, the Low preset at 1080p is the definitive choice. The 671 FPS average is the highest recorded in the entire dataset, and while minimum FPS is not provided for this row, the average suggests that the CPU is not significantly limiting. The Low preset at 1440p also performs admirably at 444 FPS, but the jump from 1080p to 1440p costs 227 FPS, a 34% reduction. This indicates that even at Low settings, resolution scaling has a substantial impact on frame rate, likely due to the GPU’s pixel throughput requirements.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K reveals the limiting component at each stage. At Low settings, the progression is 671 FPS at 1080p, 444 FPS at 1440p, and 248 FPS at 4K. This represents a 34% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a further 44% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The total drop from 1080p to 4K is 63%, which indicates that the GPU is becoming increasingly involved as resolution rises, even at the lowest settings where CPU overhead typically dominates.

At Medium settings, the pattern is similar but with slightly different magnitudes: 557 FPS at 1080p, 369 FPS at 1440p, and 206 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 1440p drop is 34%, matching the Low preset, while the 1440p to 4K drop is 44% as well. The High settings show 416 FPS at 1080p, 275 FPS at 1440p, and 154 FPS at 4K, with drops of 34% and 44% respectively. The Ultra settings show 323 FPS at 1080p, 214 FPS at 1440p, and 120 FPS at 4K, again with identical percentage drops of 34% and 44%.

This consistent scaling pattern across all four settings presets is revealing. The identical percentage reductions from 1080p to 1440p and from 1440p to 4K, regardless of settings, suggest that the GPU is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions. The RTX 4080 SUPER’s 16 GB of GDDR6X memory and 736.3 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for 4K, but the rendering load at 3840x2160 requires the GPU to work significantly harder than at 1920x1080. The fact that the CPU’s role diminishes as resolution increases is evident in the frame rate ratios: at 1080p Low, the system achieves 671 FPS, which is near the practical limit for many CPUs in this game, while at 4K Ultra, the 120 FPS average shows the GPU is the clear constraint.

The data also shows that the gap between Low and Ultra settings widens as resolution decreases. At 1080p, Low to Ultra is a 348 FPS difference (671 to 323), while at 4K, the same comparison shows only a 128 FPS difference (248 to 120). This confirms that at lower resolutions, the CPU has enough headroom to feed the GPU at maximum rate, making the settings preset the dominant factor. At 4K, the GPU is saturated regardless of settings, so the difference between Low and Ultra shrinks to 52% of the 1080p gap.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured FPS data shows exceptional performance across all settings. The Low preset achieves 671 FPS average, the highest figure in the entire dataset, indicating that the CPU is not limiting at this resolution. The Medium preset records 557 FPS average with a minimum of 474 FPS and a maximum of 641 FPS, providing a 67 FPS spread between minimum and maximum. The High preset delivers 416 FPS average, while the Ultra preset drops to 323 FPS average. The progression from Low to Ultra represents a 52% reduction in frame rate, which is substantial but still leaves the Ultra preset well above the 240 Hz refresh rate common in competitive gaming.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains extremely high. The Low preset achieves 444 FPS average, the Medium preset records 369 FPS average with a minimum of 313 FPS and a maximum of 424 FPS, the High preset delivers 275 FPS average, and the Ultra preset reaches 214 FPS average. The Medium preset’s minimum of 313 FPS is notable because it exceeds the maximum refresh rate of most 1440p monitors, ensuring tear-free gameplay on 240 Hz or even 300 Hz displays. The 1440p Ultra preset at 214 FPS is also viable for high-refresh gaming, though the 4K Ultra figure of 120 FPS is more typical of a standard 120 Hz display.

At 3840x2160, the performance scales down as expected. The Low preset achieves 248 FPS average, the Medium preset records 206 FPS average with a minimum of 175 FPS and a maximum of 237 FPS, the High preset delivers 154 FPS average, and the Ultra preset reaches 120 FPS average. The 4K Medium preset’s 175 FPS minimum is particularly impressive, as it ensures that even the most demanding scenes stay above 144 Hz. The 4K Ultra preset at 120 FPS average is exactly at the threshold for 120 Hz displays, but the lack of minimum FPS data for this row suggests potential variance that could dip below this level.

The only rows with complete min/max data are the Medium presets at each resolution. At 1080p Medium, the spread is 474 to 641 FPS, a range of 167 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the spread is 313 to 424 FPS, a range of 111 FPS. At 4K Medium, the spread is 175 to 237 FPS, a range of 62 FPS. This narrowing range as resolution increases further indicates that the GPU becomes the bottleneck, smoothing out the frame time variance that the CPU might introduce at lower resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process node from TSMC, containing 45,900 million transistors on a 379 mm² die. The GPU features 10240 shading units, 320 texture mapping units, and 112 raster output units, along with 80 RT cores and 320 Tensor cores. The base clock is 2295 MHz with a boost clock of 2550 MHz, and the memory operates at 1438 MHz with 23 Gbps effective speed. The 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus provides 736.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which is ample for Counter-Strike 2’s texture and geometry requirements.

The GPU’s performance in this game is characterized by its ability to maintain high frame rates even at 4K Ultra. The 120 FPS average at 4K Ultra is a strong result, but the data shows that the GPU is the limiting factor at this resolution, as evidenced by the consistent 34% and 44% FPS drops when scaling from 1080p to 1440p and from 1440p to 4K. The pixel rate of 285.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 816.0 GTexel/s are the key metrics here, as Counter-Strike 2’s rendering workload at 4K requires substantial pixel throughput. The FP32 performance of 52.22 TFLOPS ensures that the GPU can handle the game’s shader complexity without bottlenecking the CPU.

The RTX 4080 SUPER’s nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are the standard RTX 4080 (0.1% lower average score), the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X (1.1% higher), the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB (2.7% higher), and the AMD Radeon 8060S (2.8% higher). Despite these small synthetic differences, the measured FPS data shows that this GPU configuration delivers playable frame rates at every settings preset and resolution combination tested. The GPU’s 86th percentile ranking versus all GPUs confirms that it is a high-end part, and its 16 GB memory capacity ensures no VRAM limitations in this title.

The boost clock of 2550 MHz is the maximum frequency the GPU can achieve under load, and the data suggests that the card is likely running at or near this clock during gameplay, given the high frame rates observed. The 320 W TDP and triple-slot design indicate a power-hungry card, but the measured performance justifies this thermal envelope. The GPU’s production status is end-of-life, which means it has been succeeded by newer parts, but its performance in Counter-Strike 2 remains competitive with any current offering.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 is a 20-core, 20-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, manufactured on a 3 nm process node by TSMC. It has a base clock of 2.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 30 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR5 memory on a dual-channel bus with 102.4 GB/s of bandwidth, and it features Intel Socket 1851 connectivity with PCIe Gen 5 support.

In Counter-Strike 2, the CPU’s role is most pronounced at 1080p, where the frame rates exceed 400 FPS on all settings except Ultra. The 671 FPS average at 1080p Low reflects the CPU’s strong single-thread performance, which is critical for this game’s physics and player position calculations. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 5960 and multi-core score of 42216 demonstrate the processor’s capability, but it is the single-core result that matters most for this title. The PassMark single-thread score of 4689 further confirms that the Core Ultra 7 265 excels in the type of workload Counter-Strike 2 presents.

The CPU’s 20 cores and 20 threads do not provide a direct benefit in Counter-Strike 2, which is not heavily multithreaded, but the high boost clock of 5.30 GHz ensures that the game’s primary thread can run at maximum frequency. The 30 MB of L3 cache is beneficial for holding game state data, while the 3 MB per-core L2 cache reduces latency for frequently accessed instructions. The CPU’s 93rd percentile ranking versus all CPUs places it in the top 7% of processors, and its nearest rivals include server-class EPYC parts that are typically used in data centers, not gaming desktops.

The data shows that at 1440p and 4K, the CPU’s influence diminishes as the GPU becomes the bottleneck. However, the fact that the 1080p Low preset achieves 671 FPS indicates that the CPU is not limiting even at this extreme frame rate. The 1080p Ultra preset at 323 FPS is more than double the 4K Ultra figure, suggesting that the CPU has ample headroom to drive the GPU at lower resolutions. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 64640 places it within 1% of its nearest rivals, but in gaming specifically, the 5.30 GHz boost clock gives it an advantage over the lower-clocked EPYC parts in this comparison group.