Counter-Strike 2

Counter-Strike 2 is notoriously CPU-bound, and the data for the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 confirms this dynamic, but with a twist. At 1080p, the combination produces staggering frame rates that highlight the CPU's immense headroom, while the scaling to 4K reveals a system that remains remarkably playable at every setting, ultimately ranking in the top 6.4% of all tested combinations.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep but consistent, showing how the rendering load shifts from the processor to the graphics card as pixel count rises. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 674 at 1920x1080 to 249 at 3840x2160, a 63% reduction. This massive drop indicates that at 1080p Low, the CPU is the primary limiting factor, pushing out frames far beyond what the GPU can render, and that the RTX 4080 only begins to stretch its legs at higher resolutions.

Moving to High settings, the pattern holds: 418 FPS at 1080p drops to 277 FPS at 1440p and then to 155 FPS at 4K. The 44% reduction from 1080p to 1440p is almost identical to the 44% reduction from 1440p to 4K in this preset, suggesting a linear scaling curve where the GPU gradually becomes the bottleneck. At 4K High, the system still delivers 155 FPS, which is far beyond the refresh rate of most monitors, proving that this combo never becomes unplayable due to resolution alone.

The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic resolution sensitivity, with 325 FPS at 1080p collapsing to 215 FPS at 1440p and then to 120 FPS at 4K. This 63% total drop from 1080p to 4K mirrors the Low preset's percentage change, indicating that the Ultra settings place a proportional load on both the CPU and GPU. The fact that 4K Ultra still maintains an average of 120 FPS is noteworthy—it means even the most demanding configuration in this test clears the 100 FPS threshold that competitive players often target.

The Medium preset, which includes min/max FPS data, provides insight into frame pacing. At 1080p Medium, the average is 560 FPS with a minimum of 476 FPS and a maximum of 644 FPS. This narrow 30% spread between min and max suggests that the CPU can feed the GPU consistently without stutters. At 4K Medium, the average drops to 207 FPS, with a minimum of 176 FPS and a maximum of 238 FPS, maintaining a similar 35% spread. This consistency across resolutions indicates that the bottleneck transition is smooth, with no sudden frame-time spikes.

Settings Recommendations

For competitive play, the Low preset at 1080p delivers the highest possible frame rate at 674 FPS, which is the clear choice for players with 360Hz or 500Hz monitors seeking every possible advantage. However, the data suggests that this setting is overkill for most displays; even the High preset at 1080p offers 418 FPS, which exceeds the capabilities of all but the most exotic high-refresh-rate panels.

The Medium preset represents the best balance between visual fidelity and performance for players with 240Hz displays. At 1440p Medium, the average of 371 FPS with a minimum of 315 FPS ensures that the frame rate never dips below the 300 FPS mark, providing a rock-solid experience. At 1080p Medium, the 560 FPS average with a 476 FPS minimum offers an even larger safety margin, making this the recommended setting for those who prioritize consistency over maximum FPS.

For 4K gaming, the High preset at 155 FPS is the sweet spot, as it provides a substantial improvement over Medium's 207 FPS? Wait, that is incorrect. The data shows 4K High at 155 FPS and 4K Medium at 207 FPS, meaning Medium is faster. Therefore, for 4K, the Medium preset offers the best experience, delivering 207 FPS with a minimum of 176 FPS, which is smooth on 144Hz and even 175Hz panels. The Ultra preset at 4K drops to 120 FPS, which is still playable but leaves less headroom for drops in busy scenes.

Players seeking maximum visual quality without sacrificing competitive viability should choose the High preset at 1440p, where the 277 FPS average clears the 240Hz threshold. The Ultra preset at 1440p (215 FPS) is also viable for 144Hz monitors, but the jump from High to Ultra at this resolution only yields marginal visual gains while reducing the frame rate by 22%, a trade-off most esports enthusiasts will reject.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Counter-Strike 2 at 4K with high refresh rates?

A: Yes. The measured data shows a 4K High average of 155 FPS and a 4K Medium average of 207 FPS, both sufficient for 144Hz monitors. Even 4K Ultra maintains 120 FPS.

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

A: At 1080p, the CPU is clearly the limiting factor, as evidenced by the 674 FPS Low result. At 4K, the GPU becomes the primary constraint, with frame rates dropping to 249 FPS at Low settings, a 63% reduction from 1080p.

Q: What is the fastest settings/resolution combination measured?

A: The 1920x1080 Low preset delivers the highest average FPS at 674. The next fastest is 1080p Medium at 560 FPS, followed by 1080p High at 418 FPS.

Q: How consistent are frame times at 1440p Medium?

A: The 1440p Medium preset shows an average of 371 FPS, with a minimum of 315 FPS and a maximum of 426 FPS. The 35% spread between min and max indicates stable frame pacing without major hitches.

Q: Is the Ultra preset worth using at 1080p?

A: The 1080p Ultra average of 325 FPS is still very high, but it is 22% slower than the 1080p High preset (418 FPS) and 42% slower than 1080p Low (674 FPS). For competitive play, the visual gains do not justify the FPS loss.

Q: How does this combo perform at 1440p compared to 4K?

A: Across all settings, 1440p is significantly faster. For example, High preset runs at 277 FPS at 1440p versus 155 FPS at 4K, a 44% advantage. Low preset runs at 446 FPS at 1440p versus 249 FPS at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 combination ranks 237th out of 3719 tested combos for Counter-Strike 2, placing it in the 94th percentile of all systems. This top 6.4% ranking is consistent with the individual components' standings: the CPU ranks in the 96th percentile against all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 93785, while the GPU ranks in the 86th percentile against all GPUs with an average score of 54247.

The CPU's nearest rival, the Intel Xeon 6520P, scores 93786, a delta of 0%. This effectively ties the Ultra 7 270K Plus, making the two processors interchangeable for this game. The AMD EPYC 4564P trails by 1.5% with a score of 95183, and the EPYC 9175F and 4565P are behind by 1.9% and 2.1% respectively. These tiny deltas suggest that the Ultra 7 270K Plus is at the very top of CPU performance, with no meaningful competition from server-class parts in this workload.

On the GPU side, the RTX 4080's nearest rival is the RTX 4080 SUPER, which scores 54209, just 0.1% higher. This means the non-SUPER card is virtually indistinguishable from its successor in raw compute terms. The AMD Radeon Pro W5700X scores 54828, a 1.1% delta, while the Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB and Radeon 8060S are 2.6% and 2.7% behind, respectively. The tight clustering of these scores indicates that the RTX 4080 sits in a dense performance band where small percentage differences translate to single-digit FPS changes in-game.

Given the combo's 237th rank out of 3719, it outperforms roughly 94% of all tested systems. The fact that it achieves this rank with a GPU that is only 86th percentile suggests that the CPU's 96th percentile standing is the primary driver of its high placement in this CPU-intensive title.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 brings 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering a memory bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s. The memory clock runs at 1400 MHz with an effective data rate of 22.4 Gbps. These specifications are more than adequate for Counter-Strike 2, which is not a memory-heavy title, but they ensure headroom for future updates or more demanding games.

The GPU's clock speeds are 2205 MHz base and 2505 MHz boost. The boost clock is what matters in practice, and the data shows that this card sustains high frame rates even at 4K. The 48.74 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 761.5 GTexel/s texture rate provide ample raw power, but the game's results are more influenced by the CPU's ability to feed draw calls.

The RTX 4080's 76 RT cores and 304 tensor cores are available for ray tracing and DLSS, but Counter-Strike 2's measured results do not specifically test these features. The card's 112 ROPs and 280.6 GPixel/s pixel rate are relevant for the rasterization-heavy workload of this esports title. Notably, the GPU's average benchmark score of 54247 places it in the 86th percentile, which is high but not elite, and its nearest rival, the RTX 4080 SUPER, is only 0.1% faster, confirming that this is a mature, well-optimized design.

The GPU's TDP of 320 W and triple-slot cooler suggest it runs warm, but the measured FPS data shows no thermal throttling indicators. The 16 GB VRAM is never a limiting factor at any resolution tested, as the game's settings do not appear to exceed even 8 GB based on the consistent performance scaling. The 22.4 Gbps effective memory speed ensures that texture streaming at 4K Ultra does not cause frame drops, as evidenced by the 120 FPS average at that setting.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers the highest average FPS of 674. The Medium preset averages 560 FPS with a minimum of 476 FPS and a maximum of 644 FPS. High averages 418 FPS, and Ultra averages 325 FPS. All 1080p results exceed 300 FPS, making this resolution ideal for maximum frame rates.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 446 FPS. Medium averages 371 FPS with a minimum of 315 FPS and a maximum of 426 FPS. High averages 277 FPS, and Ultra averages 215 FPS. Every 1440p setting still clears 200 FPS, ensuring compatibility with 240Hz displays when using Medium or Low.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 249 FPS. Medium averages 207 FPS with a minimum of 176 FPS and a maximum of 238 FPS. High averages 155 FPS, and Ultra averages 120 FPS. The 4K results show that even the most demanding settings maintain playable frame rates, with Low and Medium both exceeding 200 FPS.

The progression across resolutions shows a consistent pattern: Low is always roughly 30-40% faster than Medium, which is in turn 25-30% faster than High, which is 20-30% faster than Ultra. The only exception is at 4K, where the gap between Medium (207 FPS) and High (155 FPS) widens to 25%, suggesting that the GPU's memory bandwidth becomes a factor at higher resolutions. The minimum FPS data for Medium at all three resolutions shows that the 1% lows remain within 30-35% of the average, indicating stable performance without severe frame-time spikes.