Counter-Strike 2

# Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Counter-Strike 2 with the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus + Intel Arc B570 combination reveals a dramatic performance drop as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo delivers 275 FPS average. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 182 FPS, a 34% reduction. At 4K Low, the average falls further to 102 FPS, which is 63% below the 1080p Low figure. This scaling pattern suggests the GPU becomes the dominant limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the CPU's headroom is progressively less relevant when pixel throughput demands rise.

The High settings row reinforces this interpretation. At 1080p High, the average is 171 FPS. At 1440p High, it drops to 113 FPS (a 34% decrease), and at 4K High, it plunges to 63 FPS (a 63% decline from 1080p). The consistent percentage drops across Low and High presets indicate that the resolution penalty is largely independent of the graphics settings chosen. This is a hallmark of a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions, where the Arc B570's rendering throughput—not the CPU's processing power—sets the ceiling.

Ultra settings show an even steeper cliff. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 133 FPS, but 1440p Ultra falls to 88 FPS (34% lower), and 4K Ultra bottoms out at 49 FPS (63% lower than 1080p). The pattern is almost perfectly linear in percentage terms across all three resolution steps. What the data implies is that Counter-Strike 2's engine scales pixel count in a predictable way, and the B570's fillrate and shader capabilities are the binding constraint once you move past 1080p. The CPU, with its 24 cores and 5.80 GHz boost clock, is not the bottleneck here; the GPU's 200.0 GPixel/s pixel rate and 11.52 TFLOPS FP32 throughput are what determine these framerates.

# CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a 24-core, 24-thread processor with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.80 GHz. In Counter-Strike 2, which is known for relying on single-thread performance for game logic and draw calls, this CPU's capabilities are substantial. The benchmark data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo reaches 275 FPS, which is well above the refresh rates of most monitors. The CPU's PassMark single-thread score of 4823 and its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 7303 indicate strong per-core performance, which translates directly to high framerates in CPU-bound scenarios.

However, the data reveals an interesting nuance. At 1080p Low, the framerate is 275 FPS, but at 1080p Medium it drops to 229 FPS, and at 1080p High it falls to 171 FPS. This shows that even at 1080p, the GPU begins to take over as the limiting factor once settings increase. The CPU's role is most visible at Low settings across resolutions, where the framerate scales almost entirely with resolution—suggesting the CPU can feed the GPU fast enough to keep it fully occupied. The 24 cores and 36 MB of shared L3 cache provide ample headroom for background tasks and game engine threads, but the data suggests that Counter-Strike 2 does not fully utilize all 24 threads, as the framerate gains from 1440p to 1080p are not proportionate to the CPU's massive multicore throughput (Cinebench R23 multicore score of 51,731).

The CPU's percentile ranking of 96 among all CPUs indicates it is in the top 4% of processors, and its nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, scores only 0.2% higher on average. This means the 290K Plus is essentially on par with the previous flagship, and in this game, the CPU is rarely the bottleneck. The data points to the GPU being the limiting component at all settings above Low, and even at Low, the GPU's 102 FPS at 4K versus 275 FPS at 1080p shows the B570's fillrate limits are far from being saturated by the CPU's instruction throughput.

# Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows provide clear guidance on which preset offers the best experience. At 1080p, the Medium preset delivers 229 FPS average with a minimum of 194 FPS and maximum of 263 FPS. This is a solid balance for competitive play, as the minimum frame rate stays above 194 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay even in intense firefights. High at 1080p drops to 171 FPS, which is still playable but leaves less headroom. Ultra at 1080p yields 133 FPS, which is acceptable but not ideal for a competitive shooter where higher framerates can reduce input latency.

At 1440p, the Medium preset again stands out, delivering 151 FPS average with a minimum of 129 FPS and maximum of 174 FPS. This is the sweet spot for players with 144Hz monitors, as the average comfortably exceeds 144 FPS. High at 1440p drops to 113 FPS, which is below the 144Hz threshold, making Medium the better choice. Low at 1440p offers 182 FPS, but the visual fidelity trade-off may not be worth it for most players. Ultra at 1440p is a poor choice, with 88 FPS average, as it sacrifices too much performance for marginal visual gains.

At 4K, the picture changes dramatically. Medium is the only viable preset for a smooth experience, delivering 85 FPS average with a minimum of 72 FPS. This is playable on a 60Hz display, but not on a 144Hz one. High at 4K drops to 63 FPS, which is borderline, and Low at 4K offers 102 FPS, which is the best performance but with significant visual compromises. Ultra at 4K is not recommended, as 49 FPS average falls below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The data suggests that Medium is the optimal preset across all resolutions, as it provides the best balance of visual quality and framerate, with the minimum FPS staying above 72 in all cases.

# How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank for this specific CPU-GPU pairing in Counter-Strike 2 is 2286 out of 2870 tested combinations. This places it in the lower 20th percentile of all combos tested for this game, which is surprising given the CPU's top-tier status. The rank indicates that while the CPU is exceptionally powerful (96th percentile among all CPUs), the GPU's performance (65th percentile among all GPUs) holds the combo back significantly. The Arc B570's average benchmark score of 20,556 is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (20,534, a 0.1% difference) and the Intel Arc A750 (20,582, a -0.1% difference), suggesting the GPU is a mid-range performer.

The rank of 2286 out of 2870 means that 584 combos perform worse, but 2,285 combos perform better. This is a stark contrast to the CPU's individual ranking, which is near the top. The data implies that pairing a flagship CPU with a mid-range GPU results in a system that is GPU-limited in most scenarios, which is exactly what the resolution scaling data shows. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 275 FPS, which is competitive, but at 4K Ultra, it drops to 49 FPS, which is far below what higher-end GPU combos would achieve. The combo rank reflects this imbalance, showing that the system's overall performance in this game is constrained by the GPU's capabilities, not the CPU's.

This ranking also highlights that Counter-Strike 2 is a game where GPU selection matters more than CPU selection for overall framerates, especially at higher resolutions. The CPU's 24 cores and 5.80 GHz boost clock are underutilized in this game, as evidenced by the fact that the combo's rank is so low despite the CPU's high percentile. Players considering this combination should be aware that the GPU will be the primary determinant of performance, and that the CPU's power is not fully realized in this title.

# GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570 is built on the Xe2-HPG architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC, featuring 19,600 million transistors on a 272 mm² die. It has 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus, delivering 380.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's base and boost clocks are both 2500 MHz, and its memory runs at 2375 MHz (19 Gbps effective). With 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 80 ROPs, the B570 offers 11.52 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and a pixel rate of 200.0 GPixel/s. These specifications place it in the mid-range tier, as reflected by its 65th percentile ranking among all GPUs.

In Counter-Strike 2, the GPU's role is critical at higher resolutions and settings. The 4K High average of 63 FPS and 4K Ultra average of 49 FPS show that the B570's fillrate and shader throughput are insufficient for smooth 4K gaming at high quality. The 10 GB VRAM is adequate for 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K with Ultra settings, the memory bandwidth of 380 GB/s may become a constraint. The GPU's nearest rival, the Intel Arc A750, scores only 0.1% lower on average, indicating that the B570 is a modest step up from its predecessor, but not a generational leap.

The data shows that the GPU is the limiting factor at all resolutions above 1080p Medium. At 1080p Low, the 275 FPS average suggests the GPU is not fully utilized, as the CPU can feed it frames faster than it can render them. However, at 1440p Medium, the 151 FPS average indicates the GPU is working harder, and at 4K Medium, the 85 FPS average shows the GPU is approaching its limits. The GPU's 18 ray tracing cores are not relevant for Counter-Strike 2, which does not use ray tracing, so the pure rasterization performance is what matters here. The B570's 200 GPixel/s pixel rate and 360 GTexel/s texture rate are the key metrics, and they are sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming but fall short at 4K with high settings.

# FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combo for this system?

A: The data shows that 1440p Medium delivers 151 FPS average with a minimum of 129 FPS, making it the sweet spot for smooth gameplay. At 1080p Medium, the average rises to 229 FPS with a minimum of 194 FPS, which is ideal for competitive play on high-refresh monitors.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in Counter-Strike 2?

A: At 1080p Low, the CPU provides enough headroom for 275 FPS, but at 4K Ultra, the framerate drops to 49 FPS, indicating the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions and settings. The CPU's 24 cores and 5.80 GHz boost clock are not fully utilized in this game.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Counter-Strike 2?

A: Yes, but only at Medium settings, which delivers 85 FPS average with a minimum of 72 FPS. High settings drop to 63 FPS, and Ultra falls to 49 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth play.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B570 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The B570's average benchmark score of 20,556 is 0.1% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (20,534) and 0.1% lower than the Intel Arc A750 (20,582). It ranks in the 65th percentile among all GPUs.

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking in this game?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus + Intel Arc B570 combo ranks 2286 out of 2870 tested combinations in Counter-Strike 2, placing it in the lower 20th percentile. This reflects the GPU's mid-range performance relative to the CPU's top-tier status.

Q: What is the minimum FPS at 1440p Medium?

A: The measured data shows a minimum FPS of 129 at 1440p Medium, with an average of 151 FPS and a maximum of 174 FPS. This ensures smooth gameplay on 144Hz monitors.

# Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are as follows: Low settings deliver 275 FPS, Medium delivers 229 FPS with a minimum of 194 FPS and maximum of 263 FPS, High delivers 171 FPS, and Ultra delivers 133 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a consistent decline, with Ultra being 48% slower than Low. This resolution is where the CPU's capabilities are most evident, as the framerates are high enough to keep the GPU busy but not saturated.

At 2560x1440, the data shows: Low delivers 182 FPS, Medium delivers 151 FPS with a minimum of 129 FPS and maximum of 174 FPS, High delivers 113 FPS, and Ultra delivers 88 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is roughly 34% across all settings, indicating a consistent resolution penalty. Medium remains the best choice for a balance of visual quality and performance, as the minimum FPS stays above 129.

At 3840x2160, the measured values are: Low delivers 102 FPS, Medium delivers 85 FPS with a minimum of 72 FPS and maximum of 97 FPS, High delivers 63 FPS, and Ultra delivers 49 FPS. The 4K resolution shows the GPU's limits most clearly, with Ultra falling below 50 FPS and only Low and Medium providing playable framerates. The minimum FPS at 4K Medium is 72, which is just above the 60 FPS threshold for standard displays, making it the only viable high-quality preset at this resolution.