Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

# Counter-Strike: Global Offensive with Intel Core i5-10400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060

The Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 delivers exceptionally high frame rates in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, a 2012-released FPS that remains highly dependent on CPU performance. The measured data shows this combination ranking 2010th out of 3719 tested combos, placing it in the upper-middle tier of all tested systems. At 1080p, the combo reaches 646 FPS on Low settings, indicating that the CPU's 4.30 GHz boost clock and 6-core/12-thread configuration are more than adequate for this title's engine. The RTX 4060's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 272.0 GB/s bandwidth appear sufficient at all tested resolutions, with the GPU's 15.11 TFLOPS of FP32 compute proving capable of handling even 4K Ultra.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K reveals a system that transitions from CPU-bound to GPU-bound as resolution increases. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 646 FPS, which drops to 445 FPS at 1440p (a 31.1% reduction) and further to 263 FPS at 2160p (a 59.3% reduction from 1080p). This scaling pattern suggests that at 1080p, the Intel Core i5-10400F's single-thread performance — evidenced by its 3dmark single-thread score of 688 and Passmark single-thread score of 2541 — becomes the limiting factor, as the RTX 4060 is capable of far more than 646 FPS in this lightly demanding title.

At Medium settings, the scaling shows a similar trend with slightly lower absolute numbers: 550 FPS at 1080p, 379 FPS at 1440p, and 224 FPS at 4K. The 4K Medium result includes a measured minimum of 190 FPS and maximum of 257 FPS, indicating some frame-time variance but still maintaining competitive smoothness. The gap between 1080p and 1440p at Medium settings is 31.1%, nearly identical to the Low-setting gap, which points to consistent scaling behavior regardless of preset.

The High and Ultra presets exhibit the most pronounced resolution sensitivity. High settings yield 476 FPS at 1080p, 328 FPS at 1440p, and 194 FPS at 4K — a 59.2% drop from 1080p to 4K. Ultra settings produce 407 FPS at 1080p, 280 FPS at 1440p, and 165 FPS at 4K, with the 4K-to-1080p reduction reaching 59.5%. These larger percentage drops at higher presets suggest that as visual complexity increases, the GPU's workload grows disproportionately, confirming the RTX 4060 becomes the primary bottleneck at 4K Ultra.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 2010th out of 3719 tested combinations in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, placing it in the 54th percentile of all tested systems. This mid-pack ranking is notable given the extremely high absolute frame rates achieved — the rank reflects relative performance against more powerful combos rather than any deficiency in playability. The CPU's 68th percentile ranking among all processors and the GPU's 61st percentile ranking among all graphics cards contextualize this result: both components sit above average, but neither is flagship-tier.

The Intel Core i5-10400F's nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the Intel Xeon 6756E (14163 avg score, 0.2% higher), the Intel Core 7 160UL (14232 avg score, 0.3% lower), the AMD EPYC 7552 (14115 avg score, 0.5% higher), and the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (14277 avg score, 0.6% lower). These deltas are remarkably tight, showing the i5-10400F performs within 0.6% of these diverse competitors across general benchmarks. For CS:GO specifically, the 3dmark 4-thread score of 2560 and 8-thread score of 3929 indicate strong multi-threaded scaling that benefits the game's engine.

The RTX 4060's nearest rivals show a similar clustering: the AMD Radeon HD 7790 (17666 avg score, 0.2% lower), AMD Radeon 780M (17588 avg score, 0.3% higher), AMD Radeon Pro 560 (17551 avg score, 0.5% higher), and AMD Radeon Pro 460 (17509 avg score, 0.7% higher). These comparisons illustrate that in raw benchmark terms, the RTX 4060's 17639 average score places it in a tightly contested mid-range GPU segment, yet its architecture provides advantages in modern API support like DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 brings 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 272.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration proves adequate for CS:GO at all tested settings and resolutions, with even 4K Ultra maintaining 165 FPS average. The GPU's clock speeds — 1830 MHz base and 2460 MHz boost — combined with 3072 shading units and 96 texture mapping units, provide substantial rasterization throughput. The 48 ROPs handle pixel output at a theoretical 118.1 GPixel/s, which is more than sufficient for a game that rarely stresses fill-rate limits.

The RTX 4060's 24 RT cores and 96 tensor cores are largely irrelevant for CS:GO, as the game does not utilize ray tracing or DLSS features. However, the GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) support and Vulkan 1.4 API compatibility ensure forward compatibility. The 15.11 TFLOPS FP32 performance is the key metric for this title, and the measured frame rates confirm the GPU rarely becomes the limiting factor below 4K. At 1080p, the GPU's utilization is likely low, as frame rates are capped by CPU performance rather than GPU capability.

The GPU's Passmark G3D score of 19545 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2302 indicate strong general 3D performance. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 95057 and Vulkan score of 48643 further confirm the GPU's compute capabilities. For CS:GO's relatively simple DirectX 9-era rendering pipeline (the game launched in 2012), the RTX 4060's Passmark DirectX 9 score of 236 is particularly relevant, showing the GPU excels at legacy API workloads that this title primarily uses.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data indicates that the Low preset at 1080p delivers the highest frame rate at 646 FPS, but this comes with visual compromises that may not be necessary given the hardware's headroom. The Medium preset at 1080p provides 550 FPS with a minimum of 468 FPS and maximum of 633 FPS, offering a balanced experience with improved visuals over Low while maintaining frame rates far beyond any display's refresh rate. For competitive play on high-refresh monitors, the Medium preset represents the optimal trade-off, as the 468 FPS minimum ensures no perceptible dips.

At 1440p, the Medium preset delivers 379 FPS with a minimum of 322 FPS, which remains well above the 240 Hz refresh rate common in competitive gaming displays. The High preset at 1440p produces 328 FPS, still sufficient for ultra-high-refresh displays while providing better visual fidelity. The Ultra preset at 1440p drops to 280 FPS, which remains playable but offers diminishing returns for the visual improvements over High.

For 4K users, the Medium preset at 224 FPS with a 190 FPS minimum is the recommended choice, as it maintains smooth gameplay while the Low preset at 263 FPS offers marginal gains at significant visual cost. The High preset at 4K produces 194 FPS, which is still above 144 Hz displays, but the Medium preset's higher minimum frame rate of 190 FPS versus High's unspecified minimum suggests better frame-time consistency. The Ultra preset at 4K, at 165 FPS, should be reserved for users prioritizing visual quality over competitive advantage.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system produces its highest frame rates across all presets. Low settings yield 646 FPS average, Medium produces 550 FPS with a minimum of 468 FPS and maximum of 633 FPS, High achieves 476 FPS, and Ultra delivers 407 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 37.0% reduction in frame rate, demonstrating that even the most demanding preset at 1080p remains far above competitive thresholds.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates scale down proportionally. Low settings produce 445 FPS, Medium yields 379 FPS with a minimum of 322 FPS and maximum of 436 FPS, High achieves 328 FPS, and Ultra delivers 280 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p ranges from 31.1% at Low to 31.2% at Ultra, showing consistent resolution scaling across all presets.

At 3840x2160, the system's performance remains impressive for a 4K resolution. Low settings produce 263 FPS, Medium yields 224 FPS with a minimum of 190 FPS and maximum of 257 FPS, High achieves 194 FPS, and Ultra delivers 165 FPS. The 4K results show a 37.3% reduction from 1080p at Low settings and 59.5% at Ultra, indicating the GPU becomes increasingly stressed at higher resolutions and presets.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest frame rate this combo achieves in CS:GO?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 646 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: Is this combo capable of 4K gaming in CS:GO?

A: Yes, the system maintains 165 FPS at 4K Ultra settings and reaches 263 FPS at 4K Low settings, both well above playable thresholds.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in general benchmarks?

A: The Intel Core i5-10400F's average benchmark score of 14185 is within 0.6% of its nearest rivals, including the Intel Xeon 6756E (0.2% higher), Intel Core 7 160UL (0.3% lower), AMD EPYC 7552 (0.5% higher), and AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (0.6% lower).

Q: What is the recommended preset for competitive play?

A: The Medium preset at 1080p or 1440p is recommended, offering 550 FPS and 379 FPS respectively, with minimum frame rates of 468 FPS and 322 FPS ensuring consistent performance.

Q: How does the GPU's benchmark performance compare to similar cards?

A: The RTX 4060's average benchmark score of 17639 is within 0.7% of its nearest rivals, including the AMD Radeon HD 7790 (0.2% lower), AMD Radeon 780M (0.3% higher), AMD Radeon Pro 560 (0.5% higher), and AMD Radeon Pro 460 (0.7% higher).

Q: What is the frame time consistency at 4K Medium settings?

A: At 3840x2160 Medium, the system produces an average of 224 FPS with a minimum of 190 FPS and maximum of 257 FPS, showing a 67 FPS spread between minimum and maximum.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F's 6 cores and 12 threads, running at a 2.90 GHz base clock and 4.30 GHz boost clock, provide substantial processing power for CS:GO's engine. The CPU's 12 MB shared L3 cache and 64 KB L1 cache per core, along with 256 KB L2 per core, ensure low-latency access to game data. The 42.7 GB/s dual-channel DDR4 memory bandwidth is more than adequate for this title's memory requirements.

The CPU's benchmark results reveal its strengths for CS:GO. The 3dmark single-thread score of 688 and 2-thread score of 1350 indicate strong single-core performance, which is critical for a game that primarily relies on one or two threads for game logic and rendering commands. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1451 and multi-core score of 10283 further confirm balanced performance. The Geekbench single-core score of 1420 and multi-core score of 6257 show the CPU maintains its advantage across different benchmark methodologies.

The Passmark results provide additional context: the single-thread score of 2541 and multithread score of 12115 demonstrate the CPU's ability to handle both lightly-threaded and heavily-threaded workloads. The physics score of 696 and integer math score of 41471 indicate strong computational throughput. For CS:GO specifically, the CPU's 68th percentile ranking among all processors suggests it outperforms the majority of CPUs in general benchmarks, though the combo's 54th percentile ranking in-game reflects the GPU's mid-tier position.

The CPU's 14 nm Comet Lake architecture, while older than the GPU's 5 nm Ada Lovelace design, provides sufficient performance for this game. The 65 W TDP and PCIe Gen 3 interface do not bottleneck the RTX 4060's PCIe 4.0 x8 connection in this title, as the game's data transfer requirements are modest. The CPU's inability to be overclocked (multiplier locked) means users rely on the stock 4.30 GHz boost, which proves sufficient for maintaining 646 FPS at 1080p Low. The 3dmark 16-thread score of 4748 and max-threads score of 4735 show minimal scaling beyond 8 threads, confirming that CS:GO's engine does not heavily utilize the CPU's 12 threads.