Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

The Intel Core i5-12400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 delivers high, playable frame rates in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive across every resolution and settings preseason tested. According to the measured data, this combo achieves an average of 256 FPS at 4K High, and over 600 FPS at 1080p High, indicating a system well above the game's typical requirements. The CPU runs with 6 cores and 12 threads, a base clock of 2.50 GHz and boost up to 4.40 GHz, while the GPU boasts 10 GB of GDDR6X memory, a 320-bit bus, and 760.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The launch MSRP for the CPU is $199, and for the GPU it is 699 USD. This analysis covers the facts out of the measured data.

FAQ

Q: What is the combined rank of this CPU+GPU pairing in this game?

A: The combo ranks 1060th out of 3719 tested combinations, placing it in the top ~28% of all tested systems.

Q: Which resolution offers the highest average FPS on this system?

A: At 1920×1080 with Low settings, the average FPS is 854, the highest recorded in the measurement set.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score?

A: The i5-12400 scores 18673, which is 0.1% above the AMD EPYC 7643 (18697), 0.3% behind the Intel Core i7-1355U (18730), 0.7% behind the AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 (18811), and 0.9% ahead of the Core i3-14100F (18519).

Q: What is the GPU’s average benchmark score and how close are its closest competitors?

A: The RTX 3080 has an average score of 23172, behind the NVIDIA P106-100 by 0.3% (23246), and behind the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16 (23250) by 0.3%, while the AMD Radeon RX 6600M (23273) is 0.4% and the AMD Radeon R9 M290X (23276) is 0.4% higher.

Q: What is the game’s release date?

A: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive was released on August 20, 2012.

Q: What are the CPU and GPU percentiles versus all tested hardware?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400 sits in the 72nd percentile of all CPUs, and the RTX 3080 in the 68th percentile of all GPUs.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS indicates that all four quality presets—Low, Medium, High, Ultra—are perfectly playable at every resolution table. The best experience depends on the display refresh rate and resolution.

At 1920×1080, the average FPS stays above 630 even at High – exactly 630, and Ultra only dips to 537 avg. Therefore, Ultra is entirely viable at 1080p, delivering a silky 537 FPS that comfortably exceeds most 500Hz displays. If the monitor is a 1440p panel, the picture changes: at 2560×1440, Ultra still yields 370 FPS, while High yields 433, Medium 500, and Low 588. Even at Ultra, the frame time is above 300, so the default recommendation is High for 1440p unless the player wants to max out visual quality with minimal impact—the difference between High and Ultra is only 63 FPS on average.

At 4K (3840×2160), the story is different. Low settings produces 347 FPS, Medium 296, High 256, and Ultra 218. The jump from Ultra to High is a 38 FPS gain, and from High to Medium another 40 FPS. The game becomes still smooth at Ultra (218 AVG), but for high-refresh 4K displays, Medium is a strong middle ground, giving 296 FPS on average, while staying well above the 200 FPS threshold at all times. Given the low end of the scale, Ultra at 4K is acceptable for a 144Hz monitor, though the margin is smaller.

In sum, the system is overpowered for 1080p and 1440p. Running the game at its highest settings at these resolutions yields frame rates many PCs cannot reach. The only resolution that demands attention is 4K, where the user should choose between Ultra at 218 FPS or descending to Low at 347 FPS, depending on their refresh rate preference.

GPU Role

The RTX 3080 is a high-end Ampere GPU with 10 GB of GDDR6X memory and a 320-bit bus, delivering a memory bandwidth of 760.3 GB/s. The memory clock is 1188 MHz, effective 19 Gbps. The GPU’s base clock is 1440 MHz, boost clock 1710 MHz, and it contains 8704 shading units, 272 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. With 68 ray tracing cores and 272 tensor cores, the GPU provides pixel rate of 164.2 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 465.1 GTexel/s. The FP32 score is 29.77 TFLOPS.

In this measured data, the GPU’s performance directly aligns with the resolution scaling: from 1080p to 4K, the average FPS drops about 50% (e.g., 854 to 347 at Low). The 10 GB VRAM is more than enough for a 2012 esports title, and even at 4K Ultra, the game’s asset footprints do not stress the memory. Memory bandwidth is also abundant; the game never pushes close to its cap, as shown by the relatively modest difference between settings at 1080p. The GPU’s boost clock and raw compute power keep the game tied to the CPU frame output at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the FPS ceiling is likely limited by the CPU, not the GPU. Evidence is that increasing settings from Low to Medium to High creates modest changes at 1080p (854 → 727 → 630), but in at 4K, the same settings change results in a wider spread (347 → 296 → 256). This suggests the RTX 3080 becomes the primary bottleneck at. Given that the GPU’s percent rank among all GPUs is 68%, it sits well above average, and its 23,172 benchmark average score reflects a capable mid-flanged product.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The table lists all measured average FPS figures, along with the only min/max data recorded: for Medium settings at each resolution.

| Resolution | Settings | avgFPS |

|---|---|---|

| 1920x1080 | Low | 854 |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 727 (min 618, max 837) |

| 1920x1080 | High | 630 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 537 |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 588 |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 501 (min 426, max 576) |

| 2560x1440 | High | 433 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 370 |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 347 |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 296 (min 251, max 340) |

| 3840x2160 | High | 256 |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 218 |

The measured data shows that the system delivers over 300 FPS in every configuration except for 4K High (256) and 4K Ultra (218). The min fps for Medium settings – 618 at 1080p, 426 at 1440p, 251 at 4K – confirms that even in heavy scenes the frame rate stays high. The game engine, being from an older era, scales exceptionally well with modern hardware.

How This Combo Ranks

Out of 3719 tested CPU+GPU combinations for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, this pair lands at 1060th place. This puts it in the upper-middle of the leaderboard, meaning that the majority of tested combos tested at this site are slower. The ranking is likely driven by the CPU’s strong single-thread performance (according to Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1353) and the GPU’s high memory bandwidth. However, because the game appears CPU-bound at low resolutions, the GPU’s raw power at 4K brings the entire combo above the average set. The fact that the CPU sits in the 72nd percentile and the GPU in the 68th suggests a balanced pairing that does not bottleneck heavily either direction. Compared to the best combos, the delta is probably a framerate difference, but the exact competitive standings are not in the pack. The only nearby scores are for the CPU and GPU individually: the closest CPU rival (Ryzen AI 5 330) is 0.7% faster, and the closest GPU rival (Radeon RX 6600M) is 0.4% faster. Thus in combination, it performs within a few percentage points of top-tier 2022–2024 midrange parts.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 is a 6-core, 12-thread Alder Lake desktop processor from the 12th Gen Core series. Its base clock is 2.50 GHz, and boost clock is 4.40 GHz, with a TDP of 65 W. It has 80 KB L1 per core, 1.25 MB L2 per core, and an 18 MB shared L3 cache. The memory controller supports dual-channel DDR4/DDR5, and the CPU integrates UHD Graphics 730. It supports 5 PCIe Gen5 lanes (CPU only). The process is Intel’s 10 nm, die size 163 mm².

The CPU’s benchmark results reveal a solid mainstream performer. For example, it scores an average multi-thread score of 15987 in Cinebench R23, while single-core is 2257. In GeekBench multi-core 8564, single 1848. The PassMark multi-thread score is 18747, and single-thread 3456. These numbers highlight its competitiveness against the nearest rivals. The CPU’s performance is above the 72nd percentile all CPUs, indicating it is better than most.

In Counter-Strike, the CPU carries a heavy load because it is a CPU-bound title at lower resolutions. The measured FPS at 1080p Low is 854, and Medium still 727 – both far above the GPU’s typical headroom. The CPU’s 6 cores and 12 threads likely handle the render thread efficiently, while the high single-core score (910 in 3DMark single-thread) helps keep the 1% and 0.1% lows elevated. Even at 4K, the CPU maintains a frame rate ceiling – note that 4K Low produces 347 FPS, which is about 2.5 times the 1080p Low, but that gap is explained by the GPU’s move toward being the limit. The CPU’s boost clock 4.4 GHz is relevant for a game with a high physics animation rate. Its L3 cache 18 MB may help with map and entity data. The two main rival comparisons show that this CPU sits within a few percent of the AMD Ryzen 7 5825U (not listed) but we use only the given nearest rivals: AMD EPYC 7643, Intel Core i7-1355U, AMD Ryzen AI 5 330, and Intel Core i3-14100F. The i5-12400 is 0.9% ahead of the i3-14100F in average score, but 0.7% behind the Ryzen AI. This tiny margin suggests the i5-12400 is still representative of a modern top-tier block for games.

Given the game’s age, the CPU’s main role is to minimize a bottleneck at 1080p and provide enough headroom for a higher refresh. The measured 854 FPS at 1080p Low is already far beyond any display’s capability, so the CPU is not the constraint. The combo’s modest rank (1060/3719) comes from the fact that many newer CPUs with high core counts (like Raptor Lake or Ryzen’s later chains) deliver even higher frame rates. Still, the i5-12400 matched with the RTX 3080 delivers an exceptional CS: GO experience.