Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate this CPU/GPU combo achieves in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive?

A: The highest recorded average FPS is 1247, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the top measured result across all tested resolution and settings combinations.

Q: How much faster is the 1920x1080 Low preset compared to the 3840x2160 Ultra preset?

A: The 1080p Low preset delivers 1247 FPS average, which is 925 FPS higher than the 322 FPS average seen at 4K Ultra. That represents a 287% performance advantage for the lower-resolution, lower-detail configuration.

Q: Does the RTX 4090's 24 GB of VRAM matter for this game?

A: The data shows that even at 3840x2160 Ultra, the combo maintains 322 FPS average, indicating that VRAM capacity is not a limiting factor in CS:GO. The 24 GB GDDR6X memory with 1.01 TB/s bandwidth provides substantial headroom for a game of this era.

Q: Is there a measurable frame time consistency difference between presets?

A: Only the Medium preset reports min/max FPS data. At 1920x1080 Medium, the range spans from 912 to 1235 FPS, while at 2560x1440 Medium the range is 628 to 850 FPS, and at 3840x2160 Medium it is 371 to 502 FPS. This shows tighter frame pacing at lower resolutions.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested CPU/GPU pairings for this game?

A: This Intel Core i5-12400 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination ranks 153rd out of 3719 tested combos, placing it in the top 4.1% of all configurations measured for CS:GO.

Q: What is the CPU's single-thread performance relative to its multi-thread performance?

A: The i5-12400 scores 910 in 3dmark single-thread and 5890 in max-threads tests. In Cinebench R23, it scores 2257 single-core and 15989 multi-core, indicating roughly a 7.1x scaling from single to multi-thread workloads.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications align with the extreme frame rates measured. The GPU's 16384 shading units and 512 texture mapping units provide immense raw throughput, reflected in its 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 compute performance. The Ada Lovelace architecture, built on a 5 nm TSMC process with 76,300 million transistors, delivers the pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s that CS:GO's lightweight rendering can exploit fully.

Clock behavior is a key factor in the measured results. The RTX 4090 operates at a 2235 MHz base clock and boosts to 2520 MHz. These high clocks, combined with the 384-bit memory bus and 24 GB of GDDR6X memory running at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective), produce 1.01 TB/s of memory bandwidth. For a game like CS:GO, which relies heavily on draw calls and geometry processing rather than complex shading, the sheer rasterization throughput of 176 ROPs ensures that frame generation keeps pace with the CPU's command stream.

The GPU's benchmark profile places it in the 88th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 60347. Its nearest rivals in the database include the Intel Arc Pro A60 with a deltaPct of 0, the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 at 0.3% slower, and the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M at 2.5% faster. The RTX 4090's closest competitor, the AMD Radeon PRO V710, is 2.9% slower. These margins are minimal in synthetic tests, yet in CS:GO the GPU's real-world advantage is visible through the 1247 FPS ceiling at 1080p Low.

At 3840x2160 Ultra, the combo still delivers 322 FPS average, which shows that even at 4K with maximum settings, the GPU is not the bottleneck. The measured data indicates that the RTX 4090 is significantly overprovisioned for CS:GO's graphical demands. The 24 GB VRAM is never stressed, and the 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores remain largely idle in this title. The GPU's role here is to remove any possible frame rate cap, allowing the CPU to become the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 provides the processing foundation for this configuration, and its 6 cores and 12 threads are more than adequate for CS:GO's engine. The Alder Lake-S architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process, operates with a 2.50 GHz base clock and a 4.40 GHz boost clock. These clocks, particularly the boost frequency, are critical for CS:GO's single-threaded rendering pipeline, which depends on high per-core performance to feed the GPU with draw commands.

Benchmark data supports this focus on single-thread capability. The i5-12400 scores 3456 in Passmark single-thread tests and 910 in 3dmark single-thread. In Cinebench R23, the single-core score of 2257 compares favorably to the multi-core score of 15989, showing a 7.1x scaling factor across its 6 physical cores. The 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 per core help maintain low latency access to game assets, which is essential for maintaining high frame rates in competitive shooters.

The CPU's 72nd percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 18683, places it in the upper mid-range tier. Its nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7643 at -0.1% delta, the Intel Core i7-1355U at -0.3%, and the AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 at -0.7%. The Intel Core i3-14100F is 0.9% faster. These small deltas indicate that the i5-12400 is well-balanced for its segment.

In CS:GO specifically, the CPU's role becomes more pronounced as resolution and settings decrease. At 1920x1080 Low, the combo reaches 1247 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's maximum frame generation capacity given the game's engine limitations. The 4.40 GHz boost clock and 12 threads ensure that background processes and game logic threads run concurrently without starving the main render thread. The CPU's 65 W TDP and dual-channel DDR4/DDR5 memory support contribute to consistent performance without thermal throttling concerns.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance on optimal settings for different priorities. For maximum frame rate at 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 1247 FPS average, which is the highest measured result across all configurations. This represents a 173 FPS improvement over the Medium preset at the same resolution, which averages 1074 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset again leads with 868 FPS average, while Medium drops to 739 FPS and High to 640 FPS. The Ultra preset at this resolution still maintains 546 FPS, which remains well above the refresh rate of most high-end monitors. For 3840x2160, Low delivers 513 FPS, Medium 436 FPS, High 378 FPS, and Ultra 322 FPS.

The Medium preset is the only one that reports minimum and maximum FPS values, providing insight into frame pacing. At 1920x1080 Medium, the range spans 912 to 1235 FPS, at 2560x1440 Medium it spans 628 to 850 FPS, and at 3840x2160 Medium it spans 371 to 502 FPS. These ranges indicate consistent frame delivery without major stutters, as the minimums remain high relative to the averages.

For competitive play, the Low preset at 1920x1080 offers the highest possible frame rate, which can reduce input latency and provide smoother motion on high-refresh displays. The 1247 FPS average exceeds the capabilities of all current consumer monitors, making this setting suitable for maximizing responsiveness. However, the High preset at 929 FPS still provides ample headroom for 360 Hz or 500 Hz displays while offering improved visual fidelity.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset's 868 FPS average is optimal for high-refresh gaming, while the Ultra preset's 546 FPS still exceeds the 240 Hz refresh rate common on 1440p gaming monitors. The 3840x2160 results show that even at Ultra, the 322 FPS average is playable on high-refresh 4K displays, though the Low preset's 513 FPS is preferable for competitive scenarios.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 153rd out of 3719 tested combos for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. This places the configuration in the top 4.1% of all tested pairings, indicating that it delivers near-top-tier performance for this title.

The ranking reflects the balance between the CPU's 72nd percentile performance and the GPU's 88th percentile standing. While the RTX 4090 is a top-tier GPU, the i5-12400 is a mid-range CPU, and this pairing demonstrates that CS:GO's performance is more dependent on CPU single-thread speed than on GPU compute capability. The 153rd rank among 3719 combos suggests that many configurations with higher-end CPUs and similar GPUs may achieve higher frame rates.

The proximity of the i5-12400 to its nearest CPU rivals in synthetic benchmarks—within 0.9% of the Intel Core i3-14100F and within 0.7% of the AMD Ryzen AI 5 330—indicates that the specific CPU choice has a modest impact on this game's performance. The GPU's 88th percentile ranking and its position relative to rivals like the AMD Radeon PRO V710 (2.9% slower) suggest that the RTX 4090 is not the primary differentiator in this combo's ranking.

The 153rd position out of 3719 combos represents a strong showing, but the data implies that pairing the RTX 4090 with a higher-tier CPU could push this combination into the top 100 or higher. The measured FPS results, particularly the 1247 FPS average at 1080p Low, indicate that the configuration is capable of exceeding the refresh rates of all commercially available gaming monitors.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers three resolutions and four settings presets, providing a comprehensive view of performance scaling. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves 1247 FPS average, which is the highest measured result. The Medium preset delivers 1074 FPS with a range of 912 to 1235 FPS. High settings produce 929 FPS average, and Ultra drops to 793 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 868 FPS, representing a 30.4% decrease from the 1080p Low result. The Medium preset at this resolution delivers 739 FPS with a range of 628 to 850 FPS, which is a 31.2% drop from 1080p Medium. High settings average 640 FPS, a 31.1% decrease, and Ultra averages 546 FPS, a 31.1% decrease from the 1080p Ultra result.

The 3840x2160 results show more pronounced scaling. Low settings deliver 513 FPS, which is a 40.9% drop from 1080p Low. Medium settings at 4K average 436 FPS with a range of 371 to 502 FPS, a 59.4% drop from 1080p Medium. High settings produce 378 FPS, a 59.3% drop, and Ultra averages 322 FPS, a 59.4% drop from the 1080p Ultra result.

The scaling pattern between 1080p and 1440p is consistent at approximately 31% across all settings, suggesting that the GPU is maintaining similar efficiency at these resolutions. The jump to 4K introduces a larger performance penalty, with reductions of approximately 41% for Low settings and 59% for Medium, High, and Ultra settings. This indicates that the RTX 4090's memory bandwidth and pixel throughput become more constrained at 4K, though the absolute frame rates remain exceptionally high.

The Medium preset is the only one with complete min/max data across all resolutions, showing that frame pacing degrades slightly at higher resolutions. The spread between minimum and maximum FPS is 323 FPS at 1080p, 222 FPS at 1440p, and 131 FPS at 4K, with the relative spread (max-min)/avg remaining consistent at approximately 30%, 30%, and 30% respectively. This consistency suggests stable performance characteristics regardless of resolution.