Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive with an Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 produces extremely high frame rates across the board, but the scaling pattern from 1080p to 4K reveals a system that is heavily CPU-limited at lower resolutions. The measured data shows the combo achieving 966 FPS at 1080p Low settings, a figure that drops by nearly 30% to 707.7 FPS at 1080p High. This pattern of performance degradation tied more to settings than resolution indicates that the Intel Core i5-12400F, with its 6 cores and 12 threads boosting up to 4.40 GHz, is the primary bottleneck in most scenarios, while the RTX 5070's substantial 30.87 TFLOPS FP32 throughput remains largely underutilized until the resolution climbs to 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 demonstrates classic CPU-bound behavior typical of a competitive FPS like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. At 1080p Low, the system produces 966 FPS, which represents the absolute ceiling of what this CPU can feed to the GPU. Moving to 1440p Low, the average drops to 664.1 FPS, a 31.2% reduction that suggests the GPU is beginning to take on more work, but the CPU is still the limiting factor. At 4K Low, the system still manages 392 FPS, which is a 59.4% drop from the 1080p Low figure—a steep decline that indicates the GPU is finally becoming the primary constraint at this resolution.

The scaling across settings at each resolution reinforces this analysis. At 1080p, the gap between Low (966 FPS) and Ultra (603.4 FPS) is 37.5%, which is a relatively modest difference for a settings change. This narrow spread indicates that even at Ultra, the CPU is still holding the system back. At 1440p, the same Low-to-Ultra transition shows a larger 37.0% drop (from 664.1 to 418.6 FPS), suggesting the GPU is becoming more involved. At 4K, the spread widens further to 37.4% (from 392 to 245.5 FPS), but the absolute numbers remain so high that the game is still playable at any combination.

The data indicates that the RTX 5070 is barely stressed at 1080p and 1440p. The 12 GB of GDDR7 memory and 672.0 GB/s bandwidth are more than sufficient for a game with modest texture requirements. The GPU's boost clock of 2512 MHz and 80 ROPs deliver pixel rates of 201.0 GPixel/s, which is far beyond what CS:GO demands at these resolutions. The true test of the GPU arrives at 4K Ultra, where the average FPS of 245.5 still exceeds the refresh rate of most high-end monitors, but the 59.4% drop from Low to Ultra at 4K shows the GPU is finally working harder.

FAQ

Q: Why does the frame rate drop so much from 1080p Low to 1080p Ultra when the GPU is so powerful?

A: The data shows a 37.5% reduction from 966 FPS to 603.4 FPS. This occurs because the Intel Core i5-12400F is the limiting component at 1080p; the CPU cannot feed the RTX 5070 any faster, so the settings change has a proportionally smaller impact on the final frame rate than it would on a GPU-bound system.

Q: Is this combo better suited for 1080p or 4K gaming?

A: Benchmark results indicate the system excels at all resolutions, but the efficiency differs. At 1080p High, the combo delivers 707.7 FPS, while at 4K High it delivers 288.8 FPS. The 4K figure is still very high, but the 59.2% drop from 1080p shows the GPU is the limiting factor only at 4K, making 1080p and 1440p the resolutions where the CPU and GPU balance is more favorable.

Q: How does the CPU's performance compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400F has an average benchmark score of 19221, placing it 0.1% ahead of the Intel Core i7-8700K (19210) and 0.3% ahead of the Intel Core i5-1335U (19167). It trails the AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS by 0.7% (19364) and the AMD EPYC 7773X by 1.3% (18979).

Q: What is the GPU's performance percentile relative to all tested GPUs?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 sits in the 83rd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 41687. It is 0.6% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 (41441) and 0.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 (41610), while trailing the NVIDIA Tesla M40 by 0.5% (41897).

Q: Does the game favor the CPU or GPU based on the measured FPS data?

A: The data shows the game is CPU-bound at 1080p and 1440p, as evidenced by the relatively small FPS differences between Low and Ultra settings at those resolutions. At 4K, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, but the system still produces frame rates well above 200 FPS even on Ultra settings.

Q: What is the combo's overall rank among all tested combinations?

A: The combo ranks 341st out of 1605 tested combinations in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, placing it in the top 21.2% of all systems tested for this game.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 brings substantial hardware to this pairing, but its role in CS:GO is mostly secondary until higher resolutions are used. The GPU features 6144 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 80 ROPs, with a base clock of 2325 MHz and a boost clock of 2512 MHz. These specifications translate to 30.87 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and a texture rate of 482.3 GTexel/s, which are far beyond the requirements of a game that can run on integrated graphics. The 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus delivers 672.0 GB/s of bandwidth, ensuring that even at 4K Ultra, texture streaming is not a bottleneck.

The measured FPS data confirms that the GPU only becomes the primary constraint at 3840x2160. At 4K Low, the system produces 392 FPS, which drops to 334.7 FPS at Medium, 288.8 FPS at High, and 245.5 FPS at Ultra. This 37.4% reduction from Low to Ultra at 4K indicates the GPU is scaling with the increased workload. In contrast, at 1080p, the same settings change only reduces performance by 37.5% from 966 to 603.4 FPS, but the absolute numbers are so high that the GPU's capabilities are not the limiting factor—the CPU is.

The GPU's percentile ranking of 83rd among all GPUs, with an average score of 41687, places it in the upper echelon of graphics cards. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, scores 41441, a 0.6% difference. This level of performance ensures that the RTX 5070 can handle any settings combination in this game without dropping below 245.5 FPS, which is a remarkable achievement for a competitive title. The GPU's 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores are present but largely irrelevant for a game that does not utilize ray tracing or DLSS in the measured scenarios.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 achieves a rank of 341 out of 1605 tested combos in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. This places the system in the top 21.2% of all configurations tested, which is a strong showing but not a top-tier result. The ranking is likely held back by the CPU, which, while capable, is not the fastest processor available. The CPU's percentile of 77th among all CPUs, with an average score of 19221, is solid but not exceptional. In contrast, the GPU's 83rd percentile ranking is stronger, suggesting that a more powerful CPU could push this combo higher in the rankings.

The data indicates that the combo's performance is well-balanced for this game, but the CPU is the weaker link. The CPU's nearest rivals—the Intel Core i7-8700K (0.1% ahead) and Intel Core i5-1335U (0.3% ahead)—are very close in synthetic benchmarks, yet the i5-12400F's 6 cores and 12 threads with a 4.40 GHz boost clock are sufficient for CS:GO's engine. The combo's rank of 341 suggests that many other systems with faster CPUs achieve higher frame rates, but the differences are likely marginal given the already very high FPS numbers. For a game where 300+ FPS is considered excellent, this combo delivers well above that threshold in almost all scenarios.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce 966 FPS, Medium drops to 816.6 FPS, High yields 707.7 FPS, and Ultra brings the average down to 603.4 FPS. These numbers show a clear progression where each settings tier reduces performance by roughly 12-14% from the previous tier, indicating stable scaling. The spread from Low to Ultra is 37.5%, which is modest and confirms the CPU is the primary limiter at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain exceptionally high. Low settings produce 664.1 FPS, Medium drops to 562.6 FPS, High yields 487.5 FPS, and Ultra brings the average down to 418.6 FPS. The percentage drops from Low to each subsequent tier are 15.3% (Medium), 26.6% (High), and 37.0% (Ultra). This wider spread compared to 1080p indicates the GPU is starting to contribute more to the overall performance, but the CPU still has headroom.

At 3840x2160, the GPU finally becomes the dominant factor. Low settings produce 392 FPS, Medium drops to 334.7 FPS, High yields 288.8 FPS, and Ultra brings the average down to 245.5 FPS. The drops from Low are 14.6% (Medium), 26.3% (High), and 37.4% (Ultra). The absolute numbers are still very high, but the scaling pattern shows that the GPU is now the limiting component. The difference between 1080p Low (966 FPS) and 4K Low (392 FPS) is a 59.4% reduction, which is substantial but expected given the 4x increase in pixel count. The data consistently shows that this combo can maintain frame rates above 240 FPS in all tested configurations, making it suitable for high-refresh-rate monitors even at 4K Ultra.