Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is an older title, but the benchmark data for the Intel Core i5-13400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 reveals a fascinating bottleneck dynamic. At 1080p, the system delivers staggering frame rates, but the scaling to 4K shows a clear shift in which component is driving performance.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates demonstrate a predictable yet steep decline as resolution increases, but the magnitude of the drop is telling. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo produces an average of 930.7 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same preset, the average falls to 640.3 FPS, a reduction of roughly 31%. The jump to 3840x2160 brings the average down to 380.8 FPS, which is a further 41% drop from the 1440p figure. This pattern is consistent across all settings presets, indicating that the rendering load scales heavily with pixel count.

The data reveals that the RTX 4090 is the limiting factor at 4K, but the CPU is the primary constraint at 1080p. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system hits 1264.6 FPS, which is an extraordinary number for any game. However, the difference between Low and High at 1080p is only about 26%, suggesting that the CPU is nearing its ceiling. When the resolution drops, the GPU has less work to do per frame, and the frame rate becomes increasingly dependent on the processor's ability to feed the graphics card. At 4K, the GPU's workload becomes so heavy that the CPU has ample headroom, and the frame rate scales more directly with the pixel count.

The most significant single drop occurs when moving from 2560x1440 to 3840x2160 on the Low preset, where the average falls from 872.9 FPS to 517.9 FPS. This 41% decrease is the largest relative change in the dataset, underscoring how the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth become critical at higher resolutions. Conversely, the smallest relative drop is from 1080p to 1440p on the Ultra preset, going from 795.2 FPS to 544.3 FPS, a 32% decline. This suggests that at Ultra settings, the GPU is already working hard even at 1080p, making the resolution scaling slightly more linear.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide a clear hierarchy for optimal performance. For players seeking the absolute highest frame rates, the Low preset at 1920x1080 delivers 1264.6 FPS. However, the data shows that the Medium preset at 1080p still achieves 1076.9 FPS, which is only a 15% penalty for a noticeable visual upgrade. At 2560x1440, the Medium preset yields 737.6 FPS, which is still exceptionally high and likely beyond the refresh rate of most monitors.

The High preset represents the best balance for most users. At 1920x1080, it produces 930.7 FPS, and at 2560x1440, it maintains 640.3 FPS. The step from High to Ultra at 1440p incurs a 15% performance hit, dropping to 544.3 FPS. At 4K, the High preset delivers 380.8 FPS, which is still extremely playable for competitive titles. The Ultra preset at 4K drops to 323.4 FPS, a 15% reduction from High, which may be acceptable for those prioritizing visual fidelity.

The data suggests that the Medium preset is the sweet spot for this combination. It provides a substantial improvement over Low in visual quality while only sacrificing a fraction of the frame rate. At 1080p, the difference between Medium and High is 14%, and at 1440p, it is 13%. For a competitive shooter like CS:GO, the extra frames from Medium over High are likely more valuable than the marginal visual gains. The Low preset is only recommended for players with 360Hz or higher refresh rate monitors who need every possible frame, as the step from Low to Medium at 1080p costs 15% performance.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is a behemoth, with 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus providing 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. Its boost clock of 2520 MHz and base clock of 2235 MHz are the highest in the GeForce 40-series. The GPU's raw compute capabilities are reflected in its benchmark scores, including 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 9223. Its Passmark G3D score of 38194 places it in the 91st percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 66473.

In CS:GO, the RTX 4090's role is primarily to ensure that frame rates remain high at higher resolutions. The data shows that at 4K, the GPU is the bottleneck, as the frame rates scale down significantly from 1440p. The 24 GB of VRAM is far more than this game requires, but it ensures there are no memory-related stutters. The high memory bandwidth is also beneficial for handling the increased pixel data at 4K. The GPU's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Tesla T4 with a delta of -0.4%, and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 with a delta of -0.9%, but these are workstation cards with different design goals.

The fact that the RTX 4090 is end-of-life and has a successor (GeForce 50) does not diminish its performance here. The data shows that even at 4K Ultra, the combo maintains over 300 FPS, which is far beyond what most displays can show. The GPU's high pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s ensure that it can handle the geometry and texture loads of CS:GO without breaking a sweat.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average FPS achievable with this combo?

A: The highest measured average is 1264.6 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K on High settings?

A: The average FPS drops from 930.7 at 1920x1080 to 380.8 at 3840x2160, a reduction of about 59%.

Q: Is the RTX 4090 or the Core i5-13400F the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: The data indicates the CPU is the primary constraint at 1080p, as frame rates are exceptionally high but the GPU is not fully utilized.

Q: What is the difference between Medium and Ultra settings at 2560x1440?

A: Medium produces 737.6 FPS, while Ultra produces 544.3 FPS, a 26% difference in favor of Medium.

Q: Does the combo rank well among all tested configurations?

A: Yes, it ranks 39th out of 1605 tested combos in this game.

Q: What is the VRAM capacity of the RTX 4090?

A: It has 24 GB of GDDR6X memory.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-13400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination ranks 39th out of 1605 tested combos in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. This places it in the top 2.4% of all configurations tested, which is an exceptional result. The ranking underscores that while the CPU and GPU are not the absolute top performers individually, their combination is highly effective for this specific title.

The CPU, with a percentile ranking of 82 against all CPUs, is a strong mid-range part. Its average benchmark score of 25236 is nearly identical to its nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i7-13620H with a delta of 0.1% and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D with a delta of -0.5%. The GPU, with a percentile ranking of 91, is a top-tier part. Its average score of 66473 is also close to its nearest rivals, including the NVIDIA Tesla T4 with a delta of -0.4% and the Quadro P6000 with a delta of -1.3%.

The high combo rank is primarily driven by the GPU's immense power, which overcomes any potential CPU limitations. The data shows that even at 4K Ultra, the system maintains 323.4 FPS, which is far above the playable threshold. The combo's rank of 39 suggests that only a handful of configurations, likely with even faster CPUs like the Core i9 or Ryzen 9 series, can produce higher frame rates in this game. For a 10-core, 16-thread processor paired with the flagship RTX 4090, this result is impressive and indicates that the system is well-balanced for CS:GO's engine.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz, with a 65W TDP. Its cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and a shared 20 MB L3 cache. In benchmarks, it scores 21279 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 3004 in single-core, with a Geekbench multi-core score of 10971 and single-core score of 2301.

In CS:GO, the CPU's role is critical at lower resolutions. The data shows that at 1080p, the frame rates are extremely high, and the CPU becomes the limiting factor. The processor's strong single-thread performance, as evidenced by its Passmark single-thread score of 3634, is essential for a game that relies heavily on a primary game thread. The 16 threads also help handle background tasks and any additional game logic.

The CPU's nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-13620H and AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D, with negligible performance differences of 0.1% and -0.5%, respectively. This indicates that the i5-13400F is competitive with higher-tier mobile and previous-generation desktop parts. The CPU's 20 MB of L3 cache is beneficial for keeping frequently accessed data close to the cores, which can reduce latency and improve frame pacing in CPU-bound scenarios.

The data shows that the CPU's influence diminishes as resolution increases. At 4K, the frame rates are more than 50% lower than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is the primary bottleneck. However, the CPU still needs to be fast enough to feed the RTX 4090 at 4K, and the i5-13400F proves more than capable. The combo's rank of 39 out of 1605 suggests that the CPU is not holding back the GPU significantly, even in a game as CPU-sensitive as CS:GO. The processor's 4.60 GHz boost clock and efficient architecture ensure that it can keep up with the GPU's demands at any resolution.