Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive presents an interesting scalability challenge for the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 combination. The measured FPS data shows that this pairing is exceptionally capable, with even the most demanding settings at 4K resolution producing playable frame rates. The benchmark results indicate that the choice of settings is less about achieving minimum playability and more about balancing raw frame rate for competitive advantage against visual fidelity. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves 500.3 FPS, which is 135.6 frames higher than the High preset’s 364.7 FPS, highlighting how much headroom exists in this configuration. The data suggests that for players prioritizing the highest possible refresh rate, the Low preset at 1080p is the optimal choice, while those with 144Hz or 240Hz monitors can comfortably use higher presets without dropping below the refresh threshold.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows provide a clear hierarchy of performance across the four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 500.3 FPS, the Medium preset delivers 426.2 FPS, the High preset delivers 364.7 FPS, and the Ultra preset delivers 310 FPS. This progression shows a consistent performance cost per tier, with the gap between Low and Ultra being 190.3 FPS. For a game like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, where frame rate directly influences input latency and competitive responsiveness, the Low preset at 1080p is the recommended choice for maximum performance. The benchmark results indicate that this preset leaves significant headroom above even the highest refresh rate monitors available, ensuring that the CPU-GPU combination is never the bottleneck in a firefight.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset still achieves 343.2 FPS, which remains above the threshold for 300Hz displays. The Medium preset at 291.3 FPS and High preset at 255 FPS are both viable for 240Hz monitors, while Ultra at 217.5 FPS drops below that mark. For 4K resolution, the Low preset produces 202.8 FPS, which is still suitable for 200Hz displays, but the Medium preset at 173.8 FPS and High preset at 150.4 FPS are better suited for 144Hz panels. The Ultra preset at 128.8 FPS at 4K represents the only configuration that falls below the 144Hz threshold, making it the least recommended for competitive play. The data shows that the best experience is achieved by matching the preset to the display’s refresh rate, with Low at 1080p providing the absolute highest headroom.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060’s role in this combination is defined by its 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s. The GPU’s base clock of 1365 MHz and boost clock of 1680 MHz provide the computational backbone for the measured frame rates. In the context of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, the RTX 2060’s 1920 shading units and 48 ROPs are more than sufficient to handle the game’s geometry and effects, as evidenced by the 500.3 FPS result at 1080p Low. The 12 nm Turing architecture with 10,800 million transistors on a 445 mm² die delivers a pixel rate of 80.64 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 201.6 GTexel/s, which directly supports the high frame rates observed.

The GPU’s performance percentile versus all GPUs is 58, placing it in the upper half of the database. Its average benchmark score of 16074 is 0.5% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 7600S and 1.8% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro W5500, but 1.7% lower than both the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M and AMD Radeon Pro 5700. These nearest rival comparisons show that the RTX 2060 sits in a tightly contested performance band. The 6 GB VRAM capacity is not a limiting factor in this game, as the measured FPS at Ultra settings across all resolutions remains above 128 FPS, indicating that the GPU’s memory bandwidth and compute capacity are adequate for the title’s demands.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 to 3840x2160 reveals how the workload shifts between the CPU and GPU. At Low settings, the frame rate drops from 500.3 FPS at 1080p to 343.2 FPS at 1440p, a reduction of 157.1 FPS (31.4%), and then to 202.8 FPS at 4K, a further reduction of 140.4 FPS (40.9%). This pattern indicates that at Low settings, the CPU remains a significant factor, as the GPU is not fully taxed, but the resolution increase still impacts performance due to the additional pixel fill rate required. At Ultra settings, the drop is from 310 FPS at 1080p to 217.5 FPS at 1440p, a reduction of 92.5 FPS (29.8%), and then to 128.8 FPS at 4K, a reduction of 88.7 FPS (40.8%).

The consistent percentage drop of roughly 30% from 1080p to 1440p and then 40% from 1440p to 4K across all settings suggests that the RTX 2060 becomes the primary limiting component at higher resolutions. The data shows that at 1080p, even the Ultra preset achieves 310 FPS, which is likely CPU-bound given the Intel Core i5-9400’s 6 cores and 6 threads with a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. At 4K, the GPU’s fill rate and bandwidth are more heavily taxed, as evidenced by the Ultra preset falling to 128.8 FPS. This scaling behavior indicates that players on 1080p displays are likely limited by the CPU’s single-thread performance, while those on 4K displays will see the GPU become the bottleneck.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank in this game is 1305 out of 1605 tested combinations, placing it in the 81st percentile of all tested systems. This ranking is notable because the individual components each sit in the 50th percentile for the CPU and 58th percentile for the GPU, yet their combined performance in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is substantially higher. This discrepancy suggests that the game is particularly well-optimized for this class of hardware, and the Intel Core i5-9400’s 9 MB of shared L3 cache and 42.7 GB/s memory bandwidth are sufficient to feed the RTX 2060 effectively. The combo’s rank indicates that while it is not among the top-tier configurations, it outperforms the majority of tested systems in this specific title.

The ranking becomes more meaningful when considering the CPU’s nearest rivals. The Intel Core i5-9400 has an average benchmark score of 2305, which is 0.2% higher than the Intel Core i3-10305 and 0.4% higher than the Intel Xeon E-2134, but 0.6% lower than the Intel Core i7-8809G. These small deltas show that the CPU is in a tight performance cluster, and the combo’s high rank in this game is not due to exceptional CPU performance but rather the efficient pairing with the RTX 2060. The GPU’s nearest rivals, such as the AMD Radeon RX 7600S with a 0.5% higher score, would likely produce similar results in this game, suggesting that the combo’s rank is representative of the GPU’s capability rather than any unique synergy.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest frame rate achieved by this combo in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 500.3, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset.

Q: Can this combo maintain 144 FPS at 4K resolution?

A: Yes, the measured data shows that at 3840x2160, the High preset delivers 150.4 FPS and the Medium preset delivers 173.8 FPS, both above the 144 FPS threshold. The Ultra preset at 128.8 FPS falls below this mark.

Q: How does the CPU’s performance compare to its nearest rival?

A: The Intel Core i5-9400 has an average benchmark score of 2305, which is 0.2% higher than the Intel Core i3-10305 and 0.2% higher than the Intel Core i3-1125G4, but 0.6% lower than the Intel Core i7-8809G.

Q: What is the impact of switching from Low to Ultra settings at 2560x1440?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset achieves 343.2 FPS, while the Ultra preset achieves 217.5 FPS, representing a performance decrease of 125.7 FPS (36.6%).

Q: Is the GPU’s 6 GB VRAM sufficient for this game at maximum settings?

A: The measured data indicates yes, as the Ultra preset at 3840x2160 still achieves 128.8 FPS, showing that the 6 GB GDDR6 memory with 336.0 GB/s bandwidth is not a limiting factor.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems in this game?

A: The combo ranks 1305 out of 1605 tested combinations, placing it in the 81st percentile of all tested systems for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured FPS across settings shows a clear progression: Low delivers 500.3 FPS, Medium delivers 426.2 FPS, High delivers 364.7 FPS, and Ultra delivers 310 FPS. The gap between consecutive settings is consistent, with Medium being 74.1 FPS slower than Low, High being 61.5 FPS slower than Medium, and Ultra being 54.7 FPS slower than High. This pattern indicates that each settings tier has a similar computational cost, with the total difference from Low to Ultra being 190.3 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the measured FPS values are 343.2 for Low, 291.3 for Medium, 255 for High, and 217.5 for Ultra. The relative performance drops from 1080p are 157.1 FPS for Low, 134.9 FPS for Medium, 109.7 FPS for High, and 92.5 FPS for Ultra. This shows that the absolute FPS loss from resolution scaling decreases as settings increase, but the percentage loss remains similar. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 125.7 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the measured FPS values are 202.8 for Low, 173.8 for Medium, 150.4 for High, and 128.8 for Ultra. The scaling from 1440p shows reductions of 140.4 FPS for Low, 117.5 FPS for Medium, 104.6 FPS for High, and 88.7 FPS for Ultra. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 74 FPS, which is the smallest absolute gap across all resolutions, indicating that the GPU is becoming the limiting factor at this resolution. The data shows that the Ultra preset at 4K is the only configuration that falls below 150 FPS, making it the most demanding setting tested.