Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, first released in August 2012, remains a demanding benchmark for CPU and GPU combinations, particularly at high frame rates. The data for this configuration pairs the Intel Core i5-9400 with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, a combination that produces remarkably high average FPS across all tested resolutions and settings. The following analysis breaks down the measured performance, component roles, and how this specific pairing stacks up against other tested configurations in the database.

FAQ

Q: What is the overall rank of this CPU and GPU combination for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive?

A: The combo ranks 1586 out of 3719 tested combinations, placing it in the upper portion of the database for this specific game.

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-9400 compare to its closest rivals in average benchmark score?

A: The i5-9400 has an average benchmark score of 2254. It is nearly identical to its closest rivals, with the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 scoring 2259 (a 0.2% difference) and the Intel Core i3-10305 scoring 2264 (a 0.4% difference).

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1920x1080?

A: At 1920x1080, the average FPS drops from 733 on Low settings to 461 on Ultra settings. This represents a significant 272 FPS decrease, showing that the Ultra preset is substantially more demanding.

Q: Does the RTX 3070 have more shading units or texture mapping units (TMUs)?

A: The RTX 3070 has 5888 shading units and 184 TMUs. It also features 96 ROPs, 46 RT cores, and 184 tensor cores.

Q: What is the boost clock speed of the CPU in this configuration?

A: The Intel Core i5-9400 has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz, with 6 cores and 6 threads.

Q: What is the effective memory clock speed of the GPU?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 has a memory clock rated at 1750 MHz, which translates to 14 Gbps effective, across an 8 GB GDDR6 memory interface.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is the primary driver of the high frame rates seen in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Its core specifications include a base clock of 1500 MHz and a boost clock of 1725 MHz. The GPU is built on the Ampere architecture with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is more than sufficient for the demands of CS:GO, even at high resolutions.

The GPU's processing power is substantial, with 5888 shading units and 184 texture mapping units. The pixel rate is 165.6 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 317.4 GTexel/s. In terms of compute performance, the card delivers 20.31 TFLOPS for FP32 operations. These figures indicate a GPU that is heavily over-provisioned for a game like CS:GO, which is known for being less graphically intensive than modern AAA titles.

The data shows that at every resolution, even the Ultra preset yields frame rates well above 180 FPS. At 3840x2160, the average FPS on Ultra is 187, while the High preset achieves 220 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at each resolution shows the GPU's ability to handle increased graphical loads, but the absolute numbers suggest that the GPU is rarely the limiting factor, even at 4K. The RTX 3070's percentile ranking is 61, indicating it outperforms a majority of GPUs in the database, and its average benchmark score of 17208 places it in a competitive position.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals clear scaling patterns as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the average FPS is 733. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same settings, the average drops to 504 FPS, which is a decrease of 229 FPS. At 3840x2160, the average further drops to 298 FPS. This shows a consistent and significant performance hit as the pixel count increases.

The scaling is similar across all settings. For the High preset, the average FPS goes from 540 at 1080p, to 372 at 1440p, and finally to 220 at 4K. On Medium settings, the numbers are 624, 429, and 254 for 1080p, 1440p, and 4K, respectively. The Ultra preset sees averages of 461, 317, and 187 across the same resolutions.

This pattern indicates that while the GPU is powerful, the increasing resolution demands more pixel throughput, which reduces the frame rate proportionally. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is roughly 30-31% across all settings, and the drop from 1440p to 4K is roughly 41-42%. This suggests that the rendering load scales predictably with resolution, and the RTX 3070 is capable of handling these loads without hitting a hard bottleneck, as even the lowest 4K average (187 FPS on Ultra) remains exceptionally high for competitive play.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The data provides average FPS for four settings presets at three resolutions. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves the highest average at 733 FPS. The Medium preset follows with 624 FPS, with a minimum of 530 and a maximum of 718. The High preset averages 540 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 461 FPS. These numbers show that even the most demanding preset at 1080p provides over 460 FPS, which far exceeds the refresh rate of most monitors.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 504 FPS. The Medium preset averages 429 FPS, with a minimum of 365 and a maximum of 494. The High preset averages 372 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 317 FPS. The performance difference between presets is consistent, with each step up in settings costing roughly 50-70 FPS on average.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 298 FPS. The Medium preset averages 254 FPS, with a minimum of 216 and a maximum of 292. The High preset averages 220 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 187 FPS. This is the only resolution where the Ultra preset falls below 200 FPS, but it remains well above the 144 Hz threshold that many competitive players target. The Medium preset is the only one with recorded min/max values across all resolutions, providing a stable frame time experience.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS, the optimal settings depend on the user's display refresh rate and preference for visual fidelity. For users with a 240 Hz display at 1920x1080, the High preset, averaging 540 FPS, or even the Ultra preset, averaging 461 FPS, are excellent choices, as both provide frame rates well above the display's capability. The Low preset at 733 FPS offers the absolute maximum in performance but sacrifices visual quality.

At 2560x1440, the High preset, with an average of 372 FPS, is recommended for those wanting a balance of visual quality and high frame rates. The Ultra preset, at 317 FPS, is also viable for 240 Hz displays. For users with a 144 Hz display, the Ultra preset at 1440p provides a comfortable margin above the refresh rate. The Low preset at 504 FPS is only necessary for the most extreme performance scenarios.

At 3840x2160, the High preset, averaging 220 FPS, is the strongest recommendation for a high-refresh-rate experience, comfortably exceeding 144 Hz. The Medium preset, at 254 FPS, offers an even higher margin. The Ultra preset, at 187 FPS, remains above 144 Hz and is acceptable for competitive play. For users with a 120 Hz 4K display, all presets, including Ultra, are more than sufficient, making the choice purely aesthetic.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a 6-core, 6-thread processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture. It operates at a base clock of 2.90 GHz and can boost up to 4.10 GHz. The CPU has a 9 MB shared L3 cache and supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with a bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s. In the context of CS:GO, which is known to be more CPU-bound than many other titles, this processor's role is critical.

The CPU's benchmark scores show a balanced profile. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 6629, while the single-core score is 935. Geekbench scores are 5141 for multi-core and 1389 for single-core. The processor's average benchmark score is 2254, placing it in the 47th percentile of all CPUs. Its closest rival, the Intel Core i7-1068NG7, has an average score of 2259, a difference of only 0.2%, showing that the i5-9400 is competitive with other mid-range options.

The high average FPS in CS:GO, even at 1080p where the CPU load is relatively higher, indicates that the i5-9400 is strong enough to feed the RTX 3070 adequately. The fact that the FPS scales down as resolution increases, rather than remaining flat, suggests that the GPU becomes more of a limiting factor at higher resolutions, which is the opposite of a CPU bottleneck. This indicates the 6-core processor is well-matched to the GPU for this specific game, despite its end-of-life production status.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 ranks 1586 out of 3719 tested configurations for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. This places the combo in the top 43% of all tested hardware pairings. Given that the RTX 3070's GPU percentile is 61 and the i5-9400's CPU percentile is 47, the overall ranking is slightly lower than the GPU's individual standing, suggesting the CPU does hold the pairing back in some scenarios.

The CPU's nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i3-10305, have nearly identical average benchmark scores, with a delta of -0.4%. This indicates that the i5-9400 is not an outlier in performance for its class. The GPU's rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT, which has a delta of 0.7%, and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690, with a delta of 1%. These margins are very small, showing that the RTX 3070's performance is closely matched by its immediate competitors in synthetic benchmarks.

In the context of the game's measured FPS, the combo's ranking reflects the RTX 3070's high frame rate capabilities. The data shows that even at 4K with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 187, which is a high bar that many other combinations in the database would fail to reach. The rank of 1586 is a result of the CPU's mid-tier standing, but the real-world FPS numbers suggest that this combo is more than capable of delivering a premium CS:GO experience.