Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is an old game, but it demands high frame rates for competitive play, and the data for the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 shows a system that delivers them in abundance. This pairing produces exceptional performance across all tested resolutions and settings, making it a strong choice for high-refresh-rate monitors. The benchmark results indicate that the RTX 4070 is rarely the limiting factor, with the Core i5-9400 proving more than capable of keeping up, even at the lowest settings where frame rates exceed 800 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

The measured frame rates show that this combination of CPU and GPU is powerful enough to run the game at its highest visual quality while still maintaining frame rates that far exceed the refresh rates of virtually all gaming monitors. At 1080p, the Ultra preset delivers an average of 559.3 FPS, which is more than sufficient for even the fastest 360Hz displays. At 1440p, the Ultra preset still maintains an average of 384.9 FPS, and at 4K, it drops to a still-very-playable 226.7 FPS.

For players prioritizing maximum competitive performance and minimal input latency, the Low preset at 1080p yields the highest measured average of 870.5 FPS. However, the data suggests that the performance difference between Low and High at 1080p is less about playability and more about raw headroom. The High preset at 1080p averages 658.8 FPS, which is still well beyond the point of diminishing returns for any current monitor. The best experience is achieved by selecting the High preset at 1440p, which balances improved visual fidelity with an average of 453.1 FPS, or the Ultra preset at 1080p for maximum visual quality without sacrificing competitive performance. The performance gap between settings is significant, with Low at 4K (362.9 FPS) outperforming Ultra at 1080p (559.3 FPS) by a wide margin, but the sheer speed of this hardware makes the choice a matter of preference rather than necessity.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is a powerful graphics card, and its role in this game is somewhat paradoxical. It is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with 5 nm process and features 5888 shading units. Its memory subsystem includes 12 GB of GDDR6X on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s. These specifications are far beyond what a game like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive requires, and the benchmark data confirms this. The GPU is not the bottleneck here, even at 4K resolution.

The GPU's influence is most apparent when comparing the frame rates between Low and High settings. At 4K, the average frame rate drops from 362.9 FPS on Low to 268.3 FPS on High, a difference of about 26%. This indicates that the GPU is doing more work at higher settings, but it still has ample headroom. The RTX 4070's high boost clock of 2475 MHz and its pixel rate of 158.4 GPixel/s allow it to render frames so quickly that the game's engine and CPU are the primary limits on performance. In the grand scheme of the database, this GPU sits in the 81st percentile, and its average benchmark score of 37283 places it right between the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56, which is 0.6% faster, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile, which is 2.2% faster. This context shows that while it's a high-end card, its performance in CS:GO is not a test of its limits but rather a demonstration of its efficiency at handling a light workload.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a 6-core, 6-thread processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. It has 9 MB of shared L3 cache and uses dual-channel DDR4 memory. While this is a mainstream processor by today's standards, the benchmark results show that it is the key component in this pairing for achieving the highest possible frame rates. This is typical for a game like CS:GO, which is heavily reliant on single-core performance.

The CPU's impact is most visible when comparing frame rates across different resolutions at the same settings. At Low settings, the average frame rate drops from 870.5 FPS at 1080p to 616.2 FPS at 1440p and 362.9 FPS at 4K. This scaling shows that as resolution increases, the GPU becomes more involved, but the absolute frame rates remain incredibly high, meaning the CPU is still feeding the GPU with enough data. The Core i5-9400's Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1125 is a strong indicator of its capability in this scenario. Its overall performance places it in the 50th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 2305. This is virtually identical to the Intel Core i3-10305, which is 0.2% faster, and the Intel Core i3-1125G4, also 0.2% faster. The data suggests that this CPU is sufficient to push the RTX 4070 to its limits in CS:GO, and the frame rates are so high that the limiting factor is likely the game engine's frame pacing or the measurement method itself, not the hardware.

FAQ

Q: Can this system handle a 360Hz monitor in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive?

A: Yes, the data shows that at 1080p with the Low, Medium, and High presets, the average frame rates are 870.5, 757.6, and 658.8 FPS, respectively. Even the Ultra preset at 1080p produces an average of 559.3 FPS, which is well above the 360Hz threshold.

Q: Is the RTX 4070 overkill for this game?

A: The benchmark results indicate that the GPU is not the bottleneck. At 4K Ultra, the average frame rate is 226.7 FPS, which is still very high. The RTX 4070 provides so much headroom that the Core i5-9400 CPU is likely the primary limit on maximum performance, especially at lower resolutions.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 1440p, the Low preset averages 616.2 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 384.9 FPS. This represents a significant performance drop of about 37% when moving to the highest settings, but the resulting frame rate is still exceptionally high.

Q: How does this system's frame rate scale from 1080p to 4K on the High preset?

A: On the High preset, the average frame rate drops from 658.8 FPS at 1080p to 453.1 FPS at 1440p, and then to 268.3 FPS at 4K. This shows a steady decline as resolution increases, indicating the GPU is taking on more work.

Q: Is the Core i5-9400 a good match for the RTX 4070 in this game?

A: The data suggests yes. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 870.5 FPS, which is an incredibly high number. The CPU's single-threaded performance appears strong enough to avoid bottlenecking the GPU in CS:GO, as frame rates remain very high across all settings.

Q: Should I play on Low settings for the highest frame rate?

A: If the absolute maximum frame rate is the goal, then yes. The Low preset at 1080p provides the highest measured average at 870.5 FPS. However, the High preset at 1080p still offers 658.8 FPS, which is more than enough for any monitor, making the visual quality upgrade a reasonable trade-off.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate data shows a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases. The system's performance is so high that even at 4K, it maintains frame rates that are considered excellent for competitive play. At the Ultra preset, the average frame rate drops from 559.3 FPS at 1080p to 384.9 FPS at 1440p and 226.7 FPS at 4K. This represents a 31% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 41% drop from 1440p to 4K.

This scaling pattern provides insight into the limiting component. At 1080p, the CPU is likely the primary constraint, as the GPU is not fully utilized. The frame rates are so high that the game's engine or CPU thread limits are being hit. As the resolution increases to 1440p and 4K, the GPU's workload increases, but the frame rates remain incredibly high. The fact that the system can still average 226.7 FPS at 4K Ultra indicates that the RTX 4070 has more than enough raw power. The drop from 1080p to 4K on the Low preset is more pronounced, going from 870.5 FPS to 362.9 FPS, which shows the GPU is becoming a more significant factor, but it is still not a bottleneck in the traditional sense. The system is simply so fast that it outpaces what the game can consistently deliver.

Measured FPS Breakdown

This section details the exact average frame rates measured for each resolution and settings preset combination.

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: 870.5 FPS
• Medium: 757.6 FPS
• High: 658.8 FPS
• Ultra: 559.3 FPS

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: 616.2 FPS
• Medium: 523.8 FPS
• High: 453.1 FPS
• Ultra: 384.9 FPS

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: 362.9 FPS
• Medium: 309.5 FPS
• High: 268.3 FPS
• Ultra: 226.7 FPS

The data shows a consistent hierarchy, with lower settings always producing higher frame rates. The performance delta between the Low and Ultra presets is substantial, particularly at 4K where the difference is 136.2 FPS. This indicates that while the game is not graphically demanding, the settings do have a measurable impact on performance. The overall combination ranks 465th out of 1605 tested combos, placing it in the top 29% of all systems tested for this game, which is a strong result for a mainstream CPU paired with a high-end GPU.