Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive with the Intel Core i7-14700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 shows a clear pattern of performance scaling as resolution increases. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo produces 539.0 FPS average. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same settings drops the average to 371.7 FPS, a reduction of approximately 31%. At 3840x2160 High, the average falls further to 220.9 FPS, representing a 59% decline from the 1080p figure.

This scaling behavior reveals that the system is not GPU-bound at lower resolutions. The RTX 3070, with its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, is more than capable of handling the geometric and texture loads of CS:GO at 1080p. The fact that the 1080p Low setting reaches 738.9 FPS while 4K Low reaches 300.8 FPS suggests that pixel throughput becomes the limiting factor only at higher resolutions.

The differential between settings at each resolution is instructive. At 1080p, the gap between Low (738.9 FPS) and Ultra (459.9 FPS) is 279.0 FPS, indicating that the CPU and GPU combination has ample headroom even with maximum visual fidelity. At 1440p, the Low-to-Ultra spread narrows to 189.1 FPS (509.7 vs 320.6). At 4K, the spread compresses further to 110.3 FPS (300.8 Low vs 190.5 Ultra). This progressive compression of the settings delta as resolution climbs is the classic signature of a system transitioning from CPU-limited to GPU-limited operation.

The data indicates that at 1080p, the Core i7-14700K's 20 cores and 28 threads are the primary driver of frame production. The CPU's 5.60 GHz boost clock and 33 MB of shared L3 cache allow for extremely high frame rates that the GPU can simply feed to the display without becoming the bottleneck. At 4K, however, the RTX 3070's 5888 shading units and 96 ROPs are taxed more heavily, and the frame rate differences between settings become more pronounced relative to the resolution scaling.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-14700K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 combination ranks 739th out of 1605 tested combos in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. This places the combo in the 54th percentile of all tested configurations, meaning roughly 46% of tested combos deliver higher average frame rates in this title. Given the genre's emphasis on high refresh rates and competitive play, this mid-pack ranking reflects a configuration that is capable but not at the absolute top tier for CS:GO.

The CPU component of this combo is exceptionally strong relative to other processors. The Core i7-14700K achieves a 96th percentile ranking across all CPUs in the benchmark database, with an average benchmark score of 70074. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-14700KF, scores 70104 with a deltaPct of 0, indicating essentially identical performance. The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X scores 70420 with a deltaPct of -0.5, placing it marginally ahead. The AMD EPYC 9115 at 69887 (deltaPct 0.3) and Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 at 71056 (deltaPct -1.4) round out the competitive set.

The GPU, by contrast, sits at the 72nd percentile across all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 28238. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT at 27985 (deltaPct 0.9) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti at 27956 (deltaPct 1). The AMD FirePro S7150 scores 28409 (deltaPct -0.6) and the AMD Radeon R9 M295X scores 28541 (deltaPct -1.1). This places the RTX 3070 in a competitive tier where small percentage differences separate it from several alternatives.

The discrepancy between the CPU's 96th percentile and the GPU's 72nd percentile explains the combo's mid-pack ranking. The 14700K is capable of feeding far more frames than the RTX 3070 can render at higher resolutions. In a game like CS:GO, which is known for being CPU-sensitive, the 14700K's strength partially compensates for the GPU's mid-tier positioning, but the 739th rank out of 1605 indicates that many combos pair similar CPUs with more powerful GPUs.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is built on the Ampere architecture using the GA104 chip, manufactured on Samsung's 8 nm process. The chip contains 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 44.4M per mm². The GPU operates with a base clock of 1500 MHz and a boost clock of 1725 MHz, with memory running at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective).

The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. In CS:GO, this memory configuration proves sufficient even at 4K Ultra, where the average frame rate remains above 190 FPS. The game's relatively modest texture requirements mean that the 8 GB capacity is never a limiting factor, as evidenced by the 4K High setting producing 220.9 FPS versus 190.5 FPS at 4K Ultra.

The GPU's compute capabilities include 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 96 ROPs. The 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores provide hardware acceleration for ray tracing and AI workloads, though CS:GO does not meaningfully utilize these features. The FP32 performance of 20.31 TFLOPS and texture rate of 317.4 GTexel/s indicate a GPU that is well-suited to high-refresh-rate competitive gaming at 1080p and 1440p.

The RTX 3070's measured performance in CS:GO shows a strong correlation with settings changes. At 1440p, the difference between Low (509.7 FPS) and Medium (432.0 FPS) is 77.7 FPS, while the Medium-to-High drop (432.0 to 371.7) is 60.3 FPS. The High-to-Ultra drop (371.7 to 320.6) is 51.1 FPS. This diminishing marginal impact of each settings tier suggests that the GPU handles the incremental load increases gracefully, with no single setting causing a disproportionate performance cliff.

The GPU's 72nd percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 28238, places it in the upper-middle tier of graphics hardware. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT at 27985, is only 0.9% behind, indicating that these two cards deliver nearly identical raw performance in the database's benchmark suite.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the Intel Core i7-14700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 combination delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce 738.9 FPS average, Medium settings yield 626.6 FPS, High settings achieve 539.0 FPS, and Ultra settings maintain 459.9 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a total reduction of 279.0 FPS, or approximately 38%, which is a modest penalty for maximum visual quality at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain exceptionally high but begin to reveal the GPU's influence. Low settings produce 509.7 FPS, Medium settings deliver 432.0 FPS, High settings achieve 371.7 FPS, and Ultra settings sustain 320.6 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra penalty at 1440p is 189.1 FPS, or 37%, which closely mirrors the percentage drop seen at 1080p. This consistency suggests that the scaling between settings is resolution-independent in relative terms.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates drop more substantially, though they remain well above the refresh rates of most displays. Low settings produce 300.8 FPS, Medium settings deliver 252.8 FPS, High settings achieve 220.9 FPS, and Ultra settings maintain 190.5 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra penalty at 4K is 110.3 FPS, or 37% as well, maintaining the same relative scaling pattern across all three resolutions.

The resolution scaling from 1080p to 1440p at High settings shows a drop from 539.0 to 371.7 FPS, a 31% reduction. From 1440p to 4K at High settings, the drop from 371.7 to 220.9 FPS represents a 41% reduction. This steeper decline at higher resolutions confirms that the GPU becomes progressively more limiting as pixel count increases, though the absolute frame rates remain competitive for esports play.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700K is a 20-core, 28-thread processor built on the Raptor Lake architecture with a 10 nm process node. It operates with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, with a 125 W TDP. The CPU supports dual-channel DDR4 and DDR5 memory and features Intel UHD Graphics 770 as integrated graphics, though the discrete RTX 3070 handles all rendering in this test configuration.

The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 33 MB of shared L3 cache. For CS:GO, which relies heavily on single-threaded performance and low-latency memory access, the high boost clock of 5.60 GHz and substantial L3 cache are critical factors. The benchmark results show a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 6287 and multi-core score of 44534, indicating strong performance in both single-threaded and multi-threaded workloads.

The 14700K's 96th percentile ranking across all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 70074, demonstrates its position near the top of the processor hierarchy. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-14700KF, delivers an average score of 70104 with a deltaPct of 0, confirming that the KF variant without integrated graphics offers statistically identical performance. The AMD EPYC 9115 at 69887 (deltaPct 0.3) and AMD Ryzen 9 9950X at 70420 (deltaPct -0.5) are also within 0.5% of the 14700K's score.

In CS:GO specifically, the CPU's capability is evident in the 1080p frame rates. The 738.9 FPS at 1080p Low and 539.0 FPS at 1080p High are among the highest measured values for this game, reflecting the CPU's ability to feed frames rapidly to the GPU. The fact that 1080p frame rates are substantially higher than 1440p rates indicates that the CPU is not the bottleneck at the lower resolution, and the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases.

The launch MSRP for the Intel Core i7-14700K is $409. The processor's 20 cores and 28 threads provide ample parallel processing capability, though CS:GO's engine primarily leverages a limited number of threads. The high single-core performance, as evidenced by the Cinebench R23 single-core score of 6287 and Geekbench single-core score of 2932, is what drives the exceptional frame rates in this title.