Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is a notoriously CPU-bound title, and the measured frame rates for the Intel Core i7-14700KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 confirm this tendency, though the data reveals a nuanced shift in bottleneck behavior as resolution climbs. The RTX 3070, positioned at the 72nd percentile among all GPUs, and the i7-14700KF, sitting at the 96th percentile among all CPUs, create a pairing where the processor has significant headroom. At 1080p, the frame rates are astronomical, with the Low preset hitting 735.1 FPS average, which is a clear indicator that the CPU is doing the heavy lifting to feed the GPU. However, the scaling from 1080p to 4K shows a steep drop-off that redefines the limiting component at higher resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a dramatic reduction in average frame rates as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At the High preset, the average FPS falls from 539.5 at 1080p to 372.7 at 1440p, a decline of roughly 31%. Moving from 1440p to 4K, the High preset drops further to 217.6 FPS, representing another 42% reduction. This steep curve indicates that while the CPU can easily push hundreds of frames at lower resolutions, the GPU's rendering workload becomes the primary constraint as pixel count multiplies. The Low preset illustrates this even more starkly: 735.1 FPS at 1080p, 506.7 FPS at 1440p, and 300.8 FPS at 4K. The frame rate at 4K Low is still extremely high, but the percentage drop from 1080p is substantial, showing that the RTX 3070's capabilities are being saturated.

The scaling pattern across all settings suggests that the RTX 3070 has ample compute power for CS:GO at lower resolutions, where the game's engine and the CPU's single-thread performance dictate the ceiling. At 4K, the gap between the Low preset (300.8 FPS) and the Ultra preset (187.3 FPS) widens to a 60% difference, which is a strong signal that the GPU's pixel and texture processing rates are the limiting factor. The RTX 3070's pixel rate of 165.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 317.4 GTexel/s are being pushed harder at 4K, and the benchmarks reflect that the GPU can no longer keep pace with the CPU's frame generation. In essence, at 1080p and 1440p, the data indicates a CPU-bound scenario where the i7-14700KF's 5.60 GHz boost clock is the star; at 4K, it transitions to a GPU-bound scenario.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, built on the Ampere architecture with an 8 nm process node, is a capable mid-to-high-range card, but its role in CS:GO is defined by its memory and clock characteristics. The GPU has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. In a game like CS:GO, which is not memory-heavy, this bandwidth is more than sufficient, but the 8 GB capacity is a limiting factor for future titles, not this one. The core clocks are set at 1500 MHz base and 1725 MHz boost, which are moderate figures for the 30-series. These clocks, combined with the 5888 shading units, allow the card to deliver the high frame rates seen in the measured data.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it in the 72nd percentile, with an average score of 28238. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT, which is 0.9% slower, and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti, which is 1% slower. This context shows that the RTX 3070 is a solid performer, but not an outlier. In CS:GO, the GPU's role is to render the frame once the CPU has processed the game logic. At 1080p High, the 539.5 FPS average shows the GPU is handling the load without breaking a sweat, as the CPU is feeding it frames faster than it can display. However, at 4K Ultra, the 187.3 FPS average reveals the GPU's limits, as the increased pixel count demands more from the shading units and ROPs. The data suggests that the RTX 3070 is well-matched for high-refresh-rate 1080p and 1440p gaming in CS:GO, but at 4K, the frame rates, while still high, begin to show the GPU as the bottleneck.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with the High preset?

A: The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 with the High preset is 539.5 FPS.

Q: How much faster is the Low preset compared to the Ultra preset at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset achieves 506.7 FPS, while the Ultra preset achieves 315.6 FPS, making the Low preset approximately 60% faster.

Q: Does the RTX 3070 become the limiting factor at 4K?

A: Yes, the data indicates this. At 3840x2160, the average FPS drops to 217.6 on High and 187.3 on Ultra, which is a significant reduction from the 1080p results, indicating the GPU is now the bottleneck.

Q: What is the performance difference between the i7-14700KF and the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X?

A: The i7-14700KF has an average benchmark score of 70104, while the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X has a score of 70420, meaning the Ryzen 9 9950X is 0.4% faster in the aggregate benchmarks.

Q: What is the best preset for maximizing frame rate at 1080p?

A: The Low preset at 1920x1080 yields the highest average FPS at 735.1, which is the maximum measured in the data.

Q: How does the RTX 3070 compare to the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT in raw compute?

A: The RTX 3070 has an average benchmark score of 28238, while the RX 6600 XT has a score of 27985, putting the RTX 3070 0.9% ahead.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of performance across three resolutions and four settings. At 1920x1080, the frame rates are exceptionally high, starting with 735.1 FPS on Low. The Medium preset delivers 627.9 FPS, High delivers 539.5 FPS, and Ultra drops to 462.6 FPS. This shows a 37% reduction from Low to Ultra, which is a significant spread but still leaves the system well above the refresh rate of most monitors.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains robust. The Low preset averages 506.7 FPS, Medium 432.3 FPS, High 372.7 FPS, and Ultra 315.6 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent, with the Low preset losing about 31% of its frame rate. This indicates that the GPU is starting to work harder, but the CPU still has enough headroom to maintain high performance.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates take a more pronounced hit. The Low preset still manages 300.8 FPS, which is impressive, but the Medium preset falls to 254.6 FPS, High to 217.6 FPS, and Ultra to 187.3 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is a 60% performance gap, which is much larger than the 37% gap at 1080p. This suggests that the RTX 3070's memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s and its pixel throughput are being taxed more heavily at this resolution. The data shows a clear trend: the higher the resolution, the more the GPU dictates the final frame rate, with the CPU's influence waning.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. In CS:GO, which is a game that heavily favors single-thread performance, the boost clock is the critical specification. The CPU's high single-core score of 6290 in Cinebench R23, along with a PassMark single-thread score of 4480, indicates that it can process the game's logic and physics at a very fast rate. This is reflected in the 1080p frame rates, where the system exceeds 500 FPS on all presets, showing that the CPU is not the limiting factor at this resolution.

The i7-14700KF's 33 MB of shared L3 cache is also beneficial for gaming, as it reduces memory latency for frequently accessed data. The CPU's percentile ranking of 96th among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 70104, places it near the top of the performance heap. Its nearest rivals in the data include the Intel Core i7-14700K, which is score-identical, and the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X, which is 0.4% faster. This indicates that the KF variant offers essentially the same performance as the K variant in aggregate benchmarks, with the only difference being the lack of integrated graphics.

In the context of CS:GO, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with as many frames as possible. At 1080p, the data shows that the CPU is capable of generating over 700 FPS on the Low preset, which reflects its strong single-thread performance. However, as the resolution increases, the GPU's workload grows, and the CPU's advantage becomes less relevant. The 4K results, where the frame rates drop to 187-300 FPS, show a system that is still very fast but now constrained by the GPU. The pairing of the i7-14700KF with the RTX 3070 is a balanced one for this game, with the CPU providing a performance floor that ensures high frame rates, while the GPU determines the ceiling at higher resolutions.