Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is a title where the CPU traditionally carries the heaviest load, and the measured data for the Intel Core i7-14700KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 confirms this dynamic. The frame rates are exceptionally high across all tested configurations, but the scaling pattern reveals that the processor is the primary engine driving performance, with the GPU providing ample headroom to avoid becoming a limiting factor until the highest settings are applied. This analysis breaks down the measured results for this specific combo, which holds the 774th rank out of 3719 tested combinations.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of resolution scaling that points directly to CPU-bound performance at lower resolutions. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 at High settings, the average frame rate drops from 702 FPS to 483 FPS, a reduction of approximately 31%. This substantial decline indicates that while the CPU is still the primary driver, the GPU is beginning to contribute more significantly to the rendering load. The scaling continues to 3840x2160, where the High preset yields 285 FPS, a further 41% reduction from the 1440p result. This steep drop-off across all resolution steps suggests that the performance envelope is highly responsive to pixel count, yet the absolute numbers remain far above the refresh rates of typical displays, meaning the combo is never truly GPU-limited at these settings.

The Low preset shows the most extreme example of CPU-bound behavior. At 1080p, the combo produces 952 FPS, which drops to 655 FPS at 1440p and then to 387 FPS at 4K. The percentage decline from 1080p to 1440p is 31%, and from 1440p to 4K it is also 41%, mirroring the High settings' scaling almost exactly. This consistent proportional drop indicates that the rendering workload scales predictably with resolution, and the CPU is delivering a near-constant frame generation ceiling that the GPU then processes. The fact that 1080p Low exceeds 950 FPS suggests the processor’s 20 cores and 28 threads are far from saturated, but the game’s engine still imposes a per-frame instruction limit that prevents even higher output.

The Medium preset provides a middle ground, with 811 FPS at 1080p, 558 FPS at 1440p, and 330 FPS at 4K. The minimum FPS recorded for this preset at 1080p is 689, which is 85% of the average, indicating a relatively stable frame pacing. At 4K Medium, the minimum is 280 FPS against an average of 330, showing a slightly wider variance but still within acceptable bounds for competitive play. The Ultra preset is the only configuration where the GPU begins to show its influence more strongly, with 599 FPS at 1080p, 412 FPS at 1440p, and 243 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is the lowest measured across the entire dataset, yet it still exceeds 240 FPS, which is a threshold many high-refresh monitors target.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate recorded for this combo?

A: The highest measured average is 952 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset.

Q: How does the 4K Ultra preset compare to the 1080p Low preset?

A: The 4K Ultra preset produces an average of 243 FPS, which is roughly 74% lower than the 952 FPS seen at 1080p Low, illustrating the significant impact of both resolution and graphical fidelity.

Q: Is there a settings preset that offers a minimum FPS above 600 at 1080p?

A: Yes, the Medium preset at 1920x1080 records a minimum FPS of 689, which is above the 600 FPS mark. The High and Low presets do not have reported minimum values, but their averages are 702 and 952 FPS respectively.

Q: What is the performance difference between the High and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the High preset averages 483 FPS while the Ultra preset averages 412 FPS. This represents a 71 FPS difference, or roughly 15% lower performance for the Ultra preset.

Q: Which resolution shows the smallest gap between the Low and Ultra presets?

A: At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 387 FPS and the Ultra preset averages 243 FPS, a difference of 144 FPS. At 1920x1080, the same comparison shows a gap of 353 FPS (952 vs 599), so the relative gap narrows as resolution increases.

Q: Does the combo ever drop below 240 FPS average at any tested setting?

A: No. The lowest average FPS recorded is 243 at 3840x2160 with the Ultra preset. All other configurations exceed this figure, with the next lowest being 285 FPS at 4K High.

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. Its L3 cache is 33 MB shared, which is a critical resource for a game like CS:GO that relies heavily on low-latency memory access for its simulation and entity updates. The CPU’s benchmark scores support its capability as a top-tier part; it achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44167 and a single-core score of 6235, placing it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs. This single-core strength is directly relevant to CS:GO, which is known to have a primary game thread that can bottleneck even the fastest processors.

The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo reaches 952 FPS, which is a strong indicator that the CPU’s per-core performance is sufficient to drive frame generation far beyond typical display refresh rates. The jump from 1080p Low to 4K Low (952 to 387 FPS) is a 59% reduction, which is larger than the 4:1 pixel count increase would suggest if the system were purely GPU-limited. Instead, this indicates that the CPU’s frame pacing and command buffer submission are the primary constraints, and the GPU is waiting on the processor at lower resolutions. The boost clock of 5.60 GHz is likely active in these scenarios, maximizing the single-threaded throughput needed for the game’s main loop.

Comparing to its nearest rivals, the i7-14700KF has an average benchmark score of 70163, which is 0.2% higher than the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and 0.9% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X. It trails the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K by 1%. These marginal differences in synthetic benchmarks suggest that in a CPU-bound title like CS:GO, the i7-14700KF would perform nearly identically to these other high-end parts, with the game’s frame rate being determined more by the engine’s limits than by the specific processor model. The 20 cores and 28 threads are far more than CS:GO can utilize, but the high boost clock and large cache ensure that the few threads it does use are serviced efficiently.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-14700KF and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 holds the 774th rank out of 3719 tested combos in the CS:GO database. This places it in the top 21% of all configurations, which is a respectable position given the game’s age and the fact that many competitive players use lower-end hardware to maximize frame rates. The rank reflects the absolute performance of the combo, and given that the measured FPS are all above 240 at 4K Ultra, the ranking is likely influenced by other combos that achieve even higher frame rates at lower resolutions, possibly with CPUs that have even higher single-core clocks or with overclocked memory.

The percentile ranking of the GPU is 82, and the CPU is at 94, indicating that the processor is a stronger component relative to its peers. In CS:GO, this skew towards CPU performance is advantageous, as the game is less dependent on GPU fill rate. The combo’s rank of 774 suggests that a significant number of other tested configurations (2945 of them) achieve lower FPS, but the top 773 combos outperform it. This could be due to those systems using CPUs with higher sustained boost clocks or having tuned memory subsystems, which are not captured in the raw FPS data provided. The data shows that the i7-14700KF is a top-tier part, but the game’s engine likely has a hard ceiling around 950 FPS at 1080p Low, which this combo nearly reaches.

The nearest rival for the GPU, the AMD Radeon Pro 580, has an average score within 0.1% of the RTX 5070, but this is irrelevant in CS:GO where the GPU is not the bottleneck. The CPU’s nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F, has a delta of 0.2%, meaning the i7-14700KF is virtually tied with it in overall benchmark performance. In practice, the combo’s rank could shift by a few positions depending on which CPU is paired with a similar GPU, but the measured data indicates that this specific pairing is well-balanced for CS:GO, with the CPU providing the necessary muscle to keep the GPU fed at all settings.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings preset depends on the target refresh rate and resolution. For players with a 1080p monitor running at 360 Hz or 500 Hz, the Low preset at 952 FPS is the clear winner, as it provides the highest possible frame rate and minimises input latency, which is critical in a competitive shooter. The Medium preset at 811 FPS is also viable for 360 Hz displays and offers slightly better visual quality without a significant FPS penalty. The High preset at 702 FPS is sufficient for 240 Hz panels, but the Ultra preset at 599 FPS is also above that threshold, making it a viable option for players who prioritize visual fidelity over absolute frame rate.

At 1440p, the Low preset delivers 655 FPS, which exceeds the capabilities of most monitors, including 360 Hz panels. The High preset at 483 FPS is still well above 240 Hz, and even the Ultra preset at 412 FPS is sufficient for high-refresh gaming. For 4K resolution, the Low preset at 387 FPS is the only option that comfortably exceeds 360 Hz, while the High preset at 285 FPS is suitable for 240 Hz displays. The Ultra preset at 243 FPS is marginally above 240 Hz, but it is the only configuration that dips below 250 FPS, so players with 4K 240 Hz monitors should consider the High preset for a larger safety margin.

The data shows that the Medium preset at 4K has a minimum FPS of 280 against an average of 330, which is a 15% variance. This is the only preset with reported minimum FPS values, and the variance is acceptable for competitive play. For a balanced experience, the Medium preset offers a good compromise between visual quality and performance at all resolutions, with 811 FPS at 1080p, 558 FPS at 1440p, and 330 FPS at 4K. The recommendation is to select Low or Medium for maximum frame rate, or High for a slight visual upgrade, while avoiding Ultra unless the display is limited to 240 Hz and the resolution is below 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 952 FPS, which is the highest recorded value in the entire dataset. The Medium preset averages 811 FPS with a minimum of 689 and a maximum of 932, showcasing a wide range that indicates occasional frame dips under load. The High preset averages 702 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 599 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 37% reduction in average FPS, from 952 to 599, which is a significant penalty for higher graphical settings. The gap between Medium and High is 109 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is 103 FPS, showing a consistent step-down in performance as settings increase.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 655 FPS, which is a 31% drop from the 1080p Low result. The Medium preset averages 558 FPS with a minimum of 474 and a maximum of 642. The High preset averages 483 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 412 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra at 1440p is 243 FPS, or 37%, which is proportionally identical to the 1080p scaling. This consistency suggests that the CPU is still the limiting factor at this resolution, as the GPU has sufficient bandwidth to handle the increased pixel count without introducing a bottleneck.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 387 FPS, a 41% reduction from the 1440p Low result. The Medium preset averages 330 FPS with a minimum of 280 and a maximum of 379. The High preset averages 285 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 243 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra at 4K is 144 FPS, or 37%, matching the percentage reduction seen at lower resolutions. The absolute frame rates at 4K are still remarkably high, with the lowest result (243 FPS on Ultra) being sufficient for any current display technology. The data indicates that the combo maintains a high level of performance across all measured configurations, with the CPU providing a stable foundation and the GPU handling the rendering load without becoming a constraint until the highest settings are applied.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 is based on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture and features 6144 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, and 80 render output units. It has 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 672.0 GB/s. The GPU’s boost clock is 2512 MHz, and it has a TDP of 250 W. In CS:GO, the GPU’s role is secondary to the CPU, but the data shows that it must still deliver the pixels at higher resolutions. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra is 243, which is 4.4 times lower than the 1080p Low result of 952 FPS. This scaling is more aggressive than the 4x pixel count increase, indicating that the GPU is becoming a more significant factor at 4K Ultra, but it still maintains a high absolute frame rate.

The GPU’s synthetic benchmark scores, such as a Passmark G3D score of 29137 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 5077, place it in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs. This is lower than the CPU’s 94th percentile, reinforcing the notion that the processor is the stronger component in this pairing. The nearest rival, the AMD Radeon Pro 580, has an average score within 0.1%, but this is a workstation card with different driver optimizations. In CS:GO, the RTX 5070’s high memory bandwidth is not heavily utilized, as the game’s textures are simple, but the GPU’s fill rate is sufficient to handle the 4K Ultra preset without dropping below 240 FPS.

The GPU’s 12 GB VRAM is far more than CS:GO requires, as the game’s assets are lightweight even at Ultra settings. The memory clock of 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective) provides ample bandwidth for the game’s needs, and the PCIe 5.0 x16 interface ensures no data transfer bottleneck. The data shows that the GPU is not the limiting factor at 1080p or 1440p, as the frame rates are consistently high across all settings. Only at 4K with the Ultra preset does the GPU’s workload become substantial enough to reduce the FPS to 243, but this is still a playable frame rate for most users. The RTX 5070’s role is to ensure that the CPU’s frame generation is never stalled, and the measured results confirm that it fulfills this role effectively across all tested settings.