What simply occurred? Overclocking fanatic der8auer lately set about to find out what kind of efficiency is feasible in Counter-Strike 2 utilizing cutting-edge {hardware} and excessive cooling strategies. To maintain issues considerably lifelike, he caught to some baseline graphical settings that an esports competitor may make the most of like 1080p decision.
Utilizing an Asus ROG Maximus Z790 Apex Encore paired with a retail Intel Core i9-14900K and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 GPU, he was capable of hit 7.4 GHz on the CPU with relative ease utilizing liquid nitrogen.
At 7.4 GHz (overclocking solely the P-cores), Counter-Strike 2 ran at round 950 frames per second on common. That is up from near 800 FPS at 6 GHz utilizing an all-in-one liquid cooler, so a pleasant enchancment for positive. To interrupt the 1,000 FPS barrier, nonetheless, der8auer switched to a binned CPU with extra headroom. An OC of seven.5 GHz with some work to the E-Cores and cache did the trick.
Curiously sufficient, additional CPU overclocking netted few positive aspects because the GPU had turn into the bottleneck. Pushing to 7.8 GHz, for instance, did not have a lot of an influence on the sport’s body charge.
der8auer reached 8.1 GHz utilizing the LN2 setup after diagnosing a PCIe Gen5 SSD overheating subject. Including some lively cooling to the drive remedied the matter.
Liquid nitrogen is a confirmed device for excessive overclockers, permitting them to push {hardware} properly past what it was designed for. The catch, after all, is that the positive aspects are solely sustainable for a brief interval as a result of perils like condensation and the sheer value of sustaining a gentle provide of LN2.
Later within the session, Asus was capable of push certainly one of their binned chips to over 9 GHz utilizing liquid helium at an excellent chilly -240 levels Celsius.
Valve introduced Counter-Strike 2 earlier this yr. The sport was developed as an up to date model of Counter-Strike: World Offensive, and changed the sooner entry when it debuted in September. It is free to obtain over on Steam if you happen to’re fascinated with giving it a spin.
