Improvements in the visuals of Counter-Strike 2 are really impressive, thanks to Valve's Source 2 engine. However, the new engine also means that CS2 is more demanding on system resources than its predecessor, CSGO. Thus, in this guide, you'll find out the best CS2 graphics settings for low-end, midrange, and high-end PCs to max out your FPS and play the shooter game with no lag.
But before tweaking your graphics settings to achieve the best performance, make sure that your computer meets the Counter-Strike 2 system requirements. As listed on its Steam page, here are the minimum specs required by CS2 for you to be able to run the game:
- For Windows:
- OS: Windows 10
- Processor: 4 hardware CPU threads - Intel Core i5 750 or higher
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: The video card must be 1 GB or more and should be a DirectX 11-compatible with support for Shader Model 5.0
- DirectX: Version 11
- Storage: 85 GB available space
- For SteamOS + Linux:
- OS: Ubuntu 20.04
- Processor: 4 hardware CPU threads - Intel Core i5 750 or higher
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: AMD GCN+ or NVIDIA Kepler+ with up-to-date Vulkan drivers. Support for VK_EXT_graphics_pipeline_library is highly recommended.
- Storage: 85 GB available space
- Sound Card: Highly recommended
CS2 Global Video Settings
Go to Settings (gear icon) > Video > Video [tab] and follow these settings:
- Main Menu Background Scenery: depending on your desired map
- Color Mode: Computer Monitor
- Brightness: 110%
- Aspect Ratio: Widescreen 16:9 is best for a standard appearance, or use Normal 4:3 to make the gameplay look stretched, similar to how professional gamers do it
- Resolution: For 16:9, use your native monitor resolution. For 4:3, use 1280x960, as it's common in pro scene.
- Display Mode: Fullscreen
- Refresh rate: Match your monitor's refresh rate or the highest Hz available
- Laptop Power Savings: Disabled
Best CS2 Settings for Low-End PCs
Follow these settings to get an FPS boost on your potato PC and run CS2 somewhat decently. Go to Settings (gear icon) > Video > Advanced Video [tab] and apply these settings:
- Boost Player Contrast: Disabled
- Wait for Vertical Sync: Disabled
- Current Video Values Preset: Custom
- Multisampling Anti-Aliasing Mode: None
- Global Shadow Quality: Low
- Model/Texture Detail: Low
- Texture Filtering Mode: Bilinear
- Shader Detail: Low
- Particle Detail: Low
- Ambient Occlusion: Disabled
- High Dynamic Range: Performance
- FidelityFX Super Resolution: Performance
- NVIDIA Reflex Low Latency: Disabled
Best CS2 Settings for Midrange PCs
Here are the optimal CS2 settings to achieve the max FPS on your mid-range PC with a graphics card and play the game without lag. Go to Settings (gear icon) > Video > Advanced Video [tab] and follow these settings:
- Boost Player Contrast: Enabled
- Wait for Vertical Sync: Disabled
- Current Video Values Preset: Custom
- Multisampling Anti-Aliasing Mode: 2x MSAA
- Global Shadow Quality: Medium
- Model/Texture Detail: Medium
- Texture Filtering Mode: Bilinear
- Shader Detail: Low
- Particle Detail: Medium
- Ambient Occlusion: Disabled
- High Dynamic Range: Performance
- FidelityFX Super Resolution: Quality
- NVIDIA Reflex Low Latency: Enabled (if a stuttering issue occurs, set it to Disabled)
Best CS2 Settings for High-End PCs
If you have a top-end GPU, CPU, and RAM, you can achieve the maximum performance and highest quality on CS2 using these settings. To get started, go to Settings (gear icon) > Video > Advanced Video [tab] and follow the recommended settings:
- Boost Player Contrast: Enabled
- Wait for Vertical Sync: Disabled
- Current Video Values Preset: Custom
- Multisampling Anti-Aliasing Mode: 8x MSAA
- Global Shadow Quality: High
- Model/Texture Detail: High
- Texture Filtering Mode: Bilinear
- Shader Detail: High
- Particle Detail: Very High
- Ambient Occlusion: High
- High Dynamic Range: Quality
- FidelityFX Super Resolution: Disabled
- NVIDIA Reflex Low Latency: Enabled (if a stuttering issue occurs, set it to Disabled)
You might like:
What can you say about this quick guide to the best CS2 video settings? You can leave your comment below.