The best FPS settings can guarantee a smoother gameplay, improved accuracy and granting you an advantage through quicker reactions and landing shots.
That’s why we’ve compiled the best settings so you can start clicking heads again.
In-Game Settings
Right now, the easiest thing you can do is hop into CS2 itself and ensure all these settings are in order. These are the most important tweaks you can do RIGHT NOW to increase your game's performance and responsiveness.
Resolution
The simplest thing to do within the in-game settings is to lower your resolution. Most people play at a 1440p or 1080p resolution, but if your frames are slow or inconsistent, you may want to try a resolution like 1600x900 or 1280x720. Fewer pixels = less support for said pixels.
You could even try a stretched resolution like many pros do. Any 4:3 resolution 1440×1080, 1400x1500, 1280x960, etc.) will do the trick, and may even make you better at the game with stretched character models.
For more in-game visual advantages, check out [Top 5] CS2 Best Viewmodel Settings to Use
Fullscreen Mode
Please, please, please, make sure your game is running in fullscreen mode.
Your game being in fullscreen mode allows your PC to “focus in” on allocating resources to the game, allowing you to have a more enjoyable experience.
Graphics Settings
Now, to the nitty-gritty of CS2’s in-game settings. You probably have no idea where to even begin. You might even turn everything to low and off.
That's why were are here to help you.
These are the most optimal CS2 graphic settings. The best performance to competitive setting ratio.
Along with these make sure to TURN OFF Vertical Sync and to ENABLE Boost Player Contrast.
NVIDIA Reflex Low Latency
At the cost of a FEW frames, your game will feel much more responsive and smooth.
Consider turning it on if you have an NVIDIA graphics card starting from the GTX 900s series and above.
In short, NIVIDA’s Reflex Low Latency decreases the input delay between your peripherals and the game, creating quicker and more responsive gameplay.
So make sure to turn it on.
Audio Settings
These aren’t necessarily visual or performance settings but can help you in-game. These are going to be in the “Audio” tab in CS2.
1. EQ Profile
Natural: normal audio and sounds; use this if you are a casual gamer
Smooth: this is the worst in terms of competitive advantage as most players will have a harder time hearing audio cues, however, this is fit for longer play sessions as sounds are less harsh on the player’s ears
Crisp (recommended): increases the mid-frequences which helps with amplifying audio cues like gunshots and footsteps, making them easier to detect
2. L/R Isolation
The lower you have this setting, the more your sounds blend between left and right. We advise to keep it at around 50% for the best results.
3. Perspective Correction
This setting should make sounds more “identifiable” direction-wise as they correlate to your FOV; however, turn it off as it’ll confuse you in-game and lead to misidentification.
To learn more than just the basics, head to [Top 10] CS2 Best Audio Settings
PC Settings
Game Mode
When “Game Mode” is turned on, Windows will prioritize the gaming experience over anything else, allocating more resources to your game, in this case, CS2.
It also prevents driver updates and restart notifications, so your gaming session won’t be interrupted.
Although there are mixed results, why not try it and see if it works for you?
The more frames the merrier!
Visual Performance Options
There are a lot of visual effects that Windows uses to make the user experience more visually appealing, but most people here don’t care about the visuals; they care about performance and optimization.
Windows may look “worse’, but more resources will be allocated to CS2 for a better gaming experience.
Now, how do you get to these “Visual Effects” Performance Options?
Type “Adjust the Appearance and Performance of Windows” in the search box → go to the “Visual Effects” tab → and click the “Performance” box
Deleting Temporary Files
Many apps use temporary files to TEMPORARILY store files that are needed. However, over time, these can pile up and cause your PC to use many resources on these unnecessary files.
To get rid of them, here’s how you do it:
Windows Key + R → type: temp → press “Ctrl + A” to select all files in the folder → hit “Shift + Delete” to remove them from your PC.
This will free up disk space so that your PC can and will run more efficiently.
Priority Settings
What do you care about the most when you’re playing CS2? CS2! You don’t care about any other application going on. So here’s how to make Windows think the same way you do.
Making CS2 the highest priority when active will tell Windows, “Hey, CS2 needs the most resources; give them to now!” Now, how do you set CS2 as a high priority?
Right-click your Taskbar → select “Task Manager” → go to the “Details” tab → find “CS2” (while open) → Right-click and “Set Priority” to “High”
Driver Settings
Make sure that your driver settings are crucial to your gaming experiences as they provide a stable and responsive gaming experience.
Nvidia Graphics Settings
This will be the section for you if you have an NVIDIA graphics card.
AMD users refer to the section below.
You want to change your NVIDIA Settings so that they are the best optimized for CS2.
Go to your NVIDIA Control Panel → click on “Manage 3D Settings” → now select all these settings:
- Image Scaling: Use Global Setting
- Anisotropic Filtering: Application-Controlled
- Antialiasing-FXAA: Off
- Antialiasing-Gamma Correction: Off
- Antialiasing-Mode: Application-Controlled
- Antialiasing-Transparency: Off
- Background Application Max Frame Rate: Off
- CUDA-GPUs: Use Global Settings (All)
- Low Latency Mode: On
- Max Frame Rate: Off
- Multi-Frame Sampled AA (MFAA): Off
- Texture Filtering - Anisotropic Sample Optimization: Off
- Texture Filtering - Negative LOD Bias: Off
- Texture Filtering - Quality: High Performance
- Texture Filtering - Trilinear Optimization: On
- Threaded Optimization: Auto
- Triple Buffering: Off
- Vertical Sync: Off
- Virtual Reality Pre-rendered Frames: 1AMD Radeon Graphics Settings
Now for those with AMD graphics cards, this is for you.
Go to the AMD Software → click on the “Gaming” tab → then select “CS2” → input these settings:
- Radeon Super Resolution: Disabled
- AMD Fluid Motion Frames - Manual: Disabled
- Radeon Anti-Lag: Enabled
- Radeon Chill: Disabled
- Radeon Boost: Disabled
- Radeon Image Sharpening: Disabled
- Radeon Enhanced Sync: Disabled
- Wait for Vertical Refresh: Always off
- Anti-Aliasing: Use Application Settings
- Anti-Aliasing Method: Multisampling
- Anti-Aliasing Method: Multisampling
- Morphological Anti-Aliasing: Disabled
- Anisotropic Filtering: Disabled
- Texture Filtering Quality: Performance
- Surface Format Optimization: Enabled
- Tessellation Mode: Optimized
- Maximum Tessellation Level: 2x
- OpenGL Triple Buffering: Disabled
- 10-Bit Pixel Format: DisabledUp-to-Date Drivers
This is just a reminder, but MAKE SURE, MAKE SURE, MAKE SURE your drivers are up-to-date if you want the best gaming or even just PC experience possible.
Other Settings
These final settings are just tweaks to other aspects that could improve your gaming experience.
Hardware Acceleration
Many of us talk to friends or listen to music while gaming. However, applications like Discord can be resource-hungry when the correct settings are not in place. We will show you how to disable Hardware Acceleration for Discord. However, you could look up how to disable this feature on other apps while you play CS2.
Go to Discord → go to the “Settings” → go to the “Advanced” tab (under App Settings) → turn off “Hardware Acceleration”
Now more resources will go to your game to better increase performance.
Polling Rate
In short, the polling rate is how often a peripheral sends data to the PC. So, if a mouse’s polling rate is 500 Hz, it reports to the computer 500 times per second.
However, higher polling rates can affect frames in the game.
If you want higher frames, then going into your keyboard or mouse software, and decreasing the polling rate, will give you more frames in the game.
Summary
All these settings are meant to give you a competitive advantage in the game. Whether that be graphics settings or audio settings, these minor tweaks, when added up, will allow you to be the best player that you can be.
With these settings in place, queue up a game of Dust II, buy that AK, and happy fragging!
