Best CS2 Settings for FPS, Visibility and Quality | CS2 Video Settings Benchmark

This best CS2 Settings for FPS, Visibility and Quality guide includes a CS2 Video Settings Benchmark where all graphics settings are compared for the best optimization. This tutorial and benchmarks were made with low end, mid range and high end PCs and gaming laptops in mind (Nvidia & AMD) and will result in a significant FPS boost without sacrificing graphics quality. I've included the best tips and tricks I've found for high enemy visibility and smooth, crisp CS2 gameplay. This CS2 Settings Benchmark guide will fix stuttering and reduce input lag.

Specs:
GPU: AORUS GeForce RTX™ 2070 8G
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 8-Core Processor

0:00 Boost Player Contrast
0:40 Wait for Vertical Sync
1:29 Multisampling Anti-Aliasing Mode
2:10 Global Shadow Quality
2:35 Model / Texture Detail
4:01 Texture Filtering Mode
4:53 Shader Detail
5:15 Particle Detail
5:39 Ambient Occlusion
6:06 High Dynamic Range (HDR)
6:23 FidelityFX Super Resolution
6:56 Nvidia Reflex Low Latency

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Brightness: Changes the gamma correction of the display, adjusting overall brightness. Only available in full screen mode.

Aspect Ratio: (Widescreen 16:10/Widescreen 16:9/Normal 4:3)

Resolution: (2560x1440/1920x1080/1600x900/1366x768/1360x768/1280x720/1176x664)

Display Mode: (Fullscreen Windowed/Fullscreen/Windowed)

Refresh Rate: (164hz/143hz/119hz/99hz/59hz)

Laptop Power Savings: In Power Savings Mode, the game intentionally runs at a low frame rate in order to preserve battery power, extending the amount of time that you can play on battery power.

Advanced Video Settings:
Boost Player Contrast: improves the legibility of players in low contrast situations. Enabling Boost Player Contrast can degrade graphics performance.

Wait for Vertical Sync: Verticle Sync is recommended for the smoothest experience. The Disabled setting may cause visual tearing.

Current Video Values Preset: The options are custom/very high/high/medium/low. Individual Preset Values.

Multisampling Anti-Aliasing Mode: Anti-aliasing provides a smooth appearance at the edges of geometry, eliminating jagged edges. Increasing anti-aliasing quality can degrade graphics performance. (MSAA 8x/MSAA 4x/MSAA 2x/CMAA2)

Global Shadow Quality: (Very High/High/Medium/Low)

Model / Texture Detail: The model / texture detail setting controls the resolution of textures and geometric complexity of models in the game. Decreasing this setting may improve performance on low-end systems, but will degrade image quality. (High/Medium/Low)

Texture Filtering Mode: Increasing the texture filtering setting improves the appearance of textures in the game. Increasing filtering quality can affect performance. (Anisotropic 16x/Anisotropic 8x/Anisotropic 4x/Anisotropic 2x/Trilinear/Bilinear)

Shader Detail: Shader detail controls the sophistication of the lighting and shading effects applied to surfaces in the game. Higher settings increase visual quality but can degrade graphics performance (High/Low)

Particle Detail: Particle detail controls the complexity of particle effects and whether particles cast shadows. Higher settings increase visual quality but can degrade graphics performance. (Very High/High/Medium/Low)

Ambient Occlusion: Calculate lighting using Ambient Occlusion. Enabling Ambient Occlusion can degrade graphics performance (High/Medium/Disabled)

High Dynamic Range: High Dynamic Range (HDR) controls the range of brightness between the brightest and darkest pixels. Choosing Performance decreases the quality HDR rendering but potentially increases performance and reduces GPU memory use. (Quality/Performance)

FidelityFX Super Resolution: FidelityFX Super Resolution may improve performance by rendering at reduced resolution and upscaling using a high-quality spatial technique. (Disabled (Highest Quality)/ Ultra Quality/Quality/Balanced/Performance)

NVIDIA Reflex Low Latency: NVIDIA Reflex is used to reduce system latency which increases PC responsiveness. Boost mode includes techniques that may draw more power to the GPU and slightly impact FPS to reduce latency as much as possible. (Enabled + Boost/Enabled/Disabled)

[shogoz]

Going out for some milk. See you again at Christmas 🎅

[Zaymex]

i like how he gets straight to the point of the video. This is one of the best cs2 videos i ve found on the internet! I want to see more videos !!

[drunkennb]

You NEED Global Shadow on high to see dynamic shadows (for example in front of lights on ancient) - NEVER on low - ALWAYS ON HIGH!

[qvp]

Y're the goat man. Not even the content of your video, but rather showing examples and how the advanced videos settings works. Thx.

[Jakiyyyyy]

3:35 Wow I didn't knew those Medium or High textures could tank the FPS that much. I thought these only affect the VRAM usage though. My whole life was a lie. This is by far the best optimized settings video for CS2 I have seen. I can't stand the shimmering look though so 2x MSAA is the way to go although I'm not really a big fan of MSAA in general.

[shtefan]

nah bro you deserve an award for this video. no bs just straight fact proofs

[erkram.]

0:57 vsync is a nice compromise between a stable frametime and a smoother experience (yes cs2 is right, because smoothness =/= response time). Also, a stable frametime will help you get used to a specific timing behaviour for your entire experience on the game. In his testing you can clearly see that on the right you have a less stable frametime. That, even if lower, will cause a less predictable behaviour on average, which is not good from a competitive standpoint. Best thing to do here if you want a great competitive experience is to disable vsync and manually cap the framerate to an amount that is affordable for your specs in every situation, the better if matches the current refresh rate of your monitor.
In general, having an absurd amount of fps doesn't help you that much apart from input lag if you can't see the rendered image in time due to a poor monitor responsiveness.
60Hz monitor -> image gets refreshed once every 17ms~
100Hz monitor -> once every 10ms~
144Hz monitor -> once every 7ms~
1000Hz monitor (lol) -> once every 1ms~
If you have a 100Hz monitor and have 300 fps, guess what, the image is still displayed at 100Hz, hence at 100 images per second. You used 200 fps to gain tearing and a generous 7ms advantage. To me, that's not worth it. Try it yourself and you'll how smoother the game is even if at a lower framerate.

[ChangeIGYB]

Night and day difference! I now have confidence peaking people instead of afraid that my game is going to stutter whenever coming in contact with an enemy player. Thank you so much for making this video!

[oRJuberi]

You were able to raise my FPS and lower the temp from the CPU
thank you

[Alix.]

Best video I've seen about CS2 settings. Great job !

[prabhdeepsingh]

Straight to the point and fun knowledge sharing, Thank you ❤

[TehSelect]

I've watched atleast 30 of these videos and this one is BY FAR the best, thank you for actually testing every setting and showing the fps, helped alot!

PS: Can you make an updated video on NVIDIA Control Panel settings? :)

[rnu]

HDR on performance creates a filmgrain effect, so having it on quality can help visibility

[defyhh]

you should have shadows on high, there are spots where it gives you an advantage.

[penexofficial]

short fast and direct i like u ty mate ❤

[ward]

Best vid on optimal cs setting thankyou mate

[mogisanjaya]

I love this guy 🤣🤣🤣.. this video is all I need to get what i needed in my settings. Thank you so much.

[Zaymex]

i was a shogoz fan before he uploaded but now im straight up an air conditioner 😍

[themomorain]

Ambient occlusion is actually a good setting on maps like nuke you see the shadow of people because of it pretty often.

[bobby_au]

2xmsaa is a must - grates and fence you can see through think mirage t spawn and vertigo b cat. Another huge gain for me was running aa off the going to nvidia and select 4x and force on apps. Make sure u turn it off in game. Edit- hdr leave quality otherwise you get a disgusting checkered pattern in dark spots and shadows .