For many years, when we say competitive FPS games, we always think of the CS2 series. We have seen many games, starting with Counter-Strike and extending to 1.6, Source, and CS2.
All these games were designed and released by Valve. In addition, the biggest common feature of these games is user-friendly system requirements. That’s why we wanted to prepare a detailed guide by looking at the recommended specs for counter stirke 2.
How Big is CS2 (GigaBytes)? Counter-Strike 2 initially was 30GB to download, but after a lot of updates and patches, it is now 34,16GB in size.
Counter Strike 2 – CS2 System Requirements
As we mentioned at the beginning of our article, CS2 is a very user-friendly game. It won’t tire your computer too much and is optimized enough for most older PCs to handle.
However, at this point, there is a situation that disturbs the players. Of course, we are talking about the FPS issue.
Most players try to get as high FPS as possible in the CS2 competitive scene. Generally, it cannot reach the targeted FPS values because the recommended specs for CS2 are low. So first, let’s look at the CS2 minimum specs and recommend spces for CS2.
Related: How to Improve FPS in CS2?
CS2 Minimum Specs (Windows)
| COMPONENT | MINIMUM SPEC |
| Operating System (OS) | Windows 7 / Vista / XP |
| Processor (CPU) | Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 or AMD Phenom X3 8750 |
| Memory (RAM) | 2 GB RAM |
| Graphics Card (GPU) | 256 MB or more, DirectX 9 compatible |
| Storage | 15 GB available space |
CS2 Recommended Specs (Windows)
| COMPONENT | RECOMMENDED SPEC |
| Operating System (OS) | Windows 10 (64-bit) |
| Processor (CPU) | Intel Core i7-9700k or AMD Ryzen 7 2700X (or better) |
| Memory (RAM) | 16 GB RAM |
| Graphics Card (GPU) | Nvidia RTX 2070 or AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (or better) |
| DirectX | Version 11 |
| Storage | 60 GB available space (SSD preferred for faster loading times) |
Minimum System Requirements for SteamOS + Linux
| COMPONENT | MINIMUM SPEC |
| Operating System (OS) | Ubuntu 20.04 |
| Processor (CPU) | 4 hardware CPU threads – Intel® Core™ i5 750 or higher |
| Memory (RAM) | 8 GB RAM |
| Graphics Card (GPU) | AMD GCN+ or NVIDIA Kepler+ with up-to-date Vulkan drivers. Support for VK_EXT_graphics_pipeline_library highly recommended. |
| Storage | 85 GB available space |
| Sound Card | Highly recommended |
What are Recommended Specs for CS2 Server?
Since we’ve covered the system requirements for running counter stirke 2 on your PC, let’s take a look into the server side of things.
As you know, Valve does allow players to host public CS2 servers. To ensure a smooth and lag-free experience for everyone playing, the server itself needs to meet certain hardware requirements. These are typically a bit more demanding than what a player PC would need.
Related: Check CS2 Server Status
You can open servers with your private IP address and be your server’s admin. However, opening such servers may be more complex than standard game system requirements.
Therefore, we wanted to answer the question “what are recommended specs for CS2 server”. In the table below, you can find the hardware details and the Broadband requirements.
| Number of Players You Want on Your Server | Minimum System Requirement | Recommended Broadband |
| Standard modes and maps with 2-8 players | Windows: 2.4 GHz (min. 2 vCores), 3 GB RAM, 55 GB storage space Linux: 2.4 GHz (min. 2 vCores), 2 GB RAM, 20 GB storage space | 256 Kbit/s |
| Standard modes and maps with 8-24 players | Windows: 2.8 GHz (min. 3 vCores), 4 GB RAM, 60 GB storage space Linux: 2.8 GHz (min. 3 vCores), 3 GB RAM, 25 GB storage space | 1.280 Kbit/s (1,28 Mbit/s) |
| Mods and maps with 24 or more players | Windows: 3.6 GHz (min. 3 vCores), 6 GB RAM, 70 GB storage space Linux: 2.8 GHz (min. 3 vCores), 4 GB RAM, 35 GB storage space | 1.708 Kbit/s (1,71 Mbit/s) |
If you meet the system requirements you see above; you can open a server in CS2.
However, keep in mind that running a server requires significant resources. This can strain your system and lead to performance issues when running other programs alongside the server.
For a smoother overall experience, consider dedicating a separate computer to hosting the CS2 server.
Related: Best CS2 Community Servers to Join!
What Should Be the Best Computer Hardware for CS2?
As you know, in CS2, it is possible to reach high FPS values. Naturally, when you get high FPS, it increases your gaming experience.
For this reason, most gamers try changing their PC systems to reach high FPS values. Some components are cheap in terms of price, and at the same time, you can get high performance.
Related: CS2 FPS commands.
The below recommendations are meant for players who wants to reach 144 FPS. It may be better for you if you keep reading with this in mind.
- First of all, if you want to reach high FPS values, you should choose a video card of very high quality.
- If necessary, buy a lower model of other equipment and get the graphics card as high quality as possible.
- You must have a minimum RX 560 or GTX 1050 graphics card to get 144 FPS at 1080p resolution.
- If you can afford it, you can get higher model RTX graphics cards to get 165 – 240 FPS.
- Remember that even if your video card is of good quality, if your monitor does not support that hertz value, you will never be able to get efficiency from 240 Hz.
Other essential components of counter strike 2 system requirements:
- CPU: is not of great importance for CS2. Yes, you heard right, your CPU can be AMD Ryzen 3 or any model higher. Because the graphics card will give you the actual performance, as long as your graphics card and CPU are not forced, you will not have a problem.
- RAM: Make sure to use at least 4GB of RAM. If you don’t want to get stutters and blue screen errors in the game, invest in RAM. If possible, take care to choose 8GB and DDR 4 RAM.
- SSD: Take care to use SSD as a storage unit if possible. It allows you to connect to the game fast and slightly increases the performance. If your budget is high, we recommend you use M2 SSD.
As you can see, if you want to get 144 FPS from CS2, you don’t really need to push your budget. It’s quite possible to get 144 FPS, probably for an average of $400.
In the meantime, would you like to browse the map descriptions while continuing with the CS2 guide? We have prepared detailed descriptions of all CS2 maps you can encounter in CS2 competitive mode.
Related: Premier vs Competitive in CS2
What Setups Do Professional CS2 Players Use?
Many players in the CS2 Esports scene use high-performance equipment. The computer, the headset, mouse, and even the mousepad are exceptional. Therefore, they aim to maximize the efficiency they can get from CS2.
If you are considering playing like pro CS2 players, we recommend you pay attention to the lists below.
We would also like to remind you that the equipment the players below uses is much more than the recommended specs for CS2. Now, let’s look at the list.
1. S1mple
s1mple has been dominating the CS2 Esports scene for the past few years. Together with his team NaVi, they won many tournaments and wrote their names in history with golden letters.
But here, we will examine s1mple from a different angle. We’ll look at the computer equipment he uses and how high-performing he plays CS2.
Here are the details;
- Monitor – 240hz
- Processor – AMD Ryzen 9 5950x
- Graphics Card – NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090
- Motherboard – GIGABYTE X570 Aouros Ultra
As you can see, s1mple has managed to reach the highest FPS value it can get from CS2. It would help if you remembered the gif we showed you in the middle of our article.
On the monitor with a 240hz image, you can see the opponent milliseconds earlier. In addition, it seems too expensive to reach high specs above the recommended for CS2.
2. ZywOo
The young and successful player of Team Vitality, ZywOo, was chosen by HLTV as one of the best players in the world. Naturally, you may also want to look at his PC system.
Like s1mple, ZywOo seems to have pushed the limits to get high FPS. This player has pushed the game’s limits by going above the recommended specs for CS2. Let’s take a detailed look at the setup of Zywoo.
- Monitor – 240hz
- Processor – Intel Core i9-11900K
- Graphics Card – NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080
As you can see from here, the way to success in CS2 goes through high FPS and personal skill. Also, if you don’t have low-performance or high-performance personal skills, you cannot achieve success in CS2.
If you want to climb the competitive ranking of CS2, we can say that you need more than FPS boost.
Frequently Asked Questions
The CS2 (Counter-Strike 2) game is approximately 33.6 GB and available on PC via Steam.
Yes, CS2 servers have their own hardware requirements. These depend on the number of players you want to host. The guide provides a table with recommendations for different player counts.
While the CPU isn’t a major factor, a high-quality graphics card is key for reaching high FPS. The guide recommends at least a RX 560 or GTX 1050 for 144 FPS at 1080p resolution.
No, professional players typically use very high-performance equipment exceeding the recommended specs. The guide showcases the setups of s1mple and ZywOo as examples.
