If you want to get the best CS:GO settings, take a read through the information we have provided in this article. We’ll be offering tips to increase your performance by tweaking your settings in-game and on your desktop.
Whereas, if you are looking for game tips read our CSGO How To Surf tutorial and discover also how to change crosshair, rank up and bhop in CSGO.
Before we take a look at the best CS:GO settings, let’s take a look at why it even matters in the first place.
Why Does Higher Frame Rate Matter So Much In CS:GO?
In most games, 60 frames or more can feel silky smooth. If you have a 144hz monitor, then you may also notice that a frame rate up to 144fps feels even smoother. In most cases, though, you can get by with far less.
In CS:GO, this seems to be the opposite. You seem to get the best performance when your frame rate is in the multiple hundreds. This is because the source engine, which CS:GO uses, ties input lag with its frame rate. The faster the frame rate, the quicker the game will recognise your input. This is very important for a game like CS:GO where every movement is crucial for improving your aim.
For this reason, the best CS:GO settings are often the options that give you the highest frame rate, regardless of how the game looks.
Top In-Game Settings for CS:GO
Firstly, the resolution you use should depend on what you are used to. You’ll find in many CS:GO pro players setups online that their resolution is very small. However, they use this because it’s what they are the most used to. Many long time pros used to play on smaller resolutions back when display resolution and graphics cards weren’t as impressive as they are today.
These days, we are seeing far more emerging pros using the standard 1920×1080, so if you are using that now, you can stick to it and not worry about losing any potential performance advantages.
The key here is to stick with what you use because changing resolution will mess with your aim. One exception is if you have an older graphics card, you can lower the resolution to improve your performance.
Next, you should use the settings below to get the best possible performance regardless of what PC hardware you have.
Notable settings:
- Global Shadow Quality: You want this high so that you can see player shadows behind walls easier.
- Anti-aliasing: Choose your own preference, but higher will give you smoother edges. Typically, this makes it easier to see players at longer distances
- V-sync: You do not want V-sync on in CS:GO because it adds input lag
- Motion blur: Motion blur should be off. This feature adds unnecessary blurring that makes it harder to focus on important on-screen cues like player movement and flashes
Everything else is on the lowest setting to get the best framerate. These are the settings that I personally use despite having a GTX 1080 and i7-7700K.
Launch Options
You shouldn’t add too many launch options because it’ll be unlikely to improve performance. Definitely do not use launch options that change your graphics quality. Only use the in-game settings shown above.
You can, however, use these settings for a potential performance increase:
-novid -tickrate 128
-novid removes the splash screen, -tickrate 128 ensure you use 128 ticks per second. This only applies when playing on supported servers. ESEA and FACEIT use 128 tick servers, for example.
Best Windows 10 Settings for CS:GO
Next we’ll offer some tips for increasing your performance by tweaking a number of Windows 10 settings.
The first option is to ensure you are using the refresh rate your monitor supports. You can follow the steps below to ensure this is the case.
- Search display in the start menu
- click on ‘change display settings’
- click ‘advanced display settings’
- Then click ‘display adaptor properties’
- Finally, click ‘monitor’ and select the right refresh rate
- Choose the highest possible option available here.
Everything else should be left as is. There are many guides out there that suggest many tweaks and settings. In my experience, changing things around and adding too many variables can often add more complications.
If you are still having performance issues, here are some common fixes to potential problems:
Hitches and freezes in-game? Alt-tab and check performance in task manager
If you see a spike in CPU, you may need a new CPU. This is especially true if you have an older AMD Bulldozer CPU.
If you see a spike in disk usage, you can solve this problem by using an SSD and installing the game to the SSD.
Frame rate low despite good graphics card
Make sure you are actually using your graphics card. Ensure your monitor cable is plugged into your GPU directly and not into your motherboard’s on-board graphics. Also, ensure your graphics card drivers are up to date.
Conclusion
That brings us to our conclusion. Please keep in mind that these tips will help improve performance, but ultimately your performance potential will always be limited by your PC hardware.
Now, all you have to do is relax and play. Do you want to learn the best techniques from the top Counter Strike players of all time? Read our shortlist of the best CSGO teams and top players, or read our guide for CSGO Betting PayPal.
