How To Play CS2 On Very Low End PC

If your computer isn’t strong enough to run Counter-Strike on at least 120 FPS, we’ll try to help by suggesting the best methods to increase your performance and run the game on a low-end setup.

The first thing you should look at when trying to play on a low-end computer is the game’s video settings. Video settings directly affect the performance of Counter-Strike, as high settings will result in lower FPS values.

The two categories of video settings to tweak are your resolution and graphics settings. Let’s quickly go over what you should change them to.

Changing in-game resolution

The in-game resolution determines how many pixels you see at a time when playing Counter-Strike. Logically, having less pixels on your screen will lead to a higher-performing game.

The ideal resolution to use for increased performance is a “stretched” model, requiring you to change the aspect ratio to 4:3. The resolution is entirely up to you, but most players use 1280×960.

To change your resolution in Counter-Strike, follow the steps provided.

1. Launch Counter-Strike and go to your Settings menu by clicking the gear icon on the main menu.
2. Next, go to your “Video Settings” and stay under the “Video” section.
3. There are two things to adjust: the Aspect Ratio and Resolution.
4. You can adjust your settings the way you see fit. After you’re done, hit “Apply Changes” to save your new settings.

Changing from the Native 16:9 aspect ratio and resolution to a stretched scaling mode will guarantee a boost in performance. Not only will you receive an injection of FPS, but it also gives you an in-game advantage. When playing on stretched, the bodies of players will appear wider to make up for the lost space. Since the bodies are wider, it makes it easier for you to land your shots on them!

There are three primary resolutions to select from when playing on 4:3 stretched mode.

• 1280×960: The most common resolution used by professional players. It will improve your game’s performance, but it is the highest resolution among the choices available.
• 1152×864: This is the middle-ground between the two other available resolutions. It is a balance between playability and performance.

1024×768: This resolution will give you the best possible performance from changing to a 4:3 aspect ratio. It is the lowest resolution, meaning there is less stuff on your screen.

If changing resolutions and aspect ratios are not your cup of tea, you can still use your in-game settings to improve performance. Graphics settings directly affect how detailed the game looks, so toning them down will result in more FPS.

To change your graphics settings, follow the steps below.

1. Launch Counter-Strike and go to your Settings menu by clicking the gear icon on the main menu.
2. Next, go to your “Video Settings” and go to “Advanced Video.”
3. Here, you can adjust your graphics settings. If you’re on a very inferior setup, we recommend changing everything to the lowest option available.

If you need a reference of which settings to change and what options to select, refer to these settings below.

• 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: Enabled

In these examples, we’ve set pretty much everything to its lowest settings. However, we could argue that the “Global Shadow Quality” could be set to High. In Counter-Strike 2, player shadows become very visible thanks to the lighting changes. Seeing an enemy player’s shadow can give you a massive information advantage.

Other than this, you don’t need the best aesthetics when playing Counter-Strike, so all video settings should be set to its minimum option.

Other than changing your video settings, you can also use Counter-Strike console commands that were specifically made to increase your game’s FPS performance.

Really quickly, we’ll tell you how to open the developer console in case this is new to you.

1. Launch Counter-Strike and go to your Settings menu by clicking the gear icon on the main menu.
2. Then, head over to your “Game” settings. 
3. The first setting you should see is “Enable Developer Console.” Change the option from “No” to “Yes” to activate it.

Once you have enabled the console, press the “~” button, which is next to “1” and below “Esc” to open it. Try pressing the button to see if it works properly.

After you have gotten the console sorted out, you can use these console commands to increase your FPS and run the game on a low-end setup.

fps_max 0: This command removes the FPS cap so your game can run on the maximum FPS value possible, giving you the best performance.

cl_autohelp false: Counter-Strike prompts new players with hints and directions while playing a game to lead them on the right track. These pop-up messages can be very annoying and cause lots of FPS problems. This command will ensure no messages like those show up.

cl_hide_avatar_images 1: Steam introduced animated profile pictures that can be purchased from the Steam Points Shop. These avatars come in the form of GIFs, which can take a toll on performance. This command hides all profile pictures in the game so there’s nothing to worry about.

cl_crosshair_friendly_warning 0: When your crosshair is aimed at a teammate, the game will display a warning telling you not to shoot. Everyone knows not to shoot at their mates, and this warning causes FPS issues. Use this command to turn it off.

cl_disable_ragdolls true: Ragdolls are used to make CS appear more realistic by making dead bodies make small movements. Stuff like this isn’t too useful, and disabling it can lead to slight performance increases.

fog_enable_water_fog 0: Counter-Strike 2 introduced a lot of visual changes such as water and fog particles on maps such as Ancient and Anubis. This command will disable additional visuals, resulting in better performance.

r_csgo_water_effects false: Similar to the previous command, this one will turn off moving water effects on Ancient and Anubis, ultimately giving you a boost in FPS. Even though these are sick visual touches, we have to sacrifice everything to get as many frames as we can.

r_drawparticles 0: Like almost every other game, Counter-Strike has particle effects to give the game more detail. These small particles do not have an impact on the game, and it’s better to disable them for improved FPS.

r_drawtracers 0: When players fire their weapons, there are visible tracers coming out of their weapons. Though these tracers can provide information in different situations, you can turn them off if you desperately need frames to play the game.

r_muzzleflashbrightness 0: Little muzzles of light come out of weapons when a player starts spraying, especially on rifles such as the AK-47 and M4A1-S. You can turn off these details using these commands, as it can boost FPS and reduce distractions.

At the end of the day, the thing running Counter-Strike for you is your computer. Other than changing the game’s internal settings, there are also a few things you can do to further boost your performance on a low-end setup.

On every Windows computer, you will have the option to change your device’s power plan. By default, Windows will set the plan to Balanced, which considers performance and battery life. However, if you’re on a computer or keep your laptop plugged in when gaming, we can sacrifice battery life for increased performance.

Here’s how you can change your computer’s power plan to boost your FPS in Counter-Strike.

1. Go to your computer’s Control Panel by searching it in the search bar.
2. In the Control Panel, select “Hardware and Sound.”
3. Next, click on “Power Options.”
4. Here, there is a list of all possible power plans your device supports. Select “High Performance” or “Ultimate Performance” if it is available.

After changing the power plan, you can exit the menu as your changes will be saved automatically. If you are on a laptop, expect your battery to be drained significantly faster. So, ensure you are plugged in every time you’re playing Counter-Strike.

The next thing you can do is to train Windows into setting Counter-Strike as a high-performance program, meaning your computer will pool in more resources to keep the game running as smoothly as possible.

Setting Counter-Strike to high priority can be done through your Windows settings. Follow the steps below.

1. For this method, we’ll have to go to the Windows Settings. You can open it immediately by holding Windows + I at the same time.
2. On the right-hand side, go to the “System” section.
3. Then, select the “Display” settings.
4. Next, scroll down until you see the “Related Settings” section and then go to “Graphics.”
5. Using the search bar, look for the Counter-Strike program. Click on the client and open “Options.”
6. Finally, select “High Performance” and ensure the graphics card listed below matches what you are using.
7. After completing the steps, hit “Save” and you should be good to go.

Doing this ensures your computer and GPU will focus more of its capabilities to give you a better performance when running Counter-Strike, which should give you a significant boost in performance.

The final solution is a common practice to fix performance issues, which is updating your graphics card drivers. You don’t need to be an expert in computers to understand that the graphics card is one of the most important components to run Counter-Strike. So, we must take good care of it and check if it is outdated.

Here is the easiest way to update your graphics card drivers in less than five minutes.

1. On Windows, open your Device Manager by searching it in the search bar.
2. Next, look for “Display Adapters” and expand the drop-down menu.
3. You should see the name of your graphics card listed. Right-click it and hit the “Update Driver” button.
4. Then, select “Search Automatically For Drivers” and give your computer some time to check.
5. If there are updates available, follow the on-screen instructions.

If you want to go the extra mile, you can also go to your manufacturer’s website and manually search for your graphics card model. They should have a list of updates for it, and you can download the most recent addition to play safe.