Competitive performance
CS2 high-FPS settings
A graphics-first setup for competitive play: reduce rendering load, preserve useful visibility and generate a performance video configuration.
Download your performance video configuration
Select your existing cs2_video.txt. It is processed only in your browser and is not uploaded. The new file lowers supported graphics-quality values while preserving your monitor and hardware identifiers. Display mode, refresh rate and resolution stay unchanged unless you choose replacements below.
Find it under Steam/userdata/[your Steam account]/730/local/cfg/cs2_video.txt. Steam library location and account ID vary.
Changes: anti-aliasing, shader detail, texture filtering, global shadows, texture detail, particles, ambient occlusion, HDR and FSR, where their known keys are present. Dynamic shadows and player contrast stay unchanged: check those manually using the table below.
Close CS2, back up the original, then replace it with the generated file. Steam Cloud or a later game update may restore or migrate values; check the Video menu after restarting. Restore your backup to undo the changes. Do not mark the file read-only.
Competitive video settings
Apply these in CS2 → Settings → Video / Advanced Video. The video-file tool below applies the supported graphics settings. Lower graphics settings reduce rendering work; the FPS gain depends on whether your GPU is the bottleneck.
| Setting | Starting point |
|---|---|
| Display mode | Fullscreen for a standalone performance comparison. Use windowed/fullscreen windowed when an overlay requires it. |
| Refresh rate | Highest supported refresh rate; windowed modes use the Windows display setting. |
| Resolution | Reduce resolution when GPU-limited; compare target clarity before keeping it. A lower resolution does not fix CPU bottlenecks. |
| Multisampling anti-aliasing | None for lowest GPU work. |
| Global shadow quality | Low. |
| Dynamic shadows | All for competitive visibility. Sun-only removes useful shadow information, so lowest graphics cost is not always the best competitive choice. |
| Model / texture detail | Low. |
| Texture filtering | Bilinear as a low-cost starting point. |
| Shader detail | Low. |
| Particle detail | Low. |
| Ambient occlusion | Disabled. |
| High dynamic range | Performance. |
| FidelityFX Super Resolution | Disabled initially to preserve target clarity. Consider upscaling only when GPU-limited and accept the image-quality trade-off. |
| Boost player contrast | Enabled for target visibility; this is a competitive preference, not an FPS boost. |
Deprecated and legacy launch options
The following old-guide options had no matching handler in the inspected launch pipeline. They are omitted from the generated files. This is build-specific evidence, not proof that every future version will ignore them.
-novid- Neither a literal nor its calculated option hash had a handler in the inspected launch pipeline. Excluded; no in-match FPS claim.
-tickrate- No matching handler found in the inspected build. It does not tune an official matchmaking server from your autoexec.
-d3d9ex- No matching handler found; the inspected Windows renderer selection supports DX11 and Vulkan.
-heapsize- No matching handler found in the inspected pipeline. Do not prescribe legacy memory sizes.
-freq- No matching handler found in the inspected pipeline. Select refresh rate in game/display settings.
-refresh- No matching handler found in the inspected pipeline. Select refresh rate in game/display settings.
-noforcemaccel- No matching handler found in the inspected pipeline. Not included.
Deprecated and cheat-protected console commands
These commands were absent from the inspected Windows build or restricted by sv_cheats. Cheat-protected commands cannot be used as ordinary matchmaking optimizations; they are not universally nonexistent. Recheck after game updates.
Static inspection: Steam build 26334290 · 31 October 2026 UTC.
r_drawparticlessv_cheats restricted- The registration carries CHEAT. It is not an ordinary matchmaking optimization.
cl_disable_ragdollssv_cheats restricted- The registration carries CHEAT. Omitted from generated configs.
r_csgo_render_decalssv_cheats restricted- The registration carries CHEAT. Omitted from generated configs.
r_csgo_water_effectssv_cheats restricted- The registration carries CHEAT. Omitted from generated configs.
r_csgo_render_post_bloomsv_cheats restricted- The registration carries CHEAT. Omitted from generated configs.
cl_forcepreloadNo registration found- No stock registration found in the inspected Windows runtime modules for this build. Do not copy it from an old CS:GO guide.
mat_queue_modeNo registration found- No stock registration found in the inspected Windows runtime modules for this build. Do not copy it from an old CS:GO guide.
r_dynamicNo registration found- No stock registration found in the inspected Windows runtime modules for this build. Do not copy it from an old CS:GO guide.
mat_disable_bloomNo registration found- No stock registration found in the inspected Windows runtime modules for this build. Do not copy it from an old CS:GO guide.
mat_disable_fancy_blendingNo registration found- No stock registration found in the inspected Windows runtime modules for this build. Do not copy it from an old CS:GO guide.
mat_postprocess_enableNo registration found- No stock registration found in the inspected Windows runtime modules for this build. Do not copy it from an old CS:GO guide.
cl_updaterateNo registration found- No stock registration found in the inspected Windows runtime modules for this build. Do not copy it from an old CS:GO guide.
cl_cmdrateNo registration found- No stock registration found in the inspected Windows runtime modules for this build. Do not copy it from an old CS:GO guide.
cl_disablehtmlmotdNo registration found- No stock registration found in the inspected Windows runtime modules for this build. Do not copy it from an old CS:GO guide.