Skip to main content
CompareYourGPU
Valve2023Source 2Competitive FPSEsports

Counter-Strike 2: GPU requirements and performance

The reference point for competitive frame rates. Counter-Strike 2 is far lighter than any AAA title here, which means the CPU and the monitor, not the graphics card, are usually what decide the frame rate you actually see.

What actually limits performance here

The part that generic system requirements never tell you.

  • At 1080p on a competitive preset, most current graphics cards are limited by the processor rather than the GPU.
  • If your target is a 240 Hz or 360 Hz display, CPU choice and memory latency matter at least as much as the graphics card.
  • There is no ray tracing and no vendor upscaling, so results here reflect pure rasterisation.
  • VRAM is a non-issue: 8 GB is comfortably enough at any resolution this game is played at.

Published system requirements

The publisher's own figures. They describe a baseline, not the hardware needed for high settings at a high frame rate.

Publisher-stated system requirements for Counter-Strike 2
TierGraphics cardProcessorMemoryTarget
MinimumVideo card must be 1 GB or more and DirectX 11 compatible with Shader Model 5.04 hardware CPU threads, Intel Core i5 750 or higher8 GBNot stated

Technologies supported

Which vendor features this title implements, which decides how much your graphics card's feature set is worth here.

Ray tracing

Not supported

No ray tracing mode, so results reflect rasterisation only.

DLSS

Not supported

Not implemented. NVIDIA owners gain nothing from DLSS support here.

FSR

Not supported

Not implemented.

XeSS

Not supported

Not implemented.

Frame generation

Not supported

Not implemented, so a card's frame generation support is irrelevant here.

Reserved advertising space. No advertising network is connected yet, so nothing is served here.

Estimated

Which graphics card do you need for Counter-Strike 2?

The least expensive in-production cards whose estimated frame rate in this title is centred at or above 60 FPS, at High settings with no upscaling. The range shown for each card is the model's uncertainty band, so the lower bound can fall under 60.

CompareYourGPU estimate

Modelled from the estimated performance index and this title’s demand classification. Not a measured benchmark. How the model works.

1080p

Around 60 FPS, High settings, no upscaling

  • Arc B570

    $219 MSRP · estimated 160-230 FPS

  • Arc B580

    $249 MSRP · estimated 190-275 FPS

  • RTX 5050

    $249 MSRP · estimated 165-240 FPS

1440p

Around 60 FPS, High settings, no upscaling

  • Arc B570

    $219 MSRP · estimated 105-150 FPS

  • Arc B580

    $249 MSRP · estimated 125-180 FPS

  • RTX 5050

    $249 MSRP · estimated 105-150 FPS

4K

Around 60 FPS, High settings, no upscaling

Measured

Verified benchmark data

Frame-rate figures transcribed from named third-party measurements.

No verified benchmark data for this game yet

CompareYourGPU only publishes frame-rate figures it can attribute to a named, linkable measurement. None have been transcribed for Counter-Strike 2 yet, so nothing is shown here rather than numbers that would look authoritative without being verifiable.

Counter-Strike 2: common questions

Does Counter-Strike 2 support ray tracing?
No. Counter-Strike 2 has no ray tracing mode, so comparisons in this title reflect rasterisation performance alone.
Does Counter-Strike 2 support DLSS, FSR or XeSS?
No. Counter-Strike 2 does not implement DLSS, FSR or XeSS, so upscaling is not available as a way to gain performance in this title.
How demanding is Counter-Strike 2?
CompareYourGPU classifies it as light on rasterisation. At 1080p on a competitive preset, most current graphics cards are limited by the processor rather than the GPU.

Sources

Last reviewed . Demand classifications are CompareYourGPU’s editorial judgement, not measurements.

Other games

Find a GPU sized for the games you actually play