Valve’s Counter Strike 2 (CS2) has had many users experiencing intermittent frame rate drops and random performance degradation over time. There may be multiple causes for the same, which thankfully require very simple fixes.
A set of such recommended fixes to reduce lag and boost overall performance in the game can be found detailed below, ranging from in-game tweaks to system-wide tweaks.
How to boost performance and reduce lag in CS2
Set CS2 to high priority
- Boot up Counter Strike 2, and minimize and/or Alt-Tab from the game into the desktop.
- Fire up the Task Manager.
- Within the ‘Details’ tab, search for the CS2.exe executable, and right click on the process to bring up a drop-down menu.
- Click on Set Priority > High.
- Return back to the game, which should hopefully have more system resources allocated to it.
Set Matchmaking Ping to 150
- Boot into CS2 and click on the Settings icon (present on the left hand side of the screen/UI).
- Head to the Game section and lower the ‘Max Acceptable Matchmaking Ping’ to 150.
- Set the ‘Max Acceptable Game Traffic Bandwidth’ to ‘Unrestricted’ as well.
- Head back to matchmaking.
Lowering maximum ping can help greatly in reducing lag and stutter in CS2. Additionally, make sure to check your internet connection and ensure that there are no background downloads active before you start playing the game.
Reduce overall graphics settings
Given that Counter Strike 2 is a competitive online shooter, it is crucial to ensure you have high FPS at all times. As such, it is recommended to drop all graphical settings to Low – you don’t really need all that visual fidelity during intense battles anyway.
Make sure to keep your in-game resolution the same as your display’s native resolution though, to ensure a clean HUD. Upscalers such as FSR can be used to boost performance instead of lowering resolution manually.
Do not use frame generation or Reflex, as these can add additional latency which could be fatal for gameplay.
Close background apps to free up system resources
For systems with limited PC resources, it is recommended to manually close background processes. Applications such as OBS, Discord and Epic Games can chew through both CPU and RAM, which could otherwise be allocated to the game.
Make sure you are not playing on integrated graphics
This is applicable for those using a dual-GPU setup (such as gaming laptops with a dedicated GPU). Make sure that CS2 is running on the dedicated GPU, and not on the iGPU – as iGPUs perform considerably worse.
Use your requisite laptop control center to adjust settings and enable the dGPU for use. Additionally, make sure you are plugged in and not on battery power.
