Increase FPS in CS:GO

It’s a common struggle for every gamer to get the best possible gameplay experience they can, no matter what game they’re playing. The same goes for Counter-Strike Global Offensive, and one of the most important factors for a smooth gaming experience is how many frames per second (FPS) you can get.

This guide will show you how to view and monitor your FPS and show you how to increase them. Having a high-end gaming PC will get you better results, but there are still a few tricks you can implement to increase your FPS, no matter what type of PC you have. Keep reading to find out exactly how.

How to Display and Monitor FPS in CS:GO

There’s no point in trying to increase FPS if you don’t know their current status first. There are a few different ways you can display the frames per second in CSGO. Choose any of the following methods, depending on what you find to be easiest and fastest:

Using Console Commands

CSGO commands were designed and created to allow any user to modify personal game settings past the options that the settings tab offers. There are commands that affect almost every feature of the game, and there are plenty that can modify and improve CSGO FPS as well. 

However, you might notice the commands not working. In such a case, you will need to enable the Developer Console before proceeding. 

To enable the Developer Console in CSGO, follow these simple steps.

• Launch CS:GO
• Go to Settings and click on the Game Settings tab
• Scroll down and find “Enable Developer Console” and make sure it’s set to “Yes”
• Press on the “`” key on your keyboard to open the console and start trying in commands

Here are a few CSGO commands that will increase your FPS easily and quickly:

• cl_showfps – this command displays a very simple counter on the top left of your screen that counts FPS in real-time. It’s one of the simplest and quickest ways to see how many frames per second your game is running at.
• net_graph – if you want a more detailed display this command will also show your current ping, packet loss, tick rate, and more.

View CSGO FPS Through Steam Settings

The Steam platform itself provides a lot of versatility for every game that it supports. You can change and view countless other features aside from FPS. To set an FPS counter on your games, follow these steps exactly.

• Open Steam
• Click on Steam at the top left corner of the screen and click on Settings
• Click on In-Game from the navigation bar on the left
• Find and click on the drop-down menu where it says “In-game FPS counter” and choose where you want it to be located on your screen. Ticking the “High contrast color” box will make sure that the FPS counter is much more visible while you’re playing

How to Increase FPS in CS:GO

There are a couple of different ways to increase the FPS for a more enjoyable gaming experience in Counter-Strike Global Offensive. However, using a low-end PC will mean sacrificing a few features like resolution for smoother transitions. It’s not always too noticeable, as your increased FPS will make up for it all and give you better results than before. 

Here are a couple of different techniques you can try to increase frames per second in CSGO:

Tweaking the CSGO Graphics Settings

Every PC requires different graphics settings to function optimally. The settings and values are different for many but here is how you can set them to improve FPS and allow smoother transitions. 

Go to the game’s graphic settings set these values:

Global Shadow Quality: Very Low

This feature will determine how sharp and life-like the object’s shadows will appear in-game. Rendering high-quality shadows requires more processing power and sacrifices FPS for a higher-quality resolution. Setting this to very low will still allow you to see shadows, they will just be more muffled and not as sharp.

Model/Texture Detail: Low

Instead of the shadows, this filter applies to the texture of all objects in CSGO maps. Setting it on low will force textures to appear more blurry and less sharp, sacrificing this feature for more FPS. If you think it’s worth it, then set it on low.

Texture Streaming: Disabled

Texture Streaming allows for a better texture in the game and won’t really have a great effect on improving your FPS. Although minimal, setting it to “Disabled” will slightly improve the frames per second, or it will at least prevent FPS decrease.

Effect Detail: Low

This effect is similar to the texture one, the only difference is that it applies to other visual effects like dust, fire, and water. The higher you’ve set it the better these visual effects will look and the more FPS will be sacrificed. 

Shader Detail: Low

The Shader Detail effect is one most players don’t want to set on low. It’s an effect that tells the game which objects are shiny, which are smooth, rough, and similar. Setting it too low will dull things out significantly but you will at least gain a lot of FPS at the same time. 

Multicore Rendering: Disabled

As the name suggests, this option will force your CPU to prioritize more cores for CSGO. This will enable a smoother gameplay experience and slightly increase FPS, although it’s barely noticeable.

Multisampling Anti-Aliasing Mode: None

This effect focuses on the edges of objects in the game. It determines how sharp or dull they are. Sharper edges will require more graphics power and will decrease FPS, the opposite goes for duller edges. Set it to none to avoid wasting too much processing power and increase FPS in CSGO.

FXAA Anti-Aliasing: Disabled

FXAA Anti-Aliasing is a similar effect option as the Multisampling one. It’s best advised to have it set to disabled, as it can easily eat up your FPS and make your game laggy if you have a low-end PC. 

Texture Filtering Mode: Bilinear

One of the best options you can tweak for improving FPS in CSGO is Texture Filtering Mode. This option affects how you see each object’s texture in the game. However, changing it to bilinear won’t have any noticeable changes on the texture and yet it will have a decent impact on the increase of FPS in your game. 

Wait for Vertical Sync: Disabled

If you don’t have a high-end gaming PC, your best bet is to disable VSync. This feature affects the graphics card directly and allows the game’s frame rate to sync alongside the refresh rate of your current monitor. It can cause a lot of lag if your PC isn’t powerful enough to support it.

Increase CSGO FPS with Steam Launch Options

Steam Launch Options allow you to have even more control over the parameters for various features regarding CSGO and other games. You can disable or enable features that you wouldn’t be able to get to in any other way. Keep in mind to use the commands we talked about above for finding out your current FPS on your screen because you will need this information for the following steps.

So, here is how to use Steam Launch Options and various commands for improving CSGO frames per second:

• Launch Steam and go to Steam Library from the navigation panel at the top right corner of the screen
• Right-click on CSGO and go to “Properties” and go to “GENERAL” from the panel on the left
• Copy and paste the following commands in the box under “LAUNCH OPTIONS”
• “-high” – This launch option command will prioritize Counter-Strike Global Offensive in the CPU. It will force more cores to be devoted to the game, thus supplying more power to CSGO and making sure it doesn’t lag, crash, or glitch. As a result, it’s best to shut down any other apps that you’re currently using, as they may crash because of this.
• “-threads [NUMBER OF CPU CORES]” – This command is pretty similar to the one above. It also prioritizes all available cores for CSGO but isn’t as effective as that one. However, this launch option is better if you don’t want to quit another app that is running in the background at the same time. 
• “+cl_forcepreload 1” – This is one of the best commands to ensure that you increase FPS in CSGO. It will force the maps to load longer because it actually loads all necessary textures before the map opens instead of loading textures only when they’re needed. This will ensure you get a smoother and less laggy gameplay experience once the game begins. 

⚠ Note: Copy only what’s inside the quotation marks (“ ”), not the marks themselves too.

Tweak Nvidia Graphics Card Settings

Manually changing the graphics card settings is one of the best ways to increase FPS in CSGO. Here is how to tweak the graphics settings in the Nvidia control panel:

• Open the Nvidia Control Panel by right-clicking on Desktop and finding the Nvidia option
• From the Nvidia Control Panel, click on “Manage 3D Settings”
• Adjust the settings as follows:

Update All Graphics Drivers

This is probably the first fix you will want to try if you want to increase the FPS in CS GO. That’s because it’s the simplest option to try of all. All you have to do is open the Graphics Card options and make sure that all drivers are up to date. If they aren’t then simply choose to start the update. This can be done on all types of Graphics Cards, including AMD.

Disable Start-Up Programs and Background Apps

First of all, it’s always a good idea to disable any apps that are running in the background if you have a low-end PC. This will allow the CPU to work under less stress and provide more of its power for the game. You can do this by simply closing any app that you aren’t using while playing CSGO. 

Disabling Start-Up programs requires a different approach. You can do this by pressing on Win+R at the same time on your keyboard and then type in msconfig to open the System Configuration panel. From there, click on the Startup tab from the navigation panel at the top of the window. Then, simply uncheck any program that you don’t want to start when your PC starts. This will allow for faster startups and will prevent other apps from sucking up too much power from CSGO. 

Optimize Windows Performance Settings

Finally, our last tip is to head over to Windows Properties and tweak a few settings for better performance and a chance to further increase FPS in CS GO. Here is what you have to do:

Find the folder My Computer on your Desktop and open it. Inside the folder, right-click on the empty area and click on Properties. From the navigation bar on the left, click on Advanced system settings. From there, click on Advanced from the top panel and click on Settings. Then, uncheck all the boxes on the list and click on Adjust for best performance.

Summary

Counter Strike: Global Offensive is a very fast-paced FPS game that requires 60 or more frames per second, as FPS below this number will make the game not smooth. With the help of our guide, you can effectively increase your FPS in CS:GO by following a few simple tips. Remember that not everything can be fixed with settings or driver updates. If you’re running very old hardware, these tips might not work for you.

FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions