CS2 system requirements: minimum and recommended

Leonardo Biazzi Published December 3, 2025

Counter-Strike 2 is one of the most popular PC shooters in the world. But, to properly play CS2 and enjoy the experience, your PC must meet the minimum requirements, or preferably, the recommended specs.

While CS:GO ran capably on most PCs, the same can’t be said about CS2, as some maps like Ancient and Train are very demanding — especially during intense gunfights or a wall of smokes plus a couple of incendiaries. And, as CS2 is a competitive game, the difference between 100 FPS and 300, can be what makes you kill your opponent.

Find out below what the official minimum system requirements are to run CS2, and what specs we recommend for smooth play.

CS2 minimum system requirements

These are the minimum system requirements, according to CS2’s official Steam page:

• OS: Windows 10 or Windows 11. Alternatively, you can run CS2 on Linux, but not on Mac OS.
• Processor: A minimum of 4 hardware CPU threads – Intel® Core™ i5 750 or higher
• Memory: 8GB RAM
• Graphics: Video card must be 1 GB or more and should be a DirectX 11-compatible with support for Shader Model 5.0
• DirectX: Version 11
• Storage: 85GB available space

Please note that you’ll have to set your graphics to low, and you’ll probably face some frame drops when there are big gunfights and a lot of smoke grenades being thrown. Additionally, CS2 is always shipping updates, and depending on how many custom maps you download, you’ll need at least 100GB of storage.

• See also: All CS2 team roles explained

CS2 recommended system requirements

While Valve doesn’t list the recommended specs to run CS2 efficiently, there are a couple of factors to consider.

CS2 is very GPU demanding, so we recommend at least a modern graphics card with 8GB, preferably 12GB or higher. Also, if you want to take CS2 somewhat seriously, you’ll want to play on a monitor with a higher refresh rate. Many pros are already using 360Hz monitors, but my 144Hz monitor still does the job just fine.

Personally, here’s what I think is an ideal setup to run CS2 smoothly. Unless you’re planning on streaming or practicing to go pro, this will cover your needs:

• OS: Windows 10 or Windows 11
• Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 7600 or Intel Core i5-14400F
• Memory: Minimum 16GB RAM, preferably DDR5.
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 or AMD RX 7700
• Storage: 100GB available space

And, of course, these specs will be enough for you to play all new game releases, including AAA titles.

• Want to play like a pro? Try out donk’s CS2 pro settings