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Counter-Strike 2 brought many important changes to the classic online shooter, essentially turning it into a new game. The most important one of all was the move to Valve’s new game engine, Source 2.
Counter-Strike 2 is a free upgrade that replaced the old Counter-Strike: Global Offensive on September 27, 2023, bringing updated maps and new physics to one of the most classic online FPS games, along with new models and improved textures.
The new graphics mean that Counter-Strike 2 needs more powerful hardware than the old CS:GO did. Don’t know if your gaming PC can handle it? Here are the official system requirements for CS2.
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What Are The Counter-Strike 2 System Requirements?
Smooth game performance is extremely important for first-person shooters, even more so when it’s a highly competitive game like the Counter-Strike franchise. Valve only publishes minimum requirements for Counter-Strike 2; there is no official “recommended” spec on the Steam store. Here is what you need on Windows:
- Operating system: Windows 10.
- Processor: 4 hardware CPU threads, Intel Core i5 750 or higher.
- Memory: 8 GB RAM.
- Graphics: a video card with 1 GB of memory or more, DirectX 11-compatible with support for Shader Model 5.0.
- DirectX: Version 11.
- Storage: 85 GB of available space.
Keep in mind that these are minimum requirements: a PC that only just meets them will launch the game, but don’t expect the high, stable frame rates you want in competitive matches or the full experience of CS2’s improved graphics. CS2 also runs natively on Linux, while there is no macOS version of the game. The minimum system requirements for Linux are:
- Operating system: Ubuntu 20.04.
- Processor: 4 hardware CPU threads, Intel Core i5 750 or higher.
- Memory: 8 GB RAM.
- Graphics: AMD GCN+ or NVIDIA Kepler+ with up-to-date Vulkan drivers.
- Storage: 85 GB of available space (Steam also lists a sound card as highly recommended).
CS2 asks for a lot more than CS:GO did: CS:GO’s minimum was 2 GB of RAM and 15 GB of storage, while CS2 needs 8 GB of RAM and 85 GB. So even if your computer ran Counter-Strike: Global Offensive without stutters or FPS drops, check the requirements above before assuming Counter-Strike 2 will run just as smoothly.
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Can I Stay in CS:GO If My Computer Can’t Run CS2?
Sadly, no. CS2 replaced CS:GO on September 27, 2023, so if your computer doesn’t meet the requirements, you can’t stay in CS:GO and keep playing official matchmaking with the old requirements. Valve did offer a legacy CS:GO build for players who couldn’t launch CS2, but it had no official matchmaking, and support for it ended on January 1, 2024. If you had CS:GO Prime, it carried over to CS2, so you don’t lose it when you upgrade your PC later.
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In Conclusion
Counter-Strike 2 introduced many changes to the game, and you need a more powerful PC than CS:GO required to take full advantage of them. If you want to learn what are the best settings for CS2, what console commands can improve your performance and how to increase your FPS, be sure to check out the rest of our blog!
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