How To Cap FPS In CS:GO/CS2

Counter-Strike is a tactical first-person shooter game where all details matter. A single millisecond or frame can determine whether you kill your opponent or they kill you first. As a result, it is crucial to have the best FPS possible when playing Counter-Strike.

However, there have been arguments that capping your FPS will be beneficial to your gameplay, whether it’d be to prevent FPS drops or ensure your device’s battery will last a longer time. If you have made the decision to cap your FPS in CSGO, continue reading to find out how!

Why Should You Cap FPS In CSGO? 

Setting a “cap” to your FPS essentially means you are limiting your FPS to a certain amount. However, the more FPS, the better, right? Well, there are a few reasons why you would want to cap your FPS in CS:GO.

Reducing Frame Drops

The primary reason why players cap their FPS in CSGO is to reduce frame drops. If your FPS is set to unlimited, your computer might go from 200 to 300 down to 120, for example. This can cause tons of fluctuation between your FPS, and your game will not display consistent results. Having your frames dropping from time to time can be extremely frustrating. As a result, players prefer capping their FPS to a specific amount to ensure the game is smooth. 

Reducing Load On CPU and GPU

If you cap your FPS, you are pretty much preventing your CPU and GPU from overworking itself. Preventing overworking will likely reduce the heat produced from your computer as well as other things like fan noise. Additionally, it will likely prevent your computer from overclocking if that has happened before. Reducing the load will also help your hardware last longer, especially if you aren’t using the best GPU and CPU available in the market. 

Consistency During Chaotic Moments

In an average game of Counter-Strike, you might find yourself in an intense and hectic moment where HE grenades, molotovs, and smoke grenades are being hurled in your direction. These grenade effects can cause performance dips that will lower your FPS. However, setting an FPS cap will ensure that the game will not put too much load on your system, allowing it to be stable during these types of situations. 

If you think any of the reasons mentioned above will be helpful to you, you can always set a cap to your FPS count in CS:GO. However, make sure it is limited to a good amount that will allow you to play the game well. 

How To Cap FPS In CSGO?

Now, let’s get into how you can cap your FPS in CS:GO. There are two primary methods to do it, and both of them are equally straightforward. You only need to perform one of the two methods, as they do exactly the same thing. 

Cap FPS Using Launch Options

The first way to cap your FPS is to do it through your launch options. Launch options are essentially additional options you can set that will automatically activate every time you launch the game. As a result, you can use the FPS cap command in your launch options to ensure it works every time you turn on the game. 

Here’s how you can cap your FPS through your launch options:

1. Close Counter-Strike.
2. Open your Steam desktop client.
3. Go to your Steam Library, where all of your games are listed. 
4. Right-click Counter-Strike and go to the “Properties” section.
5. You should be taken directly to the “General” section. Look for “Launch Options.”
6. Under “Launch Options,” you should see a text box.
7. In the text box, type in “+fps_max 400”.
8. Once you are done, feel free to exit out of the menu.

In the example above, we have capped our FPS to 400. You are free to change the value to whatever number you desire, whether it’s 300, 144, 60, or anything else. 

Cap FPS Using Console Commands

If using launch options is too complicated for you, you can also use the developer console and type in the same command to cap your FPS. However, to perform this method, you must have your developer console enabled which can be done through your in-game settings page. 

If your console is enabled, you can try following the steps below:

1. Launch Counter-Strike.
2. Open your console by pressing the “~” key. 
3. Next, type in the command “fps_max 400”.
4. Once the command is there, hit your Enter key.
5. Finally, you can close the console by pressing the “~” key again. 

And that’s pretty much it. Again, you can change the value to anything you want – it doesn’t have to be 400. You can always change the value again by going through the same procedure. 

How To Uncap FPS In CSGO?

If you are regretting capping FPS in CS:GO, don’t worry, as you can always uncap it back to unlimited. Again, you can uncap your FPS using launch options or console commands – either will work fine. 

However, if you capped your FPS with launch options, uncap it with launch options too. If you capped your FPS using the console, uncap it with the console, too.

Uncap FPS Using Launch Options

When uncapping FPS through launch options, you are pretty much following the same procedure above, and are just going to change the value at the end. 

Here’s how you can uncap your FPS through the launch options:

1. Close Counter-Strike.
2. Open your Steam desktop client.
3. Go to your Steam Library, where all of your games are listed. 
4. Right-click Counter-Strike and go to the “Properties” section.
5. You should be taken directly to the “General” section. Look for “Launch Options.”
6. Under “Launch Options,” you should see a text box.
7. In the text box, type in “+fps_max 0”.
8. Once you are done, feel free to exit out of the menu.

Instead of using a numerical value at the end of the “+fps_max” option, you are going to use 0. Setting it to 0 will tell the game that you want an unlimited amount of FPS, meaning the previous cap will be completely removed. 

Uncap FPS Using Console Commands

Uncapping your FPS can also be done through the console using the same command.

Here’s a step-by-step guide of how you can uncap your FPS using console commands:

1. Launch Counter-Strike.
2. Open your console by pressing the “~” key. 
3. Next, type in the command “fps_max 0”.
4. Once the command is there, hit your Enter key.
5. Finally, you can close the console by pressing the “~” key again. 

Similar to launch options, you are essentially changing the value for the “fps_max” command to 0, which means unlimited FPS. If you have successfully used this command, the FPS cap you previously placed will be removed, and your FPS can go as high as it possibly can. 

Conclusion – CS2 Should I Cap FPS?

Generally, we recommend capping your FPS most of the time. You should look to cap your FPS a little bit higher than your monitor’s refresh rate. 

Even if you have a 360 Hz monitor, getting 500 FPS isn’t too beneficial as your monitor is trained to display FPS a little bit higher than 360. You will only disadvantage yourself if your computer starts showing signs of FPS drops.

Depending on your monitor’s refresh rate, we recommend capping your FPS to the following values: