Budget 71-90K PC config for playing CS2

Jee

Jee

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Hi, I am helping a hopelessly CS addicted friend of mine build his first PC within 80k. As you would expect, the use case is pretty much exclusively counter strike and maybe some media consumption. Below is sort of a quick draft I helped him prepare but the biggest struggle at the moment is finding a good GPU for 1440p gaming and hopefully stick with a decent AM5 CPU to be future proof and completely avoid intel's shenanigans recently.

PCPartPicker Link
Couldn't get the markdown at the moment, will update soon.

Could probably take away the cooler and stick with stock and might have to downgrade to am4 in worst case scenario if I cant find a better GPU. Please leave any suggestions you have. I play on Linux so cant say if it translates but my 6700xt is the main bottleneck in my rig so I would assume the same for windows.
 
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1)Why 1x16 GB RAM instead of 2x8?

2) Also CS2 doesn't need that powerful a gfx card.

Cut down on the GPU, add more ram.

3) Don't need Wifi Mobo for CS2. Wifi = higher ping. Use LAN

4) CS2 needs only two things. High refresh rate, and good ping. What are the monitor specs?
 
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AMG said:
1)Why 1x16 GB RAM instead of 2x8?

2) Also CS2 doesn't need that powerful a gfx card.

Cut down on the GPU, add more ram.

3) Don't need Wifi Mobo for CS2. Wifi = higher ping. Use LAN

4) CS2 needs only two things. High refresh rate, and good ping. What are the monitor specs?
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1) It was very difficult to find good cheap 2x8 ddr5 kit. And as already stated, it was a draft made urgently and will be changing until purchase date based on availability and price.

2) It certainly doesnt hurt to push it to the limit as it is a competitive game at the end of the day. And even if it wasnt his intention, I am trying to break his cs addiction and get him to try new things.

3) Wifi is mandatory requirement for him and I would imagine bluetooth would also rely on it. I am well aware on the latency added and what that means.

4) He just bought a 1440p 170hz monitor.
 
awestorr said:
Get 1x16gb for now.
And another when budget allows.
You may end up losing 3_5% performance in cs but its much easier to upgrade in future.
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I don't think he would ever need more than 32 gigs but the main reason was we couldn't find any 2x8 ddr5 on listing with good timings and price for cheap. Have to dig around more but if you know any, please provide a link.
 
Long term CS player here. CS2 loves fast processor, by fast I mean single thread performance. High refresh rate monitor is a must and it has to be g-sync/freesync compatible. The recommended settings for online play is vsync on + gysnc enabled + reflex enabled.

1080p is more than enough in CS2, no need to go beyond that.
 
Mohan997 said:
Change mobo to Asrock pg lightning wifi and upgrade processor to r5 7600.
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I assume you are referring to the 7600x and not 7600, it does seem to be a good upgrade with much better base clock and the extra 4k might be worth it. But for motherboard do you mean the B650 or B650M? The later seems to be much worse but I did find ASRock B650M HDV/M.2 pretty decent for 13k and another 1 or 2k for the wifi card. Referred to video by Hardware Unboxed.

Heisen said:
Long term CS player here. CS2 loves fast processor, by fast I mean single thread performance. High refresh rate monitor is a must and it has to be g-sync/freesync compatible. The recommended settings for online play is vsync on + gysnc enabled + reflex enabled.

1080p is more than enough in CS2, no need to go beyond that.
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I heard about that as well but not sure what CPU GPU combo to go for in this price range, could you suggest any models?

He bought something he found on a recent sale but it does have freesync and seems to be pretty decent for just 15+k. Looks like its actually 144 Hz and has awful or nonexistent ergonomics but that will do I suppose. Also this might be a personal opinion but my last monitor was a cheap 1080p 24 inch and the pixel density was way too low. So going 1080p on a 27 inch doesn't look like a good idea, maybe works for CS but for general usage I don't find it good enough.

I also down for getting some good condition used GPU so do suggest a few models and I will check if I can find something within 25k.
 
Jee said:
I heard about that as well but not sure what CPU GPU combo to go for in this price range, could you suggest any models?
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I am an intel guy, but due to the 13th/14th gen on going problems, I suggest you to look at i5-12600k / i7-12700k (you can the buy the F series of these processors if you like) and pair it with either z690/z790 motherboard. 8GB/16GB DDR4 or DDR5 is your choice, for GPU I recommend get a 40 series card, because in this generation nvidia showed more interest regarding the system / input latency optimizations. RTX 4060 8GB is a good starting point, I know the 8GB vram is not recommended by todays standard, but we are solely talking about CS2 here which doesn't need high VRAM.

Under 80k you should be able to get this
  • i5 12600k
  • Any coolermaster hyper 212 cpu cooler
  • Z690 DDR4 motherboard
  • 8GB 3000Mhz DDR4 ram
  • RTX 4060 8GB
  • Corsair cx650 power supply

Also CS2 loves overclocking specially the CPU and it reduces the overall system latency, you just need to get all your cores on a stable single frequency, none of that single core high boost rubbish.
 
Jee said:
But for motherboard do you mean the B650 or B650M? The later seems to be much worse but I did find ASRock B650M HDV/M.2 pretty decent for 13k and another 1 or 2k for the wifi card. Referred to video by Hardware Unboxed.
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Yeah, my bad. Msi B650M-A is better here.

Although it's better to go for an Intel build here if you want to get it under 80k. And also, I'd rather spend another 15k and get 7700 xt instead.
 
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