Significant FPS Drops in CS2 with Decent PC Specs - Any Fixes?

[br0ken]

Hey everyone,

I’m experiencing significant FPS drops while playing CS2, and I’m hoping someone might have insight or solutions. Here are my system specs:

• CPU: i5-12600KF
  
• GPU: Zotac RTX 3060 Twin Edge OC
  
• RAM: 16GB single-channel DDR4 (3200 MHz)
  
• SSD: Crucial P3+ 500 GB
  
• Temperatures: Max 50°C (so not a thermal issue)
  
• Drivers: Fully updated, and settings are all optimized for performance

On paper, these specs should give me solid performance in CS2, but I’m running into frequent FPS drops. My FPS maxes out at around 150, but it can drop as low as 40-60 FPS, which makes game-play feel really inconsistent.

Here’s what I’ve tried so far:

1. Lowered in-game graphics settings to prioritize performance.
   
2. Set the power plan to “High Performance” in Windows.
   
3. Updated all drivers and Windows to the latest versions.
   
4. Disabled background applications, NVIDIA Overlay, and Game Mode.
   
5. Monitored temperatures to confirm there’s no thermal throttling.

I’m considering (not soon though) adding another 16GB RAM stick to enable dual-channel memory, as I’ve heard single-channel can bottleneck performance. Would this help stabilize FPS, or could there be another underlying issue I’m overlooking?

If anyone has experienced similar FPS drops in CS2 with similar hardware or has any advice, I’d really appreciate the help. Thanks in advance!

[Timbazi]

if it's recent thing, try disabling game recording from steam settings

[P3AK1NG4]

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[br0ken]

Originally posted by Timbazi:

if it's recent thing, try disabling game recording from steam settings

No, it isn't recent it's been over a month.

[♛⁧Schultheiß]

Slow single channel memory is probably the reason.
Also no info about your ssd.

[Timbazi]

Originally posted by br0ken:

Originally posted by Timbazi:

if it's recent thing, try disabling game recording from steam settings

No, it isn't recent it's been over a month.

hmm... your fps drops are super weird. Try disabling it anyways. And try without clocks as well. My settings are from top to bottom: disabled, disabled, disabled, disabled, double screen refresh rate, match screen refresh rate. custom, 8x msaa, medium, all, high, anis 4x, high, low, disabled, performance, disabled highest quality. In casual with several smokes I see only 10-20 fps drop and it wont have that much of an impact in gameplay for me. I have way older setup as well(i54460,1070,16gb1600mhz).

[br0ken]

Originally posted by Schultheiß:

Slow single channel memory is probably the reason.
Also no info about your ssd.

SSD : Crucial p3+ 500 GB

[br0ken]

Originally posted by Timbazi:

Originally posted by br0ken:

No, it isn't recent it's been over a month.

hmm... your fps drops are super weird. Try disabling it anyways. And try without clocks as well. My settings are from top to bottom: disabled, disabled, disabled, disabled, double screen refresh rate, match screen refresh rate. custom, 8x msaa, medium, all, high, anis 4x, high, low, disabled, performance, disabled highest quality. In casual with several smokes I see only 10-20 fps drop and it wont have that much of an impact in gameplay for me. I have way older setup as well(i54460,1070,16gb1600mhz).

Thanks bro, it minimized my frame drops with peak fps of 160. Still I'm expecting more fps😜 (am i being greedy...)

[Timbazi]

Originally posted by br0ken:

Originally posted by Timbazi:

hmm... your fps drops are super weird. Try disabling it anyways. And try without clocks as well. My settings are from top to bottom: disabled, disabled, disabled, disabled, double screen refresh rate, match screen refresh rate. custom, 8x msaa, medium, all, high, anis 4x, high, low, disabled, performance, disabled highest quality. In casual with several smokes I see only 10-20 fps drop and it wont have that much of an impact in gameplay for me. I have way older setup as well(i54460,1070,16gb1600mhz).

Thanks bro, it minimized my frame drops with peak fps of 160. Still I'm expecting more fps😜 (am i being greedy...)

if you have 80hz monitor and you double it for max fps it's 160 at most. you can increase it if you want ofc, but the drops will be higher as well and will be more visible. what was the lowest fps you had with the settings?

[KNightstyleZ]

Originally posted by Schultheiß:

Slow single channel memory is probably the reason.
Also no info about your ssd.

It's not his hardware dude...
Game has terrible optimization to the point where you only get half the FPS at the same settings or have to drop resolution to 60ish% of what you could play CS:GO at

[♤K•r•leВa°]

bv,f

[chu²]

Reinstalling windows fixed it for me.

[swrv]

16 gb of ram is very low for a good gaming experience

[br0ken]

Originally posted by Timbazi:

Originally posted by br0ken:

Thanks bro, it minimized my frame drops with peak fps of 160. Still I'm expecting more fps😜 (am i being greedy...)

if you have 80hz monitor and you double it for max fps it's 160 at most. you can increase it if you want ofc, but the drops will be higher as well and will be more visible. what was the lowest fps you had with the settings?

with your settings, the minimum i got was 120. i got stable fps of 140. the monitori use is 180hz

[br0ken]

Originally posted by b.u.r.t.:

16 gb of ram is very low for a good gaming experience

naah bro i only have problem with this game others are perfectly fine.
PUBG PC - 200+ fps on high settings
wukong - 120+ fps

[br0ken]

Originally posted by ࣪ ִֶָreturns ☾.:

Reinstalling windows fixed it for me.

unfortunately i can't do that 😢