Counter-Strike 2 with NVIDIA Reflex and GeForce RTX 40 Series GPUs - The Lowest System Latency & Highest FPS (2024)

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s popularity has continued to increase since its release way back in 2012, and today, it remains the most played game on Steam each week, boasting over one million concurrent players.

Now, Valve has launched Counter-Strike 2, a graphical and technological update that upgrades Counter-Strike: Global Offensive to the Source 2 engine, leveraging newer graphics APIs for improved fidelity and responsiveness. NVIDIA has worked with Valve to make sure system latency, which is critical to winning, is at an absolute minimum with the addition of NVIDIA Reflex.

In competitive shooters such as Counter-Strike 2, higher FPS and lower system latency allows you to acquire targets faster, react more quickly, and increase aim precision. On a GeForce RTX 40 Series PC or laptop, your skill won’t be constrained by system latency, or frame rates.

Counter-Strike 2’s technical enhancements result in a more GPU-intensive experience than CS:GO, which demands the capabilities of modern GPUs to experience previous performance benchmarks (144, 240, 360 and 500 FPS).

The GeForce RTX 4080 and RTX 4090 offer the ultimate 1440p Counter-Strike 2 experience, with the GeForce RTX 4090 delivering over 400 FPS at 1440p. In comparison, the GeForce RTX 4090 is over 4.5X faster than the GTX 1080, and over 2.9X faster than the RTX 2080 in the most demanding maps.

There are two main types of latency:

• Network Latency: The time it takes your system to communicate with the game’s servers and services when playing online. As this cannot be controlled by the PC, and is based on the characteristics of your internet connection and your distance from the game’s servers, network latency is not measured in the system latency stat.
• System Latency: The entire end-to-end response time within your gaming system. It starts with peripheral latency, the delay from your input device; progresses through Game and Render Latency, which covers CPU processing and GPU rendering known as PC Latency; and ends with Display latency, the time taken for the rendered frame to appear on your screen.

Latency impacts gameplay in several ways. For instance, you might click your mouse when your crosshair is over an opponent, but the shot might still miss due to cumulative latency. It causes a delay between what's happening in the game state and what players perceive on screen. "Peeker’s advantage" is also influenced by system latency—when two players are the same distance from an angle with the same network ping, the player with lower system latency will spot an opponent before their opponent sees them. Furthermore, high system latency can make aiming inconsistent and less predictable, especially in games that demand quick and precise movements. In short, the higher the system latency, the more the player’s view lags behind the game’s reality.

NVIDIA Reflex reduces latency by optimizing the rendering pipeline across the CPU and GPU, removing stalls by synchronizing each step of the pipeline. Reflex is most effective when the system is GPU-bound—or when the GPU is under high utilization—as it prevents the CPU from racing ahead of the GPU, which can cause a buildup in the render queue, increasing latency.

To enable NVIDIA Reflex in Counter-Strike 2, follow these simple steps:

1. Open the game
2. Go to ‘Settings’
3. Navigate to ‘Video’
4. Navigate to ‘Advanced Video’
5. Set ‘NVIDIA Reflex Low Latency’ to “Enabled”

There are three ways to measure PC latency in Counter-Strike 2: GeForce Experience’s Performance Overlay, the Reflex Analyzer, and FrameView. With GeForce Experience, enable the In-Game Overlay and hit ALT + R to view your PC Latency in game.

If you would like to use FrameView, here is how to get started:

1. Download and install FrameView

2. Launch FrameView (for more details, refer to the user guide)

3. Start Counter-Strike 2

4. An overlay from FrameView will be visible when the FrameView app is running.

5. The FrameView overlay will appear—note the baseline PCL with Reflex OFF

6. Enable Reflex in-game to observe the reduction in latency

GeForce Game Ready Drivers deliver the best experience for your favorite games. They’re finely tuned in collaboration with developers, and extensively tested across thousands of hardware configurations for maximum performance and reliability. Game Ready Drivers also allow you to optimize game settings in GeForce Experience with a single click, and empower you with the latest NVIDIA technologies. That’s what we call Game Ready.

The latest GeForce Game Ready Driver is now available for download via the Drivers tab of GeForce Experience or GeForce.com. Install now to ensure your experience in Counter-Strike 2 is optimized from the first click.

Armed with the information above, you can see how GeForce RTX 40 Series GPUs with NVIDIA Reflex deliver the fastest frame rates, the lowest frame times, and the lowest levels of End to End System Latency in Counter-Strike 2.

For more NVIDIA Reflex updates, and news of new Reflex Analyzer-compatible mice and monitors, please stay tuned to GeForce.com.