Complete, all-out, guide on how to make CS:GO (and other games) run well on your potato machine!
 
 

Setting Windows power plan to ultimate performance

Ultimate Performance is a power plan setting that disables the power management features that windows normally apply, giving you way better performance (and FPS) than the standard, or even high-performance options. It’s only available on Windows 10 v1803 or above
 
 
To enable simply open a command prompt window (Windows key + R, then type cmd and Enter) and paste in the following command:
 
 

powercfg -duplicatescheme e9a42b02-d5df-448d-aa00-03f14749eb61

 
 
You can check that Ultimate Performance has been applied by going into Choose a Power Plan
 
 
 

Adjusting Windows in Settings

The first step is to enable Game Mode settings. This helps optimize your pc for gaming. To do this, search Game Mode Settings in the search bar and enable it.
 
 
Next, navigate to the Xbox Game bar and disable it. This frees up extra resources for CS:GO to use
 
 
Next you want to disable all start-up apps. Not only will this help start windows faster, but will also stop a lot of background tasks that will use some of your CPU and memory.
 
 
To do this open the search bar and search for Startup Apps
 
 
Select everything that you don’t want running in the background. I recommend everything, as you can always start it manually. However, if you have Mouse or Keyboard software (such as the Logitech GHub or similar) you might want to leave that enabled.
 
 
Next, open the search bar and search for Background Apps
 
 
Turn off the option marked “Let apps run in the background”
 
 
This will stop most programs from running in the background. However some programs will still run, and we will look at how to disable those next.
 
 
 

Turning off Windows Services

As mentioned previously, some applications won’t be closed when you disable background apps. A lot of these can be disabled using Windows services.
 
 
To open Services do the following:
 
 
Press the Windows + R keys
 
 
type msconfig and press Enter
 
 
Navigate to the services tab and select the “hide all Microsoft services option”, This is important because in general you do not want to disable Window’s main services as that could make your OS malfunction. However we will look at some you can disable later on.
 
 
For the most part you can disable any non-windows service. If something isn’t working. You can always turn it back on later.
 
 
If you use something like the Faceit Anti-Cheat you will need to leave this enabled.
 
 
 

Windows Services you can disable

Some Windows services aren’t crucial to the running of Windows and can safely be disabled.
 
 
Some of these include:
 
 

• Bluetooth services – provides bluetooth services
• Windows Search – indexes files so that file explorer is faster when you open it
• Microsoft Edge Service Updates (edgeupdate) – keeps Microsoft edge up to date
• Microsoft Update Health Service – keeps the system healthy
• Sysmain – improves system performance overtime
• Print Spooler – responsible for the printing services

 
First search for services in the search bar
 
 
Next locate the service you want to turn off.
 
 
You can permanently disable it by Right Click, selecting properties, and under startup type selecting Disabled.
 
 
 

Disabling Windows antimalware service executable (DANGER WARNING)

In general you never EVER want to do this however if you want to get every last drop of performance out of your computer then you may want to disable either your antivirus or ultimately the antimalware service executable (which will trigger as soon as your anti-virus is turned off).
 
 
I couldn’t find any easy way to do this. The regedit method was disabled last year – [superuser.com]  so all I could think of was this:
 
 
Locate the executable for Windows Defender, using open file location in Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open). For me it was located at C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows Defender\Platform\4.18.2107.4-0 and was called MsMpEng.exe
 
 
Booted up a linux system via USB and used it to deleted the file (since the program was always running at boot, I couldn’t delete it while Windows was running).
 
 
Steps using arch (assuming you have the iso, used rufus to extract onto a usb, and have booted into arch):
 
 
fdisk -l and located the name of the partition that would the C: drive (for me /dev/sda3)
 
 
mount the drive so that it can be accessed mount /dev/sda3 /mnt/c
 
 
used cd to navigate to the exe location. /mnt/c, cd /ProgramData/Microsoft/Windows Defender/Platform/4.18.2107.4-0 used ls to check it was there (you can also do it one dictionary at a time for convenience).
 
 
Deleted the file rm MsMpEng.exe
 
 
Navigated out of the /mnt filesystem with cd ../
 
 
Unmounted the disk with umount
 
 
Rebooted and the program was gone.
 
 
Note that I don’t know how permanent this is, and if Windows Updates will add it back
 
 
Also as a quick disclaimer, I’m not responsible for whatever happens if you decide to go ahead with this, or anything at all in this guide (backing up your data is highly recommended).
 
 
 

Steps just before running the game

Open Task manager, using Ctrl+Shift+Esc and select View > Group by type
 
 
You should be able to close almost everything, except 6 or 7 applications that refuse to close (8 or more if your anti-virus is still running).
 
 
CS:GO should now run much better
 
 
However if you really want to go the extra mile you can disable 4 more programs including the desktop and Start menu entirely.
 
 
To do this you need to create a batch script (preferably on your desktop). Right click, create a new file and end it with the .bat extension (file extensions need to be enabled for this part)
 
 
Next right click paste the following:
 
 

@ECHO OFF
TASKKILL /F /IM Explorer.exe
TASKKILL /F /IM Searchapp.exe
TASKKILL /F /IM ShellExperienceHost.exe
TASKKILL /F /IM StartMenuExperienceHost.exe

 
 
Just before your game starts you can double click the batch file to run it… And the screen will go blank. This is because explorer.exe is charge of showing the desktop. CS:GO should now be open. From here you can use Ctrl+Alt+Delete to open task manager and close any remaining programs (except steam because steam doesn’t like being closed). Next close task manager and on the bottom left you should see a tab for cs:go. Press it and you should be back in the game!
 
 
Should you want to show the desktop at any time, use Ctrl+Alt+Delete to open task manager, select File>Run new task and enter explorer.exe. Give it a few seconds and you will have your desktop (and start menu) back again.
 
 
In the worst possible case, you will just have to restart your machine (although this really shouldn’t be necessary)
 
 
 

CS:GO game optimisation

No guide would be complete without some tips for settings. So:
 
 
In steam, counter strike, right click, properties.
 
 
Launch options:
 
 

+fps_max 60 -high -freq 60 -nojoy

 
 
you may need to change the 60 depending on your monitor refresh rate.
 
 
Or just set +fps_max to 0 so it’s uncapped fps (although if you have overheating issues, or use a laptop, I recommend capping the fps to just above your monitor refresh rate)
 
 
DO NOT SET -freq HIGHER THAN YOUR MONITOR REFRESH RATE OR YOU MAY DAMAGE IT
 
 
-high sets the performance mode to high
 
 
-nojoy disables joystick input (which is useless)
 
 
Deselect Enable The Steam Overlay While In-Game
 
Deselect Use Desktop Theatre While SteamVR Is Active
 
 
(note that with Enable The Steam Overlay While In-Game you will not be able to send friend requests or take screenshots, although +screenshot in command line still works)
 
 
In CS:GO, you want to lower all your graphical settings to their lowest. Except texture streaming that you want to enable, as this will allow lower resolution textures to be loaded. You also want to enable Multicore rendering. As this will allow CS:GO to use multiple cpu cores.
 
 
Use the 4:3 resolution (the res of pros).
 
and select the lowest resolution for best fps (or if you actually want to see something) the middle one. This is all very easy to change and you can test it for yourself 😀
 
 
Enabling Boost Player Contrast is a bonus, but might lead to some fps drops so be warned
 
 
 

Final notes

Some GPU drivers also have the option to select how the game will run (this will often include performance).
 
 
For example, AMD has options that allow you to apply more optimized settings outside of the game. This is definitely worth checking out, although I won’t cover that here, as it depends hugely on your GPU manufacturer and software.
 
 
Also a reminder to keep all your drivers up to date. This is really important and can help performance massively.
 
 
Reinstalling Windows
 
 
It’s been my experience that an older Windows installation runs much worse than a newer one. So if you can, you might benefit from a fresh install of windows (you can use the key from your existing installation so it costs you nothing).
 
 
r_cleardecals
 
 
Although this doesn’t hugely affect FPS, you can bind a button that will clear decals (blood, bullet holes, etc) which does improve performance to some extent (and improve visibility massively)
 
 
To do this you need to open your config.cfg file (located C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata\{your account id}\730\local\cfg)
 
 
and add the following bind “TAB” “r_cleardecals” (replace tab with the key you want to use. I just use tab)
 
 
If all else fails, you can also set -lv as a command line option which disables blood and death. If nothing else it should give you a good laugh.
 
 
net_graph 1 is more accurate than cl_showfps 1 if you want to check framerates for yourself.
 
 
And finally… Does this actually help boost fps? Yes.
 
 
This recent video by CRSTNBENCH that shows CS:GO running at around 60-40fps with an average of around 40 https://youtu.be/YUFhaY1rg50?t=714 – [youtube.com] 
 
 
Using this rather long… Process… I get around 60-70fps with peaks up to 80 (and very rare drops down to 55). In deathmatch (which typically runs much worse than in real games)
 
 
Hardware comparison:
 
 
AMD Quad-Core A12-9720P, RADEON R7, 8G (mine)
 
AMD Quad-Core A12-9720P, RADEON R7, 16GB (CRSTNBENCH)
 
 
I think that’s it. If you have any more tips to improve performance or have any questions don’t hesitate to leave a comment! I hope you found this guide somewhat useful 😀
 
 

 
 
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