CS2 Settings and Performance
Stability in smokes, a mouse you can repeat, and overlays that steal rounds.
Cap FPS to a number you hold
Huge frame-time spikes in mid-round smokes lose more duels than a slightly lower max FPS. Cap to a stable number your GPU can hold on Dust II mid with two smokes down.
Mouse
Raw input, no Windows acceleration. Most high-level players sit in a low-to-mid cm/360 so flicks stay readable. Copying a pro's eDPI without copying their mousepad is how you miss everything.
Overlays
Turn off extra NVIDIA/AMD overlay and Discord hardware acceleration if you hitch when a smoke pops. CS2 already has enough particle work.
Audio
Headphones. Footsteps and utility are the game. Music in the bomb timer is optional; music in the main menu during a round is not.
Launch options are not magic
A clean install, updated GPU driver, and a wired connection beat a forum's 12 launch options. Change one setting at a time if you are debugging hitching.