Best CS:GO Resolutions & How to Choose the Option For You

After getting some level of skill and confidence in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, many players start learning in-depth parameters and settings that can help them. The issues of the best resolution for CS:GO and optimal aspect ratio have plenty of aspects and can impact the performance but confuse inexperienced players.

Thus, if you open the Profilerr.net statistics page, you'll find that 75% of these professional players play in a 4:3 aspect ratio. Within this group, 21% of the pro players play with black bars, and the remaining 79% with letterbox images horizontally stretched. Taking a look at these really crazy figures, the beginner comes to the following conclusion that seems logical enough:

Since the vast majority of the best Counter-Strike players are playing in 4:3 resolution options, there should be serious reasons for this. Most likely, using this aspect ratio gives some advantages which I should follow.

Before making such conclusions, let's consider this issue in more detail before changing your 16:9 monitor into an unusual aspect ratio. Moreover, let’s determine the best resolution to play CS:GO in your particular case without unthinkingly following Pros’ settings.

Best Screen Resolutions for CS:GO

Axioms first: The higher the resolution — the bigger the load on your rig. If you have a weak PC or laptop that gives less than 60 fps — decrease graphics settings and set lower resolution (with smaller numbers).

Still, discussing the best screen resolution for CS:GO can only be done by explaining other key elements, such as aspect ratio and stretching. To better show the difference between aspect ratios, let’s look at the following images:

That is how different aspect ratios look at the typical 16:9 monitor without stretching or fullscreen mode. Black vertical bars cut the side vision, and the highlighted spots (A Site Aparts Exit & Library on Inferno) will be invisible for those using narrower aspect ratios.

Using stretching to cut black sidebars simply elongates the image to fulfill those gaps and uses all active pixels on the monitor. However, due to a stretching effect, player models become much wider. This makes the aiming easier, but as the picture expands with the number of software pixels remaining the same, the models on the screen move faster, thus automatically making the aiming harder and compensating for the bonus of increased model width.

There are advantages and disadvantages of choosing this aspect ratio type that counterbalance themselves. Still, some Pros use such an approach, making it a matter of personal preference or older habits. Also, stretching is actually for the 16:10 aspect ratio as well, but the visual difference will not be as big as between 16:9 and 4:3.

Independently of the aspect ratios and stretching, there are still plenty of resolution settings and aspects to discuss. So now, let’s dive into the best CS:GO resolutions and their pros and cons.

To further refine your setup for optimal gameplay, explore CS2 pro players gear to see what hardware and settings the top competitors prefer.

16:9

Since 16:9 is the primary aspect ratio for modern monitors, let’s review it at the beginning with the key aspects to remember:

• The main peculiar feature of this aspect ratio is a wider FOV (Field of View), so you can see a wider picture independently of the particular resolution.
• The second feature is a clearer picture with no need to stretch the image if this aspect ratio is native to your display.
• The third common feature comes from the previous one, implying a higher overall load on your PC.

When you set a 16:9 aspect ratio, the list of CS:GO resolutions for a typical cheap monitor or laptop with inbuilt graphics looks like the following:

For gaming monitors with a bigger aspect ratio, this list can be even longer. However, be ready that resolutions 1280x600 and 1360x768 don’t fit the basic proportion of 16:9, so picking them can lead to stretching or leaving dark bars on the sides. 

Look at the comparison image with the minimal and maximal options from the image above to see the difference in the visual quality:

There is no doubt that the best CS:GO resolution for a 16:9 aspect ratio is 1920x1080, but that is relevant only for powerful rigs.

1280x720

Of course, 1280x720 is the worst possible option for 16:9 in terms of quality, but it is also the best for old PCs and laptops if you count every extra frame per second.

1360x768

From first sight, it’s hard to see the difference between this resolution and the previous one if you look at the image overall. You can say that 1360x768 is the golden middle for 16:9, which is suitable for laptops with inbuilt graphics as their screens aren’t huge, while 60–80 FPS should be enough for pleasant gaming.

1920x1080

That is probably the most widespread and so the best resolution for CS:GO as it suits almost all monitors and, combined with low graphics settings, isn’t tough for most PCs. Thus, graphics cards GTX 1050 and better can cope with those settings, while FPS should be 100 or even 150+ if the rest of the rig is also good (16 GB RAM, 8-core CPU). It’s always better to have a maximum resolution but lower video settings, as the image will be the best in this scenario.

4:3

The existence of the 4:3 aspect ratio looks like a tribute to early Counter-Strike versions like Source and 1.6 — times when monitors looked square and were mainly 4:3. Still, many players who started in the early 2000s still prefer a 4:3 aspect ratio even in 2023. We can highlight the following features of this ratio:

• It is a controversial aspect, but since the image is clipped around the edges, your attention is not so distracted, and it becomes easier to focus on the center of the screen.
• Fewer pixels in action means the lowest load on your visual system, which can be critical for weak computers.
• Narrower FOV forces you to rethink positions and spots on the map, since you simply lose about 20% of the potential side vision.

It’s hard to call either of the 4:3 options as the CS:GO best resolution with modern 16:9 monitors, but many players choose from the list the game offers:

With no need to describe all seven options at this aspect ratio, let’s look at how the first, fourth, and seventh resolutions:

640x480

If you need to downgrade your visual setting as low as 640x480 resolution with a 4:3 aspect ratio, you better look for another PC you can play on. Running pixels won’t bring you any joy from the gaming process.

1024x768

It is the golden middle for the 4:3 option, especially on small monitors like 15-inch laptops. Depending on the hardware inside and the production year, it can be an option for notebooks with in-built graphics bought in early or middle 2010th.

1400x1050

This one can look pretty good on any monitor, especially without stretching, as the number of vertical pixels is pretty similar. At the same time, 1400x1050 with 100+ FPS requires a pretty powerful PC or laptop with a separate graphics card (GTX 1050 or better). Only the modern MacBooks with M1 or M2 processors and 16 GB RAM can deal with it, or some of the rare Intel and Ryzen CPUs with inbuilt graphics and the same RAM amount.

16:10

Monitors with a 16:10 aspect ratio had a pretty short life and became a popular option in the mid-2000s. However, those numbers prevail in portable Apple products, while many gamers are interested in playing CS:GO on MacBooks. Here are the main features:

• This is a universal and flexible aspect ratio, where the FOV is narrower than that of 16:9, but not as narrow as for 4:3.
• At the same time, the number of software pixels is less than for 16:9, but it is not as low as for 4:3.
• There is no need to change the resolution or stretch the picture if you switch between a standard 16:9 monitor and your MacBook.

The best CS resolution for a 16:10 ratio can be chosen from only three options, with the first two being pretty similar:

Visual differences for those three options aren’t as sharp as for other ratios, but still, here is how it looks for 1280x800 and 1680x1050:

1280x800

This is the practical option for most MacBooks before the M1 and M2 era, also excluding portative Apple notebooks with separate graphics cards produced after 2015. Even with such a low resolution and minimal video settings, almost all MacBooks can hardly provide more than 100 frames per second. But still, the game will be playable enough on small-inch monitors, with FPS above 60.

1680x1050

This one is the option for powerful MacBooks, preferably with a separate graphics card, 8-core CPU (or M1/M2 respective variant), and 16+ GB RAM. To receive a stable 100+ FPS, you probably should downgrade the rest of the video settings, but the resolution should be the last option for changing.

What Resolution Should You Use for CS:GO?

To answer the question “What resolution should I use for CS:GO?” you have to remember the following:

The higher the resolution within the same aspect ratio, the higher the image definition is, as well as the load on your PC.

This means that if you, for example, prefer the 16:9 aspect ratio and the performance of your PC allows you to play the game at the maximum resolution available on your monitor without losing a significant number of FPS, then there is absolutely no point in reducing it. Maybe it is even worth investing in a better monitor for CS2 to enhance your visual experience and potentially improve your in-game reaction time.

Another thing is when you have a low-performance PC and reducing the resolution significantly increases the number of FPS, then yes, certainly, the FPS is more important than the image size.

As for choosing the resolution for all newcomers, I would recommend you base it upon the capabilities of your hardware only and not reduce the resolution if it does not increase the FPS for you. Doing otherwise makes no sense at all.

FAQ