Two decades since its inception, Counter-Strike is still widely recognized as one of the best online multiplayer FPS shooters ever made. And Counter-Strike: Global Offensive – better known as CS:GO – is the most popular game in the series.

CS GO might have been released in 2012, but it's still pulling in close to a million concurrent players each month – all thanks to its tactical team-based gameplay, ongoing updates, and frequent esports tournaments.

If you're looking to see what all the hype is about, you’ll be glad to know that you won't need the most powerful gaming rig to run Counter Strike Global Offensive.

But for the exact PC specs, you'll find everything you need to know below.

Counter Strike Global Offensive System Requirements

CS Global Offensive was released in 2012, so it might go without saying that the system requirements needed for the game are not too demanding. So, most recently made PCs and laptops will have no trouble running CS:GO.

For the specifics, however, the minimum CS GO system requirements you need are:

• OS: Windows 7/Vista/XP
• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 or AMD Phenom X3 8750 processor (or better)
• Memory: 2 GB RAM
• Graphics: Video card must be 256 MB or more and DirectX 9-compatible with support for Pixel Shader 3.0
• DirectX: Version 9.0c
• Storage: 15 GB available space

So, as long as your PC/laptop has Windows 7 or newer and 15 GB of free hard drive space, you will be good to go.

And the fact that most modern PCs and laptops have newer processors and over 2 GB RAM means whichever computer you have should be more than powerful enough to run CS:GO.

Conclusion

In short, the main PC specs you need to play Counter Strike Global Offensive are Windows 7 or newer, 2 GB of RAM, an Intel Core 2 Duo processor (equivalent or better), and 15 GB of available hard disk space.

Overall, the system requirements for CS:GO are far from demanding, so you can rest assured that even if you run an old PC or laptop you shouldn't run into too many performance issues playing the game.

If you have a powerful gaming rig, expect CS GO to run flawlessly.

Last but not least, CS GO is free-to-play and free to download from Steam, so you can dive right in as long as you have a decent broadband internet connection.

About the Author

Andrew Kirkcaldy

Andrew is one of three co-founders of BGFG, the parent company of PC Guide. A keen gamer and PC enthusiast, Andrew dabbles in a bit of writing sometimes - when he gets the chance to!