Prosettings.net covers the hardware and configs that all pro players use,
and recently published this summary of the most popular stuff. It’s important
to know that using the same gear as them won’t guarantee you success.
Nor are these necessarily the best choices for you -personally- to use! But if you’re looking
to use a PC and configuration that WON’T stop you from playing well, then copying
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So yeah, I’ll be going through this summary of pro player’s equipment in this video,
sharing with you why I think it is the way it is, along with the occasional
controversial belief of my own just to give the comments section something to talk about!
Now there’s no doubt that what pro players game on is going to be influenced by their team’s sponsors
are. So if a specific company provides lots of pro players their equipment then of course it’s
more likely to make this list. It doesn’t mean those products are objectively the BEST choice
out there, but pros aren’t going to jeopardise their chances of winning by using something
that’s inherently BAD. So for you watching this video, sponsors are something to be aware of,
which I’m noting here to acknowledge, but I don’t think it matters too much - it is
still the stuff that the best players in the world are gaming on, so either it’s good enough to get
them to that level, or it’s not bad enough to prevent them from reaching it. Let’s begin.
MICE
When it comes to mice, I think you should forget about them- an Xbox controller is the way to go.
No it isn’t.
MICE The choice of mouse is,
of course, very important. You want a mouse that can track your hand movements precisely,
and you’d be surprised by how many cheap ones there are out there which epically fail to fulfil
that basic task. I’ve had mice where making a circular motion while holding them results in
a square movement on-screen. I’ve had some that cause my cursor to jitter,
as though there’s fluff stuck in the sensor. One of the mice I tested, if stopped suddenly,
continued moving on-screen, grinding gradually to a stop! Proper nightmare stuff. Real savage.
So you don’t want that. But even expensive mice and sensors, without these glaring flaws,
can still suffer from acceleration and smoothing issues. What this could mean is that moving it
10 centimetres quickly will move your aim a different amount from moving the mouse
10 centimetres more slowly. This is bad because it defeats your muscle-memory, unless literally every
motion you make with the mouse is the exact same speed and duration. Which it won’t be.
So yeah, these mice here will be solid choices, because even if their sensors aren’t perfect,
they’re good enough that you can still become a pro by using them. But don’t rule out other
mice types and brands- the ones listed here only account for 2/3 of pros, after all.
It’s worth looking through the list of pro player setups, which is again from the prosettings site,
which I’ll link to in the description. And there may be good choices beyond what’s listed there,
too- just be sure to find out which sensor they use, and look online to see what the general
consensus is about them. And don’t, whatever you do, buy a cheap gaming mouse on amazon,
because the thousands of 5-star reviews on that site aren’t to be trusted!!!
Beyond the sensor, you’ve got to consider the weight of the mouse, the size, and the number and
placement of the buttons. I prefer lighter mice, because even though I can move a heavier one,
I can move a lighter one more quickly and precisely. So even ones with customisable weights,
I tend to leave as empty as possible. For general use I like to use a mouse with a DPI button,
but if all you’re doing is gaming then you should just stick to one sensitivity and to master it.
I’ve been using wireless mice for a number of years now and don’t believe there is a difference
between a good wireless mouse, and a corded one, in terms of latency and stuff. This wireless
Logitech mouse, after all, is the second most popular option for pro play. But just remember
it will require charging in some form or another. And whichever mouse you have, please make sure
mouse acceleration is disabled in the software! Though apparently, even acceleration isn’t enough
to stop 2% of players from going pro. These stats read to me as being that ‘pro players
use their mice properly and without bad options enabled that may hinder their performance’.
Should I even get involved in the low sensitivity VS high sensitivity debate? Most people WILL
insist that low is better, and pros seem to agree with this, what with what you can see
listed over on this site. But I’ve personally always preferred higher. Please, try things
for yourself and use what works best for you. And don’t give in to peer pressure; I loved to a lower
sensitivity and have NEVER managed to get back the magic that I used to feel at a higher one.
MOUSE PAD
Mousepads can help reduce friction, can keep your mouse’s Teflon feet in good
condition, can keep your mouse clean and may feel nicer than gaming on a cold hard desk.
So there are plenty of reasons for why you’d want to use one. But I’m not the right person
to ask about this- I’ve used a basic desk for years, and before then used this ridiculous
little pull-out board which I loved because it kept my hand close to my waist which I found
gave me inhuman accuracy with my flick-shots. I miss that thing, but I wouldn’t advise any
of you follow my insane setup so perhaps ask somebody else which mousemat’s best for you.
KEYBOARD The choice of keyboard is
NOT as important as your choice in mouse. I’m yet to encounter a keyboard with noticeable latency-
and I really think your character’s movement in CS:GO several tiers of importance below
the ability to aim quickly and responsively. Which keyboard is best for you mostly depends
on what kind of click you like… and whether you want RGB or not. There is also this thing
called ‘rollover’, which is how many and which keys can be pressed at the same time.
Of course, you want for your character to be able to crabwalk back and to the left at the same
time as he’s equipping a flash-bang and jumping, so it pays to check if your keyboard can register
a worst-case scenario like this. Which can be done over on the site linked to in the description.
Another thing to consider is form factor. Working with numbers, I love my numpad, which
also contains lots of keys which can be configured for buy buttons and so on. But there is a case to
be made for smaller, more compact keyboards- if you’re gaming in a place with limited desk space,
it could be worth considering a tenkeyless design like these ones. I’ve seen pros using
keyboards at all sorts of strange angles just to maximise the space they have for their mouse-
which might be why smaller form factors are becoming more popular in recent years.
HEADSET This is a tough one. There are a billion
different headsets out there, and everybody has different tastes, so no matter what I say here,
somebody out there will insist I’m wrong! From the ones shown here, I think it’s safe to say that a
built-in microphone is handy for gaming. Compared with a desktop mic, one built into your headset
helps keep your voice at a consistent volume, and is one less cable to deal with. Comfort ranks up
there as being one of the most important aspects of a headset, given that it’ll be wrapped around
your FACE for hours every day. Get one with cups big enough to go over your ears and, I don’t know,
look up reviews to ensure the one you’re buying is comfortable for extended sessions.
You have ‘good quality audio’, and then you have ‘gamer audio’, and there are a few things you may
want from a gamer headset that audiophiles will disagree with. For a start, you’ll want a ‘closed’
headset- this is the sort that stops external sounds from being heard. It generally makes the
audio quality ‘worse’ than an open headset because it echoes around inside a bit more,
but this is more than out-weighed by allowing you to escape into your own personal space away from
real-world noises whenever you start a gaming session. Having mostly opted for ‘audiophile’
headsets in the past, believing audio quality and accuracy is more important than anything else,
I have to admit I still prefer the amped-up bass that’s typically seen in gaming headsets.
One thing I dislike are headsets with ‘surround sound’. I would avoid gimmicky features like
‘7.1 speakers’ or a ‘surround sound button’, which are more hassle than they’re worth.
You have 2 ears, all you should need are 2 speakers and some clever software mixing, which is
all done by the game you’re playing any way. Some headsets have a wider ‘soundstage’ than others,
which means they separate the left and right channels better and make it easier to tell which
direction sounds are coming from. Having bought headsets in the past for this feature, I can
tell you that it ranks lower in importance than some of the other things I’ve talked about here.
MONITORS Unlike headsets, monitors are easier! The higher
the hz, the better. That should be your primary objective when it comes to buying a monitor for
competitive gaming. It makes your mouse movements feel more responsive, and any motion on-screen
look more natural. This is going to sound like a load of rubbish, but I genuinely believe my
subconscious performs better at aiming at stuff when it’s fed more regular screen refreshes,
no matter how much I may be paying attention to my actions. But how many hz do you need?!
144 hz was the standard for a long time. Then, 240. Now you can see 360 hz monitors creeping in.
It still only takes up a tiny proportion of pro setups, but I expect that figure to grow
in future years. You want more hz, because it cuts down the delay between what happens and
what’s shown on your screen. Obviously, there are other factors to consider here, like ghosting,
latency and all that, but a decent monitor review should address these things. And the pro’s choices
here is a good place to start from. Don’t buy a monitor without reading reviews first. But yeah,
hz is king. The jury’s still out over how many hz you need. I believe there were some eye
tracking tests done for VR at some point and think it was concluded that it would require
thousands before there’s inperceivable delay. But we don’t have the technology for that just
yet. So 240 hz is a decent ‘high end’ gaming standard to shoot for, for now.
But! Ask yourself if you want this. Like, if you REALLY want this, above everything else.
Because jumping to a higher refresh rate is a thankless task. You won’t notice the difference,
but you certainly will when trying to return to a lower one again! And also consider what
else you do on your computer. 360 hz 1080p monitors are PERFECT for pro CS:GO players…
but for a more immersive, slower-paced game, I think a 60 hz 4K HDR screen would be better!
And a 1440p 144 hz is still the best all-round gaming compromise. Don’t get me wrong,
I switch over to- and appreciate- my 180 hz 1080p screen when I’m feeling competitive. But most
games favour the clearer definition of a higher resolution. And making as many videos as I do,
I prefer the extra resolution when I’m working on the desktop, too. So yeah, what you should
be looking for from a monitor very much depends on how hardcore you are with your competitive gaming.
Because a monitor is a big investment to make, and there will be compromises to whatever you choose.
RESOLUTION So, you’ve got your monitor… now which resolution
do you use on it? This is another area where pro players deviate from the status quo. Most people,
and gamers, would want to use their monitor at its native resolution, else risk blurriness. But
not pro players! Oh, no! Only 9% of them use 1920x1080 correctly. The rest of them force
lower resolutions and strange aspect ratios, more in-line with what you’d have seen on a CRT monitor
from 15 years ago. Some of these even deliberately stretch the screen! So let’s go through all of
these options and see which is right for you. 1920x1080, used ‘properly’, delivers the widest
field of view, an aspect ratio of 16:9, which you can think of as being 16 across and 9 down. Most
pro gamers, on the other hand, use 4:3, which you can imagine as being 12 across and 9 down.
Hence, they don’t have as much peripheral vision as 16:9 players do.
And then, in addition to this, 75% use stretched, meaning 4:3 is stretched to fit a 16:9 monitor,
resulting in shorter, stockier character models. WHY. Well, I would ask them, but I have no pro
player friends ☹ so I’m just going to have to speculate on this.
Monitors used to use 4:3 aspect ratios and ran at higher ‘hz’ at lower resolutions, so it did used
to make sense for pros to use these settings. So I’m wondering if some pro players still use these
settings out of habit, or if -maybe even today’s generation of pros, when they first started out,
looked at what the OLDER generation of pros were using and copied them. Just like you’re trying to
do now! If that’s the case, break the chain! Stick to 16:9 and embrace the wider screen!
Don’t be held back by those who came before you!!! But I believe there is more to it than that. At
the end of the day, you’re looking at the centre of your screen. With good positioning and a bit
of game-sense, you can almost guarantee that you will spot the enemies who dare challenge you. And
when they show themselves on a 4:3 aspect ratio, especially one that’s stretched to fill the entire
16:9 display, they’re going to appear much bigger, and fatter, than they would on a 16:9 monitor
that’s used properly. Does this mean gaming it 4:3 is some sort of cheat by making everybody a
bigger target? No, I don’t think so. 2kliksphilip took this to the next level by gaming on a big
screen to see if bigger targets are easier to hit. And of course, it didn’t work like that.
The idiot. And while they may appear wider and thus easier to hit, they’ll appear to
move faster across the screen as well, so while it’s a difficult thing to get your head around,
I don’t think that stretching enemies to make them appear fatter will make them easier to hit.
Which gets me onto the REAL reason why I think pro players use these settings,
and the last part of this video: the hardware. HARDWARE
I think that pros use lower resolutions and weird aspect ratios because there are fewer
pixels to render, so the game will run at a higher framerate, and thus, pro players will
perform better on them! You know the whole ‘more hz is better’ argument from earlier?
The same principle applies to the game’s framerate. Sure, there’s diminishing returns,
but more is always better. Some people STILL insist that you only need 60 frames a second
to make the most of a 60 hz monitor. Which is wrong, you only need to try
running a game at 240 frames a second on a 60 hz monitor to feel the difference!
It becomes less ‘laggy’, even though the same number of frames are being displayed every second!
There is reason to this madness: more frames per second equals more consistent frametimes,
AND on average, less latency between what’s going on and what the monitor’s displaying and so on.
Something I believe is represented by that handy little ‘VAR’ number in the corner of the screen.
So by using these horrendously low resolutions and antiquated aspect ratios,
it may bump the framerate up enough that it does make a noticeable difference to how fluid the
game feels to a pro player. But don’t get too smug- most hardware can already run the game
at hundreds of frames a second, and especially with the latest generation of Ryzen processors,
I believe we’re approaching the point where we finally have the technology to run CS:GO at 1080p!
In fact, it’s baffling to me that prosettings.net lists the GPU these players are using,
but doesn’t mention the CPU. Because ESPECIALLY at these lower resolutions, the processor has
more of an impact than the GPU does. In my opinion, modern processors can be
split into 3 categories. At the bottom are the first generations of Ryzen,
and older i-series processors. And when I say older, I mean stuff that’s approaching 10
years old now. But don’t think that these are bad- EVEN THESE can easily run the game well
into the triple digits. In any other game, this sort of performance would be overkill!
Even in CS:GO, it’s not like this is going to hold you back until you reach a high level of ability,
or are wielding a 240 hz monitor. I need to elaborate that these are STILL good processors-
when people talk about struggling to run CS:GO, they’re talking about rigs far below these.
These are still good processors, Brent. But since we’re talking about pro level,
we’ll move up to the next tier. At this performance level, I don’t think that even
pro players will feel the urge to upgrade anytime soon. The single core performance
of these processors is still phenomenal, and to think CS:GO of all games requires
more than this to run is laughable. Hilarious. But then, we reach this final tier. The Ryzen
5000 series, in my opinion, stands alone as being the ‘next generation’ of CPU performance,
and this is particularly felt in CS:GO. We’ve been stuck at that previous tier for so long that even
I was beginning to ask myself if we were running into other limitations of the Source engine.
But no! It is still CPU limited, and the Ryzen 5000 series has proven this by powering this game
to much faster framerates than everything else on the market right now. I don’t know if many
pros are aware of this right now, let alone using this sort of hardware. From a quick Google search,
it looks like pro player, Simple, is still on an Intel 10000 series CPU. And why not- it’s not like
a new generation of processors immediately renders all those before it redundant, especially when it
comes to playing a 9 year old game that pros have been playing without a problem for years already.
But the point I’m trying to make is- it’s clear you don’t NEED a Ryzen 5000
series to go pro at CS:GO. But now they are a thing, perhaps we can start to forego the low
resolution, stretched displays of yesteryear. I reckon if you’re equipped with one of these
beauties then pro performance, even at a HIGH resolution like 1920x1080p, is still attainable.
Provided your GPU is powerful enough to handle it. But of course, to get the best you pay a hefty
premium for the Ryzen 5000 series, so for most people a more affordable option like an Intel i5
11400 or 11600 would be the better choice. Oh, Intel, how the tables have turned.
And for graphics cards… well, the market’s a joke right now but any half-decent GPU made
in the last 5 years should be able to cope with the demands of CS:GO,
which may have risen since its release… but not by that much.
If in doubt, stick to a lower resolution and get CPU limited instead.
So there you go. Nothing is stood between you, and going pro.
…but the thousands of hours of CS:GO that you’ll need to play.