Does CS2 Have a Tickrate Setting? (Sub-Tick Explained)
Why CS2 has no sv_tickrate variable and what sub-tick updates mean for your dedicated server.
Short Answer
No. CS2 does not have a configurable tickrate. There is no sv_tickrate convar to set, and you cannot launch the server with -tickrate 128.
CS2 uses a sub-tick networking model. Player input is timestamped at the moment a key is pressed and processed in the next server tick — independent of the underlying server frame rate. The result is that all CS2 servers behave equivalently to 128-tick CS:GO regardless of the host machine's tick frequency.
What This Means For You
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Do I need to pay extra for a 128-tick server? | No — there's no such thing in CS2. |
| Will my shots register the same as on a Valve official? | Yes. |
| Is my server worse than a 128-tick CS:GO server was? | No, sub-tick is intended to be equivalent or better. |
Can I change anything tickrate-related in server.cfg? | No CS2-supported convar exists. |
What You Can Tune
Server performance for CS2 is mostly about:
- CPU clock speed — single-thread performance per server instance
- Network latency — your server's hops to your players
- Bandwidth limits —
sv_maxrate,sv_minrate(defaults are usually fine)
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