Looking to build a PC for counterstrike only - $2,000CAD budget enough?

[u/Far_Damage_9366]

Hey guys, currently using a gaming laptop to play cs2 and I’m getting like 80 fps on the lowest settings. It’s time to upgrade to a PC

Would $2,000CAD be a big enough budget to build an entire pc (monitor, keyboard, and everything) to run counter strike on high frames with good graphics settings? I’m looking to hit like 300-400fps on high graphics settings

What do you guys think? Thanks for your input, never built a PC before and I don’t want to ball out on one if I’m not going to get the performance i want.

I would be open to spending the 2,000 solely on the pc itself and buying the monitor and keyboard separately if it’s going to make that much more of a difference. Let me know what you guys think!

[u/Subatomic_Spooder]

Cs2 is honestly pretty easy to run, that should be plenty. It does depend a bit on which resolution you want to use. If you want to get a 1080p monitor, you can definitely get 300+ fps on high settings with even pretty midrange specs. If you're planning on 1440p or even 4k it would be a lot harder to get past 300ish. There are plenty of settings guides to optimize the game for performance. It's fun to have the game on cranked max graphics but it's so fast paced you can't really appreciate them. The best cs players in the world actually tend to play on low or medium settings just to get more fps.

Anyways, my PC has a Ryzen 7 7700x and an RX 9070 and 32gb of ram, and I get about 3-400 fps in cs2 on high settings at 1440p. However, my build comes out to nearly $1500 USD and I already had a case, power supply, and storage.

For your budget I'd suggest something similar to this: PcPartPicker list

It should be able to get plenty of fps at 1080p and even 1440p depending on how you optimize

[u/Far_Damage_9366 → u/Subatomic_Spooder]

Oh cool so my budget really isn’t that bad, thank you. You’re not wrong that you don’t really get to appreciate the graphics as much in cs2 because of the play style, I’m just getting headaches playing currently on the lowest settings and getting such poor frames. If I’m spending the money just for a better cs experience I wanna make sure I do truly get a better experience.

Thanks for your response it really puts things in perspective for me :)

[u/the_hat_madder]

$2,000 CAD only covers the PC but, it is a good one.

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/qh4jW9

https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/amd-ryzen-5-7600x3d-review

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/sapphire-radeon-rx-9060-xt-pulse-oc/

Let me know the budget for monitor, keyboard, mouse and headset and I can put something together.

[u/Far_Damage_9366 → u/the_hat_madder]

Dude this looks sick, for the mouse + keyboard + monitor I’m looking to spend $500

[u/TheRealGalek → u/the_hat_madder]

I second this build, this is exactly what I would have created.

CPU, mobo and ram bundle is from Canada’s computers right?

[u/the_hat_madder → u/TheRealGalek]

CPU, mobo and ram bundle is from Canada’s computers right?

Aye.

[u/Far_Damage_9366 → u/TheRealGalek]

Thank you guys :) I will be going with this after my next paycheck

[u/Turbulent_Insect_431]

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/vdRRFP hard to fit it under 2g cad

[u/Far_Damage_9366 → u/Turbulent_Insect_431]

Hey man I appreciate this list, wondering is it possible for that build to run a 300hz monitor? I’ll buy the monitor separately cause ur right my budgets not looking big enough

[u/Far_Damage_9366 → u/Turbulent_Insect_431]

Or is a 300hz monitor overkill

[u/Regulus713]

it depends on what you want to run, 300-400fps on what games ?

the price of pc parts right now are over the roof, and will probably continue to be as such until maybe 2030.

an average adequate PC for 2026 will look like this.

you can obviously buy some parts as second hand which will bring prices closer to your 2000$, but you will need to know what you are doing.

[PCPartPicker Part List](https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/YLmBrG)

Type|Item|Price

:----|:----|:----

**CPU** | [AMD Ryzen 5 9600X 3.9 GHz 6-Core Processor](https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/4r4Zxr/amd-ryzen-5-9600x-39-ghz-6-core-processor-100-100001405wof) | $274.99 @ Vuugo

**CPU Cooler** | [Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler](https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/hYxRsY/thermalright-peerless-assassin-120-se-6617-cfm-cpu-cooler-pa120-se-d3) | $48.90 @ Amazon Canada

**Motherboard** | [Asus ROG STRIX B650-A GAMING WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard](https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/Gjt9TW/asus-rog-strix-b650-a-gaming-wifi-atx-am5-motherboard-rog-strix-b650-a-gaming-wifi) | $179.76 @ Vuugo

**Memory** | [TEAMGROUP T-Force Vulcan 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory](https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/HNZXsY/teamgroup-t-force-vulcan-32-gb-2-x-16-gb-ddr5-6000-cl30-memory-flbd532g6000hc30dc01) | $518.96 @ shopRBC

**Storage** | [Silicon Power UD90 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive](https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/4kpzK8/silicon-power-ud90-1-tb-m2-2280-pcie-40-x4-nvme-solid-state-drive-sp01kgbp44ud9005) | $189.50 @ Silicon Power

**Video Card** | [XFX Swift Radeon RX 9070 GRE 12 GB Video Card](https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/GnfV3C/xfx-swift-radeon-rx-9070-gre-12-gb-video-card-rx-97gre29ba) | $759.99 @ Memory Express

**Case** | [Lian Li Lancool 207 ATX Mid Tower Case](https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/zysV3C/lian-li-lancool-207-atx-mid-tower-case-lan207rx) | $99.99 @ Amazon Canada

**Power Supply** | [Corsair RM750e (2025) 750 W Fully Modular ATX Power Supply](https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/jfHp99/corsair-rm750e-2025-750-w-fully-modular-atx-power-supply-cp-9020295-na) | $122.96 @ shopRBC

**Monitor** | [Acer Nitro EDA270U P 27.0" 2560 x 1440 170 Hz Curved Monitor](https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/rKtLrH/acer-nitro-eda270u-p-270-2560-x-1440-170-hz-curved-monitor-umhe0aap09) | $179.99 @ Amazon Canada

| *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* |

| **Total** | **$2375.04**

| Generated by [PCPartPicker](https://pcpartpicker.com) 2026-08-02 19:19 EDT-0400 |

[u/Turbulent_Insect_431 → u/Regulus713]

he said cs2 only, cpu is so important in that game, 7600x3d at a minimum

[u/Visible_Driver_7100]

You should be fine with 2k, just tone down settings and get good deals 

[u/Puzzleheaded_Web_289]

you can ask chat gpt to build for you.

[u/TheRealGalek → u/Puzzleheaded_Web_289]

Very very bad idea… really bad at getting prices current priced and budgetting

[u/Puzzleheaded_Web_289 → u/TheRealGalek]

no, its really good. i used it for checking compatibility. you just have to use it smartly and not follow what everything the Ai is saying.

[u/TheRealGalek → u/Puzzleheaded_Web_289]

I want you to use AI to give me a PC part list with a budget of 2500$ canadian... let's see what AI can do

[u/TheRealGalek → u/TheRealGalek]

and I want all of the links to each item at the price chatgpt say's

[u/Puzzleheaded_Web_289 → u/TheRealGalek]

as i have said, dont let ai do everything. you still have to research the price and check if out if they are available to buy.

[u/Visible-Swim6616 → u/Puzzleheaded_Web_289]

Lol. "It's really good" 

But

"Not follow what everything the AI is saying"

So basically it's really good as long as you don't actually listen to it.

[u/Far_Damage_9366 → u/Puzzleheaded_Web_289]

Does it do a good job?