Tick rate in CS2: 64 tick, sub-tick and what happened to 128 tick

What tick rate is

Every game server updates its picture of the world a fixed number of times per second. These updates are called ticks. A 64 tick server updates 64 times per second, a 128 tick server 128 times.

Think of a film: the more frames per second, the clearer fast movement looks. On a server, more ticks mean your inputs and position are processed more often.

What changed in CS2: sub-tick

In CS:GO, community servers and competitive platforms often ran at 128 tick, and the difference from 64 tick showed in peeks, spray control and grenades.

In CS2, Valve changed how this works. Servers run at 64 tick, but the game uses a system called sub-tick: the exact moment you shot, jumped or started moving is sent to the server with its precise timing, instead of being rounded to the nearest tick. In practice, part of the old 128 tick advantage moved into this system.

That is why in CS2 you can no longer choose 128 tick on a dedicated server, and any offer promising "128 tick in CS2" deserves a careful look.

What actually matters for a good CS2 server

A fast CPU. The server must process every tick on time, even when it is full and running many plugins. When the CPU cannot keep up you get stutter, whatever the tick rate.

Low, stable ping. Sub-tick helps precision but cannot make up for high ping. A server at 20 to 35 ms feels far better than one at 80 ms.

No packet loss. A stable network without evening spikes matters more than any number in an ad.

DDoS protection. Competitive servers are frequent targets, especially during matches.

CS2 at Wiptor

Our CS2 servers run on AMD and Intel CPUs at 5.0 GHz in Germany (Limburg), with DDoS protection included and unlimited RAM on every plan:

See the CS2 plans