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Major CS2 tournament to update its systems with AMD 7800X3D CPUs and Nvidia RTX 4080 graphics
PGL has announced a significant upgrade to its gaming PCs for CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024, one of the most important Counter-Strike 2 tournaments, with a prize pool of $1,250,000. AMD's Ryzen 7 7800X3D, one of the best CPUs, will drive gaming rigs for the highly-anticipated eSports event.
"PGL is committed to providing the best possible competitive environment for the players. By choosing the AMD R[yzen] 7800 X3D for our gaming setups, we're ensuring that the PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024 will be remembered not only for its intense competition but also for its flawless technical execution," stated PGL CEO Silviu Stroie.
PGL has previously favored AMD's Ryzen processors for its tournament PCs. Before the Ryzen 7 7800X3D upgrade, the systems used a Ryzen 7 5800X3D and, before that, a Ryzen 9 5950X. There was some discontent among players with the previous configuration with the Ryzen 9 5950X because, while the chip sports 16 Zen 3 execution cores, Counter-Strike 2 doesn't exploit the processor's prowess. Some players criticized PGL's poor processor choice for previous events, claiming lousy frame rates. However, the organization later improved the PCs by switching to the Ryzen 7 5800X3D.
The Ryzen 7 7800X3D, an octa-core Zen 4 chip with 3D V-Cache, was the logical choice for an upgrade. The generational transition from Zen 3 to Zen 4 will bring important performance uplifts to PGL's systems, where competitive Counter-Strike 2 players demand the absolute best frame rates. Regarding a ballpark figure, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D delivers up to 15% higher gaming performance than the previous Ryzen 7 5800X3D.
On the graphics card, the systems will still leverage Nvidia's GeForce RTX 4080, which happens to be one of the best graphics cards that money can buy. A Ryzen 7 7800X3D and GeForce RTX 4080 combo looks overkill for Counter-Strike 2. However, professional gamers aim to get the best frame rates possible, often dialing the image fidelity to the minimum and sometimes even lowering the screen resolution.
Logically, high frame rates are useless without a matching high-end monitor. For the tournament, PGL selected the Zowie XL2566K, a 24.5-inch gaming monitor with a 1920 x 1080 resolution and 360 Hz refresh rate. The Ryzen 7 7800X3D paired with the GeForce RTX 4080 should have no problem surpassing the target frame rate.
If you're a major Counter-Strike 2 fan, you probably already have the dates marked on your calendar. If not, the PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024 starts on March 17 and will run until March 31.
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Zhiye Liu is a news editor, memory reviewer, and SSD tester at Tom’s Hardware. Although he loves everything that’s hardware, he has a soft spot for CPUs, GPUs, and RAM.
Somewhat old news if you're familiar with CS, as the transition happened mid-qualifier (about 2 weeks back). That said, it still baffles me that tournament organizers don't understand that CS:GO/CS2 are CPU-bound games. Not that the 5950X is a slouch, just the least hiccups should always come from the most current CPU generations.
