Net graph explained: How to measure CSGO FPS, ping, loss, and more

M Alzamora Published 10/02/2020

High FPS in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is an important thing for players to shoot for and can give them an edge in almost every fight. The net graph command included in CSGO is the best way to measure your ping, but it also shows a lot more than just that.

CSGO’s net graph is by far the best way for players to measure their in-game FPS. It’s even better than Steam’s built-in FPS counter. We’ll cover how to check your FPS using the net graph, but we’ll also cover all the other information that can help players understand what’s going on behind the scenes, including ping, loss, choke.

We’ll also give you some commands that you can use to move the graph around and resize it, and another simple command that will only show your FPS and leave out all of the other stuff.

How to measure your CSGO FPS using the net graph

The easiest and most accurate way to measure Counter-Strike’s FPS is through the console command “net_graph.” To use the graph, players need to enable the console. WIN.gg has a whole guide on enabling the console and its most useful commands, so it’s a quick process.

Open CSGO, click “Settings,” and then select the “Game” tab. You can enable the console by turning on the last option in the first section as shown below.

Once that’s all done, players can bring up the console by pressing the “~” button under the “ESC” key. Once the console is enabled, you can turn on the net graph by entering this command into the console:

net_graph 1

Here’s a picture of the net graph once it’s enabled. As you can see, the first line shows CSGO’s FPS. Easy! The higher your FPS, the more information your computer is outputting to your monitor, and that means that the game feels smoother.

That’s always a good thing. Note that having an FPS higher than the refresh rate of your monitor still makes a difference. You’ll always want to aim for the highest FPS possible if you’re playing seriously.

Players can also show the FPS using this command:

cl_showfps 1

Map FPS will show in the upper right-hand corner in green text without any of the other data.

CSGO ping, loss, and choke explained

Ping

The CSGO net graph also shows stats related to a user’s connection to a game server. First up is ping, and at its most basic its the amount of time it takes for computers to send information to a server and get a response. The lower your ping, the faster that conversation happens. If you’ve ever heard a streamer or pro player say “That hits on LAN!,” they’re talking about the information travel time affecting hit registration.

High Ping: lag, choppiness, stutters, unregistered shots
Low Ping: Smooth gameplay, good hit registration

Since tournaments happen with players literally sitting next to one another, ping isn’t an issue. When you play online, however, ping can have a big impact. If you’re matched on a server that’s far away, things like missed shots and stuttering happen more often while the server struggles to get the right information to the CSGO client, making it look odd from a player’s perspective.

Loss

Loss is pretty easy to understand too. Data is sent in little packages called “packets,” and sometimes these packets get lost on their way to or from the server.

This happens mostly when playing on a wireless connection, but it can happen on wired connections as well. Loss is measured in a percentage of total packets sent and can cause similar issues to high ping, including increased stuttering and teleporting players around.

Choke

Choke is a little more involved, but still isn’t too hard to understand. Choke happens when there’s too much information running through a user’s connection. The best way to visualize choke is to think about an internet connection like a big highway.

Choke occurs when that highway gets clogged, usually when several people are using the same connection. There are ways to make sure CSGO’s data get priority on the highway, but limiting the number of devices using the same connection is the simplest way.

There are three more settings on the bottom of the graph: tick, sv, and var. These all have to do with the quality of the server and aren’t important for this guide. If they turn yellow or red, however, use the “Report Server” function to let Valve know.

Customizing CSGO’s net graph command

The net graph is kind of big and it will cover the loadout if left at its default position and size. Here are some commands and their effects that allow you to move the net graph almost anywhere you want. We’ve included a cheat sheet at the bottom for an easy way to position the graph.

Using the command below with these values will move the whole graph to the right side (1), the middle (2), or the left side (3). This

net_graphpos (1) (2) (3) (4-310)

You can also move the graph to somewhere between these presets. Net_graphpos 4-310 moves the graph back to the right from where it starts at value 3 a little at a time. The default is 1.

This command tells the game to resize the graph depending on the resolution. Most like the graph smaller, so enter a 0. The default is 1.

net_graphproportionalfont (1) (0)

Finally, this command lets a player move the graph up and down. The graph starts to rise at 100, and 1020 is the highest value that still shows the graph. While the graph will never disappear off the bottom of the screen, it can off the top. If that happens, using one of the net_graphpos commands above will bring it back.

Net_graphheight (100-1020)

Finally, here’s a quick cheat sheet that you can view below or click for a larger image.

Unless you put these commands into your autoexec, you will have to enter them every time you start Counter-Strike. We recommend setting one up through this guide to protect your keybinds and settings just in case CSGO needs a fresh install.

M Alzamora

About M Alzamora

There are few things that writer M Alzamora loves more in life than Pokemon. And there are even fewer things that she loves more than her favorite Pokemon, Eevee. But M’s appreciation for gaming isn’t just limited to Nintendo’s famous pocket monsters. She’s interested in every type of game across every genre of gaming, and she has the credentials to prove it. M’s work has also been seen on Working Classicists and gaming sites.

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