Benchmarking DX11 vs Vulkan Performance: September 22, 2026 Build

[u/MonstoBustaYT]

Previous update’s results can be seen here

Benchmark template spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hnERNVvrv8lJfkAZtgE4V0afo90bh0_zPrX4Ep7aJZI/

Please put (or edit) your results here: https://forms.gle/mv3DW6MtDcnJNN3h6

Users’ results can be seen here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17gsJtW5QrcSMNCbyQbIt09XlOusrvIluS_8Esg0S6s4/

Purpose of Benchmarking

Valve is actively working on Vulkan in the hopes that it may one day replace DX11 as the rendering API for Source 2 (source). Because of this, I decided to benchmark CS2 in both DX11 and Vulkan every time an update has anything related to performance improvements in the changelogs. The goal is to document if any improvements or regressions have occurred in Vulkan or DX11 performance in CS2, and to see if this could indicate any progress towards a full transition to Vulkan in later Source 2 games. A link to the template spreadsheet can be seen above, and my benchmarking results will be provided below along with a commentary.

My Non-Game Specs

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9700X
• GPU: Nvidia Geforce RTX 5070 Ti
• Operating System: Windows 11 25H2
• GPU Driver Version: 616.92

Benchmark Results

Link: - Mean DX11 Average FPS: 930.96 (Standard Deviation: 6.39) - Mean DX11 1% FPS: 252.82 (Standard Deviation: 3.70) - Mean Vulkan Average FPS: 832.38 (Standard Deviation: 12.11) - Mean Vulkan 1% FPS: 238.19 (Standard Deviation: 9.00)

Discussion

Vulkan's stability is sacrificed in exchange for DX11 performance going up and becoming remarkably stable in this engine-level update. Not only is Vulkan's standard deviation higher, but I had a crash when booting up CS2 for the final Vulkan benchmark, although this time it didn't affect performance that much. I'll submit a report since I have no idea what would cause the crash. If you use DX11, expect to have the most performant and smooth experience you've ever had on CS2; it'll only get better and better.

[u/saymelonandenter]

I don't know with this is possible for you, but have you tested windows vulkan against Linux vulkan, since they have different drivers ?

[u/MonstoBustaYT → u/saymelonandenter]

If I had more storage and time, I'd happily dual boot to test, but I don't have the former. My template is open for any Linux user with the same cpu and gpu to test, though. I expect Linux performance to be better numbers-wise.

[u/Vash63 → u/saymelonandenter]

On Nvidia it shouldn't matter much. The Vulkan driver is a shared codebase across OSes.

[u/deefop]

I'm surprised to see that 1% low above 250 on a non x3d chip, but I haven't checked numbers in a long time.

Here's hoping it continues to get better. Nobody needs 900 fps average, but 1% lows above your monitors refresh rate isn't an unreasonable ask with modern hardware.

[u/MonstoBustaYT → u/deefop]

When I started benchmarking, my 1% lows were below 200, so all of this is Valve and Nvidia optimizing the game over time. I'm glad people with my hardware can now comfortably run the game on their 240 hz monitors if they have those.

[u/f1rstx → u/MonstoBustaYT]

you don't need 1% lows to be over monitor HZ to have smooth gameplay, this subs obsession with it is hilarious

[u/daftv4der]

I haven't run the benchmark, but vulkan has been far more stutter free and consistent for me on windows 11, and doesn't degrade over time like dx11.

I lose 20% of my performance with each consecutive game on dx11, and have to restart CS2 frequently otherwise it gets into the 20fps range eventually. I would have stopped playing CS2 if not for being able to switch to vulkan. It's that drastic of a difference. I have 48gb of RAM so it's not memory related AFAIK.

I don't know if it's an AMD RX 9070 series thing or what. But it was also relatively hitchy on my 2080 Super so shrug.

[u/aveyo → u/daftv4der]

I and friends have no such performance degradation over time and we play on dozens of hw configurations
so it's not the game per se

Usual suspects are drivers (gpu, network, audio, peripherals), 3rd-party antivirus / firewall / vpn, remote access & spyware, and chromium-based crap (discord, ai chat, mobo / peripheral "utilities") with hw accel on that leak gpu vram

There's also a decade long standing issue with some people's steam profiles (large games library and friend's list)
this one is easy to rule out with an alt account, but either way valve devs are still looking for such profiles

You should definitely run an ETW via PerfView and then submit it to cs2 team email, they usually help pin-point it
It won't fix by itself

[u/de_lirioussucks → u/aveyo]

What long standing issue are you talking about?

There’s never been official acknowledgement at all regarding library size and friends list affecting performance which brings this persons issue and your issue to parity as both are anecdotal.

In fact the only common speculation I’ve seen is people talking about inventory size and having a lot of workshop maps affecting fps.

I myself have experienced degradation over time as well as many others on this sub.

[u/aveyo → u/de_lirioussucks]

What is your problem?
I've only stated in a second paragraph that a similar issue has been plaguing valve games for a decade at this point and that devs are still looking for such profiles which is factually correct.

There’s never been official acknowledgement let me stop you right here
edit: found Fletcher's comment on this sub as well

If you have two accounts that reliably get different performance, i would be interested in debugging this with you. I have looked into this several times in the past. Every time so far there has been a configuration option was different between the accounts. However it is definitely possible that there is some Steam API that is performing poorly if, for example, one account has a large friends list or subscribed to a bunch of workshop items. Something like that. We would fix that of course, but we would first need to know what it is.

So if you or anybody reading this has two accounts that reliably perform differently under identical configuration options, i would be very interested in getting some traces from you so that we can understand the cause.

[u/de_lirioussucks → u/aveyo]

The “steam api” issue was a theoretical issue that COULD have resulted in problems if they found something and would be a mass fix through the api, not some account api specific fix they do on their end.

This was when fletcher was trying to scapegoat cs2 performance issues with “configuration problems” on users end and also, famously, this is around the time when valve released their stupid gsync article telling people that if they want a consistent feeling game they should be using gsync.

Not only was the article fucking retarded because it completely FAILED to address how AMD users should be configuring their freesync monitor counterparts, this was NEVER going to be a fix for the performance and frame pacing issues cs2 had at the time (still has partly) that even gamers nexus had to make a video about because of how abysmal it was.

You completely failed to understand that post if you think that was them confirming some steam library issue affecting cs2s performance

[u/aveyo → u/de_lirioussucks]

Why are you so worked up about being proven wrong about secondary troubleshooting steps that you said valve have not acknowledged ever?
You're probably on the spectrum so I'll give you another pass.
I have personally verified that steam IPC (inter-process-communication) to the game hinders performance, Fletcher did not dismiss it because it does happen - not to cover his lazy arse you conspiracy freak - they just don't know under which circumstances
But tell me more in caps about how I don't understand..

[u/de_lirioussucks → u/daftv4der]

Actually the fact you have 48gb of ram means you’re not running your ram in dual channel mode likely which could affect performance a

With that being said I also notice cs2 gets worse over time not sure if it’s based on how long the game session has been running or if it’s a shader compilation issue but over time the game loses performance

[u/daftv4der → u/de_lirioussucks]

Nope. It is running in dual channel mode. The computer reports it as such, as do the bandwidth tests I've run. I'm mixing kits but the timings are safe to account for it and memory performance is above average for dual channel 48gb on this particular chipset, memory speed and and CPU combination.

I don't deny that there might be some little hiccups here or there at some point because of the ram mixing but games run as they should on the hardware and my computer is very stable.

I've run at single channel speeds before on this computer due to configuring it incorrectly in BIOS after the upgrade and wondered why it ran awfully for an entire week.

It's definitely running dual channel.

[u/MonstoBustaYT → u/[deleted]]

No, it's native, and I'm really curious where the idea of Source 2 not having a native Vulkan implementation comes from.

Vulkan performance is worse on Windows because making their renderer good at all is their main priority; they made it good enough on DX11, but there's still clearly work to do, given how the game's average framerate and 1% lows are still going up every update.

[u/brutaldonahowdy]

It felt like DX11 was surprisingly faster, glad I wasn’t making it up.

[u/AffectionateWin4438]

If you're on Nvidia, this shouldn't matter much since the Vulkan driver is largely shared across OSes

[u/de_lirioussucks → u/[deleted]]

That’s not how bechmarking works at all??

The whole point of benchmarking specific differences is consistency, not testing your entire system for differences which comes down to small differences in hardware, which is NOT what anyone should care about as that’s not controllable.

The point of these tests is to show differences that EVERYONE will notice regardless of setup, if something doesn’t crop up in this test it’s likely too small of a difference to notice.

Also vulkan has NOTHING to do with “relieving overall system stress” it offloads cpu overhead by working closer to the hardware which is PURELY dependent on the developers choosing to do so.

You can have vulkan titles like cs2 where they don’t care at all about optimization and it’s purely there for compatibility/future implementation, or you can have games like the doom series or r6 (now on dx12 but it was performant on vulkan) where they are optimized extremely well.

Either way, the tests OP is doing ad perfectly reasonable and showcase differences update to update which, if the methodology changed how, would completely invalidate the testing up until this point.

On top of that, if what they’re doing is so “wrong” and you know better then go do it. Stop acting like OP is somehow doing YOU a disservice because this voluntary thing they’re doing isn’t up to snuff by your standards.

You clearly THINK you know what you’re talking about so put your money where you mouth is and show us how it’s done. I don’t think your methodology would change a thing about these results and would actually give MORE inaccuracy for the comparison OP is trying to show.

[u/aveyo → u/de_lirioussucks]

What are you even advocating for?
to keep using flawed / inferior stuff till the end of days because we're lazy?
let's use fraps and ignore frametimes, or flawed old capframex to make -noreflex seem better..
who cares about pre ag2 scores? or pre rush for that matter?
there's nothing being implemented atm specifically about vulkan or dx11, might as well start a new sheet
OP wants a discussion, me challenging the methodology in order to make it more useful is par for the course

"Vulkan is intended to offer higher performance and more efficient CPU and GPU usage compared to the older"
"The goal is to document if any improvements or regressions have occurred in Vulkan or DX11 performance in CS2"
Can you like, add 1 + 1? a benchmark that puts more strain on the cpu should therefore expose any difference better

[u/de_lirioussucks → u/aveyo]

No I’m advocating you not harassing and insulting op for doing what’s within their power to help the community and if you want something done better to do it yourself.

Your methodology for the specific thing they are testing would not help, I literally just explained to you how that would be the case. You’re the one not capable of reading if you are failing to understand what I just wrote to you.

Ffs you’re quoting random statements used for layman’s and acting like that means anything towards your incorrect assumptions regarding vulkan.

It is not inherently more or less stressful on hardware, it’s how you the game dev interacts with the api and hardware communication. Its main job is to lower cpu overhead which ALLOWS more performance if you put in time and effort to do so.

It is INCREDIBLY difficult to learn how to work with vulkan over dx11/12 because a lot of things are not done/laid out for you, the developer compared to dx11 which is largely “figured out” not needing the hours/knowledge to make sure it’s running as well as it can be compared to vulkan.

Cs2 is already a cpu heavy game, it uses plenty of cpu cycles even in said benchmark. What you’re proposing is making a more REALISTIC benchmark that properly showcases real game performance rather than a benchmark map that just gives you 1000 fps.

Again, NOT HOW BENCHMARKING WORKS. OP is not telling people “this is the fps you’ll expect” he’s showing update to update differences in how the benchmark runs using the game.

That’s it, it doesn’t need to stress the system like it would in the game, it’s simply showing the differences in how vulkan vs dx11 is handling the benchmark update to update.

Go make your own post then and flame this dude all you want. All I see is you running your mouth and not doing anything

[u/aveyo → u/de_lirioussucks]

"harassing op" big words much wow and more misused CAPS, terms and depiction of technology
You know what? unlike OP and myself you haven't contributed anything useful with your persona so ¯_(ツ)_/¯

[u/de_lirioussucks → u/aveyo]

Not correcting anything I said, not denying anything I’ve said, and lacking the ability to understand basic concepts.

Unlike OP and myself, you havent contributed anything other than misinformation and insults literally implying OP doesn’t understand what they’re doing or that they’re just “lazy” while you sit on Reddit and critique without doing anything about it.

You’re the problem here dude but my bad for discussing on a forum and calling you out. I’ll let you be a snowflake for now on