[freehunter]

When I played CS:S in CAL Open, I saw a lot of people putting the graphics all the way down so their vision wasn't obscured by dust in the air, or fluffy bushes, or sun glare, or particle effects.

I never played seriously enough to go as far as finding out if it made a difference. I just liked to play a pretty game.

[cryoshon]

CS:GO isn't that graphically advanced over CS:S. A lot of the more serious players will turn off props/doodads that don't have player collision.

Turning off bloom is always a good decision IMO... just looks ugly most of the time.