Top 10 CS2 Pros with the Most Expensive Setups at Thunderpick World Championship 2025

Top 10 CS2 Pros with the Most Expensive Setups at Thunderpick World Championship 2025

Kaustavmani Choudhury

16 Oct, 2025, 09:15

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Last updated: 17 Oct, 2025, 14:35

The Thunderpick World Championship 2025 is showcasing some elite CS2 talent. Although these pros use standard hardware provided to them by the tournament organizers for the events, this doesn’t stop them from pulling out all the stops when it comes to their own at-home setups.

According to some research done by Thunderpick, these setups factor in the retail value of the mouse, monitor, mousepad, keyboard, headset, GPU, and CPU – revealing some numbers and surprises among world-class competitors.

Most Expensive Setup Leader: XANTARES

İsmailсan "XANTARES" Dörtkardeş from Aurora tops the chart with the highest total setup cost, valued at £3,289. With state-of-the-art components, including the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 GPU and Intel Core i9-14900KS CPU, he sets the standard for luxury among CS2 gaming professionals.​

XANTARES for Aurora at PGL Bucharest 2025
XANTARES for Aurora at PGL Bucharest 2025 (Image Source: Sebastian Pandelache/PGL)

Thunderpick’s Top 10 List

Below is the official ranking of the top ten CS2 pros with the most expensive gaming setups at the Thunderpick World Championship 2025:

Edit
RankPlayerTeamSetup Value
1XANTARESAurora£3,289.00
2nicoodozOG Esports£2,602.00
3innocentVenom£2,602.00
4woxicAurora£2,563.00
5w0nderfulNatus Vincere£2,458.00
6jottAAAAurora£2,395.00
7WicadiaAurora£2,394.00
8arrozdoceOG Esports£2,378.00
9Luken9z Team£2,369.00
10iMNatus Vincere£2,314.00

Insights On Gear

While XANTARES stands out for his investment in cutting-edge tech, several of his teammates from Aurora, and even some OG Esports players, follow closely with setups exceeding £2,300. Players from Natus Vincere, 9z Team and Tier-2 team Venom round out the top ten.

Common Peripherals Among Top Players

Based on the latest data from ProSettings.net, certain brands and models appear repeatedly across the top 10. Here are the most notable recurring items:

  • Monitors: BenQ Zowie XL2546K and XL2586X are the go-to choices for several players, valued for their high refresh rates (up to 540 Hz).​
  • Mice: ZOWIE mice (FK1/FK2), Lamzu Maya X 8K, and Logitech G Pro X Superlight crop up most often.​
  • Mousepads: SteelSeries QcK+, Zowie G-SR, and ES Tiger Lei Ling remain popular, showing a preference for control-oriented surfaces.​
  • Keyboards: Logitech G Pro X, Logitech G710+, and Razer Huntsman series are frequent picks.​
  • Headsets: HyperX Cloud III Wireless, SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro, and Logitech G Pro X Wireless are common across the board.​

Interestingly, research highlights that the priciest setups do not necessarily translate to better performance or higher world rankings. Some of the world's top teams, including FURIA and The MongolZ, sport comparatively affordable setups, with FURIA averaging around £1,750 per player and The MongolZ averaging approximately £1,004 per player.

This demonstrates that elite gaming skill doesn't always demand the latest and most expensive hardware to compete at the highest level.

Methodology Behind The Rankings

Thunderpick’s analysis incorporates latest public, voluntary, and marketplace data from ProSettings.net. If a player uses unreleased or unpriced hardware, it’s excluded from the total. It’s vital to note that players are often supplied with top-tier gear by sponsors or organizations, making the value less an indicator of personal expenditure and more a reflection of hardware access.

The Thunderpick World Championship 2025 reveals a fascinating spectrum of gear value among CS2’s best. Whether chasing the luxury of a 3,000+ setup or relying on trusted essentials, players continue to prove that at Counter-Strike’s highest level, talent, practice, and precision matter just as much – if not more – than the price tag on their desks.


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Featured Image Credits: Bhautik Patel/Edited by Strafe Esports

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