I should clarify that you can surely play on a bare-bones computer with a low-end headset, mouse and such and be better than 90% of the people you'll find on PUB servers. If you find yourself enjoying this game (or other FPS or any other game for that matter) to the extent that you feel that investing in high-end hardware to bring that number up to say.. 99% of the people you'll find on PUB servers, you'll certainly notice the difference. If you get an ESEA subscription or find other places where people pay-to-play with people of a higher caliber than your run-of-the-mill PUB player you will also find a different story, however. Any edge you can afford to give yourself is a good one. Key word: 'afford' -- don't break your bank if you want to tighten up your CS game 5%.
There is a threshold with equipment that after a certain dollar value of said equipment there are very small gains in terms of what you receive in performance. You have to be very good to even notice the difference, and it's not a guarantee that said difference will result in a guaranteed improvement in performance, as many players grow accustomed to their set-ups over time. If you enjoy CS or any other game to the point where your skill is out-pacing your equipment and also to the point where purchasing high-end equipment is an option (not all of us have enough money to invest into high-end gaming hardware) then by all means do so. However, it's always a cost-benefit deal. You will pay more for a smaller increase in performance at high-end rather than low-end.
TL;DR: You won't become rambo all-of-a-sudden if you buy a top of the line machine gun. You have to start off at the machete like rambo did and once you get really good with that maybe the upgrade to the machine gun will be worth while.
P.S. Thank you, chase, for trying to help me explain my point! Much <3. Also much <3 maynard, even though you're being a poop-head.
Yeah. I'm an admin. What of it?