We propose a low-complexity transmission strategy in multi-user multiple-input multiple-output downlink systems. The adaptive strategy adjusts the precoding methods, denoted as the transmission mode, to improve the system sum rates while maintaining the number of simultaneously served users. Three linear precoding transmission modes are discussed, i.e., the block diagonalization zero-forcing, the cooperative zero-forcing (CZF), and the cooperative matched-filter (CMF). Considering both the number of data streams and the multiple-antenna configuration of users, we modify the common CZF and CMF modes by allocating data streams. Then, the transmission mode is selected between the modified ones according to the asymptotic sum rate analyses. As instantaneous channel state information is not needed for the mode selection, the computational complexity is significantly reduced. Numerical simulations confirm our analyses and demonstrate that the proposed scheme achieves substantial performance gains with very low computational complexity.