Black Ops 6 tech test with benchmarks: Light and shade in the new Call of Duty

A step forward.

While the campaign of Modern Warfare 3 had to face some harsh criticism, the single-player mode of Black Ops 6 is being much better received by the press and players. Find out in our benchmark test whether the technology lives up to the expectations of a triple-A game.

Florian Glaser, 👁 Florian Glaser (translated by Daisy Dickson), Published 11/01/2024 🇩🇪 🇫🇷 ...

Test systems

be quiet! Silent Base 802 (RTX 4080 & RX 7900 XT)

We currently carry out our gaming benchmarks with these devices. Clicking on the photos will take you to the respective manufacturer's website. More details on the specifications are listed at the end of the article.

Tech

Every year, Call of Duty fans are provided with new versions from various developers. Treyarch and Raven Software were mainly responsible for Black Ops 6. From a rating perspective, the latest installment in the series is performing much better than its predecessor, which we also subjected to a benchmark check back in 2023. Graphically, players are offered decent to sometimes good fare, although there is often still room for improvement. Even at the maximum quality level, some textures and effects are only partially impressive. In this respect, more should be possible in 2024, especially as the game will set you back a steep 70 dollars on Steam.

Meanwhile, tuning fans can look forward to super extensive graphics options extending across several submenus due to the sheer volume. Starting with the display tab, in which you can change classics such as resolution, aspect ratio, frame rate and many other settings (including an optional FPS limit). The quality menu is particularly full. There are almost 30 controls, which sometimes have more and sometimes less influence on performance and image display. A VRAM display helps to assess the effects. We also like that there are text explanations and, in some cases, comparison images for the individual settings.

Handy: Almost all adjustments are applied without needing to restart the game and there are several presets to change most settings in one go. As befits a modern game, Black Ops 6 supports various upscaling modes, including DLSS, FSR and XeSS. However, at this point in time (as of November 1, 2024), these don't run the smoothest, as we will show in a moment using the benchmarks. In general, the upscaling setting still seems to be buggy at the moment. If you activate DLSS and leave the menu, the game automatically switches to FidelityFX CAS, unless you set the sharpening option to 0 instead of 50.

Another major issue in our eyes is the poor user experience, especially at the first launch or launches. This was already the case upon the release of its predecessors, but has now become even worse here and there. The game not only requires an Activision account, but it also forces you to add a telephone number for the Steam version. Preloading shaders, which can take several minutes and which came into fashion with Call of Duty, also leads to waiting times. We are generally not a big fan of the overarching Call of Duty app, as game or mode changes often force you to restart.

Benchmark

The integrated benchmark, whose presence is generally praiseworthy, also caused us to scratch our heads, as it is available directly in the graphics menu this time—but only if you are currently in multiplayer mode. Apart from this, the benchmark cuts a good figure. After a short camera movement, the view switches to the first-person perspective and several action-packed and graphics-intensive scenes with fire and explosions etc are played.

As you can see in the video below, the entire sequence lasts just under 50 seconds. At the end, a very detailed evaluation is displayed including CPU, GPU and VRAM utilization as well as the performance in several zones. As this is a (multiplayer) game with a fast speed, the average should be at least 40fps or even better 60fps.

▶ load Youtube video

Results

FHD (1,920 x 1,080)

The graphics requirements are fairly moderate for a first-person shooter, which suggests it has been optimized well. For example, the Radeon 780M iGPU, which is very popular with entry-level laptops and handhelds, can handle medium settings (Balanced preset) in Full HD quite well. With the Intel Arc Graphics 140V, on the other hand, it tends to be enough—if at all—for the Minimum preset.

Call of Duty Black Ops 6
1920x1080 Basic Preset 1920x1080 Balance Preset 1920x1080 Ultra Preset 1920x1080 Extreme Preset
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, i9-13900K Desktop-PC Asus ROG Strix Z790-F	241 (146^min) fps ∼100% 229 (145^min) fps ∼100% 192 (136^min) fps ∼100% 180 (129^min) fps ∼100%
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT, i9-13900K Desktop-PC Asus ROG Strix Z790-F	218 (147^min) fps ∼90% 210 (131^min) fps ∼92% 190 (137^min) fps ∼99% 172 (125^min) fps ∼96%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX XMG Neo 16 E23	191 (123^min) fps ∼79% 181 (122^min) fps ∼79% 155 (111^min) fps ∼81% 145 (103^min) fps ∼81%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU, i9-13950HX Razer Blade 16 Mid 23	148 (101^min) fps ∼61% 138 (100^min) fps ∼60% 112 (77^min) fps ∼58% 110 (82^min) fps ∼61%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX XMG Pro 15 E23	140 (96^min) fps ∼58% 135 (95^min) fps ∼59% 103 (77^min) fps ∼54% 97 (72^min) fps ∼54%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, R9 7940HS Razer Blade 14 Mid 23	137 (96^min) fps ∼57% 123 (86^min) fps ∼54% 86 (63^min) fps ∼45% 82 (60^min) fps ∼46%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU, i7-13700H Medion Erazer Scout E20	116 (89^min) fps ∼48% 106 (74^min) fps ∼46% 74 (58^min) fps ∼39% 71 (51^min) fps ∼39%
AMD Radeon 780M, Z1 Extreme Asus ROG Ally Z1 Extreme	48 (36^min) fps ∼20% 43 (31^min) fps ∼19% 30 (19^min) fps ∼16% 26 (17^min) fps ∼14%
Intel Arc Graphics 140V, Core Ultra 7 258V Asus Zenbook S 14 UX5406	37 (25^min) fps ∼15% 36 (28^min) fps ∼16% 26 (17^min) fps ∼14% 24 (16^min) fps ∼13%

QHD (2,560 x 1,440)

If a current mid-range GPU is under the hood of your computer, you will be well equipped for QHD. Starting with a mobile GeForce RTX 4050, 2,560 x 1,440 pixels and maximum settings can already be selected.

Call of Duty Black Ops 6
2560x1440 Extreme Preset 2560x1440 Extreme Preset + DLSS Quality 2560x1440 Extreme Preset + FSR Quality
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT, i9-13900K Desktop-PC Asus ROG Strix Z790-F	147 (108^min) fps ∼100% 151 (113^min) fps ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, i9-13900K Desktop-PC Asus ROG Strix Z790-F	144 (108^min) fps ∼98% 151 (125^min) fps ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX XMG Neo 16 E23	114 (86^min) fps ∼78% 122 (90^min) fps ∼81%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU, i9-13950HX Razer Blade 16 Mid 23	89 (45^min) fps ∼61% 96 (70^min) fps ∼64%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX XMG Pro 15 E23	72 (53^min) fps ∼49% 80 (58^min) fps ∼53%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, R9 7940HS Razer Blade 14 Mid 23	59 (43^min) fps ∼40% 64 (47^min) fps ∼42%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU, i7-13700H Medion Erazer Scout E20	50 (36^min) fps ∼34% 55 (39^min) fps ∼36%

UHD (3,840 x 2,160)

You don't need to have access to an absolute top model when playing on 4K displays, either. 3,840 x 2160 pixels and the Extreme preset are properly conjured up on the screen with the help of a laptop GeForce RTX 4070 or higher. Unfortunately, upscaling is not yet fully mature. When activating DLSS or FSR Quality, the performance in UHD is sometimes barely better or even worse. The developers definitely need to work on this.

Call of Duty Black Ops 6
3840x2160 Extreme Preset 3840x2160 Extreme Preset + DLSS Quality 3840x2160 Extreme Preset + FSR Quality
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT, i9-13900K Desktop-PC Asus ROG Strix Z790-F	102 (78^min) fps ∼100% 94 (72^min) fps ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, i9-13900K Desktop-PC Asus ROG Strix Z790-F	93 (71^min) fps ∼91% 94 (70^min) fps ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX XMG Neo 16 E23	71 (52^min) fps ∼70% 72 (51^min) fps ∼77%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU, i9-13950HX Razer Blade 16 Mid 23	57 (42^min) fps ∼56% 58 (43^min) fps ∼62%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX XMG Pro 15 E23	44 (36^min) fps ∼43% 47 (34^min) fps ∼50%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, R9 7940HS Razer Blade 14 Mid 23	36 (25^min) fps ∼35% 37 (26^min) fps ∼39%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU, i7-13700H Medion Erazer Scout E20	29 (20^min) fps ∼28% 30 (21^min) fps ∼32%

Overview

Test system details

Mobile	Graphics card	Processor	RAM
XMG Neo 16 E23	Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 @175 W TGP (16 GB GDDR6X)	Intel Core i9-13900HX	2 x 16 GB DDR5
Razer Blade 16 Mid 23	Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 @175 W TGP (12 GB GDDR6X)	Intel Core i9-13950HX	2 x 16 GB DDR5
XMG Pro 15 E23	Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 @140 W TGP (8 GB GDDR6)	Intel Core i9-13900HX	2 x 16 GB DDR5
Razer Blade 14 Mid 23	Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 @140 W TGP (8 GB GDDR6)	AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS	2 x 8 GB DDR5
Medion Erazer Scout E20	Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 @100 W TGP (6 GB GDDR6)	Intel Core i7-13700H	2 x 8 GB DDR5
Asus Zenbook S 14	Intel Arc Graphics 140V	Intel Core Ultra 7 258V	32 GB LPDDR5-8533
Asus ROG Ally Z1 Extreme	AMD Radeon 780M	AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme	16 GB LPDDR5-6400

Tower PC	Graphics card	Processor	RAM
Asus ROG Strix Z790-F	Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 (16 GB GDDR6X) AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT (20 GB GDDR6)	Intel Core i9-13900K	2 x 24 GB DDR5 G.Skill

4K monitor	Operating system	Nvidia driver	AMD driver	Intel driver
Philips Evnia 329M1RV	Windows 11	566.03	24.10.1	101.6044

Loading Comments

Comment on this article

Editor of the original article: Florian Glaser - Managing Editor Gaming Laptops - 638 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2009

I discovered my interest in computers in my childhood, growing up with MS-DOS and Windows 3.1 in the early 1990s. I was especially fascinated with computer games, even from an early age. From Monkey Island through Lands of Lore to Doom, I tried every game I could get my hands on. I have been working for Notebookcheck since 2009 with my focus mostly being on high-performance gaming laptops.

Translator: Daisy Dickson - Translator - 361 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2023

Originally from Scotland, I grew up and lived in Germany until I completed my high school qualifications before moving back to Scotland to complete my university studies. Growing up bilingual led me to form a close relationship with the English and German languages, often working in the fields of teaching and translation. Most of my childhood was shaped by playing around on new consoles, computers and gadgets and getting to grips with the new craze of the internet and smartphones. This interest has stayed with me well into adulthood. Nowadays, I live in Glasgow and work as a freelance translator and digital media coordinator. I have been translating for Notebookcheck since early 2023.

Please share our article, every link counts!

> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > Reviews > Black Ops 6 tech test with benchmarks: Light and shade in the new Call of Duty

Florian Glaser, 2024-11- 1 (Update: 2024-11- 1)

Legend
5	Stutters – This game is very likely to stutter and have poor frame rates. Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, average frame rates are expected to fall below 25fps
	May Stutter – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, stutters and poor frame rates are expected.
30	Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 25fps
40	Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 35fps
60	Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 58fps
	May Run Fluently – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, fluent frame rates are expected.
?	Uncertain – This graphics card experienced unexpected performance issues during testing for this game. A slower card may be able to achieve better and more consistent frame rates than this particular GPU running the same benchmark scene.
	Uncertain – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game and no reliable interpolation can be made based on the performances of surrounding cards of the same class or family.
The value in the fields displays the average frame rate of all values in the database. Move your cursor over the value to see individual results.

Pos	Model	< Prev Next > Call of Duty Black Ops 6 (2024)
Pos	Model	low 1920x1080 Basic Preset	med. 1920x1080 Balance Preset	high 1920x1080 Ultra Preset	ultra 1920x1080 Extreme Preset	QHD DLSS 2560x1440 Extreme Preset + DLSS Quality	QHD FSR 2560x1440 Extreme Preset + FSR Quality	QHD 2560x1440 Extreme Preset	4K DLSS 3840x2160 Extreme Preset + DLSS Quality	4K FSR 3840x2160 Extreme Preset + FSR Quality	4K 3840x2160 Extreme Preset
3	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090	258	236	184	174	172		159	148		117
6	AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX	242	216	160	151		142	141		107	112
9	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080	241	229	192	180	151		144	94		93
14	AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT	218	210	190	172		151	147		94	102
20	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU	191	181	155	145	126ⁿ²	126	103ⁿ²	74ⁿ²	72	73.5ⁿ²
22	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090	162	149	106	100	101		72	65		43
30	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU	148	138	112	110	96		89	58		57
45	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti	164	148	107	102	99		76	65		47
50	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU	140.5ⁿ²	125.5ⁿ⁴	91.5ⁿ⁴	85ⁿ⁴	72.5ⁿ²		65ⁿ³	42.5ⁿ²		41.5ⁿ²
56	AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT	155	140	95	89		86	60		47	32
57	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU	130	119	80.5ⁿ²	75ⁿ²	69ⁿ²	68	56ⁿ²	42ⁿ²	39	33.5ⁿ²
58	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti	142	129	93	88	86		64	54		38
59	Intel Arc B580	93	87	62	59			42			25
60	Intel Arc A770	89	81	64	61			47			30
61	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060	137	124	84	81	64		58	35		34
67	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU	137	119.5ⁿ²	83ⁿ²	79ⁿ²	64		59	37		36
80*	AMD Radeon RX 7600M XT	143	129	82	77		64	60		35	35
82	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060	111	100	67	63			47			29
115	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Super (Desktop)	70	66	41	40	42		27
Pos	Model	< Prev Next >Call of Duty Black Ops 6
Pos	Model	low	med.	high	ultra	QHD DLSS	QHD FSR	QHD	4K DLSS	4K FSR	4K
117	AMD Radeon RX 6600	103	93	61	59		55	38		29	19
162	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Super (Desktop)	57	53	33	31			19
166	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU	116	106	74	71	55		50	30		29
185	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Super (Desktop)	47	43	26	9
227	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2050 Mobile	40	37	25	19
228*	Intel Arc Graphics 140V	37	36	26	24
232	NVIDIA GeForce MX570	45	34
276*	AMD Radeon 780M	48	43	30	26
463*	Intel UHD Graphics Xe 750 32EUs (Rocket Lake)	8
625*	AMD Radeon 610M	11	10	7	7