Call of Duty Black Ops 4 Notebook and Desktop Benchmarks

Ciao single player, hello Battle Royale. Activision and Treyarch have jumped on the Battle Royale bandwagon, developing Black Ops 4 as a multiplayer game and abandoning a story-based campaign that has been a feature of all previous Call of Duty games. Our benchmark should provide you with all the information you need about what graphics card you need to play the latest instalment in the CoD series.

Florian Glaser, 👁 Florian Glaser, ✓ Andrea Grüblinger (translated by Alex Alderson), Published 10/23/2018 🇩🇪 🇫🇷 ...

Technology

The IW engine that has underpinned Call of Duty titles since 2005 has often divided opinion. Infinity Ward, Treyarch and Sledgehammer Games have continued to upgrade the engine over the last 13 years and while some players celebrate Call of Duty games for their good looks, others feel that the IW engine is antiquated. Black Ops 4 looks worse in our opinion than either Battlefield 1 or Battlefield V, but the game has decent graphics overall. Specifically, effects like fire, smoke and sparks help to create a consistent atmosphere while playing games. Characters and levels are mostly richly detailed, but there are some texture sharpness inconsistencies and muddy-looking surfaces.

One of the biggest changes from Black Ops 3 to Black Ops 4 is its distribution method on PC. Activision switched from Steam to Battle.net in 2017 with the release of Destiny 2, a decision that the company has stuck to with Black Ops 4. Battle.net is necessary for running the game even if you buy a physical copy as the box only contains a download key rather than DVDs. Black Ops 4 is a 63 GB download at the time of writing, which is a considerable size even for a triple-A title released in 2018.

Speaking of considerable, Black Ops 4 is VRAM-hungry like many other modern triple-A titles. The graphics menu indicates that playing the game at 1920x1080 in maximum details uses 3.8 GB VRAM, which increases to around 5.9 GB when the resolution is upped to 3840x2160.

Black Ops 4 is a customizer’s dream with over 30 graphics options, albeit many only subtly change the look of the game. Unfortunately, there are no practical presets, which many of Black Ops 4’s competitors include. Tweaking the graphics options does not require restarting the game though, which is a plus as the introductory videos can't be skipped. However, the game often loads between menu changes, which is rather frustrating.

The IW engine is not yet optimised perfectly either with short stutters in all game modes including in cutscenes as the game loaded in the background. The game also sometimes takes a while to log in and occasionally disconnects with an error message displayed onscreen. Moreover, performance slumps in certain menus on many computers.

Buyers can expect typical CoD gameplay combined with Fortnite-style high speed and short action-packed battles. Those who prefer calmer and more tactical multiplayer games should look to PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and Rainbow Six Siege instead.

Benchmarks

The lack of a “real” single-player mode in Black Ops 4 made the search for a suitable benchmark difficult as performance differs among game modes. Conventional multiplayer modes like Team Deathmatch and Zombies have considerably smaller map sizes than Battle Royale, so correspondingly require fewer resources.

GeForce GTX 1080 @FHD/Ultra	Team Deathmatch (several minutes)	Zombies (several minutes)	Blackout (several minutes)	Benchmark-Sequence(~20 seconds)
Average Framerates	149 FPS	148 FPS	125 FPS	126 FPS

We chose to benchmark Black Ops 4 in Zombies rather than Blackout as the sequence in the latter mode changed each time, which would have caused inconsistent results. We benchmarked the game at the start of the Zombies campaign in Voyage of Despair because the thunderstorm effects and physics associated with a ship hitting an iceberg are just as taxing on systems as the Battle Royale mode.

As the below video demonstrates, we tested the game by walking along a set route for around 20 seconds and used FRAPS to calculate frame rates. Black Ops 4 is playable at 40 FPS, but the game only feels smooth at 60 FPS and higher. Performance differences between devices depend primarily on GPU power as the game seldom stresses most modern CPUs.

Results

HD – 1280x720

Low-end dedicated GPUs like the Nvidia GeForce 940M can handle Black Ops 4 at 1280x720. However, the game froze at launch on an Intel HD Graphics 630, demonstrating that Black Ops 4 is too resource-hungry for integrated GPUs.

Call of Duty Black Ops 4
1280x720 Low / Off
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal, TR 1950X NVIDIA Titan X Pascal	196 (163^min) fps ∼60%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop), i7-7740X Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition	191 (159^min) fps ∼58%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop), 6700K Desktop PC	165 (143^min) fps ∼50%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop), 6700K Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070	164 (142^min) fps ∼50%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop), 6700K Desktop PC	160 (136^min) fps ∼49%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980, 6700K Desktop PC	158 (135^min) fps ∼48%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q, i7-7700HQ Acer Predator Triton 700	136 (121^min) fps ∼41%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile, i7-7820HK Alienware 17 R4	134 (116^min) fps ∼41%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Mobile, 6820HK Asus G752VS	133 (117^min) fps ∼40%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile, 6820HK MSI GT62VR	132 (115^min) fps ∼40%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M, 6700HQ Asus G752VY	121 (106^min) fps ∼37%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M, 6700HQ MSI GS60 6QE	104 (90^min) fps ∼32%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile, i7-7700HQ Asus GL753VD	81.5 (67^min) fps ∼25%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M, i7-7700HQ MSI GL72 7QF	70 (51^min) fps ∼21%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M, 6700HQ MSI PE60 2QD	64 (45^min) fps ∼19%
NVIDIA GeForce MX150, i7-7700HQ MSI PL62	62.6 (43^min) fps ∼19%
NVIDIA GeForce MX150, i5-8550U Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro i7	63 (45^min) fps ∼19%
NVIDIA GeForce 940MX, 6700HQ MSI CX72 6QD	35.6 (27^min) fps ∼11%
NVIDIA GeForce 940M, 5700HQ MSI GP62 2QD	36.6 (27^min) fps ∼11%
AMD Radeon R9 M280X, FX-7600P Asus N551ZU-CN007H	23.5 (16^min) fps ∼7%
NVIDIA GeForce 920M, 2970M MSI CX61 2QC 2970M MS-16GD	14.8 (0^min) fps ∼4%
Intel UHD Graphics 620, i5-8550U Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro i7

FHD – 1920x1080

We would recommend using at least a GeForce GTX 1050 Ti or a GeForce GTX 970M to play the game at Full HD. While 40 FPS is achievable with those two cards, other less powerful midrange GPUs struggle at anything other than low graphics.

Call of Duty Black Ops 4
1920x1080 Medium / On 1920x1080 High / On 1920x1080 Very High / On
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal, TR 1950X NVIDIA Titan X Pascal	173.9 (130^min) fps ∼61% 168.4 (129^min) fps ∼60% 160.9 (120^min) fps ∼59%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop), i7-7740X Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition	162 (135^min) fps ∼57% 149 (130^min) fps ∼53% 145 (128^min) fps ∼54%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop), 6700K Desktop PC	145 (115^min) fps ∼51% 130 (103^min) fps ∼47% 126 (101^min) fps ∼46%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop), 6700K Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070	128 (91^min) fps ∼45% 116 (86^min) fps ∼42% 109 (84^min) fps ∼40%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q, i7-7700HQ Acer Predator Triton 700	116 (95^min) fps ∼41% 106 (87^min) fps ∼38% 102 (80^min) fps ∼38%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile, i7-7820HK Alienware 17 R4	115 (95^min) fps ∼40% 103 (88^min) fps ∼37% 99.2 (78^min) fps ∼37%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Mobile, 6820HK Asus G752VS	111 (84^min) fps ∼39% 101 (80^min) fps ∼36% 96.4 (75^min) fps ∼36%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop), 6700K Desktop PC	88.9 (64^min) fps ∼31% 80.1 (57^min) fps ∼29% 75.1 (56^min) fps ∼28%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980, 6700K Desktop PC	85.7 (62^min) fps ∼30% 77.1 (53^min) fps ∼28% 70 (52^min) fps ∼26%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile, 6820HK MSI GT62VR	81.8 (58^min) fps ∼29% 75.9 (52^min) fps ∼27% 69.6 (50^min) fps ∼26%
AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop), i7-7740X i7-7740X Asus X299 Prime	96 (73^min) fps ∼35%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M, 6700HQ Asus G752VY	67 (44^min) fps ∼23% 59.1 (42^min) fps ∼21% 55.8 (38^min) fps ∼21%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile, i7-7700HQ MSI GE72 7RE-046	35.5 (26^min) fps ∼13%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile, i5-7300HQ Xiaomi Mi Gaming Laptop 7300HQ 1050Ti	48.4 (33^min) fps ∼17%
AMD Radeon RX 460 (Desktop), i7-7740X XFX RX-460P4DFG5 Double Dissipation 4 GB, Asus X299 Prime	43.1 (32^min) fps ∼16%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M, 6700HQ MSI GS60 6QE	52.3 (37^min) fps ∼18% 45.5 (31^min) fps ∼16% 42.3 (31^min) fps ∼16%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile, i7-7700HQ Asus GL753VD	38.2 (27^min) fps ∼13% 34.8 (26^min) fps ∼12% 31.1 (23^min) fps ∼11%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M, 6700HQ MSI GE72 965M Ti	48.7 (37^min) fps ∼17% 40 (27^min) fps ∼14% 33.1 (24^min) fps ∼12%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M, i7-7700HQ MSI GL72 7QF	30.3 (19^min) fps ∼11% 25.3 (18^min) fps ∼9% 21.3 (14^min) fps ∼8%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M, 6700HQ MSI PE60 2QD	24.1 (14^min) fps ∼8%
NVIDIA GeForce MX150, i7-7700HQ MSI PL62	25.5 (15^min) fps ∼9% 22 (10^min) fps ∼8% 15.2 (8^min) fps ∼6%
NVIDIA GeForce MX150, i5-8550U Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro i7	26.2 (16^min) fps ∼9%
NVIDIA GeForce 940MX, 6700HQ MSI CX72 6QD	14 (10^min) fps ∼5% 12.3 (9^min) fps ∼4% 11.9 (7^min) fps ∼4%
NVIDIA GeForce 940M, 5700HQ MSI GP62 2QD	14.7 (10^min) fps ∼5%
AMD Radeon R9 M280X, FX-7600P Asus N551ZU-CN007H	12.5 (8^min) fps ∼4%

QHD – 2560x1440 & UHD – 3840x2160

Owners of a QHD monitor will need a high-end GPU to play Black Ops 4 at native resolution. We would recommend using at least a GeForce GTX 1060 or GeForce GTX 980 for playing in UHD at maximum graphics and a GeForce GTX 1080 for gaming in 4K.

Call of Duty Black Ops 4
2560x1440 Very High / On 3840x2160 Very High / On
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal, TR 1950X NVIDIA Titan X Pascal	62.6 (44^min) fps ∼56%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop), i7-7740X Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition	108 (75^min) fps ∼51% 56.1 (37^min) fps ∼50%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop), 6700K Desktop PC	89.2 (65^min) fps ∼42% 42.8 (28^min) fps ∼38%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile, i7-7820HK Alienware 17 R4	79.9 (60^min) fps ∼38% 40.8 (29^min) fps ∼36%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q, i7-7700HQ Acer Predator Triton 700	72.4 (55^min) fps ∼34% 35.4 (24^min) fps ∼32%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop), 6700K Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070	71.3 (54^min) fps ∼34% 34.4 (22^min) fps ∼31%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Mobile, 6820HK Asus G752VS	63.7 (48^min) fps ∼30% 31.4 (23^min) fps ∼28%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop), 6700K Desktop PC	47.9 (34^min) fps ∼23% 23.7 (15^min) fps ∼21%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980, 6700K Desktop PC	46.5 (33^min) fps ∼22% 22.4 (15^min) fps ∼20%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile, 6820HK MSI GT62VR	40.7 (28^min) fps ∼19% 21.5 (13^min) fps ∼19%
AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop), i7-7740X i7-7740X Asus X299 Prime	65 (50^min) fps ∼31% 30.5 (20^min) fps ∼27%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M, 6700HQ Asus G752VY	32.7 (22^min) fps ∼15% 16.3 (10^min) fps ∼15%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile, i7-7700HQ MSI GE72 7RE-046	10.2 (5^min) fps ∼9%
AMD Radeon RX 460 (Desktop), i7-7740X XFX RX-460P4DFG5 Double Dissipation 4 GB, Asus X299 Prime	12.8 (6^min) fps ∼11%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M, 6700HQ MSI GS60 6QE	25.8 (17^min) fps ∼12% 12.2 (7^min) fps ∼11%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile, i7-7700HQ Asus GL753VD	20.6 (13^min) fps ∼10% 9.6 (4^min) fps ∼9%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M, i7-7700HQ MSI GL72 7QF	13.8 (9^min) fps ∼7% 6.4 (3^min) fps ∼6%

Overview

Test Systems

Device	Graphics Card	Processor	RAM	OS
Desktop-PC I	MSI GeForce GTX 1080 (8 GB GDDR5X) MSI GeForce GTX 1070 (8 GB GDDR5) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6 GB GDDR5) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 (4 GB GDDR5)	Intel Core i7-6700K	2 x 8 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64-bit
Desktop-PC II	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (11 GB GDDR5X) ASUS GeForce GTX 980 Ti (6 GB GDDR5) XFX Radeon R9 Fury (4 GB HBM) Sapphire Radeon R9 290X (4 GB GDDR5) Sapphire Radeon R9 280X (3 GB GDDR5) MSI Radeon R7 370 (2 GB GDDR5)	Intel Core i7-4790K	2 x 4 GB DDR3	Windows 10 64-bit
Alienware 17 R4	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (8 GB GDDR5X)	Intel Core i7-7820HK	1 x 16 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64-bit
Acer Triton 700	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q (8 GB GDDR5X)	Intel Core i7-7700HQ	2x 16 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64-bit
ASUS G752VS	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (8 GB GDDR5)	Intel Core i7-6820HK	2 x 16 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64-bit
MSI GT62VR	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6 GB GDDR5)	Intel Core i7-6820HK	2 x 8 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64-bit
MSI GE72	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (4 GB GDDR5)	Intel Core i7-7700HQ	2 x 4 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64-bit
ASUS GL753VD	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (4 GB GDDR5)	Intel Core i7-7700HQ	1 x 8 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64-bit
MSI GL62	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (2 GB GDDR5)	Intel Core i7-7700HQ	2 x 4 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64-bit
ASUS G752VY	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M (4 GB GDDR5)	Intel Core i7-6700HQ	2 x 16 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64-bit
MSI GS60	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M (3 GB GDDR5)	Intel Core i7-6700HQ	2 x 4 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64-bit
MSI GE72	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M (2 GB GDDR5)	Intel Core i7-6700HQ	1 x 8 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64-bit
MSI GL72	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M (2 GB GDDR5)	Intel Core i7-7700HQ	1 x 8 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64-bit
MSI PE60	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M (2 GB GDDR5)	Intel Core i7-6700HQ	2 x 4 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64-bit
MSI PL62	NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2 GB GDDR5)	Intel Core i7-7700HQ	1 x 8 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64-bit
MSI CX72	NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2 GB DDR3)	Intel Core i7-6700HQ	2 x 8 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64-bit
MSI GP62	NVIDIA GeForce 940M (2 GB DDR3)	Intel Core i7-5700HQ	1 x 8 GB DDR3	Windows 10 64-bit
MSI CX61	NVIDIA GeForce 920M (2 GB DDR3)	Intel Celeron 2970M	1 x 8 GB DDR3	Windows 10 64-bit
ASUS N551ZU	AMD Radeon R9 M280X (4 GB GDDR5)	AMD FX-7600P	2 x 4 GB DDR3	Windows 10 64-bit

4K Monitor	NVIDIA driver	AMD driver
2 x Asus PB287Q, Philips 328P6VJEB	ForceWare 416.34	Adrenalin 18.10.1

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Editor of the original article: Florian Glaser - Managing Editor Gaming Laptops - 615 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: Alex Alderson - Senior Tech Writer - 9903 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2018

Prior to writing and translating for Notebookcheck, I worked for various companies including Apple and Neowin. I have a BA in International History and Politics from the University of Leeds, which I have since converted to a Law Degree. Happy to chat on Twitter or Notebookchat.

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > Reviews > Call of Duty Black Ops 4 Notebook and Desktop Benchmarks

Florian Glaser, 2018-10-23 (Update: 2018-10-26)

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.