Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War Laptop and Desktop Benchmarks

Joy and sorrow. Technology-wise, Black Ops Cold War leaves a very mixed impression. In this article, we present our performance analysis of the latest Call of Duty title and examine the graphics settings menu thereof.

Florian Glaser, 👁 Florian Glaser, ✓ Brian Burriston (translated by Stanislav Kokhanyuk), Published 11/18/2020 🇩🇪 🇳🇱 ...

Technology

Cold War uses an improved version of the engine, which we saw in Black Ops 3 and 4. Some elements were also borrowed from IW 8.0, the engine of Call of Duty Modern Warfare. The Call of Duty Cold War supports DLSS and ray tracing, which can be enabled on Nvidia’s GPUs from the RTX series.

All in all, Cold War offers a lot of graphics settings, which makes navigating through the graphics settings menu somewhat challenging (see screenshots). This is made even more annoying by the fact that the game does not feature any graphics presets, which is why it may take a while to find the proper settings for some hardware configurations.

However, tinkerers will be pleased with such a great variety of graphics settings. In addition to the sliders for render resolution and draw distance, there is also a slider, which is used to adjust VRAM usage. Moreover, gamers can also set a frame rate cap.

As is the case with all the latest AAA titles (Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Watch Dogs Legion, …), Cold War needs a lot of video memory. According to the built-in VRAM gauge, on the highest settings the game requires 5 GB of VRAM at 1080p and over 6 GB of VRAM at 2160p with the optional HD texture pack.

The size of the game varies depending on which modes are installed (single-player campaign, multiplayer, zombie mode, …). The full game takes up over 100 GB of storage space. For perspective, with all the patches, Modern Warfare required a mind-boggling 250 GB of free storage space.

Thankfully, all graphics settings can be applied without a restart. The graphics menu contains explanations of what each setting does. Cold War looks reasonably well on medium settings. However, the visuals become truly impressive only on high settings.

Unfortunately, Cold War—just like some other CoD games at launch— suffers from a great many technical issues. Here are some of the problems, which we encountered while benchmarking:

In the Battlenet launcher, the game only starts after numerous tries.
We experienced graphics glitches and crashes.
The setting for screen space reflections is constantly being reverted to low.
The textures in the game world take several minutes to load in after the initial loading screen, just like in Call of Duty Modern Warfare, in which this issue persisted even after numerous patches.
There are no cloud saves in the single-player mode, which can help transfer the progress from one PC to another.
The sign-in process before you get to the main menu can take a while.
After changing the resolution, the full screen mode functions incorrectly. This issue can only be alleviated through a restart.
The connection to the servers can sometimes drop, which can throw you out of the game.

Benchmark

As can be seen from our video, our benchmark takes place in the level known as Fracture Jaw, which is set in Vietnam and features many individuals, vehicles and helicopters. The benchmark lasts 40 seconds and consists of a walk through a US military base. We use CapFrameX to record the frame rates.

Results

FHD (1920x1080)

Graphics cards with 2 GB of VRAM such as the low-end GeForce MX350 and the older GeForce GTX 1050 (Ti) can only handle Cold War at 720p on the lowest settings. To achieve playable frame rates at 1080p on medium settings, users will need at least a mid-range GPU such as the GeForce GTX 1650 or the Radeon RX 5500M. A true gaming GPU such as the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti can run Cold War smoothly on the highest setting at 1080p.

Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War
1920x1080 Highest Settings 1920x1080 High Settings 1920x1080 Medium Settings
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (Desktop) MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, i9-9900K	118 (58^min, 72.3^P0.1, 82.2^P1) fps ∼27% 133 (59^min, 80.6^P0.1, 94.9^P1) fps ∼29% 155 (61.5^min, 91.4^P0.1, 111^P1) fps ∼21%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (Desktop) MSI GeForce RTX 2080, i9-9900K	102 (49.8^min, 60.2^P0.1, 71.8^P1) fps ∼23% 112 (59^min, 71.5^P0.1, 83.1^P1) fps ∼25% 133 (55.4^min, 81.8^P0.1, 99.7^P1) fps ∼18%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Mobile MSI GT76 Titan DT 9SG, i9-9900K	94.4 (46.7^min, 60.8^P0.1, 73.5^P1) fps ∼22% 106 (40.4^min, 63.2^P0.1, 83.6^P1) fps ∼24% 125 (42.8^min, 71.9^P0.1, 98.7^P1) fps ∼17%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 (Desktop) MSI GeForce RTX 2070, i9-9900K	81.4 (43.9^min, 58.2^P0.1, 63.2^P1) fps ∼19% 90.5 (46.9^min, 61.8^P0.1, 70.7^P1) fps ∼20% 106 (54.8^min, 79^P0.1, 84.8^P1) fps ∼15%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Mobile MSI GP65 Leopard 9SF, i7-9750H	72.5 (32.2^min, 47.2^P0.1, 54.9^P1) fps ∼17% 80.7 (33.1^min, 49.6^P0.1, 59.2^P1) fps ∼18% 94.9 (43.6^min, 58.5^P0.1, 70.9^P1) fps ∼13%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 (Desktop) MSI GeForce RTX 2060, i9-9900K	67.1 (28^min, 46.2^P0.1, 51.4^P1) fps ∼15% 80.7 (41.9^min, 60.2^P0.1, 64.2^P1) fps ∼18% 95.4 (53.1^min, 66^P0.1, 75.6^P1) fps ∼13%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile MSI GE65 Raider 9SE, i7-9750H	63.1 (1.55^min, 33.5^P0.1, 48.7^P1) fps ∼14% 69.7 (37.7^min, 40^P0.1, 54.4^P1) fps ∼15% 83.3 (38.9^min, 49^P0.1, 64.3^P1) fps ∼11%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile MSI GP65 Leopard 9SD, i7-9750H	60.3 (30.4^min, 41^P0.1, 47.2^P1) fps ∼14% 67.7 (24.3^min, 44.4^P0.1, 51.6^P1) fps ∼15% 82.7 (42.9^min, 49.5^P0.1, 62.2^P1) fps ∼11%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile Alienware 17 R4, i7-7820HK	59.6 (29.2^min, 32^P0.1, 36.9^P1) fps ∼14% 64.1 (27.7^min, 33.4^P0.1, 38.7^P1) fps ∼14% 79.8 (35.3^min, 44.5^P0.1, 48^P1) fps ∼11%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Mobile Asus G752VS, 6820HK	54.8 (22.5^min, 30.4^P0.1, 34^P1) fps ∼13% 59.8 (31.7^min, 33.6^P0.1, 36.4^P1) fps ∼13% 74.7 (34.4^min, 36^P0.1, 43.4^P1) fps ∼10%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile MSI GT62VR, 6820HK	38.8 (21.6^min, 24.4^P0.1, 27.6^P1) fps ∼9% 43.9 (24.1^min, 28.5^P0.1, 31.2^P1) fps ∼10% 53.1 (30.7^min, 35.3^P0.1, 38.1^P1) fps ∼7%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile MSI GP75 Leopard 9SC, i7-9750H	31 (23^min, 23.7^P0.1, 24.8^P1) fps ∼7% 37.6 (27.2^min, 29.1^P0.1, 30.2^P1) fps ∼8% 46.3 (32.1^min, 33.6^P0.1, 37.2^P1) fps ∼6%
AMD Radeon RX 5500M MSI Alpha 15, R7 3750H	28.6 (19.1^min, 19.4^P0.1, 21.6^P1) fps ∼7% 36.3 (23.3^min, 25.8^P0.1, 28.6^P1) fps ∼8% 53.3 (27.2^min, 37^P0.1, 40.7^P1) fps ∼7%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile MSI GE72 7RE, i7-7700HQ	18 (11.5^min, 11.9^P0.1, 12.9^P1) fps ∼4% 22.4 (17.3^min, 17.4^P0.1, 18.1^P1) fps ∼5% 27.5 (20.5^min, 21.5^P0.1, 22.4^P1) fps ∼4%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile MSI GL62M 7RD, i7-7700HQ	18.1 fps ∼4% 22.8 (17.4^min, 17.5^P0.1, 18.1^P1) fps ∼3%
NVIDIA GeForce MX350 MSI Prestige 14, i7-10710U	9.77 (6.36^min, 6.4^P0.1, 6.64^P1) fps ∼2% 14.9 (12^min, 12.1^P0.1, 12.7^P1) fps ∼2%
NVIDIA GeForce MX330 MSI Prestige 14, i7-10510U	8.09 (7.95^min, 7.96^P0.1, 8.26^P1) fps ∼2% 12.7 (10^min, 10.1^P0.1, 10.4^P1) fps ∼2%

QHD (2560x1440)

Cold War can be played on high settings at 1440p only when using a true high-end GPU. Here, even the GeForce RTX 2060 struggles to hit playable frame rates on the highest settings.

Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War
2560x1440 Highest Settings
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (Desktop), i9-9900K MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Ti	89.2 (46.4^min, 61.6^P0.1, 70.5^P1) fps ∼28%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (Desktop), i9-9900K MSI GeForce RTX 2080	75.1 (37.5^min, 52.4^P0.1, 59.1^P1) fps ∼24%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Mobile, i9-9900K MSI GT76 Titan DT 9SG	69.2 (13.1^min, 49.3^P0.1, 56.6^P1) fps ∼22%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 (Desktop), i9-9900K MSI GeForce RTX 2070	58.6 (34.9^min, 43.8^P0.1, 45.8^P1) fps ∼19%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Mobile, i7-9750H MSI GP65 Leopard 9SF	51.7 (13.4^min, 32.7^P0.1, 40.3^P1) fps ∼16%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile, i7-7820HK Alienware 17 R4	47.6 (28^min, 28.9^P0.1, 30.1^P1) fps ∼15%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 (Desktop), i9-9900K MSI GeForce RTX 2060	46.9 (26.3^min, 35^P0.1, 38.3^P1) fps ∼15%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile, i7-9750H MSI GE65 Raider 9SE	42.2 (27.6^min, 30.1^P0.1, 32.9^P1) fps ∼13%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Mobile, 6820HK Asus G752VS	40 (26.1^min, 26.3^P0.1, 27.4^P1) fps ∼13%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, i7-9750H MSI GP65 Leopard 9SD	39.6 (25.7^min, 29.2^P0.1, 31^P1) fps ∼13%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile, 6820HK MSI GT62VR	24.6 (15.5^min, 16.1^P0.1, 18.7^P1) fps ∼8%
AMD Radeon RX 5500M, R7 3750H MSI Alpha 15	21.1 (15.6^min, 15.7^P0.1, 16.9^P1) fps ∼7%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile, i7-9750H MSI GP75 Leopard 9SC	20.8 (16^min, 16.1^P0.1, 17^P1) fps ∼7%

UHD (3840x2160)

No current laptop GPU can achieve playable frames in Cold War at 2160p on the highest settings. Here, Nvidia’s highest-end mobile GPU, GeForce RTX 2080, can only achieve 38 FPS on average.

Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War
3840x2160 Highest Settings
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (Desktop), i9-9900K MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Ti	54.4 (36^min, 39.9^P0.1, 42^P1) fps ∼20%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (Desktop), i9-9900K MSI GeForce RTX 2080	42.5 (31^min, 32.1^P0.1, 34.1^P1) fps ∼16%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Mobile, i9-9900K MSI GT76 Titan DT 9SG	38.3 (28^min, 28.7^P0.1, 31.4^P1) fps ∼14%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 (Desktop), i9-9900K MSI GeForce RTX 2070	31.7 (21.8^min, 23.5^P0.1, 24.6^P1) fps ∼12%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Mobile, i7-9750H MSI GP65 Leopard 9SF	27.7 (18.6^min, 19.6^P0.1, 20.8^P1) fps ∼10%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile, i7-7820HK Alienware 17 R4	24.6 (15.9^min, 16.4^P0.1, 17.5^P1) fps ∼9%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Mobile, 6820HK Asus G752VS	22.1 (15.5^min, 16.2^P0.1, 16.5^P1) fps ∼8%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 (Desktop), i9-9900K MSI GeForce RTX 2060	21.5 (15.7^min, 16.2^P0.1, 16.9^P1) fps ∼8%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, i7-9750H MSI GP65 Leopard 9SD	19.8 (14.9^min, 14.9^P0.1, 15.5^P1) fps ∼7%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile, i7-9750H MSI GE65 Raider 9SE	19.4 (1.631^min, 7.53^P0.1, 15.4^P1) fps ∼7%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile, i7-9750H MSI GP75 Leopard 9SC	9.64 (7.82^min, 7.88^P0.1, 8.17^P1) fps ∼4%
AMD Radeon RX 5500M, R7 3750H MSI Alpha 15	2.34 (1.36^min, 1.362^P0.1, 1.375^P1) fps ∼1%

Ray Tracing (1920x1080)

We tested ray tracing performance at Full HD. All non-RTX GPUs saw massive drops in performance with ray tracing on. However, RTX cards only saw a roughly 30% drop in performance.

Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War
1920x1080 Highest Settings + Ultra Ray Tracing
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (Desktop), i9-9900K MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Ti	77.2 (34.2^min, 43.5^P0.1, 49^P1) fps ∼26%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (Desktop), i9-9900K MSI GeForce RTX 2080	65.7 (37.9^min, 43^P0.1, 48^P1) fps ∼22%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Mobile, i9-9900K MSI GT76 Titan DT 9SG	63.5 (34.5^min, 44.8^P0.1, 50.8^P1) fps ∼21%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 (Desktop), i9-9900K MSI GeForce RTX 2070	54.2 (36^min, 39.4^P0.1, 42.7^P1) fps ∼18%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Mobile, i7-9750H MSI GP65 Leopard 9SF	48.6 (26^min, 31.8^P0.1, 34.5^P1) fps ∼16%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 (Desktop), i9-9900K MSI GeForce RTX 2060	44.1 (27.6^min, 30.8^P0.1, 35.1^P1) fps ∼15%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile, i7-9750H MSI GE65 Raider 9SE	40.4 (18.8^min, 27.8^P0.1, 31.3^P1) fps ∼13%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, i7-9750H MSI GP65 Leopard 9SD	21.3 (16.1^min, 16.8^P0.1, 18^P1) fps ∼7%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile, i7-7820HK Alienware 17 R4	18.7 (13.4^min, 13.5^P0.1, 14.2^P1) fps ∼6%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Mobile, 6820HK Asus G752VS	15.3 (11.1^min, 11.5^P0.1, 11.8^P1) fps ∼5%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile, 6820HK MSI GT62VR	9.87 (7.69^min, 7.85^P0.1, 8.38^P1) fps ∼3%

Note

Because benchmarking video games is very time consuming and is often constrained by installation/activation limits, at the time of publishing, we were able only to provide a part of our performance analysis of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. Other graphics cards will be added in the coming days and weeks.

Overview

Test Systems

Device	GPU	CPU	RAM	OS
Desktop PC I	MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (11 GB GDDR6) MSI GeForce RTX 2080 (8 GB GDDR6) MSI GeForce RTX 2070 (8 GB GDDR6) MSI GeForce RTX 2060 (6 GB GDDR6)	Intel Core i9-9900K	4 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 i7-8086K, Aorus Z370 Ultra Gaming	2 x 8 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64 Bit
Desktop PC III	Nvidia Titan RTX (24 GB GDDR6) Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super (8 GB GDDR6) Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super (8 GB GDDR6) Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super (8 GB GDDR6) Nvidia Titan X (Pascal) (12 GB GDDR5X) KFA2 GeForce GTX 1660 Super (6 GB GDDR6) PNY GeForce GTX 1660 (6 GB GDDR5) KFA2 GeForce GTX 1650 (4 GB GDDR5) Zotac GeForce GT 1030 (2 GB GDDR5) Asus GeForce GT 710 AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (8 GB GDDR6) AMD Radeon RX 5700 (8 GB GDDR6) AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT (8 GB GDDR6)) AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 (8 GB HBM2) XFX AMD Radeon RX 590 (8 GB GDDR5)	AMD Ryzen 9 5900X	2 x 16 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64 Bit
MSI GT76	Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 (8 GB GDDR6)	Intel Core i9-9900K	2 x 16 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64 Bit
MSI GP65	Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 (8 GB GDDR6)	Intel Core i7-9750H	2 x 16 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64 Bit
MSI GE65	Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 (6 GB GDDR6)	Intel Core i7-9750H	2 x 8 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64 Bit
MSI GP65	Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti (6 GB GDDR6)	Intel Core i7-9750H	2 x 16 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64 Bit
MSI GP75	Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 (4 GB GDDR5)	Intel Core i7-9750H	2 x 8 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64 Bit
Alienware 17 R4	Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 (8 GB GDDR5X)	Intel Core i7-7820HK	2 x 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 (2 GB GDDR5)	Intel Core i7-7700HQ	2 x 4 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
MSI Prestige 14	Nvidia GeForce MX350 (2 GB GDDR5)	Intel Core i7-10710U	1 x 16 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64 Bit
MSI Prestige 14	Nvidia GeForce MX330 (2 GB GDDR5)	Intel Core i7-10510U	1 x 16 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64 Bit
MSI Alpha 15	AMD Radeon RX5500M (4 GB GDDR6)	AMD Ryzen 7 3750H	2 x 8 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64 Bit

4K Monitors	Nvidia drivers	AMD drivers
Asus PB287Q, Philips Brilliance 329P9H	ForceWare 457.30	Adrenalin 20.11.1

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > Reviews > Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War Laptop and Desktop Benchmarks

Florian Glaser, 2020-11-18 (Update: 2020-11-20)

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.