Call of Duty Modern Warfare Notebook and Desktop Benchmarks

Back to the roots. With Modern Warfare, Infinity Ward wanted to capitalize on the strengths and successes of the previous titles in the series. In terms of technology, the latest installment in the Call of Duty franchise is supposed to finally look as good as the most recent Battlefield title. Read this performance analysis to find out whether or not Infinity Ward has managed to achieve this. Moreover, our benchmarks also reveal the system requirements for the latest Call of Duty game.

Florian Glaser, 👁 Florian Glaser (translated by Stanislav Kokhanyuk), Published 11/04/2019 🇩🇪

Technology

After the Call of Duty engine stopped looking like it was designed for AAA titles and started to look rather antiquated when compared to the engines used in other flashy shooters, Modern Warfare made a huge leap forward with its updated engine. One of the biggest highlights is the amount of detail in the game world. The levels of the single-player campaign are just overflowing with objects. The underbrush in the title looks especially impressive, because of the sheer amount of ornamental elements (bushes, leaves, roots etc.).

Thanks to the good presentation, the first-person shooter manages to create a very gritty and realistic atmosphere, which is further enhanced by all the explosions typical of the Call of Duty series. Just like in other CoD games, you see explosions and fire wherever you look. The great sound and the exciting missions lend a cinematic feel to the game.

However, the presentation is not perfect. Upon closer inspection, certain textures appear rather muddy. These kinds of textures are not appropriate in 2019, which is why we think that Frostbite 3-powered Battlefield V from Dice still has an edge over the latest CoD game. That being said, this year difference is not very pronounced.

Visual improvements do not come without a cost. The first-person shooter requires an extreme 110 GB of free space and a fast Internet connection. We have encountered a game (Final Fantasy XV) that required more storage space only once before. The fact that the game requires an internet connection even in single-player mode is a bit of a shame, and there is no real necessity for it.

The comprehensive graphics menu deserves praise. It offers not only a whole lot of settings to adjust, but also explanations in the form of text and/or comparison pictures. The top third of the graphics menu is concerned with display settings such as the display mode, refresh rate, resolution and the color correction. You can upscale/downscale the image with the help of the render resolution slider. You can also enable V-Sync and cap the frame rate.

The two other sections of the menu, known as Details & Textures and Shadow & Lighting, contain settings, which directly affect the visuals of the game. The Raytracing section is also available on certain Nvidia GPUs. However, unlike Battlefield V, which supports ray-traced reflections, Call of Duty Modern Warfare only supports ray-traced shadows. The graphics menu also contains settings for post processing. Here, the setting for SMAA is the most relevant one.

Positive: settings can be changed without a restart. If you have an SSD, adjusting the settings should not be much of a hassle, because in that case loading times are quite short. However, things would have been even easier had the developer included usable graphics presets. There have not been any such presets in CoD games for years, though. Having said that, the VRAM usage meter and the FSP counter soften the blow a little. Speaking of VRAM: if you want to run Modern Warfare on the highest settings you will need at least 4 GB of it.

At the time of release, the title is more or less well-optimized. However, in the course of our performance analysis, we have encountered a number of issues, which we would like to highlight here.

- When you launch the game for the first time, it might take several minutes for the shaders to install. The notification that is supposed to inform you that shaders are being installed sometimes disappears.
- When you connect an external monitor the graphics menu often stops opening. Here, setting the notebook screen as the default display for a short time should fix the issue.
- There is some stuttering during the log-in process.
- Video playback is not always smooth (a typical CoD phenomenon)
- There are occasional stutters in the single-player campaign, especially on low-end systems

Benchmarks

Because Modern Warfare is a DirectX 12 title, we had to use OCAT instead of Fraps for recording the frame rate. The beginning of the first campaign mission, which is known as Fog of War, serves as the benchmark. As you can see from the video below, the benchmark starts when the level is fully loaded and the helicopter appears. After the initial 20-second-long cut scene, we stealthily follow Sgt. Hoyt through the forest until he has to hunker down because he sights an enemy.

The benchmark does not represent the worst case scenario. However, it provides a good snapshot of how the title performs most of the time. Modern Warfare is playable at 40 FPS, but for a really smooth gaming experience, we recommend 60 FPS or higher.

Results

HD (1280x720) & FHD (1920x1080)

Owners of laptops without a dedicated GPU should not buy this title. The Radeon RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 5 2500U) kept crashing in our benchmark. To run Modern Warfare smoothly, you will need at least a mid-range GPU. For a lag-free experience on low settings, you will need a GeForce GTX 1050. The GeForce GTX 1050 Ti should be fast enough for medium settings. If you want to game on the highest settings at 1080p, then you will need a GeForce GTX 1650 or GTX 1060.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2019
1280x720 Minimum Settings 1920x1080 Medium Settings 1920x1080 High Settings AA:1X SM 1920x1080 Maximum Settings AA:T2X Filmic SM
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (Desktop), i9-9900K MSI GeForce RTX 2080	274 (192^min) fps ∼100% 187 (149^min) fps ∼85% 178 (137^min) fps ∼94% 145 (108^min) fps ∼85%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Mobile, i9-9900K MSI GT76 Titan DT 9SG	248 (189^min) fps ∼91% 171 (137^min) fps ∼78% 168 (131^min) fps ∼88% 141 (112^min) fps ∼83%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 (Desktop), i9-9900K MSI GeForce RTX 2070	219 (154^min) fps ∼80% 147 (112^min) fps ∼67% 145 (109^min) fps ∼76% 115 (89^min) fps ∼68%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop), i9-9900K MSI GeForce GTX 1080	204 (156^min) fps ∼74% 134 (110^min) fps ∼61% 124 (97^min) fps ∼65% 102 (82^min) fps ∼60%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 (Desktop), i9-9900K MSI GeForce RTX 2060	203 (145^min) fps ∼74% 135 (97^min) fps ∼61% 130 (95^min) fps ∼68% 105 (81^min) fps ∼62%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Mobile, i7-9750H MSI GP65 Leopard 9SF	199 (135^min) fps ∼73% 132 (104^min) fps ∼60% 130 (96^min) fps ∼68% 105 (78^min) fps ∼62%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, i7-9750H MSI GP65 Leopard 9SD	179 (125^min) fps ∼65% 109 (82^min) fps ∼50% 103 (75^min) fps ∼54% 84.1 (64^min) fps ∼49%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile, i7-9750H MSI GE65 Raider 9SE	179 (128^min) fps ∼65% 114 (91^min) fps ∼52% 107 (83^min) fps ∼56% 91.1 (71^min) fps ∼54%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop), i9-9900K MSI GeForce GTX 1070	177 (135^min) fps ∼65% 113 (93^min) fps ∼51% 103 (82^min) fps ∼54% 85.5 (67^min) fps ∼50%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile, i7-7820HK Alienware 17 R4	176 (116^min) fps ∼64% 133 (90^min) fps ∼60% 120 (80^min) fps ∼63% 100 (66^min) fps ∼59%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Mobile, 6820HK Asus G752VS	169 (110^min) fps ∼62% 107 (75^min) fps ∼49% 101 (69^min) fps ∼53% 83.4 (60^min) fps ∼49%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop), i9-9900K NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060	126 (97^min) fps ∼46% 77.9 (65^min) fps ∼35% 70.6 (56^min) fps ∼37% 57.9 (47^min) fps ∼34%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile, 6820HK MSI GT62VR	123 (81^min) fps ∼45% 73.1 (53^min) fps ∼33% 68.4 (51^min) fps ∼36% 54.8 (42^min) fps ∼32%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile, i7-9750H MSI GP75 Leopard 9SC	121 (96^min) fps ∼44% 70.1 (58^min) fps ∼32% 66.5 (53^min) fps ∼35% 53.5 (44^min) fps ∼31%
AMD Radeon RX 5500M, R7 3750H MSI Alpha 15 A3DDK	112 (33.3^P1) fps ∼41% 94 (40.7^P1) fps ∼43% 81 (36.1^P1) fps ∼43% 64 (47.8^P1) fps ∼38%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile, i7-7700HQ MSI GE72 7RE	82.3 (63^min) fps ∼30% 47.4 (39^min) fps ∼22% 36 (28^min) fps ∼19% 30.6 (24^min) fps ∼18%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile, i7-7700HQ Asus GL753VD	65.6 (50^min) fps ∼24% 38.5 (31^min) fps ∼18% 35.7 (30^min) fps ∼19% 29.8 (24^min) fps ∼18%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (Desktop), i7-7740X MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Gaming X Trio	162 (104.2^P1) fps ∼95%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop), i7-7740X Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition	122 (74.1^P1) fps ∼72%
AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop), i7-7740X i7-7740X Asus X299 Prime	70 (54.9^P1) fps ∼41%
AMD Radeon RX 460 (Desktop), i7-7740X XFX RX-460P4DFG5 Double Dissipation 4 GB, Asus X299 Prime	31.7 (26^P1) fps ∼19%

QHD (2560x1440) & UHD (3840x2160)

If you want to game at resolutions above 1080p, then you will need a true high-end GPU. The GeForce GTX 1660 Ti or the GTX 1070 should be powerful enough for 1440p, whereas the GeForce RTX 2070 or the GTX 1080 should be good enough for 4K.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2019
2560x1440 Maximum Settings AA:T2X Filmic SM 3840x2160 Maximum Settings AA:T2X Filmic SM
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (Desktop), i7-7740X MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Gaming X Trio	127 (83.3^P1) fps ∼85% 77 (54.9^P1) fps ∼80%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (Desktop), i9-9900K MSI GeForce RTX 2080	110 (81^min) fps ∼74% 65.1 (52^min) fps ∼68%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Mobile, i9-9900K MSI GT76 Titan DT 9SG	102 (84^min) fps ∼68% 58.8 (49^min) fps ∼61%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop), i7-7740X Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition	91 (62.1^P1) fps ∼61% 51.7 (36.8^P1) fps ∼54%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 (Desktop), i9-9900K MSI GeForce RTX 2070	86.6 (71^min) fps ∼58% 50.5 (43^min) fps ∼52%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 (Desktop), i9-9900K MSI GeForce RTX 2060	76 (63^min) fps ∼51% 43.1 (35^min) fps ∼45%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Mobile, i7-9750H MSI GP65 Leopard 9SF	75.4 (60^min) fps ∼51% 42.5 (35^min) fps ∼44%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop), i9-9900K MSI GeForce GTX 1080	74.3 (61^min) fps ∼50% 42.3 (35^min) fps ∼44%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile, i7-7820HK Alienware 17 R4	73.8 (55^min) fps ∼50% 40.2 (33^min) fps ∼42%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile, i7-9750H MSI GE65 Raider 9SE	62.9 (51^min) fps ∼42% 35 (28^min) fps ∼36%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop), i9-9900K MSI GeForce GTX 1070	61.5 (51^min) fps ∼41% 33.8 (27^min) fps ∼35%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, i7-9750H MSI GP65 Leopard 9SD	58.8 (47^min) fps ∼39% 32.8 (27^min) fps ∼34%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Mobile, 6820HK Asus G752VS	57.4 (44^min) fps ∼39% 31.1 (24^min) fps ∼32%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop), i9-9900K NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060	40.8 (35^min) fps ∼27% 22 (17^min) fps ∼23%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile, i7-9750H MSI GP75 Leopard 9SC	37.6 (31^min) fps ∼25% 6.7 (6^min) fps ∼7%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile, 6820HK MSI GT62VR	37.4 (29^min) fps ∼25% 19.8 (16^min) fps ∼21%
AMD Radeon RX 5500M, R7 3750H MSI Alpha 15 A3DDK	35.4 (28.8^P1) fps ∼24% 20.1 (14.6^P1) fps ∼21%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile, i7-7700HQ MSI GE72 7RE	21.2 (16^min) fps ∼14% 4.3 (3^min) fps ∼4%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile, i7-7700HQ Asus GL753VD	17.6 (14^min) fps ∼12% 9.5 (8^min) fps ∼10%

Ray tracing

Looking at the ray-tracing performance is especially interesting. This feature can be enabled with many non-RTX GPUs, which leads to an extreme drop in performance (up to 70%). However, RTX chips “only” lose 30% of their performance. Here, the GeForce RTX 2060 is able to achieve smooth frame rates on the highest settings at 1080p.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2019
1920x1080 Maximum Settings with Raytracing AA:T2X Filmic SM 3840x2160 Maximum Settings with Raytracing AA:T2X Filmic SM
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (Desktop) MSI GeForce RTX 2080, i9-9900K	110 (78^min) fps ∼77%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Mobile MSI GT76 Titan DT 9SG, i9-9900K	103 (80^min) fps ∼72%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 (Desktop) MSI GeForce RTX 2070, i9-9900K	90.5 (66^min) fps ∼63%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 (Desktop) MSI GeForce RTX 2060, i9-9900K	78.8 (58^min) fps ∼55%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Mobile MSI GP65 Leopard 9SF, i7-9750H	75.8 (56^min) fps ∼53%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile MSI GE65 Raider 9SE, i7-9750H	65.6 (49^min) fps ∼46%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition, i7-7740X	46.3 (24.4^P1) fps ∼32% 15.5 (8.8^P1) fps ∼18%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) MSI GeForce GTX 1080, i9-9900K	38.4 (24^min) fps ∼27%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile MSI GP65 Leopard 9SD, i7-9750H	37.8 (24^min) fps ∼26%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile Alienware 17 R4, i7-7820HK	36.4 (22^min) fps ∼25%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) MSI GeForce GTX 1070, i9-9900K	30.6 (18^min) fps ∼21%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Mobile Asus G752VS, 6820HK	30.3 (18^min) fps ∼21%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060, i9-9900K	19.8 (12^min) fps ∼14%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile MSI GT62VR, 6820HK	17.9 (11^min) fps ∼13%

Note

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

Overview

Benchmarked Devices

Device	GPU	CPU	RAM	OS
Desktop-PC I	MSI GeForce RTX 2080 (8 GB GDDR6) MSI GeForce RTX 2070 (8 GB GDDR6) MSI GeForce RTX 2060 (6 GB GDDR6) MSI GeForce GTX 1080 (8 GB GDDR5X) MSI GeForce GTX 1070 (8 GB GDDR5) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 (6 GB GDDR5)	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 i7-7740X	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) KFA2 GeForce RTX 2060 Super (8 GB GDDR6) Nvidia Titan X (Pascal) (12 GB GDDR5X) PNY GeForce GTX 1660 (6 GB GDDR5) Gainward GeForce GTX 1650 (4 GB GDDR5) Zotac GeForce GT 1030 (2 GB GDDR5) AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (8 GB GDDR6) AMD Radeon RX 5700 (8 GB GDDR6) AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 (8 GB HBM2) XFX AMD Radeon RX 590 (8 GB GDDR5) Sapphire AMD Radeon RX 570 (8 GB GDDR5)	AMD Ryzen 9 3900X	2 x 8 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
Asus GL753VD	Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 (4 GB GDDR5)	Intel Core i7-7700HQ	1 x 16 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 GE72	Nvidia GeForce GTX 965M (2 GB GDDR5)	Intel Core i7-6700HQ	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 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
Honor Magicbook	AMD Radeon RX Vega 8	AMD Ryzen 5 2500U	1 x 8 GB DDR4	Windows 10 64 Bit

4K Monitore	Nvidia Treiber	AMD Treiber
Asus PB287Q, Philips Momentum 436M6VBPAB	ForceWare 441.08	Adrenalin 19.10.2

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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.

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > Reviews > Call of Duty Modern Warfare Notebook and Desktop Benchmarks

Florian Glaser, 2019-11- 4 (Update: 2022-01-21)

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.