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Call of Duty: WWII Laptop and Desktop Benchmarks

Lukewarm Reception. With the previous installments in the series having drifted further and further into the realm of futuristic combat, Call of Duty is returning to its roots with its latest game, WWII. While the gameplay has changed little since the early days, the technology present has made improvements in leaps and bounds. We will test which hardware configurations are needed for the first person shooter game.
Call of Duty WWII

Technology

For the original German review, see here.

Unlike the 2016 game Infinite Warfare, which was developed by Call of Duty franchise founders Infinity Ward, Call of Duty WWII comes from the Sledgehammer Games, which has been previously responsible for the 2014 game, Advanced Warfare.

Although the technical innovations tend to be rather measured, we were nonetheless pleasantly surprised upon inspection of the graphics menu. Could we describe the menu in the previous iteration of Call of Duty as rather convoluted and difficult to navigate, then the latest attempt would be known as a surprisingly long list that requires a lot of scrolling. With 29 changeable options, WWII bests its recently tested competitor Wolfenstein II, itself with an equally notable 28 changeable options. Whether or not the possibility to tinker with such a large number of settings is excessive remains to be seen.

Call of Duty WWII
Call of Duty WWII
Call of Duty WWII
Call of Duty WWII
Call of Duty WWII
Call of Duty WWII

Points are definitely to be awarded for the descriptive text and comparison images, which explain, or rather exemplify the consequences of changing different settings and are strongly reminiscent of Assassin's Creed Origins. Unlike the aforementioned Egyptian adventure by Ubisoft, no restart of the game is necessary following a change or a tweak, which would not have been a big problem anyway on account of the skippable intro videos and decent load times. On the other hand, it is a shame that WWII keeps up a series long tradition of offering no presets for quickly changing all graphics settings at once.

That is to say, one must first, with great effort, click through each and every possible option before arriving at their optimal setup. Even more annoying is the lack of uniformity across different settings. While some range from low to high, others, for example, offer only a selection between medium and high. There is also inconsistency in the way that some options are adjusted with sliders while others can be changed via a drop-down menu, especially since there are a few small bugs here and there (changes not always being displayed correctly in the menu). In addition, changes to the display resolution often resulted in black screens, although it never actually crashed the device.

Call of Duty WWII
Call of Duty WWII
Call of Duty WWII
Call of Duty WWII
Call of Duty WWII
Call of Duty WWII

But how does WWII actually look in practice? Since Call of Duty continues to use the same in-house IW Engine with only slight year-to-year modifications, we can expect that there will be no great leaps forward in terms of the technology. Although improvements can be seen throughout the game in the details (surface buildings, bloom and ambience, character models...), the graphics on display often lag behind the genre-leading Battlefield 1.

Battlefield 1's Frostbite 3 Engine is superior in almost every respect, although WWII, with its storm of special effects typical for the Call of Duty franchise, does quite a good job covering up its weaknesses in this area. The numerous "Hollywood moments" filled with smoke, explosions and debris make it an intensive and immersive gaming experience. In saying so, the game lacks destructible terrain, and some effects (e.g. extreme blurring) are somewhat overused.

Call of Duty WWII
Call of Duty WWII
Call of Duty WWII
Call of Duty WWII
Call of Duty WWII
Call of Duty WWII

As for the content, buyers can expect the typical Call of Duty action shooter with a greater focus on movie-style entertainment rather than realism, which is, in our opinion, regrettable for a game set in a historical context. The driving and static emplacement sequences in particular feel extremely arcadey and are reminiscent of shooting fish in a barrel.

The storytelling also was not able to win us over. Although Sledgehammer Games have tried their hand at fairly deep character development (at least by Call of Duty standards), nonetheless, most of the missions ended up being "assault X" or "destroy Y".

Call of Duty WWII
Call of Duty WWII
Call of Duty WWII
Call of Duty WWII
Call of Duty WWII
Call of Duty WWII

There is not much to complain about when it comes to the shooting mechanics themselves, which the Call of Duty series is famous for and have often been copied. The controls are fluid, and combat runs comfortably and smoothly with appropriate feedback on hits. There is room for improvement in terms of sounds and animations when compared to many other triple-AAA shooters. We reserve our strongest criticism for the feather-brained AI which churns out stupidity as if by a production line.

Some refinement could also be made in terms of file sizes. According to our stream download, 76 GB is required on the hard drive, of which currently the single player mode "only" takes up 42 GB (we have not tested the multiplayer mode). The game also uses a sizeable amount of video memory. The VRAM display in the graphics menu shows between 3.6 GB (Full HD) to 4.3 GB (Quad HD) of usage on maximum settings.

Call of Duty WWII
Call of Duty WWII
Call of Duty WWII
Call of Duty WWII
Call of Duty WWII
Call of Duty WWII

Benchmark

Since WWII does not offer an integrated benchmarking option, we had to manually select a sequence for our benchmarking tests. This was no easy task on account of the severe FPS fluctuations that could occur depending on the level and the situation. We eventually decided on the beginning of the second mission, "Operation Cobra", which represented by no means the worst case scenario, and offered a safe area without enemy contact that allowed for a consistent testing environment. As you can see in the videos below, we made our way around the camp filled with tanks and flown over by aeroplanes for about 30 seconds.

Call of Duty WWII
Call of Duty WWII
Call of Duty WWII
Call of Duty WWII

As WWII is a fast-paced first person shooter, and the framerates - as we have already mentioned - tend to have bigger fluctuations, our benchmark tests should produce at least 50 to 60 FPS. Accordingly, we make the following recommendations.

Results

At the end of the day, to be able to play WWII at all, one requires a dedicated graphics chip. Common integrated graphics solutions such as the Intel HD Graphics 630 are already failing at 1280x720 on the lowest graphics settings. From 1920x1080 onwards, a mid-range graphics card is required for normal settings (GeForce MX150 or above). Those wanting to experience the latest Call of Duty installment in Full HD resolution, high details and SMAA anti-aliasing are recommended to pack at least a GeForce GTX 1050 Ti. A display resolution of 2560x1440, maximum setting and Filmic SMAA T2X run well enough on a GeForce GTX 1060 or a GTX 980 (although the latter suffered from occasional stuttering). Those wanting to enjoy their 4K displays at the highest graphics settings will, generally speaking, be satisfied with cards equal to or greater than a GeForce GTX 1080.

Low Settings
Low Settings
Medium Settings
Medium Settings
High Settings
High Settings
Ultra Settings
Ultra Settings

TThe different graphics levels show not only great gaps in performance, but also extreme differences in graphics quality, as our screenshots above show. We would not describe the game as looking good overall on anything lower than high graphics settings. On the lowest and medium graphics settings, WWII loses a lot of quality and runs into CPU limitations, especially on powerful graphics cards.

Call of Duty WWII
    3840x2160 Extra / On AA:Filmic T2X SM     2560x1440 Extra / On AA:Filmic T2X SM     1920x1080 Extra / On AA:Filmic T2X SM     1920x1080 High / On AA:Filmic 1X SM     1920x1080 Normal / Off     1280x720 Low / Off
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop), 4790K
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition
82 (68min) fps ∼55%
131 (106min) fps ∼62%
160 (118min) fps ∼58%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop), 6700K
Desktop PC
66.1 (54min) fps ∼44%
107 (87min) fps ∼50%
134 (105min) fps ∼48%
158 (118min) fps ∼50%
246 (160min) fps ∼50%
260 (167min) fps ∼53%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile, i7-7820HK
Alienware 17 R4
61.1 (49min) fps ∼41%
98.8 (79min) fps ∼47%
126 (100min) fps ∼45%
145 (112min) fps ∼45%
221 (149min) fps ∼45%
224 (151min) fps ∼45%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop), 6700K
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070
55.8 (46min) fps ∼37%
89 (73min) fps ∼42%
115 (91min) fps ∼42%
144 (110min) fps ∼45%
242 (159min) fps ∼49%
259 (166min) fps ∼53%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Mobile, 6820HK
Asus G752VS
49.1 (40min) fps ∼33%
82.5 (65min) fps ∼39%
108 (82min) fps ∼39%
127 (91min) fps ∼40%
206 (131min) fps ∼42%
221 (139min) fps ∼45%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980, 6700K
Desktop PC
37.2 (26min) fps ∼25%
63.8 (51min) fps ∼30%
80.1 (64min) fps ∼29%
105 (84min) fps ∼33%
212 (154min) fps ∼43%
249 (162min) fps ∼51%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop), 6700K
Desktop PC
35.8 (29min) fps ∼24%
60.9 (48min) fps ∼29%
79.8 (61min) fps ∼29%
104 (81min) fps ∼33%
210 (151min) fps ∼42%
247 (162min) fps ∼50%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile, 6820HK
MSI GT62VR
31.9 (25min) fps ∼21%
53.6 (42min) fps ∼25%
74.6 (61min) fps ∼27%
93.9 (75min) fps ∼29%
176 (117min) fps ∼36%
187 (123min) fps ∼38%
AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop), 4790K
AMD Radeon RX 480 8 GB Reference
37.6 (31min) fps ∼25%
87 (51min) fps ∼31%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile, i7-7700HQ
MSI GE72 7RE-046
18.9 (12min) fps ∼13%
30.8 (19min) fps ∼15%
42.4 (26min) fps ∼15%
67.8 (53min) fps ∼21%
129 fps ∼26%
191 (130min) fps ∼39%
AMD Radeon RX 460 (Desktop), 4790K
XFX RX-460P4DFG5 Double Dissipation 4 GB
44.2 (34min) fps ∼16%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile, i7-7700HQ
Asus GL753VD
15.6 (12min) fps ∼10%
27.9 (21min) fps ∼13%
38.1 (27min) fps ∼14%
49.7 (39min) fps ∼16%
108 (79min) fps ∼22%
167 (117min) fps ∼34%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M, 6700HQ
MSI GE72 965M Ti
16.3 (9min) fps ∼11%
42.6 (28min) fps ∼15%
58.5 (43min) fps ∼18%
103 (75min) fps ∼21%
174 (123min) fps ∼35%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M, 6700HQ
MSI PE60 2QD
21.6 (15min) fps ∼8%
30.3 (23min) fps ∼9%
64 (47min) fps ∼13%
106 (73min) fps ∼22%
NVIDIA GeForce MX150, i7-7700HQ
MSI PL62
19.9 (11min) fps ∼7%
30.3 (21min) fps ∼9%
68 (51min) fps ∼14%
114 (79min) fps ∼23%
NVIDIA GeForce 940MX, 6700HQ
MSI CX72 6QD
12.5 (8min) fps ∼5%
17.5 (14min) fps ∼5%
35.6 (27min) fps ∼7%
63.4 (44min) fps ∼13%
NVIDIA GeForce 940M, 5700HQ
MSI GP62 2QD
12.4 (9min) fps ∼4%
17.9 (14min) fps ∼6%
37.5 (28min) fps ∼8%
63.9 (46min) fps ∼13%
NVIDIA GeForce 920M, 2970M
MSI CX61 2QC 2970M MS-16GD
22.8 (17min) fps ∼5%
40 (1min) fps ∼8%
Intel HD Graphics 630, i7-7700HQ
MSI PL62
18.4 (14min) fps ∼4%
30.7 (22min) fps ∼6%

Overview

Show Restrictions
PosModel< PrevNext >Call of Duty WWII
 Call of Duty WWII (2017)
low
1280x720
Low / Off
med.
1920x1080
Normal / Off
high
1920x1080
High / On
Filmic 1X SMAA
ultra
1920x1080
Extra / On
Filmic T2X SMAA
QHD
2560x1440
Extra / On
Filmic T2X SMAA
4K
3840x2160
Extra / On
Filmic T2X SMAA
NVIDIA Titan RTX
255
255
185
179
127
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (Desktop)
312.5n2
307.5n2
224n2
202.5n2
172n2
112.5n2
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Super (Desktop)
235
234
173
154
137
88
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (Desktop)
249.5n2
245.9n2
192.85n2
168n2
142
93.2n2
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop)
160
131
82
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Super (Desktop)
239
237
168
148
119
79
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 (Desktop)
243n3
240n3
166n3
144.6n3
116.95n2
75n3
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop)
260
246
158
134
107
66.1
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Super (Desktop)
234.5n2
226.5n2
149n2
130n2
105.5n2
67n2
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 (Desktop)
243
231
155
128
68
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64
187.2n3
184.9n3
122.9n3
115.5n3
64.1n3
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile
224
221
160n4
133.5n4
98.8
62.15n2
AMD Radeon RX Vega 56
201
201
140
118
95
57.6
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop)
257.9n2
245.5n2
150n2
117.6n2
89
58.1n2
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q
190
199
134
111
88
53.3
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Mobile
234.85n2
210.3n2
136.95n6
109.9n6
82.5
47.8n3
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti (Desktop)
250
236
134
106
78
48.6
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Max-Q
163.3
133.5
110n3
94n3
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980
249
212
105
80.1
63.8
37.2
PosModel< PrevNext >Call of Duty WWII
low med. high ultra QHD 4K
AMD Radeon RX 590 (Desktop)
195.5
192.9
115.8
95.4
50.2
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop)
247
210
104
79.8
60.9
35.8
AMD Radeon RX 570 (Desktop)
198
188
102
78
59.1
35.7
AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop)
87
37.6
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile
187
176
93.9n5
70.5n5
53.6
31.9
AMD Radeon RX 580 (Laptop)
132.3
128.8
68
39.1
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 (Desktop)
227
181
82
54.4
44.7
27.5
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q
174.9
163.3
91.9
70.9
31.3
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M
183
159
88.4
68.6
30.4
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile
191
129
67.8n3
47.9n3
35.35n2
18.9
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M
179
125
58.6
46.4
35.4
21.8
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile
120.5n2
90n2
47.35n2
36.05n2
27.9
15.6
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Max-Q
144.8
99.6
46.7
36.7
16.1
AMD Radeon RX 460 (Desktop)
44.2
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M
174
103
58.5
42.6
16.3
AMD Radeon RX 560X (Laptop)
87.3
76.7
50.1
40.9
AMD Radeon RX 560 (Laptop)
56.3
39.5
21.8
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
118
78.7
35.5
25.8
17
AMD Radeon Pro 555
24.4
NVIDIA GeForce MX150
87.9n3
54.6n3
28.6n3
18.9n2
PosModel< PrevNext >Call of Duty WWII
low med. high ultra QHD 4K
AMD Radeon RX 540
62.8
27.7
12.8
AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100
84.6
45.5
24.8
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
106
64
30.3
21.6
AMD Radeon RX Vega 10
50.8
30.5
14.8
NVIDIA GeForce MX130
73
43.3
24.3
12.7
NVIDIA GeForce 940MX
57n2
34.3n2
16.45n2
12.5
AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 2000/3000)
61.4
56.1
18
NVIDIA GeForce 940M
63.9
37.5
17.9
12.4
NVIDIA GeForce 930MX
60
36.3
16.9
11.7
NVIDIA GeForce 930M
52.2
33.5
AMD Radeon 530
38.4
23.1
NVIDIA GeForce MX110
54.8
33.1
16.6
10.6
NVIDIA GeForce 920MX
53.7
33.1
16.3
11.9
NVIDIA GeForce 920M
40
22.8
AMD Radeon RX Vega 6 (Ryzen 2000/3000)
21.9
17.1
8.8
Intel UHD Graphics 630
29.8
17.4
Intel HD Graphics 630
30.7
18.4
AMD Radeon R5 (Bristol Ridge)
20.7
14.2
Intel UHD Graphics 620
25.6
17.1
Intel HD Graphics 620
27.4
17.6
PosModel< PrevNext >Call of Duty WWII
low med. high ultra QHD 4K
AMD Radeon R5 M255
39.9
22.3
AMD Radeon RX Vega 3
30.7
16.6
Intel HD Graphics 520
20.9
14.2
NVIDIA GeForce GT 720M
26.8
Intel HD Graphics 4600
21.5
Intel HD Graphics 5500
23.6
Intel HD Graphics 615
15.2
Intel HD Graphics 4400
11.5
(-) * Smaller values are better. / n123 Number of benchmarks for this median value / * Approximate position

 

Legend
5Stutters – 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.
30Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 25fps
40Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 35fps
60Fluent – 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.

Test Systems

Device Graphics Card Processor RAM Operating System
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 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 4 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 2 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
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 PL62 Nvidia GeForce MX150 (2 GB GDDR5) Intel Core i7-7700HQ 2 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 388.13 Crimson 17.11.1
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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > Reviews > Call of Duty: WWII Laptop and Desktop Benchmarks
Florian Glaser, 2017-11-10 (Update: 2017-11-10)