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Modern Warfare 4 can start on an older gaming PC, but the campaign still requires a solid-state drive, Windows security features, and a DirectX 12-capable system. Activision publishes separate minimum, recommended, and ray-tracing tiers; those tiers describe capability targets rather than guaranteed campaign frame rates.
Modern Warfare 4 PC requirements at a glance
Use the tier that matches your goal rather than treating one specification as a universal FPS promise. The minimum tier is for launching and playing the game on supported hardware. The recommended tier is tied to Activision’s stated 90 FPS target for multiplayer at High settings, not to every campaign mission. The ray-tracing tier targets high-quality ray tracing at 4K upscaled.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
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Call of Duty: Black Ops III - Standard Edition - PC | $10.19 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
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Call of Duty: Game of the Year Edition - PC | $75.98 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - PC | $24.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 4 |
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Call of Duty: World at War - PC | $47.53 | Buy on Amazon |
| 5 |
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Call of Duty: Ghosts - PC | $44.99 | Buy on Amazon |
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| Tier | Operating system | Processor | Memory | Graphics card and video memory | Storage and target |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum | Windows 10 64-bit, latest update | AMD Ryzen 5 1400 or Intel Core i5-6600 | 8 GB RAM | Radeon RX 470, GeForce GTX 970/1060, or Intel Arc A580; 3 GB video memory | 115 GB SSD; minimum playable configuration |
| Recommended | Windows 11 64-bit | AMD Ryzen 5 3600 or Intel Core i7-8700K | 16 GB RAM | Radeon RX 6600 XT, GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (Activision listing) or RTX 3060 (Steam listing), or Intel Arc B580; 8 GB video memory | 115 GB SSD; Activision’s 90 FPS multiplayer target at High settings |
| Ray tracing | Windows 11 64-bit | AMD Ryzen 7 3700X or Intel Core i7-10700K | 32 GB RAM | Radeon RX 9070 XT or GeForce RTX 5070 Ti; 16 GB video memory | 115 GB SSD; high-quality ray tracing at 4K upscaled |
Every tier uses the same published 115 GB SSD requirement, but the game may need additional free space for mandatory updates. A broadband internet connection, DirectX 12 compatibility, a DirectX-compatible sound card, and a processor supporting AVX are also required.
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What the requirements mean for the campaign
The campaign moves through trench warfare in Korea, close-quarters fighting in New York, chases across Paris, SAS night raids in Mumbai, and assaults intended to reclaim occupied territory. Those environments can place different loads on the CPU, GPU, memory, and storage system, so a single multiplayer-oriented target should not be presented as a campaign guarantee.
#1 Best Overall
- INTRODUCING A NEW ERA OF BLACK OPS: Call of Duty: Black Ops III takes place in a dark, gritty future where a new breed of Black Ops soldier emerges and the lines are blurred between our own humanity and the cutting-edge military robotics that define the future of combat.
- A CALL OF DUTY CAMPAIGN UNLIKE ANYTHING BEFORE IT: Treyarch elevates the Call of Duty social gaming experience by delivering up to four player campaign co-op, using the same battle-tested network infrastructure and social systems that support its world-class Multiplayer and Zombies game modes.
- PREPARE FOR A LEVELED-UP MULTIPLAYER: With Black Ops III, Treyarch premieres a new momentum-based chained-movement system, allowing players to fluidly move through the environment with finesse, using controlled thrust jumps, slides, and mantling abilities in a multitude of combinations, all while maintaining complete control over your weapon at all times.
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Activision describes the recommended configuration as capable of 90 FPS in multiplayer on High settings. No official campaign-specific FPS table by GPU has been published in the available specifications. Campaign frame rates should therefore be reported as measured results from a particular test, resolution, graphics preset, and upscaling mode—not as an official promise attached to the minimum or recommended list.
Call of Duty Staff wrote on September 29, 2026 that “Modern Warfare 4 runs on most hardware while also seamlessly scaling up to crisp graphics and ultra-smooth, high FPS gameplay on higher-end setups.” That statement describes scalability, while the three tables above provide the concrete hardware boundaries.
Can your existing PC run Modern Warfare 4 campaign?
GTX 1060 or RX 470 systems
A GeForce GTX 1060 or Radeon RX 470 is explicitly included in the minimum GPU tier, provided the rest of the system also meets the minimum CPU, 8 GB RAM, 115 GB SSD, operating-system, and security requirements. That means the game is designed to launch on those classes of hardware, but the published list does not promise a particular campaign FPS, resolution, or graphics preset. Check the card’s available video memory against the listed 3 GB minimum.
Older four-core processors
The Ryzen 5 1400 and Core i5-6600 define the lower CPU boundary. A processor that falls below those models is outside the published minimum, even if its graphics card is faster. AVX support is mandatory, so a nominally similar processor without the required instruction support will not satisfy the requirement.
Systems with 8 GB of RAM
Eight gigabytes is the minimum, not the comfortable target for a modern Windows gaming PC running background applications. The recommended tier doubles memory to 16 GB, while the ray-tracing tier requires 32 GB. Closing launchers, browsers, recording tools, and overlays can reduce contention on an 8 GB machine, but it does not turn minimum hardware into recommended hardware.
Integrated graphics and laptops
The published minimum names discrete Radeon, GeForce, and Arc GPUs. An integrated GPU is not listed, so its ability to run the campaign is not established by the official requirements. Laptop variants should be compared by their actual CPU, dedicated GPU, video-memory allocation, RAM, and power limits rather than by a desktop model name alone.
Rank #2
- Play as part of a well-trained squad in this first-person, action game
- Delivers the gritty realism and cinematic intensity of WW II's epic battlefield
- Experienced through the eyes of citizen soldiers and unsung heroes
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Storage: why the SSD requirement matters
Modern Warfare 4 requires 115 GB on an SSD. This is a capacity and media requirement: an SSD with less than 115 GB of genuinely free space cannot satisfy it, and a hard-disk drive does not meet the published storage type. Keep additional room available because mandatory updates may require more space than the initial installation figure.
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Before installing
- Open your operating system’s storage settings and check free space on the drive where the game will be installed.
- Reserve at least the published 115 GB, then leave extra headroom for updates, shader caches, temporary files, and other applications.
- Install on an internal SSD or a properly supported external SSD rather than moving the game to a slower hard drive after installation.
- Verify that the launcher has permission to create and update files on that drive.
An SSD primarily improves installation, loading, streaming, and update behavior. It does not replace the need for a qualifying CPU, GPU, RAM, or security configuration.
TPM 2.0, Secure Boot, and Arc-specific setup
TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot are mandatory on PC. Intel Arc graphics cards additionally require Resizable BAR. These settings are controlled in firmware, so a PC can have powerful hardware and still fail the game’s launch checks when the options are disabled.
Check the settings in Windows
- For TPM, open the Windows security or system-management tools and confirm that a TPM 2.0 security processor is present and ready.
- For Secure Boot, open System Information and check the Secure Boot State entry. It should report that Secure Boot is on.
- For Arc graphics, confirm that Resizable BAR is enabled in the motherboard firmware and that the system is using a current motherboard BIOS and graphics driver.
Enable a missing option in firmware
- Restart the PC and enter UEFI/BIOS setup using the key shown by the motherboard or laptop manufacturer.
- Enable the firmware TPM option, which may be labelled differently by the processor platform.
- Set the boot mode to UEFI and enable Secure Boot. Converting a legacy installation to UEFI can require preparation; do not switch modes blindly on a drive that was installed for legacy boot.
- On an Arc system, enable Above 4G Decoding and Resizable BAR when those options are available, then save and reboot.
- Return to Windows and recheck the status before launching the game.
Firmware menus vary by motherboard and laptop. If Windows stops booting after a mode change, revert the last setting or restore the previous boot configuration before attempting another change.
Choosing a GPU for 1080p, 1440p, or ray tracing
1080p and the minimum tier
The minimum list is the only official indication that RX 470, GTX 970/1060, and Arc A580-class graphics can start the game. It does not define a campaign preset or frame-rate floor. Use the game’s benchmark and adjust resolution, texture quality, shadows, and upscaling until frame-time behavior is acceptable.
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Activision does not publish a separate 1440p campaign specification or GPU-to-FPS chart. The recommended GPU tier—RX 6600 XT, RTX 3060 Ti in Activision’s listing, RTX 3060 in Steam’s listing, or Arc B580—provides a more appropriate starting point than the minimum tier, but actual 1440p campaign performance remains scene- and settings-dependent. Treat any number obtained from your own benchmark as a test result for your configuration.
Rank #3
- Epic single-player campaign picks up immediately following the thrilling events from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
- The definitive multiplayer experience returns, with a host of new perks and enhancements
- New cooperative SpecOps mode, the perfect combination of Modern Warfare's single player intensity and the addictive replayability of its multiplayer
- Special Ops Mode allows two players, either alone or with a friend, to engage in unique mission play and features split-screen functionality.
- ‘Modern Warfare 2’ contains new and updated weapons, new weapons attachments, and a variant of the multiplayer weapons customization system from ‘Call of Duty 4’, now available in the single player campaign.
4K upscaled ray tracing
High-quality ray tracing at 4K upscaled is assigned to the ray-tracing tier: RTX 5070 Ti or RX 9070 XT-class graphics with 16 GB of video memory, a Ryzen 7 3700X or Core i7-10700K, 32 GB RAM, and Windows 11. “Upscaled” means the game renders internally below native 4K and reconstructs the output using an upscaling technology; it is not the same workload as native 4K rendering.
Ray tracing adds GPU work and can alter frame pacing in scenes with many reflections, shadows, or lighting effects. If performance is unstable, reduce ray-tracing quality or disable it before lowering every other setting.
Upscaling and graphics options
The PC version supports AMD FSR Redstone, NVIDIA DLSS 4.5, Intel XeSS 3, and Filmic SMAA T2X. The best choice depends on your GPU and on the balance you prefer between image sharpness, reconstruction artifacts, and frame rate.
- Start with a balanced or quality mode. Quality modes preserve more detail; performance modes provide more GPU headroom at a lower internal resolution.
- Use the technology matched to your hardware when practical. Test alternatives if ghosting, shimmering, or softness is visible in foliage, wires, particles, or fast camera movement.
- Change one setting at a time. Record the resolution, preset, upscaler, sharpness, ray tracing state, and result so you can identify which change helped.
- Keep textures within video-memory limits. Exceeding available VRAM can cause stutter even when an average FPS counter looks acceptable.
Filmic SMAA T2X is an anti-aliasing option rather than a substitute for every temporal or machine-learning upscaler. Compare it at the same resolution and scene when judging clarity.
How to test campaign performance accurately
Because the official requirements do not include a campaign FPS table, a useful test must identify its conditions. The built-in benchmark, when available in your installed version, is a starting point rather than a universal campaign prediction.
- Update Windows, the graphics driver, motherboard firmware where appropriate, and the game before testing.
- Reboot, close unnecessary background programs, and let shader compilation finish if the game offers a compilation process.
- Select a fixed resolution and graphics preset, then record the upscaler, render scale, ray-tracing setting, texture setting, and frame-rate cap.
- Run the built-in benchmark three times and note average FPS, one-percent-low behavior if exposed, frame-time spikes, and VRAM or RAM usage.
- Play a demanding campaign sequence after benchmarking. Note the mission, location, weather or effects, and whether traversal stutter occurs.
- Change only one variable—such as upscaling mode, shadows, or ray tracing—and repeat the same route.
Report results as “tested on” findings with the exact hardware and settings. Do not label a multiplayer High result as a guaranteed campaign result.
Rank #4
- Set in the Pacific Theater of World War II
- Powered by Call of Duty 4: Modern Wafare technology
- Includes perks, rankings, and stats
- Participate in up-to four-player cooperative gameplay
- New infantry and vehicle-based weapons
Common launch problems and fixes
The game says TPM 2.0 is missing
Confirm in Windows that a TPM 2.0 device is present and ready, then check that the firmware TPM option is enabled. A motherboard BIOS update may be required on older systems. If the hardware genuinely lacks TPM 2.0 support, it is outside the published requirement.
Secure Boot is disabled
Verify that the system boots in UEFI mode and that Secure Boot is enabled in firmware. Legacy boot configurations may need conversion before Secure Boot can be activated. Back up important files and follow the motherboard or Windows documentation for that conversion.
An Arc GPU fails its hardware check
Enable Resizable BAR and Above 4G Decoding in firmware, update the motherboard BIOS and graphics driver, and confirm that the operating system sees the feature as active. Arc hardware without Resizable BAR does not meet the additional published requirement.
There is not enough disk space during an update
Free more space than the 115 GB installation figure, because mandatory updates can need temporary room. Remove unused games or move personal files to another drive, then restart the update after verifying the install drive’s free capacity.
Stutter despite meeting the minimum
Check RAM and VRAM usage, complete shader compilation, close background applications, and install the game on the SSD. Lower texture quality or ray tracing if memory is saturated, then test an appropriate upscaling mode. Meeting minimum specifications confirms eligibility, not a fixed frame-rate level.
Campaign access and PC release timing
Activision says PC versions are available through Xbox on PC, Battle.net, and Steam. Its 2026 information states that digital pre-purchases receive campaign early access beginning October 16, 2026, while the full game releases October 23 at midnight local time. Steam displays October 22, 2026 as its store release date. These dates can both appear because storefront listings and local unlock clocks do not always use the same displayed time zone; check the countdown in the store where you purchased the game.
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Steam lists playable perspectives including Private Park and Captain Price. The campaign’s settings and missions are separate from the PC specification tiers, so access timing does not change the hardware requirements.
Upgrade priorities for a borderline PC
Upgrade the storage first when you lack an SSD
The SSD is non-negotiable, and 115 GB is the published minimum before update headroom. Moving from a hard drive to a suitably sized SSD addresses installation eligibility and reduces loading and streaming delays.
Move from 8 GB to 16 GB of RAM
Sixteen gigabytes matches the recommended tier and leaves more room for Windows and background software than the 8 GB minimum. Use a matched kit supported by your motherboard and check whether your laptop permits a memory upgrade.
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If your current card is near the minimum, a recommended-tier RX 6600 XT, RTX 3060/3060 Ti-class card, or Arc B580-class card is a more balanced goal for higher settings than buying a ray-tracing-tier card while retaining a minimum-tier CPU and 8 GB of RAM. Ray tracing also brings the 32 GB memory and 16 GB video-memory requirements.
Check the CPU and platform together
A graphics upgrade cannot compensate for a processor below the minimum or for a platform without TPM 2.0, Secure Boot, AVX, or DirectX 12 support. Verify the complete system before spending on a single component.
Quick Recap
What you should remember
- The minimum configuration is Windows 10 64-bit, a Ryzen 5 1400/Core i5-6600-class CPU, 8 GB RAM, an RX 470/GTX 970/1060/Arc A580-class GPU with at least 3 GB video memory, and 115 GB on an SSD.
- The recommended tier uses Windows 11, 16 GB RAM, and RX 6600 XT, RTX 3060-class, or Arc B580-class graphics with 8 GB video memory. Its 90 FPS statement applies to multiplayer on High settings.
- TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot are mandatory; Intel Arc systems also need Resizable BAR.
- High-quality 4K upscaled ray tracing requires 32 GB RAM and RTX 5070 Ti/RX 9070 XT-class graphics with 16 GB video memory.
- No official campaign FPS-by-GPU table is available, so campaign results should always include the test scene and settings.
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