Let’s skip the intros, cut to the chase, and jump straight into the best laptops for the latest Call of Duty: Black Ops 6—and previous releases too.

First…

Regardless of which version you’re playing, Call of Duty is EXTREMELY demanding on gaming laptops.

If you grab a GTX 1650 laptop, expect serious struggles, especially with Modern Warfare III and Black Ops 6.

For older versions, the game is playable, but only if you drop graphics settings to low (~60 FPS).

The bare minimum to run any version of Call of Duty is a 3050 Ti laptop, and even then, you’ll have to set everything to low to get decent performance.

The ideal laptop for Call of Duty should have at least:

✔ RTX 3060 (130W)
✔ RTX 4050 (100W or higher)

These GPUs are powerful enough to play the game at high settings (1080p) without major issues.

If you check the benchmarks at the end of this post (organized in tables with links to YouTube videos), you’ll come to the following conclusions:

• The bare minimum for competitive gaming at 1080p is an RTX 3060 (130W) for all releases, including Modern Warfare III.
• GPUs that seem more powerful—like the RTX 4060, RTX 4050, RTX 3070, RTX 3080, etc.—but run at low power (<100W) do not perform better than an RTX 3060 (130W).
• This last point is crucial so you don’t waste money thinking you’re getting the best bang for your buck.

Best Gaming Laptop Specs for Call of Duty

The following hardware guidelines are based on dozens of benchmarks from YouTube (which you can find in the last section) and my own benchmarks from my YouTube channel.

If you want the short summary, it’s simple:

Either pick a RTX 3060 running at least 130W or 100W+ for any other higher-end GPU (RTX 4050, RTX 4060, RTX 3070, etc.).

GPU

3060RTX or 4050RTX: These are mid-range GPUs, the bare minimum for playing competitively. As long as you focus on getting an RTX 3060 (130W) or an RTX 4050 (100W+), the CPU won’t make much of a difference.

3070RTX & 3080RTX, 4060RTX, 4070RTX: These are the ideal GPUs for competitive gaming. They’ll also allow you to run Modern Warfare III & Warzone at 1440p and 4K resolutions.

When compared to the RTX 3060 at 1080p, the performance gains aren’t significant for Warzone, but they are noticeable for Modern Warfare III.

Although ideal, GPUs above the RTX 3060 and RTX 4050 are very expensive when running at full wattage.

1650GTX & 3050Ti: If you lower the settings and use DLSS, you can get 60+ FPS at 1080p. The GTX 1650 may experience lag spikes, especially without a MUX switch, whereas the 3050 Ti will provide a more stable experience.

Decent for Warzone: 1050Ti, AMD Radeon 5550M. Not necessarily the best but playable.
Unplayable for Warzone & Warfare III: MX350, MX450,1050GTX, AMD Radeon RX 550/540/555/560.

CPU

Assuming you’ve got two laptops with the same GPU running at the same wattage, you can start researching which CPUs will give you more frames per second.

The truth is, you’ll get about 5-10 more FPS—all things being equal—if you choose a better CPU.

However…

If you’re buying a laptop with a GPU like the GTX 1650 or 3050 Ti, picking the right CPU (or paying a little more) can net you an extra 20-30 FPS at 1080p on low settings.

Here’s a summary of CPU performance for Call of Duty (Warzone)—these benchmarks should also apply for Modern Warfare III:

Core i5 13500H< Ryzen 5 7535H ….Core i7 13620H & i7 13650HX < Ryzen 7 7840H < R7 7840HS ….Ryzen 9 7940HS<Core i9 13900H

This post however…has a complete comparison table of all laptop CPUs multi-core and single core performance. For Call of Duty you want to look at Multi-core performance as the game uses several threads as shown here. 

RAM

8GB vs 16GB: The game is playable with 8GB RAM, but you’ll lose framerates and experience lag spikes. At least 16GB RAM is recommended.

Dual Channel: You can gain up to 10 FPS if you set up 16GB RAM in dual-channel mode.

Storage
512GB: CoD: Warzone can take up to 120GB. VanGuard can take up to 60GB. Add Modern Warfare III which is 90GB and you’re out of storage if you buy a 256GB SSD without even having space for Windows 12.

Display

120Hz/144Hz: High refresh rates are a must if you’re buying a laptop with at least an RTX 3060. Fortunately, they always come by default with higher-end GPUs, so there’s nothing to worry about.

Also, you don’t have to worry about 240Hz displays or even 144Hz displays (in some cases) because you won’t be hitting such high framerates, especially at high settings.

Top 5 Best Laptops for Call of Duty

Most of these laptops come with high-end GPUs and are built for competitive gaming in Modern Warfare III and Warzone.

I recommend checking laptop #3 and #4 first before looking at #1 and #2 because they are now selling for about the same price while delivering significantly better performance.

The last laptop on the list has a 3050 Ti and is the cheapest option (~$650). It’s the bare minimum for Warzone only if you just want to have fun.

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1. ASUS TUF A17

Best Laptop For Call of Duty : Blacks Ops 6

  AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS

  16GB DDR5

  GeForce RTX 4060 8GB vRAM 140W

  1TB PCIe NVMe SSD

  17” 144Hz FHD IPS

  6.55 lbs

  1 hours

This laptop has the most powerful mid-range GPU found on laptops as of early 2025.

GPU: 4060RTX 140W

This is the latest 4th generation mid-range GPU, the RTX 4060, which is actually much closer in power to the RTX 3070 than the RTX 3060.

If you do some research, you’ll find that the average price of an RTX 4060 laptop running at 140W is around $1,600. The ASUS TUF sells for about $1,430, and it still delivers great performance.

Be sure not to buy RTX 4060 laptops running below 100W—they will perform worse than RTX 3060 laptops running at 130W.

Below, you can see the performance of the RTX 4060 with DLSS 3 enabled, running at FHD on very high settings.

 

The game looks way smoother than on the Lenovo Legion 5 Pro with the RTX 3060, and that’s because there’s a 30-40 FPS difference.

CPU

Core i7: AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS vs Intel Core i7-13700HX

You’ll find most RTX 4060 laptops running at 140W paired with either the Ryzen 7 7735HS (or its variants like the R7 7840HS) or the Core i7 13700HX (or its variants).

If you check different benchmarks, you’ll find inconclusive results regarding which CPU is faster in multi-core performance. This means the difference in performance is negligible, so your main focus should be on the GPU above everything else.

Rather than worrying about which CPU to pick, you should consider upgrading to 32GB RAM in dual-channel mode. While 16GB RAM is enough for Call of Duty, having more headroom in dual-channel mode will help the CPU process data faster and boost framerates at 1080p by 5-10 FPS—which is a huge difference in a game like this.

Alternatives

Below, you can see the most popular RTX 4060 laptops as of 2025. Notice how the price drastically changes depending on whether the laptop has a QHD display or a higher-end Core i9/Ryzen 9 CPU.

At the end of the day, GPU wattage makes all the difference. In reality, this is the main factor behind the big price variations. The cheaper models run the GPU at lower wattage, which means they don’t require an advanced cooling system or premium design, significantly reducing manufacturing costs.

The best alternative among these is the Lenovo LOQ, which is cheaper and comes with a 140W GPU and a QHD display. It may not stay in stock for long, so if it’s still available, grab it over the ASUS TUF.

ASUS TUF A15
PROS	CONS
Latest 4th generation RTX GPU High Wattage + MUX Switch Large Display  Runs Warfare 3 at 115fps w/ high settings DDR5 RAM Latest Ryzen 7 CPU	FHD display as opposed to UHD or QHD Very Low, if any, Battery  Very Heavy Expensive

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2. Lenovo Legion 5 Pro

4060RTX Laptop For Call of Duty : Black Ops & Warzone

  Ryzen 7 7735HS

  32GB DDR5

  GeForce RTX 4060 8GB 100W

  512GB NVMe SSD

  16” 165Hz QHD IPS

  5.18 lbs

  2 hours

GPU: 4060RTX 100W

Modern Warfare 3: The bare bone MINIMUM to play Call of Duty Modern Warfare III has to have a 3060RTX laptop running at 130W. If you’re willing to play at medium or low settings then you can definitely kick some butt in MW 3.

Now…that 3060RTX laptop which was the older version of the Lenovo Legion Pro shown here…it’s mostly out of stock. If you can find new and cheap, it’s still a good choice. 

This year we are posting the latest Lenovo legion Pro which as you’ll see has much greater performance (even running at lower wattages).

Warzone: A 3060RTX however is very very decent for competitive gaming at high settings , you can hit 100fps with a 3060RTX running at 130W. The 4060RTX however at 100W will perform significantly especially if you turn on DLSS mode.

4060RTX 100W vs 3060RTX 130W

When you compare the two, it may seem like the 130W should outrun the 4060RTX but as we discussed in my 4060RTX vs 3060RTX post… the 4th gen RTX does not need much power to run fast. However, make sure your laptop has (though most do today):

• A MUX Switch which increases GPU performance by 15-20% and which this Lenovo Model (all legion pro models) have.
• At least running at 100W if 4060RTX and 130W if a 3060RTX. 
• A Core i7 or a ryzen 7 CPU from the 5th-7th gen as some 3060RTX laptops come with a Core i5 or Ryzen 5 which creates a CPU bottleneck.

Notice how it fares against the 3060RTX GPUs despite running at 100W:

Note that the low end 3060RTX running 105W only run at 15fps less. That may not seem significant but for a FPS game like Call of Duty , it’s a HUGE difference.  Higher end GPUs will only get you 20-30fps gains MAX!

CPU

i7 13700H vs i7 Ryzen 7 7735HS vs 14th gen Core i7 & 8th gen Ryzen 7

It really doesn’t make much difference regarding framerates. There won’t be a bottleneck as long as you get the performance similar to a 6th gen Ryzen 7 CPU or a 12th gen Core i7 CPU if you pair it with a 3060RTX or a 4060RTX. If you want to know equivalent CPUs and CPUs that are below this threshold, be sure to check out my post on Laptop CPU performance comparison.

Another thing you have to look at is the multi core performance rather than single core performance graphs as the game is somewhat multi-threaded.

RAM: Dual-Channel & 16-32GB RAM

All Lenovo Legion models come with at least 16GB RAM. If you can upgrade RAM to 32GB or split the 16GB RAM into two equal (and of the same brand & type) 8GB RAM, you can activate dual-channel mode and this might give you an extra boost of up to 10fps (if playing at medium or low settings) but it probably won’t be more than 5fps at high settings.

Display

165z + QHD resolution + 16 inch

What I personally like the most about the Lenovo Legion 5 Pro series (which comes in many configurations with different GPU and CPU combos) is that all models feature a QHD resolution screen on a 16-inch display.

This makes gaming more enjoyable because you can actually test how different games look at QHD resolution on a laptop. For Call of Duty, higher resolutions and a bigger display won’t improve your performance, but having a larger laptop means a better cooling system, which helps keep the GPU at safe temperatures.

Now…

For Warzone, yes, you can play competitively at QHD resolution, and the 130W GPU should get you framerates in the 80s. However, for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, the experience won’t be as smooth, so it’s better to stick with 1080p resolution.

Lastly, the refresh rate is perfect—it comes with a 144Hz display (instead of 240Hz or 360Hz found on more powerful laptops), but that’s actually ideal. Since the game is extremely demanding, even on high-end hardware, your framerate is unlikely to exceed 150 FPS, making a higher refresh rate unnecessary.

Lenovo Legion 5 Gaming
PROS	CONS
High Wattage 4060 RTX ( 100W ) Includes a MUX Switch (~15-20%+ GPU performance) Runs CoD Warfare 3 w/ +100fps Supports 1440p gaming with +60fps QHD Display High Refresh rates 32GB RAM out of the box	Poor Battery Expensive Noisy (Fans can be loud) Needs a cooler

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3. MSI Katana 

4070RTX Gaming Laptop For CoD

  Ryzen 9-8945HS

  64GB DDR5

   NVIDIA RTX 4070RTX140W

  1TBGB NVMe SSD

  17” QHD 165Hz

  10lbs 

  1 hours

A leap from the 4060RTX would be either the 3070Ti or the 4070RTX.

Since it’s been almost two years since the release of the 4th gen RTX GPUs  prices have dropped significantly and sometimes you may find one cheaper than other.

Which one to choose? Well…just know that both perform more or less the same as shown in my 4070RTX vs 3070Ti Benchmarks especially with DLSS OFF.

If you turn ON DLSS mode, the 4070RTX will get you significantly more framerates on Call of Duty since it supports DLSS 3.

GPU: 4070RTX 90W-140W

Now here’s the deal…

You can find 4070RTX laptops as low as 1000 dollars even with a Core i7 or a Ryzen 7…the problem is they are likely to run on 90W and if you want a true performance leap from the 4060RTX you want the high wattage 100W-140W 4070RTX  which will perform more or less the same as the most powerful high wattage 3080RTX.

CPU

Core i7:  Ryzen 7 6800H  

Do note that the 4070RTX laptop that was benchmarked is different from the laptop being featured here. Not in a bad way….because the laptop im featuring here has a Ryzen 9 of the latest 8th generation. This means framerates should be significantly higher than shown in the video especially since Ryzen 9 CPUs have significantly better multi core performance than most CPUs on the same bracket.

Display: 15” QHD 165Hz 

Note that this laptop has a MUX switch (increases GPU performance even more by about 15%) and not only does it have a QHD display but it’s also a 17 inch display. This is the ideal laptop for competitive gaming the extra screen space and high framerates at QHD resolution will give you a HUGE edge over other players.  

MSI Katana
PROS	CONS
Cheapest 4070RTX Laptop  MUX Switch + High TGP (Wattage) 32GB RAM out of the box Latest DDR 5 (boost FPS) Dual channel 32GB RAM (boost fps)	Poor Battery  Expensive No QHD display Gets hot (needs to buy a cooler)

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4. Alienware M18 R2

Most powerful Laptop For Call of Duty at 1440p

  Intel Core i9-14900HX

  32GB DDR5 RAM

   NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 140W

  1TB NVMe SSD

  18” QHD  IPS

  9.32 lbs

  1 hour  

This is going to be the most expensive laptop on the list because it has the most powerful GPU so far. It isn’t necessarily the most powerful GPU as of 2025, that would be the 4090Ti but being a high wattage GPU is going to get you something close to the best performance you can get out of a laptop for call of duty.

GPU: 4080RTX 140W

The 4080RTX and the 4090RTX are the two most powerful laptop GPUs as of 2025. The 5th generation RTX GPUs are not quite close to release yet. On desktops, of course, these are even faster and more powerful since they run at higher wattages.

However, if you get these on a high bulky spacious laptops, performance will significantly increase since these GPUs need a lot of ventilation and a good cooling system.

If you get a high wattage version of the 4080RTX like this one, it will significantly outperform the 3080Ti especially with DLSS mode ON.

 

Size & Performance:

Lastly, I want to emphasize that the performance of this particular laptop should be higher than what’s seen in the benchmarks. The benchmarks were run on a different model, which is a slim version of this laptop.

While that model is still large (16 inches), it’s not as big as the laptop featured here, which is 18 inches. The larger size allows for better cooling and more advanced cooling systems, leading to improved performance.

When you have low stable tempeartures, thermal throttling is avoided and minimized and framerates are much more stable and higher . 

CPU: Core i9-14900HX

This laptop has the most powerful gaming CPU as of 2025. However, that won’t make a significant difference for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare or Warzone.

Once you’re in Ryzen 7 or Core i7 territory (recent generations), the CPU has minimal impact on performance. Sure, you might gain an extra 5-15 FPS, but it won’t be a game-changer.

CPU Bottleneck? 

You may hear comments about CPU bottlenecks due to the Ryzen 9 or Core i7…etc and the truth is unless you have a Core i5 or Ryzen 5 or an older core i9 or ryzen 9…there’s not going to be much bottleneck if any.

CPUs definitely make a difference with framerates but not to the point of being significant. What I mean by that is that a Ryzen 9 will not perform any less than Core i9 if they both have the same GPU running at the same wattage.

Higher performance CPUs simply don’t make much difference with call of duty. At first, if you check benchmarks, it may seem like Activision has put a CAP on framerates regardless of  hardware but the truth is the game is extremely hardawre demanding and laptops can only do so much. If you want framerates beyond 130fps you should start looking at desktops. 

Display: FHD

1440p resolution game play: Unfortunately, this laptop does not come with a QHD resolution. Although you can definitely find laptops with QHD resolution and the same CPU + GPU configuration but they will increase the price massively. This laptop only has a FHD and should only be considered for those that want to play the game competitively on a laptop. QHD resolution looks nice but nobody really kicks butt at such high resolutions because framerates and performance take a big toll even on desktops. They’re more useful. for campaings and single player mode.

Alienware M8 R2
PROS	CONS
High wattage (TGP) 4080RTX One of the most powerful CPUs for gaming Cool looking keyboard design No need for upgrades (Max RAM & Storage) Easily handles Black Ops 6 at 1400p with +120fps Huge high resolution display Superb Cooling System	Very poor Battery Extremely expensive Extremely heavy Lousy trackpad (virtual numberpad)

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5. Acer Nitro 5

Best Budget Laptop for Call of Duty

  Core i7 13620H

  16GB RAM

  NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050

  512GB SSD PCIe NVMe

  15” FHD IPS  144Hz

  4.66 lbs

  2 hours

 

This is the bare bone minimum laptop configuration for the game to even be playable with both Warzone & Black Ops 6.

GPU: 4050RTX vs 3050Ti RTX vs 1650GTX

I know you’ve been considering GTX 1650 laptops because they’re cheaper, but trust me, they struggle a lot, even on the lowest settings in Warzone.

At bare minimum, you’ll want a 3050 Ti, or at the very least, a 3050 RTX with 6GB of VRAM.

If you’re at the point where the GTX 1650 is your only option, honestly, you’d be better off playing Counter-Strike 2 instead!

You won’t have fun with Call of Duty: Warzone on a GTX 1650. The performance will be so low that there’s no motivation to keep playing—especially when you’re constantly getting destroyed by 13-year-olds on high-end desktops.

Below, you can see the performance of the RTX 4050 in Warzone, which holds up reasonably well at low settings and even performs decently at high settings.

DLSS & DirectX Ray Tracing

Biggest reason to avoid older generation (yet powerful GPUs) and opting recent GPUs is DLSS.  If activated, it will increase framerates significantly especially at low settings. 

Notice how the RTX 4050, even with a Core i5 and DLSS enabled, significantly outperforms GTX 1650 and RTX 3050 laptops, despite running at much higher settings. This is the power of DLSS 3, combined with the extra VRAM, a more efficient architecture, and of course…

RAM: 8GB vs 16GB RAM

Do note that Warzone is less hardware demanding and can be played on a GTX 1650, provided you upgrade your RAM to 16GB in dual-channel mode and set the graphics to low (if playing competitively). This should get your framerates into the 100s.

Check my tutorial on upgrading RAM on a 3050 Ti laptop for a step-by-step guide.

MUX Switch & Wattage (TGP)

Unfortunately, there are no MUX switch laptops with entry-level GPUs. The reason is simple—the performance gains wouldn’t be significant, and adding a MUX switch would only drive up costs.

However, unlike RTX 3050 and GTX 1650 laptop GPUs, the RTX 4050 comes in different wattages. It’s important to check what wattage you’re getting, as having an RTX 4050 running at 100W or more makes a huge difference in performance.

CPU: Ryzen 5 vs Core i5 vs Core i7

Back when I ran the benchmarks, I noticed something interesting, and you’ll see it too if you check out the GTX 1650 benchmarks. Core i5 CPUs are outperformed by Ryzen 5 CPUs in Call of Duty, which shouldn’t have been a surprise.

Ryzen 5 CPUs have better multi-core performance than Core i5 CPUs, and since Call of Duty is slightly more multi-core dependent than the average AAA game, this advantage comes in handy—at least when it comes to budget gaming machines. However, as GPU power increases, this performance difference becomes negligible, as seen in the preceding reviews.

The Ryzen 5 model beat the Core i5 model, even though the Core i5 laptop had a better GTX 1650 setup (it had some sort of MUX switch). This makes sense with the benchmarks I showed in my Ryzen vs Intel Core laptop CPUs Performance Comparison post. Why? Because CoD is more multi-threaded than the average game and Ryzen 5 have better multi core performance as shown in my post.

What this means is that if you’re buying a laptop with an entry-level GPU and all else is equal (wattage, MUX switch, etc.), you should opt for the Ryzen 5 models.

This laptop, of course, has a Core i7, but cheaper RTX 4050 laptop models will have either a Core i5 or a Ryzen 5. Between the two, you should pick the Ryzen 5, as it will generally provide slightly higher framerates based on my experience.

Acer Nitro 5
PROS	CONS
144Hz Display Easy RAM & Storage Upgradeable Cool Keyboard Recent & Fast Core i7 High wattage 4050RTX	Not the cheapest 4050RTX Laptop Needs a cooler for high settings

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This section will not only list the official minimum and recommended requirements but also talk about the benchmark taken from different GPU + CPU configurations on laptopstudy.com youtube channel and other gaming channels/

Since most people came here to see the official requirements, we’ll do that briefly. Benchmarks and discussion of framerates results will follow after.

Laptop Requirements for Call of Duty Warzone , MW 3 (Complete Guide) and All releases

Official Minimum & Recommended Requirements

The translation to laptops is pretty simple, it’s only the graphics card section which can be tricky. Basically you have to take into account that desktop GPUs are usually “one step” above laptop GPUs. For ex: 1650GTX (Desktop) ~ 1060GTX (Laptop) .   3050Ti (Desktop) – 3060RTX (85W Laptop). 

If higher end GPUs like the 3060RTX and 3070RTX are mentioned they’re supposed to run at full maximum watage (this is not the case on every laptop).

Laptop Benchmarks : Call of Duty 

It should be pretty clear by now that GPU is the single most important factor for Call of Duty and this is even more true on laptops where you don’t have many choices for CPUs. Thus when you shop for a laptop for call of duty you ONLY have to look at the GPU.

Integrated and 2GB vRAM dedicated GPUs

Note: the game is completely unplayable on integrated GPUs and even entry level dedicated GPUs with 2GB of vRAM (shown  below) thus you must spend at least 650 bucks for a decent laptop for call of duty. 

NVIDIA	Cores	vRAM	Speed
MX150	384	2GB	1532
MX250	384	2GB	1582
MX230	256	2GB	1519
MX350	640	2GB	1354
MX450	896	2GB	1580
MX550	1024	2GB	1320
1050	640	2GB	1493

Now virtually every laptop that has a Core i5 9th and Core i5 10th gen seems to struggle A LOT on high graphics quality settings. The game is somewhat playable on Ryzen 5 + 1650GTX laptops which allows you to set Texture resolution to high (this makes a big difference on how the game looks).

Recommended Graphics Settings 

Virtually all configurations are fast if you set graphics quality mostly to  low (and normal) settings and:

• NVIDIA Reflex Low Latency – Enabled + Boost
• NVIDIA Highlights – OFF
• Dynamic Resolution – Enabled
• Field of View – Default

Optional: you can set texture resolution to low and start dipping into 100 fps. 

AMD Ryzen 5  > Core i5 

Interestingly, the Core i5 9300H I have tested has some sort of a MUX Switch (15% increased GPU performance) and yet the AMD Ryzen 5 4600H outperforms it. I know I said CPU matters very little for this game but when you lack GPU power such as in the case of cheap dedicated GPUs , it can make a big difference. As you’ll see soon, it won’t make any difference on the higher and more powerful upcoming dedicated GPUs.

ii. Dedicated GPUs: 700-800 dollars

The 1060GTX and the AMD Variants are rare (the former is obsolete) but they’re listed here if you find them on a deal, they should perform just as good as the equivalents shown below:

The AMD RX 5500M is insanely powerful for most games I’ve tested , I have a laptop on my posession with it but since it is a MacBook I could not run the game on it. 

Call of Duty: Warzone

Low Graphics above mean everything on Low and texture resolution set to very low with Tesellation and bullet Impact enabled.
High Graphics have all settings including Particle Lightining at Ultra & Shadow Map resolution at Extra. RTX should be OFF unless you’re playing in Campaign mode, it’s too taxing and useless for Multiplayer mode.

**Particle lightining here is set to Ultra and Screen Space reflection is set to high but World motion blur and weapon blur are disabled. Map is operation caldera: Clash.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

**Particle lightining here is set to normal. World motion blur and weapon blur are disabled. 

Call of Duty: Vanguard

**Particle lightining here is set to normal. World motion blur and weapon blur are disabled. 

High Graphics: High here means HIGH HIGH, just like the previous graphics configuration.

• RTX Mode is not available on Call of Duty: Vanguard at the time of the benchmarks
• DLSS ( Deep Learning Super Sampling Technology ) will increase framerates by 10 to 15 fps. Notice what a big difference it makes on the 3050Ti which returns same fps either on Low or High. This is only available on GPUs with RTX support like the 3050Ti & 2060RTX.

Conclusions: 3050Ti , 2060RTX & 1660Ti

• 3050Ti laptops have the same performance as 1660Ti laptops (despite being cheaper). The 2060RTX , however, outperforms the 3050Ti but they’re usually more expensive.
• Because 1440p resolution means more “image details” thus it requires more “video memory”, only 6GB vRAM GPUs like the 2060RTX and 1660Ti make the game playable at 1440p resolution.
• Note how the 2060RTX (115W) in the previous Warzone Table outperforms the 2060RTX(95W) on Vanguard despite Warzone being more hardware demanding and despite the 2060RTX (115W) having a weaker CPU. This is how important GPU Wattage is. I have a whole article on the GPU Wattage topic it which you MUST read if you want to buy a laptop for call of duty.
  • Note GPU Wattage is not an issue for 3050Ti , 1650GTX and weaker GPUs because they all run at maximum wattage on every laptop.

iii. Dedicated GPUs: 800-1300 dollars

Please note that GPU Wattage becomes extremely important from now so make sure you read my post on it if you’re planning to spend at least 900 dollars. Basically GPUs come with different wattages (power) which are most of the time NOT configurable , they are set on stone when you buy a laptop.

Low Power 3060RTX: 90W / 105W

*Both laptops above have CPUs with similar performance (in fact the Core i7 is slightly powerful but that doesn’t seem to matter much, what’s making the big difference here is the slightly higher wattage 3060RTX on 1440p gaming). 

• 1080p: Power doesn’t seem to matter much here. 85W or 95W or even 105W doesn’t make much difference for framerates.
• 1440p: However, there’s a substantial performance gain with little increments of power for 1440p gaming. 

High Wattage 3060RTX: 115W-130W

Benchmarks above are not taken on the same setting (different maps may reduce or increase performance) however both of the high power 3060RTX variants (115W & 130W) massively outperform the low power variants both at 1080p and 1440p resolutions. Also note that Both benchmarks were taken on Warzone which is a bit more hardware demanding than Vanguard.

Older 2070RTX

 It’s still a good option in 2022 provided and if you find them running at high wattage (115W and above) and cheaper than 3060RTX, it’s a pretty good damn deal.

iv. Dedicated GPUs: 1500-2000 dollars 

 

This is a lot of a money and although all of these laptops will definitely get you high framerates on high settings, you will lose substantial extra gains if you are not careful.

Make sure you read my post on GPU Wattage (linked in the preceeding section). it’s mandatory at this point !

NVIDIA	Cores	vRAM	Speed
4060	3072	8GB	2730
3070	5120	8GB	1620
3080	6144	16GB	1710
4070	4608	8GB	2175
3070Ti	5888	8GB	1485
3080Ti	7424	16GB	1590

 

AMD	Shaders	vRAM	Speed	Equivalent
RX 6800S	2048	12GB	1975	~3070RTX (Low Power)

Call of Duty: Warzone 

Call of Duty:  VanGuard

 

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

 

 

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Lots of benchmarks and points to make out of these but the main takeaways are:

Call of Duty at 1080p: 

• Only the high power 3070RTX and 3080RTX (130W+ , ex: 140W or 155W) will outperform the 130W 3060RTX. 
  • DO NOT BUY low powered 3070RTX & 3080RTX (80W-115W) if you’re playing the game at 1080p resolution, they do NOT  seem to outperform the 3060RTX (130W) substantially thus you’ll be wasting hundreds of bucks if you do. 

Call of Duty at 1440p: 

• Likewise low wattage 3070RTX & 3080RTX GPUs do not seem to “VASTLY” outperform the 3060(130W) however temperatures are lower on the higher-end GPUs. 
  • This means you still must get a high power 3070RTX and 3080RTX for 1440p gaming

Call of Duty: 3070RTX vs 3080RTX

• You are never guaranteed to get better performance out of a 3080RTX even if it’s a high power (wattage) GPU. Make sure to watch benchmarks of the models you’re buying. 

v. Latest dGPUs: 2000 dollars and above

NVIDIA	Cores	vRAM	Speed
3070Ti	5888	8GB	1485
3080Ti	7424	16GB	1590

These GPUs should only be used for Call of Duty at 1440p resolution, they’re insanely powerful for 1080p alone. Notice how CPU matters very little here and it’s all about GPU.

No.

In fact, it’s more about Wattage, look at the high wattage 3070Ti outperforming the low wattage 105W 3080RTX.

Also notice how both the high wattage 3070Ti and 3080Ti get you up there around the “competitive framerates” magic number: 144Hz.

Obviously, CPU matters too but only when all things are equal: wattage, MUX Switch, same GPU, same RAM, etc. We’ll go over what really matters about the CPU next.

CPU

While the GPU is in charge of generating and outputting high graphics, the CPU is mostly in charge of doing all the calculations behind the scenes: buildings rendering, shots being fired, things moving, the interaction between objects and targets, etc.

Obviously, things are not going to work out well if you’ve got let’s say a 3080Ti RTX running at 175W and just a Core i5 11400H as a CPU, there’s going to be a CPU “bottleneck”, aka, the CPU will not be able to keep up with ALL the images and details the GPU is outputting.

That’s only a problem for desktops though. On laptops you will ALWAYS have a CPU that can keep up with the GPU.

As you’ve seen before the 3080Ti is usually paired with a Core i7 12900H or a Core i9 12900K.

Obviously, one of those two is going to be faster than the other, so all things being equal, which one do you pick?

Cores vs Frequency

You pick the one with the highest clock frequency or the best clock speed performance. 

Call of Duty is a multi-threadd game TRUE! But like every game that multi-core efficiency stops beyond 4 cores and most high end CPUs even those budget CPUs have at least 4 cores. Thus you must pick the one with more “clock speed” performance.

CPU Performance 

RAM

8GB vs 16GB

It is no secret the game takes a huge amount of vRAM (the memory on graphics cards) and most of the time it will take up ALL of it, thus any extra RAM even if it’s not GPU ‘vRAM’ becomes useful.

The game can be played with just 8GB but you’ll do a LOT better with 16GB RAM. 32GB RAM becomes pretty useless.

Once I upped the RAM in the Lenovo Ideapad gaming for example, I’ve got a boost of 10fps. That’s A LOT considering how hardware demanding Call of Duty is.

DDR5 vs DDR4 vs DDR3

You obviously want the latest RAM too. The latest right now is the DDR5 but it’s only available on those 3070Ti, 3060Ti and 3080Ti laptops which cost an eyeball.

Dual Channeled

You want to make sure your RAM set up (16GB) is done on dual-channel mode. I’ve got a full post on the topic here.

This will give you an additional albeit small increase in framerates.

Storage

Size

HDDs are obsolete now and that’s good. The question is no longer about which type of storage but how much storage do you need:

256GB: This is only useful to install one of the franchises of Call of Duty+ Warzone.

512GB: You need at least 512GB to have several game relases including Black OPs 4, Modern Warfare 2 and Modern Warfare II. 

1TB: You’re going to need 1TB if you want ALL previous titles including Cold War.

Author Profile

Miguel Salas

I am physicist and electrical engineer. My knowledge in computer software and hardware stems for my years spent doing research in optics and photonics devices and running simulations through various programming languages. My goal was to work for the quantum computing research team at IBM but Im now working with Astrophysical Simulations through Python. Most of the science related posts are written by me, the rest have different authors but I edited the final versions to fit the site's format.

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