I've been having a grand old time playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 with an RX 9070 XT, but there'll be plenty of people wanting to run the game on older hardware. So, I decided to dust off my old and much-beloved workhorse, the RTX 3060 Ti, and see how it does in the new Activision shooter. I've been quite pleasantly surprised by the results.
Which is good news, considering Activision lists this graphics card, alongside the AMD RX 6600 XT and Intel Arc B580, as the 'recommended' ones to "run at 90 fps in multiplayer on High graphics settings."
I've found this actually pans out, provided you're at 1080p or are fine enabling Quality upscaling at 1440p.
RTX 3060 Ti performance in COD: MW4
As you can see from the chart below, at 1440p native, the game struggles to reach this 90 fps target even on the Minimum preset. And as I noted in my general performance overview—which, by the way, you should read if you want to know which specific settings to alter to improve your frame rate—the Balanced preset offers the best bang for your buck by far, as going up to Ultra lowers your frame rate significantly.
COD MW4 preset performance - 1440p - RTX 3060 Ti
Frame rates were taken at 1440p native, using an RTX 3060 Ti, Ryzen 7 7800X3D, and 32 GB of DDR5 RAM.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4
| Product | Value |
|---|---|
| Minimum | 70 Avg fps, 59 1% low fps |
| Basic | 66 Avg fps, 59 1% low fps |
| Balanced | 64 Avg fps, 56 1% low fps |
| Ultra | 48 Avg fps, 43 1% low fps |
| Extreme | 43 Avg fps, 36 1% low fps |
I captured these frame rates during the same repeated 30-second run in a campaign mission, but I've found they translate pretty well to DMZ, although a few frames are shaved off in that mode, and a few additional are shaved off when looking into the distance across the expansive map.
The trick to get buttery smooth frame rates with a GPU like the RTX 3060 Ti is to enable DLSS upscaling in Quality mode.
Enabling Quality upscaling takes frame rates from just above 60 to around 90 or even 100 when using the Balanced preset, if you opt for the older CNN model. I didn't notice much of a difference in visuals between CNN and Transformer models, so I'd be opting for the former just for the extra handful of frames, but either way you're getting something very playable.
DLSS Quality vs native at 1440p
This compares playing the game at 1440p native to the two different versions of DLSS upscaling, set to Quality.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4
| Product | Value |
|---|---|
| DLSS CNN Quality | 97 Avg fps, 86 1% low fps |
| DLSS Transformer Quality | 89 Avg fps, 78 1% low fps |
| Native 1440p | 64 Avg fps, 56 1% low fps |
All of the above is speaking to 1440p, but if you have a 1080p monitor or don't mind dropping to 1080p on your 1440p monitor, you can get some very nice frame rates from a card like the RTX 3060 Ti. As you can see from my final chart below, you can push about 130 fps on average in the campaign if you play at 1080p with DLSS enabled, again on the Balanced preset.
Comparing 1440p to 1080p performance
This chart compares performance at 1440p to 1080p using an RTX 3060 Ti, with upscaling enabled and disabled.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4
| Product | Value |
|---|---|
| 1440p Native | 64 Avg fps, 56 1% low fps |
| 1440p DLSS Quality (CNN) | 97 Avg fps, 86 1% low fps |
| 1080p Native | 92 Avg fps, 81 1% low fps |
| 1080p DLSS Quality (CNN) | 131 Avg fps, 113 1% low fps |
There are two caveats here, though. The first is that I wouldn't recommend doing this if you're on a 27-inch, 1440p monitor because it can look quite blurry. I'd just stick to 1440p with DLSS enabled instead.
The second caveat is that, in DMZ, I found frame rates to be a little lower than the ones I recorded in my runs of the campaign mission. But I'd still stick to those settings I just described. At 1440p with DLSS enabled in DMZ I get about 80–95 fps, and at 1080p with DLSS enabled I get about 110 fps.
The settings I'd use in COD: MW2 with an RTX 3060 Ti
This is the resolution and upscaling combo setup I'd personally use to actually play the game if I had a 27-inch, 1440p monitor: 1440p resolution, DLSS Quality upscaling (CNN), and the Balanced preset. If I was using a 24-inch, 1080p monitor, I'd stick to DLSS Quality (CNN) and the Balanced preset, but obviously have the resolution at 1080p instead. With a smaller 1080p monitor, it's not as blurry to have DLSS enabled even at 1080p.
The final bit of good news is that I've found my frame rate to be pretty consistent, too. With an RTX 3060 Ti, I get frame rates consistently pushing closer to 100 fps than 60 fps at 1440p with DLSS Quality enabled and using the Balanced preset.
Comparing higher to lower detail quality
High detail quality on the left, normal on the right. Notice the yellow/orange tree loses all detail in the right-hand image.
A couple of final tips. One thing I'd recommend is avoiding the lower presets, and especially the bottom 'Minimum' one, as I found graphical fidelity takes a big hit when dropping that low. Everything is much more crisp at Balanced.
And finally: if you're okay sacrificing just a small handful of frames here and there, try turning your 'detail quality' setting up to High. I've found this eliminates some of the buggy, blocky trees and shrubbery you occasionally run into, and makes them look like actual trees.