Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is the series’ first next-gen title. It looks phenomenal on PC, just like its predecessor, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. However, it seems like Activision is confused with the minimum system requirements. The official minimum system requirements suggest a Core™ i3-4340 coupled with a GeForce™ GTX 670 or a GeForce™ GTX 1650. However, these GPUs significantly vary in terms of performance. The GTX 1650 is much more capable than a GTX 670. So, we recommend taking the minimum requirements with a bit of salt as the game runs fine at over 40fps on a GeForce™ GTX 660 at 1080p. It might be that Activision raised the lower bar to avoid people complaining about poor optimization on PC.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Minimum System Requirements
1080p 30fps at the lowest settings, DXR-off
| OS | Windows 10 (64-bit) version 15063.0 or higher |
| CPU | Intel© Core™ i5-4340 @3.60GHz | AMD© FX 6300 @3.80GHz |
| Memory | 8 GB |
| Graphics Card | NVIDIA© GeForce™ GTX 670 or GeForce™ GTX 1650 | AMD© Radeon™ HD 7950 |
| Video Memory | 2 GB (GTX 670), 3 GB (HD 7950), 4 GB (GTX 1650) |
| DirectX | DirectX 12 |
| Internet Connection | Broadband Internet Connection with 512kbps or faster connection |
| Storage | 35GB HDD (Multiplayer only), 82GB HDD (all game modes) |
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Recommended System Requirements
1. 1080p 60fps at the medium settings, DXR-off
| OS | Windows 10 (64-bit) version 15063.0 or higher |
| CPU | Intel© Core™ i5-2500K @3.70GHz | AMD© Ryzen™ 5 1600X @4.00GHz |
| Memory | 12 GB |
| Graphics Card | NVIDIA© GeForce™ GTX 970 or GeForce™ GTX 1660 Super | AMD© Radeon™ R9 390 or Radeon™ RX 580 |
| Video Memory | 4 GB (GTX 970), 6 GB (GTX 1660 Super), 8 GB (R9 390 and RX 580) |
| DirectX | DirectX 12 |
| Internet Connection | Broadband Internet Connection with 512kbps or faster connection |
| Storage | 35GB SSD (Multiplayer only), 82GB SSD (all game modes) |
2. DXR-on
| OS | Windows 10 (64-bit) version 15063.0 or higher |
| CPU | Intel© Core™ i7-8700K @4.70GHz | AMD© Ryzen™ 7 1800X @4.00GHz |
| Memory | 16 GB |
| Graphics Card | NVIDIA© GeForce™ RTX 3070 |
| Video Memory | 8 GB |
| DirectX | DirectX 12 |
| Internet Connection | Broadband Internet Connection with 512kbps or faster connection |
| Storage | 35GB SSD (Multiplayer only), 82GB SSD (all game modes) |
3. Competitive: 120+ FPS on a 120+Hz refresh rate display, DXR-off
| OS | Windows 10 (64-bit) version 15063.0 or higher |
| CPU | Intel© Core™ i7-8700K @4.70GHz | AMD© Ryzen™ 7 1800X @4.00GHz |
| Memory | 16 GB |
| Graphics Card | NVIDIA© GeForce™ RTX 3070 or GeForce™ GTX 1080 | AMD© Radeon™ RX Vega64 |
| Video Memory | 8 GB |
| DirectX | DirectX 12 |
| Internet Connection | Broadband Internet Connection with 512kbps or faster connection |
| Storage | 35GB SSD (Multiplayer only), 82GB SSD (all game modes) |
4. Ultra RTX: 60+ FPS at 2160p, DXR-on, High Definition asset pack installed
| OS | Windows 10 (64-bit) version 15063.0 or higher |
| CPU | Intel© Core™ i9-9900K @5.00GHz | AMD© Ryzen™ 7 3700X @4.40GHz |
| Memory | 16 GB |
| Graphics Card | NVIDIA© GeForce™ RTX 3080 |
| Video Memory | 10 GB |
| DirectX | DirectX 12 |
| Internet Connection | Broadband Internet Connection with 512kbps or faster connection |
| Storage | 125GB SSD (includes all game modes and the optional High Definition asset pack) |
The game also supports NVIDIA© DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) technology. Players with an NVIDIA© GeForce™ RTX GPU can boost their frame rates using it.
Cold War also supports NVIDIA© Reflex technology. This will allow competitive players to play at reduced latencies, thereby making the game smoother.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is now available on Xbox Series X and Series S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and Microsoft Windows.