While Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 boasts impressive visuals, certain settings can significantly impact performance. Testing across various graphics options reveals that tweaking four key settings, alongside preset adjustments and upscaling, can yield substantial frame rate improvements without drastically compromising the game's aesthetic.
For players seeking a straightforward approach, the game offers graphical presets. For mid-range PCs, the 'Balanced' preset is recommended, while high-end systems can comfortably utilize the 'Ultra' preset. However, for those looking to eke out maximum performance, particularly for competitive multiplayer or DMZ modes, a more granular approach is advised.
Key Graphics Settings for Performance
Performance tests conducted during a 30-second campaign segment on Mission 4, using an AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT, Ryzen 7 7800X3D, and 32GB of DDR5 RAM at 1440p, indicate that dropping from the 'Ultra' preset to 'Balanced' provides the most significant performance gain. The difference between other presets is less pronounced, with most configurations still achieving well over 60 FPS, and many exceeding 100 FPS on high-end hardware.
Beyond presets, the following four settings, found under Graphics > Quality > Advanced Quality Settings, have the most substantial impact on performance:
- Detail quality: Affects the visual richness of small objects and environmental details.
- Shadow quality: Controls the resolution and clarity of in-game shadows.
- Shadow filtering quality: Determines the smoothness and realism of shadow edges.
- Terrain quality: Influences the texture detail and fidelity of ground surfaces.
Lowering these settings can lead to a noticeable performance increase. For instance, reducing shadow quality and filtering, along with detail and terrain quality, from 'Ultra' levels to those found in the 'Balanced' preset, resulted in an average FPS increase from 107 to 124 and a 1% low FPS improvement from 85 to 101. While visual differences are present, especially in terrain and shadow rendering, the game remains visually acceptable even with these settings reduced.
However, a caveat exists with 'Detail quality'. Lowering it below 'High' can result in occasional blocky or unfinished textures on certain environmental elements, such as trees, though this may be a minor concern for players prioritizing frame rates.
The Role of Upscaling
Upscaling technologies can further enhance performance, though their impact is diminished when aggressive graphical settings are already lowered. When upscaling was enabled on an RX 9070 XT in DMZ mode, the performance increase was less dramatic, pushing frame rates from around 150 FPS to approximately 160-165 FPS.
For players focused on maximizing frame rates in competitive modes like DMZ or multiplayer, a recommended approach is to select the 'Balanced' preset, potentially drop the resolution to 1080p if using a high-refresh-rate monitor (e.g., 400 Hz), and enable 'Quality' upscaling. This configuration prioritizes fluid gameplay.
Conversely, for campaign play or for gamers who do not prioritize extreme frame rates, maintaining the 'Ultra' preset for the four key settings mentioned earlier, and then enabling 'Quality' upscaling if the system permits, offers a better balance. This preserves the game's visual fidelity, particularly the quality of shadows, while still benefiting from some performance uplift. The choice ultimately depends on individual priorities: raw frame rate for competitive play or visual immersion for single-player experiences.