Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 PC System Requirements (2026): Minimum, Recommended, Ray Tracing, and the TPM 2.0 Gate

The new Call of Duty title, Modern Warfare 4, does not publish two specification tiers. It publishes three. The Activision support document lists a minimum tier, a recommended tier built around 90 FPS in multiplayer on High settings, and an ultra tier for high quality ray tracing at 4K upscaled. Search results, meanwhile, are still full of tables that ask for 12 GB of RAM and 70 GB of storage. Those numbers come from the August open beta document, not from the launch build, so if the table you are reading says 12 GB or 70 GB you are looking at beta figures. There is a second trap that no amount of hardware fixes. TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot are play requirements, and Modern Warfare 4 handles a failed check more harshly than its stablemates do: miss the requirement and every online game mode is closed to you, no matter how fast your graphics card is. This guide was built on 17 October 2026 by re-opening the official support document (dated 10/01/26), the official Modern Warfare 4 PC blog and the Steam store listing. Below you will find all three tiers in full, the exact driver versions Activision recommends, how to check the TPM and Secure Boot state of your PC, and what to change if something is off. The full game releases on 23 October at midnight local time. Storage is a single line here, an SSD with 115 GB free at launch, because install size and disk cleanup get their own Modern Warfare 4 install size guide.

The short answer: place yourself in one of three tiers, then check TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot separately

Two separate questions decide whether you can play, and only one of them is about performance. On the performance side, a Ryzen 5 1400 or Core i5-6600 with 8 GB of RAM and an RX 470, GTX 970, GTX 1060 or Arc A580 with 3 GB of video memory clears the minimum tier. A Ryzen 5 3600 or Core i7-8700 with 16 GB of RAM and an RX 6600 XT, RTX 3060 Ti or Arc B580 with 8 GB of video memory clears the recommended tier. Read that tier carefully: the stated goal is 90 FPS in multiplayer on High settings, not maximum image quality, so the recommended build is a frame rate target rather than a visual one. Turning ray tracing on raises the bar sharply. The ultra tier asks for a Ryzen 7 3700X or Core i7-10700K, 32 GB of RAM, an RX 9070 XT or RTX 5070 Ti and 16 GB of video memory for high quality ray tracing at 4K upscaled. All three tiers list the same storage line, an SSD with 115 GB available at launch, and the document notes that mandatory updates may need more. The second question has nothing to do with your graphics card. Your operating system must be Windows 10 version 22H2 or later, or any version of Windows 11. Your TPM must be version 2.0. Your BIOS boot mode must be UEFI rather than Legacy, your disk partition style must be GPT rather than MBR, and Secure Boot must be enabled. Activision calls this out explicitly: TPM 2.0 itself works from Windows 10 version 20H2, but Call of Duty requires 22H2 or later. This is where Modern Warfare 4 differs from the rest of the family. In Black Ops 7 and Warzone, players who fail the check lose access to certain game modes, Ranked Play included, and some playlists, and may be placed in a separate matchmaking pool. In Modern Warfare 4 they are restricted from playing any online game mode. So if your hardware is comfortable but your CPU is older than the generations Activision names for TPM 2.0 (Intel 8th Gen or newer, Ryzen 2000 series or newer) or your drive is still MBR, your first move is the firmware settings, not a new GPU. If your PC cannot meet the requirement at all, decide before you pay, and if you have already paid, check the pre-purchase, two-hour and fourteen-day rules in our Steam refund guide. Finally, drivers. The versions named in the support document are AMD 26.7.1, NVIDIA 616.56 and Intel 32.0.101.8974. The NVIDIA line adds that a driver compatible with the shader pre-delivery feature arrives on 21 October, and as of 17 October it has not shipped yet.

How to check whether your PC runs it and whether online will open

1. 1Read your own CPU, GPU, memory and Windows versionPress Windows and R together, type msinfo32 and you will see your processor, installed physical memory and operating system version on one screen. Run dxdiag the same way and the Display tab shows your graphics card name and dedicated video memory. If you are on Windows 10, confirm the version is 22H2 or later, because that is the floor Activision sets for Windows 10, and the document also warns that trial, beta and Insider builds of Windows may not be supported.
2. 2Place yourself in one of the three tiersThe minimum tier is Windows 10 64-bit, a Ryzen 5 1400 or Core i5-6600, 8 GB of RAM, an RX 470 or GTX 970/1060 or Arc A580, and 3 GB of video memory. The recommended tier is Windows 11, a Ryzen 5 3600 or Core i7-8700, 16 GB of RAM, an RX 6600 XT or RTX 3060 Ti or Arc B580, and 8 GB of video memory, aimed at 90 FPS in multiplayer on High. For high quality ray tracing at 4K upscaled you need a Ryzen 7 3700X or Core i7-10700K, 32 GB of RAM, an RX 9070 XT or RTX 5070 Ti, and 16 GB of video memory. The official Modern Warfare 4 PC blog states that ray tracing is supported across campaign, multiplayer and DMZ.
3. 3Check your TPM and Secure Boot statePress Windows and R, type tpm.msc and the management console tells you whether the specification version is 2.0. In msinfo32, look for BIOS Mode set to UEFI and Secure Boot State set to On. For the partition style, open Disk Management, open the properties of the disk and read the Volumes tab, where it should say GPT. Activision also publishes the Call of Duty Secure Attestation Wizard, version 1.2.0 updated 16 September 2026, which checks all of this at once: unzip it, run CODSecureAttestationWizard.exe, accept the terms and it reports either a compliant system or the exact settings you need to change.
4. 4Turn on what is missing, following your motherboard's own documentationTPM lives in your UEFI or BIOS settings, labelled Intel PTT on Intel systems and AMD CPU fTPM on AMD systems, or as a discrete TPM chip on boards that have one. For Secure Boot you switch the boot mode from Legacy to UEFI and enable the feature, and if your disk is still MBR you must convert it to GPT first, which Microsoft documents in its MBR2GPT guide. Activision warns that changing these settings incorrectly can cause system problems including boot failures, and says it is not responsible for firmware changes, so read your board maker's manual or get help from someone who knows the interface. On AMD boards, Activision states that a TPM manufacturer version of 3.*.0.*, where each asterisk is any number, is not compatible with the applicable Call of Duty titles and requires a BIOS firmware update.
5. 5Move your graphics driver to the recommended versionThe versions printed in the support document are AMD 26.7.1, NVIDIA 616.56 and Intel 32.0.101.8974. These are listed as the builds to install if you hit graphical problems, so compare against them first when textures or colours look wrong. The NVIDIA entry adds that a driver compatible with Advanced Shader Delivery is due on 21 October. If you want to use that pre-compiled shader feature you need the XBOX PC app installed regardless of which PC platform you bought the game on, and if you do not want it, you can skip the app.
6. 6Finish on first launch with the registration prompt and the benchmark toolActivision documents that on your first launch a User Account Control window appears for an application called CODBrokerInstaller.exe, or in some cases enrollaik.exe. Selecting No or closing that window means you will not be able to play, so check the name and continue. Once you are in, the built-in benchmark tool runs a simulated multiplayer sequence and shows average FPS, CPU, GPU, ping and input latency live, then hands you a zone-by-zone report with setting suggestions, which is the quickest honest answer to which tier your PC actually belongs in.

Official Modern Warfare 4 PC requirements: minimum and recommended (support document re-checked 17 October 2026)

Before you play

• Operating system is Windows 10 version 22H2 or later, or any version of Windows 11.
• tpm.msc reports specification version 2.0. Intel needs an 8th generation CPU or newer, AMD a Ryzen 2000 series or newer.
• msinfo32 shows BIOS Mode as UEFI and Secure Boot State as On, and the disk partition style is GPT.
• The SSD you will install to has at least 115 GB free, with headroom for mandatory updates.
• Graphics driver is at AMD 26.7.1, NVIDIA 616.56 or Intel 32.0.101.8974; the ASD-compatible NVIDIA driver is due on 21 October.
• Broadband connection and DirectX 12 are in place, your CPU supports AVX, and Resizable BAR is on if you use an Intel Arc card.
• On Steam, a mobile phone number is linked to your account, which the store page lists as a condition of play.

If you plan to record, set your capture options before you launch

That 90 FPS multiplayer target matters if you record. A machine that only just reaches the recommended tier is spending nearly everything it has on those frames, which leaves little headroom for capture. So if you intend to keep your matches with DOR, the free Windows app, decide on resolution and frame rate first. In DOR, set resolution, frame rate and clip length before you launch the game. The defaults are 1080p and 30 fps, 60 fps is available, and 1440p or higher and 120 fps or higher are Pro options. If your headroom is thin, 1080p at 30 fps is the safe choice. Call of Duty runs through DOR's full-session path: the app records your whole play session from launch to exit. When something worth keeping happens, press F8 straight afterwards to save the preceding stretch. The default length is 30 seconds and you can pick 15, 30, 45 or 60. For a firefight too long for one clip, press F7 to start a screen recording and F7 again to stop it. Titles launched through Call of Duty HQ are detected automatically; if the new game does not appear in your list, check Settings and then Games. Plan your disk too. With the game alone claiming 115 GB, recordings piling up on the same drive will squeeze you quickly. DOR warns you when free space drops below 30 GB and will not start, or will stop, recording below 20 GB. If you also use Steam's own game recording feature, check its save drive and maximum size in our Steam recording low disk space guide. One note on scope: DOR is a Windows PC application, so this routine is for the PC version.