Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 — System Requirements, FPS Estimate & Settings

2011 · Shooter, Action · Aspyr Media · ESRB Mature · Metacritic 85

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 cover art

Official system requirements

Publisher-published Minimum / Recommended values via RAWG, retrieved 2026-08-21. Real-world performance varies with drivers, resolution and your full build.

SpecMinimumRecommended
OSOS Version: Windows® XP/ Windows® Vista / Windows® 7—
ProcessorProcessor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E6600 or AMD Phenom™ X3 8750 processor or better—
MemoryMemory: 2 GB—
GraphicsGraphics: Shader 3.0 or better 256 MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8600GT / ATI® Radeon™ X1950 or better—
StorageNetwork: Broadband connection and service required for Multiplayer Connectivity. Internet connection required for activation.—
DirectXDirectX®: DirectX® 9.0c or later—
Item 7Disk Space: 16 GB—
Item 8Sound Card: DirectX® 9.0c or later—

Multi-GPU FPS estimate

Estimated average FPS by GPU at 1080p / 1440p / 4K, derived from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3's demand tier (tier 6, Demanding (high-end GPU)) and published TechPowerUp-style relative-performance indices (RTX 4090 = 100), retrieved 2026-08-29. Planning estimates, not benchmarks.

GPU1080p1440p4K
RTX 40901127443
RTX 4080 Super1006638
RTX 4080976437
RX 7900 XTX1077141
RX 7900 XT1006638
RTX 4070 Ti Super865733
RX 7800 XT865733
RTX 4070 Super815331
RTX 4070765029
RX 7700 XT785130
RTX 3070704727
RX 6800 XT855632
RTX 4060 Ti624124
RX 6700 XT765029
RTX 3060573722
RX 6600 XT644224
RTX 2060513420
GTX 1660 Super432816
RX 580493219
GTX 1060 6GB402715
GTX 1650322112
Intel Arc A770654325
UHD 770 (integrated)1398

Method: a game's demand tier maps to a “GPU index needed for ~60 FPS at 1080p”; each GPU's relative index produces an estimate via a diminishing-returns curve, then scaled for resolution. Source: TechPowerUp GPU database (relative performance), 2026-08-29.

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Optimize Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 for your hardware

Pick your GPU, CPU, resolution and target refresh rate, then generate a printable settings card with per-preset expectations and upscaler guidance.

Optimize Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 for your PC

This is a planning estimate derived from the game's demand tier, not a benchmark.

My Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Settings Card

Preset: Low · Est. 81–113 FPS @ 1080p
Preset recommendationLow
Expected FPS band81–113 FPS
Target refresh60 Hz
UpscalerFSR 3 Quality (or DLSS if supported) — Quality mode
Ray tracingTry RT Low/Medium; drop if FPS dips below your target
Frame capYour estimated range (81–113 FPS) clears your 60 Hz target — lock it with a frame cap to reduce GPU load.
Your CPU tier sits below what Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 typically wants — expect frame dips in busy scenes even with a strong GPU.

Generated at GameFigs on 2026-09-25. Game demand tier: 6/9.

General tuning rules: drop Shadows, Reflection Quality andVolumetric Fog first (biggest GPU savings, low visual cost); use Render Scale / Resolution Scaling before lowering geometry; enable DLSS/FSR 3 on supported titles; cap FPS to your monitor's refresh rate to smooth frame pacing.

Release & version notes

Official release date: 2011-11-08. Ongoing patches and version history are published by the developer — for the latest patch notes, see the official store or support page. GameFigs summarizes the official release only and does not invent patch dates.

SingleplayerSteam AchievementsMultiplayerCo-op

About Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

The eighth Call of Duty game overall is the sequel to Modern Warfare 2 and is set in an alternate reality of the modern era. In the campaign mode, the game continues the Modern Warfare storyline about an American spec ops squad Task Force 141 fighting Russian nationalists. The player will control different characters on various military missions across the world. The protagonists from the previous part, Soap MacTavish and John Price, appear in certain missions but are sidelined by several new playable characters, most prominently, the Russian former Spetsnaz operative Yuri. Terrorist leader Vladimir Makarov, the villain of Modern Warfare 2, returns as well, and is trying to provoke the start of World War III. The player’s missions this time will be centered around protecting the West against Makarov’s attacks. The game introduces a new Survival mode, in which the player repeals wave after wave of eternally respawning opponents. This mode allows for multiplayer co-op for two players. The traditional multiplayer mode was revised as well, adding a new reward mechanic, Pointstreaks, in which the player can choose between three sets of rules, called “strike packages”, to count his or her points.

● Data updated 2026-08-29

Sources & attribution

  • Game data (release year, genres, platforms, system requirements, description, cover art) via RAWG.io, retrieved 2026-08-21.
  • GPU relative-performance indices via TechPowerUp GPU database (relative performance), retrieved 2026-08-29.
  • FPS estimates on this page are GameFigs planning estimates from the demand-tier + GPU-index model — not benchmark results.
How the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 optimization card & FPS estimate are computed

Each game is scored on a 0–9 demand tier from its published PC requirements (and a year/genre fallback when requirements are absent). The FPS estimate compares your selected GPU's relative-performance index against the tier's required index using a diminishing-returns curve, then scales for resolution. The settings card maps the demand tier and your hardware to a starting preset, an FPS band and an upscaler recommendation. All outputs are planning guides — verify in-game with the built-in benchmark when available.

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