Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 arrives on PC on Friday, October 23, 2026, and the one number that has not moved in any source is storage: 115 GB of SSD space. Not a hard drive. An SSD is a stated requirement at every spec tier, and the 115 GB figure appears identically in the minimum, recommended and ray tracing columns.
The rest of the sheet is well established but worth labelling honestly. Activision published final PC requirements at the end of September 2026 and every major outlet has carried the same table since, though a couple disagree on one GPU and one outlier site publishes a different storage figure entirely. This guide gives the numbers and flags where sources do not line up.
Two non-negotiables before the hardware list: TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot must both be enabled, and your CPU needs AVX support. Those are gates, not suggestions. A machine that clears the GPU bar and fails the TPM check is restricted from online game modes.
The one figure that is definitely official: 115 GB SSD
115 GB of free SSD space, at every tier. The SSD part is the bit people skip: Call of Duty has required solid state storage for a couple of generations because of how aggressively it streams assets, and a mechanical drive is not a slow-but-playable option.
Two practical notes. First, 115 GB is the install requirement, not the download size, and those are different numbers; reported download sizes vary by platform and edition. Second, leave headroom, because seasonal updates add content and a drive at 99 per cent full will cause problems long before Season 1 lands on November 6. The preload and file size guide covers the download side.
One outlier worth naming: at least one specs site publishes 70 GB, alongside CPU and RAM numbers that match nobody else. Every other source says 115. Plan for 115.
The full spec sheet
Three tiers were published. Only the recommended one carries a stated performance target.
| Component | Minimum | Recommended | Ray tracing |
|---|---|---|---|
| OS | Windows 10 64-bit, latest update | Windows 11 64-bit, latest update | Windows 11 64-bit, latest update |
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 1400 or Intel Core i5-6600 | AMD Ryzen 5 3600 or Intel Core i7-8700K | AMD Ryzen 7 3700X or Intel Core i7-10700K |
| GPU | Radeon RX 470, GeForce GTX 970 or 1060, or Intel Arc A580 | Radeon RX 6600 XT, GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, or Intel Arc B580 | Radeon RX 9070 XT or GeForce RTX 5070 Ti |
| VRAM | 3 GB | 8 GB | 16 GB |
| RAM | 8 GB | 16 GB | 32 GB |
| Storage | 115 GB SSD | 115 GB SSD | 115 GB SSD |
| Stated target | None published | Around 90 FPS in multiplayer on high settings | High-quality ray tracing at upscaled 4K |
All three tiers also need a DirectX compatible sound device, broadband, and TPM 2.0 with Secure Boot enabled.
Minimum specs: what they actually buy you
The minimum tier is genuinely low by 2026 standards. A GTX 970 is a 2014 card, and the i5-6600 and Ryzen 5 1400 are long past their prime. The 8 GB of RAM and 3 GB of VRAM will bite first.
What a minimum spec buys you is normally 1080p on low settings with an unstable frame rate in busy moments. Activision attaches no FPS target to the minimum column, which is the honest position: it is a will-run line, not a will-run-well line. On 3 GB of VRAM, texture quality is the first thing you will turn down, and Warzone and Ground War are harder on a system than 6v6.
Two details catch people out. Some laptop graphics cards may not be supported at all, and Intel Arc cards require Resizable BAR enabled.
Recommended specs and the 90 FPS claim
The recommended tier is the interesting one, because it is the only one with a target attached: roughly 90 FPS in multiplayer on high settings. That calls for a Ryzen 5 3600 or i7-8700K, 16 GB of RAM, and an RX 6600 XT, RTX 3060 Ti or Arc B580 with 8 GB of VRAM.
That is a reasonable mid-range machine and a sensible target for a 6v6 shooter. Two caveats: the claim is specifically for multiplayer, which is lighter than Warzone or Ground War, and the resolution behind that 90 FPS figure is not consistently reported, so do not assume 1440p.
This is also the one place sources disagree on hardware. Some list the recommended NVIDIA card as an RTX 3060 Ti, others a plain RTX 3060. Those are not the same card, so if you are on a 3060, assume you sit slightly under the bar rather than on it.
The ray tracing tier wants 32 GB of RAM
The third column is where requirements get expensive: a Ryzen 7 3700X or i7-10700K, 32 GB of RAM, and an RX 9070 XT or RTX 5070 Ti with 16 GB of VRAM, for high-quality ray tracing at an upscaled 4K resolution.
The 32 GB line is the one to notice, because it doubles the recommended tier for a feature that is mostly GPU work. Upscaled 4K with ray tracing in a streaming-heavy engine is memory hungry, and 16 GB systems that handle the recommended tier comfortably can stutter here.
The word upscaled is doing real work there too: the target is 4K via upscaling, not native 4K, so DLSS or FSR is part of the spec rather than an optional extra.
TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot are not optional
Both must be enabled to play MW4 on PC. This is part of RICOCHET anti-cheat and it is enforced rather than advised: during the beta, players with either one disabled were locked out of online play entirely.
Check three things in Windows before you go near your BIOS. Run tpm.msc and confirm the TPM is ready and reporting specification version 2.0, because TPM 1.2 fails the check even though Windows will happily report a TPM exists. Run msinfo32 and confirm BIOS mode reads UEFI. And confirm Secure Boot State reads On. Activision also publishes a Secure Attestation Wizard that tells you where you stand before you reboot into firmware.
One warning that matters more than it sounds: Secure Boot only works with Windows installed in UEFI mode on a GPT disk. Turning it on against an older legacy-mode install can leave a machine that will not boot. Back up first and convert the disk properly.
Drivers, and where these numbers came from
Driver versions were published alongside the specs: AMD 26.7.1, NVIDIA 616.56, with an anti-cheat-compatible driver noted only as arriving before launch, and Intel 32.0.101.8974. Driver guidance ages quickly, so treat those as a floor and install whatever your vendor ships.
On sourcing, because it matters for a purchase: these requirements were published at the end of September 2026 and relayed by Insider Gaming and others, and the table above matches what every mainstream outlet carries. We have not read them off an Activision page directly, so if you are deciding on a borderline part, check the official page first.
How these compare with the beta sheet
This is worth knowing because it shows how far these numbers move. The beta sheet listed a Ryzen 5 1600 or Core i5-8400 and 12 GB of RAM at minimum, against the Ryzen 5 1400 or i5-6600 and 8 GB in the final sheet. The GPU floor was the same GTX 970 class, and an SSD was required for both.
So the final minimum is in places lower than the beta's, which is the opposite of what most people assume happens. Use the launch sheet rather than a beta guide, and expect another revision when Season 1 arrives on November 6.
If your machine lands in the uncomfortable gap between minimum and recommended, settings matter more than hardware does, and the settings guide covers what to lower first. If you are still weighing up whether to buy at all, the Game Pass question is answered separately, and launch times covers when PC servers open. The store's Modern Warfare 4 pages cover the rest.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the MW4 PC requirements?
At minimum, Windows 10 64-bit, a Ryzen 5 1400 or Core i5-6600, a GTX 970 or 1060, RX 470 or Arc A580 with 3 GB of VRAM, 8 GB of RAM and 115 GB of SSD space. Recommended is Windows 11, a Ryzen 5 3600 or i7-8700K, an RX 6600 XT, RTX 3060 Ti or Arc B580 with 8 GB of VRAM, and 16 GB of RAM.
How much space does MW4 need on PC?
115 GB of SSD space, identical across all three tiers. An SSD is a stated requirement rather than a recommendation, so a mechanical hard drive is not a slower-but-workable option. The figure is the install requirement, not the download size, so leave headroom for seasonal updates.
Do you need TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot for MW4?
Yes, both, and they are enforced as part of RICOCHET anti-cheat. TPM 1.2 does not pass the check. Secure Boot also requires Windows installed in UEFI mode on a GPT disk, so back up before changing firmware settings on an older install.
What FPS can you expect at the recommended spec?
Activision attached a target of around 90 FPS in multiplayer on high settings. That is multiplayer specifically, which is lighter than Warzone or Ground War, and the resolution behind the figure is not consistently reported.
Are these the final official PC specs?
They were published at the end of September 2026 as final and carried identically by major outlets since. Sources differ on whether the recommended NVIDIA card is an RTX 3060 or a 3060 Ti, and one outlier lists 70 GB of storage. Check Activision's own page before buying hardware.