Best Modern Warfare 2 settings for PC: Video and graphics settings explored

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is one of the most visually appealing games as of 2023. Infinity Ward went above and beyond to introduce next-gen graphical technologies that help bring the title's world to life. Although the shooter is fairly optimized for PCs, playing it at maxed-out graphics settings won't give players the best possible experience.

Since Modern Warfare 2 is a first-person shooter, framerates should be prioritized over visual fidelity. However, that doesn't mean that one should play the game at the lowest possible settings, as it would result in a poor visual experience.

What graphics settings to use to get optimal PC experience in Season 3 Reloaded of Modern Warfare 2

When it comes to first-person shooters like Modern Warfare 2, the goal should be to achieve clear visuals and high framerates. While some graphics settings do make the game visually appealing and cinematic, they might reduce the overall visibility of targets and lower the FPS. Hence, proper optimization becomes a must for those who want the best of both framerates and graphics.

Before getting started with this guide, players are advised to update their GPU drivers to the latest version. This will bring in updated profiles for the game and mitigate several performance issues. Once this is done, they should load up the game and wait for the shaders to finish compiling.

When all the above steps are completed, players should use the following settings for the most optimal experience in Modern Warfare 2.

Display

Display Mode: Fullscreen Exclusive
Display Monitor: Select your monitor
Display Adaptor: Select your GPU
Screen Refresh Rate: Select your monitor's maximum refresh rate
Display Resolution: Select your monitor's maximum resolution
Dynamic Resolution: Off
Aspect Ratio: Automatic
V-Sync (Gameplay): Off
V-Sync (Menus): Off
Custom Framerate Limit: Custom
Gameplay Custom Framerate Limit: 200
Menu Custom Framerate Limit: 60
Out of Focus Custom Framerate Limit: 15
Display Gamma: 2.2 (sRGB)
Brightness: 50 (personal preference)
Constrain Mouse to Game Window: Off
Focused Mode: Off
High Dynamic Range (HDR): Off

Quality

Global Quality

Quality Presets: Custom
Render Resolution: 100
Upscaling/Sharpening: FidelityFX CAS
FidelityFX CAS Strength: 50
Anti-Aliasing: SMAA T2X
Anti-Aliasing Quality: High
Video Memory Scale: 85

Details & Textures

Texture Resolution: Normal
Texture Filter Anisotropic: High
Nearby Level of Detail: Low
Distant Level of Detail: Low
Clutter Draw Distance: Short
Particle Quality: High
Particle Quality Level: Normal
Bullet Impacts: On
Persistent Damage Layers: Off
Shader Quality: Medium
Tessellation: Off
On-Demand Texture Streaming: Off
Streaming Quality: Normal
Volumetric Quality: Low
Deferred Physics Quality: Off
Water Quality: Default

Shadow & Lighting

Shadow Map Resolution: Normal
Screen Space Shadows: Off
Spot Shadow Quality: Medium
Cache Spot Shadows: On
Spot Cache: High
Particle Lighting: Normal
Ambient Occlusion: Off
Screen Space Reflections: Normal
Static Reflection Quality: Low
Weather Grid Volumes: Off

Post Processing Effects

NVIDIA Reflex Low Latency: On
Depth of Field: Off
World Motion Blur: Off
Weapon Motion Blur: Off
Film Grain: 0.00

View

Field of View

Field of View: 90 – 120 (As per personal preference, but recommended to set it above 90)
ADS Field of View: Affected
Weapon Field of View: Wide
Vehicle Field of View: Wide

Camera

1st Person Camera Movement: Least (50%)
3rd Person Camera Movement: Least (50%)
3rd Person ADS Transition: Personal preference
Default Spectator Camera: Personal preference

These settings will deliver the most optimal experience in Modern Warfare 2 as of Season 3 Reloaded. Once these settings are applied, players are recommended to restart the shaders installation to mitigate any potential issues.

It is worth noting that depending on one's hardware, these settings will vary and provide different results. However, for many, these settings will deliver clear visuals and high framerates.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2 Season 3 Reloaded is live. The update is available on PC (via Battle.net and Steam), Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5.

About the author

Rishabh is a gaming journalist at Sportskeeda who mainly covers Call of Duty and Valorant content. After completing his post-graduation in Finance, he went off the beaten track and decided to build a career in video game journalism. The opportunity to interview Valorant Pacific franchised teams back during VCT 2023: Pacific was a career highlight for Rishabh.

Rishabh prioritizes diving into the game himself and figuring out the specifics to ensure authenticity of content. He also tracks the social media accounts and blogs of developers and publishers to learn about official announcements and press releases, and cross-checks all facts even if they are derived from reputed sources.

Rishabh embarked on his video game journey in 2002, playing Contra and Mario, and his first AAA title was Max Payne 1. Currently, first-person shooter games engage him the most.

Rishabh regards streamer and esports athlete Michael "Shroud" Grzesiek as an inspirational figure since he rose from a humble background to become one of the biggest CS players and streamers in the world through sheer hard work and dedication.

Rishabh likes to keep himself updated on the latest trends in technology and listens to progressive rock music in his spare time.

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Edited by Rachel Syiemlieh