Modern Warfare 3 system requirements and recommendations

Yes, it's Call of Duty time of the year again, and for 2011 we get another helping of Modern Warfare. The whole world is embroiled in some sort of wacky conflict where the Russians are once more up to no good, but of course that's not the point, the point is to have a good time. And we're sure that's exactly what we'll have with this game. While on a technical level it's not the most demanding title out there, it's best to be prepared, so let's examine the official system requirements from Activision: Operating system:?Windows XP/Windows Vista/Windows 7 Processor:?Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 or AMD Phenom X3 8750 or better Memory: 2GB Graphics:?Shader 3.0 or better, 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT/ATI Radeon X1950 or better DirectX:?DirectX 9.0c or later Storage:?16GB free hard drive space Sound:?DirectX 9.0c or later Internet: broadband required for multiplayer Keep in mind that Modern Warfare 3 on PC requires a Steam account and an online connection for activation. After that you can play it offline, if you choose. These system requirements seem decent enough, but we'd recommend you play with an i5 or Phenom II X4 for CPU, GTX 560 or Radeon HD 6870 for graphics, and 4GB for RAM. This would ensure you don't have to dial down anything, and you may even get some DX11 support out of the venerable engine!

However, the biggest factor for any Call of Duty game is multiplayer, and thus a good connection is a must. Once more, the minimum requirements just say broadband, but realistically you should be on a 15Mbps connection or faster for sheer bandwidth. Depending on your physical location, there's not much you can do about latency (ping), but motherboards like the ROG Maximus IV Extreme-Z help with dual hardware-accelerated Intel LAN. This design helps remove some of the netcode processing load from the CPU, reducing lag and optimizing bandwidth as much as possible. It may not eliminate geographical constraints but it will minimize any handicap you may experience due to server distance. If you can cut your ping from 200ms to 150ms, that's already a significant step up. Trust me, with the ROG team based all over the world and gaming regularly, we know every little boost helps when you're coming up against those annoying 25ms players that seemingly live right on top of the server... Get ready to save the world...again! ?ALL IMAGES COPYRIGHT ACTIVISION