Like any competitive first-person shooter, Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 demands quick reflexes, great aim, and a smooth framerate for success. And while you can’t buy your way to the first two, the latter is at least something you can spend your hard-earned cash to achieve. How? By purchasing the best GPU for Warzone 2, of course.

It’s worth noting that Warzone 2 can be quite CPU intensive, so your choice of processor also matters if you’re chasing ultra-high frame rates. But that’s a topic for another time. For now, let’s focus on helping you get a good graphics card for Warzone 2 that won’t blow your budget.

Our Favorite GPUs for Warzone 2

1. Zotac Gaming GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB Twin Edge

Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 4060 Ti is a solid mid-tier card that should get you great performance in Warzone at 1080p and 1440p, the two most popular resolutions right now. No, it’s not the upgrade many were hoping for from the RTX 3060 Ti, but those running older GPUs should be more than happy with the frame rates on offer here.

The RTX 4060 Ti handles Warzone 2.0 comfortably, capable of great frame rates across most settings and resolution combos. Only 1440p Extreme will pose a challenge and occasionally drop below 60 FPS. Aside from that edge case, you can expect anywhere from close to 200 FPS averages (1080p Basic) to a solid 90 FPS average at 1440p Ultra, albeit with a beastly Intel Core i9-13900K.

That’s all at native resolution, too; enable Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS), and you can push frame rates much higher. For example, 1440p extreme with DLSS Performance can hit a cool 160 FPS average. That said, you’re probably better off dropping a graphics preset or two and sticking with a higher-resolution DLSS preset for the best combination of clarity and performance.

One major benefit you’ll get from opting for an Nvidia card is Warzone 2’s support for Nvidia’s Reflex technology. This reduces latency and helps make the game more responsive, potentially aiding your competitive performance. The latency benefits can be quite significant on mainstream hardware like the RTX 4060 Ti, too, so it’s always worth enabling in Warzone 2.0.

Overall, RTX 4060 Ti-based cards like the Zotac Gaming GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB Twin Edge are solid choices for competitive Warzone 2 gameplay. No, they’re not perfect cards, but they’ll have more than enough grunt to keep running Warzone 2 at great frame rates no matter what updates the developer throws your way.

2. Asus Dual GeForce RTX 4060 OC Edition

Nvidia’s RTX 4060 non-Ti is the company’s mainstream 40-series offering and, despite some compromises, offers a decent uplift over the RTX 3060 while retailing at a similar price. If you’re building a value-conscious for Warzone 2, this is the Nvidia card to get.

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 is best at 1080p, with the GPU capable of holding a comfortable 100 to 120 FPS average at maxed-out 1080p if you have a powerful CPU. You can hit even higher frame rates if you’re OK with dropping your settings, with close to 200 FPS possible at 1080p Basic settings.

You can get a surprisingly good experience at 1440p, too, although your CPU needs to be up to par. For instance, playing with a modern Ryzen 7 7800X3D will let you hit a comfortable 100 FPS at maxed-out 1440p with DLSS Quality, rising to about 160 FPS if you drop the settings down to the minimum while retaining DLSS.

Like the RTX 4060 Ti, the RTX 4060 supports Nvidia Reflex for reduced latency when gaming. Warzone 2 is a competitive shooter, so reduced latency will be more beneficial here than in other, less competitive titles.

The biggest issue with the RTX 4060 compared to its predecessor is the reduced video RAM (and concurrent reduction in memory bandwidth). While we don’t think that eight gigabytes is quite as bad as some enthusiasts claim, it certainly doesn’t feel good to get a newer GPU with less memory than its predecessor.

That said, the reduced VRAM of the RTX 4060 is an acceptable tradeoff for improved performance, at least in Warzone 2. You’ll get a noticeably smoother experience overall, with more room for higher settings if you desire. Besides, eight gigs is still fine for Warzone 2 at 1080p and 1440p, so you shouldn’t have any issues.

So even if it’s not perfect, a card like the Asus Dual GeForce RTX 4060 OC Edition is likely the best budget GPU for Warzone 2 if you’re an Nvidia fan.

3. Gigabyte GeForce RTX 4080 Gaming OC

Let’s be clear: playing a competitive shooter like Warzone 2 at 4K resolution isn’t necessarily the best use of your resources. But if you have to, then Nvidia’s RTX 4080 is the GPU for you. It’s capable of great frame rates at any resolution, with DLSS helping to push even 4K into triple-digit framerate territory.

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 is easily capable of averaging 120 FPS at 4K with minimum settings with an AMD Ryzen 5 5800X3D, dropping to around 80 FPS in busier areas when you max every setting out. If that’s not quite enough, then enabling DLSS Quality at the lowest settings will push your game to an impressive 160 FPS average. That’s good enough to mostly max out even a 165-Hz 4K monitor like the Samsung Odyssey Neo G7.

Conversely, 4K with ultra settings and DLSS Quality will still run at a decent 120 FPS average. You likely have room for even more improvements by dropping down to DLSS Balanced or even DLSS Performance, too.

Of course, the RTX 4080 isn’t only about the performance, as impressive as it is. As with all modern Nvidia cards, the RTX 4080 lets you enable Nvidia Reflex to decrease input latency and potentially give you a competitive advantage. If you’re playing to win, then there’s no reason not to enable it if you have an Nvidia card.

There are also content creator and streamer-friendly features such as the AV1 video encoder and Nvidia Broadcast’s noise and echo reduction and virtual green screen. They won’t appeal to everyone, but they’re all welcome value-adds that may prove useful depending on what else you do beyond chasing wins in Warzone.

Overall, Nvidia’s RTX 4080 is a great card for 4K Warzone 2, provided you’re OK with paying the slightly inflated retail prices. It’s not necessarily the best value GPU out there, but you can’t argue with its power and performance.

4. PowerColor Fighter AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT

One of the best things about buying previous-generation GPUs are the price cuts, and that’s precisely what makes an AMD graphics card like the PowerColor Fighter AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT so appealing. These offer solid 1080p and 1440p performance for less than $350, making them a compelling option for Warzone 2.

The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT comes close to Nvidia’s RTX 4060 Ti, although it can’t quite equal Nvidia’s newer GPU. That said, it’s still capable of satisfactory high-refresh-rate performance at 1080p and 1440p. You can expect a roughly 120 FPS average at 1080p with max settings, dropping to around an 80 FPS average at 1440p. This is all with a reasonable AMD Ryzen 5 5800X3D, too, so you don’t need to splurge to get these results.

If that’s not enough, you can drop your settings or enable FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR). For example, 1440p low will net you a comfortable 130 to 140 FPS average, making it a perfect 1440p 144 Hz GPU for Warzone. Conversely, you can keep the settings cranked and enable FSR Quality for about a 120 FPS average, albeit with slightly more stutter.

Unfortunately, FSR’s image quality isn’t as good as Nvidia’s proprietary solution, so you will likely see more motion artifacts once you enable it. However, we think the minor graphical issues won’t be too noticeable in a fast-paced game like Warzone 2.

If you’re primarily playing Warzone 2, we think the RX 6700 XT’s roughly $300 price makes a lot more sense than its successor, the RX 7700 XT. The new 7000-series GPU will set you back around $450; while you will get improved performance, we don’t think the extra $100 or so is worth it for Warzone 2 specifically. Stick to this tried and tested GPU instead.

Overall, graphics cards like the PowerColor Fighter AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT are an excellent choice for value-conscious Warzone 2 gamers looking to game at 1080p or 1440p. Add to that a slightly more future-proof 12-gigabyte video memory setup, and you’re onto a winner for just over $300.

5. XFX Speedster SWFT210 Radeon RX 7600

AMD’s newest budget GPU, the Radeon RX 7600, is a solid product perfect for 1080p and 1440p Warzone gaming. It gets a bad rap for only being an incremental upgrade over the equivalent last-gen part, but those of you building a PC from scratch needn’t worry about that.

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 handles 1080p Warzone without breaking a sweat, managing to hit about 110 FPS average even at maxed-out 1080p. Dropping down to minimum settings will, of course, push the FPS up. However, you’re not likely going to break past the 140 FPS barrier even with a brilliant gaming CPU like the AMD Ryzen 5 5800X3D.

WQHD 1440p is also eminently playable. However, you’ll have to live with minimum settings if you want a solid 130 FPS average. Ultra 1440p is playable, too, although the roughly 80 to 90 FPS isn’t as ideal. Enabling FSR will help, but you’ll still only be breaking past the 100 FPS barrier here; decent, but not quite enough for our money.

One benefit of opting for a current-generation AMD card is the presence of the AV1 encoder. The AV1 encoder offers much better quality at lower bitrates than H.264, making this a great budget streaming GPU—provided you’re using a platform that supports the codec, that is.

AMD still can’t compete with Nvidia’s AI-assisted tech when it comes to other streaming niceties, but the AV1 codec helps make their cards somewhat competitive again for streaming and content creation purposes.

While the AMD Radeon RX 7600 isn’t the gen-on-gen upgrade many hoped for, it’s still a genuinely solid graphics card, especially for competitive gaming at 1080p. Anyone building a Warzone 2 rig on a tighter budget should definitely consider hits.

6. XFX Speedster MERC310 AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX Black

AMD’s Radeon RX 7900 XTX is a beast of a GPU, offering excellent performance at 4K while usually costing less than Nvidia’s closest comparable product. If you’re trying to build a rig for 4K Warzone 2 without totally throwing value out the window, this is the GPU you want.

As in many games, the RX 7900 XTX can outperform the RTX 4080 in Warzone 2 at 4K. That said, the varying performance loads and scenarios you’ll find yourself in mean that the advantage may not always be as clear. But at its best, the RX 7900 XTX can comfortably hit 120 FPS at maxed-out 4K without needing any upscaling.

And, since Warzone 2.0 doesn’t feature any ray tracing, AMD’s traditional weakness doesn’t apply here. You’re really only losing out on DLSS which, while unfortunate, isn’t as big a deal for a fast-paced, competitive shooter.

Dropping down to the lowest settings will let you push close to 200 FPS in some scenarios, which is well beyond the capabilities of even the highest-refresh 4K monitor currently available. This is all paired with an AMD Ryzen 5 5800X3D, too, so you won’t need to blow the bank to get a great 4K experience.

Thankfully, Warzone 2 supports Radeon’s Anti-Lag feature, which works similarly to Nvidia’s Reflex. This can reduce input lag in GPU-limited situations (which you will be in at 4K), potentially giving you a slight edge in competitive scenarios.

The XFX Speedster MERC310 AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX Black is a great example of value at the high-end, with its amazing 4K performance and healthy video memory allocation for noticeably less than $1000. It’s not quite as well-rounded as comparable Nvidia cards, but if gaming performance is your priority then this is the 4K GPU to get.

Before You Buy

The fundamentals of buying the best GPU for Warzone 2 aren’t any different from buying one for other games, so our general advice on how to buy a graphics card applies here, too. However, the GPU is only half of the equation for Warzone 2: unlike many games, the CPU matters a lot if you want high FPS in Warzone 2.0.

Don’t Forget Your CPU!

Warzone 2 is a surprisingly CPU-intensive game, and those of you chasing high frame rates (at any resolution) will want to make sure you have a reasonably powerful and modern CPU to power the game.

Now, how much your CPU choice matters will depend on your resolution, graphics settings, and GPU. Combining higher-end GPUs and lower resolutions will show up the differences most clearly, so it’s a matter of balancing your hardware to ensure everything runs as well as possible.

Let’s take the Nvidia RTX 3070, which is broadly equivalent to the RTX 4060 Ti in our list. At max settings and 1080p resolution, any modern six-core or higher CPU will run the game fine and hit a GPU bottleneck. However, older and less powerful CPUs will cause a significant performance drop-off at these settings.

This won’t be a huge issue if you’re building a new rig but can be a problem if you’re upgrading an older PC with a new graphics card. For instance, the Intel Core 13-10100 is still a decent budget gaming CPU, but it’ll hold a modern mid-range GPU back quite severely in Warzone 2.

If you’re buying a mid-range GPU, you’ll want a modern six-core CPU to minimize the chance of CPU bottlenecks in Warzone 2. If you’re shopping at the high end, then get as powerful a CPU as you can afford. An AMD RX 6900 XT, for example, will show differences even between an AMD Ryzen 5 5600X and a Ryzen 9 5900X at 1080p, which is not something that happens in most games.

Closing Thoughts

Buying the best GPU for Warzone 2 shouldn’t prove too difficult, especially now that upscaling technologies such as DLSS and FSR exist. Even mainstream graphics cards like the Zotac Gaming GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB Twin Edge and PowerColor Fighter AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT will happily run the game at triple-digit frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, which is all that most of you will need.

Running Warzone 2 at 4K is a whole other matter, of course. But even then, a card like the XFX Speedster MERC310 AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX Black shows that you can get great 4K performance without spending more than $1000.

Want more 4K-capable options? Check out our list of the best 4K graphics cards.