Fix COD MW2 Stuttering and FPS Drops [Updated 2023]

MW2 stuttering and fps drop – This performance guide will show you how to get rid of some performance issues like stuttering, and fps drops that are currently present in the PC version of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 PC.

Fix COD MW2 Stuttering and FPS Drops

Before you move further into the guide, take a look at the minimum and recommended requirements of COD MW2. And also download the drivers that have been recommended by the devs. Also, DO NOT DOWNLOAD THE LATEST NVIDIA DRIVER! It is causing Black Screen issues everywhere. Let’s take a quick peek at the system requirements of COD MW 2 2022:

Remember, the minimum requirements listed on top can only help you get 30 FPS at 1920×1080 resolution on the lowest possible settings. So the minimum settings don’t mean anything.

The recommended requirements are the ones you have to consider. A GTX 1060 can help you get close to 60 FPS at 1920×1080 resolution on medium settings. If you are trying to get more than 100 FPS in the game, then you will need something like the RTX 3060. Because I have checked, and not even the RTX 2060 can fetch you a constant 100 FPS in Modern Warfare 2.

Now, check out the drivers recommended by Infinity Ward:

• For Nvidia users, Infinity Ward has recommended Game Ready Driver version 516.59.
• For AMD users, the recommended driver is Adrenaline 22.9.1.

Make sure you are using the Optimal Settings for Modern Warfare 2

To get rid of the stutters and fps drops, you can obviously go ahead and set everything to low. But, where is the fun in that?

I have an extremely detailed Guide dedicated to this. You can check it out, as it will probably help you make a better decision with your settings.

Avoid using Nvidia Instant Replay or Windows Background Recording if you do have enough RAM

If you do not have a powerful processor and at least 16 GB RAM. Which a lot of Gaming Laptops still don’t. Then I suggest you turn off features like Nvidia Instant Replay or the Windows Background Recording. These both do the same job and might cause unnecessary stuttering in demanding titles.

You need to disable the Xbox Game Bar and Game Mode too.

Nvidia Instant Replay:

1. Press Alt+Z [You obviously have Nvidia in-game overlay enabled if you are using instant replay].
2. Click on the Instant Replay block.
3. Turn it off from there.

Windows Background Recording:

1. Go to your Windows 10 settings menu.
2. Select Gaming.
3. Select Captures from the left.
4. Turn off Background Recording from there.

Demanding background applications and services could be eating up resources

Windows 11 and 10 have plenty of applications or Windows services that often tend to eat up a huge chunk of RAM without you knowing anything about it.

As a result, people with low-end CPUs and low RAM capacity start facing stutters and freezes in almost every game.

I experience this issue a lot on my Intel 10400F system. There could be a huge possibility that the stuttering is taking place in Modern Warfare 2 for you because your system is struggling to distribute Memory or Disk between the game and some other demanding application.

So check whether you have useless applications running in the background or not. You can also decide which applications you want to start automatically when you boot your system and prevent the useless ones from starting.

1. Launch your Task Manager by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del.
2. Click on the Startup tab.
3. Keep the essential applications, Enabled.
   
4. Disable the rest

Make sure that you are not using a ton of overlays

Believe it or not, overlays are actually services that can consume a lot of resources if not kept under check. Modern Warfare 2 already eats a ton of RAM. Now, if you have a ton of overlays running in the background, your system might not be able to cope. Obviously, this doesn’t matter if you have like 32 GB of RAM.

Before starting COD MW2, close all the different overlays you have enabled on your system. That includes Steam, Discord, Nvidia GFE, and AMD. Overlays are known to cause stutters in many games. So try to avoid them if your system is not high-powered. I mean, I am literally using a Ryzen 5 5600x, and apart from the Steam overlay, I don’t have anything else enabled.

Discord could be the reason

Judging from the fact that Modern Warfare 2 has 6v6 maps in Multiplayer, it is pretty apparent that many players will be playing the game with their friends.

And what is the most popular mode of communication for gamers these days? Discord obviously. So, I would recommend that you make a few tweaks to stop Discord from reducing the performance of your system.

In that case, Here is what you need to do:

1. Open Discord.
2. Click on the ‘User Settings’ button in the app’s bottom-left corner.
3. Go to User Settings.
4. Select ‘Voice & Video’ from the left sidebar.
   
5. Scroll down to the Advanced section.
6. Turn off ‘OpenH264 Video Codec provided by Cisco System, Inc.’
7. Turn off ‘H.264 Hardware Acceleration.
8. Scroll down further.
9. Disable ‘Enable Quality of Service High Packet Priority’.
10. Select ‘Advanced’ from the left sidebar.
11. Disable ‘Hardware Acceleration.
    
12. Click on ‘Game Overlay’ from the sidebar.
13. Disable ‘Enable in-game overlay.’
14. Restart Discord

NVIDIA Control Panel Settings for COD MW2

You should first click on ‘Adjust image settings with preview‘ located on the left side under 3D settings and make sure that ‘Use the advanced 3D image settings‘ is selected. Now:

• Open Nvidia Control Panel.
• Click on Manage 3D settings on the left bar.
• Select the ‘Program Settings’ tab.
• Click on the ‘Add’ button
• Select Call of Duty HQ from the list.
  
• Now tweak the following settings:
  • Low Latency Mode: Off
  • OpenGL rendering GPU: Select your Dedicated GPU
  • Power Management Mode: Prefer Maximum Performance
  • Texture filtering – Quality: Performance
  • Threaded Optimization: On
  • Virtual Reality pre-rendered frames: 2

AMD Radeon Settings for COD MW2

Click on the ‘Settings’ button in the app’s top-right corner, and click on the ‘Graphics’ tab.

• Radeon Anti-Lag: Disabled
• Radeon Chill: Disabled
• Radeon Boost: Disabled
• Radeon Image Sharpening: Off
• Radeon Enhanced Sync: Disabled
• Wait for Vertical Refresh: Off, unless the application specifies

Click on ‘Advanced’.

• Frame Rate Target Control: Disabled
• Anti-Aliasing: Use Application settings
• Anti-aliasing Method: Multisampling
• Morphological Anti-Aliasing: Disabled
• Anisotropic Filtering: Disabled
• Texture Filtering Quality: Performance
• Surface Format Optimization: Enabled
• Tessellation Mode: Use application settings
• OpenGL Triple Buffering: Disabled
• 10-Bit Pixel Format: Disabled

Now, click on the ‘Preferences’ tab, and uncheck everything.

Make sure you are using the right GPU (For Nvidia Laptop users)

If your laptop features an Nvidia graphics card inside, then you need to make sure your laptop is using that instead of the low-powered integrated one.

1. Just open Nvidia Control Panel
2. Click on Manage 3D settings located on the left side
3. Select the Program Settings tab
4. Under “Select a program to customize” select Call of Duty HQ
5. If it is not there, then click on Add and then select it
6. Now set “Select the preferred graphics processor for this program” to “High-performance NVIDIA processor”

I wrote exactly what I follow myself. Every single method mentioned above has been tested by multiple users over the years. Some methods are being used since the launch of Warzone. They were impactful then, and they are impactful, even now.

I actually played the game at 1080p resolution on my RTX 3060ti, at maxed-out settings, and didn’t notice any stuttering. You can see for yourself:

One thing to keep in mind, none of these methods are advanced and are pretty basic. There is no guarantee that these steps will fix your problem 100%.

If the issue you are facing is serious, then the best option would be to contact Activision support.

I suggest you look at the official Modern Warfare 2 Reddit or the Steam discussions page of COD MW 2. You will find a lot of players discussing these exact same issues.

If you think this guide has helped, then let us know in the comment section below. And for more Modern Warfare 2 guides, keep an eye on Frondtech. We will be covering every single technical issue and bug of the game. Good luck!

That’s all, folks!

Last Updated on December 20, 2023

Shoaib

Shoaib, 30, is a simple guy who loves to play video games, and enjoys new cuisines sporadically. He has been gaming since he was 7 years old, and with an experience of 22 years, under his belt, there is not a single AAA game in this world, that he hasn’t played. Despite being a MBA Graduate he decided to follow his passion. And because of his love for gaming, Frondtech came into existence.