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The latest entry in the Call of Duty franchise is finally here, taking us back into the World War 2 era with all new weapons, game modes, maps, and more. Borrowing the same engine as 2019's Modern Warfare, Vanguard certainly looks very good, but how well does it perform? What are the most demanding graphics options? And which ones can we turn on or off with little to no FPS or quality loss?
In this article we will take a look at which Call of Duty: Vanguard graphics settings are the best to turn all the way up to Ultra and which ones can get us a little FPS boost for no real visual loss when we turn them off or down. We've compiled a list below of the most demanding graphics options in the game, so you can get a handle on what to expect when you adjust different graphics settings in COD Vanguard to get the perfect balance of visual fidelity and FPS performance in game.
Below you will see every graphics option listed and benchmarked against a minimum graphics setting used as our baseline benchmark for Call of Duty Vanguard. From there we see which graphics options have the highest performance impact on our hardware for the least visual improvement, and then we will see which options can be turned up to max and deliver the best visual improvement in COD Vanguard.
If you want to look at some more graphics benchmarks with various gaming graphics cards running Vanguard then you can check out our Call of Duty: Vanguard PC Performance Benchmarks article instead, or you can have a look at the various Call of Duty: Vanguard PC Graphics Settings that we'll be discussing here in this article.
Call of Duty: Vanguard PC system requirements
Call of Duty: Vanguard PC performance report and graphics card benchmarks
For the performance cost result baseline we used the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card - which is the recommended GPU for Call of Duty Vanguard - an Intel Core i7-10700K processor, and 16GB of DDR4 memory.
Unfortunately, COD Vanguard does not include an in-game benchmarking tool, so instead we tested out several of the game's maps to see which were the most demanding, and then played a match with bots to standardize the benchmark tests. This involved running through a certain area of the Berlin map, and shooting some enemies along the way. Overall, this is pretty representative of your multiplayer experience in Call of Duty: Vanguard.
If you see any significant discrepancy/difference between our tests and your own PC performance then please do share your findings in the comments below.
There is a lot of graphics settings available in Call of Duty Vanguard, so we went through the 25 graphics options listed and tested each one in turn, recording the average frame rates for each and then comparing them to a baseline FPS that was recorded with all the graphics options either turned off or to their lowest settings.
Call of Duty: Vanguard baseline FPS
To give us a comparable FPS baseline for Call of Duty Vanguard Frame Rates achieved when all the graphics settings are either on their lowest setting or turned OFF.
Call of Duty Vanguard Avg FPS Min FPS Max FPS 1% Low 0.1% Low Baseline 78.7 66.2 90.3 65.1 47.3 Call of Duty: Vanguard Graphics Options Performance Breakdown
The further to the right the bar goes, the more demanding the graphics option is.
What are the most demanding graphics options in Call of Duty Vanguard?
As you can see in the FPS performance graph above, there are quite a lot of graphics settings in Call of Duty Vanguard, but not that many that actually significantly affect FPS performance. Instead, they all add up in the end, and some will affect performance more or less depending on what other graphics options are set to.
That said, clearly the most demanding graphics option in COD Vanguard is Shadow Map Resolution at a 12.2% FPS performance cost, followed by Ambient Occlusion at 10.42% FPS cost, and Screen Space Shadows at 9.02%, as well as Volumetric Quality Level at 7.62%.
Then it's Shader Quality at a 6.61% FPS cost, Anti-Aliasing at 6.35%, Depth of Field at 5.84%, Spot Shadow Quality at 5.59%, and Texture Resolution at 4.07%. Following those, the rest of the settings have minimal impact on performance, but are still worth mentioning.
Settings like Level of Detail Distance Range (3.56%), Screen Space Reflection (3.3%), Nearby Level of Detail (3.05%), Particle Lighting (2.92%), Particle Quality Level (2.8%), FidelityFX CAS (2.67%), Spot Cache Size (2.41%), Distant Level of Detail (2.29%), Clutter Draw Distance (2.16%), Sun Shadow Cascades (2.03%), Tessellation (1.14%), both Texture Filter Anisotropic and and Bullet Impact & Sprays (1.02%), and finally Particle Resolution at 0.13%.
Notably, Call of Duty Vanguard does not include any support for ray tracing, despite the past 2 titles supporting the graphics feature at launch. However, there is support for both DLSS and AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) so you can increase performance with those settings.
Other options that slightly increase performance are Cache Sun Shadows and Cache Spot Shadows, which actually increase FPS performance by 0.64% and 0.51% respectively. Both settings require the use of RAM, and so more system memory should help increase performance from both
Call of Duty: Vanguard graphics settings VRAM usage at 1080p resolution with graphics options set to Ultra or turned On:
Graphics setting Effect on VRAM VRAM usage (MB) Texture Resolution High +2750 Texture Filter Anisotropic - 0 Particle Quality Level Low 0 Particle Resolution Medium -2 Bullet Impacts & Sprays - 0 Shader Quality Low 0 Tessellation - 0 Level of Detail Distance Range - 0 Nearby Level of Detail - 0 Distant Level of Detail - 0 Clutter Draw Distance - 0 Volumetric Quality Level - 0 Screen Space Shadows - 0 Shadow Map Resolution Medium +173 Sun Shadow Cascades Medium 0 Cache Sun Shadows High +8 Cache Spot Shadows High +18 Spot Cache Size High 0 Spot Shadow Quality High 0 Particle Lighting - 0 Ambient Occlusion Low +29 GTAO Quality Low 0 Screen Space Reflection - 0 FidelityFX CAS - 0 Anti-Aliasing Low 0 Depth of Field Medium 0 -------------
Call of Duty: Vanguard All Graphics Settings Benchmark Guide
Best Video Settings in Call of Duty Vanguard multiplayer
There's a pretty hefty amount of graphics settings available in COD Vanguard, which will allow us to greatly customize our experience in-game with the right balance of FPS performance and graphical quality.
Below we've provided both a score for the performance impact as well as a priority score designed to recommend which graphics settings you should prioritize turning up (the higher the number, the better).
Obviously, these scores are subjective and we really do encourage you to share your own thoughts in the discussion area below on what you think are the best Call of Duty Vanguard graphics settings are. But for now, let's jump in...
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Texture Resolution
Texture Resolution Ultra setting performance impact
Texture Resolution graphics option Lowest compared to Ultra
Call of Duty Vanguard Texture Resolution[slide your cursor over the images to compare. Click to enlarge]
Call of Duty: Vanguard Avg FPS Baseline 78.7 Texture Resolution 75.5 Texture Resolution option range: Very Low/Low/Medium/High
Performance impact: 3/5
Priority: 4/5
What does the Texture Resolution setting do in Call of Duty: Vanguard? Set the detail level of environmental textures. Higher resolution results in more color detail in surfaces.
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Texture Filter Anisotropic
Texture Filter Anisotropic {B} setting performance impact
Texture Filter Anisotropic graphics option {A} compared to {B}
Call of Duty Vanguard Texture Filter Anisotropic[slide your cursor over the images to compare. Click to enlarge]
Call of Duty: Vanguard Avg FPS Baseline 78.7 Texture Filter Anisotropic 77.9 Texture Filter Anisotropic option range: Very Low/Low/Medium/High
Performance impact: 1/5
Priority: 5/5
What does the Model Quality setting do in Call of Duty: Vanguard? Set the detail level of surfaces when viewed at an angle.
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Particle Quality Level
Particle Quality Level {B} setting performance impact
Particle Quality Level graphics option {A} compared to {B}
Call of Duty Vanguard Particle Quality Level[slide your cursor over the images to compare. Click to enlarge]
Call of Duty: Vanguard Avg FPS Baseline 78.7 Particle Quality Level 76.5 Particle Quality Level option range: Very Low/Low/Medium/High
Performance impact: 2/5
Priority: 3/5
What does the Particle Quality Level setting do in Call of Duty: Vanguard? Set the display threshold of various components within a particle effect. The higher the quality, the more elaborate and complex the particle effect will be.
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Particle Resolution
Particle Resolution {B} setting performance impact
Particle Resolution graphics option {A} compared to {B}
Call of Duty Vanguard Particle Resolution[slide your cursor over the images to compare. Click to enlarge]
Call of Duty: Vanguard Avg FPS Baseline 78.7 Particle Resolution 78.6 Particle Resolution option range: Low/High
Performance impact: 1/5
Priority: 3/5
What does the Particle Resolution setting do in Call of Duty: Vanguard? Set the detail of particle textures. The higher the resolution, the sharper each individual element will be.
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Bullet Impacts & Sprays
Bullet Impacts & Sprays {B} setting performance impact
Bullet Impacts & Sprays graphics option {A} compared to {B}
Call of Duty Vanguard Bullet Impacts and Sprays[slide your cursor over the images to compare. Click to enlarge]
Call of Duty: Vanguard Avg FPS Baseline 78.7 Bullet Impacts & Sprays 77.9 Bullet Impacts & Sprays option range: Off/On
Performance impact: 1/5
Priority: 2/5
What does the Bullet Impacts & Sprays setting do in Call of Duty: Vanguard? Set the visibility of bullet impacts and sprays on surfaces.
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Shader Quality
Shader Quality {B} setting performance impact
Shader Quality graphics option {A} compared to {B}
Call of Duty: Vanguard Avg FPS Baseline 78.7 Shader Quality 73.5 Shader Quality option range: Low/High
Performance impact: 3/5
Priority: 4/5
What does the Shader Quality setting do in Call of Duty: Vanguard? Set the intensity of the lighting treatment on some surfaces. This has a slight impact on the colorization of these surfaces.
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Tessellation
Tessellation {B} setting performance impact
Tessellation graphics option {A} compared to {B}
Call of Duty Vanguard Tessellation[slide your cursor over the images to compare. Click to enlarge]
Call of Duty: Vanguard Avg FPS Baseline 78.7 Tessellation 77.8 Tessellation option range: Off/Nearby Only/On
Performance impact: 1/5
Priority: 4/5
What does the Tessellation setting do in Call of Duty: Vanguard? Adds subdivisions to objects and surfaces for improved rendering quality.
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Level of Detail Distance Range
Level of Detail Distance Range {B} setting performance impact
Level of Detail Distance Range graphics option {A} compared to {B}
Call of Duty Vanguard Level of Detail Distance Range[slide your cursor over the images to compare. Click to enlarge]
Call of Duty: Vanguard Avg FPS Baseline 78.7 Level of Detail Distance Range 75.9 Level of Detail Distance Range option range: Short/Standard/Long
Performance impact: 2/5
Priority: 4/5
What does the Level of Detail Distance Range setting do in Call of Duty: Vanguard? Set the distance at which surrounding objects switch from their Nearby Level of Detail to their Distant Level of Detail. The longer the range, the further they will be displayed at a higher quality.
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Nearby Level of Detail
Nearby Level of Detail {B} setting performance impact
Nearby Level of Detail graphics option {A} compared to {B}
Call of Duty Vanguard Nearby Level of Detail[slide your cursor over the images to compare. Click to enlarge]
Call of Duty: Vanguard Avg FPS Baseline 78.7 Nearby Level of Detail 76.3 Nearby Level of Detail option range: Low/High
Performance impact: 2/5
Priority: 4/5
What does the Nearby Level of Detail setting do in Call of Duty: Vanguard? Set the quality of nearby objects.
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Distant Level of Detail
Distant Level of Detail {B} setting performance impact
Distant Level of Detail graphics option {A} compared to {B}
Call of Duty Vanguard Distant Level of Detail[slide your cursor over the images to compare. Click to enlarge]
Call of Duty: Vanguard Avg FPS Baseline 78.7 Distant Level of Detail 76.9 Distant Level of Detail option range: Low/High
Performance impact: 2/5
Priority: 4/5
What does the Distant Level of Detail setting do in Call of Duty: Vanguard? Set the quality of distant objects.
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Clutter Draw Distance
Clutter Draw Distance {B} setting performance impact
Clutter Draw Distance graphics option {A} compared to {B}
Call of Duty: Vanguard Avg FPS Baseline 78.7 Clutter Draw Distance 77 Clutter Draw Distance option range: Low/High
Performance impact: 2/5
Priority: 3/5
What does the Clutter Draw Distance setting do in Call of Duty: Vanguard? Set the distance up to which small ground elements such as ground foliage, rocks and various decals are visibile.
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Volumetric Quality Level
Volumetric Quality Level {B} setting performance impact
Volumetric Quality Level graphics option {A} compared to {B}
Call of Duty Vanguard Volumetric Quality Level[slide your cursor over the images to compare. Click to enlarge]
Call of Duty: Vanguard Avg FPS Baseline 78.7 Volumetric Quality Level 72.7 Volumetric Quality Level option range: Low/Medium/High
Performance impact: 4/5
Priority: 3/5
What does the Volumetric Quality Level setting do in Call of Duty: Vanguard? Set the detail level of lighting, fog and clouds.
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Screen Space Shadows
Screen Space Shadows {B} setting performance impact
Screen Space Shadows graphics option {A} compared to {B}
Call of Duty Vanguard Screen Space Shadows[slide your cursor over the images to compare. Click to enlarge]
Call of Duty: Vanguard Avg FPS Baseline 78.7 Screen Space Shadows 71.6 Screen Space Shadows option range: Off/Local Shadows Only/On
Performance impact: 4/5
Priority: 2/5
What does the Screen Space Shadows setting do in Call of Duty: Vanguard? Increases the detail level of shadows in the view, with the possibility of affecting only local surfaces such as your weapon and character.
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Shadow Map Resolution
Shadow Map Resolution {B} setting performance impact
Shadow Map Resolution graphics option {A} compared to {B}
Call of Duty Vanguard Shadow Map Resolution[slide your cursor over the images to compare. Click to enlarge]
Call of Duty: Vanguard Avg FPS Baseline 78.7 Shadow Map Resolution 69.1 Shadow Map Resolution option range: Very Low/Low/Medium/High/Ultra
Performance impact: 5/5
Priority: 4/5
What does the Shadow Map Resolution setting do in Call of Duty: Vanguard? Set the detail level of shadows. Higher resolution results in sharper, higher quality shadows.
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Sun Shadow Cascades
Sun Shadow Cascades {B} setting performance impact
Sun Shadow Cascades graphics option {A} compared to {B}
Call of Duty: Vanguard Avg FPS Baseline 78.7 Sun Shadow Cascades 77.1 Sun Shadow Cascades option range: Low/High
Performance impact: 2/5
Priority: 2/5
What does the Sun Shadow Cascades setting do in Call of Duty: Vanguard? Set the quality of distant sunlight shadows.
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Cache Sun Shadows
Cache Sun Shadows {B} setting performance impact
Cache Sun Shadows graphics option {A} compared to {B}
Call of Duty: Vanguard Avg FPS Baseline 78.7 Cache Sun Shadows 79.2 Cache Sun Shadows option range: Off/On
Performance impact: 1/5
Priority: 5/5
What does the Cache Sun Shadows setting do in Call of Duty: Vanguard? Sunlight shadows can be stored in cache to speed up rendering for future frames.
However, this setting will use memory (RAM) when turned on.
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Cache Spot Shadows
Cache Spot Shadows {B} setting performance impact
Cache Spot Shadows graphics option {A} compared to {B}
Call of Duty: Vanguard Avg FPS Baseline 78.7 Cache Spot Shadows 79.1 Cache Spot Shadows option range: Off/On
Performance impact: 1/5
Priority: 5/5
What does the Cache Spot Shadows setting do in Call of Duty: Vanguard? Spot shadows can be stored in cache to speed up rendering for future frames.
However, this setting will use memory (RAM) when turned on.
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Spot Cache Size
Spot Cache Size {B} setting performance impact
Spot Cache Size graphics option {A} compared to {B}
Call of Duty: Vanguard Avg FPS Baseline 78.7 Spot Cache Size 76.8 Spot Cache Size option range: Very Low/Low/Medium/High
Performance impact: 2/5
Priority: 4/5
What does the Spot Cache Size setting do in Call of Duty: Vanguard? Set the cache size of spot light shadows.
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Spot Shadow Quality
Spot Shadow Quality {B} setting performance impact
Spot Shadow Quality option {A} compared to {B}
Call of Duty: Vanguard Avg FPS Baseline 78.7 Spot Shadow Quality 74.3 Spot Shadow Quality option range: Low/High
Performance impact: 3/5
Priority: 3/5
What does the Spot Shadow Quality setting do in Call of Duty: Vanguard? Set the detail level of spot light shadows.
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Particle Lighting
Particle Lighting {B} setting performance impact
Particle Lighting graphics option {A} compared to {B}
Call of Duty: Vanguard Avg FPS Baseline 78.7 Particle Lighting 76.4 Particle Lighting option range: Low/Medium/High/Ultra
Performance impact: 2/5
Priority: 2/5
What does the Particle Lighting setting do in Call of Duty: Vanguard? Set the quality level of particle effect lighting.
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Ambient Occlusion
Ambient Occlusion {B} setting performance impact
Ambient Occlusion graphics option {A} compared to {B}
Call of Duty Vanguard Ambient Occlusion[slide your cursor over the images to compare. Click to enlarge]
GTAO Quality graphics option {A} compared to {B}
Call of Duty Vanguard GTAO Quality[slide your cursor over the images to compare. Click to enlarge]
Call of Duty: Vanguard Avg FPS Baseline 78.7 Ambient Occlusion 70.5 Ambient Occlusion option range: Off/Static Objects (GTAO)/Dynamic Objects (MDAO)/Both
GTAO Quality option range: Low/Medium/High/Ultra
Performance impact: 4/5
Priority: 4/5
What does the Ambient Occlusion setting do in Call of Duty: Vanguard? Adds soft shadows intersecting with each other to create depth.
What does the GTAO Quality setting do in Call of Duty: Vanguard? Ground Truth Ambient Occlusion sets the quality for ambient occlusion on static objects. Ambient Occlusion adds soft shadows intersecting with each other to create depth.
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Screen Space Reflection
Screen Space Reflection {B} setting performance impact
Screen Space Reflection graphics option {A} compared to {B}
Call of Duty Vanguard Screen Space Reflection[slide your cursor over the images to compare. Click to enlarge]
Call of Duty: Vanguard Avg FPS Baseline 78.7 Screen Space Reflection 76.1 Screen Space Reflection option range: Off/Low/Medium/High
Performance impact: 2/5
Priority: 3/5
What does the Screen Space Reflection setting do in Call of Duty: Vanguard? Set the quality for reflections of in-game graphics when looking at a certain angle on reflective surfaces.
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FidelityFX CAS
FidelityFX CAS {B} setting performance impact
FidelityFX CAS graphics option {A} compared to {B}
Call of Duty: Vanguard Avg FPS Baseline 78.7 FidelityFX CAS 76.6 FidelityFX CAS option range: Off/On
FidelityFX CAS Strength: 0.00 > 1.00
Performance impact: 2/5
Priority: 1/5
What does the FidelityFX CAS setting do in Call of Duty: Vanguard? The sharpness of scene rendering is enhanced.
It is recommended to turn off any sharpening techniques on your graphics card driver for this setting to work as expected.
What does the FidelityFX CAS Strength setting do in Call of Duty: Vanguard? Adjust the strength of the FidelityFX CAS technique.
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Anti-Aliasing
Anti-Aliasing {B} setting performance impact
Ant-Aliasing graphics option {A} compared to {B}
Call of Duty Vanguard Anti-Aliasing[slide your cursor over the images to compare. Click to enlarge]
Filmic Strength graphics option {A} compared to {B}
Call of Duty Vanguard Filmic Strength[slide your cursor over the images to compare. Click to enlarge]
Call of Duty: Vanguard Avg FPS Baseline 78.7 Anti-Aliasing 73.7 Anti-Aliasing option range: SMAA T2X/Filmic SMAA T2X
Anti-Aliasing Quality option range: Low/Medium/High/Ultra
Filmic Strength option range: 0 > 100
Performance impact: 3/5
Priority: 4/5
What does the Anti-Aliasing setting do in Call of Duty: Vanguard? Smooths out jagged edges. Filmic technique will remove a bit of visual noise.
What does the Anti-Aliasing Quality setting do in Call of Duty: Vanguard? Set the detail level of Anti-Aliasing.
Anti-Aliasing smooths out jagged edges. This is especially noticeable on diagonal lines.
What does the Filmic Strength setting do in Call of Duty: Vanguard? Adjust the amount of temporal blurring at the cost of image stability when anti-aliasing the scene.
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Depth of Field
Depth of Field {B} setting performance impact
Depth of Field graphics option {A} compared to {B}
Call of Duty Vanguard Depth of Field[slide your cursor over the images to compare. Click to enlarge]
Call of Duty: Vanguard Avg FPS Baseline 78.7 Depth of Field 74.1 Depth of Field option range: Off/On
Performance impact: 3/5
Priority: 3/5
What does the Depth of Field setting do in Call of Duty: Vanguard? Simulates camera lens. Out of focus regions will appear blurry.
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Conclusion
Call of Duty: Vanguard graphics settings performance results and conclusion - Looking over all the FPS results above, we can see that Call of Duty: Vanguard has a significant amount of graphics options to choose from, with a decent range of customizable performance from each of them.
Additionally, there are settings that actually help improve performance like Cache Sun Shadows and Cache Spot Shadows, though the performance benefit here is dependent on how much RAM you have. Speaking of memory, Vanguard does not actually require a huge amount of VRAM to run thankfully.
However, if you do want to improve FPS performance in COD Vanguard the first setting that you should turn down is the Shadow Map Resolution, followed by Ambient Occlusion, Screen Space Shadows, Volumetric Quality Level, and Shader Quality since these are the most demanding graphics options in Vanguard.
The rest of the graphics settings have minimal impact on FPS performance, but they do add up when combined together. So have a play around with the rest of the settings until you get the performance and image quality desired.
Additionally, COD Vanguard does not include ray tracing support, therefore there aren't really any other graphics options that will significantly decrease FPS like ray tracing will. It's possible the developers plan to implement it in the future, but for now there is no ray tracing in Call of Duty Vanguard.
And that's it for the most important graphics options in Call of Duty: Vanguard! As always we're now passing it onto you guys! We would love to hear your thoughts on what graphics settings you turn all the way up in COD Vanguard for little to no performance impact, and which options you turn down to get some extra frames so we can all benefit from better performance and image quality in this game!
