Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War

The iconic Black Ops series is back with Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War - the direct sequel to the original and fan-favorite Call of Duty: Black Ops. Black Ops Cold War will drop fans into the depths of the Cold War’s volatile geopolitical battle of the early 1980s. Nothing is ever as it seems in a gripping single-player Campaign, where players will come face-to-face with historical figures and hard truths, as they battle around the globe through iconic locales like East Berlin, Vietnam, Turkey, Soviet KGB headquarters and more. Beyond the Campaign, players will bring a Cold War arsenal of weapons and equipment into the next generation of Multiplayer and Zombies experiences. Welcome to the brink. Welcome to Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.

Below are the four PC tiers we'd actually recommend for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War today. These are our 2026 hardware picks, not the dated publisher minimums you'll find on Steam.

If you'd rather buy than build, these are the Create PCs machines we'd put Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War on, cheapest first. Real specifications and current prices, each link lands on that exact build.

CREATE TRINITY

Mid

£2,453

CPU

Intel 14 Core Ultra 5 245K Unlocked Desktop CPU/Processor

GPU

Palit NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti INFINITY 3 16GB Blackwell Graphics Card

RAM

Corsair Vengeance Grey 32GB 6000MHz DDR5 Dual Profile Memory Kit

Storage

WD Black SN850X 1TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 Gen4 x4 NVMe SSD PC/PS5

See this build →

CREATE NR200P

Mid-high

£3,567

CPU

Intel 20 Core Ultra 7 265 Desktop CPU/Processor

GPU

PALIT NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16GB GamingPro-S Blackwell Graphics Card

RAM

Corsair Vengeance Grey 32GB 6000MHz DDR5 Dual Profile Memory Kit

Storage

Sandisk Black SN850X 2TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 Gen4 x4 NVMe SSD PC/PS5

See this build →

CREATE ZION

Mid-high

£3,693

CPU

Intel 14 Core Ultra 5 245K Unlocked Desktop CPU/Processor

GPU

ASUS ROG STRIX NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti OC Blackwell Graphics Card

RAM

Corsair Vengeance Grey 32GB 6000MHz DDR5 Dual Profile Memory Kit

Storage

Sandisk Black SN850X 2TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 Gen4 x4 NVMe SSD PC/PS5

See this build →

Prices from Create PCs, the UK builder we run, and include VAT. They're the price shown on arrival, not a teaser, but components get repriced, so treat them as current rather than fixed. Custom-built machines start around £2,400; below that a self-build is usually the better answer, and we say so on our budget guides.

Official system requirements

These are the minimum and recommended specs as published by Activision on Steam. They tend to be conservative, usually "what ran the game at 1080p when it shipped". For what you should actually buy in 2026, see the tier cards above.

Verified 23 August 2026 against the Steam store page.

Can your PC run Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War?

If your CPU is roughly equivalent to Intel® Core™ i5-2500K and your GPU is at or above NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 970 / NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1660 Super, you'll hit recommended settings at 1080p/60. For 1440p or higher, look at the tier picks above.

Best gaming PC for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War →