Minecraft

Measured FPS Breakdown

Minecraft is not a demanding title for this combination, and the recorded data confirms it delivers extremely high frame rates across all tested resolutions and presets. The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER produces average FPS well beyond what any display refresh rate currently needs, with the lowest recorded average still sitting comfortably above 90 frames per second.

At 1920x1080, the results are almost absurdly high. The Low preset averages 455 FPS, while High presets reach 385 FPS. Medium sits between them at 418 FPS, with a minimum of 356 FPS and a maximum of 481 FPS. The Ultra preset, which is the most demanding setting available in the database, still averages 278 FPS. There is no scenario at 1080p where this combo drops anywhere near the playable threshold of 60 FPS. Even the minimum frame rate recorded at Medium settings, 356 FPS, is nearly six times the playable threshold.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance scales predictably but remains overwhelming. Low averages 390 FPS, High averages 281 FPS, and Medium averages 354 FPS with a minimum of 301 FPS and a maximum of 407 FPS. Ultra still produces an average of 176 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at this resolution is about 214 FPS, showing that the GPU has ample headroom even when pushed with the highest settings.

At 3840x2160, the data shows the first meaningful drop in frame rates, but the results remain far above playability. Low averages 234 FPS, High averages 147 FPS, and Medium averages 185 FPS with a minimum of 157 FPS and a maximum of 213 FPS. Ultra is the only setting that dips below the 100 FPS mark, averaging 92 FPS. This is still 32 FPS above the playable threshold, and it indicates that even at 4K with maximum settings, the system does not struggle in any meaningful way.

The data shows a consistent pattern: every single measured configuration, across all three resolutions and all four presets, stays above 60 FPS on average. The lowest average in the entire dataset is the 4K Ultra result at 92 FPS, which remains comfortably playable. The highest average is the 1080p Low result at 455 FPS, which is so far beyond typical display capabilities that it effectively becomes a CPU-bound scenario rather than a GPU-bound one.

CPU and GPU Roles

The data indicates that for Minecraft, the GPU is the dominant component at higher resolutions, while the CPU becomes relatively more relevant at lower resolutions, though neither component ever becomes a bottleneck that threatens playability.

The scaling between resolutions and presets reveals how the workload shifts. At 1080p, going from Low to Ultra changes the average FPS from 455 to 278, a reduction of 177 FPS. At 1440p, the same preset change moves from 390 to 176, a reduction of 214 FPS. At 4K, Low to Ultra moves from 234 to 92, a reduction of 142 FPS. This nonlinear pattern suggests that the Ultra preset at 1440p is particularly demanding relative to its Low counterpart, while the 4K Ultra result is constrained more by raw GPU throughput.

Comparing resolution scaling within the same preset tells a clearer story. For the Low preset, 1080p to 1440p drops from 455 to 390 FPS, a 65 FPS reduction, while 1440p to 4K drops from 390 to 234, a 156 FPS reduction. For the Ultra preset, 1080p to 1440p drops from 278 to 176, a 102 FPS reduction, while 1440p to 4K drops from 176 to 92, an 84 FPS reduction. The Low preset shows a much larger drop when moving to 4K, which indicates that at lower settings the GPU is still the primary limiter, but the CPU has more influence at 1080p where the frame rates are extremely high.

The RTX 4070 SUPER has a benchmark percentile of 83 among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 43223. The Core i5-9400 has a percentile of 47 among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 2254. This percentile gap suggests the GPU is significantly stronger relative to its peers than the CPU is relative to its peers. Yet Minecraft is not a computationally heavy game, and the CPU still manages to feed the GPU at very high frame rates. At 1080p Low, the 455 FPS average likely approaches the CPU's practical limit for this game, but the data does not show any frame rate collapse or stutter that would indicate a hard bottleneck.

At 4K Ultra, the GPU is clearly the limiting factor, as the average drops to 92 FPS, which is still well above the playable threshold but far below the GPU's capability at lower resolutions. The data suggests that for this game, the CPU matters most at 1080p with lower presets, while the GPU matters most at 4K with higher presets. At 1440p, both components share the load more evenly, but the overall performance remains so high that the distinction has little practical impact.

Best Settings per Resolution

For each resolution, the database records the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS on average. In every case, the Ultra preset qualifies.

At 1920x1080, the best settings are Ultra, with an average FPS of 278. The minimum frame rate is not recorded for Ultra at this resolution, but the average is more than four times the playable threshold. There is no reason to lower the preset at 1080p, as even the most demanding settings produce a frame rate that exceeds all but the highest refresh rate displays.

At 2560x1440, the best settings are also Ultra, with an average FPS of 176. This is nearly three times the playable threshold, and it remains high enough for smooth gameplay on high refresh rate monitors. The Medium setting at this resolution records a minimum of 301 FPS, which suggests that even if the Ultra preset has occasional dips, they are unlikely to be perceptible.

At 3840x2160, the best settings remain Ultra, with an average FPS of 92. This is the only instance where the average falls below 100 FPS, but it still clears the 60 FPS threshold by 32 FPS. The data shows that 4K Ultra is playable, though users with 120 Hz or 144 Hz displays may notice the difference compared to lower resolutions. The High preset at 4K averages 147 FPS, which would be the better choice for those targeting higher refresh rates, but the database's verdict lists Ultra as the best setting because it meets the playable threshold.

The playable settings list for each resolution includes all four presets: Low, Medium, High, and Ultra. This means no setting in the entire tested range fails to reach 60 FPS on average. The practical takeaway is that this combo can run Minecraft at maximum settings at any resolution without concern.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The nearest rivals for the CPU and GPU provide context for what other hardware would behave similarly in this combination.

For the Intel Core i5-9400, the nearest rivals in the database are the Intel Core i7-1068NG7, which has an average benchmark score of 2259 and a delta of -0.2 percent, meaning it performs essentially identically. The Intel Core i7-10710U scores 2248 with a delta of 0.3 percent, also effectively the same. The AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 scores 2246 with a delta of 0.4 percent, and the Intel Core i3-10305 scores 2264 with a delta of -0.4 percent. All four rivals are within half a percentage point of the i5-9400 in average benchmark score, so swapping in any of them would yield nearly identical Minecraft performance. The i5-9400 sits at the 47th percentile among all CPUs, meaning it is a mid-pack processor, but for this game that is more than sufficient.

For the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER, the nearest rivals are the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB, which scores 43262 with a delta of -0.1 percent, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile at 43268 with a delta of -0.1 percent, the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 at 43301 with a delta of -0.2 percent, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile at 43667 with a delta of -1 percent. All of these GPUs have average benchmark scores within one percent of the RTX 4070 SUPER, so they would produce nearly identical frame rates in Minecraft. The RTX 4070 SUPER sits at the 83rd percentile among all GPUs, which places it well above the median and explains why even 4K Ultra remains playable.

The practical implication is that any system built with one of these CPU rivals and one of these GPU rivals would deliver the same experience. The differences are so small that they would not be measurable in real gameplay. The data shows that the combination of a mid-range six-core CPU from 2018 with a high-end GPU from 2024 produces a result that is overwhelmingly sufficient for Minecraft, and the same would hold true for any of the listed rivals.

How This Combo Ranks

The database records this combination's rank as 1000 out of 3710 tested combos for Minecraft. This places it in the top 27 percent of all tested configurations. The ranking is based on the combined performance of the CPU and GPU in this specific game, not on their individual benchmark scores.

Given that the CPU is at the 47th percentile and the GPU is at the 83rd percentile, the combo rank of 1000 out of 3710 makes sense. The GPU carries most of the weight in this ranking, but the CPU does not drag it down significantly. The top 27 percent placement means that a large majority of tested combos deliver lower frame rates in Minecraft, while only a minority outperform this setup.

The data shows that the combo rank is not exceptional, but it is solidly above average. The reason is that Minecraft is not a graphically intensive game, so even mid-range CPUs paired with high-end GPUs tend to produce high frame rates. The RTX 4070 SUPER's 83rd percentile GPU score is the stronger contributor, and the i5-9400's 47th percentile CPU score is adequate for this game's modest CPU demands. The resulting rank of 1000 out of 3710 indicates that this combo outperforms 2710 other tested combinations, while trailing 999 of them.

It is importantly the rank is specific to this game. A combo that ranks 1000th in Minecraft could rank differently in a more CPU-intensive game or a more GPU-intensive game. The data only speaks to Minecraft, and in that context, this combo is comfortably in the upper quartile of tested hardware pairings.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Minecraft at 4K with the highest settings?

A: Yes. The Ultra preset at 3840x2160 averages 92 FPS, which is above the playable threshold of 60 FPS.

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The highest average FPS is 455, achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low preset.

Q: Does this combo ever drop below 60 FPS on average?

A: No. Every recorded configuration, across all three resolutions and all four presets, maintains an average FPS above 60. The lowest average is 92 FPS at 4K Ultra.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested configurations?

A: It ranks 1000 out of 3710 tested combos for Minecraft, placing it in the top 27 percent.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more important for this game at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the CPU becomes relatively more relevant because frame rates are extremely high, reaching 455 FPS on Low and 278 FPS on Ultra. The GPU still matters, but the CPU has more influence at lower resolutions.

Q: What settings should I use for 1440p gaming with this combo?

A: The Ultra preset is playable at 2560x1440, averaging 176 FPS, so there is no reason to reduce settings unless targeting a very high refresh rate display.