Minecraft

Measured FPS Breakdown

Minecraft, being a sandbox title with voxel-based rendering, shows unusual scaling behavior across the three tested resolutions. The database records a full sweep from 1080p to 4K, with average, minimum, and maximum frame rates captured for the Medium preset at every resolution, while other presets report only averages.

At 1920x1080, the Intel Core i9-14900K paired with the Intel Arc B370 delivers its strongest results. The Low preset averages 195 FPS, which is the highest recorded number in this entire test set. Medium follows at 155 FPS, with a minimum of 131 FPS and a maximum of 178 FPS. High drops to 123 FPS average, and Ultra settles at 77 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 118 FPS, indicating that the graphics preset has a substantial impact on the frame rate at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates decline but remain respectable. Low averages 123 FPS, exactly matching the 1080p High result. Medium averages 98 FPS, with a minimum of 83 FPS and maximum of 112 FPS. High averages 77 FPS, and Ultra falls to 48 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 37% of the Low preset performance, while the Medium preset loses about 37 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the picture changes dramatically. Low averages 64 FPS, which barely clears the 60 FPS threshold. Medium averages 51 FPS, with a minimum of 43 FPS and maximum of 59 FPS. High averages 40 FPS, and Ultra averages 25 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K produces the worst result in the entire dataset, at 25 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra at 4K is 39 FPS, a smaller absolute gap than at 1080p but a proportionally larger one relative to the lower overall performance.

The Medium preset is the only one with complete min/max data across all three resolutions. At 1080p, the minimum of 131 FPS and maximum of 178 FPS show a 47 FPS variance. At 1440p, the spread narrows to 29 FPS, from 83 to 112. At 4K, the spread is 16 FPS, from 43 to 59. The shrinking variance at higher resolutions suggests that frame pacing becomes more consistent as the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The database places the Intel Arc B370 in the 5th percentile among all tested GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 1184 from the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test. Its nearest rivals are all older or lower-tier parts. The ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 scores 1186, a delta of -0.2% relative to the Arc B370. The ATI Radeon HD 5770 scores 1190, a -0.5% delta. The AMD Radeon HD 7650M scores 1192, a -0.7% delta. The AMD FirePro M2000 scores 1168, a +1.4% delta. These deltas are all within 2% of the Arc B370's score, meaning that in synthetic GPU workloads, these four parts are effectively interchangeable.

The CPU side is a different story. The Intel Core i9-14900K sits in the 95th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 79097. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i9-14900KF at 79371, a -0.3% delta. The Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus scores 79574, a -0.6% delta. The AMD EPYC 7413 scores 80041, a -1.2% delta. The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 scores 77740, a +1.7% delta. All four rivals are within 2% of the i9-14900K's average score, making them statistically equivalent in CPU-bound workloads.

For Minecraft specifically, the GPU's low percentile ranking relative to its rivals suggests that a system with the Arc B370 will behave similarly to one with any of those four ATI/AMD parts. The CPU's high percentile ranking means that the i9-14900K will not be the limiting factor in most scenarios; swapping in any of its four nearest rivals would produce nearly identical frame rates in this game.

CPU and GPU Roles

The recorded data shows a clear division of labor between the Intel Core i9-14900K and the Intel Arc B370 in Minecraft. The CPU has a 24-core, 32-thread configuration based on Raptor Lake architecture, with a boost clock of 6.00 GHz. The GPU is an integrated part of the Panther Lake platform, with 1280 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 20 raster operations units. Its 25 W power envelope and system-shared memory mark it as a low-power integrated solution rather than a discrete graphics card.

At 1920x1080, the CPU dominates the performance picture. The jump from Low to Ultra costs 118 FPS, but even the Ultra preset maintains a 77 FPS average. The CPU's single-thread performance, measured at 4697 in Passmark's single-thread test, is sufficient to feed the GPU at this resolution across all presets. The 6.00 GHz boost clock and the 36 MB shared L3 cache help maintain consistent frame delivery in a game that is notoriously sensitive to single-core performance.

At 2560x1440, the GPU begins to take on a larger role. The Low preset drops from 195 to 123 FPS, a 72 FPS reduction that cannot be explained by CPU limitation alone. The Medium preset's minimum of 83 FPS, compared to 131 at 1080p, shows that the GPU is now the primary constraint. The CPU still has headroom, as evidenced by the 77 FPS High result, which matches the 1080p Ultra result exactly.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is the sole bottleneck. The Ultra preset averages 25 FPS, and the High preset averages 40 FPS. Even the Low preset, which would normally be heavily CPU-bound, only manages 64 FPS. The GPU's 6.144 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 48.00 GPixel/s pixel rate are simply insufficient for 4K rendering in this title at higher presets. The CPU's performance is effectively irrelevant at this resolution, as the GPU cannot produce enough frames to saturate the i9-14900K's capabilities.

The scaling between resolutions confirms this interpretation. At Low settings, the frame rate drops from 195 at 1080p to 123 at 1440p to 64 at 4K. That is a 67% reduction from 1080p to 4K, which is consistent with a GPU-bound workload. At Ultra settings, the frame rate drops from 77 at 1080p to 48 at 1440p to 25 at 4K, a 68% reduction. The similarity of these scaling ratios across presets indicates that the GPU is the dominant factor at all resolutions, with the CPU only mattering at 1080p Low where the GPU has enough headroom to expose CPU limitations.

How This Combo Ranks

The database ranks this specific CPU and GPU combination at 3408 out of 3710 tested combos in Minecraft. This places it in the bottom 8% of all tested systems, despite the i9-14900K being a top-tier CPU. The ranking reflects the GPU's severe limitations: the Arc B370's 5th percentile GPU score drags the combined result down significantly.

The combination outperforms only 302 other tested configurations in this game. The rank of 3408 means that the vast majority of systems in the database deliver better Minecraft performance. This is notable because the CPU alone would rank near the top: the i9-14900K's 95th percentile CPU score indicates that most CPU-bound games would see excellent performance with this processor. Minecraft, however, is not purely CPU-bound at the resolutions tested, and the GPU's weakness becomes the deciding factor.

The delta between the CPU's high percentile and the GPU's low percentile creates an unbalanced system. In CPU-bound scenarios, this combo would perform admirably. In GPU-bound scenarios, which the FPS data shows Minecraft becomes at higher resolutions, the combo falls behind the majority of tested systems. The rank of 3408 out of 3710 is a direct reflection of this imbalance.

The Verdict

The verdict by resolution is clear. At 1920x1080, this system can run Minecraft at all four tested presets, with the Ultra preset averaging 77 FPS. The 60 FPS threshold is cleared by every preset at this resolution. The Low preset even reaches 195 FPS, which is more than triple the playable threshold.

At 2560x1440, the system clears 60 FPS on three of four presets: High at 77 FPS, Low at 123 FPS, and Medium at 98 FPS. The Ultra preset falls short at 48 FPS. This makes 1440p playable with a caveat: users must avoid the Ultra preset.

At 3840x2160, the system only clears 60 FPS on the Low preset, which averages 64 FPS. The Medium preset at 51 FPS, the High preset at 40 FPS, and the Ultra preset at 25 FPS all fall below the playable threshold. The 4K experience is therefore limited to Low settings, and even then, the margin above 60 FPS is only 4 FPS.

The overall verdict is that this system is playable at 1080p across all settings, playable at 1440p with settings capped at High, and only marginally playable at 4K with Low settings. The 60 FPS threshold is achievable, but not with any headroom at 4K.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, with an average of 77 FPS. This is the maximum preset available in the test set, so the system can run the game at its highest quality settings at this resolution. The 77 FPS average provides a 17 FPS margin above the playable threshold.

At 2560x1440, the most demanding preset that clears 60 FPS is High, with an average of 77 FPS. This matches the 1080p Ultra result exactly, suggesting that the GPU's performance ceiling at this quality level is around 77 FPS regardless of resolution. The Medium preset offers 98 FPS, but High is the best choice for visual quality while maintaining playability.

At 3840x2160, the only preset that clears 60 FPS is Low, with an average of 64 FPS. This is a minimal margin of 4 FPS above the threshold, meaning that any scene complexity beyond the test conditions could push the frame rate below 60. The Medium preset's minimum of 43 FPS, compared to its average of 51 FPS, demonstrates the risk of choosing higher settings at this resolution.

The recommended settings across resolutions are therefore: Ultra at 1080p for maximum visual quality, High at 1440p as a balance between quality and performance, and Low at 4K as the only viable option. The data does not support any preset above Low at 4K, as the Medium preset's average of 51 FPS and minimum of 43 FPS fall clearly below the playable threshold.