Minecraft: Java Edition

FAQ

Q: Can the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER maintain 60 FPS at 4K in Minecraft: Java Edition?

A: Yes. The recorded data shows playable settings at 3840x2160 include High, Medium, and Low. The most demanding playable preset is High, averaging 65 FPS.

Q: What is the highest preset that stays above 60 FPS at 1440p?

A: Ultra is playable at 2560x1440, averaging 72.6 FPS. This is the most demanding preset that clears the 60 FPS threshold at this resolution.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested system combinations for this game?

A: The database places this pairing at rank 1508 out of 1727 tested combinations, meaning it sits in the lower portion of the overall distribution while still delivering playable frame rates at all three resolutions.

Q: Which component is more important for Minecraft: Java Edition performance?

A: The data implies the CPU dominates. At 1080p, dropping from Ultra to Low raises the average from 116.8 FPS to 301.6 FPS, a massive jump. At 4K, the same preset change moves from 39.2 FPS to 100.2 FPS, showing the GPU becomes more relevant at higher resolutions but the CPU still anchors low-settings performance.

Q: Is the GTX 1660 SUPER close to any other GPUs in general benchmark performance?

A: The nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile (0.4% higher average score), followed by the AMD Radeon RX 580 (0.4% higher). The NVIDIA Tesla M2090 is 0.7% lower, and the AMD Radeon 740M is 0.9% higher. These deltas are small enough that game-specific results should be nearly indistinguishable.

Q: What is the best 1080p experience this combo can deliver?

A: Ultra settings at 1920x1080 average 116.8 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS playability threshold. This is the highest preset available in the measurements and it remains comfortably smooth.

Best Settings per Resolution

The most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS average is as follows:

• 3840x2160: High, averaging 65 FPS. The Ultra preset drops to 39.2 FPS, so High is the ceiling at 4K.
• 2560x1440: Ultra, averaging 72.6 FPS. All four presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) clear 60 FPS at this resolution.
• 1920x1080: Ultra, averaging 116.8 FPS. Every preset is playable, with Low reaching 301.6 FPS.

The pattern is clear: at 4K, the GPU becomes the limiting factor for the highest quality tier, whereas at 1440p and 1080p, the combo has enough headroom to run the top preset without issue.

How This Combo Ranks

With a combo rank of 1508 out of 1727 tested combinations, this system sits at roughly the 87th percentile from the bottom. In other words, about 87% of tested combos deliver higher frame rates in Minecraft: Java Edition. However, rank alone does not tell the whole story. The measured FPS data shows that this pairing still achieves playable performance at every resolution, even at 4K with High settings. The rank reflects the broad field of competitive hardware, many of which include far more expensive CPUs and GPUs. For a mid-range pairing from 2019, the recorded results indicate a system that comfortably handles the game without resorting to low presets at 1080p or 1440p, and only at 4K does the Ultra preset fall below the threshold.

The CPU's percentile versus all CPUs is 71, meaning it outperforms 71% of processors in the database. The GPU's percentile versus all GPUs is 53, placing it just above the median. This combination of a stronger-than-average CPU and an average GPU explains why the system handles high frame rates at lower resolutions, where CPU physics and world generation dominate, but struggles at 4K Ultra, where GPU fill rate and shading become critical.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Looking at the nearest rivals for both components helps identify what other hardware would behave similarly in this game.

CPU alternatives: The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 has an average benchmark score of 17035. The closest rivals are the Intel Core i5-11400 (average score 17067, 0.2% higher), the AMD EPYC 7573X (17070, 0.2% higher), the Intel Core i7-1260P (17007, 0.2% lower), and the AMD EPYC 7742 (16998, 0.2% lower). These deltas are negligible, so any of these processors would produce nearly identical CPU-bound frame rates in Minecraft. The i5-11400 is a particularly practical alternative for gaming, given its similar performance and desktop orientation.

GPU alternatives: The GTX 1660 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 12986. The nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile (12940, 0.4% lower), the AMD Radeon RX 580 (12928, 0.4% lower), the NVIDIA Tesla M2090 (13075, 0.7% higher), and the AMD Radeon 740M (12870, 0.9% lower). The RX 580 is a direct desktop competitor from AMD and would deliver essentially the same frame rates in GPU-bound scenarios, such as 4K Ultra. The RTX 3050 Ti Mobile is a laptop part, so thermal and power constraints might alter real-world results, but its raw score is nearly identical.

In practical terms, swapping the Ryzen 5 3600 for an i5-11400 or the GTX 1660 SUPER for an RX 580 would produce a system with almost indistinguishable performance in Minecraft: Java Edition. The EPYC parts are server CPUs and are not relevant for gaming builds, but their inclusion in the rival list shows how close the Ryzen 5 3600's synthetic scores are to a wide range of processors.

CPU and GPU Roles

The scaling between resolutions and presets reveals which component matters more at each stage.

At 1920x1080, the CPU is clearly the dominant factor. The frame rate swings from 116.8 FPS at Ultra to 301.6 FPS at Low, a difference of 184.8 FPS. Such a large jump indicates that the GPU is not the bottleneck at lower settings; the CPU's single-thread performance, which drives Minecraft's physics and entity updates, limits the ceiling. The Ryzen 5 3600's single-core benchmark scores (696 in 3dmark single thread, 2562 in passmark single thread) are solid but not exceptional, which aligns with this behavior.

At 2560x1440, the GPU begins to exert more influence, but the CPU still leads. Ultra averages 72.6 FPS, while Low averages 191 FPS. The gap between presets is still large, but the absolute numbers drop across the board compared to 1080p. This is consistent with the GPU handling more pixel work, yet the CPU remaining the primary constraint for high refresh rates.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the limiting factor. Ultra drops to 39.2 FPS, while High sits at 65 FPS. The difference between Low (100.2 FPS) and High (65 FPS) is 35.2 FPS, and the gap between High and Ultra is 25.8 FPS. This steep falloff at the highest preset indicates that the GTX 1660 SUPER's 6 GB of GDDR6 memory and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for 4K Ultra in this game. The GPU's pixel rate of 85.68 GPixel/s and texture rate of 157.1 GTexel/s are simply not enough for the highest quality tier at this resolution.

The data suggests that for players targeting 1080p or 1440p, the CPU upgrade path matters more. For 4K, the GPU is the bottleneck, and swapping to a faster graphics card would yield larger gains than any CPU change. The CPU's 12 threads and 32 MB of L3 cache help with world generation and modded gameplay, but the GPU's 1408 shading units cap the Ultra preset at 4K.

The Verdict

The recorded verdict by resolution is unambiguous:

• 3840x2160: Playable at High (65 FPS), Medium (78.4 FPS), and Low (100.2 FPS). Ultra is not playable at 39.2 FPS.
• 2560x1440: Playable at all four presets, with Ultra averaging 72.6 FPS.
• 1920x1080: Playable at all four presets, with Ultra averaging 116.8 FPS.

This system can run Minecraft: Java Edition. At 1080p and 1440p, it handles the most demanding preset with room to spare. At 4K, it requires dropping from Ultra to High, but the frame rate remains above 60 FPS. The combo is not a top-tier performer, evidenced by its rank of 1508 out of 1727, but it delivers a smooth experience across all tested resolutions when the settings are chosen appropriately.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following table lists the exact average frame rates recorded for each resolution and preset combination. Minimum and maximum FPS values were not captured in the database.

| Resolution | Settings | Average FPS |

|------------|----------|-------------|

| 3840x2160 | High | 65.0 |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 100.2 |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 78.4 |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 39.2 |

| 2560x1440 | High | 118.3 |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 191.0 |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 152.4 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 72.6 |

| 1920x1080 | High | 187.4 |

| 1920x1080 | Low | 301.6 |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 240.1 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 116.8 |

The 1080p results are particularly striking. Low settings exceed 300 FPS, which is far beyond the refresh rate of most monitors. Medium and High both clear 180 FPS, and Ultra remains above 100 FPS. At 1440p, the same pattern holds, with Low reaching 191 FPS and Ultra staying above 70 FPS. The 4K results are more modest, but High still delivers 65 FPS, which meets the playability threshold.

The scaling from 1080p to 1440p to 4K shows a consistent drop for every preset. For example, High goes from 187.4 FPS at 1080p to 118.3 FPS at 1440p to 65 FPS at 4K. This represents a 37% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a further 45% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The GPU's memory bandwidth and shading throughput are the likely causes of this degradation, as the CPU's workload does not change with resolution. The data confirms that this combo is well-suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, and it can handle 4K with a modest settings adjustment.