Minecraft: Java Edition

This is a straightforward case of massive hardware overkill. The Intel Core i5-9400 is a 6-core, 6-thread Coffee Lake processor, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is a 16 GB Ada Lovelace GPU. Together, they produce frame rates in Minecraft: Java Edition that are so high that the game's engine, not the hardware, becomes the limiting factor. The recorded data shows a combination that clears the 60 FPS playability threshold at every resolution and every preset tested, with the lowest recorded average still nearly 100 FPS. The analysis below breaks down the optimal settings, compares this pairing to nearby hardware in the database, and examines which component is doing the heavy lifting.

Best Settings per Resolution

The database's playable threshold is 60 FPS, and this combination exceeds that target with significant headroom at all three tested resolutions. The most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is, in every case, the Ultra preset. The data does not show a scenario where this combo fails to hit 60 FPS, so the "best" setting is defined by the highest visual quality option available in the test suite.

At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers an average of 295.6 FPS. This is the most demanding setting at the most common resolution, and the result is nearly five times the playable threshold. The High preset scores 384.5 FPS, Medium scores 417.6 FPS, and Low scores 452.8 FPS. Since even the Ultra preset leaves so much performance on the table, there is no reason to drop below it at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset again is the best choice, with an average of 186.8 FPS. This is a substantial drop from the 1080p result, but it is still more than three times the 60 FPS threshold. The High preset runs at 299.4 FPS, Medium at 360 FPS, and Low at 389.6 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is steep, roughly a 37% reduction in frame rate for the Ultra preset, but the absolute numbers remain far beyond playable.

At 3840x2160, 4K is where the GPU starts to feel some pressure, but the Ultra preset still holds at 97.5 FPS. This is the lowest average FPS recorded for this combination across all resolutions and settings, and it remains comfortably above 60 FPS. The High preset at 4K runs at 156.9 FPS, Medium at 198.9 FPS, and Low at 247.2 FPS. The recommendation is unambiguous: run Ultra at every resolution, because the hardware has the headroom to do so without dipping below the playable threshold.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The database places this CPU and GPU in specific performance tiers based on their average benchmark scores. For the Intel Core i5-9400, the nearest rivals are all within a fraction of a percent in average score. The Intel Core i7-1068NG7 scores 2259, a delta of -0.2% relative to the i5-9400's 2254 average. The Intel Core i7-10710U scores 2248, a 0.3% difference. The AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 scores 2246, a 0.4% difference. The Intel Core i3-10305 scores 2264, a -0.4% difference. In practical terms, any of these CPUs would produce nearly identical frame rates in Minecraft: Java Edition, because the game's performance is not primarily bound by CPU throughput at these settings.

For the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER, the nearest rivals in the database are a more eclectic group. The NVIDIA Quadro M5000 scores 31206, a delta of -0.4% from the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER's 31087 average. The NVIDIA GRID M60-1Q scores 31220, also -0.4%. The NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell scores 31532, a -1.4% difference. The NVIDIA TITAN RTX scores 31676, a -1.9% difference. These deltas are all under 2%, meaning that in a game like Minecraft: Java Edition, swapping in any of these GPUs would yield frame rates within a few percent of each other. The TITAN RTX and RTX PRO 4500 are technically slightly faster on average, but the measured FPS data for this specific game shows that the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is already delivering far more performance than the engine can fully utilize at lower resolutions.

The practical takeaway is that this CPU and GPU pairing sits in a performance band where the nearest alternatives would behave almost identically. The CPU rivals are all 6-core or 8-core parts with similar IPC, and the GPU rivals all have comparable rasterization throughput. In Minecraft: Java Edition, where the frame rate at 1080p exceeds 450 FPS on Low settings, the differences between these components would be imperceptible.

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run Minecraft: Java Edition at 4K Ultra?

A: Yes. The measured data shows an average of 97.5 FPS at 3840x2160 with the Ultra preset, which is above the 60 FPS playable threshold.

Q: What is the highest FPS recorded for this combination?

A: The highest average FPS in the database is 452.8 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low preset. The High preset at 1080p records 384.5 FPS, Medium at 417.6 FPS, and Ultra at 295.6 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the frame rates are so high that the game engine is likely the limiting factor. The GPU is capable of far more than 452.8 FPS, and the CPU's single-thread performance, while adequate, cannot push the frame rate higher in this engine.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K?

A: For the Ultra preset, the average FPS drops from 295.6 at 1920x1080 to 97.5 at 3840x2160. That is a 67% reduction in frame rate. The Low preset drops from 452.8 to 247.2, a 45% reduction.

Q: Does the Ultra preset ever dip below 60 FPS?

A: No. The lowest recorded average for the Ultra preset is 97.5 FPS at 3840x2160. All other resolutions and presets are higher.

Q: Is this combination overkill for this game?

A: The data suggests yes. At 1080p, even the Ultra preset runs at 295.6 FPS, which is far beyond what most displays can show. The 4K Ultra result of 97.5 FPS is the only setting that approaches a typical high-refresh-rate monitor's limits.

The Verdict

This PC can run Minecraft: Java Edition at every resolution and preset combination recorded in the database, and it does so with enormous headroom above the 60 FPS playable threshold. The verdict by resolution is unambiguous: at 3840x2160, the playable settings include High, Low, Medium, and Ultra, with the best settings being Ultra at 97.5 FPS. At 2560x1440, all four presets are playable, and Ultra runs at 186.8 FPS. At 1920x1080, all four presets are playable, and Ultra runs at 295.6 FPS.

There is no scenario in the measured data where this combination fails to hit 60 FPS. The lowest average frame rate recorded is 97.5 FPS at 4K Ultra, which is still 37.5 FPS above the playable threshold. The highest recorded average is 452.8 FPS at 1080p Low, which is more than seven times the threshold. The only caveat is that Minecraft: Java Edition is known for frame rate spikes and chunk loading stutters that are not captured in average FPS data, but the raw averages are so high that even a 50% worst-case drop would still leave most settings above 60 FPS.

The Ultra preset is the recommended setting at all resolutions. The game is visually simple, but the Ultra preset includes additional rendering features that are worth enabling given the available performance. There is no reason to reduce settings for performance reasons with this hardware.

CPU and GPU Roles

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern: the GPU becomes more important as resolution increases, while the CPU's role stays relatively constant. At 1920x1080, the difference between Low and Ultra is significant, but both are extremely high. The Low preset runs at 452.8 FPS, and Ultra runs at 295.6 FPS. This 34% reduction in frame rate when moving from Low to Ultra suggests that the GPU is doing more work at Ultra, but the CPU is still able to feed it without becoming a bottleneck.

At 2560x1440, the gap between Low and Ultra widens to 48% (389.6 FPS down to 186.8 FPS). This is a larger proportional drop than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is now the primary driver of performance differences. The CPU's 6 cores and 6 threads are sufficient to maintain high frame rates, but the GPU's workload at 1440p Ultra is substantially higher than at 1080p Ultra.

At 3840x2160, the Low-to-Ultra gap is 61% (247.2 FPS down to 97.5 FPS). This is the clearest evidence that the GPU is the dominant factor at 4K. The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER's 44.10 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 672.3 GB/s of memory bandwidth are being taxed by the higher pixel count, while the CPU's workload remains largely unchanged. The i5-9400's single-core score of 935 in Cinebench R23 is modest by modern standards, but Minecraft: Java Edition's Java-based engine does not scale well with multi-core processors, so the 6-core count is less important than the per-core performance.

The scaling between resolutions confirms this split. Moving from 1080p to 1440p at Ultra reduces FPS by 37%, and moving from 1440p to 4K at Ultra reduces FPS by 48%. These are GPU-bound scaling patterns. The CPU's role is to maintain a minimum frame rate floor, and the data shows that the i5-9400 is capable of sustaining over 450 FPS at 1080p Low, which is well above what the GPU needs at that resolution. At 4K, the CPU is not the limiting factor, as the GPU is clearly the component that determines the final frame rate.

How This Combo Ranks

The database ranks this specific CPU and GPU combination against all other tested combos for Minecraft: Java Edition. The Intel Core i5-9400 plus NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER sits at rank 458 out of 1727 tested combinations. This places it in the top 26.5% of all tested systems for this game.

The rank is somewhat surprising given the raw performance of the GPU. The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER has a percentile of 76 against all GPUs, meaning it is faster than 76% of the GPUs in the database. The CPU, however, has a percentile of 47 against all CPUs, meaning it is slower than 53% of the CPUs in the database. The combination's rank of 458 out of 1727 reflects this mixed profile: the GPU is strong, but the CPU drags the overall rank down because Minecraft: Java Edition is a game that benefits from higher single-threaded CPU performance.

The measured FPS data suggests that the rank is not due to poor performance in this specific game, because the frame rates are all exceptionally high. Instead, the rank likely reflects that many other combos in the database pair the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER (or similar GPUs) with faster CPUs, and those combos achieve even higher frame rates at 1080p and 1440p. At 4K Ultra, the 97.5 FPS result is likely close to what many higher-ranked combos achieve, because the GPU becomes the bottleneck at that resolution. The rank of 458 confirms the GPU's strength, but it also shows that the i5-9400 is the weaker link in this pairing, especially at lower resolutions where CPU headroom matters for pushing frame rates into the 300-450 FPS range.