Minecraft: Java Edition

Measured FPS Breakdown

The recorded data for Minecraft: Java Edition with the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 covers three resolutions and four quality presets. The measured values are average FPS only; no minimum or maximum frame data was captured in this run.

At 1920x1080, the combination delivers its highest raw throughput. The Low preset produces 455.3 FPS average, which is the single fastest result across the entire test matrix. Moving up the preset ladder, Medium reaches 416.9 FPS, High drops to 384.2 FPS, and Ultra settles at 319.7 FPS. The gap from Low to Ultra is 135.6 FPS, a 29.8% reduction from the Low result, which shows that the Ultra preset still leaves substantial headroom.

At 2560x1440, the same pattern holds but with lower absolute values. Low averages 389.6 FPS, Medium 361.5 FPS, High 332.2 FPS, and Ultra 232.8 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra here is 156.8 FPS, meaning Ultra costs roughly 40% of the Low preset's performance. The step from High to Ultra is particularly steep: a drop of 99.4 FPS, or about 29.9% relative to High.

At 3840x2160, the results compress further. Low averages 310.2 FPS, Medium 241.6 FPS, High 191.6 FPS, and Ultra 120 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K is the only measured configuration that falls below 191.6 FPS, and it represents exactly half of the Low preset's average at the same resolution. The scaling from 1080p Low to 4K Ultra is stark: 455.3 FPS down to 120 FPS, a reduction of 335.3 FPS.

Across all resolutions, the setting that shows the most sensitivity to resolution scaling is Ultra. At 1080p Ultra the system records 319.7 FPS, at 1440p Ultra it records 232.8 FPS, and at 4K Ultra it records 120 FPS. Low, by contrast, scales from 455.3 FPS at 1080p to 389.6 FPS at 1440p and 310.2 FPS at 4K. The relative penalty for moving from 1080p to 4K is smaller on Low (31.9% loss) than on Ultra (62.5% loss).

CPU and GPU Roles

The data suggests that the RTX 5090 is the dominant component in this pairing for most tested configurations, but the CPU still imposes a visible ceiling at lower resolutions and lighter presets. At 1080p Low, the system records 455.3 FPS. At 1440p Low, it records 389.6 FPS. At 4K Low, it records 310.2 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 65.7 FPS, and from 1440p to 4K is 79.4 FPS. If the GPU were the only limiting factor, the scaling would be more proportional to pixel count; the fact that 1080p Low does not exceed 455.3 FPS suggests the i5-9400's six threads are holding back the GPU in lighter scenes.

At 1080p Medium, the average is 416.9 FPS, which is only 38.4 FPS below the Low result at the same resolution. At 1440p Medium, the average is 361.5 FPS, and at 4K Medium it is 241.6 FPS. The Medium preset appears to add enough work to shift the balance slightly toward the GPU, but the CPU still keeps the 1080p number from climbing much higher.

At High settings, the CPU bottleneck becomes less obvious. 1080p High averages 384.2 FPS, 1440p High averages 332.2 FPS, and 4K High averages 191.6 FPS. The 4K High result is substantially lower than the 1440p High result, a drop of 140.6 FPS, which indicates that the GPU is now the primary constraint. The RTX 5090's raw compute is still sufficient for very high frame rates, but the pixel load at 4K High finally starts to dominate.

At Ultra, the GPU role is unambiguous. 1080p Ultra averages 319.7 FPS, 1440p Ultra averages 232.8 FPS, and 4K Ultra averages 120 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is a 27.2% reduction, and from 1440p to 4K is a 48.5% reduction. These percentages align closely with the increase in rendered pixels, confirming that Ultra settings at 4K are fully GPU-bound. The CPU's contribution in this pairing is most visible at 1080p Low and Medium, where the i5-9400's six cores and six threads cap the frame rate below what the GPU alone could deliver.

Best Settings per Resolution

The playable threshold for this database is 60 FPS. Every recorded configuration clears that mark by a wide margin.

At 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Ultra. The recorded average at 1080p Ultra is 319.7 FPS. That is 259.7 FPS above the threshold, so there is no reason to lower settings at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the best settings are also Ultra. The recorded average at 1440p Ultra is 232.8 FPS. This remains 172.8 FPS above the playable threshold. Even the heaviest preset at this resolution leaves enormous headroom.

At 3840x2160, the best settings are Ultra as well. The recorded average at 4K Ultra is 120 FPS. This is exactly double the 60 FPS threshold, so the system can run the game at maximum quality and still maintain a comfortable margin. No preset in the measured set falls below 120 FPS, which means every combination of resolution and settings in this test is playable.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The nearest rivals for the Intel Core i5-9400, based on average benchmark score, are all within 0.4% of its result. The i5-9400 scores 2254 on the database's aggregate benchmark. The Intel Core i7-1068NG7 scores 2259, a delta of -0.2% relative to the i5-9400, meaning it is effectively identical. The Intel Core i7-10710U scores 2248, a delta of 0.3%, meaning the i5-9400 is marginally faster. The AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 scores 2246, a delta of 0.4%, also effectively tied. The Intel Core i3-10305 scores 2264, a delta of -0.4%, placing it just slightly ahead. In Minecraft: Java Edition, where the CPU is the limiting factor at 1080p Low and Medium, any of these processors would deliver nearly identical frame rates to the i5-9400 when paired with the same GPU.

The nearest rivals for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 are further apart in absolute score but still close in percentage terms. The RTX 5090's average benchmark score is 79842. The NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB scores 79605, a delta of 0.3%, meaning the RTX 5090 is only slightly faster. The NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB scores 79396, a delta of 0.6%. The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT scores 78940, a delta of 1.1%. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X scores 80959, a delta of -1.4%, meaning it is slightly ahead of the RTX 5090 in this aggregate metric. For a game like Minecraft: Java Edition, the differences among these GPUs would be most visible at 4K Ultra, where the GPU becomes the primary constraint. At 1080p Low, swapping the RTX 5090 for any of these rivals would likely produce nearly the same CPU-limited frame rates.

FAQ

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

A: Yes. The measured average FPS at 3840x2160 Ultra is 120 FPS, exactly double the 60 FPS playable threshold.

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

A: The highest recorded average is 455.3 FPS at 1920x1080 with the Low preset.

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

A: The average drops from 319.7 FPS at 1080p Ultra to 120 FPS at 4K Ultra, a reduction of 199.7 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more important at 1080p Low?

A: At 1080p Low, the CPU is the limiting factor. The recorded average is 455.3 FPS, and the relatively small scaling from 1080p to 1440p (a drop of 65.7 FPS) indicates the GPU is not fully utilized at this setting.

Q: Which preset shows the largest drop from 1440p to 4K?

A: The High preset shows the largest absolute drop: from 332.2 FPS at 1440p to 191.6 FPS at 4K, a reduction of 140.6 FPS.

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

A: It ranks 336th out of 1727 tested combos, placing it in the top portion of the database.

How This Combo Ranks

The database ranks this combination at 336 out of 1727 tested combos for Minecraft: Java Edition. That places it in the 80.5th percentile of all recorded systems, meaning roughly 19.5% of tested combos rank higher. Given that the RTX 5090 sits at the 92nd percentile among all GPUs and the i5-9400 sits at the 47th percentile among all CPUs, the overall rank reflects the GPU's strength more than the CPU's. The i5-9400 is a mid-range processor from 2018, and its six cores and six threads are modest by current standards. However, Minecraft: Java Edition's rendering workload scales heavily with GPU power at higher resolutions and presets, which allows this pairing to reach a high overall position despite the older CPU.

The rank also indicates that many other tested combos deliver higher frame rates in this game. Those combos likely pair stronger CPUs with GPUs of similar or greater capability. For a game that is heavily CPU-bound at low resolutions, the i5-9400's 47th percentile CPU score is the main factor holding the system back from a top-100 placement. The GPU's 92nd percentile score is not enough to compensate fully at 1080p Low, where the CPU ceiling is most pronounced.

The Verdict

This system can run Minecraft: Java Edition at every resolution and preset included in the measured data. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset averages 319.7 FPS, which is 259.7 FPS above the playable threshold. At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset averages 232.8 FPS, which is 172.8 FPS above the threshold. At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset averages 120 FPS, which is exactly double the threshold. The verdict by resolution lists all four presets as playable at all three resolutions. There is no configuration in the recorded data that fails to reach 60 FPS.

The practical takeaway is that the user can enable the highest quality preset at any tested resolution without concern. The only scenario where the older i5-9400 becomes a noticeable limiting factor is 1080p Low, where the frame rate is capped around 455.3 FPS. That is far beyond what any standard display can show, so it has no real-world downside. For competitive play at high refresh rates, the 1440p Low result of 389.6 FPS and the 1080p Medium result of 416.9 FPS both provide ample headroom. For visual quality, the 4K Ultra result of 120 FPS is the most demanding configuration tested and still clears the threshold by a wide margin.