Minecraft: Java Edition

# Minecraft: Java Edition with Intel Core i5-9400 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER

This combo ranks 1,044th out of 1,727 tested configurations in Minecraft: Java Edition, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the benchmark database. The pairing of a six-core Coffee Lake processor with a Turing-generation GPU produces playable frame rates across most settings, though the ranking suggests that many newer combinations outperform it in this title. The Intel Core i5-9400 sits at the 50th percentile among all CPUs, while the RTX 2070 SUPER reaches the 65th percentile among all GPUs, indicating that the graphics card carries more relative weight in this matchup. The CPU's average benchmark score of 2,305 places it within 0.6% of the Intel Core i7-8809G, which scores 2,319, and within 0.4% of the Intel Xeon E-2134 at 2,295. The GPU's average score of 22,206 puts it 2.5% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 5700 (21,670) and 2.3% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile (22,729).

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's position at 1,044 of 1,727 represents roughly the 60th percentile of tested systems, meaning about 40% of configurations deliver higher frame rates in Minecraft: Java Edition. This is a modest standing for a CPU that itself ranks at the 50th percentile and a GPU at the 65th percentile. The data suggests that the bottleneck in this pairing is not the graphics card but rather the processor's single-threaded performance, which is critical for Minecraft's Java-based rendering engine. The i5-9400 achieves a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1,125 and a multi-core score of 7,969, numbers that indicate adequate but not exceptional per-thread capability. In contrast, the RTX 2070 SUPER's Passmark G3D score of 18,169 demonstrates substantial graphics throughput that the CPU cannot always feed at lower resolutions. The ranking reflects this imbalance: at 1080p the system pushes very high frame rates, but the CPU limits how far those numbers can climb, especially when compared to combinations with newer processors that exhibit stronger single-thread performance.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data reveals a clear sweet spot at Medium settings across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers 339 FPS, which is 19% higher than High's 272.8 FPS and only 88 FPS below Low's 427.1 FPS. The jump from Medium to High costs 66.2 FPS at 1080p, while the jump from Low to Medium costs 88.1 FPS, so Medium offers the best balance of visual quality and headroom. At 1440p, Medium produces 214.9 FPS, which remains far above the 144Hz refresh threshold common on modern monitors, while High drops to 167.4 FPS and Ultra falls to 105.7 FPS. At 4K, Medium maintains 114.8 FPS, which is still comfortably playable, whereas High drops to 86.5 FPS and Ultra falls to 56.8 FPS, the latter approaching the edge of smooth gameplay. For competitive play, Low at 1080p yields 427.1 FPS, but the visual degradation is substantial. The data indicates that Medium is the optimal preset for this combo, as it keeps frame rates above 100 FPS even at 4K while providing noticeably better visuals than Low.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals how the balance shifts between CPU and GPU load. At Low settings, the system drops from 427.1 FPS at 1080p to 272.9 FPS at 1440p, a reduction of 36%, and then to 142.7 FPS at 4K, a further drop of 48%. This steep decline at Low settings indicates that the GPU becomes increasingly stressed as resolution climbs, even though the CPU is the primary limiter at 1080p. At High settings, the drop from 1080p to 1440p is 38.6% (272.8 to 167.4 FPS), and from 1440p to 4K it is 48.3% (167.4 to 86.5 FPS), showing a consistent pattern. The Ultra preset tells a similar story: 170 FPS at 1080p falls to 105.7 FPS at 1440p, a 37.8% decrease, then to 56.8 FPS at 4K, a 46.3% further drop. The consistent ~38% reduction from 1080p to 1440p across all settings suggests that both CPU and GPU are being pushed harder, but the larger drop from 1440p to 4K (around 48%) reveals that the RTX 2070 SUPER's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 256-bit bus become the limiting factor at higher pixel counts. The GPU's memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s is sufficient for 1440p but struggles to maintain the same scaling efficiency at 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers exceptional performance across all presets. Low settings produce 427.1 FPS, which is nearly double the 214.9 FPS seen at Medium and 2.5 times the 170 FPS at Ultra. High settings achieve 272.8 FPS, still far beyond what most displays can show. The gap between Low and Medium is 88 FPS, while the gap between Medium and High is 66 FPS, and between High and Ultra it is 102.8 FPS. This non-linear scaling indicates that the CPU's six cores and six threads, running at a base clock of 2.90 GHz and boost of 4.10 GHz, are the primary constraint at this resolution, as the GPU has ample headroom.

At 2560x1440, performance remains strong but begins to show the GPU's influence. Low settings yield 272.9 FPS, Medium drops to 214.9 FPS, High to 167.4 FPS, and Ultra to 105.7 FPS. The reduction from Low to Medium is 58 FPS, from Medium to High is 47.5 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 61.7 FPS. These deltas are smaller than at 1080p, suggesting that the RTX 2070 SUPER is starting to carry more of the load, but the CPU still provides enough throughput to keep frame rates high.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. Low settings manage 142.7 FPS, Medium drops to 114.8 FPS, High to 86.5 FPS, and Ultra to 56.8 FPS. The scaling from 1440p to 4K at Low settings shows a 47.7% reduction, and at Ultra a 46.3% reduction, indicating that the GPU's pixel throughput of 113.3 GPixel/s and texture rate of 283.2 GTexel/s are being fully utilized. The 4K results are playable at Low and Medium, but High and Ultra fall below the 100 FPS threshold that many gamers prefer.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER, built on the TU104 chip with a 12 nm process, provides 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth. Its base clock of 1605 MHz and boost clock of 1770 MHz deliver 9.062 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, which is sufficient for Minecraft's relatively simple geometry but becomes more relevant at higher resolutions and with shader mods. The GPU's 2,560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output units are well-balanced for this title. The 40 RT cores and 320 tensor cores are present but largely unused in vanilla Minecraft, as the game does not employ ray tracing or DLSS by default. The GPU's Passmark G3D score of 18,169 places it at the 65th percentile, with the closest rival being the NVIDIA RTX A400 at 22,307 (0.5% higher) and the GTX TITAN Z at 22,006 (0.9% lower). The measured frame rates show that at 1080p, the GPU is rarely the limiting factor, as even Ultra settings exceed 170 FPS. However, at 4K, the GPU's memory bandwidth and pixel rate become decisive, with the 448.0 GB/s bandwidth proving adequate for Medium settings at 114.8 FPS but insufficient for Ultra at 56.8 FPS. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is not a constraint in this game, as Minecraft's textures are modest, but the GPU's compute capabilities ensure that even heavily modded instances run smoothly at lower resolutions. The launch MSRP of 499 USD positions this card as a mid-range option that, when paired with the i5-9400, delivers a balanced experience that favors high refresh rates at 1080p and 1440p over maximum visual fidelity at 4K.