Minecraft

How This Combo Ranks

This particular pairing of an AMD Ryzen 5 2600 with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 secures the 896th position out of 3,710 tested combinations in Minecraft. That places the combo in the top quarter of all tested systems, at roughly the 75.8th percentile. The ranking reflects a substantial asymmetry between the two components: the RTX 4090 sits in the 88th percentile among all GPUs, while the Ryzen 5 2600 ranks in the 75th percentile among all CPUs. The data shows that the final position in this game is heavily influenced by the older processor, which drags the overall combination down from where the graphics card alone would sit.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 21,484 places it in close company with several other processors. It trails the Intel Core Ultra 5 228V by a negligible 0.2 percent, sits 0.5 percent ahead of the Intel Core i9-11900H, and leads the AMD EPYC 9454 by 1.2 percent. These deltas are all within a couple of percentage points, indicating that the Ryzen 5 2600 delivers compute performance that is broadly comparable to a spread of modern and previous-generation parts. The fact that a 2018-era six-core processor can hang within 1.2 percent of an EPYC server chip in average benchmark score says more about the nature of the workloads tested than about any specific architectural triumph.

The GPU side tells a different story. The RTX 4090's average benchmark score of 60,347 is essentially tied with the Intel Arc Pro A60, which scores 60,326, a delta of zero percent. It also sits 0.3 percent above the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 and 2.5 percent behind the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M. These rival comparisons are dominated by workstation and professional parts, which underscores that the 4090's raw compute ceiling is not the limiting factor in this Minecraft pairing.

GPU Role

The RTX 4090 brings a massive memory and bandwidth configuration to this test. It features 24 GB of GDDR6X memory across a 384-bit bus, yielding 1.01 TB/s of memory bandwidth. This is paired with a base clock of 2235 MHz and a boost clock of 2520 MHz, with memory running at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). The sheer size of the memory pool is far beyond what Minecraft demands at any resolution tested, and the bandwidth is more than sufficient to feed the GPU's 16,384 shading units.

In the measured FPS data, the GPU's role becomes clear when comparing the Low and Ultra presets at each resolution. At 1080p, the difference between Low (420 FPS) and Ultra (296 FPS) is 124 FPS, a 29.5 percent drop. At 1440p, the gap between Low (360 FPS) and Ultra (223 FPS) is 137 FPS, a 38.1 percent drop. At 4K, the spread widens further: Low delivers 290 FPS while Ultra drops to 117 FPS, a 59.7 percent reduction. These widening gaps indicate that the GPU is being increasingly taxed as settings climb, though the absolute numbers remain high enough that the 4090 is never truly stressed.

The GPU's passmark G3D score of 38,194 and its passmark GPU compute score of 26,613 reflect its general compute capability. However, in Minecraft specifically, the 4090's advantage is muted by the fact that even the weakest preset at 4K clears 290 FPS. The data suggests that the graphics card is operating well within its comfort zone across all tested configurations, and the measured frame rates are more indicative of CPU-side limitations than GPU headroom.

FAQ

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations in Minecraft?

A: The combo ranks 896th out of 3,710 tested combinations, placing it in the top quarter of all systems tested.

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

A: The highest average FPS is 420, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: What is the lowest average FPS recorded?

A: The lowest average FPS is 117, recorded at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings.

Q: How much faster is the RTX 4090 than its nearest rival in average benchmark score?

A: The RTX 4090 scores 60,347, which is 0.3 percent higher than the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 and essentially tied with the Intel Arc Pro A60 at 0 percent delta.

Q: Does the Ryzen 5 2600 have a higher average benchmark score than the Intel Core i9-11900H?

A: Yes, the Ryzen 5 2600 scores 21,484, which is 0.5 percent higher than the Intel Core i9-11900H's 21,367.

Q: What memory configuration does the RTX 4090 use?

A: It uses 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus with 1.01 TB/s bandwidth.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers three resolutions and four settings presets, providing a full grid of twelve data points. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 420 FPS average, Medium drops to 386 FPS with a minimum of 328 FPS and a maximum of 444 FPS, High comes in at 356 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 296 FPS. The 1080p results show a spread of 124 FPS from the fastest to the slowest preset.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 360 FPS, Medium averages 331 FPS with a minimum of 282 FPS and a maximum of 381 FPS, High delivers 305 FPS, and Ultra settles at 223 FPS. The 1440p spread between Low and Ultra is 137 FPS, which is slightly wider than the 1080p spread.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset still manages 290 FPS average, Medium drops to 235 FPS with a minimum of 200 FPS and a maximum of 270 FPS, High falls to 187 FPS, and Ultra delivers 117 FPS. The 4K spread between Low and Ultra is 173 FPS, the largest of any resolution. The min and max data available for Medium settings across all resolutions shows consistent behavior: the 1080p Medium run varies between 328 and 444 FPS, the 1440p Medium run between 282 and 381 FPS, and the 4K Medium run between 200 and 270 FPSament. This indicates that frame pacing remains stable even when the GPU is handling more demanding settings.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance on which preset delivers the best experience. At every resolution, the Low preset produces the highest average FPS: 420 at 1080p, 360 at 1440p, and 290 at 4K. However, these numbers are so high that dropping to Low is unnecessary for playability. The data suggests that Medium settings offer the most balanced experience, as they retain high frame rates while presumably offering better visual quality than Low.

The Medium preset at 1080p averages 386 FPS, which is only 8.1 percent lower than Low. At 1440p, Medium averages 331 FPS, an 8.1 percent reduction from Low's 360 FPS. At 4K, Medium averages 235 FPS, a 19 percent drop from Low's 290 FPS. The minimum FPS values for Medium are 328 FPS at 1080p, 282 FPS at 1440p, and 200 FPS at 4K, all of which remain comfortably above typical display refresh rates.

The High preset is also viable, with 356 FPS at 1080p, 305 FPS at 1440p, and 187 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset delivers 296 FPS at 1080p, 223 FPS at 1440p, and 117 FPS at 4K. Given that even Ultra at 4K clears 100 FPS average, the data indicates that users can choose any preset based on visual preference without worrying about playability. However, the Medium preset at 1440p or 1080p appears to be the sweet spot, delivering high frame rates with a reasonable balance of visual fidelity.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 is a six-core, twelve-thread processor based on the Zen architecture, manufactured on a 12 nm process at GlobalFoundries. It has a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 3.90 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU features 96 KB of L1 cache per core, 512 KB of L2 cache per core, and 16 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with a bandwidth of 46.9 GB/s, and its PCIe Gen 3 interface provides 16 lanes from the CPU.

In CPU benchmarks, the Ryzen 5 2600 scores 1,248 in Cinebench R15 multicore and 157.3 in single-core. Geekbench results show 5,648 multicore and 1,154 single-core. Passmark scores include 13,160 for multithread, 2,239 for single-thread, 22,942 for floating point math, and 44,518 for integer math. The CPU's percentile ranking of 75 versus all CPUs indicates it sits above the median but well below top-tier processors.

The CPU's role in Minecraft is evident from the FPS scaling across resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 420 FPS, but this drops to 360 FPS at 1440p Low and 290 FPS at 4K Low. If the CPU were the sole bottleneck, the frame rates would remain flat across resolutions. The data shows a 30.9 percent drop from 1080p Low to 4K Low, which suggests that the GPU is also contributing to performance scaling. The Ryzen 5 2600's single-thread score of 2,239 in Passmark is modest by modern standards, and Minecraft's known reliance on single-thread performance likely keeps the CPU from pushing frame rates even higher.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals how the workload shifts between components. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 420 at 1080p to 360 at 1440p (a 14.3 percent drop) and then to 290 at 4K (a 19.4 percent drop from 1440p, 30.9 percent from 1080p). This relatively gentle decline across resolutions indicates that Low settings are not heavily GPU-bound, and the CPU is likely the primary limiter even at 4K.

At Medium settings, the scaling is steeper: 386 FPS at 1080p, 331 FPS at 1440p (a 14.2 percent drop), and 235 FPS at 4K (a 29 percent drop from 1440p, 39.1 percent from 1080p). The minimum FPS values follow a similar pattern: 328 at 1080p, 282 at 1440p, and 200 at 4K. This indicates that as settings increase, the GPU begins to take on a larger role, but the CPU still holds significant sway.

High settings show a more pronounced resolution penalty: 356 FPS at 1080p, 305 FPS at 1440p (a 14.3 percent drop), and 187 FPS at 4K (a 38.7 percent drop from 1440p, 47.5 percent from 1080p). Ultra settings exhibit the steepest scaling: 296 FPS at 1080p, 223 FPS at 1440p (a 24.7 percent drop), and 117 FPS at 4K (a 47.5 percent drop from 1440p, 60.5 percent from 1080p). The pattern is clear: higher settings make the GPU increasingly responsible for the frame rate, and the RTX 4090's capabilities at 4K Ultra are still sufficient to produce 117 FPS, but the CPU's limitations become more pronounced at lower settings and resolutions.

The data indicates that at 1080p, the Ryzen 5 2600 is the dominant limiting component, as the 4090 could otherwise push frame rates far higher. As resolution increases to 4K, the GPU load grows, and the balance shifts toward a more even split, though the CPU still constrains maximum performance at Low settings. This is a classic pairing of a high-end GPU with a mid-range older CPU, where the processor caps performance at lower resolutions and the GPU takes over at higher ones.