Minecraft

Minecraft with the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER produces a fascinating dataset that reveals a game heavily influenced by both CPU and GPU dynamics depending on the resolution. The measured frames per second (FPS) across three resolutions and four settings presets show a clear pattern of performance scaling that underscores the unique demands of this sandbox title. This analysis breaks down the measured results, interprets what they mean for the hardware combination, and answers key questions about the experience.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a dramatic and consistent drop in performance as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160, which strongly indicates a shift in the primary bottleneck. At 1920x1080, the average FPS across all settings is remarkably high, reaching 429 FPS on Low settings. This suggests that at this resolution, the CPU—with its 8 cores, 16 threads, and 96 MB of L3 cache—is doing the heavy lifting to feed frames to the GPU, which is not yet saturated. The delta between 1080p and 1440p is significant: at High settings, the average FPS drops from 270 to 170, a reduction of 100 FPS. This steep decline points to the GPU beginning to take on more responsibility as pixel count increases, but the CPU still has enough headroom to keep frame times low.

Moving from 2560x1440 to 3840x2160 reveals an even more pronounced scaling effect, confirming the GPU becomes the limiting factor. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 170 at 1440p to 89 at 4K, a 47.6% drop. This halving of performance as pixel count doubles is a textbook example of GPU-bound scaling. The RTX 2070 SUPER, with its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, is being pushed harder at 4K, and the data suggests it is struggling to maintain the high frame rates seen at lower resolutions. The Ultra preset tells a similar story, with 4K averaging just 56 FPS compared to 106 FPS at 1440p, indicating that the GPU’s fixed computational resources—its 2560 shading units and 64 ROPs—are fully taxed. Interestingly, the 1080p to 4K scaling for Ultra is less severe in percentage terms (169 to 56 FPS, a 66.9% drop) compared to High (270 to 89 FPS, a 67% drop), but the absolute numbers highlight that even the most demanding preset cannot escape the GPU limitation at 4K.

The data implies that this combo is most balanced at 2560x1440, where the CPU and GPU work in better harmony. At 1080p, the CPU’s power is arguably wasted, as the GPU cannot keep up with the frame generation potential. At 4K, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck, and the CPU’s high single-thread performance—evidenced by a 3dmark_single_thread score of 1212—can no longer compensate. The measured FPS for Medium settings shows this trend clearly: 340 FPS at 1080p, 214 FPS at 1440p, and 112 FPS at 4K, with minimum FPS figures of 289, 182, and 95 respectively, showing that even the lows scale proportionally with resolution.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the best experience depends heavily on the target resolution, but the Medium preset emerges as the most balanced choice overall. At 3840x2160, Medium delivers an average of 112 FPS with a minimum of 95 FPS, which is the only 4K preset that maintains an average above the 100 FPS threshold. High at 4K drops to 89 FPS, which is still playable but represents a 20.5% performance decrease from Medium, while Ultra plummets to 56 FPS, which is likely too low for smooth gameplay. The data suggests that at 4K, Medium is the sweet spot, offering a substantial improvement over High (112 vs 89 FPS) without the severe penalty of Ultra.

At 2560x1440, the choices are more forgiving. Medium averages 214 FPS, which is excellent, but High at 170 FPS is also very playable and likely offers better visual fidelity. The jump from High to Ultra at 1440p is stark, with average FPS dropping from 170 to 106, a 37.6% reduction, which suggests Ultra’s additional effects are too demanding for the RTX 2070 SUPER at this resolution. For 1920x1080, the data shows that even Ultra achieves 169 FPS, which is well above the refresh rate of most monitors. However, Low at 429 FPS and Medium at 340 FPS are so high that they are likely unnecessary unless chasing maximum frame times for competitive play. The measured minimum for Medium at 1080p is 289 FPS, which is still exceptionally smooth.

The data indicates that Ultra is never the optimal choice for this combo, as it consistently reduces average FPS by roughly 40-50% compared to High across all resolutions. For most users, High at 1080p or 1440p provides the best balance of visual quality and performance, while Medium is the recommended fallback for 4K. The Low preset, while delivering the highest FPS (141 at 4K, 271 at 1440p, and 429 at 1080p), likely sacrifices too much visual quality for the modest gains over Medium at lower resolutions, though at 4K it could be a viable option for those prioritizing frame rate above all else.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER plays a critical role in this combo, with its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 256-bit bus width providing a 448.0 GB/s bandwidth that is sufficient for Minecraft’s textures but becomes a limiting factor at higher resolutions. The GPU’s base clock of 1605 MHz and boost clock of 1770 MHz are relatively modest by modern standards, and the measured FPS reflects this. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS of 56 suggests the GPU is fully saturated, with the 40 RT cores and 320 tensor cores adding overhead that does not benefit this non-ray-traced title. The GPU’s 12 nm Turing architecture, with 13,600 million transistors, is being pushed to its limits at 4K, as the data shows a clear wall where additional pixel count drastically reduces performance.

The GPU’s benchmark scores provide context for its performance. Its passmark_g3d score of 18169 and 3dmark_steel_nomad_dx12 score of 1651 place it in the 65th percentile of all GPUs, indicating it is a mid-range performer. Its nearest rivals, including the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M and Intel Arc B570, show it is competitive but not exceptional. The data suggests that the GPU’s 8 GB VRAM is not exhausted in Minecraft, as the game is not VRAM-heavy, but the computational limits of the 2560 shading units and 64 ROPs are what cap performance. The fp32 throughput of 9.062 TFLOPS is the key metric, and it is insufficient for maintaining high frame rates at 4K Ultra, where the average drops to 56 FPS. The GPU’s memory clock of 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) is adequate, but the bandwidth is not the bottleneck; rather, it is the raw compute power that limits 4K performance.

The RTX 2070 SUPER’s 65th percentile ranking versus all GPUs highlights that it is a capable card, but this combo’s 4K results show it is not a 4K powerhouse. The measured FPS at 4K High (89 FPS) and 4K Medium (112 FPS) are respectable, but they indicate that the GPU is the primary constraint at this resolution. In contrast, at 1080p and 1440p, the GPU has more headroom, and the data shows that it can keep up with the CPU’s frame generation until about 1440p High, after which it begins to bottleneck. The GPU’s 215 W TDP and dual-slot design are typical for its class, but the performance ceiling is clear.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU-GPU combo in Minecraft?

A: Based on the measured FPS, 2560x1440 offers the best balance, with High settings averaging 170 FPS and Medium averaging 214 FPS. At 1920x1080, the CPU is underutilized, while at 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the bottleneck, with Ultra dropping to 56 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 2070 SUPER compare to its nearest rivals in benchmark scores?

A: The GPU’s average benchmark score is 20282, placing it in the 65th percentile. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M, scores 20480, which is 1% higher, while the Intel Arc B570 is 1.3% higher and the Intel Arc A750 is 1.5% higher. The RTX 3070 Mobile is 1.2% higher.

Q: Does the CPU’s 96 MB of L3 cache make a difference in Minecraft’s performance?

A: The data shows exceptionally high FPS at 1080p, with Low averaging 429 FPS, which suggests the CPU’s cache and single-thread performance (3dmark_single_thread score of 1212) are beneficial. However, the exact causal link is not directly measured, but the high frame rates indicate the CPU is not a bottleneck at this resolution.

Q: What is the recommended settings preset for a 60 FPS target at 4K?

A: The Ultra preset averages 56 FPS at 4K, which is below 60 FPS. High averages 89 FPS, and Medium averages 112 FPS, so both High and Medium can comfortably exceed a 60 FPS target at 4K, with Medium providing the highest headroom.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested combos?

A: The combo ranks 2136 out of 3710 tested combos, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database. This ranking reflects that while the CPU is powerful, the GPU is a mid-range part that limits the overall combination.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, the CPU is likely the limiting factor, as the GPU is not fully saturated. The average FPS of 429 on Low suggests the CPU’s frame generation is the ceiling, as the GPU could theoretically render more frames if the CPU could feed them faster.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D and RTX 2070 SUPER combo ranks 2136 out of 3710 tested combos, placing it in the 57.6th percentile of all combinations. This ranking is influenced heavily by the GPU’s mid-range status, as the CPU is a top-tier part. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 39768 places it in the 87th percentile of all CPUs, with nearest rivals like the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 (score 40081, 0.8% higher) and AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 (score 40048, 0.7% higher) showing it is competitive. In contrast, the GPU’s 65th percentile ranking drags the overall combo down.

The data implies that this combo is not optimized for maximum performance, as the CPU is capable of much higher frame rates than the GPU can deliver at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the combo’s performance is CPU-bound, and the ranking reflects that the GPU is the weak link. The combo’s rank of 2136 suggests that many other combinations with stronger GPUs outperform it, even if they have weaker CPUs. For example, a combo with a weaker CPU but a top-tier GPU would likely rank higher in Minecraft, as the game is not heavily multi-threaded and benefits more from GPU compute at higher resolutions. The CPU’s 8 cores and 16 threads are more than sufficient for Minecraft, but the GPU’s 9.062 TFLOPS of fp32 performance is the limiting factor in this pairing. The ranking also indicates that this is a mid-pack performer, not a top-tier combo, which aligns with the GPU’s 65th percentile status.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is a critical component in this combo, and its specifications suggest it is overkill for Minecraft at lower resolutions. With 8 cores, 16 threads, and a boost clock of 5.20 GHz, the CPU’s single-thread performance is exceptional, as evidenced by its 3dmark_single_thread score of 1212 and cinebench_r23_singlecore score of 2080. This is crucial for Minecraft, which relies heavily on single-threaded performance for world generation and game logic. The CPU’s 96 MB of L3 cache is also likely beneficial, as it reduces memory latency and improves data access for the game’s block-based world. The CPU’s passmark_single_thread score of 4430 further confirms its dominance in this area.

The data shows that at 1920x1080, the CPU is the primary driver of performance, with average FPS reaching 429 on Low settings. This indicates that the CPU can generate frames faster than the GPU can render them, making it the bottleneck. The CPU’s multi-threaded performance is also strong, with a cinebench_r23_multicore score of 23230 and a passmark_multithread score of 40009, but Minecraft does not fully utilize all 16 threads. The CPU’s 4 nm process node and Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge) provide efficiency, but the game’s performance is more dependent on clock speed and cache than core count. The CPU’s base clock of 4.70 GHz and boost clock of 5.20 GHz are high, and the data suggests that this clock speed is what allows the 1080p FPS to reach such high numbers.

The CPU’s benchmarks against its nearest rivals show it is a top-tier part, with its avgBenchmarkScore of 39768 being only 0.4% lower than the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840HS (score 39603) and 0.8% lower than the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 (score 40081). This indicates that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this combo. However, the CPU’s 87th percentile ranking versus all CPUs suggests that while it is strong, there are faster parts available. In Minecraft, the CPU’s role is to maintain high minimum FPS and prevent stutters, and the measured minimum FPS of 289 at 1080p Medium shows that it does this well. At 4K, however, the CPU’s power is largely unused, as the GPU becomes the bottleneck, and the CPU’s high clock speed cannot compensate for the GPU’s lack of compute power. The data implies that this CPU is best paired with a stronger GPU to fully utilize its capabilities, but in this combo, it is working hard at 1080p and 1440p, where its performance is fully realized.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the combo’s performance across all settings and resolutions.

At 1920x1080, the results are exceptional across the board. Low settings average 429 FPS, which is the highest measured value in the entire dataset. Medium settings average 340 FPS, with a minimum of 289 FPS and a maximum of 391 FPS, showing strong consistency. High settings average 270 FPS, which is still very high and suitable for any high-refresh-rate monitor. Ultra settings average 169 FPS, which is the lowest at 1080p but still above the 144 Hz threshold for most gaming monitors. The data shows no significant frame drops at this resolution, with the minimum FPS for Medium being 289, indicating a smooth experience.

At 2560x1440, performance remains strong but shows the GPU beginning to take over. Low settings average 271 FPS, a 36.8% drop from 1080p. Medium settings average 214 FPS, with a minimum of 182 FPS and a maximum of 247 FPS, which is still excellent for 1440p gaming. High settings average 170 FPS, which is a 37.1% drop from 1080p High (270 FPS). Ultra settings average 106 FPS, which is a 37.3% drop from 1080p Ultra (169 FPS). The minimum FPS for Medium at 182 is still very playable, but the trend shows that the GPU is becoming a more significant factor.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly the bottleneck. Low settings average 141 FPS, which is a 48% drop from 1440p Low (271 FPS). Medium settings average 112 FPS, with a minimum of 95 FPS and a maximum of 129 FPS, which is the only 4K preset that maintains an average above 100 FPS. High settings average 89 FPS, a 47.6% drop from 1440p High (170 FPS). Ultra settings average 56 FPS, which is the lowest measured value and likely too demanding for smooth gameplay at 4K. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is consistent across all settings, with roughly a 47-48% drop in average FPS, confirming the GPU’s limits. The minimum FPS at 4K Medium (95) is close to the 60 FPS target, but the average shows that this preset is the most viable for 4K gaming with this combo.