Minecraft

Minecraft is a game where frame rates scale dramatically with settings, and the Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9060 delivers a performance profile that is heavily dependent on the chosen preset. Across all tested resolutions, the data shows that the "Medium" preset offers the most balanced experience, providing a substantial frame rate uplift over "High" while maintaining the only recorded minimum frame rate data, which indicates a stable playable experience. The "Ultra" preset, while visually demanding, cuts frame rates by roughly half compared to "High" at every resolution, making it the least practical choice for this combination. The "Low" preset, while achieving the highest frame rates, sacrifices visual fidelity for headroom that is unnecessary for smooth gameplay at most resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data clearly indicates that the Medium preset is the optimal choice for this CPU and GPU combination across all resolutions. At 1920x1080, Medium delivers an average of 339 FPS, which is 70 FPS higher than High (269 FPS) and only 89 FPS lower than the Low preset's 428 FPS. More importantly, Medium is the only preset at any resolution that includes a recorded minimum FPS figure (288 at 1080p, 182 at 1440p, and 95 at 4K), suggesting that the frame time consistency is more predictable and less prone to stutter than the other presets where only averages are reported.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset's 214 FPS average is exceptionally high, representing a 44 FPS improvement over High (170 FPS) while still providing a 108 FPS advantage over Ultra (106 FPS). This makes Medium the clear sweet spot for high-refresh-rate 1440p monitors, as the frame rate remains well above the threshold for smooth motion. Even at 3840x2160, Medium's 112 FPS average is highly playable, and it is more than double the 56 FPS achieved on Ultra. The performance gap between Medium and Low at 4K (112 FPS vs. 141 FPS) is only 29 FPS, a smaller margin than at lower resolutions, which suggests that the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor, yet Medium still provides the superior balance of visual quality and performance.

The High preset, while respectable, is a middle ground that offers no unique advantages. At 1080p, High's 269 FPS is still excellent for competitive play, but it falls 70 FPS short of Medium. At 1440p, the 170 FPS average is also strong, but again Medium provides a substantial 44 FPS lead. The Ultra preset should be avoided for this combination. The data shows a dramatic performance cliff: at 1080p, Ultra (168 FPS) is nearly half the speed of Medium (339 FPS), and at 1440p, Ultra (106 FPS) is exactly half of Medium's 214 FPS. At 4K, Ultra's 56 FPS average is the only result below the 60 FPS threshold, making it the sole preset that could be considered marginal for consistent smoothness. Therefore, the recommendation is unequivocal: for the best combination of high frame rates, visual fidelity, and measured stability, the Medium preset is the clear winner.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Rocket Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. It features a 12 MB shared L3 cache and supports DDR4 memory. The benchmark results for this CPU show it performing in the 71st percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17,177. Its nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7H12 (0.3% ahead), the Intel Core i5-12450H (0.4% behind), and the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G (0.6% behind). This places the i5-11400F in a competitive mid-range position, with single-threaded performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2024) that is solid for gaming.

In the context of Minecraft, the CPU's role is significant, but the data suggests it is not the primary bottleneck for this particular GPU combination. At 1920x1080 with Medium settings, the average FPS of 339 is extremely high, indicating that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough data to achieve frame rates far beyond standard display refresh rates. The single-threaded performance, as indicated by the 3dmark_single_thread score of 868 and Geekbench single-core score of 1777, is likely sufficient for Minecraft's primary game logic thread. However, the multi-threaded capabilities (Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14,340) are also strong, which helps with chunk generation and background tasks.

The data reveals that as resolution increases, the FPS drops, which is a classic sign of the GPU becoming the limiting factor. For instance, at 1080p High, the average is 269 FPS, but at 4K High, it drops to 89 FPS. This 180 FPS drop is not attributed to the CPU, as its workload does not change with resolution; it is the GPU's pixel-pushing capabilities that are being taxed. The CPU's performance headroom is evident at 1080p Low, where the combination achieves 428 FPS, a figure that is likely near the CPU's maximum frame generation limit for this game. The fact that the FPS scales so dramatically with settings and resolution points to a system where the i5-11400F provides a robust foundation, but the RX 9060 is the component that dictates the final frame rate, especially at higher resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset to use for this combination at 1080p?

A: The Medium preset is the best choice at 1920x1080, delivering an average of 339 FPS with a minimum of 288 FPS. This provides a significant performance boost over High (269 FPS) and is only 89 FPS behind Low (428 FPS), while offering better visual quality than Low.

Q: Is the Ultra preset playable at 4K?

A: No, the Ultra preset at 3840x2160 yields an average of only 56 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. This is the only preset and resolution combination in the data where the average frame rate falls below 60 FPS.

Q: How much faster is 1080p compared to 4K on the Medium preset?

A: At 1080p Medium, the average is 339 FPS. At 4K Medium, the average drops to 112 FPS. This represents a 227 FPS or roughly a 67% reduction in frame rate when moving from 1080p to 4K.

Q: Which component is more likely to be the bottleneck at 4K?

A: The data suggests the GPU is the limiting factor at 4K. For example, on the High preset, the FPS drops from 269 at 1080p to 170 at 1440p and finally to 89 at 4K. The CPU workload does not change with resolution, so this significant drop is attributable to the AMD Radeon RX 9060's rendering capabilities.

Q: Does this combination ever dip below 60 FPS?

A: Based on the measured data, the only average FPS below 60 is on the Ultra preset at 4K (56 FPS). All other presets and resolutions maintain an average FPS above 89, which is well above the 60 FPS mark. The minimum FPS figures recorded for the Medium preset are also all above 95 FPS.

Q: How does this CPU compare to its closest rival in terms of average score?

A: The Intel Core i5-11400F has an average benchmark score of 17,177. Its nearest rival, the AMD EPYC 7H12, scores 17,120, which is a 0.3% difference. The Intel Core i5-12450H scores 17,239, placing it 0.4% higher than the i5-11400F.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-11400F and the AMD Radeon RX 9060 is positioned at rank 609 out of 1,176 tested combos for Minecraft. This places it in the 52nd percentile of all tested combinations, meaning it outperforms a slight majority of other system configurations tested in this game. This rank is a holistic measure of the pairing's ability to run Minecraft, taking into account performance across various settings and resolutions.

This mid-pack ranking is somewhat surprising given the high frame rates measured at lower resolutions. The 609th rank likely reflects the fact that many other tested combos include more powerful CPUs or GPUs, particularly at the top end where high-end cards can maintain high frame rates even at 4K Ultra. For this combo, the performance at 4K Ultra is a weak point (56 FPS), which likely drags the overall rank down compared to combinations that can handle the most demanding preset at high resolutions. At 1080p and 1440p, the combo's performance is exceptional, with frame rates in the hundreds, suggesting that it would rank much higher if only those resolutions were considered.

The GPU's own benchmark percentile is 59th, and its average score of 16,014 places it near the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, which is 0.7% ahead. The CPU's 71st percentile ranking is comparatively stronger. This suggests that the GPU is the weaker link in the pairing, which is consistent with the observed performance drop at higher resolutions. In a game like Minecraft, which can be CPU-intensive at lower resolutions but becomes GPU-bound at higher ones, this combo finds its strengths in 1080p and 1440p gaming, where the CPU's strong single-threaded performance can push high frame rates, but it struggles to maintain top-tier performance at 4K Ultra, placing it in the middle of the pack overall.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a consistent and predictable decline as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. On the Medium preset, the average FPS goes from 339 at 1080p to 214 at 1440p, a drop of 125 FPS, and then to 112 at 4K, another drop of 102 FPS. This pattern holds for all presets. For example, on High, the FPS drops from 269 to 170 to 89 across the three resolutions. The Low preset sees a drop from 428 to 270 to 141.

This scaling behavior is a clear indicator of a GPU-bound system at higher resolutions. The number of pixels at 4K (3840x2160) is exactly four times that of 1080p (1920x1080). If the system were purely CPU-bound, the frame rate would remain constant regardless of resolution. The data shows a significant FPS drop, which means the AMD Radeon RX 9060's rendering throughput is the limiting factor as resolution increases. The GPU has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus with a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s, which is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but the sheer pixel fill rate required at 4K becomes a challenge.

The performance scaling is roughly linear with the pixel count increase. For Medium, the 1080p to 1440p FPS drop is 125 FPS, and the 1440p to 4K drop is 102 FPS. This is not a perfect 1:1 scaling with pixel count (1440p has 1.78x the pixels of 1080p, and 4K has 2.25x the pixels of 1440p), but the downward trend is unmistakable. The fact that the frame rates remain playable at 4K on all presets except Ultra (89 FPS on High, 112 FPS on Medium) indicates that the GPU has a good level of performance, but it is still the component that determines the upper limit of frame rates as resolution scales up.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following table outlines the exact measured average FPS for each resolution and settings preset. The data reveals a clear hierarchy of performance, with the Low preset delivering the highest frame rates and the Ultra preset delivering the lowest.

| Resolution | Settings | Average FPS | Min FPS | Max FPS |

| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |

| 1920x1080 | Low | 428 | N/A | N/A |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 339 | 288 | 390 |

| 1920x1080 | High | 269 | N/A | N/A |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 168 | N/A | N/A |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 270 | N/A | N/A |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 214 | 182 | 246 |

| 2560x1440 | High | 170 | N/A | N/A |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 106 | N/A | N/A |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 141 | N/A | N/A |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 112 | 95 | 129 |

| 3840x2160 | High | 89 | N/A | N/A |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 56 | N/A | N/A |

At 1080p, the frame rates are exceptionally high, with even the Ultra preset achieving 168 FPS. The Medium preset stands out with a minimum FPS of 288, which is higher than the average FPS of the High preset (269). This indicates that Medium offers not only a higher average but also a more consistent frame time experience. The 428 FPS average on Low demonstrates the combination's ability to reach extremely high frame rates when the GPU is not heavily taxed, suggesting the CPU is capable of generating frames at a very high rate.

At 1440p, the performance remains very strong. The Medium preset's 214 FPS average with a 182 FPS minimum is ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors. The drop from Low to Medium is 56 FPS, and from Medium to High is 44 FPS, showing a significant performance cost for each step up in visual quality. The Ultra preset at 106 FPS is still smooth, but it is less than half of the Low preset's frame rate.

At 4K, the data shows the true cost of high resolution. The Low preset's 141 FPS is the only result above 120 FPS. The Medium preset's 112 FPS, with a 95 FPS minimum, remains highly playable. The High preset's 89 FPS is the first result to dip below 90 FPS, and the Ultra preset's 56 FPS is the only sub-60 FPS result in the entire dataset. This breakdown clearly shows how the GPU becomes the dominant factor at 4K, and the Medium preset proves to be the best balance, offering a 56 FPS advantage over High while maintaining a minimum FPS above 90, ensuring a consistently smooth experience.