Minecraft

How This Combo Ranks

The pairing of the Intel Core i5-11400F with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER lands at rank 2136 out of 3710 tested combos in Minecraft. That places this configuration in the lower-middle tier of the entire database, which is a curious result for a game that is often considered easy to run. The data suggests that while this combo is far from the bottom, it is not exploiting the full potential of either component, particularly when considering the GPU's broader benchmark standing.

The RTX 2070 SUPER sits in the 65th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 20282. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Arc A750, which scores 20582, and the Intel Arc B570, which scores 20556. The RTX 2070 SUPER trails these by 1.5% and 1.3%, respectively. Meanwhile, the i5-11400F sits in the 71st percentile of all CPUs, with an average score of 17177. Its closest competitor, the AMD EPYC 7H12, scores 17120, a 0.3% difference, while the Intel Core i5-12450H is 0.4% ahead at 17239. Both components are competitive within their own peer groups, yet the combined rank of 2136 out of 3710 suggests that Minecraft's specific workload does not reward this pairing as much as synthetic benchmarks might imply.

The rank becomes more telling when compared to the individual component percentiles. A CPU in the 71st percentile and a GPU in the 65th percentile would suggest a combo ranking somewhere in the upper half, but the actual rank of 2136 out of 3710 puts it just past the midpoint (roughly the 58th percentile of combos). This indicates a potential bottleneck or a game-specific quirk. Minecraft's engine is notoriously sensitive to certain hardware characteristics, and the measured FPS data reveals that this combo delivers playable but not exceptional results, especially at higher resolutions and settings where the GPU's 8 GB VRAM and memory bandwidth become relevant.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is built on the Turing architecture using the TU104 chip, fabricated on a 12 nm process at TSMC. It packs 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs, along with 40 RT cores and 320 tensor cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1605 MHz and boosts to 1770 MHz, with memory clocked at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory sits on a 256-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. These specifications place it in the upper-midrange tier, with a PassMark G3D score of 18169 and an average benchmark score of 20282.

In Minecraft, the GPU's role is significant but not dominant at lower resolutions. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves an average of 429 FPS, while at 1080p Ultra, it drops to 169 FPS. This suggests that even at the highest settings, the GPU is not the limiting factor at 1080p, as the frame rates remain extremely high. However, when moving to 4K, the picture changes. At 2160p Ultra, the average FPS plummets to 56, a dramatic drop that clearly indicates the GPU is being pushed to its limits. The 8 GB VRAM capacity and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are likely the culprits, as Minecraft's high-resolution textures and render distance can exceed what this GPU comfortably handles.

The GPU's nearest rivals in the database include the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M, which scores 20480 (1% higher), and the RTX 3070 Mobile, which scores 20534 (1.2% higher). The RTX 2070 SUPER also trails the Intel Arc B570 by 1.3% and the Arc A750 by 1.5%. These small deltas suggest that the RTX 2070 SUPER is still a capable card, but its performance in Minecraft at 4K Ultra is not competitive with even slightly newer architectures. The data implies that for this game, the GPU's raw compute (9.062 TFLOPS FP32) is less important than its memory subsystem, which is why the 4K Ultra result of 56 FPS is so much lower than the 4K Medium result of 112 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Rocket Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 14 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 512 KB of L2 per core, and 12 MB of shared L3. Memory support is dual-channel DDR4 with a bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s. The CPU's benchmark scores are solid: Cinebench R23 multi-core hits 14340, single-core 2024, and Geekbench multi-core 7737. Its PassMark multithread score is 16908, with a single-thread score of 2981.

In Minecraft, the CPU's role is most evident at lower resolutions where the GPU is not fully utilized. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 429 FPS, which is likely near the engine's internal limits or the CPU's ability to feed frames. The i5-11400F's single-thread performance is crucial here, as Minecraft's primary game loop is largely single-threaded. The boost clock of 4.40 GHz and the single-core Cinebench R20 score of 850 indicate strong per-core performance, which is why the 1080p results are so high. However, the 6-core/12-thread configuration does not provide a significant advantage in this title, as the game does not scale well across many threads.

The CPU's nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7H12, which is only 0.3% behind in average score, and the Intel Core i5-12450H, which is 0.4% ahead. The AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G is 0.6% ahead, and the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U is 0.6% behind. These tiny margins suggest that the i5-11400F is well-balanced for its generation, but Minecraft does not appear to be a workload that benefits from the 12 threads. The data shows that at 1440p Low, the FPS jumps to 271, and at 1080p Low, it reaches 429, indicating that the CPU can keep up with the GPU's output at these settings. The bottleneck shifts more toward the GPU as resolution and settings increase, which is typical for a game like Minecraft that becomes more GPU-bound with higher render distances and shader effects.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a detailed look at how this combo performs across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 429 at Low to 169 at Ultra. The Medium preset delivers 340 FPS with a minimum of 289 and a maximum of 391, while High sits at 270 FPS. These numbers indicate that at 1080p, the combo is more than capable of delivering high refresh rate experiences, with even Ultra settings exceeding 144 Hz. The spread from Low to Ultra is 260 FPS, which shows a significant performance cost for higher graphical fidelity, but the absolute numbers remain impressive.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages drop but remain strong. Low settings produce 271 FPS, Medium delivers 214 FPS (min 182, max 247), High yields 170 FPS, and Ultra drops to 106 FPS. The 1440p results show a more balanced workload between CPU and GPU, with the Ultra preset still achieving over 100 FPS, which is playable on most high-refresh monitors. The minimum FPS at Medium (182) suggests that frame pacing is consistent, with no severe drops that would cause stuttering.

At 3840x2160, the performance takes a noticeable hit. Low settings average 141 FPS, Medium averages 112 FPS (min 95, max 129), High averages 89 FPS, and Ultra averages 56 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the only one that falls below 60 FPS, which is a critical threshold for smooth gameplay. The Medium preset's minimum of 95 FPS is still respectable, but the jump from Medium to Ultra represents a 50% reduction in average FPS, highlighting the GPU's struggle with the highest settings at this resolution. The data clearly shows that 4K Ultra is the only configuration that becomes unplayable, while everything else remains above 56 FPS.

Resolution Scaling

The scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a lot about which component is the bottleneck at each stage. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 429 at 1080p to 271 at 1440p (a 37% reduction) and then to 141 at 4K (a 48% reduction from 1440p). This steep decline suggests that the GPU is becoming the limiting factor even at Low settings, as the CPU is likely capable of producing more frames than the GPU can render at higher resolutions. At 1080p Low, the 429 FPS is likely CPU-limited, as the RTX 2070 SUPER could probably render more frames if the CPU could feed it faster.

At Ultra settings, the scaling is even more dramatic. The average FPS drops from 169 at 1080p to 106 at 1440p (a 37% reduction) and then to 56 at 4K (a 47% reduction from 1440p). This consistent ~37-48% reduction per resolution step indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at Ultra settings across all resolutions. The 4K Ultra result of 56 FPS is less than half of the 1440p Ultra result, which suggests that the 8 GB VRAM and memory bandwidth are insufficient for the highest settings at 4K. The data implies that the RTX 2070 SUPER's 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is a limiting factor, as Minecraft's texture streaming at 4K Ultra likely exceeds what this card can handle.

Interestingly, the scaling from Medium to High at 4K shows a 23 FPS drop (112 to 89), which is larger than the drop from Low to Medium (29 FPS). This suggests that the High preset introduces features that are particularly demanding on the GPU's memory subsystem. The overall trend is clear: this combo is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where the CPU and GPU are better balanced. At 4K, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck, and only Low or Medium settings provide a smooth experience.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain over 60 FPS on Ultra settings?

A: The data shows that at 2560x1440 Ultra, the combo averages 106 FPS, while at 3840x2160 Ultra, it drops to 56 FPS. Therefore, 1440p Ultra is the highest resolution that comfortably exceeds 60 FPS, while 4K Ultra falls just below the threshold.

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

A: At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 429 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's limit. The i5-11400F has a single-thread PassMark score of 2981 and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, which helps feed the GPU. The GPU is not the bottleneck at this resolution, as it could likely render more frames if the CPU could produce them faster.

Q: How does the RTX 2070 SUPER compare to its nearest rival, the Intel Arc A750, in Minecraft?

A: The RTX 2070 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 20282, while the Arc A750 scores 20582, making the Arc 1.5% faster on average. In Minecraft, this small margin may not translate to a noticeable difference, as the measured FPS data shows the combo is often CPU-limited at lower resolutions.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for this combo at 1440p Medium settings?

A: At 2560x1440 Medium settings, the minimum FPS is 182, with an average of 214 and a maximum of 247. This indicates consistent frame pacing without significant drops, which is important for a smooth experience.

Q: Is 4K Ultra playable with this combo?

A: The 4K Ultra average FPS is 56, which is just below the 60 FPS threshold typically considered necessary for smooth gameplay. While it is technically playable, the data suggests that dropping to Medium settings at 4K, which averages 112 FPS, provides a much better experience.

Q: How does the i5-11400F's single-thread performance impact Minecraft's frame rates?

A: The i5-11400F has a single-core Cinebench R23 score of 2024 and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Minecraft is heavily dependent on single-thread performance, and the high FPS at 1080p Low (429) and 1440p Low (271) indicates that the CPU's strong per-core performance is sufficient to avoid being a bottleneck at these settings.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the best experience depends on the target resolution and refresh rate. For 1080p gaming, the Ultra preset delivers an average of 169 FPS, which is well above 144 Hz and provides the highest visual fidelity without sacrificing smoothness. The Medium preset at 340 FPS is overkill for most monitors and offers diminishing returns, so Ultra is recommended for 1080p users seeking the best visual experience.

At 1440p, the Ultra preset averages 106 FPS, which is ideal for 100 Hz or 120 Hz monitors. This is the sweet spot for this combo, as it balances visual quality with performance. The High preset at 170 FPS is also viable for 144 Hz monitors, but Ultra offers a more immersive experience with only a 64 FPS penalty. For those prioritizing frame rate above all, Medium at 214 FPS is an option, but the visual downgrade may not be worth it.

At 4K, the Ultra preset is not recommended, as the 56 FPS average is below the 60 FPS threshold. The High preset at 89 FPS is playable but may feel less smooth, while Medium at 112 FPS provides a good balance of quality and performance. The Low preset at 141 FPS is the safest choice for competitive play, but it sacrifices significant visual detail. The data strongly suggests that 4K users should stick to Medium settings to maintain a consistent frame rate above 100 FPS, as the jump from Medium to High causes a 23 FPS drop, and the jump to Ultra causes a further 33 FPS drop. The overall recommendation is to use Ultra at 1080p, Ultra or High at 1440p, and Medium at 4K for the best balance of visual quality and smoothness.