Minecraft

# CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i5-12400 brings six physical cores and twelve threads to the table, running at a base clock of 2.50 GHz and boosting up to 4.40 GHz. This Alder Lake-S desktop part sits on the Intel Socket 1700 platform, built on Intel's 10 nm process with a 65 W TDP. Its cache layout includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 18 MB of shared L3 cache, which provides ample room for the game's chunk-loading and entity-tracking workloads.

Benchmark results indicate this processor performs solidly in both single-threaded and multi-threaded scenarios. In Cinebench R23, it scores 2257 in single-core and 15989 in multi-core, while Geekbench shows 1848 single-core and 8564 multi-core. The 3DMark suite reveals a single-thread score of 910 and a max-thread score of 5890, with intermediate results of 1692 for 2 threads, 3012 for 4 threads, and 4745 for 8 threads. This scaling pattern suggests the CPU can leverage additional threads effectively, though the gains taper off beyond eight threads.

The processor's percentile ranking sits at 72 when compared to all CPUs, placing it comfortably above the median. Its average benchmark score of 18683 places it in close competition with the AMD EPYC 7643 (18697, -0.1% delta), Intel Core i7-1355U (18730, -0.3%), AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 (18811, -0.7%), and Intel Core i3-14100F (18519, +0.9%). The tight deltaPct values — all within one percent — suggest that in general compute tasks, these processors are nearly interchangeable.

For Minecraft specifically, the game's Java-based engine is notoriously single-thread-bound in many of its core simulation loops, while rendering and physics can spread across multiple threads. The i5-12400's single-thread score of 2257 in Cinebench R23 indicates strong per-core performance, which matters for the game's main game loop. However, the measured FPS data reveals an interesting pattern: at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 651 FPS average, which is remarkably high and suggests the CPU is not the primary bottleneck even at this resolution where GPU load is relatively light.

The Passmark single-thread score of 3456 reinforces the CPU's capability in lightly-threaded workloads. Meanwhile, Passmark multi-thread score of 18747 shows the processor can handle background tasks and chunk generation without causing framerate dips. The data encryption score of 11418 and compression score of 226908 further demonstrate the CPU's balanced capabilities, though these are less directly relevant to Minecraft's performance profile.

# GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is a formidable graphics card built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC. It packs 45,900 million transistors on a 379 mm² die, featuring 10240 shading units, 320 texture mapping units, and 112 raster operation pipelines. The card also includes 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores, making it future-proof for ray-traced Minecraft if that becomes relevant. Its memory subsystem consists of 16 GB of GDDR6X across a 256-bit bus, delivering 736.3 GB/s of bandwidth.

Clock speeds see the GPU running at a base of 2295 MHz and boosting to 2550 MHz, with memory clocked at 1438 MHz (23 Gbps effective). This combination yields a pixel rate of 285.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 816.0 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance of 52.22 TFLOPS is substantial, and the FP16 rating matches at 52.22 TFLOPS (1:1), indicating strong compute capabilities for shader-heavy workloads.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it in the 86th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54209. Its nearest rivals show interesting comparisons: the RTX 4080 (non-SUPER) scores 54247 (-0.1% delta), AMD Radeon Pro W5700X scores 54828 (-1.1%), AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB scores 55698 (-2.7%), and AMD Radeon 8060S scores 55757 (-2.8%). The remarkably small deltas indicate that the RTX 4080 SUPER sits at a performance plateau where several cards deliver nearly identical aggregate results.

In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, the GPU scores 6600, while Geekbench OpenCL yields 219065 and Vulkan results reach 260075. Passmark scores show 34245 for G3D and 19822 for GPU compute. These numbers suggest the card excels at both rasterization and compute tasks, which is relevant for Minecraft's shader-heavy rendering pipeline when using mods or high settings.

The 16 GB VRAM capacity is particularly noteworthy for Minecraft. Even with heavy texture packs and render distance increases, the game is unlikely to exhaust this memory pool. The bandwidth of 736.3 GB/s ensures that texture streaming and chunk data transfer to the GPU does not become a limiting factor. The GDDR6X memory type and 256-bit bus width provide substantial headroom for the game's needs.

# FAQ

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-12400 compare to its nearest rivals in overall CPU performance?

A: The i5-12400's average benchmark score of 18683 places it within 0.1% of the AMD EPYC 7643 (18697) and 0.3% of the Intel Core i7-1355U (18730). It trails the AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 (18811) by 0.7% and leads the Intel Core i3-14100F (18519) by 0.9%. These deltaPct values are all within a single percentage point, indicating near-identical aggregate performance across this group.

Q: What is the GPU's performance ranking relative to other graphics cards?

A: The RTX 4080 SUPER ranks in the 86th percentile among all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 54209 is nearly identical to the RTX 4080 at 54247 (-0.1% delta), while AMD Radeon Pro W5700X (54828) and Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB (55698) actually score slightly higher at -1.1% and -2.7% deltas respectively. The AMD Radeon 8060S (55757) leads by 2.8%.

Q: At which resolution and settings does the combo achieve its highest average FPS?

A: The highest average FPS of 651 occurs at 1920x1080 with Low settings. At the same resolution, Medium settings yield 598 FPS, High yields 509 FPS, and Ultra drops to 318 FPS. The lowest measured average FPS is 105 at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested combinations in Minecraft?

A: The combo ranks 297th out of 3710 tested combinations in Minecraft, placing it in the top 8% of all tested systems. This high ranking reflects the strong synergy between the i5-12400 and RTX 4080 SUPER for this game.

Q: What is the FPS drop between the highest and lowest settings at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, the average FPS ranges from 267 at Low settings down to 105 at Ultra settings. This represents a 60.7% reduction in average FPS when moving from Low to Ultra, with Medium (212 FPS) and High (168 FPS) falling between these extremes.

Q: Does the combo maintain playable framerates at all tested settings?

A: Yes. The lowest measured average FPS is 105 at 4K Ultra, which remains well above playable thresholds. At 1080p, even the most demanding Ultra setting achieves 318 FPS average, while the minimum FPS recorded across all tested configurations is 180 FPS at 4K Medium.

# Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of how this combo performs across resolutions and settings. At 3840x2160, the average FPS values are 267 at Low, 212 at Medium (with min 180 and max 243), 168 at High, and 105 at Ultra. The step from Low to Medium costs 55 FPS, Medium to High costs 44 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 63 FPS. This pattern shows diminishing returns as settings increase, with the largest single drop occurring between High and Ultra.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages improve substantially: 511 at Low, 405 at Medium (min 344, max 466), 321 at High, and 201 at Ultra. The gap between Low and Medium is 106 FPS, Medium to High is 84 FPS, and High to Ultra is 120 FPS. The Ultra setting at 1440p delivers roughly the same FPS as the High setting at 4K (201 vs 168), indicating that resolution has a significant impact on performance.

At 1920x1080, the averages reach their peak: 651 at Low, 598 at Medium (min 509, max 688), 509 at High, and 318 at Ultra. Interestingly, the difference between Low and Medium is only 53 FPS, while Medium to High is 89 FPS, and High to Ultra is 191 FPS. The Ultra setting at 1080p (318 FPS) achieves nearly the same frame rate as High at 1440p (321 FPS), suggesting that the Ultra preset imposes a similar cost to a resolution increase.

The min and max FPS values provided for Medium settings reveal consistency. At 4K Medium, the range spans 180 to 243 FPS, a spread of 63 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the range spans 344 to 466 FPS, a spread of 122 FPS. At 1080p Medium, the range spans 509 to 688 FPS, a spread of 179 FPS. This widening range at lower resolutions suggests that CPU-side frame time variance becomes more pronounced as the GPU can render frames more quickly.

# How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 297 out of 3710 tested combinations places it in the top 8% of all systems tested in Minecraft. This is a strong showing, but the rank also reveals something interesting: despite the RTX 4080 SUPER being a top-tier GPU (86th percentile), and the i5-12400 being a solid mid-range CPU (72nd percentile), the combination does not crack the top 200. This suggests that other combinations with higher-end CPUs or more specialized configurations achieve better Minecraft performance.

The gap between the CPU's 72nd percentile ranking and the combo's 8th percentile position in-game indicates that Minecraft's engine places significant demands on the CPU. The game's single-thread-heavy nature means that the i5-12400's strong single-core performance (2257 in Cinebench R23 single-core) may still be a limiting factor compared to processors with even higher per-core clocks or more efficient architectures.

The GPU's 86th percentile ranking is clearly not the bottleneck at most settings. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 651 FPS, which suggests the CPU is already working near its limits for this game. The fact that the GPU can render frames far faster than the CPU can feed it at lower resolutions is evident from the FPS scaling pattern: going from 1080p to 1440p reduces FPS by 140 at Low settings, but going from 1440p to 4K reduces it by 244. This non-linear scaling indicates that the GPU becomes more involved as resolution increases, but the CPU still sets an upper bound.

# Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance on which preset offers the best experience. For players targeting 60 FPS, every tested configuration more than doubles this threshold. For 144 Hz displays, the 4K Ultra setting at 105 FPS falls short, but 4K High at 168 FPS comfortably exceeds it. At 1440p, all settings including Ultra (201 FPS) surpass 144 Hz, while at 1080p, even Ultra at 318 FPS exceeds 240 Hz refresh rates.

The Medium preset offers the most balanced experience across resolutions. At 4K, Medium delivers 212 FPS average with a minimum of 180 FPS, ensuring no frame drops below typical high-refresh thresholds. At 1440p, Medium achieves 405 FPS average (min 344), and at 1080p, it reaches 598 FPS (min 509). The consistency metrics provided for Medium settings show tighter frame pacing than the averages alone might suggest.

For players prioritizing visual fidelity, the High preset at 4K (168 FPS) or 1440p (321 FPS) provides enhanced graphics while maintaining high frame rates. The Ultra preset, while visually superior, demands a significant performance cost: at 4K it drops to 105 FPS, which is still playable but may not suit competitive or high-refresh gaming. At 1080p, Ultra at 318 FPS remains viable for 240 Hz displays.

The data suggests that Medium is the sweet spot for this combo. The step from Low to Medium costs relatively little performance (53 FPS at 1080p, 106 FPS at 1440p, 55 FPS at 4K) while providing improved visuals. The step from Medium to High costs more (89 FPS at 1080p, 84 FPS at 1440p, 44 FPS at 4K), and the step from High to Ultra is the most expensive (191 FPS at 1080p, 120 FPS at 1440p, 63 FPS at 4K). The diminishing returns are most pronounced at 1080p, where Ultra's visual improvements come at a steep performance price.

# Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K reveals how the limiting component shifts across resolutions. At Low settings, the averages are 651 FPS at 1080p, 511 FPS at 1440p, and 267 FPS at 4K. This represents a 21.5% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a 47.8% drop from 1440p to 4K. The relatively modest drop from 1080p to 1440p suggests the CPU is heavily involved at these resolutions, while the larger drop to 4K indicates the GPU begins to take over as the primary bottleneck.

At Medium settings, the pattern is similar: 598 FPS at 1080p, 405 FPS at 1440p, and 212 FPS at 4K, representing drops of 32.3% and 47.6% respectively. The High settings show 509 FPS at 1080p, 321 FPS at 1440p, and 168 FPS at 4K, with drops of 36.9% and 47.7%. Ultra settings yield 318 FPS at 1080p, 201 FPS at 1440p, and 105 FPS at 4K, with drops of 36.8% and 47.8%.

The near-constant ~48% drop from 1440p to 4K across all settings indicates that the GPU's rendering load scales predictably with pixel count. The 4K resolution has 2.25 times the pixels of 1440p, and the FPS reduction of roughly half aligns with this pixel count increase. However, the varying drops from 1080p to 1440p (ranging from 21.5% at Low to 36.9% at High) suggest that the CPU becomes a more significant factor at lower resolutions and settings.

This pattern indicates that at 1080p and 1440p with lower settings, the CPU limits performance — the GPU could render frames faster if the CPU could supply them. At 4K, and at higher settings generally, the GPU becomes the limiting factor. The i5-12400's strong single-thread performance allows it to feed the RTX 4080 SUPER reasonably well, but the data shows clear CPU constraints at lower resolutions, particularly at Low settings where 651 FPS at 1080p appears to be near the CPU's ceiling for this game.