Minecraft

FAQ

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-9400 compare to its closest rivals in general processing power?

A: The i5-9400’s average benchmark score of 2254 places it nearly exactly between the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (2259, 0.2% faster) and the Intel Core i7-10710U (2248, 0.3% slower). It also sits just 0.4% above the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (2246). This indicates the CPU is positioned in a tightly contested mid-range performance band, with negligible differences of less than half a percent separating it from its nearest competitors.

Q: What is the GPU's standing relative to other graphics cards based on average scores?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT holds an average score of 48477, placing it slightly ahead of the NVIDIA RTX A1000 Mobile (47743, +1.5%) but behind both the Intel Arc A550M (49737, -2.5%) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti (49957, -3%). The RX 6800 XT also trails the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 (50001, -3%), showing a small but consistent gap to these three rivals in aggregate synthetic performance.

Q: Which settings preset yields the highest frame rate at each resolution?

A: At every resolution tested, the Low preset delivers the highest average FPS: 455 at 1920x1080, 374 at 2560x1440, and 195 at 3840x2160. The Medium preset follows as the second-fastest, while High and Ultra produce progressively lower frame rates. The gap between Low and Ultra is substantial at all resolutions, with Ultra roughly half the speed of Low in each case.

Q: Does this combo maintain playable frame rates at 4K resolution?

A: Yes, the data indicates playable performance at 3840x2160 across all presets. The Ultra preset averages 77 FPS, High averages 123 FPS, Medium averages 155 FPS, and Low averages 195 FPS. Even the most demanding preset stays above the common 60 FPS threshold, with the Medium preset providing a comfortable margin at 155 FPS.

Q: What is the CPU's percentile ranking among all processors?

A: The Intel Core i5-9400 ranks in the 47th percentile among all CPUs, meaning it outperforms roughly 47% of processors in the database. This places it slightly below the median, indicating a mainstream-level processor that is neither a high-end performer nor a low-end part, consistent with its 6-core, 6-thread configuration.

Q: How does the GPU's percentile ranking compare to its average score positioning?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT ranks in the 85th percentile among all GPUs, a significantly stronger position than the CPU's 47th percentile. Despite being only modestly ahead of some rivals in average score, the 85th percentile indicates the RX 6800 XT outperforms the vast majority of graphics cards in the database, highlighting its high-end status relative to the broader GPU landscape.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT achieves a rank of 1278 out of 3710 tested combos in Minecraft. This places the pairing in the 65.6th percentile of all system configurations, meaning it outperforms roughly two-thirds of tested combos. The ranking is particularly notable given the CPU's modest 47th percentile standing, suggesting the GPU is doing substantial heavy lifting to boost the overall combo position.

The disparity between the CPU's percentile (47) and the combo's percentile (65.6) is revealing. The i5-9400 sits near the median of all processors, yet when paired with the RX 6800 XT in Minecraft, the combined system climbs well into the upper third of tested configurations. This suggests Minecraft's performance profile favors the GPU's capabilities more heavily than the CPU's raw compute strength. The RX 6800 XT, with its 85th percentile GPU ranking, appears to be the dominant contributor to the combo's overall standing.

Interestingly, the combo rank of 1278 out of 3710 implies there are still 1277 configurations that perform better in this game. Given the GPU's high percentile, those better-performing combos likely feature either stronger CPUs, more powerful GPUs, or both. The i5-9400's 6 cores and 6 threads, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and boost of 4.10 GHz, may be limiting the RX 6800 XT from reaching even higher positions, particularly in scenarios where CPU throughput matters. The data suggests this combo is a balanced but GPU-dominated pairing, where the graphics card drives most of the performance headroom.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance on which settings preset offers the best experience. For users prioritizing maximum smoothness, the Low preset at 1920x1080 delivers an astonishing 455 FPS average, which is far beyond what most displays can even show. However, this comes at the cost of visual fidelity. The Medium preset at 1080p averages 418 FPS, only 8% slower than Low, while providing better graphical quality — this makes Medium the sweet spot for high-refresh-rate monitors at 1080p.

At 2560x1440, the recommendation shifts slightly. The Medium preset averages 296 FPS with a minimum of 252 and maximum of 340, which is still exceptionally high. The High preset at 235 FPS remains well above the 144 Hz refresh rate that many 1440p monitors offer. For most users, High at 1440p provides an excellent balance: it delivers 235 FPS average, which comfortably exceeds 144 Hz, while offering superior visuals compared to Medium. The Ultra preset at 147 FPS is also viable for 144 Hz displays, but the margin is thinner.

At 3840x2160, the situation changes more dramatically. The Ultra preset drops to 77 FPS average, which is only marginally above the 60 Hz standard for many 4K displays. The High preset at 123 FPS is the strongest recommendation for 4K gaming, providing a solid margin above 60 FPS while maintaining good visual quality. The Medium preset at 155 FPS is even better for those who prefer higher refresh rates at 4K, though the visual trade-off from High to Medium is noticeable. The data shows that High at 4K is the best overall experience: it offers more than double the frame rate of Ultra while still delivering strong graphical settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the frame rates are exceptionally high across all presets. The Low preset leads with 455 FPS average, followed by Medium at 418 FPS (with a minimum of 356 and maximum of 481), High at 372 FPS, and Ultra at 233 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a consistent decline, with Ultra being 48.8% slower than Low. The Medium preset's minimum of 356 FPS indicates excellent frame time consistency, with no dips below the 300 FPS mark even in demanding scenes.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain very strong but show the expected resolution penalty. The Low preset averages 374 FPS, Medium averages 296 FPS (minimum 252, maximum 340), High averages 235 FPS, and Ultra averages 147 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is roughly 17.8% for Low, 29.2% for Medium, 36.8% for High, and 36.9% for Ultra. The Medium preset's minimum of 252 FPS still exceeds 240 Hz, making it suitable for the fastest gaming displays.

At 3840x2160, the performance impact becomes more pronounced. The Low preset averages 195 FPS, Medium averages 155 FPS (minimum 131, maximum 178), High averages 123 FPS, and Ultra averages 77 FPS. The transition from 1440p to 4K results in drops of 47.9% for Low, 47.6% for Medium, 47.7% for High, and 47.6% for Ultra — remarkably consistent percentage reductions across all presets. The Ultra preset's 77 FPS average is the only measurement that approaches the 60 FPS threshold, though it still maintains a comfortable margin above it.

The consistency of the percentage drops between resolutions is striking. From 1080p to 1440p, the average reduction across presets is roughly 30%, while from 1440p to 4K, it's approximately 48%. This pattern suggests a scaling behavior where the GPU becomes progressively more stressed as resolution increases, but the relative performance hierarchy between presets remains stable.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is clearly the dominant component in this combo for Minecraft performance. With 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus delivering 512.0 GB/s bandwidth, the GPU has ample resources for even the most demanding textures and render distances. The memory clock runs at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective), while the GPU's base clock is 1825 MHz, with a game clock of 2015 MHz and a boost clock of 2250 MHz. These specifications place the card in the 85th percentile of all GPUs.

The GPU's high percentile ranking (85) compared to the CPU's (47) explains why the combo performs as well as it does. The RX 6800 XT's 4608 shading units, 288 texture mapping units, and 128 ROPs provide substantial parallel processing power, yielding a pixel rate of 288.0 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 648.0 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance of 20.74 TFLOPS is indicative of strong raw compute capability, which Minecraft's rendering engine can leverage effectively.

The 16 GB VRAM capacity is particularly relevant for a game like Minecraft, where high-resolution texture packs and extensive modding can quickly consume memory. Even at 4K Ultra settings, the data shows 77 FPS average, suggesting the GPU is not VRAM-limited in this title. The memory bandwidth of 512.0 GB/s ensures that texture streaming and chunk loading do not become bottlenecks, even when moving quickly through the world.

The GPU's boost clock of 2250 MHz, combined with its game clock of 2015 MHz, indicates the card sustains high frequencies under load. The measured FPS values, particularly the 455 FPS at 1080p Low, demonstrate that the RX 6800 XT is capable of extremely high frame rates when not CPU-limited. However, the relatively small differences between 1080p and 1440p at lower presets (e.g., 455 vs 374 FPS) suggest that the CPU begins to assert some influence as frame rates climb into the hundreds.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 provides 6 cores and 6 threads, operating at a base clock of 2.90 GHz with a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. This Coffee Lake architecture processor, built on a 14 nm process, has 9 MB of shared L3 cache and 256 KB L2 cache per core. Its memory bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s over a dual-channel DDR4 interface is modest by modern standards, but sufficient for the game's requirements. The CPU ranks in the 47th percentile, indicating a mid-range position.

In the context of Minecraft, the CPU's role is significant but secondary to the GPU. The game's world generation, entity processing, and physics calculations are largely single-threaded, which means the i5-9400's 4.10 GHz boost clock is more important than its core count. The single-core benchmark scores — 94 in Cinebench R15, 392 in R20, 935 in R23, and 1389 in Geekbench — reflect a processor that can handle the game's primary thread demands adequately.

The 6-thread limitation becomes apparent at high frame rates. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 455 FPS, but the scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings (455 to 374 FPS) shows a 17.8% drop, which is smaller than the 47.9% drop from 1440p to 4K. This pattern indicates that at lower resolutions, the CPU is more involved in maintaining high frame rates, while at 4K, the GPU becomes the primary limiter. The i5-9400's 47th percentile ranking suggests it is adequate but not exceptional for this role.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 2254 places it virtually tied with its nearest rivals, all within 0.4% of each other. This tight clustering indicates that the i5-9400 is a well-balanced processor for its class, but it lacks the headroom that a higher-percentile CPU might offer. In Minecraft, where chunk loading and world updates can cause frame time spikes, the CPU's 6 threads may occasionally become a bottleneck, though the measured averages do not reflect severe stuttering.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling across resolutions reveals important insights about system bottlenecks. From 1920x1080 to 2560x1440, the average FPS drops by approximately 30% across all presets. This is a moderate penalty that suggests the GPU is still the primary performance driver at these resolutions. The RX 6800 XT's 512.0 GB/s bandwidth and 16 GB memory capacity are sufficient to handle the increased pixel count without dramatic performance loss.

The scaling from 2560x1440 to 3840x2160 is far more aggressive, with an average drop of approximately 48% across all presets. This near-halving of frame rates indicates that the GPU is becoming the dominant limiting factor at 4K. The pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K, but the frame rate does not scale linearly — instead, it drops by roughly 64% from 455 FPS at 1080p Low to 195 FPS at 4K Low. This sub-linear scaling is typical for GPU-bound scenarios where memory bandwidth and pixel throughput become critical.

The consistent percentage drops between resolutions (around 30% from 1080p to 1440p, and around 48% from 1440p to 4K) suggest that neither component is causing unexpected bottlenecks at specific resolutions. If the CPU were severely limiting, we would expect the 1080p to 1440p drop to be smaller than the 1440p to 4K drop, as CPU limitations typically manifest more at lower resolutions. The data shows the opposite: the 1440p to 4K drop is significantly larger, confirming the GPU is the primary limiter at higher resolutions.

The Ultra preset at 1080p (233 FPS) versus 4K (77 FPS) shows a 66.9% reduction, the largest percentage drop among all presets. This indicates that Ultra settings place the most stress on the GPU, as expected. Conversely, the Low preset from 1080p to 4K drops from 455 to 195 FPS, a 57.1% reduction, which is smaller but still substantial. The data suggests that at 4K, even Low settings are heavily GPU-bound, while at 1080p, the system has enough headroom for the CPU to contribute more significantly to frame rate generation.