Minecraft

The Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER pairing delivers an exceptionally smooth Minecraft experience, with the GPU acting as the clear performance ceiling only at the most demanding 4K settings. The data shows a system that crushes 1080p and 1440p gaming, while 4K requires a settings trade-off to maintain high refresh rates.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and reveals a system that transitions from CPU-bound at lower resolutions to GPU-bound at higher ones. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 429 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low yields 271 FPS, a 36.8% reduction. At 4K Low, the average falls to 141 FPS, which is 67.1% below the 1080p figure. This steep decline indicates that the RTX 2070 SUPER, despite its power, is the limiting factor once pixel count rises.

The scaling pattern changes with settings. With High settings, the frame rate drops from 270 FPS at 1080p to 170 FPS at 1440p (a 37% decrease), then to 89 FPS at 4K (a 67% decrease from 1080p). The consistency of these percentage drops across Low and High presets suggests the GPU is scaling predictably with resolution, while the CPU has ample headroom even at 1080p.

Ultra settings show a more severe scaling penalty. The 1080p Ultra average is 169 FPS, dropping to 106 FPS at 1440p (37.3% lower) and 56 FPS at 4K (66.9% lower). The 4K Ultra result of 56 FPS is the only measured average below 60 FPS in the entire dataset, indicating that this configuration hits a hard performance wall at the highest resolution and quality combination.

The Medium preset provides the most revealing data on the bottleneck. At 1080p Medium, the average is 340 FPS with a minimum of 289 and maximum of 391. At 1440p Medium, it drops to 214 FPS (min 182, max 247). At 4K Medium, the average is 112 FPS (min 95, max 129). The minimum frame rates at Medium settings stay above 95 FPS even at 4K, showing that this preset maintains playable performance across all resolutions.

The frame time consistency also degrades with resolution. The gap between minimum and maximum FPS at Medium settings widens from 102 FPS at 1080p to 65 FPS at 1440p and 34 FPS at 4K. This tightening range at higher resolutions further confirms that the GPU becomes the sole performance arbiter, reducing CPU-induced frame pacing variability.

GPU Role

The RTX 2070 SUPER is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications explain the measured results. The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The TU104 chip contains 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output units, with a base clock of 1605 MHz and boost clock of 1770 MHz. The memory runs at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective), and the card achieves 9.062 TFLOPS of FP32 performance.

Minecraft is not a demanding game for VRAM, so the 8 GB capacity is unlikely to be a limiting factor at any tested resolution. The GPU's memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s provides more than enough throughput for the game's blocky geometry and relatively simple textures. The data supports this: even at 4K Ultra, the average FPS of 56 suggests the GPU is compute-limited rather than memory-limited.

The GPU's Turing architecture, with 40 RT cores and 320 tensor cores, provides capabilities that Minecraft typically does not leverage in its standard rendering path. The measured results show raw rasterization performance is what matters here. The boost clock of 1770 MHz, combined with the GPU's 64 ROPs capable of 113.3 GPixel/s, directly influences the fill-rate dependent performance at high resolutions.

The RTX 2070 SUPER's benchmark profile shows it sits at the 65th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 20282. Its nearest rivals in GPU benchmarks include the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (score 20480, 1% higher), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (score 20534, 1.2% higher), the Intel Arc B570 (score 20556, 1.3% higher), and the Intel Arc A750 (score 20582, 1.5% higher). This positions the GPU as a solid mid-to-upper tier performer, though slightly behind these comparable alternatives.

The GPU runs hot enough to require a 215 W TDP, dual-slot cooler design, and a suggested 550 W power supply. The 1x 6-pin plus 1x 8-pin power connectors indicate the board is designed for substantial power delivery, which aligns with its sustained performance across the benchmark suite.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data points toward Medium settings as the best overall experience across all resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the combo delivers 340 FPS average with a minimum of 289 FPS, which exceeds any display's refresh rate capabilities. At 1440p Medium, the 214 FPS average (minimum 182 FPS) remains far above the 144 Hz threshold commonly targeted by gamers. Even at 4K Medium, the 112 FPS average with a 95 FPS minimum stays comfortably above 60 FPS.

High settings offer a reasonable alternative for those preferring visual fidelity. At 1080p High, the 270 FPS average is still exceptionally smooth. At 1440p High, 170 FPS provides excellent headroom for high-refresh displays. However, at 4K High, the 89 FPS average, while playable, begins to approach the edge of what competitive players might consider acceptable.

Ultra settings should be avoided at 4K entirely. The 56 FPS average at 4K Ultra is the only sub-60 FPS result in the entire dataset, and it represents the worst-case scenario for this combination. At 1080p Ultra, the 169 FPS average is perfectly playable but offers marginal visual improvement over High settings at a significant performance cost. At 1440p Ultra, the 106 FPS average is acceptable but represents a 38% performance reduction compared to High settings at the same resolution.

The Low preset delivers the highest frame rates, with 429 FPS at 1080p, 271 FPS at 1440p, and 141 FPS at 4K. These numbers are useful for competitive play or for users with 240 Hz or higher refresh rate monitors, but the visual compromises are substantial for a game that benefits from draw distance and particle effects.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the performance envelope is extraordinarily wide. Low settings produce 429 FPS average, Medium produces 340 FPS (min 289, max 391), High produces 270 FPS, and Ultra produces 169 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 60.6% reduction in frame rate, demonstrating the performance cost of the highest quality preset.

At 2560x1440, the results scale proportionally. Low settings yield 271 FPS, Medium produces 214 FPS (min 182, max 247), High produces 170 FPS, and Ultra produces 106 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra at this resolution is 60.9%, nearly identical to the 1080p scaling, indicating consistent GPU behavior across these resolutions.

At 3840x2160, the performance curve steepens significantly. Low settings produce 141 FPS, Medium produces 112 FPS (min 95, max 129), High produces 89 FPS, and Ultra produces 56 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 60.3%, again showing consistent scaling, but the absolute values show that 4K Ultra is the only configuration that falls below playable thresholds.

The Medium preset is the only one with min/max data across all three resolutions. At 1080p, the 289-391 FPS range shows a 102 FPS spread. At 1440p, the 182-247 FPS range shows a 65 FPS spread. At 4K, the 95-129 FPS range shows a 34 FPS spread. This narrowing range at higher resolutions confirms that GPU saturation reduces frame time variance.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER combination ranks 2136 out of 3710 tested combos in Minecraft, placing it in the 42.4th percentile of all systems tested. This rank reflects a pairing that is capable but not exceptional for this specific game, which is notable given the GPU's strong absolute performance.

The CPU component of this pairing, the i5-9400, sits at the 47th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 2254. Its nearest rivals are tightly clustered: the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 scores 2259 (0.2% higher), the Intel Core i7-10710U scores 2248 (0.3% lower), the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 scores 2246 (0.4% lower), and the Intel Core i3-10305 scores 2264 (0.4% higher). This grouping shows the i5-9400 is essentially tied with its closest competitors in synthetic benchmarks.

The GPU, however, performs better relative to its peers. The RTX 2070 SUPER sits at the 65th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 20282. Its nearest rivals are all within 1.5% of its score, showing the GPU is competitively positioned. The measured Minecraft results, however, show the combo ranking lower than the GPU's percentile, suggesting the CPU may be holding back the system in CPU-light scenarios or that other combos with similar GPUs achieve better results.

The 2136 rank out of 3710 combos indicates that the majority of tested systems outperform this specific pairing in Minecraft. This is surprising given the high absolute frame rates measured, but it reflects the competitive nature of the benchmark database, where many systems feature newer or higher-end components.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves in Minecraft?

A: The highest measured average is 429 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next highest is 340 FPS at 1080p Medium, followed by 270 FPS at 1080p High.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K with any settings?

A: Yes. At 4K Medium, the average is 112 FPS with a minimum of 95 FPS. Even at 4K High, the average is 89 FPS. Only at 4K Ultra does performance drop below 60 FPS, with an average of 56 FPS.

Q: What is the performance difference between High and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, High settings produce 170 FPS average while Ultra produces 106 FPS average. The Ultra preset is 37.6% slower than High at this resolution.

Q: Is the RTX 2070 SUPER the limiting factor in this system?

A: The data suggests yes, particularly at higher resolutions. The frame rate drops consistently by roughly 37% from 1080p to 1440p and another 47% from 1440p to 4K across most settings, indicating GPU saturation. The CPU, which scores at the 47th percentile, appears to have ample headroom at lower resolutions.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: This combo ranks 2136 out of 3710 tested combos in Minecraft, placing it in the lower half of the database. The GPU alone ranks at the 65th percentile, suggesting the overall system rank is dragged down by the CPU or by competition from other pairings.

Q: What is the minimum FPS captured in the data?

A: The lowest minimum FPS recorded is 95 FPS at 3840x2160 with Medium settings. All other settings and resolutions did not report minimum FPS values in the measured data.