Minecraft

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER delivers exceptional performance in Minecraft, but the data reveals a complex relationship between resolution, settings, and component utilization. This combination ranks in the 79th percentile of all tested combos, indicating that while it is not the absolute top-tier configuration, it provides a robust experience that scales predictably across the board. The measured frame rates, which range from a minimum of 105 FPS at 4K Ultra to a maximum of 455 FPS at 1080p Low, show that this system is never bottlenecked to the point of unplayability, though the nature of the limiting factor shifts dramatically depending on the workload.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data shows a clear and consistent scaling pattern as resolution increases, which is characteristic of a system where the GPU becomes progressively more stressed. At 1080p High, the combo delivers 385 FPS, which drops to 321 FPS at 1440p High, and further to 168 FPS at 4K High. This represents a 16.6% decrease from 1080p to 1440p, and a 56.4% decrease from 1080p to 4K. The absolute FPS at 4K High (168 FPS) is still exceptionally high, but the percentage drop indicates that the RTX 4080 SUPER's rendering workload is scaling significantly with pixel count.

The pattern is more pronounced at lower settings. Moving from 1080p Low (455 FPS) to 1440p Low (390 FPS) is a 14.3% reduction, but the jump to 4K Low (267 FPS) is a 41.3% reduction from the 1440p figure. This suggests that at Low settings, the system is more CPU-limited at lower resolutions, as the raw frame rate is so high that the i5-9400's six cores become the primary constraint. As resolution increases, the GPU's pixel throughput becomes the dominant factor, and the frame rate drops accordingly.

The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling. At 1080p Ultra, the combo achieves 318 FPS, which is already lower than the High preset at the same resolution due to increased graphical effects. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 201 FPS (a 36.8% reduction), and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 105 FPS (a 47.8% reduction from 1440p). This steep decline at Ultra settings indicates that the most demanding graphical features are heavily taxing the GPU, and the 4K Ultra result, while still playable, is the only configuration where the system dips below 120 FPS.

The scaling data suggests that the RTX 4080 SUPER is the primary limiting component at 4K, as the frame rates drop significantly from lower resolutions. However, the fact that 1080p Low (455 FPS) is substantially higher than 1080p High (385 FPS) indicates that the CPU can still keep up with the GPU's output, even at very high frame rates. The system is not severely CPU-bound at any tested configuration, but the gap between Low and High settings at 1080p (70 FPS) hints that the i5-9400 is working harder at lower settings to feed the GPU.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual fidelity and raw performance across all resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the combo produces 418 FPS with a minimum of 356 FPS and a maximum of 481 FPS, which is only 37 FPS lower than Low but provides significantly better graphics. At 1440p Medium, the average is 359 FPS with a minimum of 305 FPS, which is still exceptionally smooth and only 31 FPS lower than Low. At 4K Medium, the average drops to 212 FPS with a minimum of 180 FPS, which is still well above the 144 Hz refresh rate of most high-end monitors.

The High preset is also viable, particularly for users who prioritize visual quality over maximum frame rates. At 1080p High, the system delivers 385 FPS, and at 1440p High, it produces 321 FPS. However, at 4K High, the average drops to 168 FPS, which is still smooth but begins to approach the lower end of high-refresh-rate territory. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, and while it is playable at 1080p (318 FPS) and 1440p (201 FPS), the 4K Ultra result of 105 FPS is noticeably lower and may not be ideal for competitive play or very fast-paced scenarios.

The data indicates that Medium is the sweet spot for this combo, as it provides a substantial visual upgrade over Low while maintaining frame rates that are nearly as high. The minimum FPS values at Medium (356 FPS at 1080p, 305 FPS at 1440p, 180 FPS at 4K) are all well above the threshold for smooth gameplay, suggesting that there are no significant frame-time spikes that would cause stuttering. For users with 4K displays, Medium is the recommended preset, as it delivers 212 FPS average, which is a 26% improvement over High and a 102% improvement over Ultra.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-9400 and RTX 4080 SUPER combination ranks 778th out of 3710 tested combos in Minecraft, placing it in the top 21% of all configurations. This rank is notable because it demonstrates that the older i5-9400, which has a percentile rank of 47 among all CPUs, is not severely holding back the much newer and more powerful RTX 4080 SUPER, which has a percentile rank of 86 among all GPUs. The 778th rank out of 3710 suggests that while there are many faster combinations, this pairing is well above average for the game.

The CPU's nearest rivals provide context for its synthetic benchmark performance. The i5-9400 has an average benchmark score of 2254, which is nearly identical to the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (2259, -0.2%), the Intel Core i7-10710U (2248, 0.3%), and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (2246, 0.4%). This indicates that the i5-9400 performs in line with these other mid-range processors in general computing tasks. In Minecraft, however, the combination with the RTX 4080 SUPER yields a much higher percentile rank than the CPU alone, suggesting that the GPU has a significant impact on the overall gaming score.

The GPU's nearest rivals show that the RTX 4080 SUPER is closely matched with the standard RTX 4080 (54247, -0.1%) and the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X (54828, -1.1%), while being slightly behind the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB (55698, -2.7%) and AMD Radeon 8060S (55757, -2.8%) in average benchmark scores. This places the RTX 4080 SUPER in a competitive position within its performance class. The 778th rank in Minecraft reflects that this combo is strong but not dominant, as there are likely many configurations with newer, higher-core-count CPUs that can push even higher frame rates in this CPU-light game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. The Low preset achieves an average of 455 FPS, which is the highest measured value across all configurations. Medium produces 418 FPS with a minimum of 356 and a maximum of 481. High yields 385 FPS, and Ultra drops to 318 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 137 FPS, indicating that the graphical settings have a significant impact on performance, but even the lowest average (318 FPS) is far above what is needed for smooth gameplay.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain very high but show a clear reduction from 1080p. Low produces 390 FPS, Medium delivers 359 FPS with a minimum of 305 and a maximum of 413, High achieves 321 FPS, and Ultra falls to 201 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 189 FPS, which is larger than at 1080p, suggesting that the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor as resolution increases. The minimum FPS at Medium (305 FPS) is still very high, indicating consistent performance.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates are substantially lower but still playable. Low achieves 267 FPS, Medium delivers 212 FPS with a minimum of 180 and a maximum of 243, High produces 168 FPS, and Ultra drops to 105 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra at 4K is 162 FPS, which is larger than at 1080p but slightly smaller than at 1440p. This suggests that the GPU is heavily taxed at 4K, but the RTX 4080 SUPER's 16 GB of VRAM and high memory bandwidth prevent any catastrophic performance drops. The 4K Ultra result of 105 FPS is the only measured value below 120 FPS, but it remains well above the 60 FPS threshold for standard displays.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain over 200 FPS?

A: The data shows that 4K Medium (212 FPS) is the highest resolution and setting combination that maintains an average above 200 FPS. At 4K High, the average drops to 168 FPS, so users seeking over 200 FPS should stick to Medium or lower settings at 4K.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU in Minecraft?

A: The benchmark results indicate that the i5-9400 is not severely bottlenecking the RTX 4080 SUPER. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 455 FPS, which is exceptionally high, and the CPU's six cores and 4.10 GHz boost clock appear sufficient to feed the GPU. However, the 70 FPS difference between 1080p Low and High suggests that the CPU is working harder at lower settings.

Q: How does the Ultra preset affect performance compared to High?

A: The Ultra preset consistently reduces frame rates by approximately 20-25% compared to High. At 1080p, High delivers 385 FPS while Ultra delivers 318 FPS. At 1440p, the difference is 120 FPS (321 vs 201), and at 4K, it is 63 FPS (168 vs 105). The performance cost of Ultra is significant, especially at higher resolutions.

Q: Is this combo suitable for 4K gaming?

A: Yes, the data shows that 4K gaming is viable with this combo. At 4K Medium, the average FPS is 212, and at 4K High, it is 168. Even at 4K Ultra, the average is 105 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS standard. The minimum FPS at 4K Medium is 180, indicating consistent performance without major drops.

Q: What is the highest FPS achievable with this combo?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 455 at 1920x1080 with the Low preset. This is the only configuration that exceeds 450 FPS, and it demonstrates the raw capability of the RTX 4080 SUPER when the CPU is not heavily tasked. The maximum FPS recorded across all tests is 481 at 1080p Medium.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 SUPER's VRAM affect Minecraft performance?

A: The GPU has 16 GB of GDDR6X VRAM with a 256-bit bus and 736.3 GB/s bandwidth. While Minecraft is not typically a VRAM-heavy game, this large memory pool ensures that there are no memory-related bottlenecks at any resolution or setting tested, as evidenced by the consistently high frame rates even at 4K Ultra.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a six-core, six-thread processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture, manufactured on a 14 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz, with 9 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR4 memory in a dual-channel configuration with a memory bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s. In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-9400 scores 6629 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 935 in single-core, with a Geekbench multi-core score of 5141 and single-core of 1389. Its average benchmark score is 2254, placing it in the 47th percentile of all CPUs.

In Minecraft, the CPU's role is to handle game logic, world generation, and entity updates. The i5-9400's six cores are sufficient for this task, as evidenced by the high frame rates at lower resolutions where the CPU is more likely to be the limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 455 FPS, which indicates that the CPU can keep up with the GPU's output. The boost clock of 4.10 GHz is important for single-threaded performance, which is critical in Minecraft's Java-based engine that often relies on a single primary thread for game logic.

The CPU's performance is closely matched to its nearest rivals, with a delta of only -0.2% to 0.4% compared to the Intel Core i7-1068NG7, i7-10710U, and AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500. This suggests that the i5-9400 is a solid mid-range processor for gaming. However, the fact that the combo ranks 778th out of 3710 in Minecraft indicates that there are many CPUs with higher core counts or newer architectures that can push even higher frame rates in this game, particularly at 1080p where the CPU has more influence on the final result.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is a high-end graphics card based on the Ada Lovelace architecture, manufactured on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It features 10,240 shading units, 320 texture mapping units, and 112 raster output units, along with 80 ray tracing cores and 320 tensor cores. The GPU has a base clock of 2295 MHz and a boost clock of 2550 MHz, with 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 736.3 GB/s. The card's FP32 performance is 52.22 TFLOPS, and it has a TDP of 320 W. In synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 4080 SUPER scores 6600 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, 219065 in Geekbench OpenCL, and 260075 in Geekbench Vulkan, with an average benchmark score of 54209, placing it in the 86th percentile of all GPUs.

In Minecraft, the GPU's role is to render the world, handle shaders, and manage draw calls. The RTX 4080 SUPER's high pixel rate of 285.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 816.0 GTexel/s are directly relevant to the game's rendering workload. The large 16 GB VRAM buffer ensures that even at 4K Ultra with high-resolution textures, the card does not run out of memory. The measured FPS data shows that the GPU is the primary limiting factor at 4K, as frame rates drop significantly from 1440p to 4K at all settings.

The RTX 4080 SUPER is closely matched to the standard RTX 4080 in synthetic benchmarks, with a delta of -0.1%, and it outperforms the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X by 1.1%. However, it trails the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB and AMD Radeon 8060S by 2.7% and 2.8%, respectively, in average benchmark scores. Despite this, the measured FPS in Minecraft shows that the GPU is more than capable of delivering very high frame rates, with the lowest average being 105 FPS at 4K Ultra. The GPU's high memory bandwidth and clock speeds allow it to maintain consistent performance across all tested configurations, as evidenced by the minimum FPS values at Medium settings being 356 FPS at 1080p, 305 FPS at 1440p, and 180 FPS at 4K.