Minecraft

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 delivers a performance profile in Minecraft that is heavily influenced by the game’s engine and the resolution selected. The measured data reveals a system capable of very high frame rates at mainstream resolutions, but one that experiences a significant drop in performance when pushing towards 4K with maximum settings. This analysis breaks down the specific FPS figures, the role of each component, and how this particular combination stacks up against other tested configurations.

FAQ

Q: What is the overall rank of this CPU and GPU combination in Minecraft?

A: The combo ranks 860th out of 1176 tested combinations, placing it in the lower half of the database for this specific game.

Q: What is the best average FPS this combo achieves at 1080p?

A: The highest average FPS recorded at 1920x1080 is 355 FPS, which is achieved with the Low settings preset.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 perform relative to its nearest rivals in general benchmarks?

A: According to the data, the RTX 2060 is essentially tied with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (0% delta). It is also slightly ahead of the AMD Radeon 680M (0.1%) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM (0.6%), but trails the AMD Radeon RX 7600 by a 0.8% margin.

Q: What is the FPS drop when moving from 1080p to 4K on High settings?

A: On High settings, the average FPS drops from 223 at 1920x1080 to 74 at 3840x2160. This represents a significant 149 FPS reduction.

Q: Does the CPU have a high number of cores for this generation?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 has 10 cores and 10 threads. This is a 10-core configuration with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz.

Q: What is the VRAM capacity of the GPU used in this test?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is equipped with 6 GB of GDDR6 memory, which is a key specification for understanding its performance at higher resolutions and settings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is the primary driver for visual fidelity in this test. Its performance is defined by its 6 GB of GDDR6 memory and a 192-bit memory bus, providing a bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s. The card operates at a base clock of 1365 MHz and a boost clock of 1680 MHz, with its 1920 shading units handling the rendering workload. The data suggests that the GPU's capabilities are a key limiting factor at the highest settings and resolutions.

The benchmark results show a clear pattern: as the resolution and settings increase, the average FPS drops, indicating that the GPU is being pushed harder. For instance, at 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves 355 FPS. This high frame rate suggests the GPU is not overly burdened at this setting. However, at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS falls to 46, a substantial decrease that points to the GPU's 6 GB VRAM and overall compute power being saturated. The transition from Medium to Ultra settings at 1440p, which results in a drop from 177 FPS to 88 FPS, further illustrates the significant cost of enabling the highest visual features. The RTX 2060's position in the market, as indicated by its 58th percentile among all GPUs, supports the observation that it is a mid-range part that can handle high refresh rates at lower settings but struggles to maintain high performance at maximum load in a game like Minecraft.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the "High" preset provides the most balanced experience for this hardware combination across all tested resolutions. At 1920x1080, the High preset yields an average of 223 FPS, which is more than sufficient for a smooth experience on high-refresh-rate monitors. Moving to 2560x1440, the High preset still delivers a very playable 141 FPS. Even at 3840x2160, the High preset manages an average of 74 FPS, which is generally considered acceptable for a less demanding title like Minecraft.

While the Low preset offers the highest frame rates, with 355 FPS at 1080p and 224 FPS at 1440p, it likely comes at the cost of visual quality, reducing draw distance and disabling certain graphical effects. Conversely, the Ultra preset provides the best visuals but exacts a heavy performance toll. The drop from High to Ultra at 1080p is 84 FPS (from 223 to 139 FPS), and at 1440p, it is a 53 FPS drop (from 141 to 88 FPS). At 4K, the Ultra preset becomes nearly unplayable at 46 FPS. Therefore, for users seeking a balance between visual fidelity and performance, especially at higher resolutions, the High preset is the recommended choice. The Medium preset, which shows average FPS of 281 at 1080p and 177 at 1440p, is also a viable option, but the data shows that High offers a substantial improvement in visual quality for a relatively small performance cost in this specific game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive look at how the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and RTX 2060 handle Minecraft across different settings and resolutions.

At 1920x1080, the combo is exceptionally fast. The Low preset averages 355 FPS. Choosing Medium reduces this to 281 FPS, with a minimum of 239 FPS and a maximum of 323 FPS. The High preset averages 223 FPS, and the Ultra preset brings the average down to 139 FPS. This scaling shows that even at the most demanding settings, the system maintains a high level of performance.

At 2560x1440, the performance is still very strong. The Low preset yields an average of 224 FPS. The Medium preset averages 177 FPS, with a minimum of 151 FPS and a maximum of 204 FPS. High settings produce an average of 141 FPS, while the Ultra preset drops to an average of 88 FPS. This shows a clear trend of performance halving when moving from Low to Ultra.

At 3840x2160, the GPU starts to show its limitations. The Low preset is still playable, with an average of 117 FPS. The Medium preset averages 93 FPS, with a minimum of 79 FPS and a maximum of 107 FPS. However, the High preset sees a significant drop to 74 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls to just 46 FPS. This demonstrates that while the RTX 2060 can handle 4K at lower settings, it cannot maintain high frame rates with maximum graphical features enabled.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database for Minecraft, this specific combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 ranks 860th out of 1176 tested combos. This places it in the 73rd percentile of tested systems, meaning it outperforms a little over a quarter of all configurations tested for this game. The ranking indicates that while this is not a top-tier setup for Minecraft, it is far from being an underperformer. The CPU's 85th percentile ranking among all CPUs is higher than the GPU's 58th percentile ranking among all GPUs, suggesting that the graphics card is the more limiting component in this pairing. This is corroborated by the FPS data, which shows significant drops at higher resolutions and settings, a classic sign of GPU bottlenecking. The combo's rank is likely pulled down by the RTX 2060's mid-range standing, as more powerful GPUs can more easily handle the high frame rates that Minecraft is capable of producing.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225, with its 10 cores and 10 threads, is a capable processor for gaming. It has a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz, which allows it to handle the single-threaded nature of Minecraft's main game loop very well. The CPU's performance is reflected in its high average benchmark scores, such as 25,891 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 3,655 in single-core. Its 85th percentile ranking among all CPUs indicates that it is a strong performer, especially when compared to the GPU's 58th percentile ranking.

In this game, the CPU's high clock speeds and solid single-thread performance are crucial for achieving high frame rates, especially at lower resolutions where the GPU is not the bottleneck. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 355 FPS, a frame rate that requires a CPU capable of feeding the GPU with enough draw calls and game logic updates. The CPU's performance in the Passmark single-thread test (4,412) and its overall average benchmark score (36,938) are consistent with a processor that can support high frame rates in less demanding titles. The CPU is compared to the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F, which has a similar average score (36,945), indicating that the Core Ultra 5 225 is a competitive modern processor. It is clear that the CPU has enough headroom to keep up with the RTX 2060 in this title, and the performance limits are more likely to be found in the GPU.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data across resolutions reveals the shifting balance between CPU and GPU load. At 1920x1080, the system is likely CPU-limited at the lower settings, as the RTX 2060 is capable of rendering frames faster than the CPU can issue draw commands. This is evidenced by the enormous frame rates, such as 355 FPS on Low and 281 FPS on Medium. The performance drop from 1080p to 1440p is relatively modest for each setting—for example, High settings drop from 223 to 141 FPS, which is a 36.8% decrease. This suggests that the GPU is taking on more work, but the CPU is still able to keep up.

The scaling pattern changes more dramatically when moving from 1440p to 4K. On High settings, the FPS drops from 141 to 74, a 47.5% decrease. This is a much larger relative drop than the previous step, indicating that the GPU is becoming the primary bottleneck. The most telling data point is at 4K Ultra, where the average FPS falls to 46. This is a massive drop from the 88 FPS at 1440p Ultra, showing that the RTX 2060's 6 GB of VRAM and compute resources are severely stressed by the 8.3 million pixels at 3840x2160. The fact that the FPS at 4K Low (117) is still high, but the FPS at 4K High (74) and Ultra (46) are much lower, further confirms that the GPU's raw performance and memory capacity are the limiting factors at high resolutions. The data indicates that for this combination, 1080p and 1440p are the sweet spots, with 4K only being viable for lower graphical presets.