Minecraft

Minecraft with the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER delivers a performance profile that is dominated by the CPU at lower resolutions and progressively shifts toward the GPU as resolution increases. The measured data shows this combination ranks 793rd out of 1176 tested combos, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the field, yet the absolute frame rates are high enough for smooth gameplay across most settings. The following analysis breaks down the measured results to provide clear guidance on configuration and component behavior.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data across resolutions and presets reveals a clear hierarchy for the best experience. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset returns 153 FPS on average, which is respectable, but the High preset delivers 245 FPS, a 60% improvement over Ultra. The Medium preset pushes further to 308 FPS, and Low reaches 389 FPS. Given that the jump from Medium to Low is only 26%, while the jump from High to Medium is 26%, the Medium preset at 1080p offers the best balance of visual quality and performance headroom, especially since its minimum FPS is recorded at 262, ensuring no drops below the refresh rate of most standard monitors.

At 2560x1440, the same pattern holds. Ultra produces 97 FPS, High delivers 154 FPS, Medium reaches 195 FPS, and Low hits 246 FPS. The Medium preset again provides a strong middle ground, with minimum FPS of 165 and maximum FPS of 224, which keeps gameplay fluid on high-refresh-rate 1440p panels. High is also viable at 154 FPS, but Medium offers a 27% performance increase while still maintaining a visually detailed scene.

At 3840x2160, the situation tightens. Ultra drops to 50 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for fast-paced action. High returns 81 FPS, while Medium reaches 102 FPS with a minimum of 86 FPS and maximum of 117 FPS. Low achieves 128 FPS. For 4K, the Medium preset is the recommended choice, as it provides over 100 FPS on average and keeps minimums above 85 FPS, which is well within the range of smooth gameplay. High is acceptable for those prioritizing visuals, but Medium offers a 26% FPS increase with minimal perceptible quality loss in this sandbox title.

Across all resolutions, the data consistently shows that Medium provides the best experience per the measured rows, delivering frame rates that are 60% higher than Ultra while maintaining a floor that avoids stutter. The Ultra preset appears poorly optimized for this combination, with a penalty of roughly 40% compared to High at every resolution, making it the least efficient choice.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 is a 10-core, 10-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, built on a 3 nm process. Its base clock is 3.30 GHz with a boost clock of 4.90 GHz, and it carries 20 MB of shared L3 cache. In synthetic benchmarks, this CPU scores 25891 points in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 3655 points in single-core, with a PassMark single-thread score of 4412. These figures indicate strong per-core performance, which is critical for Minecraft's primary game logic and world-generation threads.

The measured FPS data shows that at 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combination reaches 389 FPS, which is exceptionally high and suggests the CPU is capable of driving the game engine well beyond typical display refresh rates. The CPU's percentile ranking of 85 versus all CPUs confirms it sits in the top 15% of processors, and its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F with a deltaPct of 0, meaning they are statistically tied in average benchmark score. The Intel Core i9-12900T is 0.5% behind, and the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D is 0.2% ahead, showing that the Core Ultra 5 225 is competitive with mid-range and older high-end parts.

In the context of Minecraft, the CPU's role becomes evident when comparing Low to Ultra settings at a fixed resolution. At 1080p, Low yields 389 FPS while Ultra yields 153 FPS, a difference of 236 FPS. This gap is too large to be explained solely by GPU load, as the RTX 2060 SUPER is capable of higher output. The data suggests that at Low settings, the CPU is the primary limiter, pushing frame rates to nearly 400 FPS, while at Ultra settings, the increased draw distance and entity complexity burden the CPU further, but the GPU also becomes more involved. The high single-thread score of 3655 in Cinebench R23 indicates that the processor handles Minecraft's single-threaded physics and redstone calculations efficiently, though the game does benefit from the 10 cores when multiple chunks are loaded.

The boost clock of 4.90 GHz is a key factor, as Minecraft's frame rate is often tied to maximum turbo frequency. The data shows that at 1440p Low, the FPS drops to 246, which is a 37% reduction from 1080p Low, indicating that the CPU's performance ceiling is reached at lower resolutions. At 4K Low, the FPS further drops to 128, but this is now more influenced by the GPU, as the CPU has more time to prepare frames. The Core Ultra 5 225's 65 W TDP and 3 nm process allow for sustained boost clocks without thermal throttling, which is beneficial for long gaming sessions. Its 10 threads are sufficient for Minecraft's multi-threaded chunk generation, and the data supports that the CPU is never the bottleneck at higher resolutions, where GPU load dominates.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is a Turing-architecture GPU with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock is 1470 MHz with a boost clock of 1650 MHz, and it features 2176 shading units, 136 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The GPU's PassMark G3D score is 16462, placing it in the 62nd percentile versus all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the RTX 3060 Mobile (0.4% lower score) and AMD Radeon Pro 5700 (0.5% lower), indicating the desktop RTX 2060 SUPER is closely matched with these parts.

In Minecraft, the GPU's role is to render the scene, handle shader effects, and manage texture memory. The 8 GB VRAM is sufficient for the game's texture packs and render distance at 1080p and 1440p, and the data shows that at 4K Ultra, the GPU becomes the limiting factor. At 3840x2160 Ultra, the average FPS is 50, which is a 67% drop from 1080p Ultra (153 FPS). This dramatic reduction highlights that the GPU's 7.181 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is strained by the 4K resolution and Ultra settings, which require more pixel throughput and texture sampling.

Comparing resolutions at the same settings isolates the GPU's scaling. At High settings, the FPS goes from 245 at 1080p to 154 at 1440p (a 37% drop) and then to 81 at 4K (a 47% drop from 1440p). This non-linear decline is characteristic of a GPU that is becoming saturated at higher resolutions. At Low settings, the FPS goes from 389 at 1080p to 246 at 1440p (37% drop) and then to 128 at 4K (48% drop from 1440p). The consistent ~37% drop from 1080p to 1440p suggests that the GPU is the primary limiter at these settings, as the CPU has ample headroom. The fact that 4K Low (128 FPS) is lower than 1440p High (154 FPS) indicates that resolution has a stronger impact on this GPU than settings, confirming that the RTX 2060 SUPER is well-suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming but struggles to maintain high frame rates at 4K with this CPU.

The GPU's memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s is adequate for Minecraft's blocky textures, even at high render distances. The data shows that the Medium preset at 4K yields 102 FPS, which is a balanced point where the GPU can still keep up with the CPU's frame generation. The boost clock of 1650 MHz is modest by modern standards, but the Turing architecture's efficiency allows it to deliver consistent performance across the measured rows. The GPU's 62nd percentile ranking versus all GPUs means it sits above average, and its performance in this game is in line with its synthetic scores.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER ranks 793rd out of 1176 tested combos in Minecraft, placing it in the 67th percentile of all combinations (since 793/1176 = 0.674). This rank indicates that while the combo is above the median, it is not near the top of the leaderboard. The CPU's 85th percentile ranking is significantly higher than the GPU's 62nd percentile, which suggests that the GPU is the more limiting component in this pairing.

The low combo rank relative to the CPU's strong standing implies that many other tested combos use higher-end GPUs, which push frame rates higher in this game. However, the data shows that this combo still achieves very playable frame rates at all tested resolutions except 4K Ultra. The rank of 793 means there are 383 combos that perform worse, and the fact that the CPU is in the top 15% while the GPU is in the upper third suggests that upgrading the GPU would yield a larger rank improvement than upgrading the CPU. The nearest rival GPUs (RTX 3060 Mobile, Radeon Pro 5700) are within 0.5% of the RTX 2060 SUPER's score, indicating that the combo's rank is not an outlier but representative of a mid-range GPU paired with a strong CPU.

In the context of the 1176 combos, this pairing is positioned for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where the measured FPS exceeds 150 FPS on High settings. The rank reflects the GPU's limitations at 4K, where the combo falls to 50 FPS on Ultra, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The data supports that this combo is a capable 1440p machine, with the CPU providing headroom for future GPU upgrades.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 245 at 1080p to 154 at 1440p, a 37% reduction, and then to 81 at 4K, a further 47% reduction from 1440p. This compounding drop indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the CPU's frame generation capability is not being fully utilized.

At Low settings, the drop from 1080p to 1440p is also 37% (389 to 246 FPS), and the drop from 1440p to 4K is 48% (246 to 128 FPS). The similarity in the 1080p-to-1440p drop across all settings (37-38%) suggests that the GPU's pixel throughput is the bottleneck, as the resolution increase directly impacts the number of pixels rendered. The slightly larger drop from 1440p to 4K (47-48%) is due to the GPU hitting its memory bandwidth and fill-rate limits at 4K.

The scaling from 1080p to 4K at High settings is a 67% reduction in FPS (245 to 81), while at Low settings it is also 67% (389 to 128). This consistency indicates that the GPU's performance scales linearly with pixel count, and the CPU is not introducing any additional bottleneck. The Medium preset shows a similar pattern: 308 FPS at 1080p, 195 FPS at 1440p (37% drop), and 102 FPS at 4K (48% drop from 1440p). The minimum FPS values at Medium also scale proportionally, with 262 at 1080p, 165 at 1440p, and 86 at 4K, confirming that the frame time consistency is maintained as resolution increases.

This scaling behavior identifies the GPU as the limiting component at 4K, as the CPU's performance headroom is evident from the 1080p Low result of 389 FPS. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would remain relatively flat across resolutions, but the data shows a steep decline. The RTX 2060 SUPER's 8 GB VRAM and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K, the GPU's compute throughput of 7.181 TFLOPS is insufficient to maintain high frame rates at Ultra settings. For users targeting 4K, the Medium preset is the sweet spot, as it provides 102 FPS, which is 27% higher than High and 104% higher than Ultra.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for this combo at 1080p?

A: The Medium preset at 1920x1080 yields 308 FPS on average with a minimum of 262 FPS, offering the best balance of visual quality and performance. Ultra drops to 153 FPS, which is a 50% reduction, while Low only increases to 389 FPS, a 26% gain over Medium.

Q: How does this combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 50, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. High settings improve this to 81 FPS, and Medium reaches 102 FPS, making Medium the recommended preset for 4K.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this game?

A: At 1080p and 1440p, the data shows the GPU is the primary limiter, as FPS drops by 37% when moving from 1080p to 1440p across all settings. The CPU's high single-thread score of 3655 in Cinebench R23 allows it to push 389 FPS at 1080p Low, indicating it is not the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 SUPER compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 2060 SUPER has a PassMark G3D score of 16462, which is 0.4% lower than the RTX 3060 Mobile and 0.5% lower than the AMD Radeon Pro 5700. The AMD Radeon RX 460 is 1.5% behind, and the Intel Arc A770M is 1.6% behind.

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking among tested configurations?

A: This combination ranks 793rd out of 1176 tested combos, placing it in the 67th percentile. The CPU's 85th percentile ranking is higher than the GPU's 62nd percentile, confirming the GPU is the limiting component.

Q: Does the CPU's 10-core configuration benefit Minecraft?

A: The Core Ultra 5 225 has 10 cores and 10 threads, which helps with chunk generation and multi-threaded tasks. The strong multi-core score of 25891 in Cinebench R23 supports this, but the single-thread score of 3655 is more critical for Minecraft's primary game logic, as evidenced by the high frame rates at 1080p Low.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are as follows: Low settings produce 389 FPS, Medium produces 308 FPS with a minimum of 262 and maximum of 355, High produces 245 FPS, and Ultra produces 153 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 236 FPS, indicating that the Ultra preset imposes a significant performance penalty.

At 2560x1440, the average FPS values are: Low at 246 FPS, Medium at 195 FPS with a minimum of 165 and maximum of 224, High at 154 FPS, and Ultra at 97 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent at 37% for Low, Medium, and High, while Ultra drops by 37% as well (153 to 97 FPS).

At 3840x2160, the average FPS values are: Low at 128 FPS, Medium at 102 FPS with a minimum of 86 and maximum of 117, High at 81 FPS, and Ultra at 50 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K provides a minimum FPS of 86, which is the lowest recorded minimum across all resolutions and settings, but still playable.

The data shows that the Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum and maximum FPS values across all resolutions, providing insight into frame time consistency. At 1080p Medium, the range is 262-355 FPS, at 1440p Medium it is 165-224 FPS, and at 4K Medium it is 86-117 FPS. This consistency indicates that the Medium preset avoids the severe frame drops that might occur at other settings. The Ultra preset at each resolution is the lowest performer, with 4K Ultra at 50 FPS being the only sub-60 FPS result in the entire measured dataset.