Minecraft

This Intel Core Ultra X9 388H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile pairing delivers exceptional frame rates in Minecraft across all measured resolutions and presets. At 1080p, the average FPS ranges from 251 (Ultra) to 640 (Low), while at 4K the range is 83 to 211, showing a high-performance configuration that remains playable even at the highest resolution. The data indicates a system that is heavily GPU-bound at 4K, but the CPU's strong single-thread performance is the key enabler of the extremely high FPS at lower resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K reveal a consistent scaling pattern across all four settings. For High settings, the average FPS falls from 402 at 1080p to 254 at 1440p, a reduction of 36.8%, and then to 133 at 4K, a further 47.6% drop. Low settings show the same relative scaling: 640 → 404 (36.9% drop) → 211 (47.8% drop). Medium and Ultra follow the same curve, with Medium dropping from 507 to 320 to 167, and Ultra from 251 to 159 to 83. The total 1080p to 4K reduction is about 67% for every preset.

This scaling is not linear with pixel count. Moving from 1080p to 4K increases the number of pixels by a factor of 4, which would predict a 75% drop in FPS if the GPU were the sole bottleneck. The observed ~67% drop indicates that at lower resolutions the CPU limits the frame rate, while at 4K the GPU becomes the more limiting factor. The fact that the percentage drop is nearly identical across all settings (67.0%, 67.1%, 67.0%, 67.1%) suggests that the balance between CPU and GPU load does not change with quality level. This is typical of a game where rendering overhead scales with resolution but the CPU’s single-thread workload remains constant.

The medium preset includes measured minimum and maximum FPS. At 1080p Medium, the min is 431 FPS; at 1440p Medium, 272; at 4K Medium, 142. These minimums are all well above typical display refresh rates, indicating that even in demanding scenes, the combo maintains smooth frame delivery. The 4K minimum of 142 FPS is particularly notable because it exceeds the 144 Hz refresh rate common on high-end monitors, meaning the system never drops below that threshold at Medium settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 4K with Medium settings?

A: The average is 167 FPS, with a minimum of 142 and a maximum of 192.

Q: How does the CPU’s single-core performance affect Minecraft?

A: The Intel Core Ultra X9 388H has a boost clock of 5.10 GHz and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2200.5, which is sufficient to drive very high frame rates in Minecraft’s single-threaded rendering engine. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 640 FPS, demonstrating that the CPU can outpace the GPU at low resolutions.

Q: What is the combo’s rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combination ranks 792 out of 3,710 tested combos, placing it in the top 21.3% of all systems in this database.

Q: Is the GPU’s VRAM sufficient for Minecraft?

A: The RTX 4090 Mobile has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory with a 576.0 GB/s bandwidth, which is more than enough for Minecraft’s texture and chunk data, regardless of the render distance.

Q: Which preset gives the highest FPS at 1080p?

A: Low settings produce 640 FPS, but Medium still delivers 507 FPS with a minimum of 431, making it a viable high-refresh-rate option.

Q: What is the GPU’s FP32 performance?

A: The GPU offers 32.98 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, which is more than sufficient for Minecraft’s graphical demands, even at 4K.

Settings Recommendations

The data suggests that Medium is the optimal preset for most users. At 4K, Medium yields 167 FPS with a minimum of 142, while High drops to 133 FPS and Ultra to 83 FPS. The 142 FPS minimum ensures that the system stays above 140 FPS in all but the most extreme scenes, making it ideal for high refresh rate displays. At 1440p, Medium (320 FPS, min 272) and High (254 FPS) both provide excellent frame rates; High offers better visual fidelity without a significant FPS penalty. At 1080p, Medium (507 FPS, min 431) is the best balance, while High (402 FPS) is also smooth. Ultra is only recommended for users who prioritize image quality over frame rate; at 1080p it still delivers 251 FPS, but at 4K it falls to 83 FPS, which is below the 100 FPS mark.

The measured minimum FPS for Medium (431 at 1080p, 272 at 1440p, 142 at 4K) show that the system never dips below 140 FPS at 4K Medium, a strong result for a mobile GPU. If you have a 144 Hz monitor, Medium at 4K is the only preset that guarantees a frame rate above the refresh rate in all measured scenarios.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following table lists the exact average FPS for all tested settings and resolutions. Minimum and maximum values are available only for the Medium preset.

| Resolution | Settings | Avg FPS | Min FPS | Max FPS |

|------------|----------|---------|---------|---------|

| 1920x1080 | Low | 640 | — | — |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 507 | 431 | 583 |

| 1920x1080 | High | 402 | — | — |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 251 | — | — |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 404 | — | — |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 320 | 272 | 368 |

| 2560x1440 | High | 254 | — | — |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 159 | — | — |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 211 | — | — |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 167 | 142 | 192 |

| 3840x2160 | High | 133 | — | — |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 83 | — | — |

At 1080p, the spread between Low and Ultra is 389 FPS, while at 4K the spread narrows to 128 FPS. This indicates that the GPU becomes the dominant bottleneck at higher resolutions, compressing the performance range across settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 792 out of 3,710 places it in the top 21.3% of all tested systems. The CPU itself sits in the 88th percentile among all CPUs, and the GPU in the 84th percentile. The CPU’s average benchmark score is 44,466, with its nearest rivals—AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D, Intel Core i9-13950HX, AMD Ryzen AI Max 385, and Intel Core i5-13600—all within 0.5% of that score. This means the CPU is effectively tied with the best mobile processors available.

The GPU’s average benchmark score is 43,667, with the nearest rivals being the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 (0.8% higher), GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile (0.9% higher), and RTX A6000 (0.9% higher). The GPU is slightly behind the RTX A6000, but ahead of the Quadro M6000 and the RTX 5050 Mobile. Since the CPU and GPU are both near the top of their respective performance ranges, the overall combo rank of 792 out of 3,710 is a reflection of the fact that the combination is not at the absolute top, but still in the top quartile. The CPU’s percentile (88) is slightly higher than the GPU’s (84), suggesting that the CPU is the stronger component relative to its peers.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra X9 388H is a 16‑core, 16‑thread processor with a base clock of 2.10 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz. It features 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB L2 per core. The Cinebench R23 multi‑core score is 18,911, and the single‑core score is 2,200.5. The single‑core performance is the most relevant metric for Minecraft, which relies heavily on a single thread for world simulation and render commands. The 5.10 GHz boost clock and the single‑core score of 2,200.5 are the primary drivers of the 640 FPS result at 1080p Low.

The CPU’s average benchmark score of 43,466 places it at the 88th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals are all within 0.5% of its score, meaning that the Ultra X9 388H is essentially on par with the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D, Intel Core i9-13950HX, and AMD Ryzen AI Max 385. The 16 threads are more than sufficient for Minecraft’s background tasks, but they do not directly contribute to the frame rate; the game’s engine is not optimized for multi‑core scaling. The CPU’s memory support is LPDDR5X, with a memory bandwidth of 153.6 GB/s, which is ample for feeding the GPU and the game’s chunk data.

The CPU’s integrated graphics (Arc B390) is not used for rendering because the dedicated RTX 4090 Mobile is present, but the CPU’s power envelope of 25 W TDP (with a 25W TDP) ensures that the system can sustain the boost clocks without thermal throttling in a mobile chassis.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile is based on the AD103 chip, fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256‑bit bus, delivering 576.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU’s base clock is 1,335 MHz, with a boost clock of 1,690 MHz. The shading units total 9,728, with 304 TMUs and 112 ROPs. The compute capability is 32.98 TFLOPS FP32, and the GPU supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.4, and OpenGL 4.6.

The GPU’s PassMark G3D score is 27,212, placing it in the 84th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 (0.8% higher) and RTX 5050 Mobile (0.9% higher), while the RTX A6000 is 0.9% faster. The high memory bandwidth and 16 GB VRAM ensure that Minecraft never runs out of video memory, even with high render distances and large texture packs.

At 4K Ultra, the GPU still delivers 83 FPS, which is a playable frame rate, but the combination’s strong performance at Medium settings (167 FPS at 4K) demonstrates that the GPU is not the limiting factor when settings are lowered. The GPU’s FP32 throughput is more than sufficient for the game’s geometry and lighting calculations, and the 76 RT cores are not used by Minecraft (which does not employ ray tracing by default). The GPU’s transistor count of 45,900 million and die size of 379 mm² indicate a high‑end mobile chip, consistent with its measured performance.

The combination of a CPU with high single‑thread performance and a GPU with abundant compute resources results in a system that is balanced for Minecraft: the CPU drives the frame rate at lower resolutions, while the GPU takes over at 4K, but both components are strong enough that the system never dips below 83 FPS at 4K Ultra.