System configurations that work best with minecraft ?

[DrKnoz]

Long story short: My GTX 285 burned out. Bought that thing used for 50 bucks, no problem, same procedure, got a used HD 6950 for 60 bucks. Nice. Faster, more Ram, less power than the monster that is called GTX285.This computer uses a Motherboard from 2006 and i can play Bioshock Infinite on high, no problem. Its ridiculous - and i love it.

Minecraft however...not sure. The HD6950 does clock up to full clock when minecraft launches, but GPU utilization shows as 0% (For reference - Youtube vids run something in between 4-17%).

The GTX 285...did spin the fans up pretty good, but i never checked GPU utilization. Being a power hog, clocking up may have been reason enough for the fans to go up in speed. However i do think i had a few FPS more. But that is hard to tell, since it depends on the machinery currently installed in the base, amount of animals currently in the farm, amount of material currently in pipes, etc.

Can't go back and test, 285 is real properly dead, computer won't even boot as far as bios with it.

(Edit: This system has no on board/APU/secondary graphics - i am not talking about that bug)


Been doing a lot of googling on this, and basically Minecraft works well for some people, others struggle with systems 3 times as good as mine. Weird.


So, instead of asking for answers to my problem, which nobody is going to have, i will ask this (because i am planning to buy a new computer this year):

Are there ANY GPUs minecraft can actually use. ? Is someone actually getting GPU usage? Or is minecraft categorically incapable of using higher GPU functions?

 

[ScottulusMaximus]

Minecraft/java barely uses the GPU, you can force it to with ur gfx card software and using mods like Optifine but the rendering is still predominantly CPU based

 

[Padfoote]

I have MC set to run on my Nvidia 660m, which it does with no issues.

 

[DrKnoz]

Been reading similar statements all over the net. Problem is, you can add all java and ftb related programs to catalyst and it changes nothing. So this is 2:0 for Nvidia. It simply does not work at all for my AMD card. Gonna try optifine later. But it makes ftb glitchy.

Edit: Yeah, predictable, Optifine does actually make minecraft use the GPU, 20-25%, but that doesn't mean the FPS actually improves....it doesn't.

And it glitches the visuals of all fluid containing contraptions as discussed before.

 

[ScottulusMaximus]

And it glitches the visuals of all fluid containing contraptions as discussed before.

Turn off Fast Render in the Performance tab in the video options, fixes the flickering

 

[DrKnoz]

Not present in Optifine for 1.64 . That would be too easy -.-

Before this thread derails, my problem is not the issue here, it pretty much can't be fixed - apparently

I'd be much more interested in hearing how much GPU usage you are seeing with which graphics card.

 

[lenscas]

I don't have a second monitor so keeping track of this kind of stuff is pretty anoying but after flying a bit in creative in my own modpack using FWG world gen I got this graph

my gpu is: AMD Radeon R7 200
my cpu is:i7-4820k

 

[Blood Asp]

The usage of the graphics card by minecraft is strongly dependend on the used mods and what is build in bases. Usually Minecraft needs so little grafics power is runs just fine on a IGPU. When playing not on home, i sometimes even use my MS surface pro 2 with low power dual core CPU (2x1.6GHz), 4GB Ram and Intel HD Graphics 4400. And that even on a 100+ mods pack. Certainly the FPS are low, but it works. About 30-40FPS on a new world. Inside bigger bases it goes down to ~8-10FPS. Only shadermods ore high res textures are completely impossible.

My desktop PC on the other side has an overclocked i5-4670 @ 4.2GHz, 16GB ram and a GTX980 GPU and even there sometimes happen short lags in some situations.

 

[Baron_Falcon]

It's java and memory leaks as far as I've been told by my MC friends who are highly capable in programming and IT. One has a computer set up for extremely resource hungry video editing, and when he logs in to the heavier mod packs, for example tolkiencraft, java will eventually reach 6Gigs of RAM (he has 16G). Infinity will have me at 3.5Gigs for java alone within 30 min of gameplay. I remember when it used to stay below 2Gigs. I've never considered buying a gaming comp until recently due to the heavy RAM requirements of FTB modpacks, which I can only assume are going to get worse. I know I can edit the pack and remove a lot of mods I don't use and that would help, but when I play on our private server I'll need to add them back and of course that causes all kinds of issues with single play.

 

[Planetguy]

Java isn't really at fault for most of the bad performance. It's about 10% worse than optimal C++, I heard. What's wrong is that Minecraft is just terribly written in general - things like Optifine and Fastcraft help with some of it. Other things are too central to change without breaking every mod out there, like rendering using ancient fixed-function OpenGL, and probably a lot of lag related to entities.

 

[ScottulusMaximus]

for example tolkiencraft, java will eventually reach 6Gigs of RAM (he has 16G). Infinity will have me at 3.5Gigs for java alone within 30 min of gameplay.

Well there's his problem, if you allocate 16 gig to MC it will use 16 gig. 2-3gig MAX otherwise you're just asking for lag.

 

[rhn]

Are there ANY GPUs minecraft can actually use. ? Is someone actually getting GPU usage? Or is minecraft categorically incapable of using higher GPU functions?

It is not a matter of Minecraft actually being able to use some GPUs. It is a matter of Minecraft being programmed in a way that contains a lot of jobs that needs to be processed by a GPU. By default it does not. Rendering the game requires VERY little as shapes are extremely low in polygons(big squares you know?) and textures are small in sizes.

But Minecraft does contain a LOT of jobs that needs to be processed by a CPU. On the top of the list is stuff like entity "AIs" and modded Minecrafts various entity processes(machines etc.). You simply cannot push these over onto a GPU no matter how much you wish to, the GPU is not designed for this.

What you can do is add a lot of jobs that needs to be taken care of by the GPU and increase the ones it already got in difficulty. We are talking about adding texture packs, adding high(er) polygon items and adding new rendering features like shading and various other things(this is what half of Optifine does, it unlocks various graphical improvements that are not possible in normal Minecraft). But these will not help increase performance, quite the contrary usually. But they will grant you increased visuals as the expense of GPU(and some CPU) resources.

 

[Baron_Falcon]

I have tried Optifine in the past, and it seemed to make a difference when I set almost everything possible to off etc. HOwever the last couple times I tried using it I couldn't find a compatible version. Is there a version that works with Infinity?

 

[Baron_Falcon]

Well there's his problem, if you allocate 16 gig to MC it will use 16 gig. 2-3gig MAX otherwise you're just asking for lag.

Interestingly, despite what I "allocate" to MC, it uses whatever it wants. Example, I have allocated 3gig in the launcher. I just had to force close Java from task manager because it was using 4.2gig running the latest version of Infinity that I had just downloaded and it stopped responding.

 

[Padfoote]

Interestingly, despite what I "allocate" to MC, it uses whatever it wants. Example, I have allocated 3gig in the launcher. I just had to force close Java from task manager because it was using 4.2gig running the latest version of Infinity that I had just downloaded and it stopped responding.

MC will almost always use more than what you allocate. 3GB allocated typically ends up being 4-6 used.

 

[Baron_Falcon]

MC will almost always use more than what you allocate. 3GB allocated typically ends up being 4-6 used.

Interesting. In any event looks like im going back to 1.3, 1.5 is already using 4gigs at the start screen. Thats double what it was with 1.3.

 

[Lautaro_Busto]

In my case with 4gb it's more than enough on the task manager says that java it's using 2,7gb almost the same on the f3 screen

 

[Trump]

I've got a monster machine with 64gb RAM (allocating 16gb to MC) and 16 cores at 4.2 ghz. But yet, I still find myself lagging playing SSP Infinity. I was hoping to see some help here, but it doesn't seem like it. I've got more hardware than I need, but it seems I still have the same issues as everyone with the less-capable machines.

 

[lenscas]

(allocating 16gb to MC)

theres your problem, lower your ram to 4 at most.
Another thing to check for is if minecraft doesn't use your integrated gpu(assuming you have one)

 

[Trump]

(allocating 16gb to MC)

theres your problem, lower your ram to 4 at most.
Another thing to check for is if minecraft doesn't use your integrated gpu(assuming you have one)

I'll drop the RAM. I've got a GeForce 660 GTX660. I don't think there's anything special I can do with it for MC.