Getting Minecraft to run on underperforming hardware might be the new Doom. Surely, the benchmark of a skilled gaming enthusiast lies in their ability to run this beloved game on unsupported hardware. Such is the case today, thanks to a recent video uploaded by a channel known as Budget-Builds Official. Using a 20-year-old GPU, they've successfully run a playable instance of Minecraft using just 8MB of VRAM.
If you want to play Minecraft and check out the most recent list of spec requirements, you'll find that it needs Windows 10, at least 2GB of RAM, and an Intel HD Graphics 4000 card or an AMD Radeon R5 card. This setup, however, is put together on an old desktop running Windows XP. Not only that, it's relying on a 3D Phantom XP-2800 GPU from Pine Technology, which was released in 2005 and features a chip inside that's much older than leading GPUs at that time.
Budget-Builds Official quickly realized that if they were going to pull this off, some sacrifices would have to be made. This means running an older version of Minecraft rather than the latest edition. The game requires an x86 processor, and this rig uses an Athlon 64 CPU, which managed to fit the bill. This CPU needs a cooler to operate efficiently alongside the 3D Phantom XP-2800 card, so Budget-Builds was quick to install that before delving into the testing phase.
The first test used Minecraft Alpha 1.2.6, which didn't initially work. Investigation proved that the problem lay within the OpenGL side of the 3D Phantom XP-2800. Through a bit of work, however, it was discovered that Microsoft had some SiS drivers that would allow the card to display the game, but only when using a CRT monitor. After this update, Minecraft Alpha 1.2.6 was a go. But this was just the first test. According to Budget-Builds Official, the goal was to get an official release running rather than just the Alpha or Beta.
The next edition on the list to try was Minecraft 1.6.4, which managed to load at about one fps for 2 minutes before crashing. Budget-Builds Official decided to make some serious changes to the gameplay settings to maximize the playability. The game was playable by removing all of the effects (clouds, fog, and everything in between), turning off animations, lowering the resolution, and setting everything to the most minimal level possible. To help with the performance, the world server is running on a nearby laptop rather than on the machine itself. An 8x8 texture pack was also necessary to prevent the game from crashing.
Ultimately, this is one of those projects you put together because you can, not because you should—and we're all for it. Budget-Builds Official has pushed the boundaries when it comes to running Minecraft.
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