Best Minecraft performance mods (2026): Sodium + Iris on NeoForge, then tick and RAM

Minecraft running badly? Before you add a single mod, figure out which kind of slow you have. Choppy frames: install Sodium. Want shaders: add Iris on top (OptiFine in the same folder crashes). Frozen world / low TPS is the simulation — Lithium (Fabric/NeoForge) or, on my server, ServerCore plus spark. I play a NeoForge 1.21.1 pack with Create 6 + Aeronautics. The performance set I actually run is Sodium, Iris, ModernFix, FerriteCore, ImmediatelyFast, Entity Culling, ServerCore, spark. Full list: Create Aeronautics pack.

Download counts don’t tell you how many frames you’ll gain, so check your own F3 screen before and after.

Top picks

1. #1Install first

   S

   Sodium

   The client renderer that fixes fps drops.

   • Client
   • Fabric + NeoForge 1.21

   Price Free

   Get it free→
2. #2Shaders

   I

   Iris

   Loads shader packs on top of Sodium.

   • Needs Sodium
   • NeoForge 1.21.1+

   Price Free

   Get it free→
3. #3Server tick

   L

   Lithium

   Speeds up game ticks on the server side.

   • Fabric + NeoForge

   Price Free

   Get it free→
4. #4Load time

   M

   ModernFix

   Cuts load time and memory, paired with FerriteCore.

   • Load time + memory

   Price Free

   Get it free→
5. #5Profiler

   S

   spark

   Run /spark profiler before you guess what is slow.

   • /spark profiler

   Price Free

   Get it free→

Where the slowdown is

Press F3. Stand still. Note fps and, if you have it, server TPS / mspt.

• Fps drops, world still ticks — client. Sodium, entity culling, fewer shader effects, lower render distance.
• World stutters for everyone, entities freeze — server tick. Lithium / ServerCore / fewer Create contraptions / pre-gen chunks.
• Long load, then fine — memory and world-gen. ModernFix, FerriteCore, RAM allocation, pre-gen.

Guessing “install more performance mods” is how you put Sodium on a dedicated server and change nothing.

The jars I would open, and the ones I run

Sodium first

Sodium is a rendering-engine replacement for the client. CaffeineMC: better frame rates, less micro-stutter, rendering only. It does not speed up redstone or Create fans.

Install the build that names your loader and your Minecraft version. A Fabric jar in a NeoForge instance will not load. Big packs like ATM10 already include Sodium, so don’t add a second copy.` — if the pack includes it, do not add a second copy.

Hardware note from Sodium’s repo: they officially support GPUs with OpenGL 4.5 drivers (AMD GCN 1 / HD 7000+, NVIDIA Fermi / 400+, Intel Skylake HD 500+). Translation layers (GL4ES, ANGLE) are unsupported. On a laptop, shaders are usually what slows you down.

Iris second — and only if you want shaders

Iris loads OptiFine-style shader packs on top of Sodium. Official site: includes Sodium, Fabric from 1.16.5, NeoForge from 1.21.1, Forge is not supported. Incompatible with OptiFine, Canvas, Vulkan mods (crash). Iris 0.6+ line wants Sodium 0.6, not Embeddium.

My pack has Iris plus Complementary Reimagined / Unbound, Fantasy, Photon, Solas, and Faithful 64x. Create Aeronautics lists visual issues with Iris. On a weak PC I turn shaders off first. Faithful 64x costs VRAM. New to shaders? Read what a Minecraft shader is, or compare OptiFine vs Sodium.

Tick: Lithium, ServerCore, spark

Lithium (JellySquid / CaffeineMC family on CurseForge) is the named server-performance jar: Fabric and NeoForge. It isn’t in my Create Aeronautics instance.

What I do run on the server: ServerCore, and spark. When the tick dies, /spark profiler points at a mod or a moving factory. Guessing “Sodium” is wrong. Huge Aeronautics contraptions and new-chunk flight are the usual villains. Create Advanced Optimization is in the pack for that reason. Pre-generate if friends fly airships into unloaded land. Server hosting.

Memory and UI

ModernFix and FerriteCore are in the pack for load time and memory. ImmediatelyFast is the UI/text one. Entity Culling skips what you cannot see.

My Create pack needs more RAM than vanilla. Too much allocation makes GC hitch. The number is on the RAM page, not a copy-paste “16 GB” for every machine. Vault Hunters’ official site asks for 8192 MB allocated as their minimum.

If F3 still looks bad after Sodium, change one jar or one slider, then measure again.

What not to stack

• Sodium + OptiFine. Crash. Pick one renderer.
• Iris + Embeddium. Iris doesn’t work with Embeddium, so use Sodium.
• Two Sodium jars because ATM10 already added one.
• Sodium on the dedicated server to fix TPS.
• Every performance mod on a listicle in one night. Add Sodium. Play. Then add the next.

How to increase FPS is the settings half. A new jar is not step one if V-Sync and 8-chunk render distance are still on.

ATM10 and other packs that already include Sodium

All the Mods 10’s 1.21.1 NeoForge 8.3 file already shipped Sodium 0.8.13. If you add performance jars to a kitchen-sink pack, read the pack’s mod list first. A second Sodium, or an Embeddium next to Iris, is a crash. My custom pack lists the jars because I pinned them. A downloaded pack may already have done that work.

Distant Horizons / Voxy plus shaders is a special case: Iris’s FAQ says some shader packs support them, and the pack has to say so. I do not run Distant Horizons on the Aeronautics server.

Nvidium disables itself with shaders on (Iris FAQ). I play on a 5080; I still would not stack an extra renderer “because the GPU can.” One renderer is the rule.

A one-hour order

1. Confirm version + loader. My world is 1.21.1 NeoForge.
2. If the pack is custom: Sodium, then play 15 minutes with F3.
3. Frozen for everyone? spark on the server, not another renderer.
4. Want shaders? Iris, one pack, then Aeronautics’ warning.
5. Still hitching on load? RAM, ModernFix, FerriteCore — one change each.

Even on my RTX 5080, the pack is the heavy part, not the GPU. The pack is still the heavy part, not the GPU. If your machine is a laptop, shaders off is the first win.

Related: Minecraft guides, Best Minecraft mods (2026), PC builds, Java snapshot news.

Common questions

What are the best Minecraft performance mods?

Sodium is the big one for frame rate, with Lithium or ServerCore helping server-side performance, and memory mods like FerriteCore and ModernFix cutting RAM use. Add Iris if you want shaders.

Can I use OptiFine and Sodium together?

No. They both replace the renderer and will crash together, so pick one. Sodium with Iris is the usual modern combo.

Does Sodium support shaders?

Not by itself. Install Iris alongside Sodium to load shader packs.

Do performance mods go on the server or the client?

Rendering mods like Sodium and Iris go on the client. Server-side mods like Lithium and ServerCore help the world tick faster on the server.