minetest.conf

-- Minetest client settings to improve FPS
-- DO NOT REPLACE YOUR minetest.conf WITH THIS; GO INTO ADVANCED SETTINGS AND CHANGE THESE

-- In the main settings dialog:
-- * NO particles
-- * NO 3d clouds
-- * OPAQUE leaves
-- * OPAQUE water
-- * NO texturing filter
-- * YES Mipmap + Aniso. Filter
-- * NO antialiasing
-- * NO shaders
-- * NO shadows

-- SUPER IMPORTANT: it lets you decouple the GPU/CPU stuff a bit. 
-- the game will be more responsive in terms of interaction and FPS, but it
-- makes newly placed or broken blocks take a moment to visually change.
mesh_generation_interval = 1
-- this can help even more, though it can make the map seem to take forever to load
mesh_generation_interval = 50

-- IMPORTANT: reduce the number of different active textures
desynchronize_mapblock_texture_animation = false

-- reduce ram usage, at the expense of having to wait for more back-and-forth with the server
client_mapblock_limit = 1000
client_unload_unused_data_timeout = 60
-- reduce back-and-forth with the server, at expense of more ram usage
client_mapblock_limit = 50000
client_unload_unused_data_timeout = 3600

-- SUPER IMPORANT: render the least amount of stuff
-- you can adjust this in-game with the + and - keys
viewing_range = 20

-- fog doesn't add much load, but w/out fog you can see farther w/ a low viewing_range
enable_fog = false
fog_start = 0.99

-- if you've got enough ram, this will help
enable_mesh_cache = true

-- if you've got enough ram, increasing this will help
meshgen_block_cache_size = 20 -- default value

-- don't draw much when you're paused. won't help in-game, but may make your other 
-- applications more responsive when minetest is in the background.
pause_fps_max = 5

-- Enables tradeoffs that reduce CPU load or increase rendering performance
-- at the expense of minor visual glitches that do not impact game playability.
performance_tradeoffs = true

-- this makes little difference
enable_clouds = false

-- only use this as a last resort, as it dramatically affects how the game appears, and all signs become illegible
undersampling = 1

-- transparent textures might show up a little odd, but this helps
transparency_sorting_distance = 0

-- THE FOLLOWING ARE PROBABLY ALREADY SET

-- "this should greatly improve graphics performance"
enable_vbo = true

inventory_items_animations = false

-- settings which may have an effect, which i haven't researched

-- transparency_sorting_distance

Cool!