Fortnite

Fortnite presents an interesting scaling study for the AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination. The data shows a clear pattern where the CPU becomes a significant constraint at lower resolutions, while the GPU takes over as the primary bottleneck at 4K. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 369.1 FPS, but this drops to 259 FPS at High settings, indicating that the CPU's single-thread performance is the limiting factor in these scenarios. Moving to 1440p, the numbers scale predictably, with Low yielding 302.7 FPS and Ultra 111.5 FPS, showing a more balanced workload between the two components. At 4K, the GPU's capabilities are fully utilized, with the gap between Low (158.8 FPS) and Ultra (57.3 FPS) widening dramatically, confirming that the RTX 4090 is the dominant variable at this resolution.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K reveals how the system's bottleneck shifts. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra settings is 196 FPS (369.1 to 173.1), which is a substantial 53% drop. This large delta suggests that the Ryzen 5 5500, with its 6 cores and 12 threads boosting to 4.20 GHz, is struggling to feed the RTX 4090 at lower resolutions. The CPU's single-core benchmark scores, such as 836 in 3dmark_single_thread and 2319 in cinebench_r23_singlecore, position it in the 79th percentile of all CPUs, which is solid but not exceptional for a flagship GPU pairing.

At 1440p, the scaling becomes more moderate. Low produces 302.7 FPS, while Ultra drops to 111.5 FPS, a 63% reduction. The intermediate settings show a smoother curve: Medium hits 213.8 FPS and High 167.4 FPS. This pattern indicates that the GPU is starting to take on more of the rendering load, but the CPU still has headroom to influence frame rates, particularly at the lower presets. The 4K results tell a different story entirely. Here, the RTX 4090's 24 GB of GDDR6X memory and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth become the deciding factor. Low settings yield 158.8 FPS, but Ultra plummets to 57.3 FPS, a 64% drop. The gap between Medium (112 FPS) and High (86.4 FPS) is also notable, showing that the GPU's 16384 shading units are being pushed to their limits with higher graphical fidelity.

The data suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is the primary bottleneck, as even the most demanding preset (Ultra at 173.1 FPS) does not fully saturate the GPU's potential. At 4K, the roles reverse, and the GPU's performance ceiling becomes the limiting factor. The 1440p resolution appears to be the sweet spot where both components contribute more equally to the frame rate, with the spread between Low and Ultra being the most consistent.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average FPS achievable with this combo?

A: The highest recorded average FPS is 369.1 at 1080p with Low settings. This represents the peak performance of the Ryzen 5 5500 and RTX 4090 combination in Fortnite.

Q: How does the RTX 4090's performance compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4090 has an average benchmark score of 66473, which places it in the 91st percentile of all GPUs. It is 0.4% behind the NVIDIA Tesla T4 (66733 score) and 0.5% ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla P40 (66127 score), based on the deltaPct values.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 5500 a bottleneck for the RTX 4090 in Fortnite?

A: At 1080p, yes. The CPU's performance limits frame rates to a maximum of 369.1 FPS on Low settings, while at 4K the GPU becomes the limiting factor. The CPU's 79th percentile ranking among all CPUs supports this observation.

Q: What are the FPS differences between Medium and High settings at 1440p?

A: At 1440p, Medium settings produce 213.8 FPS, while High settings produce 167.4 FPS. This represents a 46.4 FPS difference, showing that the step from Medium to High has a significant impact on performance.

Q: Does the combo rank in the top tier for Fortnite specifically?

A: The combo ranks 67th out of 1564 tested combinations for Fortnite, placing it in the top 4.3% of all tested systems. This is a strong result, though not the absolute best.

Q: How much does the RTX 4090's memory bandwidth contribute to 4K performance?

A: The GPU's 1.01 TB/s bandwidth and 24 GB of GDDR6X memory are crucial for 4K performance. The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the combo achieves 57.3 FPS, which is 70% lower than at 1080p Low, indicating the GPU's memory subsystem is heavily taxed at higher resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

For players prioritizing competitive gameplay with high frame rates, the Low preset at 1080p delivers the best performance at 369.1 FPS, though this comes at the cost of visual fidelity. The Medium preset at 1080p offers a more balanced experience at 322.4 FPS, which is only 13% slower than Low while providing better graphics quality. At 1440p, the Medium preset at 213.8 FPS is the optimal choice for those with high-refresh-rate monitors, as it maintains smooth gameplay without the visual compromises of Low settings.

For those with 4K displays, the Medium preset at 112 FPS provides the best balance between visual quality and playability. The High preset at 86.4 FPS is playable but may feel less responsive in fast-paced combat scenarios. The Ultra preset at 57.3 FPS is best reserved for single-player or non-competitive modes, as the frame rate drops below the 60 FPS threshold that many players consider essential for smooth gameplay.

The data indicates that the Medium preset consistently offers the most favorable performance-to-quality ratio across all resolutions. At 1080p, it delivers 322.4 FPS; at 1440p, 213.8 FPS; and at 4K, 112 FPS. These numbers represent a significant improvement over High settings while maintaining acceptable visual quality for most players.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination ranks 67th out of 1564 tested combos for Fortnite, placing it in the top 4.3% of all tested systems. This ranking is impressive given that the CPU is not a top-tier processor, but the GPU's exceptional performance compensates for its limitations. The CPU's average benchmark score of 20875 puts it in the 79th percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU's average score of 66473 places it in the 91st percentile of all GPUs.

In the context of the combo's ranking, the GPU is clearly the dominant contributor. The RTX 4090's performance is within 1.3% of its nearest rivals (the NVIDIA Quadro P6000 at 67320 score), while the CPU is only 0.2% behind the Intel Core i5-12600T (20917 score). This suggests that the combo's ranking is primarily driven by the GPU's capabilities, and that a more powerful CPU could potentially push the rank higher.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 plays a pivotal role in this combo's Fortnite performance. Its 24 GB of GDDR6X memory and 384-bit memory bus provide 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth, which is essential for handling the high-resolution textures and complex scenes at 4K. The GPU's 16384 shading units, 512 TMUs, and 176 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s, enabling the high frame rates observed in the data.

The RTX 4090's clock speeds, with a base of 2235 MHz and a boost of 2520 MHz, contribute to its 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. This raw compute power is evident in the benchmark results, where the GPU scores 38194 in passmark_g3d and 317684 in geekbench_opencl. The GPU's 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores also support advanced features like ray tracing and DLSS, though these are not directly measured in the provided FPS data.

The GPU's memory configuration is particularly important for Fortnite at 4K. The 24 GB capacity ensures that textures and assets are loaded without stuttering, while the 1.01 TB/s bandwidth allows for rapid data transfer between the memory and the GPU cores. This is reflected in the 4K results, where the GPU maintains 158.8 FPS on Low settings but drops to 57.3 FPS on Ultra, showing the memory system's limits under maximum load.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce 369.1 FPS, Medium 322.4 FPS, High 259 FPS, and Ultra 173.1 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a consistent decrease, with the largest single drop occurring between High and Ultra (85.9 FPS difference).

At 2560x1440, performance scales down proportionally. Low yields 302.7 FPS, Medium 213.8 FPS, High 167.4 FPS, and Ultra 111.5 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 88.9 FPS, while the gap between Medium and High is 46.4 FPS, and High to Ultra is 55.9 FPS. This shows a more even distribution of performance across settings compared to 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck. Low produces 158.8 FPS, Medium 112 FPS, High 86.4 FPS, and Ultra 57.3 FPS. The differences between consecutive settings are 46.8 FPS (Low to Medium), 25.6 FPS (Medium to High), and 29.1 FPS (High to Ultra). The relatively smaller gaps between Medium, High, and Ultra at 4K indicate that the GPU's rendering capabilities are being saturated, and additional graphical fidelity comes at a higher performance cost.