Fortnite

Fortnite with the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D and Intel Arc B370 presents a striking imbalance: a top-tier CPU paired with an entry-level integrated GPU. The benchmark data reveals a system where the processor's immense capability is almost entirely bottlenecked by the graphics solution, resulting in a playability profile that hinges entirely on resolution and settings compromise. This analysis breaks down the measured performance, contextualizes the components' roles, and offers guidance based strictly on the provided figures.

FAQ

Q: What is the best average FPS this combo achieves in Fortnite?

A: The highest average frame rate recorded is 104 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is the only configuration in the entire dataset that surpasses the 100 FPS mark.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 9800X3D compare to its nearest CPU rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The processor's average benchmark score is 39,768. It sits remarkably close to its nearest rivals, with the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840HS scoring 39,603 (0.4% slower) and the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 scoring 40,048 (0.7% faster). This indicates the 9800X3D is competitively positioned in overall synthetic performance, though its specific gaming strengths are not fully captured in these general scores.

Q: What is the GPU's performance percentile, and what does that imply?

A: The Intel Arc B370 sits in the 5th percentile of all GPUs. This is an extremely low ranking, indicating that its raw graphics processing power is in the bottom fraction of all tested graphics cards, which aligns with its classification as an integrated processor.

Q: What is the performance delta between the Arc B370 and its closest GPU rival?

A: The Arc B370's average benchmark score is 1,184. Its nearest rival, the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570, scores 1,186, a delta of -0.2%. The AMD Radeon HD 7650M is 0.7% behind, scoring 1,192. These margins are negligible, placing the B370 in a very specific, low-performance tier.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded at 2560x1440 on Medium settings?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the average FPS is 46, with a minimum frame rate of 39 FPS and a maximum of 53 FPS. This shows the frame time consistency at this demanding setting is relatively tight, even if the overall average is low.

Q: How many total combos does this system rank against in Fortnite?

A: This specific CPU and GPU combination is ranked 2,517 out of 2,740 total tested combos for Fortnite. This places it in the bottom 8% of all systems, underscoring its struggle with this particular title.

Settings Recommendations

The data strongly suggests that playable performance is only achievable at the lowest graphical preset. The measured FPS figures show a clear and severe penalty for increasing visual fidelity. At 1920x1080, the average frame rate drops from 104 FPS on Low to 73 FPS on Medium, a significant 31 FPS loss. The drop from Medium to High is even more punishing, falling to 57 FPS, and then to 37 FPS on Ultra. This pattern indicates that the Intel Arc B370's compute and memory resources are quickly overwhelmed by the game's rendering demands.

For a smooth experience, the Low preset is the only viable option. At 1080p, it delivers an average of 104 FPS, which is generally considered smooth. The Medium preset at 1080p, with an average of 73 FPS, may be acceptable for some, but the minimum FPS of 62 suggests occasional dips that could be noticeable. At higher resolutions, even the Low preset struggles: 2560x1440 yields 66 FPS, and 3840x2160 drops to 35 FPS. The data implies that users must prioritize frame rate over visual quality, and even then, the experience is limited by the GPU's capabilities. The 4K performance on Low (35 FPS) is borderline unplayable for a competitive title like Fortnite, suggesting 1080p is the intended resolution for this combo.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is a flagship desktop processor, and its specifications confirm its high-end positioning. It features 8 cores and 16 threads, built on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge) using a 4 nm process. Its base clock is 4.70 GHz, and it can boost up to 5.20 GHz. This CPU has a massive 96 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus. Its synthetic benchmark scores are robust: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 23,230 and a single-core score of 2,080, alongside a Geekbench multi-core score of 18,696.

Despite this processing power, the game's performance is not limited by the CPU. The benchmark results show that the frame rate scales almost entirely with resolution and settings, which are primarily GPU-centric workloads. For example, at 1080p, dropping from High to Low increases FPS from 57 to 104. This massive jump is a classic sign of a GPU bottleneck being lifted. The CPU has ample headroom to feed frames, but the Intel Arc B370 simply cannot render them quickly enough. The Ryzen 7 9800X3D's high single-thread performance (a Passmark single-thread score of 4,430) and multi-thread capabilities are effectively idle, waiting for the GPU to catch up. In this configuration, the CPU's role is to ensure the game logic and draw calls are processed without introducing its own frame time delays, which it does, but the GPU is the definitive limiting factor.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 7 9800X3D and Intel Arc B370 is ranked 2,517 out of 2,740 tested combos in Fortnite. This is a remarkably low position for a CPU that, on its own, performs in the 87th percentile of all CPUs. The data highlights a massive mismatch in component tiers. The CPU's average benchmark score is 39,768, placing it near the top of its class, with rivals like the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 (score 40,081) and AMD Ryzen AI 7 450 (score 39,485) being within a 1% performance delta. This shows the processor is a top-tier part.

In stark contrast, the Intel Arc B370's average benchmark score is a paltry 1,184, placing it in the 5th percentile of all GPUs. Its rivals are legacy parts like the ATI Radeon HD 5770 (score 1,190) and AMD FirePro M2000 (score 1,168). The combination of a top-13% CPU with a bottom-5% GPU creates a system where the overall rank is dragged down almost entirely by the graphics component. The 2,517th rank out of 2,740 combos suggests that virtually any system with a discrete GPU from the last decade would outperform this pairing in a graphics-intensive game like Fortnite. This combo's rank is a direct reflection of the GPU's severe limitations, not the CPU's capabilities.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370 is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) based on the Xe3-LPG architecture (Panther Lake chip) on a 3 nm process. Its specifications reveal its entry-level nature: a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2,400 MHz, with 1,280 shading units, 40 TMUs, and 20 ROPs. Critically, it uses "System Shared" memory, meaning its performance is heavily dependent on the system's main memory bandwidth, which is listed as "System Dependent." This is a fundamental weakness for gaming, as the GPU must compete with the CPU for memory access.

The GPU's benchmark results confirm its weak standing. Its only recorded benchmark, 3dmark_steel_nomad_dx12, yielded a score of 1,184, placing it in the 5th percentile. This score is nearly identical to that of the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1,186), a GPU from a bygone era. The measured FPS in Fortnite directly reflects this low compute power. The frame rates are consistently low, even at 1080p. For instance, at 1080p Ultra, it only manages 37 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it drops to a slideshow-like 13 FPS. The GPU's 6.144 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power is clearly insufficient for the demands of a modern, constantly updated game like Fortnite at high settings. The data shows that the GPU is the absolute bottleneck, and its "System Shared" memory architecture likely contributes to the performance collapse at higher resolutions due to increased memory pressure.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive look at the system's performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the results are as follows: Low averages 104 FPS, Medium averages 73 FPS (min 62, max 84), High averages 57 FPS, and Ultra averages 37 FPS. This shows a clear linear degradation from Low to Ultra, with a 67 FPS difference between the lowest and highest settings.

At 2560x1440, the performance drops significantly. Low averages 66 FPS, Medium averages 46 FPS (min 39, max 53), High averages 36 FPS, and Ultra averages 24 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra here is 42 FPS. At 3840x2160 (4K), the system struggles to maintain playable frame rates. Low averages 35 FPS, Medium averages 25 FPS (min 21, max 28), High averages 19 FPS, and Ultra averages 13 FPS. The 4K data shows the GPU is completely overwhelmed, with even the Low preset failing to hit 60 FPS.

The data pattern is consistent: for every settings step up, there is a substantial FPS penalty. At 1080p, moving from Low to Medium costs 31 FPS, from Medium to High costs 16 FPS, and from High to Ultra costs 20 FPS. This indicates that the GPU's shading units and memory bandwidth are the primary constraints, and each increase in visual complexity (textures, shadows, effects) has a direct and significant impact on the render time.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is severe and telling. At Low settings, the average FPS goes from 104 at 1080p, to 66 at 1440p, and finally to 35 at 4K. This represents a 66% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K. At Medium settings, the drop is from 73 FPS to 46 FPS to 25 FPS, a 66% reduction as well. The High preset shows a similar trend: 57 FPS to 36 FPS to 19 FPS, a 67% drop. The Ultra preset goes from 37 FPS to 24 FPS to 13 FPS, a 65% decrease.

This consistent ~66% performance loss when moving from 1080p to 4K is a critical diagnostic. A purely GPU-bound scenario would see a more dramatic drop, as the pixel count quadruples. The fact that the FPS does not drop to a quarter of the original value suggests that while the GPU is the limiting factor, it is not purely fill-rate limited. The bottleneck likely lies in the GPU's compute throughput and its shared memory bandwidth. As resolution increases, the memory traffic for textures and frame buffers grows, and the "System Shared" memory becomes a severe constraint. The data indicates that the limiting component is overwhelmingly the GPU, but the scaling pattern suggests a memory bandwidth ceiling rather than just raw pixel-pushing power. The CPU, with its 89.6 GB/s memory bandwidth and high core count, is not the source of this scaling bottleneck; it is the GPU's inability to access data quickly enough that cripples performance at higher resolutions.