Fortnite

The measured data for Fortnite pairs an Intel Core i3-12100F with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090, producing a wide spread of average FPS across four resolutions and four settings presets. This combination ranks 149th out of 3,700 tested combos in the game database, placing it in the top 4% of all configurations. The i3-12100F is a 4-core, 8-thread desktop processor from Intel's Core 12th Gen lineup, while the RTX 4090 is a 24 GB GDDR6X graphics card with 16,384 shading units and Ada Lovelace architecture.

Resolution Scaling

Resolution scaling reveals how much of this combo's performance is governed by the GPU versus the CPU. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 261 at 1920x1080 to 166 at 2560x1440, then to 88 at 3840x2160. That is a decline of roughly 36% from 1440p to 4K, and a further 47% from 1440p to 1080p. At Low settings, the same pattern shows: 412 FPS at 1080p, 304 at 1440p, and 160 at 4K—a 61% reduction between the two extremes. Medium settings yield a steeper drop: 337 FPS at 1080p, 214 at 1440p, and 113 at 4K. These numbers indicate that lower resolutions exhibit larger absolute FPS but also bigger relative steps, suggesting a growing CPU limit as the GPU is less loaded.

The Ultra preset shows the smallest relative loss across resolutions: 172 FPS at 1080p, 110 at 1440p, and 58 at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is less than half of the 1080p Ultra figure, yet the 1080p-to-1440p drop is only 62 FPS. This pattern implies that at 1080p, the CPU often caps frames—the RTX is capable of far more than 172 FPS at Ultra, but the i3-12100F sets an upper bound. At 4K, the GPU load increases to a point where the CPU no longer limits, but the absolute FPS is still modest.

The Medium preset rows also include min and max FPS, showing frame pacing. At 1440p Medium, the range is 182 to 246 FPS (average 214), while at 1080p Medium it's 286 to 387 (average 337). At 4K Medium, the min is 96 and the max 130. These min/max spans are fairly typical for a fast-paced game like Fortnite, which is a Battle Royale title that often has sharp frame time spikes during building and combat. No min/max data is provided for Low, High, or Ultra presets.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the best experience depends on the target frame rate and resolution. For a 1080p display, the Low preset delivers 412 FPS, which is far beyond any standard 144 Hz or 240 Hz monitor needs, but it sacrifices visual quality. Medium on 1080p still yields 337 FPS, meaning the CPU and GPU combination is not constrained at this resolution and setting. High at 1080p drops to 261 FPS, still excellent for high-refresh displays, while Ultra gives 172 FPS, which is still comfortable for 60 Hz but not for high refresh rates.

At 1440p, Low hits 304 FPS, Medium 214 FPS, High 166 FPS, and Ultra 110 FPS. Here the Medium preset appears to be the sweet spot for balance: it provides above 200 FPS for smooth frame delivery while offering more visual detail than Low. At 4K, the choice is more obvious. Low gives 160 FPS, Medium 114 FPS, High 88 FPS, and Ultra 58 FPS. For a 4K display that is 60Hz, High is the highest preset that clears the refresh line; Medium is also well above 100 FPS, so it's a better trade-off between quality and smoothness. Ultra at 4K is playable at 58 FPS, but the frame work so close to the 60 Hz threshold.

Across all resolutions, the data suggests that the Ultra preset is not optimal anywhere: it yields at most 172 FPS at 1080p, while lower settings provide much higher headroom. The game is a competitive Battle Royale, and the measured numbers show that Low or Medium presets are preferable for maximizing frame rates, unless the display isn't high refresh.

GPU Role

The RTX 4090's role in Fortnite is substantial. The GPU has 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, offering 1.01 TB/s of memory bandwidth. Its shading units number 16,384, with 512 TMUs and 176 ROPs. The base clock is 2235 MHz and boost clock 2400 MHz—one should carefully check that the boost clock in the pack is 2520 MHz? Actually the pack states "boost": "2520 MHz" - we'll use that. The GPU also features 512 tensor cores and 128 RT cores. These specifications make it far from a GPU-limited product in most games, but Fortnite's low-and-Medium presets often shift the load to the CPU.

In the measured frames, the GPU clearly generates very high FPS at 1080p Low: 412 FPS average. This is far beyond the refresh rate limit of most monitors, indicating that the GPU is not a limiting factor for that preset and resolution. However, as the resolution climbs to 4K, the same Low preset manages 100–160 FPS, which is still very playable. The Ultra preset at 4K (58 FPS) shows the GPU's limits under the most demanding load of the three tested resolutions.

A important detail is that the GPU roll is at least partially role-limited by the CPU at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the CPU (a 4-core i3) has to feed the GPU; the measured 412 FPS is likely near the CPU's maximum instruction throughput for Fortnite, while the RTX 4090 is capable of FPS far beyond that. This is a clear indication of a CPU bottleneck—a term the data supports without directly naming it.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with High settings?

A: The measured average FPS is 261 at 1920x1080 using the High preset.

Q: Does the combo hold 60 FPS at 4K?

A: At 4K, the High preset gives 88 FPS, Medium 119 FPS, Low 160 FPS, only Ultra drops below 60 at 58 FPS.

Q: Which setting offers the highest average FPS?

A: The Low preset provides the highest measured average at every resolution, from 412 FPS at 1080p to 160 FPS at 4K.

Q: Is the RTX 4090 the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: No. The data shows 1080p Low at 412 FPS, which is far beyond typical monitor rates; the i3-12100F (4 cores, 8 threads) likely limits the game at low presets and 1080p.

Q: Does resolution scaling hurt the frame rate more from 1440p to 4K?

A: The relative drop differs. For High, the 1440p-to-4K drop is about 88 FPS, while the 1080p-to-1440p drop is about 95 FPS. So the drop is almost comparable, but lower percentages appear.

Q: The GPU has 24 GB VRAM—does that play a role?

A: Fortnite uses far less than that at these settings, so the VRAM is not a constraint; the bandwidth and raster performance are more impactful.

How This Combo Ranks

In the ensemble of tested combinations for Fortnite, this CPU-GPU pair ranks 149th out of 3,700. That is approximately the 96th percentile, meaning it outperforms the vast majority of other tested combos. The ranking is likely pulled down by the CPU's limited 4-core design. While the GPU is near the top of the GPU hierarchy (88th percentile among all GPUs), its highest potential is not fully harnessed because the processor's four do not have the single-thread performance to drive Fortnite at the highest frame rates. The combined measured FPS across all settings is high, so the rank 149 is still strong. A more balanced CPU (like a 6-core or 8-core modern chip) could likely push this into the top 1% of combos.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F sits at the lower end of the desktop CPU scale. It has 4 physical cores and 8 threads, with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. The TDP is 58 W, and it supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus. In synthetic tests, the CPU achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 11,860 and a single-core of 1,674, while its Geekbench single-core is 1,932. These numbers confirm it is a strong per-core performer for a 4-core chip.

In Fortnite, the CPU governs the ceiling for frame rates when the preset is Low or Medium at moderate resolutions. For instance, at 1080p Medium, the CPU must maintain 337 FPS—a very high rate that essentially saturates the i3's capacity. The fact that 1080p Low gives 412 FPS and 1080p Medium 337 shows that the GPU is still scaling, but the gap between Low and Medium (75 FPS) is less than the gap between Medium and High (76 FPS), despite the GPU being far more loaded at High. The CPU is likely the limiting component in the Medium and Low tiers at 1080p, while at 4K, both CPU and GPU are heavily stressed but the GPU's load becomes the primary bottleneck.

The boost clock of 4.30 GHz provides enough single-threaded performance for Fortnite's main task, but the low cores count means that background threads and optimization of the Unreal Engine may be constrained. The CPU's 12 MB L3 cache and 2.25 MB per-core L2 are moderate. In the data, the 4K Ultra at 58 FPS shows the CPU's limitations in heavily threaded scenes—but this is also a low FPS for the GPU, so the two are balancing.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080

• Low: avg 412 FPS
• Medium: avg 337 FPS, min 286 FPS, max 387 FPS
• High: avg 261 FPS
• Ultra: avg 172 FPS

2560x1440

• Low: avg 304 FPS
• Medium: avg 215 FPS, min 182 FPS, max 246 FPS
• High: avg 166 FPS
• Ultra: avg 110 FPS

3840x2160

• Low: avg 160 FPS
• Medium: avg 113 FPS, min 96 FPS, max 130 FPS
• High: avg 88 FPS
• Ultra: avg 58 FPS

These rows are the complete measured data for Fortnite with the i3-12100F and RTX 4090. The averages are consistent with the known behavior of a mid-core CPU paired with a top-tier GPU: at low resolution the CPU is the ceiling, at high resolution the GPU load dominates. The min/max columns, provided only for Medium, show that frame pacing is stable at all three resolutions, with the 96–130 FPS window at 4K being the tightest—indicative of steady rendering. No other preset exposes variance in the pack.

The data reveals that this combination is highly playable at most modern display refresh rates. For 1080p, every except Ultra far exceeds 240 Hz, allowing full use of high-refresh monitors. At 1440p, Low and Medium exceed 200 FPS. Even at 4K, Low and Medium stay above 100 FPS, making this a viable 4K gaming setup, despite the CPU's relative weakness. The 75-FPS gap between Medium and High at 4K shows that High detail costs more than half the performance, while Medium is the most balanced config. The Ultra preset at each resolution provides less than half the FPS of Low—a clear argument for using Low or Medium for competitive play.

The overall rank in combo list indicates that for Fortnite, the RTX 4090 outweighs the modest CPU. Most of the 3,700 tested setups place this pairing in the top 96 percentile, confirming that the GPU handles the graphics engine well, while the CPU delivers enough single-thread IPC for this unshadered game. Builders considering a 4K monitor will find this pairing useful; those on a 1080p high-refresh monitor might prefer a stronger CPU, though the GPU is listed here as a cost factor.