Fortnite

Resolution Scaling

Fortnite’s frame-rate curve across resolutions reveals a system that is clearly GPU-limited at higher pixel counts, but with enough headroom at 1080p to suggest the CPU is doing its share of the work. At 1080p with Low settings, the Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 combination produces 277.1 FPS average. Moving to 1440p drops that to 175.1 FPS, a 36.8% reduction, and at 4K the average falls to 95.8 FPS, which is another 45.3% cut. The scaling is steep, but the absolute numbers remain playable even at 4K Low.

The picture changes when settings are raised. At High settings, the 1080p average is 149.8 FPS, 1440p delivers 99.6 FPS (a 33.5% drop), and 4K lands at 51.5 FPS (a 48.3% drop from 1440p). The pattern is consistent: each resolution step costs roughly a third to half of the previous frame rate, which is typical of a GPU-bound scenario where the RTX 3070’s rendering throughput is the limiting factor. At 4K Ultra, the system bottoms out at 35.4 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold most competitive players target.

The data suggests that at 1080p, particularly with Low or Medium presets, the i5-11400F has enough compute headroom to feed the RTX 3070. The jump from 1080p Low (277.1 FPS) to 1440p Low (175.1 FPS) is a 36.8% loss, which is larger than the pure pixel-count difference of 77.8%, indicating that the GPU is already saturated. Conversely, the gap between 1440p High (99.6 FPS) and 4K High (51.5 FPS) is a 48.3% loss, again pointing to the GPU as the bottleneck. This is a classic sign that the RTX 3070 is the dominant constraint at resolutions above 1080p, while the CPU’s 6-core/12-thread configuration with a 4.40 GHz boost clock is sufficient to avoid becoming the primary limiter at lower resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide a clear hierarchy for balancing frame rate and visual fidelity. For competitive play, the Low preset at 1080p delivers 277.1 FPS, which is more than enough for high-refresh-rate monitors and leaves massive headroom for the GPU to breathe. At 1440p Low, the average is still 175.1 FPS, making it viable for 144Hz displays. The Medium preset offers a middle ground: 194.7 FPS at 1080p and 125.1 FPS at 1440p. This is a 29.7% reduction from Low at 1080p and a 28.6% reduction at 1440p, but the visual quality improvement is typically worth the trade for most players.

For those prioritizing visual fidelity over raw frame rate, High at 1080p (149.8 FPS) is the sweet spot, as it remains above 144 FPS and provides significantly better rendering than Medium. At 1440p High, the average falls to 99.6 FPS, which is still smooth for 100Hz panels but not ideal for 144Hz. The Ultra preset is the most demanding: 100.2 FPS at 1080p, 66.5 FPS at 1440p, and 35.4 FPS at 4K. The drop from High to Ultra at 1080p is 33.1%, which is substantial for a single preset step, suggesting that Ultra’s extra effects (shadows, reflections, post-processing) carry a heavy cost.

The best experience per the measured data is High at 1080p for a balance of smoothness and visual quality, or Medium at 1440p for higher resolution without sacrificing too much frame rate. At 4K, only Low (95.8 FPS) is truly playable, while Medium (65.5 FPS) is borderline and High (51.5 FPS) is only suitable for slower-paced modes. For esports-focused players, Low at 1080p is the clear choice, as the 277.1 FPS average ensures minimal input latency and maximum responsiveness.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Rocket Lake architecture, built on Intel’s 14 nm process. Its base clock is 2.60 GHz with a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, and it carries 12 MB of shared L3 cache. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU scores 6036 in Cinebench R20 multi-core and 852 in single-core, while Geekbench reports 7579 multi-core and 1979 single-core. The 3DMark results show a scaling pattern: 1691 for 2 threads, 3171 for 4 threads, 4691 for 8 threads, and 5652 for max threads. This indicates that the chip scales well up to 8 threads, but the gains taper off beyond that, which is typical for a 6-core part.

In Fortnite, the CPU’s role is most evident at 1080p with Low settings, where the frame rate reaches 277.1 FPS. This is a high enough number to suggest that the CPU is keeping pace with the GPU’s demands, but it is not the bottleneck. The 3DMark max-thread score of 5652 is 0.7% higher than the 8-thread score, showing that the extra threads provide marginal benefit in this game. The nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U (0% delta) and Intel Core i7-1260P (-0.2% delta), indicating that the i5-11400F is competitive with mobile parts that have similar multi-threaded performance.

The CPU’s 75th percentile ranking among all CPUs suggests it is a solid mid-range performer, but in Fortnite, the frame rates at 4K (51.5 FPS High) are so low that the CPU is clearly not the limiting factor there. At 1440p High (99.6 FPS), the CPU still has headroom, as evidenced by the fact that the 1080p High score (149.8 FPS) is only 50.5% higher than 1440p High, which is less than the pixel-count difference. This implies that the GPU is the dominant constraint at these settings, and the i5-11400F’s 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient to avoid creating a CPU bottleneck in most scenarios.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average frame rate this combo can achieve in Fortnite?

A: The highest measured average is 277.1 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Intel Core i5-11400F has an average benchmark score of 17181, which is 0% different from the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U and -0.2% from the Intel Core i7-1260P, meaning performance is effectively identical.

Q: Is the RTX 3070 the bottleneck at 4K?

A: Yes. At 4K High, the average is 51.5 FPS, which is 48.3% lower than at 1440p High (99.6 FPS). This steep drop indicates the GPU is the limiting component at this resolution.

Q: What is the best preset for 144Hz gaming at 1440p?

A: Low settings at 2560x1440 produce 175.1 FPS, which is above 144 FPS. Medium drops to 125.1 FPS, so Low is the only preset that consistently exceeds 144 Hz.

Q: How much performance is lost between 1080p and 1440p at Medium settings?

A: The average frame rate falls from 194.7 FPS at 1080p to 125.1 FPS at 1440p, a 35.7% reduction.

Q: What is the CPU’s boost clock and core configuration?

A: The i5-11400F has 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is built on the Ampere architecture with 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 96 raster operations pipelines. It features 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores, with a base clock of 1500 MHz and a boost clock of 1725 MHz. The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is crucial for high-resolution textures. The GPU’s FP32 compute is 20.31 TFLOPS, and its pixel rate is 165.6 GPixel/s with a texture rate of 317.4 GTexel/s.

In Fortnite, the GPU’s impact is most visible when comparing settings at a fixed resolution. At 1080p, the jump from Low (277.1 FPS) to Medium (194.7 FPS) is a 29.7% reduction, and from Medium to High (149.8 FPS) is another 23.1% reduction. The Ultra preset (100.2 FPS) costs another 33.1% over High. This scaling shows that the RTX 3070’s compute resources are heavily taxed by the higher presets, particularly Ultra’s effects. At 1440p, the same pattern holds: Low (175.1 FPS) to Medium (125.1 FPS) is a 28.6% drop, Medium to High (99.6 FPS) is a 20.4% drop, and High to Ultra (66.5 FPS) is a 33.2% drop.

The GPU’s 72nd percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 28238, places it near the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT (0.9% delta) and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (1% delta) in synthetic tests. However, in Fortnite, the 8 GB VRAM is likely sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K Ultra, the 35.4 FPS result suggests that both the VRAM capacity and the GPU’s compute throughput are stressed. The 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth is a key factor, as Fortnite’s large draw distances and dynamic environments require fast texture streaming. At 4K High (51.5 FPS), the GPU is clearly the limiting component, as the CPU’s performance at lower resolutions indicates it is not holding the system back.