Fortnite

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates across 1080p, 1440p, and 4K reveal a classic GPU-bound scaling curve for this Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 pairing in Fortnite. At High settings, the transition from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 drops the average from 119 FPS to 76 FPS, a 36% reduction in performance. Pushing further to 3840x2160 at High yields just 40 FPS, meaning the 4K result is roughly two-thirds lower than the 1080p figure. This pattern is consistent with the RTX 5050's 8 GB GDDR6 memory and 128-bit bus becoming the primary constraint as pixel count multiplies.

The Low preset tells a similar story but with higher absolute numbers. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 217 FPS, which falls to 138 FPS at 1440p and then to 73 FPS at 4K. The relative drop from 1440p to 4K is 47%, slightly steeper than the 45% decline seen when moving from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings. This indicates that even at the lowest quality settings, the RTX 5050's 320.0 GB/s bandwidth and 13.17 TFLOPS of FP32 compute are insufficient to maintain high frame rates at 4K.

Medium settings offer the most complete data, with minimum and maximum frames recorded alongside averages. At 1080p Medium, the average sits at 153 FPS with a minimum of 130 FPS and maximum of 176 FPS. The 1440p Medium result drops to 97 FPS average (83 min, 112 max), while 4K Medium manages only 51 FPS average (44 min, 59 max). The scaling from 1080p to 1440p costs 37% of performance, and the jump to 4K costs another 47%. These figures suggest the GPU is the limiting component throughout, as the CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads appear sufficient to feed the graphics card at these settings.

Ultra settings produce the most demanding scenario, with 1080p yielding 78 FPS, 1440p dropping to 50 FPS, and 4K falling to 26 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is barely playable, and even 1440p Ultra sits at the edge of smooth gameplay. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at Ultra is a 67% reduction, the largest percentage drop across all presets. This steep decline points to the RTX 5050's 32 ROPs and 80 TMUs being overwhelmed by the combination of high resolution and maximum visual fidelity.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested CPU-GPU combinations for Fortnite, this pairing ranks 2271 out of 3700 total combos. That places it in the bottom 39% of all tested configurations, a modest standing for a mid-range desktop setup. The percentile positioning reflects the RTX 5050's 66th percentile ranking among all GPUs and the i5-11400F's 71st percentile among all CPUs, but the combination does not exceed expectations in this specific title.

The GPU's nearest rivals in aggregate benchmarking show how close the RTX 5050 sits to older and mobile parts. The AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL scores 21153 on average, just 0.6% higher than the RTX 5050's 21035 average. The AMD Radeon HD 8970M is 1% ahead at 21237, while the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT trails by 1.6% at 20713. The NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile leads the group at 21379, 1.6% above the RTX 5050. This clustering indicates the RTX 5050 delivers performance in a narrow band, and Fortnite's measured results confirm it behaves accordingly.

On the CPU side, the i5-11400F's average benchmark score of 17177 places it within 0.3% of the AMD EPYC 7H12 (17120) and 0.6% of the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U (17074). The Intel Core i5-12450H edges ahead at 17239 (0.4% higher), while the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G leads at 17278 (0.6% higher). These deltas are negligible in real-world gaming, and the Fortnite frame rates reflect CPU performance that is more than adequate for the GPU's capabilities.

The combo rank of 2271 out of 3700 suggests that while individual components are mid-pack, the pairing does not unlock any special synergy in Fortnite. The data shows a balanced but unremarkable configuration, with the RTX 5050's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory interface limiting performance at higher resolutions more than the CPU's capabilities would suggest.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, Medium settings provide the best balance of visual quality and performance for this combo. At 1080p Medium, the average of 153 FPS with a minimum of 130 FPS ensures smooth gameplay on high-refresh-rate monitors, while the 1440p Medium result of 97 FPS average (83 min) remains playable for competitive play. The 4K Medium average of 51 FPS is below the 60 FPS threshold for fluid motion, so users at that resolution should consider Low settings instead.

Low settings unlock the highest frame rates, with 217 FPS at 1080p and 138 FPS at 1440p. These figures are ideal for esports-oriented players who prioritize responsiveness over visual fidelity. The 4K Low result of 73 FPS is also respectable, making Low the only preset that delivers playable performance at 4K across all measured settings. For users with 144Hz or 165Hz displays at 1080p, Low settings will push the combo to its maximum potential.

High settings occupy a middle ground that is less compelling. The 1080p High average of 119 FPS is adequate, but the 1440p High result of 76 FPS and 4K High of 40 FPS fall short of smooth gameplay standards. Ultra settings should be avoided entirely, as even 1080p Ultra only reaches 78 FPS, and 4K Ultra drops to 26 FPS — a stuttery experience by any measure. The data clearly indicates that Medium at 1080p or 1440p is the sweet spot, with Low reserved for 4K or maximum refresh rate scenarios.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full range of presets produces the following averages: Low hits 217 FPS, Medium delivers 153 FPS with a minimum of 130 and maximum of 176, High reaches 119 FPS, and Ultra manages 78 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 139 FPS, showing how dramatically quality settings impact this title on the RTX 5050. The Medium preset's minimum of 130 FPS is particularly notable, as it stays above the 120 FPS threshold commonly targeted by competitive players.

Moving to 2560x1440, Low achieves 138 FPS, Medium averages 97 FPS (83 min, 112 max), High produces 76 FPS, and Ultra falls to 50 FPS. The 1440p Medium minimum of 83 FPS is still above 60 FPS, but the gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 88 FPS compared to 139 FPS at 1080p. This compression indicates that resolution scaling is beginning to limit the GPU's ability to differentiate between quality presets.

At 3840x2160, the results are as follows: Low averages 73 FPS, Medium reaches 51 FPS (44 min, 59 max), High drops to 40 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 26 FPS. The minimum frame rate of 44 FPS at 4K Medium is the lowest recorded minimum across all tested configurations, highlighting the strain that 4K places on this GPU. The 4K Low result of 73 FPS is the only 4K preset that approaches playability, and even that falls short of the 75 FPS mark that some users consider the minimum for smooth motion.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture using TSMC's 5 nm process, with a chip size of 149 mm² containing 16,900 million transistors. Its base clock runs at 2317 MHz with a boost of 2572 MHz, while memory operates at 2500 MHz with 20 Gbps effective speed. The 8 GB GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 320.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is the likely bottleneck at 4K resolutions where the data-intensive scenes of Fortnite exceed what this memory subsystem can efficiently feed.

The GPU's 2560 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 32 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 82.30 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 205.8 GTexel/s. These specifications translate to 13.17 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, a figure that places the RTX 5050 in the 66th percentile of all GPUs in the database. The measured Fortnite performance aligns with this mid-pack positioning, as the card handles 1080p and 1440p well but struggles at 4K, particularly at higher quality settings.

The RTX 5050's nearest rivals in aggregate benchmarks — the RX Vega M GL, HD 8970M, RX 5600 XT, and RTX A4000 Mobile — all score within 1.6% of each other, confirming that this GPU occupies a tight performance band. The 66th percentile ranking means roughly a third of GPUs outperform it, which explains why 4K Ultra at 26 FPS is the worst-case scenario in Fortnite. The 20 RT cores and 80 tensor cores are present for ray tracing and DLSS features, but the measured data shows no evidence that these accelerators improve frame rates in this title's standard rendering modes.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F provides 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Rocket Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 14 nm process. Its base clock of 2.60 GHz boosts to 4.40 GHz, and the 12 MB shared L3 cache (with 80 KB L1 and 512 KB L2 per core) supports a 65 W TDP. The CPU's 3DMark scores paint a clear picture: single-thread performance at 868, 2-thread at 1691, 4-thread at 3171, 8-thread at 4691, and 16-thread at 5619. These results show strong scaling up to 8 threads, with diminishing returns beyond that point.

In Cinebench R23, the CPU achieves 14340 multi-core and 2024 single-core, while Geekbench reports 7737 multi-core and 1777 single-core. The PassMark multi-thread score of 16908 and single-thread score of 2981 further confirm the i5-11400F's capability as a solid mid-range processor. However, the 71st percentile ranking among all CPUs and the average benchmark score of 17177 place it just slightly above the midpoint of tested processors, with nearest rivals like the EPYC 7H12 and i5-12450H trading blows within 0.6%.

For Fortnite specifically, the CPU's role is secondary to the GPU, as evidenced by the resolution scaling pattern. At 1080p Low, the 217 FPS result suggests the CPU can feed the GPU effectively at high frame rates, but the 4K results show the GPU becoming the limiting factor. The 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth and DDR4 support are adequate for this workload, and the 12 threads handle Fortnite's engine overhead without issue. The CPU's boost clock of 4.40 GHz provides sufficient single-core performance for the game's primary thread, while the 6 physical cores manage background tasks and additional threads efficiently.