Fortnite

The Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER pairing delivers a solid 1080p Fortnite experience and a viable 1440p one, but the data shows a clear ceiling at 4K. The combination ranks 919th out of 1564 tested combos, placing it in the lower-middle tier of the database, yet its performance is highly settings-dependent, ranging from a fluid 224.6 FPS at 1080p Low to a stutter-prone 29.6 FPS at 4K Ultra.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i5-12400 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. It features 18 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory. Its benchmark percentile vs all CPUs is 77, indicating it outperforms the majority of processors in the database. In synthetic tests, it scores 15935 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 2249 in single-core, with a Passmark multithread score of 18747.

The CPU's average benchmark score is 19850, which is nearly identical to its nearest rivals. It sits just 0.1% ahead of the Intel Core i7-9700 (19831) and 0.4% ahead of the Intel Core i5-11600K (19771). Conversely, it trails the Intel Core i7-8700 by 0.2% (19894) and the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5995WX by 0.4% (19928). This clustering suggests that the i5-12400's processing power is not a differentiating factor at this performance tier.

For Fortnite, this CPU is more than sufficient. At 1080p Low, the measured 224.6 FPS is far beyond what the CPU's single-thread performance would bottleneck, indicating that the game is heavily GPU-limited at these settings. The CPU's 12 threads handle the game's physics and draw calls without issue, evidenced by the fact that frame rates scale consistently with GPU load as settings increase. The 2.50 GHz base clock is low, but the 4.40 GHz boost ensures that the processor can ramp up quickly for the demanding battle royale environment, where rapid frame time consistency matters more than raw multi-core throughput.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is built on the Turing architecture with a TU104 chip and features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock is 1605 MHz with a boost clock of 1770 MHz. The GPU has 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. Its Passmark G3D score is 18169, and its percentile vs all GPUs is 65, which is notably lower than the CPU's 77th percentile, suggesting the GPU is the weaker link in this pairing.

The GPU's average benchmark score is 22206. It is 0.5% behind the NVIDIA RTX A400 (22307) and 2.3% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile (22729). It leads the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z by 0.9% (22006) and the AMD Radeon RX 5700 by 2.5% (21670). These margins are small, indicating that the RTX 2070 SUPER sits in a crowded performance band.

In Fortnite, the GPU's 8 GB VRAM is adequate for the measured settings, but the data reveals its limitations. At 4K, the average FPS drops from 77.5 on Low to 29.6 on Ultra, a catastrophic fall that points to the GPU being overwhelmed by the pixel count and shading complexity. The GPU's 9.062 TFLOPS FP32 performance is the primary constraint at higher resolutions, as the CPU still has headroom. The transition from 1440p High (81.3 FPS) to 4K High (40.2 FPS) shows a 50% performance loss, which is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario where the additional pixels directly reduce frame rate.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain a high frame rate?

A: The data shows 1080p is the clear winner. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 224.6 FPS, and even at High it maintains 127 FPS. 1440p is playable, with Low hitting 146.6 FPS, but 4K is not recommended for competitive play, as even Low only reaches 77.5 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its closest rival, the Intel Core i7-9700?

A: The Core i5-12400 has an average benchmark score of 19850, which is 0.1% higher than the Intel Core i7-9700's 19831. In practical terms, the two processors perform identically in the database's synthetic workloads.

Q: Is the RTX 2070 SUPER significantly better than the AMD Radeon RX 5700?

A: Yes, but the margin is modest. The RTX 2070 SUPER scores 22206 on average, which is 2.5% higher than the RX 5700's 21670. This translates to a slight edge in GPU-bound scenarios.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 4K Low and 4K Ultra?

A: The difference is substantial. 4K Low averages 77.5 FPS, while 4K Ultra drops to 29.6 FPS. This represents a 61.8% reduction in average frame rate when moving from the lowest to the highest settings.

Q: Does the combo rank highly among all tested configurations?

A: No, it ranks 919th out of 1564 combos. This places it in the lower half of the database, indicating that while it is capable, many other CPU-GPU pairings offer higher performance.

Q: Which component is more likely to bottleneck in Fortnite at 1440p?

A: The GPU. The CPU's benchmark percentile (77) is higher than the GPU's (65). At 1440p, the frame rate drops from 146.6 FPS on Low to 54.9 FPS on Ultra, a pattern that indicates the RTX 2070 SUPER's rendering capacity is the limiting factor.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy of settings for this combo. For maximum competitive performance, 1080p Low is the only choice, delivering 224.6 FPS. This setting is ideal for fast-paced play where frame rate trumps visual fidelity. If you prefer a balance, 1080p Medium at 160.9 FPS offers a significant visual upgrade with only a 28.4% frame rate penalty compared to Low.

For a more immersive experience, 1080p High at 127 FPS is still smooth and provides better shadows and textures. However, 1080p Ultra at 82.3 FPS is the threshold where frame rate begins to dip below the refresh rate of high-end monitors. At 1440p, the recommendation shifts: Low at 146.6 FPS is the only setting that rivals 1080p performance. 1440p Medium at 104.1 FPS is acceptable for casual play, but 1440p High at 81.3 FPS and Ultra at 54.9 FPS are best avoided for competitive integrity.

At 4K, the data strongly advises against High or Ultra settings, as they yield 40.2 and 29.6 FPS respectively, which are below playable thresholds. 4K Low at 77.5 FPS is the only viable option for a smooth experience, but even that is inferior to 1440p Medium. The best overall experience, based on the measured rows, is 1080p High: it provides a 127 FPS average that balances visual quality with responsiveness, making it the sweet spot for most users.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 919 out of 1564 places it in the 58.8th percentile of all tested combinations. This is a middling result, reflecting the RTX 2070 SUPER's age and the CPU's mid-range status. The ranking is consistent with the GPU's 65th percentile vs all GPUs, which is lower than the CPU's 77th percentile, confirming that the graphics card drags the overall ranking down.

Compared to the nearest rivals, the combo does not have a clear advantage. The CPU is virtually tied with the Intel Core i7-9700 and i7-8700, while the GPU is only 2.5% faster than the AMD Radeon RX 5700. This means that a system with the same CPU and a RX 5700 would be expected to perform within a few percentage points in Fortnite. The ranking suggests that for the 645 combos that rank higher, users are likely pairing newer CPUs with faster GPUs, which would provide a more substantial FPS advantage in GPU-bound scenarios like 4K Ultra.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data reveals a consistent pattern across resolutions. At 1920x1080, the average frame rates are 224.6 (Low), 160.9 (Medium), 127 (High), and 82.3 (Ultra). This shows a steady degradation as settings increase, with a 63.4% drop from Low to Ultra.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 146.6 (Low), 104.1 (Medium), 81.3 (High), and 54.9 (Ultra). The drop from Low to Ultra is 62.5%, similar to 1080p, indicating that the GPU's load scales proportionally with settings at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 77.5 (Low), 54.8 (Medium), 40.2 (High), and 29.6 (Ultra). The absolute frame rates are much lower, but the relative drop from Low to Ultra is 61.8%, which is consistent with the other resolutions. This suggests that the performance penalty for increasing settings is roughly uniform, but the baseline at 4K is too low to accept anything above Low.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a severe impact from resolution scaling. Moving from 1080p Low (224.6 FPS) to 1440p Low (146.6 FPS) results in a 34.7% drop in frame rate. The same setting at 4K (77.5 FPS) is 65.5% lower than 1080p. This pattern holds across all settings, with the gap widening at higher presets. For example, at Ultra, 1080p averages 82.3 FPS, 1440p drops to 54.9 FPS (a 33.3% decrease), and 4K falls to 29.6 FPS (a 64.0% decrease from 1080p).

This scaling behavior is the signature of a GPU-limited system. The CPU's performance is constant across resolutions, so the frame rate differences are entirely attributable to the GPU's pixel throughput. The RTX 2070 SUPER's 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 113.3 GPixel/s pixel rate are insufficient to maintain high frame rates at 4K, while at 1080p, they are more than adequate. The data indicates that the limiting component is unequivocally the GPU, as the CPU's 12 threads and 4.40 GHz boost clock provide ample headroom even at 1080p Low, where the frame rate exceeds 200 FPS.