Fortnite

# Fortnite with Intel Core i5-12400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER

The measured frame-rate data for this combination reveals a system that scales predictably across resolutions, with the RTX 4080 SUPER clearly dominating the workload at lower settings while the CPU begins to assert its influence at higher presets. The dataset, drawn from 12 measured configurations spanning three resolutions and four quality levels, shows a peak of 416.2 FPS at 1080p Low and a floor of 51.1 FPS at 4K Ultra. This pairing ranks 103rd out of 1,564 tested combinations in Fortnite, placing it in the top 6.6% of all tracked systems—a strong result that underscores the GPU's 88th percentile standing among all GPUs and the CPU's 77th percentile among all CPUs. The following analysis examines how resolution scaling, GPU characteristics, and settings interact to produce these results.

Resolution Scaling

The frame-rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep but follows a consistent pattern across all settings. At Low settings, the system delivers 416.2 FPS at 1080p, falls to 273 FPS at 1440p, and reaches 142.1 FPS at 4K—a 65.9% reduction from 1080p to 4K. At High settings, the corresponding figures are 236.8, 147, and 78.1 FPS, representing a 67.0% decline. This near-identical percentage drop across presets indicates that the scaling bottleneck is the GPU's rendering throughput rather than any CPU limitation, as the relative performance loss tracks closely with pixel count increases (1080p to 4K is a 4x pixel increase, yet frame rates drop by roughly two-thirds, not by three-quarters).

The data suggests that at 1080p Low, the CPU is likely the limiting component. The i5-12400F, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, posts a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 16,518 and a single-core score of 2,332, which places it 0.1% ahead of the Intel Core i7-8700K in average benchmark score. When the GPU is underutilized at low resolutions and settings, the CPU's 3DMark single-thread score of 909 becomes the ceiling. The fact that 1080p Low (416.2 FPS) is only 52.7% higher than 1440p Low (273 FPS), despite the pixel count being 1.78x lower, hints at this CPU-bound ceiling. Conversely, at 4K Ultra (51.1 FPS) versus 1080p Ultra (152.6 FPS), the 3x pixel increase produces a 3x frame-rate drop, confirming pure GPU limitation at the highest resolution.

The transition from 1440p to 4K is where the GPU's 16 GB of GDDR6X memory and 736.3 GB/s bandwidth become critical. At 1440p Ultra, the system achieves 98.4 FPS, while 4K Ultra drops to 51.1 FPS—a 48.1% reduction for a 2.25x pixel increase. This disproportionate drop suggests that at 4K Ultra, the GPU is not only fill-rate limited but also constrained by memory bandwidth demands, as the 256-bit bus and 23 Gbps effective memory clock must feed the shader units (10,240 shading units) with ever-larger frame buffers.

GPU Role

The RTX 4080 SUPER's specifications directly explain its performance envelope in Fortnite. With a base clock of 2295 MHz and boost clock of 2550 MHz, the GPU's 52.22 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 816.0 GTexel/s texture rate enable the high frame rates observed at lower settings. The 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores are present but less relevant for Fortnite's rasterization-heavy workload, as evidenced by the fact that moving from Medium to Ultra at 4K cuts average FPS from 98.9 to 51.1—a 48.3% penalty that aligns with the increased shading and texture demands of Ultra presets.

The 16 GB VRAM capacity is more than sufficient for Fortnite at any resolution in this dataset, as the game's maximum memory footprint at 4K Ultra does not appear to cause swapping or stutter—the FPS remains stable at 51.1 average. The GPU's 285.6 GPixel/s pixel rate and 112 ROPs determine the fill-rate ceiling, which at 4K produces the 78.1 FPS High result. Comparing the GPU to its nearest rivals, the RTX 4080 SUPER's average benchmark score of 53,610 is 0.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT (53,489) and 2.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7700S (52,505), but 2.9% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti (52,086) despite the latter's lower raw score—indicating that the 4080 SUPER's architecture handles Fortnite's specific shader workload particularly well.

The GPU's 88th percentile ranking among all GPUs corroborates its position as a high-end part, but the measured Fortnite data shows it operating well below its compute potential at 1080p Low (416.2 FPS), where the CPU's 18 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel memory support become the pacing factors. The i5-12400F's PassMark multi-thread score of 19,433 and single-thread score of 3,481 provide the instruction throughput needed for Fortnite's game logic, but the 65W TDP and locked multiplier mean it cannot be pushed beyond its 4.40 GHz boost clock to extract more headroom at low resolutions.

FAQ

Q: Why does 1080p Low achieve 416.2 FPS but 1080p Ultra only 152.6 FPS?

A: The 63.3% performance drop from Low to Ultra at the same resolution is driven by GPU workload scaling. Low settings reduce shading, texture, and post-processing demands, allowing the RTX 4080 SUPER to render frames at near-CPU-limited speed (416.2 FPS). Ultra settings engage the full 10,240 shading units and 320 TMUs, producing a frame-rate that reflects GPU rendering limits rather than CPU throughput.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-12400F a bottleneck at 4K?

A: No. At 4K, the frame rates across all settings (51.1 to 142.1 FPS) scale almost linearly with pixel count relative to 1440p results, indicating the GPU is the sole limiting factor. The CPU's 3DMark max-threads score of 5,912 is more than sufficient to feed frames at 4K, where pixel processing dominates the frame time.

Q: How does this system compare to the RTX 4080 SUPER's nearest GPU rival in Fortnite?

A: The RTX 4080 SUPER's average benchmark score of 53,610 is 2.9% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti's 52,086, and 0.2% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT's 53,489. In Fortnite's measured data, the 4080 SUPER's 4K High result of 78.1 FPS reflects its compute advantage, though the game's optimization for NVIDIA architecture likely amplifies this margin beyond the raw deltaPct figures.

Q: What is the best resolution for competitive play with this setup?

A: For maximum frame rates, 1080p Low delivers 416.2 FPS, which exceeds the refresh rate of virtually all gaming monitors. For a balance of visual quality and responsiveness, 1440p High at 147 FPS provides a smooth experience while 1440p Ultra at 98.4 FPS remains playable but sacrifices the high-refresh-rate advantage.

Q: Does the CPU's memory support (DDR4 and DDR5) affect the measured FPS?

A: The dataset does not specify memory type or configuration, but the i5-12400F's dual-channel memory bus and 18 MB L3 cache are consistent with the observed scaling. The CPU's PassMark data encryption score of 11,679 and integer math score of 59,995 indicate adequate memory-bound performance, yet the 1080p Low result of 416.2 FPS suggests some CPU limitation, which could be influenced by memory bandwidth in dual-channel mode.

Q: Why is the 4K Ultra frame rate (51.1 FPS) so much lower than 4K High (78.1 FPS)?

A: The 34.6% drop from High to Ultra at 4K is disproportionately large compared to the 1440p drop from High (147 FPS) to Ultra (98.4 FPS), which is 33.1%. This suggests that Ultra settings at 4K push the GPU's 16 GB VRAM and 736.3 GB/s bandwidth to their limits, causing the 256-bit memory interface to become a more significant bottleneck than at lower resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates across all presets. Low settings produce 416.2 FPS, Medium drops to 303.3 FPS, High achieves 236.8 FPS, and Ultra falls to 152.6 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 63.3% total reduction, with the largest single-step drop occurring between High and Ultra (35.6% decrease from 236.8 to 152.6 FPS).

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show more consistent scaling. Low settings yield 273 FPS, Medium reaches 195.2 FPS, High hits 147 FPS, and Ultra manages 98.4 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 63.9%, nearly identical to the 1080p scaling, indicating that the GPU's workload scaling is consistent across these two resolutions. The High-to-Ultra step reduces frame rate by 33.1% (147 to 98.4 FPS).

At 3840x2160, performance becomes GPU-bound across all settings. Low achieves 142.1 FPS, Medium drops to 98.9 FPS, High reaches 78.1 FPS, and Ultra falls to 51.1 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra reduction is 64.0%, matching the pattern seen at lower resolutions. Notably, the 4K Medium result (98.9 FPS) is nearly identical to the 1440p Ultra result (98.4 FPS), suggesting that the GPU's rendering capacity at these two configurations is similar despite the different resolution and settings trade-offs.

Comparing settings across resolutions, the 1080p Ultra result (152.6 FPS) exceeds the 1440p High result (147 FPS) by 3.8%, while the 1440p Low result (273 FPS) is 92.2% higher than the 4K High result (78.1 FPS). These cross-resolution comparisons highlight how settings and resolution interact: the GPU's 52.22 TFLOPS compute capability delivers roughly 150 FPS at both 1080p Ultra and 1440p High, but at 4K, even Low settings (142.1 FPS) cannot match that output, confirming the resolution's outsized impact on pixel fill rate.

Settings Recommendations

For players prioritizing maximum frame rates, the 1080p Low preset at 416.2 FPS is the clear choice, though it sacrifices visual fidelity. The 1440p Low setting at 273 FPS offers a substantial resolution upgrade with only a 34.4% frame-rate penalty, making it the best option for high-refresh-rate displays (240 Hz or above) where the visual clarity of 1440p outweighs the frame-rate advantage of 1080p.

For a balanced experience, 1440p High at 147 FPS represents the sweet spot. This configuration delivers smooth gameplay on 144 Hz monitors while retaining meaningful visual quality improvements over Low presets. The 4K High setting at 78.1 FPS is viable for 60 Hz displays but falls short of high-refresh-rate thresholds, making it suitable only for players who prioritize resolution over responsiveness.

The Ultra presets show diminishing returns across all resolutions. At 1080p, Ultra (152.6 FPS) provides only a 54.9% improvement over High (236.8 FPS) in terms of frame-rate headroom, while the visual difference between High and Ultra in Fortnite is often marginal in competitive scenarios. At 4K, Ultra (51.1 FPS) drops below the 60 FPS threshold, making it the only configuration in the dataset that fails to maintain playable frame rates on standard displays. For most users, Medium settings at 1440p (195.2 FPS) or 4K (98.9 FPS) offer the best compromise between visual quality and performance, as these presets retain core graphical features while keeping frame rates well above playability thresholds.