Fortnite

# FAQ

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-12400F compare to its closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i5-12400F posts an average benchmark score of 19039, placing it in the 73rd percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS, scores 19047, a delta of 0% — essentially identical performance. The Intel Core 3 201E trails by 0.1% (19056), while the Intel Core i5-1335U and AMD EPYC 7773X are 0.3% ahead (18982 and 18979, respectively). This tight clustering suggests the i5-12400F sits at a performance parity point where tiny margins separate it from competitors.

Q: What is the RTX 5090's standing relative to other GPUs in the database?

A: The RTX 5090 achieves an average benchmark score of 79842, placing it in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB, scores 79605 — a 0.3% deficit for the 5090. The Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB trails by 0.6% (79396), while the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT is 1.1% behind (78940). The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X leads by 1.4% (80959). These deltas show the 5090 in a tight pack at the top end.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested CPU-GPU pairs for Fortnite?

A: This configuration of Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 128th out of 3700 tested combos for Fortnite. This places it in the top 3.5% of all combinations, indicating a very strong pairing for this game, though not the absolute top performer.

Q: What are the key memory specifications of the RTX 5090?

A: The RTX 5090 features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock runs at 1750 MHz with 28 Gbps effective speed. This large memory pool and high bandwidth are notable for high-resolution gaming.

Q: What is the core configuration of the i5-12400F?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400F has 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. It features 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 18 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU is built on Intel's 10 nm process with a 65 W TDP.

Q: Which resolution shows the largest FPS gap between Low and Ultra settings?

A: At 1920x1080, the gap between Low (418 avg FPS) and Ultra (176 avg FPS) is 242 FPS — the largest absolute drop across all resolutions. At 2560x1440, the gap is 199 FPS (311 to 112), and at 3840x2160 it narrows to 105 FPS (164 to 59).

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications explain much of the measured performance. With 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, the card delivers 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth — a figure that becomes critical at higher resolutions where texture data and frame buffers expand. The base clock of 2017 MHz and boost clock of 2407 MHz provide the raw processing speed, while 21760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs handle the geometric and pixel workload.

The GPU's architecture, Blackwell 2.0 on a 5 nm process from TSMC, packs 92,200 million transistors into a 750 mm² die. This density enables the RTX 5090 to reach 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 1,636.8 GTexel/s of texture rate. The 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores are present but their specific impact on Fortnite is not isolated in the measured data — what matters is the raw throughput.

The measured FPS across settings reveals a clear pattern: the GPU scales well with resolution, but the settings level has a dramatic effect. At 3840x2160, the RTX 5090 averages 164 FPS on Low but only 59 FPS on Ultra — a 64% reduction. The medium setting at 4K shows 116 FPS with a min of 98 and max of 133, indicating some frame time variance. The ultra setting at 4K drops to 59 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold often considered smooth for competitive play.

The GPU's percentile ranking at 92 and average benchmark score of 79842 confirm it is a top-tier part. However, in Fortnite specifically, the Ultra preset appears to be particularly demanding — the drop from Medium to Ultra at 4K is 57 FPS (116 to 59), suggesting a significant increase in shading or post-processing load that the GPU must handle. The data shows the RTX 5090 is powerful enough to push high frame rates on lower settings even at 4K, but Ultra presents a challenge.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 128th out of 3700 tested combos in Fortnite. This top 3.5% placement indicates a high-performing pairing, but the rank also suggests that other configurations — likely with more powerful CPUs — achieve higher frame rates in this game.

The i5-12400F's 73rd percentile CPU ranking (average score 19039) is notably lower than the GPU's 92nd percentile (average score 79842). This imbalance is significant: the CPU is a mid-range part while the GPU is near the top. In a game like Fortnite, which can be CPU-bound at high frame rates, this mismatch may explain why the combo doesn't rank higher. The CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads with a 4.40 GHz boost clock are adequate, but the 3dmark_single_thread score of 909 and passmark_single_thread score of 3481 suggest that per-core performance may limit the CPU's ability to feed the GPU at very high FPS.

The nearest CPU rivals to the i5-12400F — the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS, Intel Core 3 201E, Intel Core i5-1335U, and AMD EPYC 7773X — all score within 0.3% of it. None of these are high-end desktop parts, which reinforces the notion that the CPU is the limiting factor in this combo. If the RTX 5090 were paired with a stronger CPU, the combo rank would likely improve.

Among the 3700 combos, the 128th rank is respectable but not elite. The data implies that Fortnite's performance ceiling for this GPU is not fully reached with the i5-12400F. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (418 avg) is extremely high, but the CPU may be preventing even higher numbers that other combos achieve.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RTX 5090 and i5-12400F produce the following averages:

• Low: 418 FPS
• Medium: 345 FPS (min 293, max 396)
• High: 267 FPS
• Ultra: 176 FPS

The 1080p Low result of 418 FPS is the highest measured across all resolutions and settings. The step from Low to Medium costs 73 FPS, from Medium to High costs 78 FPS, and from High to Ultra costs 91 FPS. This escalating penalty suggests that each settings tier adds progressively more GPU workload, with Ultra being particularly heavy.

At 2560x1440:

• Low: 311 FPS
• Medium: 219 FPS (min 186, max 252)
• High: 170 FPS
• Ultra: 112 FPS

The 1440p results show a consistent scaling pattern. Low drops from 418 to 311 FPS (a 25.6% reduction from 1080p), Medium from 345 to 219 (36.5% reduction), High from 267 to 170 (36.3% reduction), and Ultra from 176 to 112 (36.4% reduction). The similar percentage drops for Medium, High, and Ultra suggest that these settings are GPU-limited, while Low's smaller drop may indicate a CPU limitation at such high frame rates.

At 3840x2160:

• Low: 164 FPS
• Medium: 116 FPS (min 98, max 133)
• High: 90 FPS
• Ultra: 59 FPS

The 4K results show a stark drop from 1440p. Low falls from 311 to 164 FPS (47.3% reduction), Medium from 219 to 116 (47.0% reduction), High from 170 to 90 (47.1% reduction), and Ultra from 112 to 59 (47.3% reduction). The near-consistent 47% reduction across all settings indicates that at 4K, the GPU is the primary bottleneck — the resolution increase demands proportionally more pixel throughput.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data reveals distinct trade-offs across presets. For competitive play where high frame rates matter most, Low settings at 1080p deliver 418 FPS — the highest measured value. This is the only configuration that exceeds 400 FPS, and it would provide the smoothest experience for fast-paced gameplay.

For players who want a balance between visual quality and performance, Medium at 1440p offers 219 FPS with a minimum of 186 FPS. The min FPS of 186 indicates that the frame rate stays well above typical 144 Hz monitor refresh rates, making this a strong choice for high-refresh displays. The max of 252 FPS shows headroom.

At 4K, the options become more constrained. Low at 4K gives 164 FPS, which is still high enough for 144 Hz displays. Medium at 4K drops to 116 FPS with a min of 98 — this is borderline for 120 Hz displays but acceptable for 60 Hz. The High at 4K setting (90 FPS) and Ultra at 4K (59 FPS) are better suited for 60 Hz displays or scenario where visual fidelity takes priority.

The Ultra preset is consistently the most demanding, with the largest FPS penalties at every resolution. At 1080p Ultra, the average of 176 FPS is lower than 1440p Medium (219 FPS) and barely above 4K Low (164 FPS). This suggests that Ultra's visual enhancements come at a steep cost, and players should consider whether the graphical improvements justify the frame rate reduction. For most scenarios, Medium appears to be the sweet spot — it offers a substantial visual upgrade over Low while maintaining high frame rates across all resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F's specifications — 6 cores, 12 threads, 2.50 GHz base, 4.40 GHz boost — position it as a capable mid-range processor. Its 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB of L2 per core provide reasonable data locality for game workloads. The CPU's benchmark scores show a single-thread performance of 909 in 3dmark_single_thread and 1680 in cinebench_r23_singlecore, which are modest but not exceptional.

In Fortnite, the CPU's role becomes evident when examining the FPS scaling across resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 418 FPS. The fact that this is the highest measured result suggests the CPU is able to push frames rapidly when the GPU is not heavily loaded. However, the drop from 1080p Low to 1440p Low is 107 FPS (418 to 311), and to 4K Low is 254 FPS (418 to 164). These drops are consistent with GPU load increasing, but the question is whether the CPU could go higher if it were stronger.

The i5-12400F's passmark_multithread score of 19433 and 3dmark_max_threads score of 5912 indicate it handles multi-threaded workloads adequately. However, Fortnite's engine may not scale perfectly across 12 threads, making single-thread performance more critical. The cinebench_r23_singlecore score of 1680 is respectable but below what top-tier gaming CPUs achieve. This could explain why the combo ranks 128th rather than higher — the CPU may be limiting the RTX 5090's potential in CPU-bound scenarios.

The CPU's memory support for DDR4 and DDR5, with dual-channel bus, is another factor. The measured data doesn't specify memory speed, but slower memory could impact performance in a game like Fortnite that is sensitive to memory latency. The CPU's 65 W TDP and 10 nm process are modest, but the architecture (Alder Lake) is now a few generations old.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drops from 1080p to 4K reveal important insights about which component is limiting performance. At Low settings, the progression is 418 → 311 → 164 FPS across 1080p, 1440p, and 4K. The percentage drops are 25.6% (1080p to 1440p) and 47.3% (1440p to 4K). If the GPU were the sole bottleneck, we would expect scaling roughly with pixel count — 1440p has 1.78x the pixels of 1080p, and 4K has 2.25x the pixels of 1440p. The measured drops are close to this pattern, suggesting GPU-bound behavior.

At Medium settings, the progression is 345 → 219 → 116 FPS. The drops are 36.5% and 47.0%. The larger drop from 1080p to 1440p at Medium compared to Low (36.5% vs 25.6%) indicates that the GPU is working harder at Medium, and the CPU is less of a factor. At High settings, the drops are 36.3% and 47.1%, nearly identical to Medium, reinforcing the GPU-bound nature.

At Ultra settings, the drops are 36.4% and 47.3% — again consistent. The uniformity across Medium, High, and Ultra suggests that once the GPU is sufficiently loaded, resolution scaling is predictable. The anomaly is Low settings, where the 1080p to 1440p drop is smaller (25.6%), hinting that at 1080p Low, the CPU may be limiting the frame rate. The i5-12400F can produce 418 FPS, but the RTX 5090 could likely render more if the CPU could feed it faster.

This pattern indicates that for most settings and resolutions, the RTX 5090 is the limiting component in this combo. The CPU only becomes the bottleneck at the lowest settings and lowest resolution, where the GPU has little work to do. For players using higher settings or resolutions, the i5-12400F is sufficient, but for those seeking absolute maximum frame rates at 1080p Low, a stronger CPU might unlock additional performance.