Fortnite

Fortnite on the Intel Core i5-14400F and Intel Arc B390 combination delivers playable frame rates only at 1080p, with performance degrading sharply as resolution increases. The data shows a system that is heavily constrained by the GPU, where the Arc B390's low 9th percentile ranking among all GPUs becomes the defining bottleneck, preventing the capable 10-core CPU from stretching its legs in this Battle Royale title.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a steep and consistent performance cliff as resolution scales from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 115 FPS, which drops to 73 FPS at 1440p and further to 39 FPS at 4K. This represents a 66% performance loss from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, indicating that pixel throughput is the primary limiter. The scaling pattern is similar across all settings presets, but the absolute frame rates become critically low at higher resolutions regardless of quality level.

The High settings preset shows the same downward trajectory: 63 FPS at 1080p, 40 FPS at 1440p, and 21 FPS at 4K. The Medium preset follows with 81, 51, and 27 FPS respectively. Ultra settings are the most punishing, starting at just 41 FPS at 1080p and collapsing to 26 FPS at 1440p and 14 FPS at 4K. The consistency of these drops—roughly halving at each resolution step for most presets—points squarely at the GPU as the limiting component. The Intel Arc B390, with its 7.680 TFLOPS FP32 throughput and 60.00 GPixel/s pixel rate, simply cannot sustain the increasing pixel count demanded by 1440p and 4K output.

Notably, the gap between Low and Ultra settings widens dramatically at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 74 FPS (115 versus 41), but at 4K that gap narrows to just 25 FPS (39 versus 14). This compression at 4K suggests that the GPU is saturated at even the lowest quality settings, making the additional shading work of Ultra settings nearly irrelevant because the render pipeline is already maxed out. The 300 MHz base clock and 2500 MHz boost clock of the Arc B390 cannot compensate for the raw pixel fill demands, making this combo unsuitable for high-resolution competitive play.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this hardware in Fortnite?

A: The data shows 1920x1080 with Low settings delivers the highest average FPS at 115, making it the only configuration that approaches high-refresh-rate territory. Medium settings at 1080p still provides 81 FPS, which is playable, while High drops to 63 FPS and Ultra falls to 41 FPS.

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-14400F perform relative to its CPU rivals?

A: The i5-14400F has an average benchmark score of 32279, placing it in the 83rd percentile of all CPUs. It is statistically tied with the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U (0.1% ahead), Intel Core i9-11900 (0.2% ahead), and Intel Core i7-12800H (0.5% ahead), while trailing the AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS by 0.2%.

Q: Is this GPU capable of running Fortnite at 4K?

A: Benchmark results indicate no. At 3840x2160, the average FPS ranges from 14 on Ultra to 39 on Low settings. Even at Low, the 39 FPS average falls below the 60 FPS threshold typically considered smooth for competitive gaming, and the Ultra preset at 14 FPS is unplayable.

Q: What is the performance gap between the Intel Arc B390 and its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The Arc B390 scores 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, placing it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. It leads the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX by 1.3%, the GeForce 800M by 1.5%, the GeForce GT 625 OEM by 2.5%, and the GeForce GT 710 by 2.7%. These are all extremely low-end comparisons.

Q: How does the CPU's core configuration influence Fortnite performance?

A: The i5-14400F features 10 cores and 16 threads with a 2.50 GHz base clock and 4.70 GHz boost clock. In Fortnite, the CPU clearly has headroom, as evidenced by the FPS scaling being dominated by resolution changes rather than settings complexity, which typically stresses GPU load more heavily.

Q: Does the i5-14400F hold back the Arc B390 in this game?

A: The data suggests the opposite. The GPU's 9th percentile ranking and the severe FPS drops at higher resolutions indicate the Arc B390 is the limiting factor. The CPU's 83rd percentile ranking and 21645 Cinebench R23 multicore score show it has ample compute capacity for this workload.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is unequivocally the performance ceiling in this Fortnite configuration. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482 places it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, and its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1.3% slower), GeForce 800M (1.5% slower), GT 625 OEM (2.5% slower), and GT 710 (2.7% slower). These are legacy or entry-level parts from over a decade ago, underscoring the Arc B390's position at the very bottom of the modern GPU hierarchy.

The GPU's memory configuration is "System Shared" with "System Dependent" bandwidth, meaning it relies on the host system's RAM rather than dedicated VRAM. This architecture is typical of integrated graphics, and the Arc B390 is indeed classified as an IGP with a 80 W TDP and no power connectors. The lack of dedicated VRAM is a significant handicap for a game like Fortnite, which benefits from fast local memory access for texture streaming and geometry buffers. The system-dependent bandwidth means performance can vary based on the CPU's memory configuration, though the measured FPS data already reflects the outcome of this setup.

Clock speeds for the Arc B390 are 300 MHz base and 2500 MHz boost, which are respectable for an integrated part but insufficient for demanding gaming workloads. The GPU's pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s are the theoretical ceilings, yet the 1080p Low average of 115 FPS indicates that real-world efficiency falls well short of these limits due to the shared memory bottleneck and the Xe3-LPG architecture's focus on power efficiency over raw rasterization. The 1536 shading units and 48 TMUs are modest counts, and the 24 ROPs are particularly low for handling high-resolution frame buffers, explaining why 4K performance collapses to 14-39 FPS depending on settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its only consistently playable results. Low settings produce an average of 115 FPS, which is the highest measured value across all configurations. Medium settings follow at 81 FPS, with a minimum of 69 FPS and maximum of 93 FPS, indicating reasonable frame pacing. High settings average 63 FPS, dropping below the ideal 60 FPS threshold only in demanding scenes. Ultra settings average 41 FPS, which is borderline for competitive play but technically playable for casual sessions. The 1080p scaling from Low to Ultra shows a 64% performance drop, reflecting the GPU's inability to handle the increased shading complexity.

At 2560x1440, the performance becomes marginal. Low settings average 73 FPS, which is still smooth for most players, but Medium drops to 51 FPS with a minimum of 44 FPS and maximum of 59 FPS. High settings average 40 FPS, and Ultra falls to 26 FPS. The step from 1080p Low to 1440p Low costs 42 FPS (115 to 73), a 37% reduction. This resolution is only viable with Low settings for a competitive experience, and even then, the frame rate is not ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors.

At 3840x2160, the combo is effectively out of contention. Low settings average 39 FPS, which is technically playable but far from smooth. Medium averages 27 FPS with a minimum of 23 FPS and maximum of 31 FPS, High averages 21 FPS, and Ultra averages just 14 FPS. The 4K results confirm that this is a 1080p-oriented configuration. The data shows no measurable benefit from the CPU's 10 cores at this resolution, as the GPU is entirely saturated by pixel output requirements. The Ultra preset at 4K produces a slideshow-like experience, and even Low settings would frustrate competitive players due to the sub-60 FPS average.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-14400F and Intel Arc B390 ranks 2417 out of 2740 tested combos in Fortnite, placing it in the bottom 12% of all systems tested. This rank reflects the GPU's severe limitations, as the CPU alone would rank much higher given its 83rd percentile standing among all processors. The combo's position near the bottom of the database is consistent with the GPU's 9th percentile ranking, suggesting that pairing a mid-range modern CPU with an entry-level integrated GPU yields a system that trails the vast majority of dedicated GPU configurations.

The rank of 2417 out of 2740 means that approximately 323 tested combos perform worse, but over 2400 perform better. This places the combo in the lower quartile of all results, which is expected given the Arc B390's performance class. The delta between the CPU's high percentile and the combo's low rank highlights the GPU bottleneck. Fortnite is a game that scales well with GPU power, and the data indicates that this combo cannot leverage the i5-14400F's strong multi-threaded performance, which scores 21645 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 11268 in Geekbench multicore.

The combo's rank also suggests that users would see substantial improvements by upgrading just the GPU, as the CPU has demonstrated headroom in other benchmarks. However, the measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 115 FPS, which is respectable for the hardware class. The ranking is a holistic measure across all tested settings and resolutions, and the 4K results significantly drag down the overall standing. At 1080p Low, the experience would be competitive, but the rank reflects the average across all configurations, not the best-case scenario.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process. It has a 2.50 GHz base clock and 4.70 GHz boost clock, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 80 KB L1 per core, 1.25 MB L2 per core, and a 20 MB shared L3 cache. This configuration places the i5-14400F in the 83rd percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 32279, making it a solid mid-range performer for gaming and productivity.

In Fortnite, the CPU's role is to handle game logic, physics, and draw call submission, which typically benefits from high single-thread performance. The i5-14400F scores 3055 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 2058 in Geekbench single-core, indicating strong per-thread performance that should be sufficient for Fortnite's engine. The multicore scores are also robust: 21645 in Cinebench R23 and 11268 in Geekbench, with a Passmark multithread score of 25470. These figures suggest the CPU can handle background tasks and streaming while gaming without significant frame rate impact.

The data indicates that the CPU is not the bottleneck in this combo. At 1080p Low, the 115 FPS average is likely near the GPU's maximum output, and raising settings to Ultra at the same resolution only drops FPS to 41, which is a GPU-side scaling effect. The CPU's 10 cores and 16 threads provide ample headroom for Fortnite's multi-threaded rendering pipeline, and the 20 MB L3 cache helps with data locality for game assets. The nearest CPU rivals—AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U, Intel Core i9-11900, AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS, and Intel Core i7-12800H—all score within 0.5% of the i5-14400F, confirming that the CPU is competitively positioned among its peers.

The CPU's memory support for DDR4 and DDR5, with dual-channel bus, is relevant because the Arc B390 uses System Shared memory. The CPU's memory controller must handle both game data and GPU data, which can create contention. However, the measured FPS results suggest that this contention is not causing catastrophic stuttering, as the Medium preset shows minimum FPS of 69 at 1080p and 44 at 1440p, indicating some frame pacing stability. The CPU's 4.70 GHz boost clock is likely reached during gaming workloads, ensuring that single-threaded tasks like game simulation and input handling do not lag behind the GPU's output.