Fortnite

The Intel Core i5-14400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER delivers a highly capable Fortnite experience, but the data shows that optimal settings depend entirely on your target resolution and refresh rate. The sweet spot is the Medium preset, which provides a robust balance of visual quality and performance across all tested resolutions, avoiding the steep frame rate penalties seen at Ultra while offering significantly better image clarity than Low.

Settings Recommendations

The measured results clearly indicate that the Medium preset offers the best overall experience for this combination. At 1920x1080, the combo achieves an average of 160 FPS with a minimum of 136 FPS and a maximum of 184 FPS, which is more than sufficient for high-refresh-rate gaming and remains smooth even during intense build fights. While the Low preset pushes this to 228 FPS average, the jump to Medium adds substantial visual fidelity for a 68 FPS drop, which is a worthwhile trade-off for most players.

At 2560x1440, Medium remains the standout choice, delivering an average of 102 FPS with a range of 87 to 117 FPS. This comfortably exceeds the 60 FPS threshold and provides a smooth experience on standard 1440p monitors. High settings at this resolution drop to 79 FPS average, which is still playable but less consistent. The Ultra preset is not recommended at 1440p, as the frame rate falls to 52 FPS average, risking noticeable stutter in chaotic scenarios.

The 4K results reinforce this recommendation. At 3840x2160, Medium yields an average of 54 FPS with a minimum of 46 FPS and a maximum of 62 FPS. This is borderline playable, but the 46 FPS minimum suggests occasional dips below smoothness. High settings at 4K drop to 42 FPS average, while Ultra falls to a sluggish 28 FPS. For 4K gaming, Low settings at 76 FPS average are the viable option, but this sacrifices too much visual quality. The data shows that Medium is the best compromise across the board, offering playable frame rates at every resolution while maximizing visual quality without the crippling performance cost of Ultra.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is the primary driver of frame rate differences between presets, as evidenced by the scaling from Low to Ultra. The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs deliver a raw FP32 performance of 9.062 TFLOPS, which directly correlates with the observed rasterization performance in Fortnite.

The clock speeds are notable: a base clock of 1605 MHz and a boost clock of 1770 MHz. This boost clock is the effective ceiling under load, and the data suggests the GPU sustains high utilization at Medium settings across all resolutions. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for Fortnite's art style, even at 4K Medium, where the 54 FPS average indicates the GPU is still managing memory allocation effectively without hitting a hard cap. The 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is a key asset, as Fortnite's rapidly changing scenes and building mechanics demand quick texture streaming.

The GPU's percentile ranking of 65 versus all GPUs places it in the upper-middle tier. Its benchmark results reinforce this positioning: a Passmark G3D score of 18169 and a Geekbench Vulkan score of 90637 indicate strong DirectX 12 and Vulkan performance, which are relevant for Fortnite's modern rendering paths. The RTX 2070 SUPER also includes 40 RT cores and 320 tensor cores, though Fortnite's standard competitive settings rarely leverage ray tracing, meaning the observed results reflect the traditional rasterization pipeline.

Compared to its nearest rivals, the RTX 2070 SUPER's average benchmark score of 20282 is just 1% below the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (20480) and 1.2% below the RTX 3070 Mobile (20534). It also trails the Intel Arc B570 by 1.3% and Arc A750 by 1.5%. This tight clustering explains why the GPU's performance in Fortnite is solid but not exceptional; it sits at the edge of the upper-midrange tier, capable of high frame rates at 1080p but requiring careful settings management at higher resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate data reveals a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases, confirming that the RTX 2070 SUPER becomes the limiting factor at higher pixel counts. At Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 160 at 1920x1080 to 102 at 2560x1440, a 36.3% reduction, and then to 54 at 3840x2160, a further 47.1% drop from 1440p. This steep decline indicates that the GPU is heavily stressed by the increased pixel workload, with the 4K resolution nearly halving the performance achieved at 1440p.

The High preset shows a similar trend: 124 FPS at 1080p, 79 FPS at 1440p (a 36.3% drop), and 42 FPS at 4K (a 46.8% drop from 1440p). This consistency across presets suggests that the scaling is primarily resolution-driven rather than setting-driven, pointing to the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth as the bottlenecks. The 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, while generous for a 256-bit bus, is taxed heavily at 4K, where the 8 GB VRAM must handle nearly four times the pixels of 1080p.

The Low preset tells a different story. At 1080p, it achieves 228 FPS, which drops to 145 FPS at 1440p (a 36.4% drop) and 76 FPS at 4K (a 47.6% drop). The percentage drops are remarkably similar across all presets, indicating that the CPU is not the limiting factor here; the RTX 2070 SUPER's rendering throughput scales linearly with pixel count. The fact that 4K Low (76 FPS) outperforms 1080p Ultra (82 FPS) by a narrow margin highlights how much headroom the GPU has at lower resolutions but also how quickly that headroom evaporates as pixel density increases.

This scaling behavior confirms that the RTX 2070 SUPER is the primary bottleneck at 1440p and 4K. At 1080p, the CPU still has ample room to feed the GPU, but the frame rate ceiling is set by the GPU's raw output. The data shows a 3.7x difference between 1080p Low (228 FPS) and 4K Ultra (28 FPS), underscoring that resolution is the dominant factor in this combo's performance profile.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 2141 out of 3700 tested combinations in Fortnite, placing it in the 57.9th percentile of all systems. This is a mid-pack ranking that reflects the GPU's age and the CPU's midrange positioning. The rank indicates that while this setup is far from the top tier, it outperforms a majority of tested systems, which is expected given the RTX 2070 SUPER's 65th percentile GPU ranking and the i5-14400F's 83rd percentile CPU ranking.

The discrepancy between the CPU's high percentile (83) and the combo's overall rank (57.9th percentile) reveals that the GPU is the limiting factor in this pairing. The i5-14400F is capable of driving far more powerful GPUs, but the RTX 2070 SUPER caps the system's Fortnite performance. This is evident in the 1080p Low result of 228 FPS, which is excellent but still below what newer GPUs would achieve with this same CPU.

In the context of the GPU's nearest rivals, the RTX 2070 SUPER's performance in this combo is consistent with its benchmark scores. The GPU's 1% deficit versus the Quadro M4000M and 1.2% versus the RTX 3070 Mobile translates to minor FPS differences in-game, but these are unlikely to be perceptible in real-world play. The combo's rank of 2141 suggests that many systems with newer midrange GPUs, such as the RTX 3070 Mobile or Intel Arc B570, would occupy higher positions, but the i5-14400F ensures this pairing remains competitive.

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. Its base clock is 2.50 GHz with a boost clock of 4.70 GHz, and it features 20 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU's benchmark results are strong: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21645 and a single-core score of 3055, alongside a Geekbench multi-core score of 11268 and single-core score of 2058. These figures place the i5-14400F in the 83rd percentile of all CPUs, indicating it is a well-above-average processor for gaming.

In Fortnite, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and handle game logic, physics, and building mechanics. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 228 FPS, which is a strong indicator that the CPU is not a bottleneck at this resolution. The i5-14400F's boost clock of 4.70 GHz provides excellent single-threaded performance, which is critical for Fortnite's engine, and the 10 cores ensure that background tasks and streaming do not interfere with frame pacing.

The CPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U, which has an average score of 32233 (0.1% higher), the Intel Core i9-11900 at 32226 (0.2% higher), the AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS at 32354 (0.2% lower), and the Intel Core i7-12800H at 32121 (0.5% lower). These tiny deltas indicate that the i5-14400F is performance-equivalent to a range of premium laptop and desktop chips from the previous generation, confirming that this CPU has ample headroom for Fortnite.

The CPU's 16 threads and 20 MB L3 cache are more than sufficient for Fortnite, which is not heavily multi-threaded compared to newer AAA titles. The measured FPS at 1080p Medium (160 average) and High (124 average) show that the CPU maintains high frame rates without stuttering, as evidenced by the minimum FPS of 136 at 1080p Medium. This indicates solid frame pacing and no CPU-induced hitches. The i5-14400F is clearly not the limiting component in this combo; its 83rd percentile ranking and strong single-core scores ensure it can deliver high FPS in Fortnite, with the RTX 2070 SUPER being the primary constraint.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for this combo at 1440p?

A: The Medium preset is the best choice at 2560x1440, delivering an average of 102 FPS with a minimum of 87 FPS and a maximum of 117 FPS. High settings drop to 79 FPS average, while Ultra falls to 52 FPS, which is below the ideal smoothness threshold.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in Fortnite?

A: Yes, but with significant compromises. At 4K Medium, the combo achieves 54 FPS average with a 46 FPS minimum, which is playable but not ideal. Low settings at 4K reach 76 FPS average, while High and Ultra drop to 42 FPS and 28 FPS respectively, making them unsuitable for competitive play.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this system?

A: The GPU is the primary bottleneck, especially at higher resolutions. The CPU is in the 83rd percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU is in the 65th percentile. The FPS drops from 1080p to 4K follow a consistent pattern across presets, indicating the RTX 2070 SUPER's rendering throughput is the limiting factor.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: This combo ranks 2141 out of 3700 tested combinations, placing it in the 57.9th percentile. This is a mid-pack result, reflecting the GPU's midrange positioning despite the CPU's above-average performance.

Q: What is the highest FPS this combo can achieve?

A: The highest measured average is 228 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. At Medium settings, the peak is 160 FPS at 1080p, and at High settings it is 124 FPS at 1080p.

Q: Does the CPU's performance hold up against its rivals?

A: Yes, the i5-14400F is very competitive. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U, has an average score of 32233, just 0.1% higher. The Intel Core i9-11900 is 0.2% higher, while the AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS is 0.2% lower and the Intel Core i7-12800H is 0.5% lower.