Fortnite

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates across the three resolutions reveal a classic GPU-bound scenario for this Fortnite configuration. At 1080p High settings, the combo produces 53.5 FPS, which drops to 37.6 FPS at 1440p and further to 19.6 FPS at 4K. This progression shows a 29.7% performance loss when moving from 1080p to 1440p, and a 63.4% loss from 1080p to 4K — a steep curve that points directly at the graphics card as the primary constraint.

The pattern becomes even more telling when examining Low settings. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 98 FPS, which falls to 66.2 FPS at 1440p and 34.5 FPS at 4K. The 1080p-to-1440p drop of 32.4% is nearly identical to the High preset's decline, reinforcing that resolution scaling is consistent regardless of visual load. However, the 4K Low result of 34.5 FPS is concerning — even at the lowest settings, the pixel throughput requirement overwhelms the GPU.

The gap between settings widens as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 60.6 FPS (98 vs 37.4). At 1440p, that gap narrows to 43.8 FPS (66.2 vs 22.4). At 4K, the spread compresses to 23 FPS (34.5 vs 11.5). This compression indicates that at higher resolutions, even Low settings cannot escape the GPU's raw fill-rate limits. The 4K Ultra result of 11.5 FPS is effectively unplayable, while 4K High at 19.6 FPS only barely approaches interactive frame rates.

The data suggests the Intel Core i5-9400 is not the limiting factor here. With 6 cores and 6 threads, the CPU provides adequate headroom for this GPU. The scaling behavior — where frame rates drop nearly proportionally with pixel count — is characteristic of a system bound by the Radeon RX 570's 4 GB GDDR5 memory and 224.0 GB/s bandwidth. The 256-bit memory bus helps at lower resolutions, but the 4 GB capacity becomes a liability when 4K textures and effects demand more video memory than is physically available.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 570 sits at the center of this performance profile. Its 1168 MHz base clock and 1244 MHz boost clock are modest by modern standards, but the 2048 shading units and 128 texture mapping units provide respectable compute throughput for a GPU from the GCN 4.0 architecture. The 5.095 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is the theoretical ceiling, and the measured results show that Fortnite's engine can approach that limit at lower resolutions.

The 4 GB GDDR5 memory running at 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective) delivers 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This is the critical resource for Fortnite's building mechanics and large-scale battles. At 1080p, the memory subsystem keeps up with the game's demands, as evidenced by the 98 FPS Low result. But the 4K Ultra score of 11.5 FPS suggests the GPU is not just fill-rate limited — it is likely spilling into system memory, causing severe frame pacing issues that the average FPS numbers cannot fully capture.

The GPU's position in the broader benchmark landscape is interesting. Its average benchmark score of 30158 places it in the 74th percentile of all GPUs, which seems contradictory given the low Fortnite frame rates. The nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 at 30109 (0.2% behind) and the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT at 30097 (0.2% behind). These modern cards have vastly different architectural strengths, yet the aggregate scores are nearly identical — a reminder that synthetic benchmarks do not always translate to real-world gaming performance, particularly for a fast-paced title like Fortnite.

The GPU's 150 W TDP and dual-slot design indicate it was designed for mainstream systems, not high-end gaming rigs. The 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0b, and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs support modern displays, but the card's age (released in April 2017) shows in its GCN 4.0 architecture, which lacks the dedicated ray tracing hardware found in newer competitors. Fortnite's visual effects are primarily rasterization-based, so this is not a major penalty, but the lack of modern feature support limits future-proofing.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for optimizing the Fortnite experience with this hardware. At 1080p, the Medium preset delivers 68 FPS, which is a significant improvement over High's 53.5 FPS while retaining more visual fidelity than Low's 98 FPS. The jump from Medium to High costs 14.5 FPS, a 21.3% reduction, which is a steep price for the modest visual gains. Conversely, moving from Medium to Low gains 30 FPS (44.1% improvement), but that comes at the cost of most shadow and post-processing effects.

For 1440p users, the situation is more constrained. The Medium preset produces 44.3 FPS, which is playable but not smooth. Low settings at 66.2 FPS provide a much better experience, and the gap between Low and Medium (21.9 FPS) is substantial. The High preset at 37.6 FPS is borderline, and Ultra at 22.4 FPS should be avoided entirely. The data suggests that 1440p Low is the only consistently smooth option, with Medium as a compromise for those who prioritize visuals over frame rate.

At 4K, no preset achieves a playable frame rate. The best result is Low at 34.5 FPS, which is below the 40 FPS threshold many players consider minimum for competitive play. Medium at 23.2 FPS, High at 19.6 FPS, and Ultra at 11.5 FPS are all firmly in slideshow territory. The recommendation is clear: this combo is not suited for 4K gaming in Fortnite, and users should either drop to 1440p or accept significant visual compromises that still fail to reach acceptable frame rates.

The optimal balance for most users will be 1080p Medium, which offers a 68 FPS average — close enough to 60 FPS to provide a smooth experience while maintaining enough detail to appreciate the game's art style. Competitive players may prefer 1080p Low for the 98 FPS result, which gives nearly double the headroom for high-refresh-rate monitors.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the performance envelope is wide and usable. Low settings produce 98 FPS, which is the only preset in this entire dataset to crack the 90 FPS mark. Medium follows at 68 FPS, then High at 53.5 FPS, and Ultra brings up the rear at 37.4 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 61.8% reduction in frame rate, which is a substantial penalty for the visual upgrades.

The 2560x1440 results show a similar ordering but with compressed values. Low achieves 66.2 FPS, Medium drops to 44.3 FPS, High falls to 37.6 FPS, and Ultra manages only 22.4 FPS. Notably, the 1440p Medium result (44.3 FPS) is only slightly higher than the 1080p Ultra result (37.4 FPS), suggesting that resolution and settings have roughly equivalent impacts on performance in this range.

At 3840x2160, the card is clearly overwhelmed. Low produces 34.5 FPS, Medium falls to 23.2 FPS, High slips to 19.6 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 11.5 FPS. The 4K Low result is actually lower than the 1440p Ultra result (34.5 vs 22.4), which demonstrates the dramatic cost of 4K pixel count. The spread between Low and Ultra at 4K is only 23 FPS, compared to 60.6 FPS at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is saturated even at the lowest settings.

The efficiency of each settings tier varies by resolution. At 1080p, Medium offers the best FPS-per-visual-fidelity ratio, gaining 14.5 FPS over High for a modest visual downgrade. At 1440p, Low is the only tier that consistently stays above 60 FPS, making it the default choice for smooth gameplay. At 4K, the entire dataset is below 35 FPS, making all settings non-viable for serious play.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and AMD Radeon RX 570 holds the 1486th position out of 1564 tested combos in Fortnite. That places it in the bottom 5% of all configurations, which is a stark assessment of its gaming capability in this title. The ranking reflects the GPU's age and the game's increasing visual demands rather than any fundamental flaw in the pairing.

The CPU's individual benchmark scores provide context. The i5-9400's average benchmark score of 2305 places it in the 50th percentile of all CPUs, with nearest rivals including the Intel Core i3-10305 at 2300 (0.2% ahead) and the Intel Core i7-8809G at 2319 (0.6% ahead). This mid-pack CPU performance is not the bottleneck — the GPU's 74th percentile ranking among all GPUs is actually higher, yet the combo still ranks poorly because Fortnite's performance is heavily weighted toward GPU throughput at the settings tested.

The deltaPct values for both components suggest that the hardware is performing as expected relative to similar parts. The CPU is within 0.6% of its nearest rivals, and the GPU is within 0.8% of its nearest competitors. This indicates there is no thermal throttling or driver issue skewing the results — the hardware is simply outclassed by the game's requirements at higher settings and resolutions.

The ranking also reflects the game's optimization. Fortnite is a competitive title designed to run on a wide range of hardware, but its building mechanics and large-scale environmental destruction place unique demands on both CPU and GPU. The 1080p Low result of 98 FPS shows that the combo can handle the game when appropriately configured, but the low overall ranking suggests that most users of this hardware are likely running settings that exceed its capabilities. The data indicates that this is a 1080p-focused combination, best suited for Low-to-Medium settings, and that users should not expect competitive performance at higher resolutions.