Fortnite

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the Intel Arc B370 is a bottom-tier combination for Fortnite, ranking 2517th out of 2740 tested combos. This places it in the bottom 8% of all systems, indicating a fundamental performance ceiling that will require significant settings compromises for playable framerates. The data shows a system that is primarily limited by its GPU, which struggles severely at higher resolutions, while the six-core CPU provides adequate but not exceptional baseline performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 2517 out of 2740 combos is a decisive verdict: this is a low-performing pairing for Fortnite. Benchmark results indicate that 92% of tested system combinations deliver higher average framerates, placing this configuration firmly in the entry-level segment. The ranking reflects a hardware pairing where the GPU's capabilities are the dominant constraint, as the CPU's performance percentile of 47 (versus all CPUs) is substantially higher than the GPU's percentile of 5 (versus all GPUs).

The disparity between component percentiles is stark. The Core i5-9400 sits near the middle of the CPU distribution, while the Arc B370 is in the bottom 5% of all GPUs. This mismatch means the GPU is the clear bottleneck in nearly all scenarios. The CPU's average benchmark score of 2254 places it within 0.4% of rivals like the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (2246) and Intel Core i3-10305 (2264), showing it is a competent mid-range processor. However, the GPU's average benchmark score of 1184 is essentially tied with decades-old parts like the ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1190) and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1186), demonstrating its limited graphical throughput.

In practice, this ranking translates to a system that can handle Fortnite at lower settings and resolutions but falls apart when demands increase. The combo's position in the bottom decile is not surprising given the GPU's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1184, which is a mere 0.2% behind the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570. The 25W TDP of the Arc B370 further confirms its integrated-class performance, and the measured FPS data reflects this reality: the system achieves playable framerates only at 1080p with Low settings.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370 is the definitive limiting factor in this configuration. Its specifications reveal a part designed for low-power integrated use, not dedicated gaming. The GPU operates with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2400 MHz, but its memory configuration is "System Shared" with "System Dependent" bandwidth, meaning it relies on the CPU's DDR4 memory rather than dedicated VRAM. This shared memory architecture severely constrains performance, particularly at higher resolutions where memory bandwidth demands increase.

The GPU's 1280 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 20 ROPs provide a theoretical FP32 throughput of 6.144 TFLOPS. While this sounds capable on paper, the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 benchmark score of 1184 tells a different story, placing it in the 5th percentile of all GPUs. The nearest rivals in benchmark scores are all legacy parts from the early 2010s, including the ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1190, deltaPct -0.5%) and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1186, deltaPct -0.2%). This places the Arc B370's raw performance on par with graphics cards from over a decade ago.

For Fortnite specifically, the GPU's limitations manifest clearly in the measured FPS. At 4K Ultra, the system manages only 13 FPS, which is unplayable. Even at 1080p Ultra, the framerate is 37 FPS, indicating the GPU cannot handle high-fidelity settings. The system's 10 ray tracing cores and DirectX 12 Ultimate support are technically present, but the low overall throughput means these features are effectively unusable for gaming. The GPU's 3nm process node and Xe3-LPG architecture are modern, but the 25W TDP and shared memory design cap its real-world gaming performance.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings/resolution combination for this system in Fortnite?

A: The only configuration that achieves a consistently smooth framerate is 1080p with Low settings, producing 104 FPS average. The 1080p Medium setting yields 73 FPS, which is also playable, but anything higher in resolution or quality drops below 60 FPS.

Q: How does this combo compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The Arc B370's 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1184 is within 1.4% of its nearest rivals, including the ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1190), ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1186), and AMD Radeon HD 7650M (1192). This means performance is statistically identical to those legacy parts.

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

A: The GPU is overwhelmingly the bottleneck. The CPU's 47th percentile ranking versus all CPUs is much stronger than the GPU's 5th percentile. This is confirmed by FPS scaling: going from 1080p Low (104 FPS) to 4K Low (35 FPS) shows a 66% drop, which is characteristic of a GPU-limited scenario.

Q: Can this system run Fortnite at 1440p?

A: Yes, but only at Low settings, where it achieves 66 FPS average. At 1440p Medium, the framerate drops to 46 FPS, and at High it falls to 36 FPS. The 1440p Ultra setting is not viable at 24 FPS.

Q: What is the CPU's benchmark performance relative to its rivals?

A: The Core i5-9400's average benchmark score of 2254 is essentially tied with the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (2259, deltaPct -0.2%) and the Intel Core i7-10710U (2248, deltaPct 0.3%). It is marginally ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (2246, deltaPct 0.4%).

Q: Does the GPU have dedicated VRAM?

A: No. The Arc B370 uses "System Shared" memory, meaning it borrows from the system's DDR4 RAM. The memory bus width and bandwidth are listed as "System Shared" and "System Dependent," respectively, which limits performance compared to dedicated graphics memory.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive picture of this combo's capabilities across four resolutions and four quality settings. At 1920x1080, the system performs best with Low settings, achieving 104 FPS average. Medium settings drop this to 73 FPS, with a minimum of 62 FPS and maximum of 84 FPS, indicating frame times are relatively consistent. High settings produce 57 FPS, while Ultra brings the system to its knees at 37 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance degradation is significant. Low settings yield 66 FPS, which is still playable but a 36.5% drop from 1080p. Medium settings produce 46 FPS (39-53 FPS range), High drops to 36 FPS, and Ultra falls to 24 FPS. The 1440p resolution demonstrates the GPU's bandwidth limitations, as the shared memory system struggles to feed the increased pixel count.

At 3840x2160, the system is largely unplayable. Low settings manage 35 FPS, Medium drops to 25 FPS (21-28 FPS range), High falls to 19 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 13 FPS. These numbers indicate that 4K gaming is not a realistic option for this combo, even at the lowest quality presets. The 4K Medium setting's minimum of 21 FPS shows that frame drops are severe and consistent.

The data reveals a consistent pattern: each settings tier costs roughly 30% performance. For example, at 1080p, going from Low to Medium drops FPS from 104 to 73 (a 30% reduction), and from Medium to High drops from 73 to 57 (a 22% reduction). The Ultra preset is disproportionately demanding, causing a 35% drop from High at 1080p (57 to 37 FPS). This suggests the Ultra preset enables effects that the GPU's 20 ROPs cannot handle efficiently.

Resolution Scaling

The scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a GPU-limited system with severe bandwidth constraints. At Low settings, the framerate drops from 104 FPS at 1080p to 66 FPS at 1440p (a 36.5% reduction) and further to 35 FPS at 4K (a 66.3% reduction from 1080p). This scaling is much steeper than the pixel count increase would suggest, indicating that the shared memory system cannot keep up with the growing data demands.

At Medium settings, the progression is 73 FPS (1080p) → 46 FPS (1440p) → 25 FPS (4K), representing a 37% drop to 1440p and a 65.8% drop to 4K. The High settings show 57 FPS → 36 FPS → 19 FPS, with a 66.7% total reduction. Ultra settings are the most punishing: 37 FPS → 24 FPS → 13 FPS, a 64.9% drop from 1080p to 4K.

The consistent ~65% drop from 1080p to 4K across all settings is a strong indicator that the limiting factor is the GPU's memory bandwidth, not its compute units. The "System Dependent" bandwidth means the GPU competes with the CPU for DDR4 memory access, and at 4K, the data transfer requirements overwhelm this shared resource. The CPU, by contrast, has a fixed memory bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s, which is sufficient for its tasks but creates a bottleneck when shared with the GPU.

This scaling behavior confirms that the Arc B370 is the primary constraint. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see less performance drop at higher resolutions, as the CPU workload remains relatively constant. Instead, the framerate drops proportionally with resolution, a hallmark of GPU and memory bandwidth limitations.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 provides a stable but unremarkable foundation for this combo. It features 6 cores and 6 threads with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz, built on the Coffee Lake architecture using a 14nm process. The CPU's 9 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support (42.7 GB/s bandwidth) are adequate for gaming, and its 65W TDP suggests it can sustain boost clocks without thermal throttling in most systems.

Benchmark data places the i5-9400 in the 47th percentile of all CPUs, with an average score of 2254. Its Cinebench R23 scores are 6629 (multi-core) and 935 (single-core), while Geekbench scores are 5141 (multi-core) and 1389 (single-core). These numbers indicate a processor that is competitive with modern low-end and mid-range parts, as evidenced by its near-identical performance to the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (deltaPct -0.2%) and Intel Core i7-10710U (deltaPct 0.3%).

In the context of Fortnite, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and handle game logic. The 6 cores and 6 threads are sufficient for this task, as Fortnite is not heavily multi-threaded. However, the CPU's lack of hyper-threading means it can be taxed during intense build battles or large-scale fights, but the measured FPS data shows that the GPU is the limiting factor in all tested scenarios. At 1080p Low, where the GPU is least stressed, the CPU still allows 104 FPS, demonstrating it is not holding the system back.

The CPU's PCIe Gen 3 interface with 16 lanes is a potential limitation for the Arc B370, which is designed as an IGP (integrated graphics processor). However, since the GPU uses system shared memory, the PCIe connection is not the primary bottleneck. The CPU's 47th percentile ranking versus the GPU's 5th percentile makes it clear that the i5-9400 is performing its role adequately, and any performance upgrades would need to focus on the GPU side of the equation.