Fortnite

Fortnite, in its current Unreal Engine form, scales dramatically across the three tested resolutions. The measured data for the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 combination shows a clear pattern: the game is highly responsive to both CPU and GPU changes, but the optimal experience depends entirely on whether the user prioritizes competitive frame rates or visual fidelity. At 1080p, the system produces triple-digit averages across all presets, while 4K Ultra drops below 30 FPS, indicating a hardware ceiling that forces a strategic choice in settings. This analysis breaks down the measured frames per second (FPS) data to determine the best preset for each resolution and what the scaling reveals about the underlying component bottleneck.

Settings Recommendations

For the Intel Core i5-9400 and RTX 4060 pairing, the measured FPS data indicates that the Low preset is the only settings tier that delivers a consistently high-refresh experience at every resolution. At 1920x1080, Low produces an average of 246.4 FPS, which is 72.1 FPS higher than the next best preset (Medium at 174.3 FPS). This margin is substantial for competitive play, as it allows the hardware to push well beyond standard 144Hz monitor refresh rates. The advantage persists at 2560x1440, where Low yields 153.1 FPS, again exceeding the 144Hz threshold, while Medium drops to 107.7 FPS. Even at 4K, the Low preset maintains an average of 81 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for high-refresh displays.

The Medium preset serves as the balanced fallback for users who want improved visual quality without sacrificing playability. At 1080p, Medium achieves 174.3 FPS, which is still comfortably above the 144Hz mark, and at 1440p it hits 107.7 FPS, which is acceptable for 100Hz+ monitors. However, at 4K, Medium falls to 57.8 FPS, which is borderline for a smooth experience. The High preset is only viable at 1080p (131.5 FPS) and 1440p (84.6 FPS), but it fails to reach the 60 FPS threshold at 4K with a 45.2 FPS average. The Ultra preset is not recommended for any resolution: it produces 88.7 FPS at 1080p, 55 FPS at 1440p, and 30.1 FPS at 4K. The data suggests that Ultra is best reserved for screenshots or single-player scenarios, as the frame rate penalty is steep across the board.

The optimal recommendation is to use Low for 1080p and 1440p gaming if the goal is maximum frame rates, given the 246.4 and 153.1 FPS averages respectively. For 4K, the choice is starker: Low provides 81 FPS, which is the only preset above 60 FPS, making it the sole playable option for that resolution. Users with 144Hz displays at 1440p should favor Low, while those with 60Hz 4K monitors can accept Medium's 57.8 FPS, though it is below the refresh cap.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable with this combo at 1080p?

A: The highest average FPS is 246.4, achieved with the Low preset at 1920x1080. This is 72.1 FPS higher than the Medium preset's 174.3 FPS and 157.7 FPS higher than the Ultra preset's 88.7 FPS.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K resolution?

A: Yes, but only when using the Low preset, which produces an average of 81 FPS at 3840x2160. The Medium preset falls to 57.8 FPS, which is just below the 60 FPS threshold, while High and Ultra drop to 45.2 and 30.1 FPS respectively.

Q: How does the RTX 4060 compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4060 has an average benchmark score of 23181. Its closest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6600M, scores 23321, which is 0.6% higher. The Intel Arc B580 scores 23021, which is 0.7% lower than the RTX 4060.

Q: What is the frame rate drop from 1080p Low to 1440p Low?

A: The average FPS drops from 246.4 at 1920x1080 to 153.1 at 2560x1440, a decrease of 93.3 FPS. This represents a 37.9% reduction in performance when moving up one resolution tier.

Q: Is the CPU a limiting factor at 1080p with Low settings?

A: The data suggests the GPU is still the primary limiter, as the RTX 4060's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 128-bit bus width (272.0 GB/s bandwidth) are sufficient for 1080p, but the i5-9400's six cores and six threads (base 2.90 GHz, boost 4.10 GHz) do not prevent the 246.4 FPS average, indicating no hard CPU cap at that point.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested configurations for Fortnite?

A: This specific combo ranks 881 out of 1564 tested combos, placing it in the 56.3rd percentile of all configurations. This is based on measured performance data, not synthetic estimates.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a strong GPU dependency at higher presets, but a more balanced profile at Low settings. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 246.4 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low reduces this to 153.1 FPS, a 37.9% drop. Further scaling to 4K Low produces 81 FPS, which is a 67.1% drop from 1080p. This steep decline indicates that even at Low settings, the GPU's rendering load increases significantly with pixel count, and the RTX 4060's 128-bit memory interface (272.0 GB/s bandwidth) becomes a constraint.

For the High preset, the scaling is even more pronounced: 131.5 FPS at 1080p, 84.6 FPS at 1440p (a 35.7% drop), and 45.2 FPS at 4K (a 65.6% drop from 1080p). The Ultra preset shows the worst scaling, with 88.7 FPS at 1080p dropping to 55 FPS at 1440p (38.0% drop) and then to 30.1 FPS at 4K (66.1% drop). The pattern across all presets shows that the 4K resolution imposes roughly a two-thirds penalty on FPS compared to 1080p, regardless of settings.

The limiting component is clearly the GPU. The RTX 4060's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit bus are designed for 1080p and 1440p gaming, not 4K. The CPU, with its six cores and 9 MB of shared L3 cache, does not exhibit a bottleneck at 1080p, as evidenced by the 246.4 FPS average on Low. However, at 4K, the GPU's fill rate (118.1 GPixel/s) and texture rate (236.2 GTexel/s) are insufficient to maintain high frame rates at anything above Low. The data shows that the CPU's role diminishes as resolution increases, with the GPU becoming the sole bottleneck at 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured averages are: Low at 246.4 FPS, Medium at 174.3 FPS, High at 131.5 FPS, and Ultra at 88.7 FPS. The delta between Low and Medium is 72.1 FPS, which is larger than the delta between Medium and High (42.8 FPS) or High and Ultra (42.8 FPS). This indicates that the Low preset offers a disproportionate FPS advantage, while the step from High to Ultra incurs a 42.8 FPS penalty for marginal visual gains.

At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low at 153.1 FPS, Medium at 107.7 FPS, High at 84.6 FPS, and Ultra at 55 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium narrows to 45.4 FPS, but the drop from High to Ultra is 29.6 FPS. Notably, the Ultra preset at 1440p (55 FPS) is lower than the High preset at 1080p (131.5 FPS), showing that resolution scaling has a greater impact than setting changes.

At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low at 81 FPS, Medium at 57.8 FPS, High at 45.2 FPS, and Ultra at 30.1 FPS. The Low preset remains above 60 FPS, but Medium falls short. The Ultra preset at 4K is only 30.1 FPS, which is below the 30 FPS threshold for playability in most scenarios. Across all resolutions, the Low preset is the only one that maintains a playable frame rate at 4K, and it is the only preset that exceeds 144 FPS at 1080p.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 combination ranks 881 out of 1564 tested combos for Fortnite. This places it in the upper-middle range, as 683 combos rank above it, and 683 rank below it (given the total of 1564). The rank suggests that while this system is capable of high frame rates at lower resolutions, it is not optimized for the most demanding settings. The RTX 4060 itself holds the 66th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 23181, while the i5-9400 sits at the 50th percentile with an average score of 2305.

The combo's rank is influenced by the GPU's synthetic performance, which is 0.7% lower than the Intel Arc B580 (score 23021) and 0.6% higher than the AMD Radeon 760M (score 22999). In practice, this means the RTX 4060 is competitive with mid-range cards, but the CPU's six-core, six-thread configuration (without hyper-threading) is a modest partner. The i5-9400's nearest rival, the Intel Core i3-10305, has an average score of 2300, which is 0.2% lower, indicating that the CPU is near the bottom of its performance class. The combo's 881st rank reflects a balance where the GPU carries most of the load, but the CPU cannot fully exploit the GPU's potential at lower resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a six-core, six-thread processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. It has 9 MB of shared L3 cache, which is moderate for gaming. In Fortnite, this CPU's role is most evident at 1080p with Low settings, where the system achieves 246.4 FPS. This high frame rate suggests that the CPU is not a bottleneck at that point, as the GPU is still able to push frames quickly. However, the CPU's lack of hyper-threading (6 threads total) and its 50th percentile ranking (average score 2305) indicate that it may struggle in more CPU-intensive scenes, such as large build battles or when many players are on screen.

The data shows that the CPU's influence diminishes as resolution increases. At 4K, the GPU is the clear limiter, as the FPS drops to 81 on Low and 30.1 on Ultra, regardless of CPU capabilities. The i5-9400's boost clock of 4.10 GHz helps maintain single-thread performance, which Fortnite relies on for physics and game logic. Compared to its nearest rivals, the i5-9400 is nearly identical in synthetic benchmarks (0.2% difference from the i3-10305), meaning its six cores do not provide a significant advantage over quad-core parts in this game. The 65W TDP and 14nm process node are secondary considerations, as the CPU's actual performance in Fortnite is dictated by its clock speeds and cache, not its power draw.