Fortnite

The Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 pairing in Fortnite delivers a performance profile that is heavily dictated by resolution and settings. The data shows a 6-core, 6-thread CPU from the Coffee Lake architecture with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost of 4.10 GHz, paired with a 12 GB GDDR6X GPU on the Ada Lovelace architecture. This combination ranks 1031 out of 3700 tested combos for the game, placing it in the upper third of all tested systems. The results indicate that while the GPU is capable of extreme frame rates at lower settings, the CPU can become a limiting factor at higher presets, particularly at 1080p.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Fortnite?

A: The data shows that 2560x1440 offers the best balance, with 151 avg FPS on Medium settings and 117 avg FPS on High. At 1920x1080, the frame rates are higher (184 avg on High, 238 avg on Medium), but the gap between Low and Ultra settings suggests a CPU bottleneck at lower resolutions.

Q: How does the i5-9400 perform relative to its nearest rivals?

A: The i5-9400 has an average benchmark score of 2254, placing it in the 47th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-1068NG7, scores 2259, which is -0.2% different. The AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 scores 2246, a 0.4% difference, and the Intel Core i3-10305 scores 2264, a -0.4% difference. This indicates the i5-9400 is essentially tied with these processors in synthetic benchmarks.

Q: Is the RTX 4070 a high-performing GPU according to the data?

A: Yes, the RTX 4070 sits in the 81st percentile of all GPUs. Its average benchmark score is 37648. It is 0.1% ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla P4 (37628) and 0.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (37507). It trails the RTX 4080 Mobile by 1.3% (38135), showing it is a strong performer in the upper tier.

Q: What frame rates can I expect at 4K with this setup?

A: At 3840x2160, the measured results are 113 avg FPS on Low, 80 avg FPS on Medium (with a min of 68 and max of 92), 62 avg FPS on High, and 41 avg FPS on Ultra. The data shows that 4K Ultra is not playable at high refresh rates, but 4K Low is quite fluid.

Q: Does the combo rank high among all tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 1031 out of 3700 tested combos. This places it in the top 27.9% of all systems tested for Fortnite, indicating a solidly above-average configuration.

Q: Which settings preset offers the highest frame rate?

A: The highest average frame rate recorded is 290 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next highest is 238 FPS at the same resolution with Medium settings, which also has a minimum of 202 FPS, suggesting a more consistent experience.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a 6-core, 6-thread processor from the Coffee Lake family, using a 14 nm process from Intel. It has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 256 KB of L2 per core, and 9 MB of shared L3 cache. This CPU supports DDR4 memory in a dual-channel configuration, offering a memory bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s. Its benchmark scores include a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 6629 and a single-core score of 935, with a Geekbench multi-core score of 5141.

In Fortnite, the CPU's role becomes apparent when examining the frame rate scaling across settings. At 1920x1080, the average frame rate jumps from 184 FPS on High to 290 FPS on Low, a difference of 106 FPS. However, the jump from Medium (238 FPS) to Low (290 FPS) is 52 FPS, while the jump from High (184 FPS) to Medium (238 FPS) is 54 FPS. This relatively even scaling suggests that at lower settings, the GPU is doing less work, but the CPU is not completely holding back the system, as the frame rates continue to increase substantially.

However, at 2560x1440, the differences compress. The average FPS on High is 117, on Medium is 151, and on Low is 215. The gap between High and Medium is 34 FPS, and between Medium and Low is 64 FPS. This shows that as resolution increases, the GPU becomes more of a factor, but the i5-9400's 6 threads still provide enough headroom to push high frame rates. The CPU's percentile rank of 47 versus all CPUs indicates it is a mid-range part, but its performance in this game suggests it can handle Fortnite's demands well, particularly at higher resolutions where the GPU workload dominates.

The data shows that the i5-9400's performance is closely matched to its nearest rivals, with a delta of -0.2% to 0.4% compared to the Intel Core i7-1068NG7, Intel Core i7-10710U, AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500, and Intel Core i3-10305. This means that for Fortnite, swapping to any of these CPUs would likely yield very similar results, as the bottleneck is not strictly CPU-bound in most measured scenarios.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is based on the AD104 chip using the Ada Lovelace architecture, manufactured on a 5 nm process by TSMC. It has 35,800 million transistors on a 294 mm² die. The GPU has a base clock of 1920 MHz and a boost clock of 2475 MHz, with memory clocked at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). It features 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s. The GPU has 5888 shading units, 184 TMUs, 64 ROPs, 46 RT cores, and 184 tensor cores. Its compute power is rated at 29.15 TFLOPS for both FP32 and FP16. The TDP is 200 W with a suggested PSU of 550 W.

In Fortnite, the RTX 4070's capabilities are clear in the frame rate data. At 3840x2160, the GPU manages 113 avg FPS on Low settings, which is a playable frame rate for most monitors. However, at 4K Ultra, the average drops to 41 FPS, which is not ideal for competitive play. The 12 GB of VRAM and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for the textures and assets in Fortnite at 4K, as the Low setting at 4K still achieves a high frame rate, indicating that the GPU is not VRAM-limited in this scenario.

The RTX 4070's benchmark scores show it is a high-tier GPU, with a Passmark G3D score of 26927 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3854. Its OpenCL and Vulkan scores are 154858 and 174152, respectively. The GPU ranks in the 81st percentile of all GPUs, meaning it outperforms the majority of graphics cards. When compared to rivals, it is roughly 0.1% to 1.3% different from the Tesla P4, RX Vega 56, RTX 4080 Mobile, and Radeon PRO W6400, indicating that its performance is well-known and consistent.

The data shows that the GPU is the dominant factor at 4K and 1440p. At 2560x1440, the RTX 4070 achieves 215 avg FPS on Low, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate monitors. At 1920x1080, the GPU pushes 290 avg FPS on Low, showing it is not the limiting factor at this resolution. The GPU's role is to provide the raw frame rate headroom, while the CPU manages the game's logic and physics. The measured results indicate that the RTX 4070 is more than capable of handling Fortnite's demands across all presets, with the only notable drop being at 4K Ultra where the average FPS falls below 60.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 ranks 1031 out of 3700 tested combos in Fortnite. This places it in the top 27.9% of all configurations tested for this game. This ranking is significant because it shows that despite the i5-9400 being a mid-range CPU from 2018, the pairing with a high-end GPU results in a system that outperforms over 72% of tested combos.

The ranking reflects the balance between the CPU and GPU. The i5-9400's average benchmark score of 2254 places it in the 47th percentile of CPUs, which is below average. However, the RTX 4070's score of 37648 places it in the 81st percentile of GPUs, which is well above average. The combination of a below-average CPU with an above-average GPU results in a system that is still ranked highly, indicating that Fortnite is more GPU-intensive than CPU-intensive in the tested scenarios.

This ranking also suggests that the i5-9400 does not significantly bottleneck the RTX 4070 in this game. If the CPU were a severe bottleneck, the combo would rank lower relative to other combos with similar GPUs but better CPUs. The data shows that the combo achieves high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, which would not be possible if the CPU were severely limiting the GPU. The ranking reflects the fact that for Fortnite, a 6-core CPU with a 4.10 GHz boost clock is sufficient to feed a high-end GPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates provide a detailed look at how this combo performs across resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the data shows the following average FPS: Low at 290, Medium at 238 (with a min of 202 and max of 274), High at 184, and Ultra at 122. This represents a clear progression where each settings tier reduces the frame rate by roughly 50-60 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 168 FPS, showing that the GPU has significant headroom at this resolution, but the settings have a massive impact.

At 2560x1440, the average FPS numbers are: Low at 215, Medium at 151 (with a min of 129 and max of 174), High at 117, and Ultra at 77. The scaling from Low to Ultra is less steep than at 1080p, with a total drop of 138 FPS. The Medium setting at 1440p provides a minimum of 129 FPS, which is still above the 120 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay on many monitors.

At 3840x2160, the average FPS numbers are: Low at 113, Medium at 80 (with a min of 68 and max of 92), High at 62, and Ultra at 41. This is where the GPU starts to show its limits, as the frame rates drop significantly. The difference between Low and Ultra is 72 FPS, and the Ultra setting at 4K produces an average that is below 60 FPS, which is not ideal for competitive play.

The data also shows that the Medium settings have min and max FPS recorded, while Low, High, and Ultra do not. This allows for an analysis of consistency. At 1920x1080 Medium, the min is 202 and the max is 274, showing a 72 FPS variance. At 2560x1440 Medium, the min is 129 and max is 174, a 45 FPS variance. At 3840x2160 Medium, the min is 68 and max is 92, a 24 FPS variance. This indicates that as resolution increases, the frame time variance decreases, suggesting a more stable experience at higher resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the best experience for this combo depends on the resolution of the monitor. For 1920x1080, the Medium setting provides an average of 238 FPS with a minimum of 202 FPS. This is a strong choice because it guarantees frame rates well above 144 Hz, which is common for gaming monitors. The High setting at 184 FPS is also viable, but the Medium setting offers a 54 FPS improvement over High, which is significant. The Ultra setting at 122 FPS is playable but may not fully utilize a 144 Hz monitor.

For 2560x1440, the Medium setting provides an average of 151 FPS with a minimum of 129 FPS. This is the recommended preset for this resolution, as it stays above the 120 FPS threshold and provides a good balance between visual fidelity and performance. The High setting at 117 FPS is also acceptable for 60 Hz monitors, but for high-refresh-rate 1440p displays, Medium is the better choice. The Low setting at 215 FPS is the highest performance option, but it sacrifices visual quality.

For 3840x2160, the Low setting provides an average of 113 FPS, which is the only preset that consistently delivers above 60 FPS. The Medium setting at 80 FPS is also playable, with a minimum of 68 FPS, making it a viable choice for 4K gaming. The High setting at 62 FPS is marginal, and the Ultra setting at 41 FPS is not recommended for smooth gameplay. Therefore, for 4K, the Low setting is the best for competitive play, while Medium offers a better balance if visual quality is a priority.

The data suggests that the "sweet spot" for this combo is the Medium preset at 2560x1440, which delivers 151 avg FPS with a minimum of 129 FPS. This provides a high frame rate with good visual quality. For players with 1080p monitors, Medium is also the recommended choice, as it offers the best combination of performance and consistency. For 4K users, Low is the only setting that ensures a smooth experience, with Medium being a viable alternative for those who prioritize visuals over raw frame rate.