Fortnite

Fortnite with the Intel Core i7-13700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 presents a clear picture of a system where the GPU is the primary scaling factor across resolutions, while the CPU’s strong multi-threaded headroom keeps frame pacing consistent even at lower settings. The measured data spans three resolutions and four quality presets, providing a complete view of how this combo behaves under load. The following analysis breaks down those results, interprets the scaling patterns, and places the combo within the broader benchmark database.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 is steep and consistent across all settings, indicating that the RTX 4070’s rendering pipeline becomes the limiting component as pixel count rises. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 338 at 1080p to 215 at 1440p, then to 113 at 4K. That represents a 36% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a further 47% reduction from 1440p to 4K, totaling a 67% drop from the lowest to the highest resolution. This pattern is typical of a GPU-bound scenario where the core count and clock speed of the CPU are sufficient to feed the GPU at lower resolutions, but the GPU’s shading units and memory bandwidth become saturated as the pixel workload grows.

At Medium settings, the scaling is slightly less aggressive: 238 FPS at 1080p, 151 FPS at 1440p, and 80 FPS at 4K. The 1080p-to-1440p drop is 37%, while the 1440p-to-4K drop is 47%. The similarity in percentage drops across Low and Medium suggests that the GPU is handling the additional shading work without hitting a memory bandwidth wall, but the absolute FPS values show that the RTX 4070’s 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for these presets. At High settings, the 1080p result is 184 FPS, dropping to 117 FPS at 1440p (a 36% reduction) and 62 FPS at 4K (a 47% reduction from 1440p). The consistent ~36-37% drop from 1080p to 1440p and ~47% drop from 1440p to 4K across Low, Medium, and High settings indicates that the scaling is governed by fill rate and pixel throughput, not by CPU overhead.

Ultra settings show the most dramatic scaling, with 122 FPS at 1080p, 77 FPS at 1440p, and 41 FPS at 4K. The 1080p-to-1440p drop is 37%, and the 1440p-to-4K drop is 47%, again matching the other presets. However, the absolute FPS at 4K Ultra (41 FPS) is below the 60 FPS threshold commonly considered smooth, indicating that this preset is only viable at lower resolutions. The fact that the percentage scaling remains nearly identical across all four presets strongly suggests that the RTX 4070’s 5888 shading units and 64 ROPs are the bottleneck, not the CPU’s 16 cores or 24 threads.

GPU Role

The RTX 4070’s specifications directly explain the observed frame rates. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1920 MHz and a boost clock of 2475 MHz, with 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus delivering 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The 5888 shading units and 184 texture mapping units provide ample compute for most presets, but the 64 ROPs are the limiting factor at higher resolutions. At 4K, the pixel rate of 158.4 GPixel/s becomes the ceiling, which aligns with the fact that the largest percentage drops occur when moving to 3840x2160.

The GPU’s FP32 throughput of 29.15 TFLOPS is more than sufficient for Fortnite’s rendering workload at Low and Medium settings, as evidenced by the 338 FPS and 238 FPS averages at 1080p. However, the Ultra preset likely enables additional effects such as ray tracing or higher-quality shadows, which disproportionately load the 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores. The 41 FPS at 4K Ultra suggests that these specialized units are not able to compensate for the raw pixel workload at that resolution. The GPU’s memory configuration — 12 GB of GDDR6X — is not a limiting factor here, since even at 4K Ultra the VRAM usage does not appear to exceed the available capacity, based on the measured FPS remaining stable rather than stuttering.

Comparatively, the RTX 4070 sits at the 81st percentile among all GPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 37648. Its nearest rivals in raw compute include the NVIDIA Tesla P4 (score 37628, delta 0.1%) and the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (score 37507, delta 0.4%), which are essentially tied in synthetic benchmarks. The RTX 4080 Mobile scores 38135, which is 1.3% higher, while the AMD Radeon PRO W6400 scores 37157, 1.3% lower. These narrow deltas suggest that the RTX 4070’s performance in Fortnite is consistent with its position in the broader GPU hierarchy, though the game’s specific rendering paths may favor or disfavor certain architectures.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance for this combo. At 1920x1080, Medium produces an average of 238 FPS with a minimum of 202 FPS and a maximum of 274 FPS, which is well above the refresh rate of most high-end monitors. At 2560x1440, Medium averages 151 FPS with a minimum of 129 FPS and a maximum of 174 FPS, still comfortably above 120 FPS for smooth gameplay. Even at 3840x2160, Medium averages 80 FPS with a minimum of 68 FPS and a maximum of 92 FPS, which is playable on a 60 Hz display and only slightly below the 90 FPS target for some VRR monitors.

The High preset is a viable alternative for users prioritizing visual fidelity over raw frame rate. At 1080p, High averages 184 FPS, which is still high but 23% lower than Medium. At 1440p, High averages 117 FPS, which is sufficient for 120 Hz displays but leaves no headroom for drops. At 4K, High averages 62 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS threshold but may dip below during intense combat sequences, as the minimum FPS was not recorded for this preset. The Low preset, while delivering 338 FPS at 1080p and 215 FPS at 1440p, sacrifices too much visual detail for a marginal competitive advantage, and the 113 FPS at 4K is not significantly better than Medium’s 80 FPS when considering the visual trade-off.

The Ultra preset is not recommended for this combo at any resolution above 1080p. At 1440p, Ultra averages 77 FPS, which is below the 120 FPS target for competitive play, and at 4K, the 41 FPS average is simply too low for a smooth experience. Even at 1080p, Ultra’s 122 FPS average is lower than High’s 184 FPS, suggesting that the extra settings in Ultra do not justify the performance cost. The data indicates that Medium is the sweet spot for this GPU, with High as a secondary option for users who prefer visuals over frame rate.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo of the Intel Core i7-13700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 ranks 864th out of 3700 tested combinations in Fortnite, placing it in the top 23% of all combos in the database. This rank reflects the balanced nature of the pairing: the CPU is not holding back the GPU, but the GPU’s mid-range positioning prevents the combo from reaching the top tier. The CPU itself sits at the 89th percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 46881, while the GPU sits at the 81st percentile, with an average benchmark score of 37648. The combination of a high-percentile CPU with a slightly lower-percentile GPU results in a system that excels at high frame rate gaming at 1080p and 1440p but struggles to maintain high FPS at 4K with maximum settings.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in the database include the AMD Ryzen 9 5900 (score 46971, delta -0.2%), the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375 (score 47022, delta -0.3%), the AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX (score 46654, delta 0.5%), and the Intel Xeon w3-2535 (score 46653, delta 0.5%). These deltas are all within 0.5% of the i7-13700K’s average score, indicating that the CPU’s performance is essentially tied with its closest competitors in synthetic benchmarks. In Fortnite specifically, the CPU’s 16 cores and 24 threads are more than sufficient for the game’s physics and draw-call processing, which is why the frame rates at Low settings are so high — the CPU is not the bottleneck even at 338 FPS.

The combo rank of 864 out of 3700 suggests that there are many faster combinations, but it also means that this pairing is ahead of the majority of tested systems. The data shows that the RTX 4070 is the limiting factor in most scenarios, as evidenced by the steep FPS drops with increased resolution. Users looking to improve performance would benefit more from a GPU upgrade than a CPU upgrade, though the i7-13700K’s strong single-thread and multi-thread scores (Cinebench R23 multi-core of 30745 and single-core of 2116) ensure that it will not become a bottleneck in future game titles.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with Medium settings?

A: The average FPS at 1920x1080 with Medium settings is 238, with a minimum of 202 and a maximum of 274.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS drops to 41, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in Fortnite with this combo?

A: The data shows that the RTX 4070 is the limiting component, as the FPS drops by approximately 47% from 1440p to 4K across all settings, while the CPU maintains high frame rates at lower resolutions.

Q: What is the combo rank in Fortnite?

A: The combo ranks 864th out of 3700 tested combinations, placing it in the top 23% of all systems in the database.

Q: Which preset is recommended for 1440p gaming?

A: The Medium preset is recommended at 1440p, as it averages 151 FPS with a minimum of 129 FPS, providing smooth gameplay without excessive visual compromise.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 compare to its nearest rival GPU?

A: The RTX 4070 has an average benchmark score of 37648, which is 0.1% higher than the NVIDIA Tesla P4 (score 37628) and 0.4% higher than the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (score 37507).

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured FPS values are as follows: Low settings average 338 FPS, Medium settings average 238 FPS with a minimum of 202 and a maximum of 274, High settings average 184 FPS, and Ultra settings average 122 FPS. This shows a clear progression where each step up in quality reduces the frame rate by roughly 30-35%, with the largest absolute difference between Low and Medium (100 FPS) and the smallest between High and Ultra (62 FPS).

At 2560x1440, the values are: Low settings average 215 FPS, Medium settings average 151 FPS with a minimum of 129 and a maximum of 174, High settings average 117 FPS, and Ultra settings average 77 FPS. The percentage drops from 1080p are 36% for Low, 37% for Medium, 36% for High, and 37% for Ultra, confirming that the scaling is consistent regardless of preset.

At 3840x2160, the values are: Low settings average 113 FPS, Medium settings average 80 FPS with a minimum of 68 and a maximum of 92, High settings average 62 FPS, and Ultra settings average 41 FPS. The 4K results show that only Low and Medium settings exceed 60 FPS, while High barely reaches 62 FPS and Ultra falls far below. The minimum FPS for Medium at 4K is 68, which is still above the 60 FPS threshold, but the minimum values for other presets were not recorded, leaving uncertainty about worst-case dips.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K features 16 cores and 24 threads, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. Its 30 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache provide ample data storage for game assets, while the 80 KB per-core L1 cache reduces latency for frequently accessed instructions. The CPU’s 125 W TDP and Intel Socket 1700 compatibility make it a mainstream desktop part, and its unlocked multiplier allows for overclocking, though the measured data does not indicate whether overclocking was applied.

In Fortnite, the CPU’s role is primarily to handle game logic, physics calculations, and draw call submission. The data shows that the CPU is not the bottleneck at any resolution or setting, as the FPS at Low settings (338 at 1080p) is far higher than what the GPU can sustain at higher resolutions. Synthetic benchmarks support this: the CPU scores 30745 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2116 in single-core, placing it at the 89th percentile among all CPUs. Its 3DMark scores — 10717 for 16 threads, 8193 for 8 threads, and 1136 for single thread — indicate strong multi-threading capability that benefits modern games.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in the database are all within 0.5% of its average benchmark score of 46881, suggesting that the i7-13700K is not a differentiator in gaming performance. However, its high boost clock of 5.40 GHz ensures that single-threaded tasks, such as game logic, are processed quickly. The 3DMark 2-thread score of 2262 and 4-thread score of 4469 show that the CPU scales well with thread count, which is important for Fortnite’s multi-threaded rendering pipeline. The CPU’s 89th percentile ranking confirms that it is a high-end part, but the combo’s 864th rank out of 3700 shows that the GPU is the more significant factor in determining overall gaming performance in this title.