Fortnite

Resolution Scaling

Examining the measured FPS data for Fortnite with the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and Intel Arc B390 reveals a steep performance cliff as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces an average of 115 FPS. Moving to 1440p at the same settings drops that figure to 73 FPS, a reduction of 42 frames. At 4K with Low settings, the average falls further to 39 FPS. This scaling pattern—roughly a 37% loss from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 47% loss from 1440p to 4K—indicates that the rendering pipeline becomes progressively more strained as pixel count climbs.

The same trend appears across all settings presets. High settings at 1080p yield 63 FPS, which drops to 40 FPS at 1440p and then to 21 FPS at 4K. Medium settings show 81 FPS at 1080p, 51 FPS at 1440p, and 27 FPS at 4K. Ultra settings are the most demanding, starting at 41 FPS at 1080p, falling to 26 FPS at 1440p, and bottoming out at 14 FPS at 4K. The consistency of this pattern across presets confirms that resolution scaling is the dominant factor in performance degradation.

The magnitude of the drops suggests the system is heavily limited by the graphics subsystem rather than the CPU. At 1080p Low, the frame rate of 115 FPS is respectable for competitive play, but the transition to 1440p cuts that nearly in half. If the processor were the bottleneck, we would expect a smaller delta between resolutions because the CPU workload does not scale with pixel count. Instead, the sharp declines point to the Intel Arc B390's rendering capabilities being the primary constraint. The GPU's 24 ROPs and 48 TMUs, combined with a 7.680 TFLOPS FP32 throughput, appear insufficient to feed the pixel pipeline at higher resolutions.

Notably, the gap between Low and Ultra settings widens dramatically at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the spread from Low (115 FPS) to Ultra (41 FPS) is 74 FPS. At 1440p, the spread narrows to 47 FPS (73 to 26). At 4K, it shrinks to 25 FPS (39 to 14). This convergence indicates that at 4K, the GPU is so saturated that even reducing settings to Low cannot overcome the raw pixel throughput limitation. The data suggests the limiting component is unequivocally the GPU, as the CPU's 14 cores and 24 MB of L3 cache would not plausibly cause such drastic resolution-dependent swings.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics solution based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, built on a 3 nm process at Intel. Its specifications are modest: 1536 shading units, 48 TMUs, 24 ROPs, and 12 ray tracing cores. The boost clock reaches 2500 MHz from a 300 MHz base, and the memory subsystem relies on system shared memory with bandwidth described as system dependent. These characteristics place it in the lower tier of GPU performance, as evidenced by its 9th percentile ranking among all GPUs and an average 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482.

The GPU's nearest rivals in benchmark scores are legacy NVIDIA parts: the GeForce GT 520MX (1463, delta 1.3%), GeForce 800M (1460, delta 1.5%), GeForce GT 625 OEM (1446, delta 2.5%), and GeForce GT 710 (1443, delta 2.7%). These comparisons illustrate that the Arc B390 outperforms those older chips by only 1.3% to 2.7% in synthetic testing. In Fortnite specifically, the measured frame rates align with this low-tier positioning. The 4K Ultra result of 14 FPS is effectively unplayable, while even 1080p Ultra at 41 FPS is marginal for smooth gameplay.

The system shared memory configuration means the GPU draws from the same DDR5 pool as the CPU, with the memory bus being dual-channel and bandwidth rated at 102.4 GB/s for the processor. This shared arrangement likely contributes to performance variability, as memory contention between CPU and GPU can occur during intense scenes. The 80 W TDP for the GPU, combined with the CPU's 65 W TDP, suggests an integrated solution designed for efficiency rather than raw throughput. The pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s provide theoretical ceilings, but the measured Fortnite results show that real-world performance falls well short of what would be needed for high-refresh gaming at 1440p or above.

FAQ

Q: What is the best average FPS this combo achieves in Fortnite at 1080p?

A: At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 115 FPS. Medium settings yield 81 FPS, High yields 63 FPS, and Ultra yields 41 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in overall benchmark scores?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 has an average benchmark score of 46062. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375, scores 46030 (delta 0.1%). The Intel Core i9-13900HX scores 46098 (delta -0.1%), while the AMD EPYC 4364P and EPYC 7303 score 45970 and 45960 respectively (both delta 0.2%).

Q: Is the GPU competitive with dedicated graphics cards?

A: The Intel Arc B390 ranks in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1.3% slower), GeForce 800M (1.5% slower), GeForce GT 625 OEM (2.5% slower), and GeForce GT 710 (2.7% slower). These are all older entry-level parts, indicating the Arc B390 sits at the low end of GPU performance.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 1080p and 4K at Medium settings?

A: At 1080p Medium, the average FPS is 81. At 4K Medium, it drops to 27 FPS. The minimum FPS at 1080p Medium is 69, while at 4K Medium it is 23. The maximum FPS is 93 at 1080p and 31 at 4K.

Q: How many cores and threads does the CPU have, and what are its clock speeds?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 has 14 cores and 14 threads. The base clock is 3.40 GHz, and the boost clock reaches 5.00 GHz. It has 24 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR5 memory.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested combinations in Fortnite?

A: The combo ranks 2417 out of 2740 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 12% of all systems tested for this game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the lowest settings produce the highest frame rates. Low settings average 115 FPS, which is the only configuration in this dataset that exceeds the 100 FPS threshold. Medium settings average 81 FPS with a minimum of 69 and maximum of 93. High settings average 63 FPS. Ultra settings average 41 FPS, which represents a 64% reduction from the Low setting performance at the same resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance drops are uniform across all presets. Low settings average 73 FPS, Medium averages 51 FPS with a range of 44 to 59, High averages 40 FPS, and Ultra averages 26 FPS. The Medium setting at 1440p shows the narrowest relative gap between minimum and maximum (44 to 59), suggesting some frame pacing consistency despite the lower average. At this resolution, no preset achieves even 75 FPS, which limits the experience on 1440p displays to lower refresh rates or requires significant settings reductions.

At 3840x2160, the results are uniformly low. Low settings average 39 FPS, Medium averages 27 FPS with a range of 23 to 31, High averages 21 FPS, and Ultra averages 14 FPS. The Ultra 4K result of 14 FPS is below the threshold for playable frame rates in a fast-paced Battle Royale game. Even the best 4K result (39 FPS at Low) would be marginal for smooth gameplay, and the data indicates that 4K is not a viable resolution for this combo in Fortnite under any settings.

The progression from Low to Ultra at each resolution shows a consistent pattern: each settings tier reduces performance by roughly 20-35% over the previous tier. At 1080p, Low to Medium is a 34 FPS drop, Medium to High is an 18 FPS drop, and High to Ultra is a 22 FPS drop. At 1440p, the drops are 22, 11, and 14 FPS respectively. At 4K, the drops are 12, 6, and 7 FPS. The shrinking absolute differences at higher resolutions reinforce that the GPU is nearing its throughput ceiling, where settings changes have diminishing impact.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and Intel Arc B390 ranks 2417 out of 2740 tested combinations in Fortnite. This places the combo in the 88th percentile from the bottom, meaning only 323 tested combos perform worse. The ranking reflects the significant bottleneck imposed by the integrated GPU, which holds back what is otherwise a capable mid-range processor.

The CPU alone performs well in synthetic benchmarks, with an average score of 46062 and a percentile ranking of 89 among all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (46030, delta 0.1%), Intel Core i9-13900HX (46098, delta -0.1%), AMD EPYC 4364P (45970, delta 0.2%), and AMD EPYC 7303 (45960, delta 0.2%). These deltas are all within 0.2%, indicating the Core Ultra 5 235 is competitive with these processors in general compute tasks. However, the GPU's 9th percentile ranking (average score 1482) drags the overall gaming performance down substantially.

The disparity between the CPU's 89th percentile and the GPU's 9th percentile creates a severe imbalance for gaming workloads. In Fortnite, which relies heavily on GPU rendering, the combo's rank reflects the GPU's limitations rather than the CPU's capabilities. The data suggests that pairing this CPU with a discrete GPU would yield dramatically better results, as the processor has ample headroom for higher frame rates. The current ranking serves as a cautionary indicator for systems relying solely on the Arc B390's integrated graphics.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, built on a 3 nm process at TSMC. It operates with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache. Memory support is dual-channel DDR5 with a bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s, and the CPU connects to the system via PCIe Gen 5 with 20 lanes.

In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU demonstrates solid performance. Cinebench R23 multicore scores 14769, singlecore 2085. PassMark multithread scores 37816, and singlethread scores 4516. The CPU's average benchmark score of 46062 places it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs, with nearest rivals all within 0.2% of its score. These results indicate strong compute capability, particularly for multi-threaded workloads, as evidenced by the PassMark data compression score of 390711 and floating point math score of 117951.

In Fortnite, however, the CPU's role is secondary to the GPU. The measured FPS data shows that even at 1080p Low settings, where CPU load is typically highest relative to GPU load, the system achieves 115 FPS—a decent result but not exceptional. The fact that frame rates scale so dramatically with resolution suggests the CPU is not the limiting factor in most scenarios. At 1080p Ultra, the 41 FPS result is far below what the CPU could theoretically support, and at 4K Ultra the 14 FPS result is entirely GPU-bound.

The CPU's boost clock of 5.00 GHz provides sufficient single-thread performance for Fortnite's game logic and physics, which are typically single-threaded. The 14 cores and 14 threads (no hyperthreading) handle background tasks and streaming without issue. However, the integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics 24EU, which is separate from the main Arc B390 GPU, is not relevant to this analysis since the measured FPS uses the B390. The CPU's contribution to the combo's performance is adequate but constrained by the GPU's inability to translate CPU headroom into higher frame rates.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend heavily on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1920x1080, Low settings provide the best experience with an average of 115 FPS, which is suitable for high-refresh monitors and competitive play. Medium settings at 81 FPS are also playable and offer improved visual quality, with a minimum of 69 FPS ensuring reasonably smooth performance. High settings at 63 FPS are acceptable for casual play but may feel less responsive in fast-paced encounters. Ultra settings at 41 FPS are not recommended, as the frame rate falls below the 60 FPS threshold that most players consider smooth.

At 2560x1440, the options are more limited. Low settings average 73 FPS, which is playable but below the 75 FPS refresh rate common on budget 1440p monitors. Medium settings at 51 FPS are marginal, and High at 40 FPS or Ultra at 26 FPS are not advisable for a Battle Royale game where reaction time matters. For 1440p, Low settings are the only reasonable choice, and even then, players should expect occasional dips below 60 FPS during intense scenes.

At 3840x2160, the data shows no settings preset delivers a playable experience. Low settings average 39 FPS, which is below the 40 FPS minimum for most players, while Medium (27 FPS), High (21 FPS), and Ultra (14 FPS) are all unplayable. The recommendation is to avoid 4K with this combo entirely, as even the lowest settings cannot achieve consistent 60 FPS. The 4K Medium range of 23 to 31 FPS provides some frame pacing data, but none of these results meet the threshold for smooth gameplay.

The best overall experience, balancing visual quality and frame rate, is 1080p Medium at 81 FPS. This preset maintains a minimum of 69 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS target, and provides better visual fidelity than Low settings. For players prioritizing frame rate above all, 1080p Low at 115 FPS is the strongest choice. The data clearly indicates that 1080p is the intended resolution for this combo, with 1440p being marginally viable only at Low settings, and 4K being outside the feasible range.