Best GPU for Fortnite

Introduction

Fortnite was originally a  CPU-bound game and still is to some extent. But, ever since DX12 became the standard Rendering mode and brought with it the inclusion of features like Lumen and Ray Tracing, the game has become a bit more GPU-bound. So, if you want to enjoy Fortnite at high framerates (which is absolutely what you’ll want to do if you want to be competitive), you need a capable GPU, and here are our best picks.

What makes a GPU good for Fortnite?

If you are playing Fortnite in any competitive fashion, you should be looking for a GPU that pushes past your monitor’s refresh rate easily, without drops or stutters. Most competitive players are on 240Hz monitors, and many pros are already on 360Hz. Ideally, you should thus get a GPU that can comfortably sit at 400 frames or higher if you want to keep up with the current pro meta.

Of course, resolution plays a huge part in deciding what GPU to choose. The same goes for your graphical settings. Fortnite at max can be an extremely demanding game, so we absolutely recommend dropping your settings here and there in order to achieve ideal framerates of 240+ fps. If you are someone who plays at 1440p, you will naturally need a heavier GPU as well. So in essence, there isn’t really one ‘ideal GPU’ for Fortnite. It really depends on your target resolution and graphical settings, as Fortnite’s performance fluctuates so wildly.

Because of this fluctuating performance, you’ll also see a wide range of cards in this article. We list some seriously heavy hitters (for people who like to go for higher settings and use higher resolutions) but we also give you some budget options.

With all of that said, it’s good to note that Fortnite still requires a good CPU to run smoothly, so make sure to pair your GPU with a good CPU and that you don’t bottleneck your system.

In this article, we’ll give you framerate estimates. These should obviously be taken with a grain of salt, as your actual framerates will hugely depend on your system, settings, and even the current game patch. Still, the estimates can be a good way of getting an approximation of what to expect. The estimates in this article assume you’re using a decent-to-good CPU, something like an Intel Core i7-14700K or better.

Performance Mode vs DX12

Fortnite presents a unique problem that you don’t see much in other games, and that’s Rendering Mode. Fortnite has different Rendering Modes, namely DX12, Performance Mode, and DX11. The first two are the most commonly used. But the main problem is the huge performance difference between the two. For instance, an RTX 5080 averages 180 frames at 1440p with DLSS + High settings. The same GPU in Performance mode averages 620 frames. That’s a drastic difference and one that you will see a lot in this list when we mention benchmarks.

The performance difference exists because DX12 has new-gen UE5 features for rendering, which, although they make the game look good, make it very hard to run even on modern GPUs. You can tweak some settings and turn on upscaling for better performance, but it still won’t compare to Performance mode.

Performance mode automatically disables advanced rendering features and upscalers (such as TSR, DLSS, and XeSS) in favor of maximum frame rates and lower memory usage. When this mode is active, the game relies entirely on raw 3D Resolution scaling rather than AI or temporal upscaling.

This makes the game more CPU-bound and takes a lot of load off your GPU, resulting in the drastic framerate difference. This difference is an important factor to consider when you are out looking for a GPU. 

Generally, most modern cards will perform great in Performance mode since it’s more CPU-bound, but there will be a significant decrease in framerate averages when you move to DX12. It all depends on what you prefer between the two modes and your budget. 

The vast majority of pros run the game in Performance Mode, as they prefer high, consistent framerates over eye-candy. This could be something that’s good to take into account when considering your next Fortnite GPU.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090

If you are looking for the best of the best for Fortnite and money’s no issue, then the RTX 5090 is a viable option. Generally, if you are considering the RTX 5090, it’s for playing Fortnite at High or Epic settings. It’s going to easily give you more than enough frames on Performance Mode at 4K. 

The real advantage of using the RTX 5090 is that it can comfortably run the game at Epic settings on 4K. At Native 4K, with Epic Preset, you are looking at an average of 180 frames. Just by tweaking some settings and enabling DLSS, you can easily get into that competitive range. As such, this is a card that slays Fortnite, even at higher settings.

For most people, however, the RTX 5090 is overkill. And it’s also extremely expensive. As such, if you’re more of a casual player, or you’re planning on playing at competitive settings rather than High or Epic, we’d recommend looking towards some of the more affordable options.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090

Used by 5 Fortnite players (Jun, 2026)

• shroud
  
• Clix
  
• Mongraal
  
• SypherPK
  

The RTX 5090 is NVIDIA’s most performant card in the 50 series of GPUs.

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Specs

NVIDIA CUDA Cores	21760
Boost Clock	2.407GHz
Memory Size	32GB GB
Memory Type	GDDR7

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti

The RTX 5070 Ti is arguably the best overall GPU for Fortnite. It’s got great performance per dollar, and can easily run the game at competitive framerates. 

The card performs exceptionally in Performance mode as expected. At 1080p, it easily pushes past 700 frames and averages around 650, with lows 1% of 180. At 1440p, the performance difference is marginal with an average of 600 fps. Lastly, at 4K, the card averages around 550 frames. 

So, if you are playing in Performance mode, you can comfortably game at 4K and still get enough frames for high refresh rate monitors.

Moving on to DX12, which makes the game a bit more GPU-bound, we see an expected drop in performance. At 1080 with maxed-out settings (with Lumen Epic and RT on), the GPU averages around 100 frames. Just by using the High preset instead of Epic, the average framerate will jump to 250, which is good for most casual gamers. Generally, you should turn off Lumen and Ray Tracing because they will not give you competitive frames.

Performance at higher resolution on DX12 with High Settings isn’t bad either. You can expect around 200 FPS at 1440p and 160 at 4K. If you use upscaling and turn down some settings, you can easily get even higher framerates.

Overall, the RTX 5070Ti is a great value card that will run the game perfectly well for the vast majority of use cases. While you could also get the RTX 5080, which is slightly better, for Fortnite, the difference isn’t worth spending the extra dollars for.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti

The RTX 5070 Ti is a high-tier card in NVIDIA’s 50 series line of cards.

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Specs

NVIDIA CUDA Cores	8960
Boost Clock	2.452GHz
Memory Size	16GB GB
Memory Type	GDDR7

AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT

The RX 9070 XT is a cheaper equivalent to the RTX 5070Ti. If you want to go the AMD route, it’s a solid card to get, but you are missing out on NVIDIA Reflex 2, which is natively built into Fortnite. You do have AMD Anti-Lag, which does the same thing, but not as efficiently as Reflex.

Apart from that, the card is excellent on the performance front. You are looking at ~200 frames at 1080p Native with Epic Settings. On the same settings at 1440p, you are looking at around 150 fps. However, at 4K native, the performance dips significantly and averages below 100 frames. Of course, if you use upscaling and drop down the settings to either Medium or Low, you can get a higher framerate.

Moving on to Performance Mode, the framerate goes up as expected. At 1080p, the card averages around 550, with highs of 700s. At 1440p, there is only a marginal drop in framerate to 500. At 4K, you can expect around 450 frames.  

The RX 9070XT is a solid card for Fortnite if you want to go the AMD route. With that said, NVIDIA’s RTX 5070 Ti runs the game better if you are using Ray Tracing and Lumen. .

AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT

The Radeon RX 9070 XT is a high-end GPU produced by AMD.

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Specs

Boost Clock	2.97GHz
Memory Size	16GB GB
Memory Type	GDDR6

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti

The RTX 5060 TI is an excellent mid-range card for Fortnite. It runs 1080p flawlessly and can even do 1440p on High Settings with slight tweaks. If your goal is to play the game competitively at high frames at 1080p, then this is one of the best options available in the market. On the other hand, if you like playing on high resolutions with high settings, this might not give you enough frames for a high refresh rate monitor. 

In Performance Mode, you can expect around 600 fps at 1080p, which is more than enough for even a 360Hz monitor. In fact, you can even run the game at 1440p, and you will get around 500 fps, which is more than enough for competitive Fortnite. Even at 4k, the performance is still pretty good, and you are averaging about 350 frames per second. That’s still great, but not quite enough to fully saturate a 360Hz monitor.

As you move to DX12, you start to see where this card lacks. At 1080p Native on Epic Settings (No RT or Lumen), the card averages around 150 frames. It only gets worse as you move up resolutions. Again, if you bring down some settings and turn on DLSS, you can get much better frames, but if you’re looking to play at higher settings, you will probably want to look at some more powerful GPUs. Lumen and Raytracing are not going to work great on this card either; you will get a “playable” framerate at best.

Overall, this is a solid budget mid-range card for competitive Fortnite. Great at 1080p, decent at 1440p, and superb on competitive settings. Skip this one of you like turning up your graphics, though.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti

The 5060 Ti is a low-tier card in NVIDIA 50-series line of cards.

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Specs

NVIDIA CUDA Cores	4608
Boost Clock	2.572GHz
Memory Size	16GB GB
Memory Type	GDDR7

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060

If you are on a tight budget, then the RTX 5060 is a great option. It’s great for competitive Fortnite, but that’s pretty much it. It’s got 8GB VRAM, which isn’t enough by today’s standards. Fortunately, Fortnite does not have a huge VRAM requirement, and 8GB is enough for it, but for other games, you might need something stronger. 

In Performance mode at 1080p, the card easily pushes past 500 frames and averages around 550, with very good 1% lows of 350. At 1440p, it consistently hovers at 400 fps, which is enough for competitive Fortnite. At 4K, the performance dips significantly, and you will get around 250 frames. You can get this number up by playing around with the 3D resolution slider.

The card shows its weakness when you move from Performance Mode to DX12. At 1080p High, the card averages around 120 frames, which is serviceable for casuals but not for competitive gaming. If you want to be competitive on DX12, use the Low preset, and you will get around 400 frames. Even at 1440p on Low settings, the card outputs an average of 250 frames, which is pretty admirable for a card of this tier. 

Overall, for competitive gaming at 1080p or 1440p, the RTX 5060 is a fantastic budget option. But again, it’s not the strongest of the bunch, and if you have money to spare, consider some of the other options on this list, especially if you’re also looking to play AAA games and the likes when you’re not grinding.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060

The RTX 5060 is a budget-oriented card in NVIDIA’s 50-series line of cards.

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Specs

NVIDIA CUDA Cores	3840
Boost Clock	3.497GHz
Memory Size	8GB GB
Memory Type	GDDR7

Conclusion

If you are planning to play Fortnite competitively, then you should choose Performance Mode as your graphical preset. You’ll get good performance out of your card, and you can easily attain a consistent high framerate that goes well beyond your monitor’s refresh rate. Most pros are on Performance Mode as well, so it’s good to take that into account when shopping for a new GPU.

Of course, if you want a casual session or just want to test how good Fortnite looks with the highest settings, you can do that, but you should look towards the more powerful cards in this list. Fortnite at high settings can be quite the performance hog, especially if you’re also upping the resolution.

Hopefully, this guide has given you enough to consider in regards to your next GPU purchase. Good luck out there!