The Medium

The Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER produces a wide spread of frame rates in The Medium, with the results heavily dependent on resolution and preset. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers a Low preset average of 146 FPS, Medium at 121.4 FPS, High at 82.8 FPS, and Ultra at 66.1 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440, averages drop to 137.1 FPS on Low, 98.4 FPS on Medium, 74.5 FPS on High, and 58 FPS on Ultra. At 3840x2160, the spread narrows considerably: Low produces 124.6 FPS, Medium 77.9 FPS, High 54.9 FPS, and Ultra falls to 45.4 FPS. No minimum or maximum frame data is available in the measured results, so the analysis relies solely on average FPS figures.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for this CPU-GPU combination in The Medium shows a clear pattern: the RTX 4080 SUPER carries most of the rendering load, while the i3-12100F’s four cores and eight threads are sufficient to avoid bottlenecking at most settings. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 79.9 FPS — from 146 down to 66.1 FPS — which indicates the game scales heavily with preset quality. The 1080p Ultra result of 66.1 FPS sits just above the 60 FPS playable threshold, meaning maxed-out settings are viable at this resolution.

At 1440p, the averages remain strong through High: 137.1 FPS on Low, 98.4 FPS on Medium, and 74.5 FPS on High. The Ultra preset drops to 58 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS playable line. This suggests that at 1440p, the GPU’s compute resources — 10,240 shading units and 80 RT cores — are pushed harder, and the 52.22 TFLOPS FP32 throughput is no longer enough to sustain Ultra settings. The transition from High to Ultra at 1440p costs 16.5 FPS, a significant penalty for the extra visual fidelity.

At 4K, the results are more constrained. Low settings yield 124.6 FPS, which is surprisingly high for a 3840x2160 resolution; this is likely because The Medium’s Low preset reduces pixel-shading demands substantially. Medium drops to 77.9 FPS, still comfortably above 60. High falls to 54.9 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 45.4 FPS. The gap between Medium and High at 4K is 23 FPS, indicating that the High preset introduces a heavy load on the GPU’s texture and shading units. The 16 GB of GDDR6X memory and 736.3 GB/s bandwidth are not the limiting factor here — the sheer compute demand at 4K High outpaces the card’s capabilities.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 335th out of 3,724 tested combinations in The Medium, placing it in the top 9% of all tested systems. This percentile position reflects the GPU’s strength — the RTX 4080 SUPER sits at the 86th percentile among all GPUs — while the CPU’s 68th percentile standing tempers the overall result. The i3-12100F’s multi-threaded performance, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 11,860, is modest compared to high-end processors, but in a title like The Medium, which is not heavily CPU-bound at higher resolutions, the pairing still delivers playable frame rates across most settings.

The rank of 335 suggests that many other combinations — likely those with stronger CPUs or higher-tier GPUs — outperform this pairing. However, within the context of the measured data, the combo’s performance is consistent with its component-level benchmarks: the GPU’s average benchmark score of 54,209 and the CPU’s average of 13,494 both fall in the upper-middle range. The fact that this combo achieves 66.1 FPS at 1080p Ultra and 77.9 FPS at 4K Medium indicates that the RTX 4080 SUPER is the dominant factor, while the i3-12100F’s single-thread score of 1,674 in Cinebench R23 is enough to keep frame pacing stable.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Looking at the nearest rivals for the CPU and GPU separately provides context for what other hardware would behave similarly. The Intel Core i3-12100F’s closest competitors, based on average benchmark scores, are the Intel Core 3 N355 (13,492 average score, 0% delta), the Intel Core i5-9500 (13,452, 0.3% delta), and the Intel Core 5 120UL (13,594, -0.7% delta). The Core i5-9500, with its six cores, would likely produce nearly identical frame rates in The Medium, since the game’s threading demands appear modest. The Core i7-1250U (13,351, 1.1% delta) is also within 1.1% of the i3-12100F’s average score, meaning a system with that mobile chip would show negligible FPS differences.

For the GPU, the RTX 4080 SUPER’s nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 (54,247, -0.1% delta), the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X (54,828, -1.1% delta), and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB (55,698, -2.7% delta). The RTX 4080 is essentially a match — a delta of -0.1% translates to less than one FPS difference at any resolution. The Radeon Pro W5700X, despite being a workstation card, would come within 1.1% of the RTX 4080 SUPER’s performance, meaning the 4K Medium result of 77.9 FPS would be nearly identical. The RX 6750 GRE 12 GB, while 2.7% behind, would still deliver playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, though its 4K High result would likely fall below 60 FPS.

The Verdict

The verdict data indicates that this combo can run The Medium across all three tested resolutions, but with specific limitations. At 1920x1080, all four presets — Low, Medium, High, and Ultra — clear the 60 FPS threshold, with Ultra achieving 66.1 FPS. At 2560x1440, the playable settings are High, Low, and Medium; the best playable preset is High at 74.5 FPS, while Ultra falls to 58 FPS, just short of playable. At 3840x2160, only Low and Medium are playable, with Medium being the best at 77.9 FPS; High at 54.9 FPS and Ultra at 45.4 FPS both miss the 60 FPS mark.

The data shows that this system is fully capable of running The Medium at 1080p with maximum settings, and at 1440p with High settings. For 4K, users must dial back to Medium to maintain smooth playback. The i3-12100F does not appear to be a limiting factor in these results, as the frame rates scale predictably with resolution and preset, which is typical of a GPU-bound scenario. The game’s horror genre and fixed-camera style likely do not demand high CPU throughput, so the 4-core processor holds up.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest playable preset at 1920x1080 with this combo?

A: Ultra is playable at 1080p, with an average FPS of 66.1, which clears the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: Can this system run The Medium at 2560x1440 with Ultra settings?

A: No — the Ultra preset at 1440p produces an average of 58 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS playable threshold. High is the best playable preset at 74.5 FPS.

Q: At 3840x2160, which settings are playable?

A: Low and Medium are playable, with averages of 124.6 FPS and 77.9 FPS respectively. High (54.9 FPS) and Ultra (45.4 FPS) are not.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 SUPER compare to the RTX 4080 in this game?

A: The RTX 4080 SUPER’s average benchmark score is 54,209, while the RTX 4080 scores 54,247, a delta of -0.1%. This implies nearly identical frame rates in The Medium.

Q: What CPU would deliver similar performance to the i3-12100F in this pairing?

A: The Intel Core i5-9500 has an average benchmark score of 13,452, just 0.3% behind the i3-12100F, so it would produce comparable FPS. The Core 3 N355 is also a match with a 0% delta.

Q: Is the i3-12100F a bottleneck for the RTX 4080 SUPER in this game?

A: The measured data does not show CPU bottlenecking — frame rates scale smoothly with resolution and settings, indicating the GPU is the primary performance driver.

Best Settings per Resolution

The most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS at each resolution is as follows. At 1920x1080, the best playable preset is Ultra, with an average FPS of 66.1. At 2560x1440, the best playable preset is High, delivering 74.5 FPS. At 3840x2160, the best playable preset is Medium, with an average of 77.9 FPS. These results indicate that users targeting 60 FPS should use Ultra at 1080p, High at 1440p, and Medium at 4K. The jump from Medium to High at 4K costs 23 FPS, making that preset unplayable, while the step from High to Ultra at 1440p costs 16.5 FPS, also crossing below the threshold.