The Medium

The Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is an extreme mismatch in raw compute, but the benchmark data for The Medium shows that this combination produces surprisingly playable results at most settings. The data indicates that the RTX 5090, which ranks in the 92nd percentile among all GPUs, is doing the heavy lifting, while the i3-12100F, sitting in the 68th percentile for CPUs, keeps pace well enough to avoid crippling bottlenecks. Across all tested resolutions, the average frame rates range from a low of 49.1 FPS at 4K Ultra to a high of 141.7 FPS at 1080p Low, with the playable threshold set at 60 FPS. The following analysis breaks down exactly what this hardware pairing delivers in this specific horror title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for The Medium shows a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution and settings change. At 1920x1080, the combination delivers its highest frame rates. With Low settings, the average FPS is 141.7, which drops to 122.1 on Medium, 95.9 on High, and 77.8 on Ultra. Every preset at 1080p clears the 60 FPS threshold by a substantial margin, with the Ultra preset offering a 77.8 average that is still nearly 30% above the playable threshold.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains strong but the gap between settings narrows. The Low preset averages 138.3 FPS, which is only a 3.4 FPS drop from the 1080p Low result. Medium at 1440p produces 114.5 FPS, High produces 84.1 FPS, and Ultra produces 67.6 FPS. The 1440p Ultra result is just barely above the 60 FPS playable threshold, making it the most marginal playable configuration in this resolution class. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is relatively gentle, with the Low preset losing only 2.4% performance, Medium losing 6.2%, High losing 12.3%, and Ultra losing 13.1%.

At 3840x2160, the performance hit becomes significant. The Low preset still averages 124 FPS, which is a 12.5% drop from the 1080p Low result. Medium drops to 90.1 FPS, and High drops to 67.9 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K is the only configuration in the entire dataset that fails to reach the 60 FPS playable threshold, with an average of 49.1 FPS. This represents a 36.9% performance loss compared to the 1080p Ultra result. The data shows that the RTX 5090 has enough headroom to brute-force 4K High, but Ultra settings at that resolution push the engine past what this specific CPU-GPU combination can sustain.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The nearest rivals for the Intel Core i3-12100F provide context for CPU-bound scenarios. The i3-12100F has an average benchmark score of 13494, which places it within 0.3% of the Intel Core i5-9500, which scores 13452. The Intel Core 3 N355 scores 13492, a 0% delta from the i3-12100F, making it a near-identical CPU in terms of raw processing power. The Intel Core 5 120UL scores 13594, which is 0.7% faster, and the Intel Core i7-1250U scores 13351, which is 1.1% slower. For gaming scenarios where the CPU is the limiting factor, swapping to any of these alternatives would produce nearly indistinguishable frame rates in The Medium.

On the GPU side, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 has an average benchmark score of 79842. Its nearest rivals are unusual, as they include professional and mobile parts. The NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB scores 79605, a 0.3% delta, while the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB scores 79396, a 0.6% delta. The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT scores 78940, which is 1.1% slower, and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X scores 80959, which is 1.4% faster. In practice, these rivals are not direct consumer gaming alternatives, but the data shows that the RTX 5090's performance class is so high that even a 1% variance between these parts would translate to roughly 1-2 FPS difference in The Medium's most demanding 4K Ultra preset.

For a more practical comparison, the GPU's percentile ranking of 92 versus the CPU's percentile ranking of 68 indicates that the RTX 5090 is far more capable relative to its peers than the i3-12100F. This suggests that in games like The Medium, where the GPU is typically the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, the CPU's relative weakness is masked by the sheer power of the graphics card.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark data reveals a clear division of labor between the Intel Core i3-12100F and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 in The Medium. At 1920x1080, the CPU's role becomes more prominent, as the lower resolution reduces the GPU's workload. The frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 63.9 FPS, which is the largest absolute spread across all resolutions. This indicates that the GPU is still the primary driver of performance, but the CPU's 4 cores and 8 threads are sufficient to feed the RTX 5090 without creating a severe bottleneck.

At 2560x1440, the scaling between presets becomes more compressed. The difference between Low and Ultra is 70.7 FPS, which is actually larger than at 1080p. This is counterintuitive if one expects the GPU to become more dominant at higher resolutions. However, the data shows that the RTX 5090 has enough compute headroom at 1440p that the CPU's limitations start to emerge at lower settings, where the GPU could theoretically render more frames but is held back by the processor. The fact that 1440p Low (138.3 FPS) is only 2.4% slower than 1080p Low (141.7 FPS) suggests that the CPU is capping performance in both cases.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. The Low preset drops to 124 FPS, which is still high, but the Ultra preset plunges to 49.1 FPS. This 74.9 FPS spread between Low and Ultra at 4K is the largest in the dataset, indicating that the GPU's shading units, RT cores, and memory bandwidth are being fully taxed at the highest settings. The CPU's role diminishes significantly at 4K, as the frame rates are more constrained by the GPU's pixel and texture throughput rates of 423.6 GPixel/s and 1,636.8 GTexel/s respectively.

The data shows that at 1080p and 1440p, the i3-12100F's single-thread performance, evidenced by its 3DMark single-thread score of 893 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1674, is adequate to keep the RTX 5090 reasonably fed. However, the 4K Ultra result of 49.1 FPS is not a CPU limitation but a GPU limitation, as the same GPU would likely produce similar results with a faster CPU.

The Verdict

The data clearly shows that this combination can run The Medium at a playable level across most configurations. At 1920x1080, all four presets — Low, Medium, High, and Ultra — produce average frame rates above the 60 FPS playable threshold. The best settings at 1080p are Ultra, which delivers 77.8 FPS on average.

At 2560x1440, the verdict is equally positive. All four presets clear the 60 FPS threshold, with Ultra being the best playable option at 67.6 FPS. This is a narrow margin, but it is still above the playable threshold. High at 1440p delivers 84.1 FPS, providing a more comfortable buffer if frame rate stability is preferred over maximum visual quality.

At 3840x2160, the situation becomes more nuanced. The playable settings are High, Low, and Medium, with High being the best settings at an average of 67.9 FPS. Low delivers 124 FPS and Medium delivers 90.1 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K fails the playable threshold, averaging only 49.1 FPS. This is the only configuration in the dataset that cannot sustain 60 FPS. For 4K gaming, the recommendation is to use High settings, which clears the threshold by 7.9 FPS, or drop to Medium for a more substantial margin.

In summary, this PC can run The Medium at 60 FPS or higher at 1080p and 1440p on all presets, and at 4K on Low, Medium, and High presets. The only unplayable configuration is 4K Ultra.

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run The Medium at 4K Ultra settings?

A: No. The measured average FPS at 3840x2160 Ultra is 49.1, which is below the 60 FPS playable threshold. The best playable setting at 4K is High, which averages 67.9 FPS.

Q: What is the highest quality setting that maintains 60 FPS at 1440p?

A: Ultra settings at 2560x1440 produce an average of 67.6 FPS, which clears the 60 FPS threshold. This is the best playable preset at that resolution.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K on Low settings?

A: At 1920x1080 Low, the average FPS is 141.7. At 3840x2160 Low, the average FPS is 124. This represents a 12.5% performance drop.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p Medium?

A: The data suggests the CPU is more influential at 1080p, as the frame rate difference between 1080p and 1440p Medium is only 6.2%. The i3-12100F's 3DMark 4-thread score of 2859 and 8-thread score of 4026 indicate that it has modest multi-threaded capacity, which can cap frame rates when the GPU is underutilized at lower resolutions.

Q: Which resolution offers the largest gap between Low and Ultra settings?

A: The largest absolute gap is at 3840x2160, where Low averages 124 FPS and Ultra averages 49.1 FPS, a difference of 74.9 FPS. This indicates that the GPU is the dominant factor at 4K.

Q: Does the RTX 5090's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory provide any advantage in this game?

A: The fact pack does not include memory usage statistics for The Medium. However, the GPU's memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s and its 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs contribute to the high frame rates observed at 4K resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i3-12100F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 combination ranks 166th out of 3724 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the top 4.5% of all configurations in the database. This ranking is notable given the CPU's relatively low percentile ranking of 68 among all CPUs. The high rank is almost entirely attributable to the RTX 5090's 92nd percentile GPU ranking and its massive compute resources, including 21760 shading units, 170 RT cores, and a 512-bit memory bus.

The rank of 166 out of 3724 means that there are 165 other tested combinations that deliver higher average performance in this game. Given the RTX 5090's position as the flagship GeForce 50-series card with a launch MSRP of 1,999 USD, most of the combos ranked above it likely pair this GPU with a more powerful CPU. However, the data shows that the i3-12100F does not severely hamper the experience in The Medium, as the combination still achieves playable frame rates at 4K High and 1440p Ultra. The performance ceiling of this combo is limited by the CPU in lighter settings, but the sheer GPU power ensures that the game remains highly playable across the vast majority of configurations.