The Medium

FAQ

Q: What is the highest playable preset for this PC at 1920x1080?

A: The Intel Core i5-11400F with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 can run The Medium at High settings, which delivers an average of 62 FPS, clearing the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations?

A: This combo ranks 1121 out of 3724 tested combos, placing it in the upper third of the database.

Q: What is the best playable setting at 3840x2160?

A: At 4K, the best playable preset is Medium, which produces an average of 61.4 FPS. Low also clears 60 FPS, but Ultra and High do not.

Q: Is the RTX 3080 or the i5-11400F the stronger component relative to their peers?

A: The GPU sits at the 68th percentile among all GPUs, while the CPU sits at the 71st percentile among all CPUs. The CPU is slightly stronger relative to its own pool of comparable hardware.

Q: What happens to performance when moving from Medium to Ultra at 2560x1440?

A: Average FPS drops from 76.9 at Medium to 41.7 at Ultra, a steep decline of roughly 35 FPS, which pushes the game below the playable threshold.

Q: Does the game become more GPU-bound at higher resolutions for this combo?

A: Yes, the data shows that as resolution increases, the average FPS at each preset drops substantially, which indicates the GPU becomes the limiting factor at 2560x1440 and 3840x2160.

How This Combo Ranks

The database places this CPU and GPU pairing at rank 1121 out of 3724 tested combos for The Medium. That is roughly the 30th percentile of all recorded combinations, meaning a majority of tested systems outperform it. Still, the rank is not a measure of raw capability alone; it reflects how this specific pairing behaves in this specific horror title, which has unusual performance scaling across presets.

The CPU holds a percentile of 71 against all CPUs in the database, and the GPU holds a percentile of 68 against all GPUs. Neither component is a weak link in general purpose benchmarks, yet the game's demands at higher presets push this combo into mid-pack territory. The rank of 1121 suggests that while the hardware is competent, The Medium's ultra preset is heavy enough to drag the system down relative to other pairings that might have more balanced performance characteristics.

What stands out is the wide spread between settings at the same resolution. At 1920x1080, Low yields 128 FPS, Medium yields 88 FPS, High yields 62 FPS, and Ultra drops to 48.8 FPS. That is a 79 FPS gap between Low and Ultra at the same resolution. The rank reflects this sensitivity: the combo is strong at lower presets, but it falls behind when the game's most demanding settings are enabled.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the recorded averages are 128 FPS on Low, 88 FPS on Medium, 62 FPS on High, and 48.8 FPS on Ultra. The step from Medium to High costs 26 FPS, and the step from High to Ultra costs another 13.2 FPS. Every preset above Low stays above 48 FPS, but only Low, Medium, and High exceed the 60 FPS threshold.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 119 FPS on Low, 76.9 FPS on Medium, 53.4 FPS on High, and 41.7 FPS on Ultra. The drop from Low to Medium is 42.1 FPS, which is a larger absolute loss than the same preset change at 1920x1080. High falls below 60 FPS, and Ultra falls below 45 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 94.8 FPS on Low, 61.4 FPS on Medium, 41.5 FPS on High, and 32.4 FPS on Ultra. Low is the only preset with a comfortable margin above 60 FPS, while Medium barely clears it. High and Ultra are both unplayable by the 60 FPS standard.

The data shows no min or max FPS values recorded for any settings, so the analysis relies solely on average FPS. The pattern across all resolutions is consistent: Low is always fast, Medium is playable at 1080p and 1440p and just barely playable at 4K, High is playable only at 1080p, and Ultra is never playable at any resolution tested.

The Verdict

This PC can run The Medium, but the playable range depends heavily on resolution and preset. According to the verdict data, at 1920x1080 the playable settings are High, Low, and Medium, with High being the best preset at 62 FPS. At 2560x1440, the playable settings are Low and Medium, with Medium being the best at 76.9 FPS. At 3840x2160, the playable settings are Low and Medium, with Medium being the best at 61.4 FPS.

Ultra is not playable at any resolution. At 1080p it reaches 48.8 FPS, at 1440p it reaches 41.7 FPS, and at 4K it reaches 32.4 FPS. High is playable only at 1080p, where it hits 62 FPS; at 1440p it drops to 53.4 FPS, and at 4K it drops to 41.5 FPS.

For a player targeting a steady 60 FPS, the safe choices are High at 1080p, Medium at 1440p, and Medium at 4K. The 4K Medium result of 61.4 FPS is close to the threshold, so there is little headroom for demanding scenes, but the average clears it. The system is fully capable of running the game, just not at its highest visual quality settings.

CPU and GPU Roles

The scaling between resolutions and presets reveals which component matters more for The Medium. At 1920x1080, the CPU has more influence because the GPU is less loaded. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 79.2 FPS, which is a larger gap than at 1440p (77.3 FPS) or 4K (62.4 FPS). The smaller absolute gap at 4K suggests the GPU becomes the bottleneck sooner, compressing the range of achievable frame rates.

Look at the Low preset across resolutions: 128 FPS at 1080p, 119 FPS at 1440p, and 94.8 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is only 9 FPS, but the drop from 1440p to 4K is 24.2 FPS. This indicates that at Low settings, the system is still partly CPU-limited at 1080p, but by 4K the GPU is clearly the limiting factor.

At Ultra, the values are 48.8 FPS at 1080p, 41.7 FPS at 1440p, and 32.4 FPS at 4K. The declines are more evenly spread, which points to the GPU being the dominant constraint at this preset across all resolutions. The RTX 3080's 10 GB of GDDR6X memory and 320-bit bus are being taxed heavily by the game's ultra settings, and the CPU has less room to compensate.

The medium preset shows a similar story: 88 FPS at 1080p, 76.9 FPS at 1440p, and 61.4 FPS at 4K. The 14.6 FPS cost of moving from 1080p to 1440p and the 15.5 FPS cost of moving from 1440p to 4K are nearly identical, which suggests a balanced load where both CPU and GPU contribute. This is the preset where the pairing behaves most predictably.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is High, with an average of 62 FPS. Medium runs at 88 FPS and Low at 128 FPS, but High offers the best visual quality while still clearing the threshold. Ultra falls short at 48.8 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the best playable preset is Medium, with an average of 76.9 FPS. Low runs at 119 FPS, but Medium provides noticeably better visual fidelity while leaving a 16.9 FPS margin above the 60 FPS line. High drops to 53.4 FPS, which is below the threshold.

At 3840x2160, the best playable preset is Medium, with an average of 61.4 FPS. Low runs at 94.8 FPS, but Medium is the highest quality option that still clears 60 FPS. High falls to 41.5 FPS, and Ultra falls to 32.4 FPS.

These recommendations assume the 60 FPS playable threshold used throughout the database. Players who prefer higher frame rates over visual quality could use Low at any resolution, but for balanced quality and performance, the presets above are the optimal choices.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The CPU's nearest rivals in the database are the AMD EPYC 7H12, Intel Core i5-12450H, AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G, and Intel Core Ultra 7 164U. The EPYC 7H12 has an average score of 17120, which is 0.3% higher than the i5-11400F's 17177. The i5-12450H scores 17239, 0.4% lower than the i5-11400F. The Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G scores 17278, 0.6% lower, and the Core Ultra 7 164U scores 17074, 0.6% higher. These deltas are all within 1%, so any of these CPUs would produce nearly identical frame rates in The Medium when paired with the RTX 3080.

The GPU's nearest rivals are the NVIDIA P106-100, AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16, AMD Radeon RX 6600M, and AMD Radeon R9 M290X. The P106-100 scores 23249, 0.3% higher than the RTX 3080's 23172. The Radeon Pro Vega 16 scores 23250, 0.3% higher. The RX 6600M scores 23273, 0.4% higher, and the R9 M290X scores 23276, 0.4% higher. All four are within 0.4% of the RTX 3080's average benchmark score, so in practical terms, any of these GPUs would deliver essentially the same measured FPS in this game.

The practical takeaway is that this combo sits in a tightly packed performance cluster. Swapping the i5-11400F for any of its listed rivals would not meaningfully change the playable presets or average FPS. The same applies to swapping the RTX 3080 for any of its listed rivals. The system's behavior in The Medium is representative of a broad group of similarly performing hardware, and none of the near neighbors would push the system across the 60 FPS line at Ultra or High at 1440p.