The Medium

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for this CPU and GPU combo at 1080p?

A: The recorded data shows High settings deliver an average of 65.7 FPS at 1920x1080, which is the most demanding preset that stays above the 60 FPS playable threshold. Medium runs at 95.2 FPS, Low at 127 FPS, and Ultra drops below the threshold at 51.2 FPS.

Q: Can this system run The Medium at 4K?

A: Yes, but only on Medium or Low presets. At 3840x2160, Medium averages 62 FPS and Low averages 100.2 FPS. High and Ultra fall short of 60 FPS, with averages of 45.9 FPS and 37.4 FPS respectively.

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-11400F compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The CPU scores 17,177 on average across all benchmark tests. The AMD EPYC 7H12 is within 0.3% (17,120), the Intel Core i5-12450H is 0.4% faster (17,239), the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G is 0.6% faster (17,278), and the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U is 0.6% slower (17,074). The differences are all under 1%, so performance is effectively comparable.

Q: What is the strongest workload for this CPU according to the database?

A: The highest single benchmark score is in PassMark data compression at 208,472. Multi-threaded performance shows a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14,340, while single-core performance in the same test reaches 2,024.

Q: How does the RTX 4070's average benchmark score compare to nearby GPUs?

A: The GPU averages 37,648 across all recorded tests. The NVIDIA Tesla P4 is nearly identical at 37,628 (0.1% slower), the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 scores 37,507 (0.4% slower), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile scores 38,135 (1.3% faster), and the AMD Radeon PRO W6400 scores 37,157 (1.3% slower).

Q: What resolution gives the smoothest experience overall?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo reaches 127 FPS average, the highest recorded in the dataset. Even at 2560x1440, Low settings still deliver 115.6 FPS, so the system has considerable headroom for lower presets at lower resolutions.

CPU and GPU Roles

The data for The Medium shows a consistent pattern where resolution scaling has a direct impact on which component limits performance. At 1920x1080, the gap between Low and Ultra settings spans from 127 FPS down to 51.2 FPS, a spread of roughly 75.8 FPS. This wide range suggests the GPU workload scales heavily with visual quality settings, while the CPU maintains enough throughput to feed the graphics card across all presets.

Moving to 2560x1440, the same settings range produces 115.6 FPS at Low and 44.1 FPS at Ultra. The reduction from 1080p to 1440p costs about 11.4 FPS at Low settings, but only 7.1 FPS at Ultra. This indicates that at higher quality settings, the GPU becomes the dominant bottleneck, since the pixel count increase has less relative impact when the shading and rendering workload is already high.

At 3840x2160, the pattern becomes more pronounced. Low settings still deliver a very playable 100.2 FPS, but Medium drops to 62 FPS, High to 45.9 FPS, and Ultra to 37.4 FPS. The step from 1440p to 4K at Low settings costs 15.4 FPS, while at Ultra it costs only 6.7 FPS. This nonlinear scaling is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario where the quality preset determines the rendering complexity more than the resolution does.

The CPU side shows strong multi-threaded capability. The 6-core, 12-thread design with a 4.40 GHz boost clock produces a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14,340 and a PassMark multithread score of 16,908. Single-thread performance is also solid, with a 3DMark single-thread score of 868 and a PassMark single-thread score of 2,981. These figures suggest the processor can handle the game's logic and streaming demands without becoming the primary constraint.

The practical interpretation is straightforward. At 1080p and 1440p with lower presets, the frame rates are high enough that neither component is fully saturated. At 4K with Medium or above, the GPU's rendering throughput becomes the deciding factor, and the CPU's role diminishes. The RTX 4070's 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth provide ample headroom for texture streaming, while the 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores handle the game's visual effects.

The percentile rankings reinforce this balance. The CPU sits at the 71st percentile among all tested processors, while the GPU sits at the 81st percentile among all tested GPUs. In a game like The Medium, which relies on fixed camera angles and pre-rendered backgrounds, the GPU workload is substantial, but the CPU must still maintain consistent frame pacing. The data shows the CPU is not the limiting factor at any resolution in this dataset.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the recorded averages are 127 FPS on Low, 95.2 FPS on Medium, 65.7 FPS on High, and 51.2 FPS on Ultra. The jump from Low to Medium costs 31.8 FPS, while the jump from Medium to High costs 29.5 FPS. The step from High to Ultra costs 14.5 FPS, which is the smallest drop between consecutive presets. This suggests diminishing returns in performance cost as settings increase, or that Ultra introduces effects that scale differently than the lower tiers.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 115.6 FPS on Low, 79.1 FPS on Medium, 53.3 FPS on High, and 44.1 FPS on Ultra. The drop from Low to Medium is 36.5 FPS, the largest single-preset penalty at this resolution. High falls below the 60 FPS threshold, making Medium the highest playable preset. Ultra trails by another 9.2 FPS, bringing it to 44.1 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 100.2 FPS on Low, 62 FPS on Medium, 45.9 FPS on High, and 37.4 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset barely clears the playable threshold at exactly 62 FPS. Low settings provide a comfortable margin at 100.2 FPS, while High and Ultra are firmly below 60 FPS. The difference between Ultra at 4K and Ultra at 1080p is 13.8 FPS, which is relatively modest compared to the 26.8 FPS difference for Low settings between those same resolutions.

No minimum or maximum frame time data is recorded in the dataset, so the analysis relies solely on average FPS. The playable threshold in the database is 60 FPS, and the verdicts are based on that standard. The data indicates that this combination performs best when settings are tuned down rather than resolution, since even at 4K Low, the system nearly doubles the 60 FPS target.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 ranks 998th out of 3,724 tested combinations in The Medium. This places the combo in the upper portion of the database, roughly in the 73rd percentile of all recorded pairings. The ranking reflects the balance between the CPU's 71st percentile standing and the GPU's 81st percentile standing, with the final in-game position influenced by the game's specific rendering demands.

A rank of 998 out of 3,724 means there are 997 combinations that perform better in this game, and 2,726 that perform worse. The position is respectable for a mid-range CPU paired with a high-end GPU. The i5-11400F is an end-of-life product from the Rocket Lake generation, while the RTX 4070 is also marked as end-of-life, but the pairing still achieves playable frame rates at most settings.

The GPU's nearest rivals in the database include the NVIDIA Tesla P4, AMD Radeon RX Vega 56, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile, and AMD Radeon PRO W6400. The performance deltas among these are all within 1.3%, meaning any of these GPUs would likely produce similar in-game results when paired with a comparable CPU. The CPU's nearest rivals are similarly clustered, with the AMD EPYC 7H12, Intel Core i5-12450H, AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G, and Intel Core Ultra 7 164U all within 0.6% of the i5-11400F's average score.

The combination rank should be interpreted with the understanding that the game's performance is heavily GPU-bound at higher settings. A stronger CPU would not meaningfully improve the 4K Ultra result of 37.4 FPS, since the GPU is clearly the limiting factor. Conversely, a weaker GPU paired with this CPU would likely see larger frame rate drops at higher resolutions, since the CPU has demonstrated it can feed the RTX 4070 effectively across all tested presets.

Similar Performance Alternatives

For the CPU side, the nearest rivals to the Intel Core i5-11400F are all within 0.6% of its average benchmark score of 17,177. The AMD EPYC 7H12 scores 17,120, which is 0.3% lower. The Intel Core i5-12450H scores 17,239, which is 0.4% higher. The AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G scores 17,278, which is 0.6% higher. The Intel Core Ultra 7 164U scores 17,074, which is 0.6% lower. Any of these processors, when paired with the RTX 4070, would produce nearly identical frame rates in The Medium, since the game is not CPU-limited in the tested scenarios.

For the GPU side, the nearest rivals to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 are within 1.3% of its average score of 37,648. The NVIDIA Tesla P4 is essentially identical at 37,628, just 0.1% lower. The AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 scores 37,507, which is 0.4% lower. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile scores 38,135, which is 1.3% higher. The AMD Radeon PRO W6400 scores 37,157, which is 1.3% lower. These deltas are small enough that in-game performance differences would be minor, though the mobile variant of the RTX 4080 may behave differently due to power constraints that are not captured in the synthetic score.

The practical takeaway is that this specific CPU and GPU pairing is not unique in its capability. A system with any of the listed rival CPUs and any of the listed rival GPUs would land within a few percent of the measured frame rates. The combination rank of 998 out of 3,724 would shift only slightly with these substitutions, since the dominant factor at higher presets is the GPU, and the dominant factor at lower presets is still well within the CPU's capability.

The Verdict

The data shows this system can run The Medium at 60 FPS or above on multiple presets and resolutions. At 1920x1080, the playable settings are High, Low, and Medium, with High being the best quality option at 65.7 FPS. Medium runs at 95.2 FPS and Low at 127 FPS. Ultra falls short at 51.2 FPS, so it is not recommended at 1080p if the 60 FPS threshold is a hard requirement.

At 2560x1440, the playable settings are Low and Medium. Medium delivers 79.1 FPS, which provides a smooth experience with good visual quality. Low runs at 115.6 FPS for those who prioritize frame rate above all else. High and Ultra are not playable at this resolution, with averages of 53.3 FPS and 44.1 FPS respectively.

At 3840x2160, the playable settings are Low and Medium. Medium averages exactly 62 FPS, which clears the threshold by a slim margin. Low averages 100.2 FPS, offering a very smooth experience at reduced visual fidelity. High and Ultra are not playable, with 45.9 FPS and 37.4 FPS respectively.

The verdict by resolution is clear. For 1080p, use High settings. For 1440p, use Medium settings. For 4K, use Medium settings if the 62 FPS average is acceptable, or Low settings for a larger frame rate buffer. The system cannot maintain 60 FPS on Ultra at any resolution in this dataset, so that preset should be avoided for smooth gameplay.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the best settings that stay at or above 60 FPS are High, with an average of 65.7 FPS. This is the most demanding preset that clears the threshold, and it provides a 5.7 FPS margin over the 60 FPS cutoff. Low and Medium also qualify, but High offers the best visual quality among the playable options.

At 2560x1440, the best settings are Medium, with an average of 79.1 FPS. This provides a substantial 19.1 FPS margin over the threshold, making it a comfortable choice. Low also qualifies at 115.6 FPS, but Medium is the highest quality preset that maintains playable performance.

At 3840x2160, the best settings are Medium, with an average of 62 FPS. This is the only 4K preset above 60 FPS aside from Low, and it clears the threshold by exactly 2 FPS. The margin is thin, so players who experience any frame time variance may prefer Low at 100.2 FPS for a more consistent experience. However, based on average FPS alone, Medium is the recommended preset at 4K.

The overall recommendation is to prioritize resolution over quality where needed. At 1080p, High settings deliver a solid experience. At 1440p, Medium settings provide excellent frame rates. At 4K, Medium is the ceiling, and users should expect a narrow margin above the 60 FPS threshold. The system does not have the headroom for Ultra at any resolution, so that preset is not viable for maintaining 60 FPS.