The Medium

Can Intel Core i5-13400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 run The Medium? The measured data says yes, but the margin of safety varies sharply by resolution. At 1080p, this combo clears every preset with room to spare; at 4K, Ultra settings drop below the 60 FPS playable threshold. The benchmark results show a clear pattern: the RTX 5080 carries most of the weight at higher resolutions, while the i5-13400F keeps pace at lower settings where frame rates climb toward the 150 FPS range.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers three resolutions and four quality presets, with average frame rates recorded for each combination. No min or max FPS values are available in the dataset, so the analysis relies on average scores alone. At 1920x1080, the strongest result comes at Low settings with 154.4 FPS average. Medium settings produce 126.9 FPS, High settings yield 91.9 FPS, and Ultra settings still deliver 73.7 FPS. Every preset at 1080p stays comfortably above the 60 FPS playable threshold, with Low nearly 2.6 times that mark.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates scale down as expected. Low settings average 146.7 FPS, which is only about 5% lower than the 1080p Low result. Medium settings hit 109.4 FPS, High settings reach 77.6 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 59.3 FPS — just barely missing the 60 FPS threshold. The gap between 1080p and 1440p widens at higher presets: Ultra loses about 14.4 FPS when moving up in resolution, while Low loses only 7.7 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the performance curve becomes steeper. Low settings average 133.2 FPS, Medium settings produce 87.2 FPS, High settings hit 60.1 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 46.8 FPS. The 4K Low result remains highly playable, but the Ultra preset at 4K represents the only configuration in the entire dataset that falls substantially below 60 FPS. The scaling from 1440p to 4K shows a consistent pattern: each resolution step costs more performance at higher quality settings.

The settings scaling within each resolution reveals how much headroom exists. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 80.7 FPS — a 52% reduction in frame rate. At 1440p, that difference grows to 87.4 FPS, a 60% drop. At 4K, the Low-to-Ultra gap is 86.4 FPS, but the percentage reduction increases to 65%. This indicates that Ultra settings impose a proportionally larger penalty as resolution increases, suggesting the GPU becomes the limiting factor more quickly at higher pixel counts.

CPU and GPU Roles

The data suggests a shifting balance between CPU and GPU influence depending on resolution and settings. At 1080p Low, the 154.4 FPS result indicates the i5-13400F is feeding the RTX 5080 enough data to keep the GPU busy, but the frame rate ceiling may be influenced by CPU processing overhead. The 10-core, 16-thread processor with a 4.60 GHz boost clock shows strong single-thread performance in synthetic tests, with a 3DMark single-thread score of 960 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3191.

At 4K Ultra, the 46.8 FPS result points to the GPU being the dominant constraint. The RTX 5080's 56.28 TFLOPS FP32 throughput and 960.0 GB/s memory bandwidth are substantial, but rendering at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings demands more pixel throughput than even this Blackwell 2.0 architecture can sustain for this title. The GPU's 10752 shading units and 112 ROPs are working hard, but the data shows a 65% performance drop from Low to Ultra at 4K, compared to a 52% drop at 1080p.

The scaling between resolutions at the same settings provides additional insight. At Low settings, moving from 1080p to 1440p reduces FPS by 7.7 (5%), and from 1440p to 4K reduces FPS by 13.5 (9.2%). At Ultra settings, the same resolution steps cost 14.4 FPS (19.5%) and 12.5 FPS (21.1%) respectively. This suggests that at Low settings, the CPU has more influence on frame pacing, since the GPU has less work per frame and the processor's ability to issue draw calls becomes relatively more important. At Ultra settings, the GPU's rendering workload dominates, and the resolution scaling reflects pure rasterization pressure.

The i5-13400F's benchmarks place it in the 77th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 25292. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS with a deltaPct of 0, and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D at -0.3% — all within a fraction of a percent in aggregate performance. This indicates the CPU is not a bottleneck in typical gaming scenarios, but the measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low, the frame rate of 154.4 FPS may approach the CPU's practical limit for this game engine, especially given the game's fixed-camera horror presentation which can be draw-call intensive.

Best Settings per Resolution

For 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, with an average of 73.7 FPS. This gives the user 13.7 FPS of headroom above the playable threshold, which is meaningful for a horror game where sudden frame hitches can break immersion. The data shows that even the heaviest settings at 1080p are fully playable, making this resolution the safest choice for maximum visual fidelity.

At 2560x1440, the best playable setting is High, with an average of 77.6 FPS. Ultra drops to 59.3 FPS, just 0.7 FPS below the 60 FPS threshold — a marginal miss that could be playable for some users but does not meet the benchmark's strict definition. High at 1440p offers 17.6 FPS of headroom, which is comfortable for maintaining smooth gameplay during intense scenes. Medium at 1440p yields 109.4 FPS, providing an alternative for users who prefer higher frame rates over visual quality.

For 3840x2160, the best playable setting is High, with an average of 60.1 FPS. This is a razor-thin margin — just 0.1 FPS above the playable threshold. The data shows that Medium at 4K produces 87.2 FPS, offering significantly more breathing room at a modest visual quality reduction. Ultra at 4K is not playable according to the benchmark, with 46.8 FPS falling well below the 60 FPS target. Users targeting 4K should consider whether the 27.1 FPS difference between High and Medium justifies the visual trade-off, given that High sits right at the edge of playability.

FAQ

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

A: No. The measured average FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 46.8 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS playable threshold. The best playable 4K setting is High at 60.1 FPS, with Medium at 87.2 FPS as a more comfortable option.

Q: What is the highest playable preset at 1440p?

A: High settings at 2560x1440 produce an average of 77.6 FPS, which is the most demanding preset that clears the 60 FPS threshold. Ultra at 1440p averages 59.3 FPS, just missing the playable mark.

Q: Is the RTX 5080 or the i5-13400F the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: At 1080p Low, the system reaches 154.4 FPS, which suggests the CPU may be approaching its limit for this game engine. The i5-13400F's single-thread score of 960 in 3DMark and 3191 in Cinebench R23 indicate strong performance, but the GPU has plenty of headroom at lower resolutions, making the CPU relatively more influential.

Q: How much performance is lost by moving from 1080p to 4K at Medium settings?

A: At Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 126.9 at 1080p to 109.4 at 1440p, then to 87.2 at 4K. This represents a total reduction of 39.7 FPS (31.3%) from 1080p to 4K, with the larger loss occurring between 1440p and 4K.

Q: Does this combo rank highly among tested systems for this game?

A: The combo ranks 171st out of 3724 tested combinations, placing it in the top 4.6% of all tested systems for The Medium. This is a strong result, though the 4K Ultra performance shows that even high-ranking hardware has limits with this title's heaviest settings.

Q: What frame rate can users expect at 1080p with High settings?

A: The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings is 91.9 FPS. This provides 31.9 FPS of headroom above the 60 FPS playable threshold, making it a solid choice for users who want good visual quality without sacrificing smoothness.

The Verdict

The benchmark data shows this system can run The Medium across all three tested resolutions, but the playable settings vary significantly. At 1920x1080, all four presets clear the 60 FPS threshold, with Ultra achieving 73.7 FPS. At 2560x1440, High settings deliver 77.6 FPS and Ultra just misses at 59.3 FPS. At 3840x2160, High hits exactly 60.1 FPS, but Ultra drops to 46.8 FPS — the only unplayable configuration in the dataset.

The verdict by resolution is clear: 1080p is fully playable at any preset, 1440p is playable up to High, and 4K is playable up to High with a razor-thin margin. Users who prioritize 4K gaming should stick with Medium settings for a more comfortable experience, as the 27.1 FPS gap between Medium and High provides substantial buffer against frame drops. The system is not capable of running 4K Ultra, and the 59.3 FPS result at 1440p Ultra suggests that preset is borderline even at lower resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i5-13400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 ranks 171st out of 3724 tested combinations for The Medium. This places it in the top 4.6% of all tested systems, which is a strong showing for a mid-range CPU paired with a high-end GPU. The ranking reflects the measured FPS data across all resolution and settings combinations, not just the highest playable preset.

The RTX 5080's percentile ranking of 87 among all GPUs suggests it is a top-tier graphics card, while the i5-13400F's 77th percentile CPU ranking is respectable but not elite. The combination works well because The Medium appears to be more GPU-bound at higher resolutions, which is where the RTX 5080's strengths shine. At lower resolutions, the CPU's performance is sufficient to avoid becoming a major bottleneck, as evidenced by the 154.4 FPS result at 1080p Low.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Based on the nearest rivals data, several other CPU and GPU combinations would behave similarly to this setup. For the CPU, the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS matches the i5-13400F's average benchmark score almost exactly, with a deltaPct of 0. The AMD Ryzen 7 6800H is 0.4% faster, while the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D is 0.3% slower. These processors would likely produce nearly identical frame rates in The Medium, assuming the GPU remains the same.

For the GPU, the AMD Radeon 8060S is 0.6% slower than the RTX 5080 in average benchmark scores, while the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB is 0.7% slower. The AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE is 2.2% faster, and the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X is 2.3% slower. Swapping the RTX 5080 for any of these would shift the measured FPS by roughly 1-2% in aggregate, meaning the playable settings at each resolution would remain essentially unchanged.

A system using the i5-13400F with an AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE would likely see slightly higher frame rates — approximately 2.2% better — which could push the 4K High preset from 60.1 FPS to around 61.4 FPS, providing a bit more headroom. Conversely, pairing the CPU with an AMD Radeon Pro W5700X would reduce performance by about 2.3%, potentially dropping the 4K High result to around 58.7 FPS, which would make 4K High unplayable by the strict 60 FPS threshold. Users considering alternative hardware should weigh these small deltas carefully when targeting the edge cases of this game's performance envelope.