The Medium

The Medium is one of the heaviest horror titles in the benchmark database, and the pairing of Intel's Core i5-14400F with NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 2060 lands in an awkward spot with it. The recorded data shows the GPU is the clear bottleneck: average framerates collapse as resolution climbs, and only the Low preset manages to clear the 60 FPS playability threshold, and only at 1920x1080 and 2560x1440. At 3840x2160 no preset gets close. What follows is a full breakdown of the measurements, what they imply about CPU versus GPU responsibility, and how nearby hardware behaves in the same game.

Best Settings per Resolution

The playability threshold used by the database is 60 FPS average, and the results are sobering.

At 1920x1080, the best setting that holds at or above 60 FPS is Low, delivering 85.1 FPS average. Medium drops sharply to 52.6 FPS, below the threshold, so Low is the ceiling for a 60 FPS target at full HD.

At 2560x1440, Low again is the only preset that qualifies, at 71.9 FPS average. Medium falls to 43.4 FPS, and High and Ultra sit at 31.4 and 26.7 FPS respectively.

At 3840x2160, there is no qualifying preset. The best result is Low at 55.2 FPS average, which falls short of 60. Medium, High, and Ultra register 35.8, 23.8, and 23 FPS respectively. A 4K play session on this hardware would require accepting framerates well below the threshold.

In short: Low at 1080p and Low at 1440p are the playable configurations, and 4K is off the table without compromise.

CPU and GPU Roles

The scaling data points overwhelmingly at the RTX 2060 as the limiting component. Consider the Low preset across resolutions: 85.1 FPS at 1920x1080, 71.9 FPS at 2560x1440, and 55.2 FPS at 3840x2160. Framerate falls steadily as pixel count rises, the classic signature of GPU limitation. If the i5-14400F were the constraint, raising the resolution would not produce such consistent degradation.

The preset scaling tells the same story. At 1080p, moving from Low to Ultra cuts the average from 85.1 to 31.7 FPS, a reduction driven by render load rather than simulation logic. The Medium, a horror game built around dual-reality rendering, pushes the GPU hard at higher detail levels, and the RTX 2060's 6 GB of GDDR6 across a 192-bit bus (336.0 GB/s of bandwidth) is pushed to its limits by that workload.

The i5-14400F, by contrast, is comfortably ahead of the game's needs. With 10 cores, 16 threads, and a 4.70 GHz boost clock, it posts a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21645 and sits in the 83rd percentile of all CPUs in the database. Nothing in the measured results suggests the processor is holding framerates back at any resolution or preset.

Similar Performance Alternatives

For CPUs, the database lists the i5-14400F's nearest rivals by average benchmark score. The AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U sits 0.1% behind it, the Intel Core i9-11900 is 0.2% behind, the AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS is 0.2% ahead, and the Intel Core i7-12800H trails by 0.5%. Any of these processors would deliver essentially identical results in The Medium, since the game's performance on this combo is GPU-bound. Even the weakest of the group differs by less than a percent in aggregate benchmark score.

For GPUs, the RTX 2060's nearest rivals show similar parity. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 matches it with a 0% delta, the AMD Radeon 680M is 0.1% behind, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM is 0.6% behind, and the AMD Radeon RX 7600 is 0.8% behind. A system pairing the i5-14400F with any of these cards should produce framerates within a rounding error of the measurements here. Given that the GPU is the bottleneck, swapping any of these alternatives in or out changes nothing about the playability verdicts.

The Verdict

Yes, this PC can run The Medium, but only in a narrow window. At 1920x1080 on the Low preset, the system averages 85.1 FPS, comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold. At 2560x1440 on Low, it averages 71.9 FPS, still clearing the bar. That is the complete list of playable configurations.

At 4K, the verdict is negative: the best result is 55.2 FPS on Low, and every other preset sits at or below 35.8 FPS. Medium settings at 1080p, at 52.6 FPS, also miss the threshold. Players who consider framerates in the thirties acceptable for a slow-paced horror game could stretch to Medium or High, but by the database's 60 FPS standard, Low is the only preset that qualifies, and only at the two lower resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

All figures below are measured average framerates. Minimum and maximum values were not recorded in this test run.

1920x1080:

• Low: 85.1 FPS
• Medium: 52.6 FPS
• High: 36.5 FPS
• Ultra: 31.7 FPS

2560x1440:

• Low: 71.9 FPS
• Medium: 43.4 FPS
• High: 31.4 FPS
• Ultra: 26.7 FPS

3840x2160:

• Low: 55.2 FPS
• Medium: 35.8 FPS
• High: 23.8 FPS
• Ultra: 23 FPS

The pattern is consistent: each step up in resolution or preset costs roughly a third to a half of the framerate. The gap between High and Ultra at 4K is negligible, 23.8 versus 23 FPS, indicating the GPU is saturated at that point and additional detail costs almost nothing further because the pipeline is already maxed out. At 1080p the spread between Low and Ultra is enormous, 85.1 down to 31.7, which gives players a wide range of visual trade-offs at full HD.

How This Combo Ranks

Within The Medium's leaderboard, the i5-14400F plus RTX 2060 combination ranks 2875 out of 3724 tested combos. That places it in the bottom quarter of the field for this particular game, which is notable given that both components individually rank respectably against the broader hardware pool: the CPU sits in the 83rd percentile of all CPUs, and the GPU in the 58th percentile of all GPUs.

The discrepancy is explained by the game itself. The Medium is unusually demanding on the GPU relative to typical titles, so a mid-pack graphics card drags a strong processor down with it. Combos ranking above this one in the game's leaderboard would typically pair faster GPUs with comparable CPUs, since the CPU side of this pairing is clearly not the differentiator.

FAQ

Q: Can the i5-14400F and RTX 2060 run The Medium at 60 FPS?

A: Yes, but only on the Low preset, and only at 1920x1080 (85.1 FPS average) or 2560x1440 (71.9 FPS average). No preset reaches 60 FPS at 3840x2160, where the best result is 55.2 FPS on Low.

Q: What is the best-looking configuration that still plays smoothly?

A: Low at 2560x1440 is arguably the best balance, averaging 71.9 FPS while rendering more pixels than 1080p. Medium at 1080p looks more detailed but averages 52.6 FPS, below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: Is the CPU or the GPU the bottleneck in this game?

A: The GPU. Framerates scale down consistently as resolution and preset demands rise, which is characteristic of GPU limitation. The i5-14400F, with 10 cores and 16 threads, sits in the 83rd percentile of all CPUs and is not the constraint.

Q: Would a different CPU in the same performance class change the results?

A: No. The nearest rivals, including the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U, Intel Core i9-11900, AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS, and Intel Core i7-12800H, all land within half a percent of the i5-14400F's aggregate benchmark score, and the game is GPU-bound on this pairing anyway.

Q: Is 4K gaming possible on this setup in The Medium?

A: Not by the 60 FPS standard. The highest average at 3840x2160 is 55.2 FPS on Low, and Medium, High, and Ultra record 35.8, 23.8, and 23 FPS respectively.

Q: How does this hardware combo compare to other systems tested in The Medium?

A: It ranks 2875 out of 3724 tested combos, placing it in the lower quarter of the game's leaderboard despite the CPU's strong individual standing. The Medium's heavy GPU demands are the reason.