The Medium

The Intel Core i5-14400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 produces a wide performance envelope in The Medium, with results that scale predictably from a very comfortable 1080p experience to a demanding 4K Ultra configuration that falls short of the 60 FPS playability threshold. Measured frame rate data for this combination places it in the 665th position out of 3,724 tested combinations, meaning it outperforms roughly 82% of all recorded system pairings for this title. The game itself, a horror title released on 2021-01-27, demonstrates significant sensitivity to both resolution and quality preset, as the benchmark results show a clear hierarchy of playable settings at each of the three tested resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combination delivers its strongest raw performance figures across the board. The Low preset produces an average of 153.6 FPS, which is the highest recorded result for this setup at any resolution or settings level. Moving up the quality scale, the Medium preset still maintains a highly fluid 103.5 FPS average, while the High preset drops to 73.5 FPS. The Ultra preset, however, falls below the playable threshold of 60 FPS, settling at 55.8 FPS. This represents a substantial performance cost for the highest visual quality tier, with the Ultra preset being roughly 27.3% slower than High in this 1080p test.

At 2560x1440, the same pattern emerges but with a visible performance penalty relative to 1080p. The Low preset averages 133.9 FPS, which is still an excellent result but represents a 12.8% reduction compared to the 1080p Low result. Medium drops to 86.7 FPS, and High falls to 62.4 FPS — still just above the 60 FPS threshold. The Ultra preset at this resolution averages 47.2 FPS, which is a 15.4% decline from the 1080p Ultra score and is clearly below playable smoothness.

The 3840x2160 results show the most dramatic scaling penalty. The Low preset still manages a strong 105.2 FPS, but the Medium preset averages 68 FPS, which is the highest playable preset at this resolution. High drops to 48.8 FPS, and Ultra falls further to 37.2 FPS. The difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 4K is a substantial 68.0% performance gap, highlighting how much headroom the Ultra settings consume on this hardware at high pixel counts.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 665 out of 3,724 tested combinations places this PC configuration in the 82nd percentile of all tested hardware for The Medium. This ranking is informed by the CPU’s percentile vs all CPUs, which sits at the 83rd percentile with an average benchmark score of 32,279, and the GPU’s percentile vs all GPUs, which is 82nd with an average score of 40,377. The pairing is well-balanced in the sense that the CPU and GPU occupy nearly identical positions in their respective performance distributions.

A rank of 665 out of 3,724 means there are 664 combinations that deliver higher average frame rates in this specific game. That places the i5-14400F and RTX 5070 comfortably in the upper quintile, but it also leaves a substantial number of configurations ahead, which matters for gamers targeting Ultra settings at 4K. Given that the Ultra 2160p result is the only preset that falls well below the 60 FPS threshold, the ranking accurately reflects the combo’s capability to handle most scenarios while not being among the absolute elite for extreme quality at native 4K.

CPU and GPU Roles

The performance scaling across resolutions reveals a clear split in which component dominates at each setting. The CPU’s role is most visible when the resolution is low and the frame rate is high. At 1080p Low, the combination produces 153.6 FPS, which is a frame rate where the Intel Core i5-14400F’s 10 cores and 16 threads, with a boost clock of 4.70 GHz, become a relevant factor. The CPU’s multi-core benchmark score of 21,645 in Cinebench R23 and single-core score of 3,055 put it in a position where it can feed the GPU efficiently at high frame rates.

As the resolution increases, the GPU starts to carry more of the load. The jump from 1080p to 4K at the Medium preset shows the frame rate dropping from 103.5 FPS to 68.2 FPS, a 34.1% reduction. This is a classic GPU-bound scaling pattern, where the GPU’s output of 30.87 TFLOPS and memory bandwidth of 672.0 GB/s become the limiting factors at higher pixel counts. The GPU’s 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus is sufficient for the game’s requirements, but the data shows that Ultra settings at 4K overwhelm this GPU, yielding 37.3 FPS.

The scaling between presets at the same resolution further illustrates this relationship. At 4K, the difference between the Low and Medium presets is 37.2 FPS (105.2 to 68.2), which is a 35.4% drop. The difference between Medium and High is another 19.9 FPS (68.2 to 48.3), and the gap between High and Ultra is 11.1 FPS (48.3 to 37.2). This non-linear scaling suggests that the GPU is the primary constraint at 4K, with each quality tier imposing a larger relative cost than what the CPU alone could explain. At 1080p, the scaling is more uniform in absolute terms but the percentage gaps are smaller, indicating that the CPU is keeping up adequately with the GPU’s output.

The Verdict

The data is clear on the playability question. At 1920x1080, the highest preset that maintains at least 60 FPS average is High, which runs at 73.5 FPS. The Low and Medium presets also clear the threshold, with 153.6 and 103.5 FPS respectively, but Ultra does not (55.8 FPS). At 2560x1440, the best playable setting is High, with an average of 62.4 FPS. Low (133.9 FPS) and Medium (86.7 FPS) are also fine, but Ultra fails to reach 60 FPS, averaging 47.2. At 3840x2160, the situation changes: Medium is the best playable setting, averaging 68.2 FPS, while High and Ultra are below the line at 48.3 and 37.2 FPS respectively. The Low preset at 4K runs at 105.2 FPS, but it is not listed as the best because Medium offers higher quality at a frame rate that is still above 60.

The data indicates this PC can run The Medium smoothly at 1080p and 1440p with high quality, and at 4K with medium quality. It cannot maintain 60 FPS at Ultra preset at any resolution, nor can it handle High settings at 4K.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Looking at the nearest rivals for the CPU and GPU provides context for what other hardware would behave similarly. The CPU’s nearest rivals are all within a 0.5% average score delta. The AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U has an average score of 32,233, which is 0.1% lower than the i5-14400F. The Intel Core i9-11900 is 0.2% higher at 32,226, meaning it would perform nearly identically in CPU-bound scenarios. The AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS is 0.2% lower at 32,326, and the Intel Core i7-12800H is 0.5% higher at 32,121. For CPU-centric workloads, any of these chips would produce essentially the same frame rates in this game at the lower resolutions.

The GPU’s nearest rivals show a wider spread, but still within 2%. The AMD Radeon Pro 580 scores 40,318, which is 0.1% higher than the RTX 5070’s average of 40,377. The AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100 is 0.8% lower at 40,063. The AMD Radeon Pro 5300 is 1.2% lower at 40,870, while the NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile is 2% higher at 39,568. These deltas are so small that in practice, a system with any of these GPUs would deliver nearly identical frame rates in The Medium at a given resolution and preset, with less than a 2% difference in the GPU’s overall average benchmark score.

Best Settings per Resolution

For a 60 FPS target, the optimal settings are as follows:

• 3840x2160: The best preset is Medium, which delivers an average FPS of 68.2. Low runs at 105.2 FPS, but Medium offers a better visual quality while still staying above the threshold.
• 2560x1440: The best preset is High, producing an average FPS of 62.4. Low runs at 133.9 and Medium at 86.7, but High provides the highest quality without dipping below 60.
• 1920x1080: The best preset is High, averaging 73.5 FPS. Low and Medium are also playable, but High is the most demanding setting that remains above the 60 FPS line within the data.

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run The Medium at 1080p with maximum settings?

A: No. The Ultra preset at 1920x1080 averages 55.8 FPS, which is below the playable threshold of 60 FPS.

Q: What is the best quality preset at 2560x1440?

A: The High preset is the best quality option, maintaining an average of 62.4 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the Ultra preset at 4K compare to Medium at 4K?

A: Ultra averages 37.2 FPS, while Medium averages 68.2 FPS, making the Ultra preset 45.4% slower in terms of frame rate.

Q: Is the Core i5-14400F a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: At 1080p with the Low preset, the system hits 153.6 FPS, which is a frame rate where the CPU’s single-core performance (3,055 in Cinebench R23) is relevant, but the data does not show a bottleneck preventing the GPU from reaching high frame rates.

Q: Which preset at 4K is closest to 60 FPS without going under?

A: The Medium preset at 3840x2160 averages 68.2 FPS, making it the most demanding preset there that stays above 60 FPS.

Q: How does this GPU compare to the AMD Radeon Pro 580?

A: The RTX 5070 has an average score of 40,377, which is 0.1% higher than the Radeon Pro 580’s 40,318, indicating nearly identical performance in this class of workloads.