The Medium

The Intel Core i5-14600K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 delivers a broad range of frame rates in The Medium, with performance scaling predictably across resolutions and presets. At 1920x1080, the combination produces an average of 150.5 FPS on Low settings, 92.3 FPS on Medium, 69.0 FPS on High, and 53.1 FPS on Ultra. Moving to 2560x1440, the averages drop to 124.4 FPS on Low, 80.7 FPS on Medium, 53.4 FPS on High, and 47.0 FPS on Ultra. At 3840x2160, the same preset ladder yields 97.4 FPS on Low, 59.7 FPS on Medium, 46.8 FPS on High, and 34.2 FPS on Ultra. The pattern shows a consistent step-down of roughly 20-25% when moving from 1080p to 1440p, and a similar magnitude when stepping from 1440p to 4K, though the exact deltas vary by preset.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The benchmark data for this combo shows no min or max frame rate values, only averages, so the analysis relies on mean FPS across twelve configurations. At 1920x1080, the spread is wide: Low settings produce 150.5 FPS, which is more than double the Ultra result of 53.1 FPS. Medium lands at 92.3 FPS, and High sits at 69.0 FPS. The step from Medium to High is a 23.3 FPS drop, while the step from High to Ultra is a 15.9 FPS drop. This indicates diminishing returns on the higher preset tiers, where the visual uplift from High to Ultra costs more than a third of the High frame rate.

At 2560x1440, the same settings ladder compresses slightly. Low yields 124.4 FPS, Medium drops to 80.7 FPS, High falls to 53.4 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 47.0 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium here is 43.7 FPS, which is proportionally similar to the 1080p gap. However, the High preset at 1440p falls below the 60 FPS threshold, whereas at 1080p High stayed above it. The Ultra preset at 1440p is only 6.4 FPS below the High preset, suggesting that the Ultra settings at this resolution are heavily GPU-bound.

At 3840x2160, the performance curve steepens. Low settings deliver 97.4 FPS, which is the only preset at 4K that clears 60 FPS comfortably. Medium drops to 59.7 FPS, just under the playable threshold. High falls to 46.8 FPS, and Ultra reaches only 34.2 FPS. The delta between Low and Medium at 4K is 37.7 FPS, while the delta between High and Ultra is 12.6 FPS. The Ultra result at 4K represents the worst-case scenario for this combo, with a frame rate that is roughly one-third of the 1080p Low result.

The data shows no min or max FPS values, meaning stutter and frame pacing cannot be assessed from this pack. All reported numbers are averages, which tend to mask transient dips. For a horror title like The Medium, where sudden scene changes are common, the absence of min FPS data is a notable limitation in evaluating smoothness. The average figures alone indicate that the combo is capable of high throughput at lower presets, but the playability verdict must rely solely on these means.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is High, with an average of 69.0 FPS. This gives a 9 FPS headroom above the playable threshold, which is modest but sufficient according to the data. Ultra falls to 53.1 FPS, missing the threshold by 6.9 FPS. Medium and Low are also playable, but High is the optimal choice for visual quality while maintaining the 60 FPS requirement.

At 2560x1440, the best playable setting is Medium, with an average of 80.7 FPS. This provides 20.7 FPS of headroom over the threshold. High at this resolution drops to 53.4 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS line, and Ultra is even lower at 47.0 FPS. The jump from Medium to High at 1440p costs 27.3 FPS, which is a significant penalty that pushes the result into unplayable territory.

At 3840x2160, the only playable preset is Low, with an average of 97.4 FPS. Medium falls to 59.7 FPS, missing the threshold by just 0.3 FPS. This is a close call, but the data clearly places Medium below the line. High and Ultra are far off, at 46.8 FPS and 34.2 FPS respectively. The recommendation at 4K is therefore Low, which offers substantial headroom of 37.4 FPS above the threshold.

Across all three resolutions, the pattern is consistent: the combo can handle high visual quality at 1080p, medium at 1440p, and low at 4K. The 60 FPS threshold is a hard line in the data, and the best settings are those that maximize visual fidelity while remaining above that line. No resolution supports Ultra at 60 FPS, which indicates that the RTX 4070, despite its strong average benchmark score, is not sufficient for the heaviest preset in this game at any tested resolution.

CPU and GPU Roles

The CPU and GPU roles in this combo can be inferred from the scaling between resolutions and presets. At 1920x1080, the frame rate drops from 150.5 FPS on Low to 69.0 FPS on High, a 54% reduction. At 2560x1440, the same preset change reduces FPS from 124.4 to 53.4, a 57% reduction. At 3840x2160, the drop is from 97.4 to 46.8, a 52% reduction. The consistency of these percentage drops across resolutions suggests that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher presets, as the relative cost of each preset tier remains similar regardless of pixel count.

However, the absolute differences tell a different story. Moving from 1080p to 1440p on Low settings reduces FPS from 150.5 to 124.4, a 26.1 FPS drop. Moving from 1440p to 4K on Low drops from 124.4 to 97.4, a 27.0 FPS drop. These are nearly identical absolute deltas, which indicates that at Low settings, the CPU is likely a limiting factor at lower resolutions. The i5-14600K has 14 cores and 20 threads, and its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 24491 places it in the 90th percentile of all CPUs, so it is not a weak part. Yet the fact that Low settings at 1080p do not scale higher than 150.5 FPS suggests a ceiling that is not purely GPU-bound.

At higher presets, the GPU role becomes dominant. The Ultra preset at 1080p yields 53.1 FPS, while at 4K Ultra yields 34.2 FPS, a 18.9 FPS drop. At Low settings, the 1080p to 4K drop is 53.1 FPS. This widening gap at higher presets confirms that the RTX 4070 is the limiting factor when shader complexity increases. The GPU's PassMark G3D score of 26927 and its 81st percentile ranking among all GPUs support this interpretation, as the card is strong but not top-tier.

The resolution scaling at Medium settings is also revealing. At 1080p Medium, the combo hits 92.3 FPS. At 1440p Medium, it drops to 80.7 FPS. At 4K Medium, it falls to 59.7 FPS. The deltas are 11.6 FPS and 21.0 FPS respectively, meaning the cost per pixel increases as resolution rises. This is a classic sign of GPU-bound behavior, where the rasterization workload grows faster than the pixel count. The CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at lower resolutions and presets, but the GPU's fill rate and bandwidth become the limiting factors at higher loads.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The CPU's nearest rivals, based on average benchmark scores, include the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H with an average score of 48698 and a delta of -0.2%, the AMD EPYC 4345P with a score of 48470 and a delta of 0.3%, the Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX with a score of 48287 and a delta of 0.7%, and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 with a score of 48995 and a delta of -0.8%. These deltas are all within one percent of the i5-14600K's average score of 48618, meaning any of these processors would produce nearly identical frame rates in The Medium when paired with the same GPU. The Xeon and the Core Ultra 5 245 are slightly slower on average, while the EPYC and the Core Ultra 5 245HX are slightly faster, but the differences are negligible in real-world gaming.

The GPU's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Tesla P4 with an average score of 37628 and a delta of 0.1%, the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 with a score of 37507 and a delta of 0.4%, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile with a score of 38135 and a delta of -1.3%, and the AMD Radeon PRO W6400 with a score of 37157 and a delta of 1.3%. The RTX 4070's average benchmark score is 37648, so the Tesla P4 and RX Vega 56 are essentially equivalent in raw compute. The RTX 4080 Mobile is 1.3% faster on average, which could translate to 1-2 FPS in The Medium, while the PRO W6400 is 1.3% slower. None of these rivals would change the playability verdict at any resolution, as the frame rate differences would be within measurement noise.

For practical purposes, a system with the i5-14600K and any of these rival CPUs would behave identically in The Medium, assuming the same GPU and memory configuration. Similarly, swapping the RTX 4070 for a Tesla P4 or RX Vega 56 would produce frame rates within a few percent of the measured values. The RTX 4080 Mobile might offer a slight edge at 4K Ultra, pushing the 34.2 FPS result closer to 35 FPS, but it would still be far below the 60 FPS threshold. The data suggests that the combination's performance is robust to small hardware variations.

FAQ

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

A: No. At 3840x2160 with Medium settings, the average FPS is 59.7, which is 0.3 FPS below the 60 FPS playable threshold. Only Low settings at 4K clear the threshold, with an average of 97.4 FPS.

Q: What is the highest preset that maintains 60 FPS at 1440p?

A: Medium settings at 2560x1440 produce an average of 80.7 FPS, which is the most demanding preset that stays above 60 FPS at that resolution. High settings drop to 53.4 FPS, which is below the threshold.

Q: How much faster is Low settings compared to Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, Low settings yield 150.5 FPS, while Ultra yields 53.1 FPS. This means Low is approximately 2.8 times faster than Ultra in terms of average frame rate.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more important for this game at 1080p?

A: At 1080p Low settings, the frame rate is 150.5 FPS, which suggests a CPU or engine-level cap, as the GPU is unlikely to be fully utilized at that low a workload. At 1080p Ultra, the frame rate drops to 53.1 FPS, indicating the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher presets.

Q: Does the combo rank in the top quarter of all tested systems for this game?

A: The combo rank is 854 out of 3724 tested combinations. This places it in the top 22.9% of all tested combos, which is above the median but not in the top decile.

Q: What is the best preset at 1080p that stays above 60 FPS?

A: High settings at 1920x1080 produce an average of 69.0 FPS, which is the highest preset that remains above the 60 FPS threshold. Ultra falls to 53.1 FPS, making it unplayable by the 60 FPS standard.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-14600K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 combination ranks 854 out of 3724 tested combos in The Medium. This places it in the 77th percentile of all tested systems, meaning roughly 23% of tested combos perform better. The rank is driven primarily by the GPU, which has a percentile rank of 81 among all GPUs, while the CPU sits at the 90th percentile among all CPUs. The gap between the CPU's high percentile and the combo's lower overall rank suggests that the game is more GPU-limited at higher presets, which is consistent with the measured FPS data showing steep drops at Ultra settings.

The rank of 854 out of 3724 means there are 853 combos that deliver higher average frame rates in this specific game. These would likely include systems with higher-end GPUs such as the RTX 4080 or RTX 4090, or possibly combinations with faster memory or overclocked components. However, the data does not specify which combos rank higher, only that this particular pairing falls in the upper-middle range. The rank is a composite measure, and it aligns with the measured FPS results: the combo is capable of 60 FPS at 1080p High and 1440p Medium, but not at 4K Medium or any Ultra preset.

In practical terms, this rank means the combo is well above the average gaming PC, but it is not a top-tier system for The Medium. The 90th percentile CPU and 81st percentile GPU combine to produce a result that is strong for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the 4K Ultra performance is limited. The rank also indicates that the combo is not bottlenecked by the CPU, as the CPU's percentile is higher than the GPU's, which would typically push the combo's rank closer to the GPU's percentile. The 854 rank is slightly lower than the GPU's 81st percentile, suggesting that other factors, such as memory bandwidth or driver overhead, may play a role.

The Verdict

This PC can run The Medium, but the playable settings depend heavily on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, the combo clears the 60 FPS threshold on High, Medium, and Low settings, with High providing the best visual quality at 69.0 FPS. Ultra is not playable at 1080p, falling to 53.1 FPS. At 2560x1440, the playable presets are Medium and Low, with Medium achieving 80.7 FPS. High and Ultra at 1440p are below the threshold at 53.4 FPS and 47.0 FPS respectively. At 3840x2160, only Low settings are playable, with an average of 97.4 FPS. Medium at 4K just misses the mark at 59.7 FPS, while High and Ultra are far below at 46.8 FPS and 34.2 FPS.

The verdict by resolution is clear: the combo is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it can maintain 60 FPS at respectable presets. For 4K, the user must drop to Low settings to achieve a smooth experience. The 60 FPS threshold is met at 1080p High, 1440p Medium, and 4K Low. The data indicates that this is a capable mid-to-high-end combination for The Medium, but it is not a 4K Ultra machine. Users targeting 4K should expect to compromise significantly on visual fidelity, while those at 1080p or 1440p can enjoy the game with high or medium presets respectively. The overall verdict is that the system is playable at all three resolutions, provided the preset is chosen according to the measured data.