The Medium

Measured FPS Breakdown

The recorded data for this combination spans three resolutions and four quality presets. At 3840x2160, the average frame rates range from 38 FPS at Ultra to 76 FPS at Low. The Medium preset delivers 63 FPS on average, with a minimum of 54 FPS and a maximum of 73 FPS. High settings produce 47 FPS on average, while Ultra drops to 38 FPS. No minimum or maximum values were recorded for the Low, High, or Ultra presets at this resolution, so only the Medium preset provides a full frame time picture.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages improve across the board. Low settings reach 82 FPS, Medium hits 68 FPS with a minimum of 58 and a maximum of 79, and High lands at exactly 60 FPS. Ultra remains below the playable threshold at 48 FPS. The 1080p results show the strongest performance: Low averages 87 FPS, Medium averages 72 FPS with a minimum of 62 and a maximum of 83, and High averages 64 FPS. Ultra at 1080p sits at 57 FPS, which is just under the 60 FPS playable threshold used throughout this analysis.

The pattern across all resolutions is consistent: Low and Medium presets clear 60 FPS comfortably, High is borderline at 1440p and 4K, and Ultra never reaches 60 FPS at any resolution. The gap between Low and Ultra is substantial, roughly doubling the frame rate at every resolution. At 4K, the spread from 38 to 76 FPS represents a 100% performance swing depending on preset selection. The Medium preset is the only one where min and max values were captured at all three resolutions, showing a consistent 15 to 19 FPS range between minimum and maximum frame times.

CPU and GPU Roles

The scaling between resolutions reveals how this workload distributes between the Intel Core i5-9400 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070. The i5-9400 is a 6-core, 6-thread Coffee Lake processor with a 2.90 GHz base clock and 4.10 GHz boost clock. The RTX 5070 uses the GB205 chip on a 5 nm process, with 6144 shading units and 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering 672.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This is a pairing where the GPU is far more powerful than the CPU in raw benchmark terms, as the GPU sits at the 82nd percentile among all GPUs while the CPU sits at the 47th percentile among all CPUs.

The resolution scaling tells the story clearly. From 1080p to 1440p, the average FPS drops by roughly 6 to 7% at Low settings (87 to 82 FPS) and by about 10% at High settings (64 to 60 FPS). From 1440p to 4K, the drop is much steeper: Low goes from 82 to 76 FPS (a 7% decline), while High goes from 60 to 47 FPS (a 22% decline). This disproportionate drop at higher resolutions and presets indicates that the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck as pixel count and shader complexity increase. At 1080p, the CPU has more influence on keeping frame rates high, but even there the RTX 5070's raw compute power keeps averages well above 60 FPS on all but the Ultra preset.

The Ultra preset is instructive. At 1080p it produces 57 FPS, at 1440p it drops to 48 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 38 FPS. The consistent degradation suggests that Ultra settings impose a fixed GPU workload increase that scales with resolution, while the CPU overhead remains relatively constant. The i5-9400's single-core performance, measured at 935 points in Cinebench R23 single-core, is sufficient to feed the GPU at lower presets but may contribute to the inability to hit 60 FPS at Ultra even at 1080p. The data does not isolate CPU versus GPU bottleneck directly, but the pattern of larger FPS losses at higher resolutions points to the GPU as the dominant factor for this title.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The nearest rivals for the Intel Core i5-9400 provide context for CPU-bound scenarios. The Intel Core i7-1068NG7 has an average benchmark score of 2259, which is 0.2% higher than the i5-9400's average of 2254. The Intel Core i7-10710U scores 2248, just 0.3% lower. The AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 scores 2246, also 0.3% lower, and the Intel Core i3-10305 scores 2264, which is 0.4% higher. These four processors are effectively interchangeable in terms of overall benchmark performance, meaning any of them would likely produce nearly identical frame rates in The Medium when paired with the same GPU. The differences are within measurement noise, so users upgrading or downgrading within this cluster should expect no meaningful FPS change.

For the GPU side, the RTX 5070's nearest rivals are all AMD Radeon Pro cards and a mobile NVIDIA part. The AMD Radeon Pro 580 scores 40318, which is 0.1% lower than the RTX 5070's 40377 average. The AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100 scores 40063, 0.8% lower. The AMD Radeon Pro 5300 scores 40870, which is 1.2% higher, and the NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile scores 39568, 2% lower. These deltas are small, so the frame rates recorded for the RTX 5070 should closely approximate what these rival GPUs would produce when paired with a similarly capable CPU. The RTX A500 Mobile, being a laptop part, may exhibit different thermal behavior, but the benchmark scores suggest similar computational throughput.

The Verdict

This combination can run The Medium, but the playable envelope depends heavily on resolution and preset. At 3840x2160, the playable settings are Low and Medium. Low averages 76 FPS, while Medium averages 63 FPS with a recorded minimum of 54 FPS. The best playable setting at 4K is Medium, delivering 63 FPS on average. High and Ultra at 4K fall short, at 47 and 38 FPS respectively.

At 2560x1440, the playable settings expand to High, Low, and Medium. High averages exactly 60 FPS, which meets the playable threshold but leaves no headroom. Medium averages 68 FPS with a minimum of 58 FPS, and Low averages 82 FPS. The best playable setting at 1440p is High at 60 FPS, though Medium offers a more comfortable margin above the threshold. Ultra at 1440p remains unplayable at 48 FPS.

At 1920x1080, the playable settings are High, Low, and Medium. High averages 64 FPS, Medium averages 72 FPS with a minimum of 62 FPS, and Low averages 87 FPS. The best playable setting at 1080p is High at 64 FPS. Ultra at 1080p just misses the threshold at 57 FPS. Overall, this PC clears 60 FPS at every resolution when using the appropriate preset, but the Ultra preset is not viable anywhere. The RTX 5070's 82nd percentile GPU standing and the i5-9400's 47th percentile CPU standing combine to deliver a playable experience for the vast majority of settings, with the caveat that maximum visual quality requires sacrificing frame rate.

Best Settings per Resolution

For 3840x2160, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Medium. The recorded average at Medium is 63 FPS, with a minimum of 54 FPS. This means the average clears the threshold, though dips below 60 FPS occur. Low at 4K averages 76 FPS but comes with reduced visual fidelity. High and Ultra are not viable at this resolution.

For 2560x1440, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is High. The recorded average is exactly 60 FPS, which meets the threshold with no margin. Medium averages 68 FPS and Low averages 82 FPS, both of which are also playable. Ultra at 48 FPS is not viable. Players seeking a stable experience above 60 FPS should consider Medium, as the minimum of 58 FPS at Medium is closer to the threshold than the average suggests.

For 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is High. The recorded average is 64 FPS, which provides a modest buffer above the threshold. Medium averages 72 FPS with a minimum of 62 FPS, making it the safest choice for consistent frame times. Low averages 87 FPS for maximum performance. Ultra at 57 FPS is just below the threshold and should be avoided if 60 FPS is the target.

FAQ

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

A: No. At 3840x2160 with High settings, the recorded average FPS is 47, which falls below the 60 FPS playable threshold. The playable settings at 4K are Low (76 FPS) and Medium (63 FPS).

Q: What is the best preset at 1440p for this combination?

A: The best playable preset at 2560x1440 is High, which records an average of 60 FPS. Medium averages 68 FPS and Low averages 82 FPS, but High provides the highest visual quality that still meets the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: Does the Ultra preset ever reach 60 FPS at any resolution?

A: No. The recorded averages for Ultra are 57 FPS at 1920x1080, 48 FPS at 2560x1440, and 38 FPS at 3840x2160. All fall below the 60 FPS playable threshold.

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

A: At 1920x1080, Low averages 87 FPS while Ultra averages 57 FPS. This represents a 30 FPS difference, or approximately 53% higher performance at Low settings.

Q: What are the minimum FPS values recorded for Medium settings?

A: The Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum FPS values. At 4K the minimum is 54 FPS, at 1440p it is 58 FPS, and at 1080p it is 62 FPS. The corresponding maximums are 73, 79, and 83 FPS respectively.

Q: How does this combination rank among all tested combos in The Medium?

A: This CPU-GPU pairing ranks 1461 out of 3724 tested combinations, placing it in the upper portion of the database. The GPU alone sits at the 82nd percentile among all GPUs, while the CPU sits at the 47th percentile among all CPUs.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 ranks 1461 out of 3724 tested combinations in The Medium. This places the combo in the top 39% of all tested hardware pairings, which is a solid position given that the CPU is a modest 6-core part from 2018 while the GPU is a current-generation 50-series card. The rank reflects the GPU's dominance in this workload; the RTX 5070's 82nd percentile standing among all GPUs largely drives the overall position, while the CPU's 47th percentile standing holds the combo back from higher placement.

The gap between the CPU and GPU percentiles is notable. A more balanced pairing, with a CPU in the 70th percentile or higher, would likely push this combo significantly higher in the rankings. The recorded frame rates support this interpretation: at 1080p Medium, the combo achieves 72 FPS, which is respectable but not exceptional for a GPU of this class. At 4K Medium, the 63 FPS average shows the GPU's capability to handle high pixel counts, but the CPU's limited single-thread performance may contribute to the inability to sustain higher averages at lower resolutions where CPU overhead is more prominent.

Compared to the nearest rival GPUs, the RTX 5070's performance is nearly identical to the AMD Radeon Pro 580 and Radeon Pro WX 7100, with deltas of 0.1% and 0.8% respectively. This means the combo's rank would change little if the GPU were swapped for one of those cards, assuming the CPU remained the same. The CPU's nearest rivals, including the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 and AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500, are within 0.4% of the i5-9400's average benchmark score, so any of those processors would also produce near-identical results in The Medium. The combination's rank is therefore representative of a broad cluster of similar hardware, not an outlier in either direction.