The Medium

The Intel Core i7-12700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 delivers a performance profile in The Medium that is defined by dramatic scaling across resolutions and settings. The data shows this combination is exceptionally strong at 1080p and 1440p, while 4K Ultra demands a compromise. At 1920x1080, the average frame rates range from 169.1 FPS on Low to 81.1 FPS on Ultra, indicating a wide headroom for high-refresh-rate displays. Moving to 2560x1440, the average drops to 157.8 FPS on Low and 64.7 FPS on Ultra, still comfortably above the 60 FPS playability threshold. The most demanding scenario, 3840x2160, reveals a steeper decline: 147.2 FPS on Low, 92.2 FPS on Medium, 65.4 FPS on High, and 52.7 FPS on Ultra, which falls short of the playability threshold.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for this specific CPU and GPU combination reveals a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases, with the gap between settings widening at higher pixel counts.

At 1920x1080, the combination shows exceptional fluidity across all presets. The Low preset achieves an average of 169.1 FPS, while Medium delivers 138.1 FPS, a drop of 31 FPS. High follows with 100.9 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 81.1 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra represents a reduction of 88 FPS, or roughly 52%, which is substantial but leaves even the most demanding preset well above the 60 FPS threshold. The difference between Medium and High is 37.2 FPS, suggesting a notable visual-quality cost at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the averages shift downward but retain a similar hierarchy. Low produces 157.8 FPS, Medium drops to 117 FPS, High reaches 81.6 FPS, and Ultra falls to 64.7 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra here is 93.1 FPS, slightly larger than at 1080p, indicating that the higher resolution amplifies the impact of preset selection. Ultra remains playable, but the margin above the 60 FPS threshold is only 4.7 FPS, leaving little room for fluctuation in demanding scenes.

At 3840x2160, the data reveals a more precarious situation. Low delivers 147.2 FPS, which is still excellent, and Medium maintains 92.2 FPS. High drops to 65.4 FPS, barely clearing the playability threshold, while Ultra falls to 52.7 FPS, which is 7.3 FPS below the 60 FPS target. The scaling from Medium to High is a loss of 26.8 FPS, and from High to Ultra another 12.7 FPS, demonstrating that the RTX 5090's raw power is increasingly taxed by 4K rendering. The average FPS figures do not include separate min or max values, so the data provides only a central tendency; the actual frame pacing could vary, but the averages suggest that High is the most demanding playable preset at this resolution.

FAQ

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

A: No. The measured average FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 52.7 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS playable threshold. The data indicates that High settings, averaging 65.4 FPS, are the most demanding playable option at this resolution.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1440p to maintain 60 FPS?

A: The data shows that Ultra settings at 2560x1440 produce an average of 64.7 FPS, making it the best-looking preset that stays above the 60 FPS threshold. All other presets (High, Medium, Low) also exceed 60 FPS at this resolution.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K at the same settings?

A: The performance drop varies by preset. For Low settings, the average falls from 169.1 FPS at 1080p to 147.2 FPS at 4K, a reduction of 21.9 FPS. For Ultra, the drop is more severe: 81.1 FPS at 1080p versus 52.7 FPS at 4K, a loss of 28.4 FPS.

Q: Is the Core i7-12700K a bottleneck for the RTX 5090 in this game?

A: The FPS data suggests the CPU is not a limiting factor at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 169.1 FPS, which is high but not maximal, and the scaling to 4K Low (147.2 FPS) shows only a 13% reduction, indicating the GPU is likely the primary constraint at higher resolutions. The CPU's 84th percentile ranking among all CPUs and its 3DMark 16-thread score of 9276 support its capability.

Q: What is the playable settings list for each resolution according to the verdict?

A: At 3840x2160, the playable settings are High, Low, and Medium. At 2560x1440 and 1920x1080, all four settings (Ultra, High, Medium, Low) are playable.

Q: How does this combination rank against other tested combos in this game?

A: The combo ranks 76th out of 3724 tested combinations, placing it in the top 2% of all tested configurations for The Medium.

Best Settings per Resolution

The most demanding preset that maintains an average of at least 60 FPS is identified per resolution, based on the measured data.

At 3840x2160, the best playable setting is High, which produces an average of 65.4 FPS. Medium delivers 92.2 FPS and Low 147.2 FPS, but High is the highest visual quality option that clears the 60 FPS threshold. Ultra falls short at 52.7 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the best playable setting is Ultra, with an average of 64.7 FPS. This is a narrow margin above the threshold, but it is playable. High (81.6 FPS), Medium (117 FPS), and Low (157.8 FPS) are also viable options.

At 1920x1080, the best playable setting is Ultra, yielding an average of 81.1 FPS. This provides a comfortable buffer above 60 FPS, and the system can handle the highest preset without issue. High (100.9 FPS), Medium (138.1 FPS), and Low (169.1 FPS) offer progressively higher headroom.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The nearest rivals for the CPU and GPU provide context for how other hardware might behave in this game, based on their aggregate benchmark scores.

For the Intel Core i7-12700K, the closest performer is the Intel Core i5-13600T, which has an average benchmark score of 35305, a negligible 0.1% difference. The Intel Core i7-12700KF scores 35365, also 0.2% off, and the Intel Core i7-13700T scores 35403, a 0.3% delta. The Intel Core 5 213PE trails by 0.4% with a score of 35428. These rivals would likely produce nearly identical frame rates in The Medium, as the CPU's impact on FPS here appears secondary to the GPU at higher resolutions. The i7-12700K's own average benchmark score is 35287, and it ranks in the 84th percentile of all CPUs.

For the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, the nearest rival is the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB, which has an average score of 79605, a 0.3% difference. The Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB follows at 79396, a 0.6% delta, and the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT scores 78940, a 1.1% difference. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X is the only rival with a higher average score at 80959, a 1.4% delta. These rivals are within a narrow performance band, but the RTX 5090's 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs and its massive 32 GB GDDR7 memory pool suggest it would maintain a lead in memory-heavy scenes. The Tesla cards are data-center parts with different driver optimizations, so real-world gaming performance could differ, but the aggregate scores indicate similar raw compute.

CPU and GPU Roles

The measured FPS data across resolutions and presets reveals how the workload shifts between the Core i7-12700K and the RTX 5090 in The Medium.

At 1920x1080, the CPU's role is more pronounced, but the data indicates the GPU still dominates. The average FPS at Low is 169.1, which is high but suggests the CPU can feed the GPU adequately. The drop to Ultra (81.1 FPS) is a 52% reduction, showing that GPU load scales heavily with preset. The CPU's 12 cores and 20 threads, along with a 3DMark max-thread score of 9979, provide ample headroom for the game's fixed-timeline horror sequences.

At 2560x1440, the GPU becomes more of a limiting factor. The FPS at Low (157.8) is only 6.7% lower than at 1080p, while at Ultra (64.7) it is 20.2% lower. This asymmetric scaling suggests that the GPU is being saturated by the higher pixel count, while the CPU's workload remains relatively constant. The CPU's single-thread performance, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1850.5, is sufficient to avoid bottlenecking.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is unequivocally the primary constraint. The FPS at Low (147.2) is still high, but the gap between Low and Ultra (52.7) is 64.2%, larger than at any other resolution. This indicates that the RTX 5090's rendering pipeline is the bottleneck, not the CPU. The CPU's benchmark scores, such as a Geekbench multi-core score of 15790, are unlikely to be the limiting factor even in the most demanding scenes. The data suggests that for this game, the GPU's role becomes more dominant as resolution increases, with the CPU providing a stable platform that does not degrade performance.

The Verdict

The question of whether this PC can run The Medium is answered clearly by the verdict data, which specifies playable settings per resolution.

At 3840x2160, the system is playable on High, Low, and Medium settings. The best playable setting is High, with an average of 65.4 FPS. Ultra is not playable, as it falls to 52.7 FPS, below the 60 FPS threshold.

At 2560x1440, all four settings are playable. The best setting is Ultra, with an average of 64.7 FPS, which just clears the threshold. This means the system can run the game at maximum visual quality at 1440p, though the margin is slim.

At 1920x1080, all four settings are playable, with Ultra achieving 81.1 FPS. This provides a robust experience with significant headroom for frame rate fluctuations. The verdict confirms that this combination is fully capable of running the game at 1080p and 1440p with maxed-out settings, and at 4K with High settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 76th out of 3724 tested combinations in The Medium. This places it in the top 2% of all configurations, indicating exceptional performance relative to the broader test pool. The GPU's 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs and the CPU's 84th percentile ranking contribute to this high placement. The data implies that while there are 75 combinations that perform better, these are likely to feature even higher-end CPUs or specialized configurations, but for practical purposes, this setup delivers near-top-tier results. The rank reflects the system's ability to maintain high frame rates across most settings, with only 4K Ultra proving too demanding.