The Medium

The Intel Core i3-12100F (launch MSRP $97) paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER (launch MSRP 399 USD) is a combination that ranks 1168th out of 1689 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the bottom third of the database. The CPU's average benchmark score of 13516 puts it within 0.1% of the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX, while the GPU's 19774 average score is 0.5% above the RTX 2070. These tight deltas indicate a balanced pairing, yet the game's demanding nature keeps the combo from climbing higher.

How This Combo Ranks

The rank of 1168 out of 1689 means the combo outperforms 521 other configurations, or roughly 31% of the tested pool. The CPU's percentile of 72 vs all CPUs is notably higher than the GPU's 63, suggesting the processor is the stronger half. The nearest CPU rivals are all within 1.8% of the i3-12100F's average score: the Threadripper PRO 3975WX (13534, delta -0.1%), the Core i7-1250U (13462, +0.4%), the Core i3-10105 (13430, +0.6%), and the Core i7-7700K (13280, +1.8%). On the GPU side, the RTX 2060 SUPER's nearest rivals are the GTX TITAN (19706, +0.3%), RTX 2070 (19680, +0.5%), Quadro K5200 (19623, +0.8%), and Tesla K40m (19519, +1.3%). These margins are small, meaning the combo's low rank is not due to a single weak component but rather the game's overall demand. The CPU's 4 cores and 8 threads, while efficient, cannot match the multi-threaded performance of higher-core-count parts, and the GPU's 8 GB VRAM and 448 GB/s bandwidth are adequate but not exceptional for a 2021 horror title. The CPU's 3DMark scores reinforce this: its 16-thread score of 4051 is nearly identical to its max-thread score of 4023, indicating that the 4 cores are fully utilized under heavy load.

GPU Role

The RTX 2060 SUPER is built on the TU106 chip with a 12 nm process and packs 10,800 million transistors on a 445 mm² die. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory runs on a 256-bit bus, yielding 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The base clock is 1470 MHz, boost 1650 MHz, and memory clock 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). With 2176 shading units, 136 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, the GPU delivers 7.181 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. It also includes 34 RT cores and 272 tensor cores, supporting DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. In The Medium, the measured FPS at 4K High is 28.1, which is below the 30 FPS threshold for smooth play. At 1080p Ultra, the card manages 31.7 FPS, while at 1080p Low it hits 92.1. This wide spread indicates that the GPU is the primary limiter when settings are raised. The 8 GB VRAM is sufficient for the game's textures at 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K the memory bandwidth and compute throughput are stretched, as seen in the 22.5 FPS at 4K Ultra. The GPU's Geekbench OpenCL score of 87670 and Vulkan score of 83503, along with a Passmark G3D score of 16462, reflect its mid-range standing, and the 63rd percentile vs all GPUs confirms it is not a top-tier part.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is far less than the 4x pixel increase, which points to a CPU bottleneck at lower settings. At Low, 1080p yields 92.1 FPS, 1440p 75.4, and 4K 60.5—a 34% reduction from 1080p to 4K. At High, the numbers are 42, 34.9, and 28.1, a 33% drop. At Ultra, 31.7, 29.6, and 22.5, a 29% drop. If the GPU were the sole constraint, the 4K frame rate would be roughly a quarter of the 1080p value. Instead, the scaling is nearly linear with resolution, suggesting that the CPU's 4 cores and 8 threads are holding back performance even at 4K. The i3-12100F's boost clock of 4.30 GHz and single-thread Cinebench R23 score of 1681 are strong, but the game appears to be sensitive to multi-threaded workloads, as the CPU's multi-core score of 11912 is modest compared to higher-core-count parts. The CPU's L3 cache of 12 MB shared and 1.25 MB L2 per core help, but the core count is the limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the 92.1 FPS is likely near the CPU's ceiling, as the GPU has ample headroom; the fact that 4K Low still hits 60.5 FPS shows that the CPU can maintain a playable frame rate even at high resolution when the GPU is not stressed.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data points to a clear sweet spot. At 1920x1080, Medium delivers 59 FPS, which is effectively 60 FPS for most displays, while High drops to 42 and Ultra to 31.7. Low reaches 92.1 but sacrifices visual quality. For 2560x1440, only Low achieves a playable 75.4 FPS; Medium falls to 48.9, High to 34.9, and Ultra to 29.6. At 3840x2160, Low is the only preset that stays above 60 FPS at 60.5, while Medium drops to 37.2, High to 28.1, and Ultra to 22.5. Therefore, the best experience per the measured rows is Medium at 1080p for a balance of quality and smoothness, or Low at 1440p if higher resolution is preferred. For 4K, Low is the only viable option, and even then it barely clears 60 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium at 1080p is 33.1 FPS, while the gap between Medium and High is 17 FPS, and High to Ultra is 10.3 FPS. This diminishing return suggests that Medium is the most efficient preset in terms of frame rate per visual step.

Measured FPS Breakdown

| Resolution | Settings | Avg FPS |

|------------|----------|---------|

| 3840x2160 | High | 28.1 |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 60.5 |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 37.2 |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 22.5 |

| 2560x1440 | High | 34.9 |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 75.4 |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 48.9 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 29.6 |

| 1920x1080 | High | 42.0 |

| 1920x1080 | Low | 92.1 |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 59.0 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 31.7 |

The pattern is consistent: Low settings roughly double the frame rate of Ultra at every resolution. At 1080p, the gap between Low and Ultra is 60.4 FPS; at 1440p it is 45.8; at 4K it is 38.0. This diminishing gap as resolution rises indicates that the GPU becomes more dominant at higher pixel counts, but the CPU still prevents the Low preset from scaling fully with resolution. The 4K Low result of 60.5 FPS is particularly telling: it is only 31.6 FPS lower than 1080p Low, despite a 4x pixel increase, reinforcing the CPU-bound nature of the game at low settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F is a 4-core, 8-thread Alder Lake-S part with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost of 4.30 GHz. It has 12 MB of shared L3 cache, 1.25 MB L2 per core, and 80 KB L1 per core. The TDP is 58 W, and it supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory on a dual-channel bus. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 11912 and single-core score of 1681 place it in the 72nd percentile of all CPUs. The average benchmark score of 13516 is nearly identical to the Threadripper PRO 3975WX (13534, delta -0.1%), which is remarkable given the core count difference. In The Medium, the CPU's influence is visible in the resolution scaling: at 1080p Low, the 92.1 FPS is likely near the CPU's limit, as the GPU has plenty of headroom. The 4-core design may cause frame pacing issues in scenes with many entities, but the measured data does not include min or max FPS, so we cannot confirm. The CPU's memory support for DDR4 and DDR5, along with PCIe Gen 5, ensures it is not a bottleneck for the RTX 2060 SUPER's PCIe 3.0 interface. The CPU's Passmark multithread score of 14015 and single-thread score of 3444 further illustrate its balanced performance. Its Cinebench R20 scores of 5003 multi-core and 706 single-core, along with a Geekbench multi-core score of 7413 and single-core of 2224, show that the i3-12100F delivers strong per-core efficiency. Overall, the i3-12100F provides sufficient single-thread performance for this horror title, but its limited core count prevents it from pushing higher frame rates at lower settings.