The Medium

# The Medium: Intel Core i3-12100F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti

The Intel Core i3-12100F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti combination delivers a playable but demanding experience in The Medium, with the GPU acting as the clear performance ceiling at higher settings. The measured data shows a 4-core, 8-thread CPU with a 3.30 GHz base and 4.30 GHz boost clock paired with a 290 W GPU featuring 8 GB of GDDR6X memory. This pairing ranks 651st out of 1,689 tested combos for this title, placing it in the upper-middle tier of all possible configurations. The CPU sits at the 72nd percentile against all processors, while the GPU reaches the 74th percentile against all graphics cards, suggesting a balanced pairing that still struggles with the game's most demanding presets.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K reveals a GPU-bound workload at every quality setting. At Low settings, average FPS falls from 130.9 at 1920x1080 to 109 at 2560x1440, then sharply to 85.8 at 3840x2160 — a 34.5% reduction from 1080p to 4K. This gradual decline indicates the RTX 3070 Ti is the limiting factor, as the CPU has headroom to spare at lower resolutions.

The scaling pattern becomes more pronounced at higher quality presets. At High settings, the drop from 56 FPS at 1080p to 50.5 FPS at 1440p is modest (9.8%), but the fall to 40.2 FPS at 4K represents a 28.2% loss from 1080p. At Ultra, the numbers tell a starker story: 47.7 FPS at 1080p, 38.4 FPS at 1440p, and just 29.8 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset at 4K yields less than half the frame rate of Low at 1080p, confirming that pixel count and shading complexity dominate the performance equation.

The data suggests that the 8 GB GDDR6X frame buffer and 608.3 GB/s memory bandwidth are sufficient for 4K, but the GPU's raw compute — 21.75 TFLOPS FP32 — becomes the bottleneck as resolution climbs. The CPU's 12 MB L3 cache and 4.30 GHz boost clock are not the constraining factor here; even at 1080p Low, where CPU overhead would typically surface, the system maintains 130.9 FPS average, indicating the i3-12100F keeps pace with the GPU's output.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run The Medium at 4K smoothly?

A: At 4K, the system averages 40.2 FPS on High settings and 53.3 FPS on Medium, but drops to 29.8 FPS on Ultra. Smooth 60 FPS gameplay is not achievable at 4K with any preset, as even Low settings cap out at 85.8 FPS.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo?

A: 1920x1080 delivers the most consistent results, with 79.2 FPS at Medium and 56 FPS at High. The 2560x1440 resolution is viable at Medium (69.5 FPS) but falls to 38.4 FPS at Ultra.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The i3-12100F scores an average benchmark of 13,516, which is 0.1% behind the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX and 0.4% ahead of the Intel Core i7-1250U. It trails the Intel Core i3-10105 by 0.6% and the Intel Core i7-7700K by 1.8%.

Q: Is the GPU's VRAM a concern for this game?

A: The 8 GB GDDR6X memory with 256-bit bus width and 608.3 GB/s bandwidth appears adequate, as the data shows no anomalous FPS drops at higher resolutions that would indicate VRAM overflow.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1440p with Medium settings?

A: The measured average is 69.5 FPS, which is comfortably above 60 FPS and provides a smooth experience for this horror title.

Q: Does the game scale better with resolution or settings?

A: Settings changes have a larger impact than resolution changes. Moving from Low to Ultra at 1080p costs 83.2 FPS (from 130.9 to 47.7), while moving from 1080p to 4K at Low costs 45.1 FPS (from 130.9 to 85.8).

Settings Recommendations

The Medium's performance profile across the four tested presets shows a clear trade-off between visual fidelity and frame rate. At 1920x1080, Medium settings provide the best balance with 79.2 FPS average — nearly 42% higher than High (56 FPS) and 66% higher than Ultra (47.7 FPS). The jump from Low to Medium costs 51.7 FPS (from 130.9 to 79.2), but the visual improvement typically justifies this reduction for a horror game where atmosphere matters.

For 2560x1440 users, Medium is again the sweet spot at 69.5 FPS, maintaining fluid motion while delivering acceptable detail. High at 50.5 FPS is borderline playable but risks noticeable stutter during intense scenes. At 4K, no preset achieves 60 FPS; Medium's 53.3 FPS is the most viable option, though players may prefer High's 40.2 FPS for improved visuals if they can tolerate lower frame rates.

The Ultra preset is difficult to recommend at any resolution. At 1080p it delivers 47.7 FPS, at 1440p 38.4 FPS, and at 4K just 29.8 FPS — all below the 60 FPS threshold that most players consider smooth. Given that the game is a horror title where slower pacing can mask frame rate drops, Ultra might be acceptable at 1080p for players prioritizing visual quality, but the data suggests Medium is the optimal choice for the majority of users.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system produces 130.9 FPS on Low, 79.2 FPS on Medium, 56 FPS on High, and 47.7 FPS on Ultra. The progression shows a steep drop from Low to Medium (51.7 FPS lost), followed by smaller reductions to High (23.2 FPS lost) and Ultra (8.3 FPS lost). This pattern indicates diminishing returns on performance as settings increase.

At 2560x1440, the numbers are 109 FPS on Low, 69.5 FPS on Medium, 50.5 FPS on High, and 38.4 FPS on Ultra. The drop from 1080p to 1440p ranges from 16.7% at Low (130.9 to 109) to 19.5% at Ultra (47.7 to 38.4), showing consistent scaling across presets.

At 3840x2160, the system achieves 85.8 FPS on Low, 53.3 FPS on Medium, 40.2 FPS on High, and 29.8 FPS on Ultra. The 4K resolution imposes a significant penalty: compared to 1080p, Low loses 45.1 FPS (34.5%), Medium loses 25.9 FPS (32.7%), High loses 15.8 FPS (28.2%), and Ultra loses 17.9 FPS (37.5%). Interestingly, Ultra suffers the largest percentage drop at 4K, suggesting the most demanding settings amplify the GPU's workload disproportionately.

GPU Role

The RTX 3070 Ti is the dominant component in this pairing. Its 8 GB GDDR6X memory operates at 19 Gbps effective across a 256-bit bus, yielding 608.3 GB/s of bandwidth — a figure that proves sufficient for The Medium's 4K textures. The GPU's 6,144 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output pipelines deliver 169.9 GPixel/s pixel rate and 339.8 GTexel/s texture rate, which directly translate to the measured FPS results.

The GPU's boost clock of 1770 MHz and base clock of 1575 MHz are within normal operating ranges, and the data shows no evidence of thermal throttling or clock instability. The 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores support DirectX 12 Ultimate features, though the benchmark data does not isolate ray tracing performance. The GPU's 21.75 TFLOPS FP32 throughput is the key metric: at 4K Ultra, the system averages 29.8 FPS, which aligns with a GPU-bound scenario where shading complexity exceeds the card's compute capacity.

Compared to its nearest rivals, the RTX 3070 Ti scores 30,849 on average benchmarks, sitting 0.3% above the AMD Radeon RX 590 GME and 0.8% below the AMD Radeon RX 6700. This performance parity with cards in different price segments explains why the GPU percentile (74) closely matches the CPU percentile (72) — both components perform at similar relative levels. The GPU's 290 W TDP and 600 W suggested PSU requirement indicate a power-hungry card, but the benchmark results show this power translates directly to frame output, with the card delivering 130.9 FPS at 1080p Low where the CPU is least likely to bottleneck.