The Medium

The Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is a combination that sits in the 73rd percentile of tested hardware configurations for The Medium, ranking 454th out of 1,689 combos. This places the system firmly in the upper tier of performance, though not at the absolute apex. The data indicates a system capable of delivering smooth gameplay at most settings, but the ranking also reveals that the processor, while strong for its class, is the primary constraint holding back the otherwise high-end graphics card.

How This Combo Ranks

With a combo rank of 454 out of 1,689 tested configurations, this pairing lands in the top 27% of all systems evaluated in The Medium. This is a strong result, reflecting a hardware pairing that can handle the game’s demands without significant compromise. The ranking suggests that the combination outperforms the vast majority of tested systems, which is consistent with the inclusion of a flagship-tier GPU from the GeForce 30-series.

However, the rank is not higher, which points to a bottleneck. The CPU, the Intel Core i3-12100F, is a 4-core, 8-thread processor. While its benchmark scores are respectable, it sits in the 72nd percentile against all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 13,516 puts it within 0.1% of the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX, and it is 1.8% ahead of the Intel Core i7-7700K. This context shows the CPU is competitive with older high-end parts, but it lacks the multi-core muscle of modern flagship processors. In a game like The Medium, which can leverage multiple threads, this limits the overall frame rate ceiling.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is the dominant component in this pairing. It is built on the Ampere architecture and features 10,240 shading units, 320 texture mapping units, and 112 render output units. The card has 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, providing a substantial 912.4 GB/s of memory bandwidth. This is a critical asset for The Medium, which features high-resolution textures and complex scenes.

The GPU’s performance percentile is 83, and its average benchmark score of 41,224 makes it a direct rival to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, which scores 41,441. The data shows the RTX 3080 Ti is within 0.5% of the RTX 3090, indicating near-parity in raw compute. The card’s boost clock of 1665 MHz and FP32 performance of 34.10 TFLOPS provide ample horsepower. In The Medium, this GPU is responsible for the heavy lifting, and the measured FPS data confirms it can push high frame rates, especially at lower resolutions, where the CPU becomes less of a limiting factor.

The GPU’s memory configuration is particularly relevant. With 12 GB of VRAM, it is well-suited for the highest texture settings at 4K resolution, preventing potential stuttering from memory overflow. The card’s pixel rate of 186.5 GPixel/s and texture rate of 532.8 GTexel/s ensure that the game’s visual effects, including the unique dual-reality rendering mechanic, are processed efficiently.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F is a 4-core, 8-thread processor from the Alder Lake-S architecture. It operates with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. While this is sufficient for many titles, the data shows its limitations in The Medium. The CPU’s multi-threaded performance, as measured by Cinebench R23, is 11,912 points, which is solid for a quad-core part but far below the scores of higher-core-count processors.

The CPU’s role in this game is to feed the GPU with draw calls and manage game logic. Benchmark results indicate that the i3-12100F has strong single-core performance, with a Geekbench single-core score of 2,224 and a 3DMark single-thread score of 893. This helps in maintaining minimum frame rates. However, the game’s engine appears to scale with additional threads, as evidenced by the gap between the CPU’s potential and the GPU’s capability.

The data suggests that the CPU is the bottleneck at lower resolutions and settings. For instance, at 1080p Low, the system achieves 144.1 FPS, but this is where the CPU’s limits start to show. The processor’s L3 cache is 12 MB shared, which is modest, and its memory support for DDR4 and DDR5 is dual-channel. While the i3-12100F is a capable gaming CPU, its 4-core design means it cannot fully utilize the RTX 3080 Ti’s potential in CPU-bound scenarios.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of the system’s performance across resolutions and settings. At 1080p, the system is highly playable. Low settings produce an average of 144.1 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate monitors. Medium settings drop to 95.6 FPS, and High settings yield 66.7 FPS. Ultra settings at 1080p produce 53.5 FPS, which is still smooth but indicates a significant performance cost for the highest visual quality.

Moving to 1440p, the frame rates remain strong. Low settings deliver 124.9 FPS, which is a minor drop from 1080p. Medium settings produce 78.2 FPS, High settings drop to 53.5 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 42.4 FPS. The consistency between 1080p and 1440p at High and Ultra settings (66.7 vs 53.5 and 53.5 vs 42.4, respectively) suggests that the CPU is starting to limit performance at these higher settings, as the GPU has more headroom.

At 4K, the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck, and the frame rates reflect the increased pixel load. Low settings produce 97.4 FPS, which is still very playable. Medium settings drop to 63.1 FPS, High settings to 46.8 FPS, and Ultra settings to 34.0 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the only one that falls below the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that this setting is demanding even for a GPU of this caliber.

Resolution Scaling

The scaling behavior from 1080p to 4K reveals the nature of the bottleneck. From 1080p Low (144.1 FPS) to 1440p Low (124.9 FPS), there is a 13.3% drop in performance. This is a modest decline, suggesting that the GPU is still handling the workload efficiently, but the CPU is beginning to show its limits. From 1440p Low to 4K Low (97.4 FPS), there is a further 22.0% drop, which is a larger relative decrease, indicating that the GPU is now being taxed more heavily.

For Medium settings, the drop from 1080p (95.6 FPS) to 1440p (78.2 FPS) is 18.2%, and from 1440p to 4K (63.1 FPS) is 19.3%. These are similar percentage drops, suggesting a balanced scaling where both CPU and GPU are contributing to the performance envelope. At High settings, the drop from 1080p (66.7 FPS) to 1440p (53.5 FPS) is 19.8%, and from 1440p to 4K (46.8 FPS) is 12.5%. The smaller drop at 4K High compared to 1440p High indicates that the system is becoming more GPU-bound at higher resolutions, as the CPU can maintain its workload while the GPU is the limiting factor.

Ultra settings show the most consistent scaling: 1080p (53.5 FPS) to 1440p (42.4 FPS) is a 20.7% drop, and 1440p to 4K (34.0 FPS) is a 19.8% drop. This consistency suggests that at Ultra settings, the system is firmly GPU-bound across all resolutions. The data shows that the RTX 3080 Ti is capable of delivering high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, but the CPU’s 4-core architecture prevents it from achieving the very high frame rates that the GPU could theoretically produce at lower resolutions. This is a classic case of a high-end GPU being paired with a mid-range processor, resulting in a system that excels at higher resolutions and settings but leaves performance on the table at lower ones.