The Medium

The Medium, a fixed-camera horror title built on Unreal Engine 4, presents a unique challenge for the Intel Core i5-10400F and AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT combination. The benchmark data indicates that this pairing is positioned firmly in the mid-range tier, ranking 2,669th out of 3,724 tested combos for this specific game. This places it in the 28th percentile of all systems, suggesting that while it can run the game, achieving a smooth, high-fidelity experience requires careful attention to settings and resolution. The data shows a system that is capable but not without compromise, particularly at higher resolutions and graphical presets.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for a playable experience with this hardware?

A: According to the measured FPS data, the only configuration that reaches a 60 FPS average is 1920x1080 at Low settings (91 FPS) and 2560x1440 at Low settings (77 FPS). The 3840x2160 Low preset also hits a 60 FPS average. For a more balanced experience, 1920x1080 at Medium settings provides a 57 FPS average.

Q: How does the Core i5-10400F perform relative to its closest CPU rivals?

A: The CPU's average benchmark score is 14,185, placing it in the 68th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Xeon 6756E, scores 14,163, making the Core i5-10400F 0.2% faster. Conversely, it is 0.3% slower than the Intel Core 7 160UL, which scores 14,232.

Q: How does the RX 6600 XT's raw compute performance compare to its nearest GPU competitors?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score is 24,442, placing it in the 70th percentile of all GPUs. It is 0.7% faster than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1630 (24,277) and 1.1% faster than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER (24,170). It trails the Intel Arc A350M by 0.8%, which scores 24,647.

Q: What is the performance penalty for enabling higher graphical presets at 1920x1080?

A: The data shows a direct scaling curve. At 1920x1080, the average FPS drops from 91 at Low to 57 at Medium, then to 41 at High, and finally to 32 at Ultra. This represents a 64.8% reduction in average FPS from the Low preset to the Ultra preset.

Q: Is the RX 6600 XT's 8 GB VRAM a limiting factor at 4K resolution?

A: While the data does not directly measure VRAM usage, the performance collapse at 4K suggests a severe bottleneck. At 3840x2160, the average FPS falls to 27 on High and 21 on Ultra. The transition from Medium (38 FPS) to High (27 FPS) is a 28.9% drop, which is substantial and indicates the GPU or its memory subsystem is struggling to keep up with the demands of the higher resolution.

Q: What is the single largest performance difference between the Low and Ultra presets across all resolutions?

A: At 3840x2160, the average FPS drops from 60 on Low to 21 on Ultra. This is a 65% reduction in performance. At both 2560x1440 and 1920x1080, the drop from Low to Ultra is also significant, falling from 77 to 27 and 91 to 32, respectively.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Core 10th Gen series, built on the Comet Lake architecture using a 14 nm process. Its base clock is 2.90 GHz, which can boost up to 4.30 GHz. The processor has a 12 MB shared L3 cache and supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with a bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s. This configuration is typical for gaming builds of its era, providing solid multi-threaded performance for modern game engines.

In the context of The Medium, the CPU's role is likely secondary to the GPU, as the game is known for its rendering demands. However, the processor's multi-threading capability is a key factor. The data shows a 3dmark_16_threads score of 4,748 and a max_threads score of 4,735, which are nearly identical. This suggests that the CPU's performance scales well with additional threads but reaches a plateau at 8 threads (score 3,929). The single-thread score of 688 is modest, which could impact the game's logic and physics processing.

The Core i5-10400F's performance in synthetic tests is consistent with its market position. It achieves a cinebench_r23_multicore score of 10,283 and a passmark_multithread score of 12,115. The passmark_single_thread score of 2,541 is respectable but not exceptional. The CPU's overall average benchmark score is 14,185, placing it in the 68th percentile of all CPUs, which indicates it is a capable mid-range processor. Benchmark results from the data suggest that the CPU is not likely to be the primary bottleneck at lower resolutions, but the measured FPS at 4K Ultra (21 FPS) indicates a system-wide limitation where both components are at their limits.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT is the main driver of visual performance in this combination. Built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with a 7 nm process, it features 2,048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The GPU has a base clock of 1968 MHz and a boost clock of 2589 MHz, with a game clock of 2359 MHz. It is equipped with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s. The GPU's compute power is rated at 10.60 TFLOPS for FP32 operations.

The RX 6600 XT's performance in synthetic benchmarks is strong for its class. It achieves a passmark_g3d score of 16,461 and a 3dmark_steel_nomad_dx12 score of 1,804. Its overall average benchmark score is 24,442, placing it in the 70th percentile of all GPUs. The data suggests that this GPU is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming. At 1920x1080, it can deliver a 91 FPS average on Low settings, but this drops to 32 FPS on Ultra. At 2560x1440, the same pattern is observed, with a 77 FPS average on Low and a 27 FPS average on Ultra.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity is a crucial factor at higher resolutions. While the data does not track VRAM usage, the sharp FPS drop at 4K (27 FPS on High) compared to 1440p (34 FPS on High) strongly suggests that the memory bandwidth or capacity is being saturated. The GPU's memory bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s, while adequate for 1080p, appears insufficient for the texture and geometry loads at 4K. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra (21 FPS) is borderline unplayable, indicating that the GPU is the primary limiting component at that resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the system shows a wide range of performance. The Low preset yields an average of 91 FPS, which drops to 57 FPS at Medium. The High preset produces 41 FPS, and the Ultra preset is the most demanding, with an average of 32 FPS. The Medium preset has a recorded min FPS of 49 and a max FPS of 66, indicating some frame pacing variance.

At 2560x1440, the performance scaling is consistent. The Low preset delivers 77 FPS, while the Medium preset averages 48 FPS (min 41, max 55). The High preset drops to 34 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls to 27 FPS. This represents a 64.9% drop in average FPS from Low to Ultra. The system handles 1440p well on lower presets but struggles to maintain smooth framerates on higher ones.

The 3840x2160 resolution shows the most significant performance constraints. The Low preset is the only playable option, with a 60 FPS average. The Medium preset drops to 38 FPS (min 32, max 43), which is below the 60 FPS target. The High preset averages 27 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 21 FPS. The transition from Medium to High at 4K represents a 28.9% drop in performance, highlighting the GPU's limitations at this resolution. The data confirms that 4K gaming is not viable at High or Ultra settings for this combination.

How This Combo Ranks

The overall ranking for this CPU-GPU combination in The Medium is 2,669 out of 3,724 tested combos. This places the system in the 28.3rd percentile, meaning it outperforms roughly 28% of all tested configurations for this specific title. This is a mid-pack result, reflecting the hardware's mid-range positioning. The Core i5-10400F is in the 68th percentile of all CPUs, and the RX 6600 XT is in the 70th percentile of all GPUs, but their combined performance in this game is lower than their individual percentiles might suggest.

This discrepancy indicates that the pairing is not perfectly balanced for the specific demands of The Medium. The game's rendering engine appears to be heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions, which limits the system's ability to leverage the CPU's multi-threading capabilities. The combo's rank suggests that while it is a capable 1080p machine, it falls behind many other configurations that may have more balanced CPU-GPU pairings or GPUs with higher memory bandwidth. The ranking is a quantitative measure of the system's overall performance, confirming that it is a solid but not exceptional choice for this title.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this hardware depend on the user's target resolution and framerate preference. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset is the recommended choice for a balanced experience. It offers a 57 FPS average, which is close to the 60 FPS target, and the recorded min FPS of 49 indicates that it can maintain playable framerates during demanding scenes. The Low preset at 1080p (91 FPS) is the only way to achieve a high refresh rate experience, but the visual quality degradation is significant. The High preset (41 FPS) and Ultra preset (32 FPS) are not recommended for 1080p as they fall below the 60 FPS threshold, leading to a less smooth experience.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset (77 FPS) is the only option that provides a consistently smooth framerate. The Medium preset (48 FPS) is playable but may feel less fluid. For users prioritizing visual fidelity over framerate, the Medium preset is the maximum that should be considered, as the High (34 FPS) and Ultra (27 FPS) presets result in a sub-30 FPS experience that is not recommended. At 3840x2160, the Low preset (60 FPS) is the only playable option; all other presets fall below 40 FPS, rendering the game effectively unplayable at High (27 FPS) and Ultra (21 FPS) settings.

The data suggests that the "sweet spot" for this system is 1080p with Medium settings. This provides a framerate (57 FPS) that is close to the 60 FPS target while offering a significant visual upgrade over the Low preset. For users with a 1440p monitor, the Low preset is the only way to achieve a high framerate, while the Medium preset offers a playable, albeit less smooth, experience.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data across resolutions reveals a clear performance scaling curve that highlights the system's limiting components. At 1920x1080, the average FPS on Low settings is 91. Moving to 2560x1440, the average FPS drops to 77, a 15.4% decrease. Moving further to 3840x2160, the average FPS falls to 60, a 22.1% decrease from 1440p and a 34.1% decrease from 1080p. This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU is the dominant bottleneck, as the CPU's workload does not increase as significantly with resolution.

However, the scaling is not linear. At Medium settings, the FPS drops from 57 at 1080p to 48 at 1440p (a 15.8% decrease) and then to 38 at 4K (a 20.8% decrease from 1440p). At High settings, the FPS drops from 41 to 34 (a 17.1% decrease) and then to 27 (a 20.6% decrease). This pattern is consistent across all presets, with the most significant FPS drops occurring between 1440p and 4K. This suggests that as resolution increases, the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute resources become the primary limiting factor.

The data for the Ultra preset shows the most severe scaling, with FPS dropping from 32 at 1080p to 27 at 1440p (a 15.6% decrease) and then to 21 at 4K (a 22.2% decrease). This indicates that the RX 6600 XT is not capable of maintaining playable framerates at 4K on high settings. The 8 GB VRAM and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth are likely insufficient for the game's high-resolution textures, causing the GPU to become a hard bottleneck. The CPU, with its 12 threads and 4.30 GHz boost clock, appears to have enough headroom to handle the game's logic even at lower resolutions, as the FPS drops are more closely tied to the GPU's rendering load.