The Medium

The Medium presents a demanding fixed-camera horror experience where the Intel Core i5-10400F and AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT combination demonstrates a clear performance profile across resolutions. The data shows that this pairing yields playable frame rates at 1440p with medium settings, while 4K Ultra remains out of reach for smooth gameplay. This analysis interprets the measured FPS data and the combo's ranking among 1689 tested configurations.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Comet Lake architecture, built on a 14 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, with 12 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU's benchmark scores position it as a mid-range part: its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 10297 and single-core score of 1453 indicate balanced throughput, while the Passmark multithread score of 12115 and single-thread score of 2541 confirm its capability for gaming workloads. The processor ranks in the 73rd percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 14168.

In The Medium, the CPU's role becomes evident when examining frame rate scaling. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 108.6 FPS, but at 1080p Ultra, the frame rate drops to 51.2 FPS. This 57.4 FPS gap between settings at the same resolution is substantial, yet the CPU's 12 threads provide enough headroom to feed the GPU. The processor's 3DMark scores — 1350 for 2 threads, 3929 for 8 threads, and 4735 for max threads — show that scaling from 2 to 8 threads yields a 2.9x improvement, which helps maintain consistent frame pacing in the game's dual-reality rendering sequences. Compared to its nearest rivals, the i5-10400F sits within 1.2% of the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C and Intel Core i5-8500, with deltaPct values of -0.8% and -1.1% respectively, meaning the CPU is not a bottleneck in this configuration.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in The Medium?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the combo delivers 75.4 FPS, which is the highest frame rate above 60 FPS at a resolution higher than 1080p. The data shows that 1440p Medium offers a balanced experience, whereas 4K Medium drops to 58.6 FPS and 4K High falls to 40.9 FPS.

Q: How does the RX 6800 XT compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score is 49982, which places it 0.5% ahead of the Intel Arc A550M (score 49737) and 2.6% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER (score 48704). It trails the NVIDIA RTX A1000 by 1.7% (score 50826) and the NVIDIA CMP 50HX by 1.9% (score 49071), showing the RX 6800 XT is competitive with these parts.

Q: Does the CPU limit performance at any settings?

A: No, the CPU appears sufficient for this game. The i5-10400F's percentile rank of 73 indicates it is above average, and its nearest rival deltas are all within 1.2%. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 108.6 FPS, and the CPU's Passmark data encryption score of 4100 and floating point math score of 25956 suggest adequate compute for game logic without bottlenecking the GPU.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p?

A: The measured data shows a 57.4 FPS difference. Low settings produce 108.6 FPS, while Ultra produces 51.2 FPS. This represents a 52.9% reduction in frame rate when moving from the lowest to the highest preset at 1920x1080.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 640th out of 1689 tested combos, placing it in the top 37.9% of all configurations tested for The Medium. This ranking reflects the balance between the CPU's 73rd percentile and GPU's 87th percentile performance.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

Examining the resolution scaling reveals a GPU-bound scenario. At Medium settings, the frame rate drops from 86.8 FPS at 1080p to 75.4 FPS at 1440p, then to 58.6 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p is 13.1%, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 22.3%. This pattern — a larger relative drop at higher resolutions — indicates that the RX 6800 XT's rendering throughput is the primary constraint as pixel count increases.

The Low settings preset shows a similar trend: 108.6 FPS at 1080p, 99.3 FPS at 1440p (an 8.6% drop), and 89.9 FPS at 4K (a 9.5% drop from 1440p). The smaller percentage drops at Low settings suggest that when the GPU's workload is lighter, the CPU has more influence, but the i5-10400F still maintains frame rates above 89 FPS even at 4K Low. At High settings, the frame rates are 62.7 FPS at 1080p, 50 FPS at 1440p, and 40.9 FPS at 4K — the drops are 20.3% and 18.2% respectively, showing consistent GPU scaling. The Ultra preset shows 51.2 FPS at 1080p, 42 FPS at 1440p, and 32.6 FPS at 4K, with drops of 18% and 22.4%. The consistent scaling across all settings confirms that the RX 6800 XT's 512.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 20.74 TFLOPS FP32 compute are the limiting factors, not the CPU's 42.7 GB/s memory bandwidth or 12 threads.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset at 2560x1440 provides the best overall experience for this combo. The 75.4 FPS average at 1440p Medium is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, and it represents a 28.6% improvement over High settings at the same resolution (50 FPS). At 1080p, the Medium preset delivers 86.8 FPS, which is 38.4% higher than High's 62.7 FPS, but the visual quality difference between Medium and High in a horror game with fixed cameras can be noticeable.

For users prioritizing frame rate, the Low preset at 1440p offers 99.3 FPS, which is 31.7% higher than Medium at the same resolution. However, Low settings at 1080p produce 108.6 FPS, which is the highest measured frame rate across all configurations. The Ultra preset is not recommended at any resolution, as even at 1080p it only achieves 51.2 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target, and at 4K it drops to 32.6 FPS. The data suggests that Medium at 1440p is the sweet spot, balancing the 58.6 FPS at 4K Medium (which is just below 60 FPS) with the higher resolution and acceptable visual fidelity. At 1080p, High settings at 62.7 FPS are viable, but Medium's 86.8 FPS provides more headroom for demanding scenes.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The Intel Core i5-10400F and AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT combination ranks 640th out of 1689 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the 62.1st percentile of all configurations. This ranking is notable because the GPU itself ranks in the 87th percentile among all GPUs, while the CPU ranks in the 73rd percentile among all CPUs. The gap between the GPU's high percentile and the combo's mid-pack ranking suggests that the game's performance is not purely GPU-limited, or that other combos in the database feature stronger CPUs that better complement high-end GPUs.

The combo's ranking of 640 out of 1689 means it outperforms 62.1% of tested combinations, but it lags behind 37.9% of them. Given that the RX 6800 XT's nearest rivals — the Intel Arc A550M, NVIDIA RTX A1000, NVIDIA CMP 50HX, and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER — all have average scores within 2.6% of the RX 6800 XT, the combo's ranking is likely influenced by the CPU's position relative to other processors. The i5-10400F's nearest rivals, including the AMD EPYC 7552 (0.4% higher score) and AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (0.8% lower score), show that the CPU is competitively positioned, but not top-tier. The measured FPS data confirms that this combo can deliver 75.4 FPS at 1440p Medium, which is a solid result, but the 640th rank indicates that many other combos achieve higher frame rates, particularly those with newer or higher-core-count CPUs paired with equally capable GPUs.