The Medium

The Medium, a fixed-camera horror title from 2021, presents an interesting stress profile for the Intel Core i5-10400F and AMD Radeon RX 9060 combination. The measured frame rates across the three primary resolutions reveal a system that is heavily constrained by the graphics card at higher settings, but which shows surprising headroom at lower presets. This analysis breaks down the measured data to explain where the bottleneck lies and how to optimize the experience.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a clear and predictable pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases, but the magnitude of that drop is heavily dependent on the graphics preset. At the Low setting, the system delivers an average of 101 FPS at 1920x1080. Moving to 2560x1440 drops that to 85 FPS, a reduction of 15.8%. At 3840x2160, the average falls to 67 FPS, which is a 33.7% drop from the 1440p figure. This scaling is relatively gentle, suggesting that at Low settings, the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU adequately even at 4K, and the GPU is not yet overwhelmed.

The situation changes dramatically at Ultra settings. At 1080p, the average is 36 FPS. At 1440p, it drops to 30 FPS, and at 4K, it plummets to 24 FPS. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K is exactly 33.3%, but the absolute frame rate loss is only 12 FPS. This indicates that the GPU is already at its limit even at 1080p Ultra, rendering the resolution increase less impactful because the card is struggling to fill frames regardless.

The Medium and High presets show the most informative scaling for bottleneck analysis. At 1080p Medium, the system averages 63 FPS. At 1440p, it drops to 53 FPS, and at 4K, it falls to 42 FPS. This is a 33.3% drop from 1080p to 4K. The High preset shows a similar trend: 45 FPS at 1080p, 38 FPS at 1440p, and 30 FPS at 4K, a 33.3% reduction as well.

The consistent 33.3% reduction from 1080p to 4K across Medium, High, and Ultra presets is the key takeaway. This points to the GPU being the primary limiting component. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see a much smaller performance delta between 1080p and 4K, because the CPU workload per frame remains relatively constant while the GPU workload increases exponentially with pixel count. The fact that frame rates scale almost perfectly with pixel count indicates that the Radeon RX 9060 is the component dictating performance limits. The CPU has enough headroom to process the game logic and draw calls, but the GPU cannot render the frames any faster as the resolution increases.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy of performance, but the optimal setting depends on the user's target frame rate and resolution. For a smooth 60 FPS experience at 1920x1080, the Medium preset is the only viable option, delivering an average of 63 FPS. The Low preset achieves 101 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate displays, but comes with a visual quality trade-off. The High preset, at 45 FPS, and Ultra, at 36 FPS, fail to hit the 60 FPS target at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the situation narrows. The Low preset is the only one that provides a frame rate above 60 FPS, averaging 85 FPS. Medium sits at 53 FPS, which is playable but not smooth for all users. High (38 FPS) and Ultra (30 FPS) are below the acceptable threshold for most action-oriented gaming, though they may be tolerable for a slower-paced horror title.

For 4K gaming, the data is unambiguous. Only the Low preset, with an average of 67 FPS, provides a playable experience. Medium (42 FPS), High (30 FPS), and Ultra (24 FPS) all fall below the 60 FPS mark, with Ultra being borderline unplayable.

The analysis points to Medium as the "best experience" preset for this combo. At 1080p, it is the only preset that achieves the 60 FPS target without sacrificing the majority of visual features. At 1440p, it provides a playable 53 FPS, and even at 4K, it maintains a consistent 42 FPS. The measured minimum FPS for Medium at 1080p is 53, indicating that while the average is above 60, there are dips that could be noticeable. The data shows that the jump from Low to Medium costs a significant 37.6% of performance at 1080p (from 101 to 63 FPS), but the visual quality improvement in a game like The Medium, which relies heavily on atmosphere and lighting, is likely worth the cost. Ultra, conversely, offers an average of only 36 FPS at 1080p, a 42.9% drop from Medium, which is a steep price for the marginal visual gains over High.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Comet Lake architecture. Its base clock is 2.90 GHz, with a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. In the context of The Medium, the core count is relevant because the game is designed to use multiple threads for its dual-reality rendering mechanic, where two worlds must be simulated and rendered simultaneously.

The benchmark data for the CPU shows a strong multi-threaded capability relative to its single-thread score. In Cinebench R23, the multicore score is 10283, while the single-core score is 1451. This indicates a multi-core scaling factor of roughly 7.1x, which is healthy for a 6-core part. The PassMark multithread score of 12115 further supports this. In gaming, this is a good sign, as it suggests the processor can handle the parallel workloads of modern game engines.

However, the measured FPS data suggests that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this specific configuration. The evidence lies in the resolution scaling. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 101 FPS. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect the frame rate to plateau or even decrease at higher resolutions because the CPU must still process the same number of draw calls, but the GPU takes longer to render each frame, potentially causing the CPU to wait. The fact that the FPS drops from 101 at 1080p Low to 67 at 4K Low shows that the GPU is still the one working harder.

The CPU's 12 MB of shared L3 cache is sufficient for the game's data, and its 42.7 GB/s memory bandwidth is adequate for the 6-core setup. The 3DMark scores reinforce this view. The 16-thread score of 4748 is nearly identical to the max-thread score of 4735, showing that the processor has no trouble utilizing all of its logical cores. In a game like The Medium, which is not typically considered a CPU-intensive title compared to strategy or simulation games, this processor provides ample headroom. The data suggests that pairing this CPU with a more powerful GPU would yield higher frame rates, as the i5-10400F is capable of pushing well beyond the 101 FPS ceiling observed at 1080p Low settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and preset combination for a 60 FPS target?

A: The only configuration that reaches an average of 60 FPS or higher at a standard resolution is 1920x1080 with the Medium preset, which averages 63 FPS. At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 85 FPS, but Medium only reaches 53 FPS.

Q: At 4K, what settings are required for playable performance?

A: According to the data, only the Low preset provides a smooth experience at 3840x2160, with an average of 67 FPS. The Medium preset averages 42 FPS, which may be acceptable for a slower-paced horror game.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-10400F bottlenecking the AMD Radeon RX 9060 in this game?

A: No. The data indicates the GPU is the primary bottleneck. The frame rates scale linearly with resolution, dropping from 101 FPS at 1080p Low to 67 FPS at 4K Low, which is a 33.7% reduction. This is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High in terms of performance?

A: At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset averages 36 FPS, while High averages 45 FPS. This represents a 20.0% performance penalty for Ultra. At 2560x1440, the gap is identical in percentage, with Ultra at 30 FPS and High at 38 FPS.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Medium settings at 1080p?

A: The Low preset averages 101 FPS, while Medium averages 63 FPS. This is a 37.6% reduction in frame rate for the Medium preset, but it is the only way to achieve an average above 60 FPS while using more than the lowest visual settings.

Q: What is the 1080p Medium minimum FPS?

A: The measured data shows a minimum FPS of 53 for the Medium preset at 1920x1080, with a maximum of 72 FPS. This indicates some frame time variance, but the average remains above the 60 FPS target.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with the Navi 44 chip, manufactured on a 4 nm process. It features 1792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation units. The card has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. Its boost clock is 2990 MHz, with a game clock of 2400 MHz.

In The Medium, the GPU's role is paramount, as evidenced by the resolution scaling analysis. The 8 GB of VRAM is a critical factor. The game features high-resolution textures and complex lighting effects, and while 8 GB is sufficient at 1080p and 1440p, it could become a limiting factor at 4K Ultra if the game requires more memory. The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the card only manages 24 FPS, which is likely a combination of raw compute limitations and potential VRAM capacity constraints.

The GPU's compute capabilities, rated at 21.43 TFLOPS FP32, are put to the test by the game's rendering engine. The 64 ROPs are responsible for pixel output, and at 4K, they must process over 8 million pixels per frame. The pixel rate of 191.4 GPixel/s is a theoretical maximum, but the measured 30 FPS at 4K High (which is 33.3% lower than the 45 FPS at 1080p High) shows that the card is fully saturated.

The benchmark data for the GPU, such as the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3322 and the PassMark G3D score of 17631, places it in the 59th percentile of all GPUs. In the context of The Medium, this translates to a card that can handle 1080p and 1440p with ease at medium presets, but struggles with the demands of 4K Ultra. The comparison to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, which has an average benchmark score 0.7% higher, provides a reference point for its performance tier.

The memory bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s is a key statistic. At 4K, the GPU needs to fetch and process a large amount of texture data, and the 128-bit bus could be a bottleneck. The scaling from 1080p Medium (63 FPS) to 1440p Medium (53 FPS) is a 15.9% drop, which is less severe than the 20.8% drop from 1440p to 4K (from 53 to 42 FPS). This steeper decline at 4K suggests that memory bandwidth or VRAM capacity is starting to become a limiting factor, in addition to raw shader compute.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following is a detailed breakdown of the measured average frame rates for the Intel Core i5-10400F and AMD Radeon RX 9060 combination in The Medium.

At 1920x1080:

• The Low preset achieves an average of 101 FPS, the highest of any configuration.
• The Medium preset averages 63 FPS, with a minimum of 53 FPS and a maximum of 72 FPS.
• The High preset averages 45 FPS.
• The Ultra preset averages 36 FPS, which is the lowest at this resolution.

At 2560x1440:

• The Low preset averages 85 FPS, a 15.8% decrease from 1080p Low.
• The Medium preset averages 53 FPS, with a minimum of 45 FPS and a maximum of 61 FPS.
• The High preset averages 38 FPS.
• The Ultra preset averages 30 FPS, a 16.7% decrease from 1080p Ultra.

At 3840x2160:

• The Low preset averages 67 FPS, a 21.2% decrease from 1440p Low.
• The Medium preset averages 42 FPS, with a minimum of 35 FPS and a maximum of 48 FPS.
• The High preset averages 30 FPS.
• The Ultra preset averages 24 FPS, which is the lowest measured frame rate in the entire dataset.

The data shows a consistent pattern. For every preset, the frame rate drops by approximately 15-20% when moving from 1080p to 1440p, and then by another 20-25% when moving from 1440p to 4K. The only exception is the High preset, which shows a 15.6% drop from 1080p to 1440p (45 to 38 FPS) and a 21.1% drop from 1440p to 4K (38 to 30 FPS). This consistency reinforces the point that the GPU is the primary performance limiter across all settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-10400F and AMD Radeon RX 9060 ranks 1648th out of 2911 tested combos in The Medium. This places it in the 56.6th percentile of all tested configurations.

This ranking suggests that this is a mid-range setup in the context of this specific game. The CPU, which sits in the 68th percentile of all CPUs, is a solid performer. The GPU, in the 59th percentile, is slightly weaker relative to its peers. The combined rank being lower than the CPU's individual percentile suggests that the GPU is holding the combo back.

In comparison to its nearest rivals, the GPU is closely matched with a few notable cards. The AMD Radeon R9 370X and AMD Radeon RX 7700 have average benchmark scores that are just 1% higher and lower, respectively. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is 0.7% faster in synthetic benchmarks. This indicates that the RX 9060 is performing exactly as expected for its class, and the in-game ranking reflects this.

The CPU's nearest rivals, such as the Intel Xeon 6756E and AMD EPYC 7552, have similar average benchmark scores, with deltas of 0.2% and 0.5% respectively. This confirms that the i5-10400F is a well-understood, mainstream processor. The fact that this combo ranks in the lower half of the database (though above the 50th percentile) is a direct result of the GPU's performance ceiling in The Medium, as demonstrated by the resolution scaling analysis. The data suggests that for this game, the graphics card is the definitive factor in determining the overall experience, and the CPU has ample performance headroom.