The Medium

The Medium presents a unique technical challenge, and the pairing of the Intel Core i5-10400F with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT yields a dataset that reveals a clear performance hierarchy. The measured frames per second across resolutions and settings show a system that is more capable at lower graphical presets, with the data suggesting a complex interplay between the CPU's Comet Lake architecture and the GPU's RDNA 4.0 design. The benchmark results indicate that while the GPU is a modern powerhouse, the older 14 nm processor may be the limiting factor in specific scenarios, particularly at lower resolutions where the CPU has to feed frames faster.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate recorded for this combo?

A: The highest average frame rate recorded is 104.7 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is followed closely by 97.8 FPS at 2560x1440 with Low settings, indicating that the Low preset is the most performance-friendly.

Q: How does the combo rank against other tested configurations in this game?

A: The combo ranks 591st out of 1689 tested combinations, placing it in the upper-middle portion of the database. This rank suggests that while it is not a top-tier pairing for The Medium, it outperforms a significant majority of other tested systems.

Q: What is the GPU's boost clock speed?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT has a boost clock of 2970 MHz. Its base clock is 1660 MHz, and its game clock is listed as 2400 MHz.

Q: Does the CPU have integrated graphics?

A: No, the Intel Core i5-10400F does not have integrated graphics. This means a discrete GPU, like the RX 9070 XT in this combo, is absolutely required for any display output.

Q: What is the L3 cache size for the processor?

A: The Intel Core i5-10400F has a shared L3 cache of 12 MB. This is in addition to its 64 KB L1 and 256 KB L2 caches per core.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth of the CPU?

A: The processor supports dual-channel DDR4 memory and has a memory bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s. This is a key specification for feeding data to the CPU cores.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data strongly suggests that the High and Ultra presets are too demanding for this combination at higher resolutions. At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset drops to an average of 34 FPS, which is below the threshold for a smooth experience. Similarly, High settings at 4K only achieve 46 FPS average. The data indicates that the Medium preset offers the best balance between visual quality and performance. At 1920x1080, Medium delivers a solid 87 FPS average, while at 2560x1440 it maintains a playable 79.3 FPS. Even at 4K, Medium provides an average of 61.4 FPS, which is playable.

The Low preset is the only setting that consistently pushes frame rates above 96 FPS across all resolutions, reaching 104.7 FPS at 1080p. However, this likely comes with a significant reduction in visual fidelity. For users with a 1080p or 1440p monitor, the Medium preset appears to be the optimal choice, providing a significant performance uplift over High (from 67.6 to 87 FPS at 1080p) while presumably maintaining a reasonable level of graphical detail. For 4K users, the choice is between the playable 61.4 FPS of Medium or the more fluid 96.1 FPS of Low, depending on the user's preference for performance over visual quality.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 reveals a classic pattern of GPU-bound behavior at higher resolutions. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 67.6 at 1080p to 56.7 at 1440p, and finally to 46 at 4K. This is a steady decline of approximately 16% and 32% from the 1080p baseline, respectively. This indicates that as the resolution increases, the rendering load on the GPU increases, and the RX 9070 XT is the primary component being stressed.

However, the scaling at Low settings tells a different story. From 1080p (104.7 FPS) to 1440p (97.8 FPS), the drop is only about 6.6%, but from 1440p to 4K (96.1 FPS), the drop is a mere 1.7%. This near-flat performance curve at Low settings across resolutions is a strong indicator that the system is no longer GPU-bound; instead, the Intel Core i5-10400F is likely becoming the bottleneck, preventing the GPU from achieving higher frame rates even as the resolution workload decreases. The data implies that at Low settings, the CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are the limiting factor, capping performance at around 96-105 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 591 out of 1689 tested combinations places it in the 65th percentile of all tested systems for The Medium. This is a respectable position, but it is important to contextualize it with the hardware. The GPU, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT, has a percentile rank of 82 among all GPUs, indicating it is a high-performance part. The CPU, the Intel Core i5-10400F, has a percentile rank of 73 among all CPUs. The system's in-game rank is lower than both of these individual component ranks, which suggests that the pairing is not achieving its full potential.

This discrepancy points to a potential performance bottleneck. The data implies that the Core i5-10400F, despite its respectable benchmarks, is holding the RX 9070 XT back from reaching the higher echelons of the combo rankings. The CPU's benchmark scores, such as a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 10297, are decent, but they are paired with a GPU that is clearly capable of much more, as evidenced by its high 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 7260. The result is a system that ranks well but leaves performance on the table.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is the clear performance driver in this configuration. Its specifications are formidable: 4096 shading units, a 256-bit memory bus, and 16 GB of GDDR6 memory providing a bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s. The GPU's boost clock of 2970 MHz and high pixel rate of 380.2 GPixel/s are indicative of its raw power. This hardware is clearly designed for high-resolution gaming, which is evident in the frame rates achieved at 4K with Medium settings (61.4 FPS).

The performance difference between Low and Ultra settings highlights the GPU's workload scaling. At 1080p, the average FPS nearly doubles from 55.3 at Ultra to 104.7 at Low. This shows that the GPU is heavily taxed by the higher visual fidelity presets, which likely include more complex lighting, shadows, and post-processing effects. The GPU's 16 GB of VRAM is also a factor, as it is likely sufficient for the textures used at all tested settings and resolutions, meaning VRAM capacity is not the primary constraint; rather, it is the computational load on the GPU cores themselves.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete data set provides a clear picture of the combo's performance envelope. At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 55.3 on Ultra to 104.7 on Low, with High at 67.6 and Medium at 87. Moving to 2560x1440, the averages are 42.4 (Ultra), 56.7 (High), 79.3 (Medium), and 97.8 (Low). Finally, at 3840x2160, the averages drop to 34 (Ultra), 46 (High), 61.4 (Medium), and 96.1 (Low).

The pattern is consistent: each step up in settings from Low to Ultra incurs a significant performance penalty, and each step up in resolution also reduces frame rates. The most striking data point is the resilience of the Low preset, which maintains an average above 96 FPS even at 4K. In contrast, the Ultra preset is only playable at 1080p with a 55.3 FPS average, and it becomes increasingly untenable at higher resolutions. The spread between Low and Ultra at 4K is over 62 FPS, showing the massive impact of graphical settings on this GPU.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F provides the foundation for this system. With 6 cores and 12 threads, it is a capable processor for gaming, but its Comet Lake architecture and 14 nm process node are older compared to the GPU's RDNA 4.0. Its base clock of 2.90 GHz and boost clock of 4.30 GHz are respectable, and its benchmark scores, including a Geekbench single-core score of 1454, show it is no slouch. However, the data from The Medium suggests it is the bottleneck in this particular pairing.

The evidence for this is strongest in the Low settings results. The fact that frame rates barely improve when moving from 1440p (97.8 FPS) to 4K (96.1 FPS) at Low settings is a classic sign of a CPU limit. The GPU is being underutilized because the CPU cannot process the game's logic and draw calls fast enough to build more frames. This is further supported by the combo's overall rank, which is lower than the GPU's individual percentile would suggest. The CPU's 42.7 GB/s memory bandwidth and 12 MB of shared L3 cache are adequate, but they are not sufficient to fully feed a GPU of the RX 9070 XT's caliber. The data implies that for this game, the CPU is the primary constraint on achieving maximum frame rates, especially when graphical settings are lowered.