The Medium

The Medium, a horror title built around fixed camera angles and dual-reality rendering, presents a unique stress profile for the Intel Core i5-10400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 combination. The measured frame rates across resolutions and settings reveal a system that is capable of smooth gameplay at lower presets but struggles to maintain fluidity at the highest visual fidelity, particularly at 4K. The data suggests a significant bottleneck shift as resolution and settings increase, moving from a balanced load at 1080p to a heavily GPU-bound scenario at 2160p.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K tells a clear story about where the performance ceiling lies for this combo. At Low settings, the drop from 1080p to 1440p is modest, from 106 FPS to 100 FPS, which is a decline of only about 5.7%. However, moving from 1440p to 4K at the same Low preset results in a steeper fall to 81 FPS, a reduction of 19%. This pattern indicates that even at Low settings, the resolution increase begins to saturate the GPU's capabilities, though the CPU is still able to feed frames adequately at the lower end.

The scaling behavior becomes far more pronounced at higher settings. At Medium settings, the average FPS at 1080p is 77, dropping to 65 at 1440p (a 15.6% decrease) and then to 51 at 4K (a 21.5% decrease from 1440p). This consistent and significant drop with each resolution step points directly to the GPU as the primary limiting factor. The RTX 3070's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and its compute resources are being tasked more heavily, and the frame rate suffers accordingly.

The most extreme example of GPU limitation is seen at Ultra settings. Here, the frame rates are 44 FPS at 1080p, 37 FPS at 1440p, and a mere 29 FPS at 4K. The delta between 1080p and 4K is a 34% reduction, which is substantial. This data strongly implies that at Ultra settings, the visual complexity of The Medium's dual-world rendering is overwhelming the GPU at all resolutions, with the 4K resolution pushing it below the threshold of acceptable playability. The question this raises is whether the CPU is ever the limiting factor in this game; the data suggests that for this specific combo, the GPU is the dominant constraint in nearly all scenarios, except perhaps at 1080p Low where the CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads might be working closer to their limit.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achievable with this combo in The Medium?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 106 FPS, which is achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset.

Q: Is the RTX 3070 capable of running The Medium at 4K with playable frame rates?

A: At 4K, the only preset that achieves an average FPS above 60 is Low, with a score of 81 FPS. The Medium preset averages 51 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold, while High and Ultra presets average 36 FPS and 29 FPS, respectively, indicating a less fluid experience.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Intel Core i5-10400F has an average benchmark score of 14185, which is 0.2% higher than the Intel Xeon 6756E and 0.5% higher than the AMD EPYC 7552. It trails the Intel Core 7 160UL by 0.3% and the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C by 0.6%.

Q: What is the frame time consistency like at 1440p Medium settings?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the average FPS is 65, with a minimum recorded FPS of 55 and a maximum of 74. This indicates a frame time variance of about 19 FPS, which suggests some potential for stutter in demanding scenes.

Q: Given the GPU's performance, what is the best resolution for a balance of visual quality and frame rate?

A: The data shows that at 1440p with Medium settings, the combo achieves 65 FPS, which is a good balance. At the same resolution, High settings drop to 46 FPS, so Medium appears to be the sweet spot for this resolution.

Q: How does the RTX 3070's average benchmark score compare to the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT?

A: The RTX 3070 has an average benchmark score of 17208, which is 0.7% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT's score of 17083.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is the clear driver of performance in The Medium, as evidenced by the steep frame rate declines with increasing resolution and settings. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is a critical resource for a game that renders two simultaneous perspectives. The data suggests that this bandwidth, while substantial, becomes a limiting factor at 4K with higher presets, where the demand for texture data and framebuffer operations exceeds what the memory subsystem can efficiently supply.

The GPU's clock speeds, with a base of 1500 MHz and a boost of 1725 MHz, are the foundation for its compute throughput. The 5888 shading units and 184 texture mapping units are tasked with rendering the game's complex scenes. The measured FPS at High settings shows a clear GPU-bound trend: 55 FPS at 1080p, 46 FPS at 1440p, and 36 FPS at 4K. This consistent 20-25% drop per resolution step is a classic sign of a GPU that is saturated, as the CPU is likely able to keep up with the draw calls at these frame rates.

The RTX 3070's position relative to its rivals, with a 1% higher average score than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 and a 1.1% higher score than the AMD Radeon HD 7970M, contextualizes its performance tier. However, the game's specific demands are what matter most. The 29 FPS average at 4K Ultra is a stark indicator that the GPU's 20.31 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is insufficient for the game's most demanding mode. This suggests that players seeking 4K Ultra will need a more powerful GPU, while those willing to compromise on settings can still find playable configurations.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i5-10400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 ranks at 1635 out of 3724 tested combos for The Medium. This places it in the 56th percentile of all tested systems, indicating that it performs better than a majority of combinations but is far from the top tier. The ranking suggests that while this hardware is capable, there are many other CPU and GPU pairings that can deliver higher frame rates in this title.

The rank is likely held back by the GPU's performance at higher settings, as the data shows it cannot maintain 60 FPS at 4K on any preset above Low. The CPU, with its 68th percentile ranking against all CPUs, is not the primary bottleneck. This is corroborated by the fact that the combo's performance in-game is more closely tied to the GPU's capabilities. The data implies that if paired with a more powerful GPU, the i5-10400F could potentially push higher frame rates, but the current pairing leaves performance on the table at 4K Ultra.

The position in the rankings is a holistic measure of the combo's ability across all settings and resolutions. The fact that it achieves over 100 FPS at 1080p Low but only 29 FPS at 4K Ultra demonstrates a wide performance envelope. The rank of 1635 suggests that this combo is a solid mid-range performer, capable of smooth 1080p and 1440p gameplay, but not designed for the most demanding 4K scenarios.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the optimal experience for this combo is achieved at 1440p with Medium settings, where the average FPS is 65. This configuration offers a significant improvement in visual quality over Low settings while maintaining a frame rate that is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The minimum FPS of 55 at this setting is also acceptable, though it suggests occasional dips that could be noticeable.

For players with a 1080p monitor, the High preset at 55 FPS is a viable option, but the Medium preset at 77 FPS provides a more fluid experience with a smaller visual sacrifice. The 1080p Medium setting offers a comfortable margin above 60 FPS, with a minimum of 65 FPS, ensuring a consistent experience. The 1080p Low preset at 106 FPS is the best for competitive or high-refresh-rate play, but the visual downgrade is substantial.

At 4K, the options are limited. The Low preset at 81 FPS is the only one that provides a smooth experience. The Medium preset at 51 FPS is borderline, and the High and Ultra presets at 36 and 29 FPS respectively are not recommended for a playable experience. Therefore, the data suggests that for 4K gaming, players should stick to Low settings or accept a sub-60 FPS experience, which might be tolerable for a slower-paced horror title but is not ideal.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following data represents the exact measured average frame rates for the Intel Core i5-10400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 combination in The Medium:

• 1920x1080:
• Low: 106 FPS
• Medium: 77 FPS (min 65, max 88)
• High: 55 FPS
• Ultra: 44 FPS

• 2560x1440:
• Low: 100 FPS
• Medium: 65 FPS (min 55, max 74)
• High: 46 FPS
• Ultra: 37 FPS

• 3840x2160:
• Low: 81 FPS
• Medium: 51 FPS (min 43, max 58)
• High: 36 FPS
• Ultra: 29 FPS

The medium settings rows provide the only data points with minimum and maximum FPS values. At 1080p Medium, the frame time variance is 23 FPS (from 65 to 88), which is a notable spread that could result in some perceptible stutter. At 1440p Medium, the variance is 19 FPS (55 to 74), and at 4K Medium, it is 15 FPS (43 to 58). This data implies that the game's frame pacing becomes more consistent as resolution increases, likely due to the GPU being more uniformly saturated.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, provides the processing foundation for this combo. Its base clock of 2.90 GHz and boost clock of 4.30 GHz, combined with a 12 MB shared L3 cache, offer solid single-threaded and multi-threaded performance. The benchmark scores, such as a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 10283 and a single-core score of 1451, indicate that the CPU is more than capable for gaming. Its 68th percentile ranking against all CPUs confirms it is a competent processor.

In The Medium, the CPU's role appears to be secondary to the GPU. The evidence for this is that frame rates scale almost directly with resolution and settings, which are primarily GPU-bound variables. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see frame rates plateau at lower resolutions. However, the data shows a clear and consistent drop in FPS from 1080p to 1440p to 4K at every settings preset. For instance, at High settings, the frame rate drops from 55 to 46 to 36 FPS as resolution increases, which is a classic GPU-bound pattern.

The CPU's 12 threads are likely sufficient to handle the game's logic and draw calls, especially at lower resolutions where the GPU is less stressed. However, the data does not show any scenario where the CPU is clearly limiting performance, as even at 1080p Low (106 FPS), the frame rate is high but does not suggest a hard CPU cap. The lack of any frame rate plateau indicates that the i5-10400F is providing enough throughput to keep the RTX 3070 fed, but the GPU's performance is the deciding factor for the overall experience. The combo's ranking of 1635 out of 3724 suggests that while the CPU is not holding the system back, it is also not boosting it above the competition.