The Medium

The Medium, a horror title that relies on fixed camera angles and a split-reality mechanic, presents a unique workload: it can be simultaneously rendering two full frames. The combination of the Intel Core i5-10400F and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti shows a system that is heavily dependent on graphical settings and resolution, with the data indicating a clear shift in bottleneck behavior as the load changes. The measured frame rates across the matrix of resolutions and settings provide a clear picture of a pairing that is capable but must be tuned carefully to hit target performance.

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. The chip features 12 MB of shared L3 cache and supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with a bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s. This is a desktop CPU with a 65 W TDP, using the Intel Socket 1200 interface.

In the context of The Medium, the processor’s thread count is the primary factor. The game’s dual-world rendering can scale well with multiple threads, and the 12 threads available here provide sufficient parallelism. However, the single-thread performance, as indicated by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1453, is modest. In the benchmark results, the game’s frame rate at 1080p Low settings reaches 108.8 FPS, which is the highest value recorded for this combo. This suggests that even at low graphical load, the CPU is not a severe limiting factor, as it can feed the GPU enough data to achieve high frame rates. The CPU’s 3DMark single-thread score of 688 is a measure of its peak logical core speed, which is adequate for the game’s main simulation thread. The multi-threaded capabilities, with a 3DMark max-thread score of 4735, ensure that the overhead of rendering two perspectives simultaneously is handled without causing a significant frame time spike. The data does not show a situation where the CPU is the primary constraint, as even the lowest resolution and settings yield a playable, if not high, frame rate. The processor’s performance falls in the 73rd percentile when compared to all CPUs, placing it in the upper-middle tier.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is the clear performance driver in this pairing. It is built on the Ampere architecture using an 8 nm process at Samsung, with a die size of 392 mm² containing 17,400 million transistors. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1575 MHz and a boost clock of 1770 MHz, with memory running at an effective 19 Gbps. It has 8 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 608.3 GB/s. The card includes 6144 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, along with 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores.

The GPU’s memory subsystem is a critical component for this title. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for the tested settings, but the high bandwidth is what allows the card to handle the increased memory pressure of rendering two scenes. The measured FPS shows a strong correlation with GPU load. For instance, at 1440p, moving from Low to High settings drops performance from 98.2 FPS to 52.1 FPS, a 46.9% reduction. This indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at these settings, as the workload scales directly with the graphical fidelity. The card’s raw compute power, rated at 21.75 TFLOPS FP32, is what determines the ceiling for the frame rate at higher settings. The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the GPU is pushed to its limits, producing only 27.5 FPS. This is consistent with the GPU’s 74th percentile ranking among all GPUs, indicating it is a high-end part but not the absolute fastest. The RTX 3070 Ti’s performance is within 0.8% of the AMD Radeon RX 6700 in synthetic benchmarks, making them close rivals, but the NVIDIA card’s driver optimizations may be a factor in this specific title.

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

The scaling of frame rates across resolutions reveals the balance of the system. At 1080p Ultra, the combo produces 48.7 FPS. Moving to 1440p Ultra reduces this to 40.1 FPS, a 17.6% drop. At 4K Ultra, the frame rate falls to 27.5 FPS, which is a 43.5% drop from the 1080p figure. This pattern shows that the GPU is the limiting component, as the frame rate decline is consistent with the increase in pixel count, which is a pure GPU workload.

However, the scaling is less severe at lower settings. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 108.8 FPS. At 1440p Low, it drops to 98.2 FPS, a 9.7% reduction. At 4K Low, the frame rate is 85.6 FPS, which is only a 21.3% reduction from the 1080p number. This flattening of the scaling curve at lower settings suggests that the CPU is starting to play a more significant role. The 12 threads are sufficient to prevent a hard bottleneck, but the single-thread performance limits how high the frame rate can go at low graphical loads. The 108.8 FPS at 1080p Low is likely near the CPU’s practical limit for this game, as the GPU has plenty of headroom in this scenario. The data shows that the system is well-balanced, with the CPU providing enough throughput to avoid major stutters, but the GPU is the definitive factor for achieving high frame rates at higher quality settings.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The specific combination of the Core i5-10400F and the RTX 3070 Ti ranks 723rd out of 1689 tested combos for The Medium. This places the pairing in the 43rd percentile of all tested systems, meaning it outperforms 57% of the tested configurations. This is a solid mid-pack result, but it is important to contextualize this rank. The rank is a composite of the average FPS across all tested resolutions and settings, meaning it is dragged down by the low performance at 4K Ultra.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks, such as the AMD EPYC 7552, have an average score within 0.4% of the i5-10400F, but those are server-class processors with very different characteristics. The GPU’s nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6700, is within 0.8% of the RTX 3070 Ti’s average benchmark score. This indicates that the GPU is performing as expected for its class. The combo rank is not a reflection of a mismatch but rather the result of the GPU being a high-midrange part that does not have enough raw power to maintain high frame rates at 4K with this demanding title. A combo with a stronger GPU would rank higher, but the data shows that this pairing is internally consistent: the CPU does not hold back the GPU at higher resolutions, and the GPU does not bottleneck the CPU at lower resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of the system’s performance in The Medium. The following is a breakdown of the average frame rates achieved for each resolution and settings combination.

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates. With Low settings, the average FPS is 108.8. Medium settings yield 78.4 FPS. High settings produce 60.3 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 48.7 FPS. The performance difference between Low and Ultra is 55.2%, showing the significant impact of graphical quality on the GPU’s workload. The 1080p results are all playable, with even Ultra settings maintaining a frame rate above 45 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates decrease across all settings. Low settings average 98.2 FPS, which is a 9.7% drop from the 1080p Low result. Medium settings average 68.5 FPS, a 12.6% drop. High settings average 52.1 FPS, a 13.6% drop. Ultra settings average 40.1 FPS, a 17.6% drop. The 1440p results show that High settings are still playable, but Ultra settings begin to approach the edge of acceptable performance for a smooth experience.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is under significant stress. Low settings average 85.6 FPS, which is surprisingly high for 4K, indicating the game is not overly demanding at the lowest quality preset. Medium settings average 55.2 FPS. High settings average 39.8 FPS, which is below the ideal smoothness threshold. Ultra settings average 27.5 FPS, which is not suitable for a responsive gaming experience. The 4K results show a steep drop-off, with a 67.9% reduction in frame rate between Low and Ultra settings. This analysis confirms that the RTX 3070 Ti is a capable 1440p card for this title, but it is not suited for 4K Ultra without significant compromises in graphical quality.