The Medium

The Medium is a demanding horror title, and the combination of the Intel Core i5-10400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER produces a wide spread of performance across its four graphics presets and three tested resolutions. The measured data shows that this pairing is capable of delivering smooth framerates, but the experience varies significantly depending on the chosen settings. The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER, with its 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, provides substantial bandwidth, yet the game’s engine still shows clear sensitivity to resolution and preset changes. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS data to determine the optimal configuration for this specific hardware pairing.

Resolution Scaling

The data reveals a predictable but important trend: as resolution increases, average framerates drop consistently across all settings. At 1080p, the Low preset achieves 105.8 FPS, while at 1440p it drops to 102.9 FPS, and at 4K it falls further to 92.9 FPS. This scaling pattern indicates that at lower resolutions, the CPU is likely the limiting factor, as the framerate does not increase dramatically when moving from 1440p to 1080p. The difference between 1080p and 1440p at Low is only 2.9 FPS, which is a minor gain, suggesting the game is already becoming bottlenecked by the processor’s six cores and twelve threads in less GPU-intensive scenarios.

The scaling becomes more pronounced at higher settings where the GPU is pushed harder. At the High preset, the framerate drops from 78.2 FPS at 1080p to 67.4 FPS at 1440p, a reduction of 13.8%, and then to 52.5 FPS at 4K, a further 22.1% reduction. This steeper decline at High settings demonstrates that the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is becoming the primary constraint as resolution increases. The GPU’s 44.10 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 250.6 GPixel/s pixel rate are substantial, but the 4K resolution demands significantly more from the render pipeline.

The most dramatic scaling occurs between Medium and Ultra presets. At Ultra, the 4K average is just 43.5 FPS, which is 16.6% lower than the High preset’s 52.5 FPS at the same resolution. This indicates that the Ultra preset introduces effects that heavily tax the GPU, likely related to ray tracing or advanced volumetric lighting, which are featured in this horror title. The delta between 1080p and 4K at Ultra is 20.7 FPS, a 32.2% drop, showing that even a high-end GPU like the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER struggles to maintain high framerates at 4K with everything maxed out.

Analyzing the 1440p to 4K transition is particularly informative. At Low, the drop is 10 FPS (from 102.9 to 92.9), at Medium it is 8.3 FPS (81.4 to 73.1), at High it is 14.9 FPS (67.4 to 52.5), and at Ultra it is 9.9 FPS (53.4 to 43.5). The irregular scaling at Low and Medium suggests that the CPU is still playing a role in limiting performance even at higher resolutions. The i5-10400F’s base clock of 2.90 GHz and boost clock of 4.30 GHz are adequate, but the game’s reliance on single-thread performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1453, might be a bottleneck in less GPU-bound scenes.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the Medium preset at 1440p offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance for this combination. At 81.4 FPS, it provides a smooth experience that is well above the 60 FPS threshold for most displays. The jump from Low to Medium at 1440p costs 21.5 FPS (102.9 to 81.4), but the visual improvement in a horror game with heavy atmosphere is likely worth it. The High preset at 1440p drops to 67.4 FPS, which is still playable but leaves less headroom for demanding scenes.

For players targeting 4K, the Medium preset is the only viable option for a consistently playable experience. At 73.1 FPS, it is 20.6 FPS faster than High at 4K (52.5 FPS) and 29.6 FPS faster than Ultra (43.5 FPS). The Low preset at 4K achieves 92.9 FPS, but this requires sacrificing most of the graphical effects that define the game’s unsettling visual style. The data suggests that Medium at 4K is the sweet spot, as it maintains a framerate above 70 FPS while still enabling a reasonable level of detail.

At 1080p, the High preset at 78.2 FPS is a solid recommendation, as it offers a significant visual upgrade over Medium (89.7 FPS) for a modest 11.5 FPS loss. Ultra at 1080p is also playable at 64.2 FPS, but the performance cost of 14 FPS compared to High makes it difficult to recommend unless the player prioritizes maximum image quality over framerate stability. The data indicates that the Ultra preset is not well-optimized for this GPU, as even at 1080p it fails to reach the 70 FPS mark that High achieves at 1440p.

The performance delta between Low and Ultra at each resolution is telling. At 1080p, the difference is 41.6 FPS (105.8 vs 64.2), at 1440p it is 49.5 FPS (102.9 vs 53.4), and at 4K it is 49.4 FPS (92.9 vs 43.5). This consistent ~50 FPS gap highlights how much headroom exists in the GPU when settings are reduced, but it also shows that the Ultra preset is disproportionately demanding relative to its visual return, likely due to unoptimized effects.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run The Medium at 4K smoothly?

A: Yes, but only at Medium settings, which achieves an average of 73.1 FPS. The High preset at 4K drops to 52.5 FPS, and Ultra falls to 43.5 FPS, both of which are below the ideal smoothness threshold.

Q: What is the best resolution for the Intel Core i5-10400F and RTX 4070 Ti SUPER?

A: The data shows 1440p is the most balanced choice. At Medium, it delivers 81.4 FPS, and at High it still manages 67.4 FPS, providing good visual quality without pushing the GPU to its limits.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: The average framerate drops from 78.2 FPS at 1080p to 52.5 FPS at 4K, a reduction of 25.7 FPS or approximately 33% of the 1080p performance.

Q: Is the Ultra preset worth using on this hardware?

A: The benchmark results indicate no, as Ultra at 1080p only reaches 64.2 FPS, while High at 1440p achieves a better 67.4 FPS with a higher resolution. Ultra appears to add a significant performance penalty for marginal gains.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at lower resolutions?

A: The data suggests yes. At 1080p Low, the framerate is 105.8 FPS, but at 1440p Low it is 102.9 FPS, a small difference that indicates the i5-10400F is limiting performance before the GPU becomes fully saturated.

Q: What is the framerate difference between Low and Medium at 1440p?

A: Low achieves 102.9 FPS, while Medium drops to 81.4 FPS. This 21.5 FPS difference represents the cost of enabling more detailed textures and lighting effects.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-10400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER combination ranks 432nd out of 1689 tested combos in The Medium. This places it in the top 25.6% of all systems tested, which is a respectable position given the game’s demanding nature. The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is the primary driver of this ranking, as it sits in the 86th percentile of all GPUs, while the i5-10400F is in the 73rd percentile of all CPUs. The GPU’s strong scores, such as a PassMark G3D score of 31811, compensate for the CPU’s more modest performance.

Comparing the GPU to its nearest rivals shows that the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is slightly below the NVIDIA CMP 50HX, which has an average score of 49071 versus 48704, a delta of -0.7%. However, it outperforms the NVIDIA RTX A2000 by 1.6% and the RTX A1000 Mobile by 2.0%. The Intel Arc A550M is 2.1% faster in average benchmark score, but the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER’s real-world fps results in this game are strong. The CPU’s nearest rival, the AMD EPYC 7552, is only 0.4% faster in average score, while the Intel Core i5-8500 is 1.1% faster, indicating the i5-10400F is well-positioned in its segment.

The combo’s rank of 432 is notable because it shows that while the GPU is high-end, the CPU holds the system back from reaching the top tiers. Systems with newer, higher-core-count CPUs likely occupy the ranks above. The 1689 tested combos include many with more powerful processors, so the 432nd position reflects a system that is very capable but not at the absolute state-of-the-art. The measured fps data confirms this, as the system cannot maintain 60 FPS at 4K Ultra, a benchmark that top-tier combos likely achieve.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a six-core, twelve-thread processor based on the Comet Lake architecture and built on Intel’s 14 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, with 12 MB of shared L3 cache. In The Medium, these specifications produce a performance profile that is adequate but not exceptional. The CPU’s Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 10297 and single-core score of 1453 indicate that it can handle modern workloads, but its 14 nm process node puts it behind newer architectures in efficiency and raw speed.

The game’s performance data suggests that the CPU is a limiting factor in certain scenarios, particularly at lower resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 105.8 FPS, which is only 2.9 FPS higher than at 1440p Low. This minimal gain indicates that the CPU cannot feed the GPU fast enough to take full advantage of the lower resolution. The PassMark single-thread score of 2541 and the 3DMark single-thread score of 688 show that the processor’s single-core performance is moderate, which is critical for games that rely on a single main thread.

However, the CPU’s multi-threading capabilities do help in more demanding settings. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 4748 and the 12-thread count ensure that the system can handle background tasks and the game’s streaming requirements. The 42.7 GB/s memory bandwidth and dual-channel DDR4 support are sufficient for this title, but they are not exceptional. The CPU’s 65 W TDP and PCIe Gen 3 interface are also modest compared to newer platforms, but they do not appear to cause major bottlenecks in this game.

The data reveals that the CPU’s performance is most impactful when the GPU is not fully utilized. At 4K Ultra, the framerate is 43.5 FPS, which is likely GPU-bound, but at 1080p Low, the 105.8 FPS result shows the CPU’s limits. The i5-10400F’s boost clock of 4.30 GHz is decent, but its base clock of 2.90 GHz means it may downclock under sustained loads. For a game like The Medium, which was released in 2021, this CPU is sufficient to deliver playable framerates at most settings, but it prevents the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER from reaching its full potential at lower resolutions.