The Medium

Resolution Scaling

The measured frames-per-second data for The Medium reveals a steep performance curve as resolution climbs, and the shape of that curve points squarely at the graphics card as the primary bottleneck. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system produces 125.8 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 Low drops that to 118.2 FPS, a modest 6.0% reduction. At 3840x2160 Low, the average falls to 94.7 FPS, which is 24.7% below the 1080p figure. This pattern—relatively mild scaling from 1080p to 1440p, then a sharper decline at 4K—indicates that the GPU has enough headroom at lower resolutions to keep up with the CPU, but pixel throughput becomes the limiting factor as the resolution increases.

The High preset tells a more dramatic story. At 1920x1080 High, the average is 63.8 FPS. At 2560x1440 High, it drops to 52.6 FPS (a 17.6% loss), and at 3840x2160 High, it falls to 44.7 FPS (a 29.9% loss from 1080p). The Ultra preset behaves similarly: 47.9 FPS at 1080p, 44.4 FPS at 1440p, and 33.7 FPS at 4K. The fact that 1440p Ultra (44.4 FPS) is nearly identical to 4K High (44.7 FPS) suggests that the game's rendering load at these two settings combinations is closely matched, and the GPU is operating near its effective limit in both cases.

What does this say about the limiting component? At 1080p Low, the system achieves 125.8 FPS, which is well beyond typical display refresh rates, yet the CPU is not the constraint—otherwise the frame rate would plateau regardless of resolution. Instead, the data shows a consistent decline from 1080p to 4K across every preset, which is the classic signature of a GPU-bound scenario. The RX 9070's 16 GB VRAM and 644.6 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for the game's demands at all tested resolutions, but the raw compute throughput—36.13 TFLOPS FP32—determines the ceiling. The 4K Ultra result of 33.7 FPS confirms that this combination is not viable for smooth gameplay at maximum settings in 4K, while 4K Low at 94.7 FPS remains entirely playable.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, built on the Rocket Lake architecture with a 14 nm process. Its benchmark scores place it in the 75th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17181. In multi-threaded synthetic tests, it achieves 3dmark_16_threads at 5619 and cinebench_r23_multicore at 14372. Single-thread performance is comparatively strong: cinebench_r23_singlecore at 2029 and geekbench_singlecore at 1979, with a passmark_single_thread score of 2981.

How does this relate to The Medium? The game's frame rates at 1080p Low (125.8 FPS) and even at 4K Low (94.7 FPS) suggest that the CPU is not the primary limiter in this pairing. If the CPU were struggling, we would expect to see a ceiling around a specific frame rate regardless of resolution or settings. Instead, the data shows a clear downward trend as resolution climbs, which indicates the GPU is doing the heavy lifting. The CPU's 12 threads are sufficient for the game's multi-threaded workload; the cinebench_r15_multicore score of 1448 and passmark_multithread of 16908 indicate robust parallel capability. The 12 MB shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support (51.2 GB/s bandwidth) provide adequate data delivery to keep the GPU fed at lower resolutions.

The nearest CPU rivals show how close this chip sits to its peers. The AMD Ryzen 7 5700U has an average score of 17189 (deltaPct 0), meaning the i5-11400F is effectively tied with it. The Intel Core i7-1260P and Core Ultra 7 164U both score 17212 and 17215 respectively, with deltaPct of -0.2, indicating the i5-11400F trails by just 0.2%. The Intel Core i5-1240U scores 17141 (deltaPct 0.2), putting the 11400F marginally ahead. These differences are negligible in real-world gaming, and the benchmark results confirm that the 11400F provides consistent, predictable performance without becoming the bottleneck in this configuration.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data offers a clear hierarchy for optimal gameplay. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers 86.2 FPS, which is 22.4 FPS higher than High (63.8 FPS) and 38.3 FPS higher than Ultra (47.9 FPS). The jump from Medium to High costs 22.4 FPS (a 26.0% reduction), while the jump from High to Ultra costs 15.9 FPS (a 24.9% reduction). For a 60 Hz display, Medium is the sweet spot at 1080p, providing a comfortable margin above the refresh threshold. High is also viable at 63.8 FPS, but Ultra at 47.9 FPS dips below 60 FPS, making it less desirable for smooth motion.

At 2560x1440, the picture changes. Medium delivers 72.4 FPS, which is still above 60 FPS, while High drops to 52.6 FPS and Ultra falls to 44.4 FPS. The Medium preset at 1440p provides the best balance, offering 19.8 FPS more than High (a 37.6% improvement). Low at 1440p reaches 118.2 FPS, but this comes with significant visual compromises. For most users, Medium at 1440p is the recommended choice, as it maintains playable frame rates while preserving more visual fidelity than Low.

At 3840x2160, the situation becomes more constrained. Medium produces 56.1 FPS, which is barely below 60 FPS, while High drops to 44.7 FPS and Ultra to 33.7 FPS. Low at 94.7 FPS is the only preset that clears 60 FPS comfortably. For 4K gaming, Medium at 56.1 FPS is the highest quality setting that remains near playable, but users with 60 Hz displays may prefer Low to ensure consistent frame pacing. The data suggests that Medium at 4K is the best experience per the measured rows, balancing visual quality against the frame rate penalty.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest playable setting at 1920x1080?

A: Medium delivers 86.2 FPS, which is well above 60 FPS. High at 63.8 FPS is also playable, but Ultra at 47.9 FPS falls below the 60 FPS threshold, making Medium the recommended preset for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the RX 9070 handle 4K gaming in The Medium?

A: At 3840x2160, Low achieves 94.7 FPS, Medium reaches 56.1 FPS, High drops to 44.7 FPS, and Ultra falls to 33.7 FPS. Only Low provides a comfortably high frame rate, while Medium is the highest quality preset that stays near 60 FPS.

Q: Is the Core i5-11400F a bottleneck for this game?

A: No. The frame rates scale consistently with resolution, indicating GPU-bound performance. The CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads, with a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, are sufficient, as evidenced by the cinebench_r23_multicore score of 14372 and singlecore score of 2029.

Q: What is the performance difference between High and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, High averages 52.6 FPS while Ultra averages 44.4 FPS, a difference of 8.2 FPS (15.6% slower). The visual uplift from Ultra may not justify the frame rate loss for most users.

Q: How close is this CPU to its nearest rivals?

A: The i5-11400F has an average benchmark score of 17181. The AMD Ryzen 7 5700U scores 17189 (deltaPct 0), the Intel Core i7-1260P scores 17212 (deltaPct -0.2), and the Intel Core i5-1240U scores 17141 (deltaPct 0.2). The differences are within 0.2%.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1080p Low?

A: The measured average is 125.8 FPS, which is the highest result across all tested configurations. This indicates that the GPU has substantial headroom at lower resolutions, and the CPU is not limiting performance.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is the dominant component in this configuration, and the benchmark data makes its role clear. Built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with a 4 nm process, it features 3584 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 128 render output units. The boost clock of 2520 MHz and game clock of 2070 MHz drive a pixel rate of 322.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 564.5 GTexel/s. The 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth, which is ample for The Medium's asset streaming at 4K.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it in the 79th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 34780. In 3dmark_steel_nomad_dx12, it scores 6290, while geekbench_vulkan reaches 165532 and passmark_g3d scores 25381. The nearest rivals show a tight cluster: the NVIDIA A2 scores 34866 (deltaPct -0.2), the NVIDIA Quadro GV100 scores 34677 (deltaPct 0.3), the AMD Radeon HD 7970 scores 34541 (deltaPct 0.7), and the AMD Radeon PRO W6400 scores 34511 (deltaPct 0.8). The RX 9070 is effectively within 0.8% of all these competitors, indicating consistent performance across the board.

How does this translate to The Medium? The GPU's 36.13 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is the primary driver of frame rates. At 1080p Low, the system hits 125.8 FPS, showing that the GPU can handle the game's fixed-function workload easily. As settings increase, the load on shading units and ROPs grows, and the frame rate drops accordingly. The 4K Ultra result of 33.7 FPS demonstrates the limits of this GPU at maximum settings—it is not a 4K Ultra card for this title. However, the 4K Low result of 94.7 FPS shows that the RX 9070 can still deliver high frame rates at 4K when visual effects are reduced. The 56 RT cores provide ray tracing capability, though the measured data does not isolate ray tracing performance; the overall results reflect the standard rendering path.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following table summarizes all measured average frame rates from the FACT PACK, organized by resolution and settings.

| Resolution | Settings | Avg FPS |

|------------|----------|---------|

| 1920x1080 | Low | 125.8 |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 86.2 |

| 1920x1080 | High | 63.8 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 47.9 |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 118.2 |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 72.4 |

| 2560x1440 | High | 52.6 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 44.4 |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 94.7 |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 56.1 |

| 3840x2160 | High | 44.7 |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 33.7 |

At 1080p, the spread from Low to Ultra is 77.9 FPS, with Low being 2.6 times faster than Ultra. The Medium preset at 86.2 FPS is the first point where the frame rate drops below 100 FPS. At 1440p, Low remains above 100 FPS at 118.2 FPS, but Medium drops to 72.4 FPS, and Ultra falls to 44.4 FPS, which is only 0.3 FPS higher than 4K High. At 4K, Low is the only preset above 60 FPS, with Medium at 56.1 FPS being the closest alternative.

The scaling between resolutions is consistent. From 1080p to 1440p, Low loses 7.6 FPS (6.0%), Medium loses 13.8 FPS (16.0%), High loses 11.2 FPS (17.6%), and Ultra loses 3.5 FPS (7.3%). From 1440p to 4K, Low loses 23.5 FPS (19.9%), Medium loses 16.3 FPS (22.5%), High loses 7.9 FPS (15.0%), and Ultra loses 10.7 FPS (24.1%). The percentage losses grow as resolution increases, confirming that the GPU is the limiting factor at higher pixel counts. The combo rank of 576 out of 1689 tested combinations places this setup in the upper third of all hardware pairings for this game.