The Medium

The Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER combination delivers a fascinating split in The Medium, a title that proves more demanding at its highest settings than the GPU’s raw power might suggest. The data shows a system capable of high refresh rates at 1080p and 1440p, yet one that capitulates at 4K Ultra, indicating a clear algorithmic ceiling in the game’s rendering pipeline. This analysis breaks down the measured performance across resolutions and settings, placing the combo in context against its 1,689 tested peers.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Rocket Lake architecture, built on Intel’s 14 nm process. Its base clock is 2.60 GHz, boosting up to 4.40 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The L3 cache is 12 MB shared, and it supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with a bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s. In synthetic benchmarks, this CPU scores 14,372 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2,029 in single-core, with a 3DMark 16-thread score of 5,619. Its average benchmark score is 17,181, placing it in the 75th percentile of all CPUs.

In The Medium, the CPU’s role is primarily to feed the GPU, and the measured FPS suggests it does so adequately. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 127.5 FPS, which is a strong indicator that the processor can handle high frame rates without becoming a bottleneck at lower graphical loads. The single-core performance, reflected in a 3DMark single-thread score of 868, is sufficient for the game’s logic and camera systems. However, the game’s use of dual-world rendering in certain scenes can stress multiple threads; the CPU’s 12 threads and 12 MB L3 cache provide a solid foundation, but the data implies that the GPU becomes the limiting factor as settings rise.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U (17,189, 0% delta) and the Intel Core i7-1260P (17,212, -0.2% delta). These scores are nearly identical, meaning the i5-11400F’s compute capability is on par with those mobile-oriented parts, yet in a desktop context, its sustained boost clock of 4.40 GHz gives it an edge in gaming workloads that rely on single-thread speed.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves in The Medium?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 127.5, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This drops to 106.9 FPS at 4K Low, showing a 16% reduction from the resolution increase alone.

Q: How does the combo perform at 1440p Ultra compared to 1080p Ultra?

A: At 2560x1440 Ultra, the average FPS is 52.4, while at 1920x1080 Ultra it is 59.8. This is a 12.4% drop in performance when moving from 1080p to 1440p at the same settings, suggesting the GPU is still managing the load but with less headroom.

Q: Is the RTX 4070 SUPER the bottleneck at 4K Medium?

A: The data shows 69.4 FPS at 4K Medium versus 106.3 FPS at 1080p Medium. The 34.7% performance hit from resolution scaling indicates a strong GPU workload, and since the CPU’s benchmark scores are moderate, the GPU is likely the primary constraint at this resolution.

Q: What is the combo’s rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 353rd out of 1,689 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the top 21% of all configurations tested for this game.

Q: How does the GPU’s VRAM capacity affect performance at 4K?

A: The RTX 4070 SUPER has 12 GB of GDDR6X memory with a 192-bit bus and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 41.1, which is below the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that the memory capacity or bandwidth may be insufficient for the highest texture loads, though the data does not isolate VRAM usage.

Q: What setting provides the largest FPS jump from Ultra?

A: Moving from Ultra to High at 1080p increases FPS from 59.8 to 73.5, a 23% improvement. The jump from High to Medium yields 106.3 FPS, a further 44.6% increase, making Medium the most significant step for performance gains.

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

The measured FPS data reveals a consistent pattern of degradation as resolution increases, but the magnitude varies by settings. At Low settings, the combo goes from 127.5 FPS at 1080p to 115.8 FPS at 1440p and 106.9 FPS at 4K. This is a total drop of 16.2% from 1080p to 4K, which is relatively modest, suggesting that at Low settings, the CPU and GPU are both capable of maintaining high throughput, and the workload scales linearly with pixel count.

At Medium settings, the drop is more pronounced: 106.3 FPS at 1080p falls to 87.6 FPS at 1440p (a 17.6% decrease) and then to 69.4 FPS at 4K (a further 20.8% decrease from 1440p). This steeper curve indicates that the GPU is becoming more stressed as texture quality and shader complexity increase, but the 69.4 FPS at 4K Medium is still playable.

The High settings show a similar trend: 73.5 FPS at 1080p, 65.4 FPS at 1440p, and 46.5 FPS at 4K. The 4K figure is 36.7% lower than the 1080p figure, which is a significant hit. Ultra settings are the most punishing: 59.8 FPS at 1080p, 52.4 FPS at 1440p, and 41.1 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is 31.3% below 1080p Ultra, and the absolute value is below 45 FPS, indicating a hard limit in the game’s rendering engine.

The data implies that the RTX 4070 SUPER is the primary limiting component at 4K, particularly at High and Ultra settings. The CPU’s 12 threads and 4.40 GHz boost clock are likely sufficient to keep up, as evidenced by the relatively small FPS drop at Low settings. The game’s fixed-function effects, such as ray-traced reflections or volumetric lighting, may be GPU-bound, and the 12 GB VRAM could be a constraint at 4K Ultra, where the average FPS dips to 41.1.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combo ranks 353rd out of 1,689 tested configurations in The Medium, placing it in the 79th percentile of all tested systems. This is a strong showing, given that the RTX 4070 SUPER is a high-end GPU, but the rank also reflects the CPU’s mid-range positioning. The GPU’s percentile vs all GPUs is 84, while the CPU’s is 75, suggesting that the processor is the weaker link in this pairing.

In comparison to the GPU’s nearest rivals, the RTX 4070 SUPER’s average benchmark score is 42,576, with the NVIDIA RTX A6000 scoring 42,653 (-0.2% delta) and the AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE scoring 42,723 (-0.3% delta). This indicates the GPU is on par with those competitors, so the combo’s rank is likely determined by the CPU’s performance relative to other processors in the database. The CPU’s nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U, has a nearly identical average score (17,189 vs 17,181), but the i5-11400F’s desktop-class boost clock may give it an advantage in sustained gaming, which is not fully captured in the rank.

The rank of 353 out of 1,689 means that 1,336 other combos performed worse in The Medium, which reflects the GPU’s strength. However, the data shows that at 4K Ultra, the combo falls below 60 FPS, which would place it behind systems with more powerful GPUs or better-optimized CPUs for this specific title.

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture, fabricated on TSMC’s 5 nm process with 35,800 million transistors. It has 7,168 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 80 raster output units, along with 56 ray tracing cores and 224 tensor cores. The GPU’s base clock is 1980 MHz, with a boost clock of 2475 MHz, and its memory operates at 1313 MHz, effectively 21 Gbps. The 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s.

In The Medium, the GPU’s performance is directly tied to its memory subsystem and clock speeds. At 1080p Medium, the combo achieves 106.3 FPS, which is a strong result. At 4K Medium, the FPS drops to 69.4, indicating that the GPU is handling the increased pixel load but is limited by its memory bandwidth or the game’s texture streaming. The 12 GB VRAM is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K Ultra, the 41.1 FPS average suggests that the game may be exceeding the memory capacity, forcing texture swaps that reduce performance.

The GPU’s benchmark scores show a Passmark G3D score of 29,995 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 4,627. These scores place it in the 84th percentile of all GPUs, but the game’s specific demands at Ultra settings reveal that raw compute power is not enough. The 220 W TDP and dual-slot design indicate a power-hungry card, but the data does not include thermal throttling metrics, so the performance is likely consistent across the measured runs.

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

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers 127.5 FPS on Low, 106.3 FPS on Medium, 73.5 FPS on High, and 59.8 FPS on Ultra. The 1080p Low result is the highest of any resolution and settings combination, showing the CPU and GPU have ample headroom for high-refresh-rate monitors at lower graphical fidelity.

At 2560x1440, the average FPS is 115.8 on Low, 87.6 on Medium, 65.4 on High, and 52.4 on Ultra. The 1440p Medium result of 87.6 FPS is a sweet spot for high refresh rates, while 1440p Ultra dips below 60 FPS, making it less ideal for competitive play.

At 3840x2160, the combo achieves 106.9 FPS on Low, 69.4 FPS on Medium, 46.5 FPS on High, and 41.1 FPS on Ultra. The 4K Low result is surprisingly high, but the Ultra result is the lowest of all measured points, indicating a steep performance cliff between Medium and High at this resolution.

The data shows a clear pattern: the FPS drop from Low to Ultra is more severe at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the drop is 53% (from 127.5 to 59.8), at 1440p it is 54.7% (from 115.8 to 52.4), and at 4K it is 61.5% (from 106.9 to 41.1). This suggests that the GPU’s memory bandwidth becomes a bottleneck as both resolution and settings increase, particularly at 4K.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

For players prioritizing high frame rates, the 1080p Medium preset offers 106.3 FPS, which is a 45% increase over High (73.5 FPS) and a 78% increase over Ultra (59.8 FPS). The jump from Medium to Low at 1080p yields 127.5 FPS, a 20% improvement, but the visual fidelity loss may not be worth it for most users.

At 1440p, Medium provides 87.6 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold and suitable for most monitors. High at 1440p drops to 65.4 FPS, which is still playable but offers diminishing returns. Ultra at 1440p is 52.4 FPS, which is below 60 and not recommended for a smooth experience.

At 4K, Medium is the only preset that stays above 60 FPS (69.4 FPS). High at 4K is 46.5 FPS, and Ultra is 41.1 FPS, both of which are below playable thresholds for many users. The data suggests that 4K Medium is the best balance for this combo, as it provides a playable frame rate without the steep performance penalty of High or Ultra.

Overall, the best experience per the measured rows is Medium settings at either 1080p or 1440p, as it offers a significant FPS boost over High and Ultra while maintaining a reasonable visual quality. For 4K, Medium is the only viable choice, as the higher presets fall below 50 FPS, leaving the game feeling sluggish. The combo’s rank of 353 out of 1,689 reinforces that it is a capable system, but the data clearly shows that Ultra settings are not sustainable at any resolution above 1080p.