The Medium

The Medium presents a demanding fixed-camera horror experience, and the pairing of the Intel Core i5-11400F with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti produces a wide performance arc across resolutions and presets. The data shows that this combination is capable of delivering smooth gameplay, but the margin between playable and compromised frame rates is heavily dependent on the user's choice of resolution and quality settings. The benchmark results indicate a system where the GPU’s raw power is often the deciding factor, yet the older six-core processor still plays a significant role in limiting performance at lower resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial and reveals where the bottleneck lies. At 1080p with Ultra settings, the combo averages 65.4 FPS. Moving to 1440p Ultra, the average falls to 54.7 FPS, a reduction of roughly 16%. The jump to 4K Ultra is far more severe, with the average plummeting to 42.4 FPS, which is a 35% drop from the 1440p figure and a 35% drop from the 1080p result. This scaling pattern indicates that the graphics card is becoming the primary limiting component as pixel count increases.

The story is different at lower settings. At Low settings, the transition from 1080p to 1440p sees the average dip from 123.9 FPS to 121.2 FPS, a mere 2% difference. However, moving from 1440p Low to 4K Low brings a more noticeable 11% decline, landing at 107.8 FPS. This suggests that at Low settings, the CPU is able to feed frames quickly enough at 1080p and 1440p, but the sheer pixel throughput required by 4K still manages to tax the GPU significantly. The scaling from Medium to High settings also shows a consistent pattern, with 4K taking a much larger toll than the step from 1080p to 1440p.

The data suggests a system where the RTX 5070 Ti has ample headroom at 1080p, but the processor prevents the frame rate from scaling as high as the GPU alone might allow. At 4K, the situation inverts, and the GPU’s workload becomes the definitive constraint. For users targeting high refresh rates, the 1080p and 1440p results are more favorable, while 4K demands a compromise on visual fidelity to maintain a stable experience.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database of tested combinations, this specific hardware pairing sits at rank 283 out of 1689 combos for The Medium. This places the system in the top 17% of all tested configurations, which is a strong showing for a mid-range CPU paired with a high-end GPU. The ranking reflects that while the processor is not the fastest available, the GPU’s capabilities push this combo into the upper echelon of performance.

The CPU itself, when compared to its nearest rivals in general benchmarks, holds its own. Its average benchmark score of 17181 is virtually identical to the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U, which scores 17189, a 0% difference. It also trades blows with the Intel Core i7-1260P and Intel Core Ultra 7 164U, both of which are within 0.2% of its score. This indicates that the i5-11400F is not a significant drag on the system in most tasks, and its performance in The Medium is likely more dependent on the game's engine and the GPU.

The GPU’s rank is even more impressive. The RTX 5070 Ti sits in the 87th percentile of all GPUs, and its average benchmark score of 52086 is essentially tied with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, which scores 52085. This near-identical performance suggests that in many scenarios, the 5070 Ti can match the previous generation’s flagship. The combo’s overall rank in The Medium reflects this GPU strength, as it is able to overcome the CPU's limitations to deliver a high-performance result.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti is a powerhouse built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a 5 nm process. It features 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 896.0 GB/s. This large memory pool and high bandwidth are critical for a game like The Medium, which often loads large, detailed environments. The GPU’s boost clock of 2452 MHz and its 8960 shading units provide the raw compute power needed for the game's effects.

The benchmark results show that the GPU is the dominant force in this pairing. Its performance in synthetic tests, such as a Passmark G3D score of 32974, highlights its capability. More importantly, its direct comparison to the RTX 4080 in the nearest rivals list, with a 0% delta, shows that it is a top-tier card. In The Medium, this power is evident in the ability to push high frame rates at 1440p and even 4K, provided the settings are not maxed out.

The GPU’s 16 GB of VRAM is a key advantage, ensuring that even at 4K with High settings, there is unlikely to be a memory bottleneck. The data shows a 51.9 FPS average at 4K High, which is a playable result. However, the massive drop to 42.4 FPS at 4K Ultra suggests that the game's most demanding preset pushes the GPU’s compute limits rather than its memory capacity. The card's 70 RT cores and 280 tensor cores also indicate it is well-prepared for ray-traced workloads, although the measured data for this page only reflects traditional rasterization performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. The Low preset achieves an average of 123.9 FPS, making it ideal for high-refresh-rate displays. Medium settings yield 102.2 FPS, which is still exceptionally smooth. High settings bring the average down to 79.5 FPS, and Ultra settles at 65.4 FPS. All 1080p presets are playable, but the step from High to Ultra costs 14.1 FPS, a significant 18% reduction for what is often a marginal visual gain.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains strong. The Low preset averages 121.2 FPS, nearly matching the 1080p result. Medium produces 93.9 FPS, and High drops to 67.8 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1440p averages 54.7 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target but still playable for a slower-paced horror title. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is more punishing at higher settings, with a 17% drop at Ultra and a 15% drop at High, compared to just a 2% drop at Low.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is pushed hard. The Low preset manages an average of 107.8 FPS, which is surprisingly high and indicates the game is not overly demanding when textures and effects are reduced. Medium drops to 76.8 FPS, a solid result. High falls to 51.9 FPS, which is borderline for a smooth experience. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, with an average of only 42.4 FPS. This is a 35% reduction from the 1440p Ultra score and a 19% drop from the 4K High score, showing that the Ultra preset at 4K is a heavy load for even this powerful GPU.

Settings Recommendations

The data points to a clear hierarchy of presets depending on the target resolution. For 1080p users, all presets are viable, but the High setting at 79.5 FPS offers an excellent balance between visual quality and smoothness. Choosing Ultra at 65.4 FPS is acceptable, but the performance cost is noticeable. For those with 1440p monitors, the Medium preset at 93.9 FPS is the best choice for a high-refresh-rate experience, while High at 67.8 FPS provides a more detailed image without dropping below the 60 FPS threshold. The Ultra preset at 1440p should be avoided if consistent frame pacing is a priority.

At 4K, the recommendations become more conservative. The Low preset at 107.8 FPS is the only option that guarantees high refresh, but it sacrifices much of the game's visual atmosphere. The Medium preset at 76.8 FPS is the sweet spot, offering a significant visual upgrade over Low while maintaining a frame rate that is well above the playable threshold. The High preset at 51.9 FPS is playable but may feel less fluid during camera transitions. The Ultra preset at 42.4 FPS is not recommended for a smooth experience, as the frame rate dips into a range that can feel sluggish for a game that relies on tension and atmosphere. The optimal experience for this combo is to target 1440p with High settings or 4K with Medium settings, as these configurations provide the best balance of visual fidelity and performance based on the measured data.