The Medium

The Medium’s fixed-camera horror presentation places unique demands on a system, and the combination of the Intel Core i5-11400F with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 produces a distinctive performance profile. The data shows a configuration that is heavily influenced by the GPU at higher settings, yet reveals a CPU bottleneck that caps the upper framerate ceiling at lower resolutions and presets. The measured frames per second across three resolutions and four quality levels provide a clear picture of where this pairing excels and where its limitations lie.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial, though the shape of that curve changes dramatically depending on the selected preset. At the Low preset, the average framerate falls from 126.9 FPS at 1920x1080 to 110.3 FPS at 3840x2160, a reduction of approximately 13% that suggests the CPU is the primary constraint even at 4K. This is a telling result: the RTX 5080 is not being fully utilized when the visual workload is light, and the i5-11400F’s six cores and twelve threads are holding back the potential output.

Moving to the Medium preset, the scaling becomes more pronounced. The average framerate drops from 103.9 FPS at 1080p to 86.8 FPS at 4K, a decline of about 16.5%. The High preset shows a similar pattern, with 88.4 FPS at 1080p falling to 62.1 FPS at 4K, representing a 29.7% reduction. This steeper drop indicates that the GPU is beginning to take on more of the workload, though the CPU still has headroom to spare at the lower resolution.

The Ultra preset reveals the most dramatic scaling. Here, the average framerate plummets from 75.1 FPS at 1080p to 45.7 FPS at 4K, a 39.2% decrease. This is the classic signature of a GPU-bound scenario, where the RTX 5080’s rendering capabilities are the limiting factor. The gap between 1080p and 1440p at Ultra is also significant: 75.1 FPS down to 61.2 FPS, a drop of 18.5%. In contrast, the jump from 1440p to 4K at Ultra costs another 25.3% of performance. The data indicates that the RTX 5080’s 16 GB of GDDR7 memory and 960.0 GB/s bandwidth are being taxed heavily at Ultra settings, while the CPU’s role diminishes as resolution increases.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database of 1689 tested combinations for The Medium, this pairing achieves a rank of 192. This places it in the top 11.4% of all tested systems, a strong showing that reflects the raw power of the RTX 5080. However, the ranking also highlights the imbalance of the configuration. The CPU, with an average benchmark score of 17181, sits at the 75th percentile of all processors, while the GPU’s average score of 59188 places it at the 89th percentile of all graphics cards. The delta between these two components’ relative performance levels explains why the combo does not rank higher than it does.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U, which scores 17189 (a 0% delta), and the Intel Core i5-1240U, which scores 17141 (a 0.2% delta). This puts the i5-11400F in a narrow performance band with mobile-oriented processors, despite being a desktop part. Meanwhile, the GPU’s nearest rivals include the Intel Arc A580, which scores 57756 (a 2.5% delta), and the AMD Radeon Pro W5500X, which scores 57661 (a 2.6% delta). The RTX 5080 leads these competitors by a small margin, but the gap is not enormous in synthetic terms. The combination’s rank of 192 suggests that many other configurations with higher-tier CPUs achieve better in-game results, particularly at lower resolutions where the CPU becomes the bottleneck.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications explain much of the measured behavior. The GPU features 10752 shading units, 336 texture mapping units, and 112 raster output pipelines. It operates at a base clock of 2295 MHz with a boost clock of 2617 MHz, and its memory runs at an effective 30 Gbps across a 256-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is particularly relevant for The Medium, a game that renders two simultaneous worlds at times, which can place heavy demands on frame buffer capacity and bandwidth.

The 16 GB of GDDR7 memory is ample for the highest resolutions and presets. The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the average framerate is 45.7 FPS, which is playable but below the 60 FPS threshold many users target. At 4K High, the average rises to 62.1 FPS, indicating that dropping from Ultra to High provides a 35.8% performance improvement. This suggests that the Ultra preset’s extra effects are particularly taxing on the GPU’s compute resources, pushing the RTX 5080 to its limits.

The GPU’s FP32 performance of 56.28 TFLOPS and pixel rate of 293.1 GPixel/s are strong on paper, and the measured results confirm that the card delivers high framerates when not artificially capped by the CPU. The PassMark G3D score of 36565 and the 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 8637 further corroborate the card’s high-end positioning. However, the GPU’s performance in this game is only fully realized at higher resolutions and settings, where the CPU can keep up with its output.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play The Medium with this combo?

A: The data shows that 2560x1440 at High settings yields an average of 77 FPS, which is a good balance. At 3840x2160, the High preset drops to 62.1 FPS, which is still playable but closer to the edge of smoothness. For a consistent 60+ FPS experience, 1440p is the safer choice across most presets.

Q: Is the RTX 5080 being fully utilized at 1080p?

A: No. At 1080p Low, the average framerate is 126.9 FPS, which is the highest measured value in the dataset. The fact that this only rises to 126.9 FPS while the GPU has significant headroom suggests the Intel Core i5-11400F is the limiting factor at this resolution, capping performance well below what the RTX 5080 could deliver.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset averages 45.7 FPS, while the High preset averages 62.1 FPS. This represents a 35.8% framerate increase when switching from Ultra to High. The performance cost of Ultra is substantial, making High the more practical choice for 4K play.

Q: What does the combo rank of 192 out of 1689 indicate?

A: The rank places this configuration in the top 11.4% of all tested combos for The Medium. This is a strong result, but it also reflects the CPU’s limitations. The i5-11400F scores at the 75th percentile of all CPUs, while the RTX 5080 scores at the 89th percentile of all GPUs, indicating an imbalance that prevents a higher ranking.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 1440p Medium?

A: At 2560x1440 Medium, the average framerate is 97.6 FPS. This is lower than the 1080p Medium result of 103.9 FPS but higher than the 4K Medium result of 86.8 FPS. The relatively small drop from 1080p to 1440p suggests the CPU is still a significant constraint, though the GPU is starting to take on more of the load.

Q: What is the impact of the CPU’s single-thread performance on this game?

A: The i5-11400F scores 2029 in Cinebench R23 single-core, which is a moderate result. The game’s fixed-camera scenes may rely on single-threaded draw calls, and the data shows that framerates plateau at 126.9 FPS even at 1080p Low. This ceiling is likely tied to the CPU’s single-thread capability, as the boost clock of 4.40 GHz is not enough to push beyond this point.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy of settings for this combination. For users prioritizing a smooth, consistent experience, the Medium preset at 2560x1440 delivers 97.6 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold and provides a comfortable margin for demanding scenes. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset yields 103.9 FPS, which is the highest framerate available when staying above the 100 FPS mark. This makes 1080p Medium the best choice for competitive or high-refresh-rate play, though the horror genre benefits more from visual fidelity than raw speed.

For those with 4K displays, the High preset is the recommended choice. At 62.1 FPS, it maintains an average above 60 FPS, which is the minimum for smooth gameplay in this genre. The Ultra preset, at 45.7 FPS, dips below this threshold and introduces noticeable judder in a game that relies on atmospheric tension. The Low preset at 4K, while reaching 110.3 FPS, sacrifices too much visual quality for a game that emphasizes environmental storytelling.

The most balanced experience is achieved at 2560x1440 with the High preset. This configuration produces 77 FPS, which is a sweet spot between the sharpness of 4K and the performance of 1080p. The Medium preset at 1440p, at 97.6 FPS, is also viable but shows diminishing returns over High. The data indicates that the RTX 5080 can handle High settings comfortably at 1440p, while the CPU does not become a limiting factor until the resolution drops below this point. Ultimately, the optimal preset depends on the display’s native resolution, but the measurements consistently point to High as the best compromise between image quality and framerate stability across all three tested resolutions.