The Medium

The Medium, a fixed-camera horror title built around dual-reality rendering, presents a unique load profile that taxes both the graphics pipeline and the processor’s ability to manage simultaneous scene states. This analysis focuses on the combination of the Intel Core i5-12400 and the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT, using measured frame rate data to characterize the system’s behavior across resolutions and settings.

Resolution Scaling

The measured data reveals a clear progression of performance degradation as resolution increases, but the pattern is not uniform across all quality presets. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 139.4 FPS, which drops to 120.1 FPS at 1440p and further to 92.3 FPS at 4K. This represents a 33.8% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, indicating that even at the lowest graphical load, the resolution scaling has a significant impact on frame delivery.

The scaling behavior changes dramatically when moving to higher presets. At High settings, the frame rate goes from 64.7 FPS at 1080p to 53 FPS at 1440p, then to 44 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K at High is 32%, which is slightly less severe than at Low. This suggests that as the preset quality increases, the bottleneck shifts more decisively toward the GPU, but the CPU still maintains a meaningful role in frame pacing.

The Medium preset shows a different scaling curve: 84.6 FPS at 1080p, 71.8 FPS at 1440p, and 59.4 FPS at 4K. The 1080p-to-4K reduction here is 29.8%, the smallest relative drop among all presets. This indicates that Medium settings create a more balanced workload distribution, where neither the CPU nor the GPU is fully saturated at any resolution, allowing for more consistent scaling.

Ultra settings produce the lowest absolute numbers, starting at 50.2 FPS at 1080p and declining to 44 FPS at 1440p, then to 34.9 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 4K is 30.5%, which is similar to the High preset. However, the absolute values at 4K Ultra (34.9 FPS) fall below the 44 FPS seen at 4K High, showing that the extra graphical features in Ultra have a substantial cost.

The data indicates that the RX 6800 XT’s 16 GB GDDR6 memory with 512.0 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient to handle the texture loads at all resolutions, as the frame rate drops are consistent with pixel-count scaling rather than memory capacity exhaustion. The Core i5-12400, with its 6 cores and 12 threads boosting to 4.40 GHz, appears to be the limiting factor at 1080p Low, where the 139.4 FPS ceiling suggests the CPU’s single-thread performance is capping the output. At higher resolutions, the GPU’s fill rate and shading units become the primary constraint, as evidenced by the larger absolute FPS differences between presets.

Settings Recommendations

Examining the measured rows, the Medium preset at 1440p delivers 71.8 FPS, which is a strong balance between visual fidelity and fluidity. This configuration sits comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold while maintaining a higher level of graphical detail than Low settings. The jump from Medium to High at 1440p costs 18.8 FPS (from 71.8 to 53), which is a 26.2% reduction for what the preset hierarchy suggests is a moderate visual improvement.

For users prioritizing smooth gameplay over maximum detail, the Low preset at 1440p offers 120.1 FPS, which is more than double the 4K Ultra result of 34.9 FPS. However, Low settings in The Medium likely sacrifice the atmospheric lighting and shadow quality that are central to the horror experience. The Medium preset at 1080p produces 84.6 FPS, which is playable but leaves headroom for higher resolution.

The most efficient combination appears to be Medium at 1440p, as it provides 71.8 FPS while keeping the resolution high enough to appreciate the game’s detailed environments. Compared to High at 1080p (64.7 FPS), the Medium 1440p setting offers both higher resolution and higher frame rate, making it the superior choice based on the measured data. At 4K, only the Low preset (92.3 FPS) achieves playable frame rates above 60 FPS, while Medium (59.4 FPS) is marginal and High (44 FPS) and Ultra (34.9 FPS) fall below acceptable thresholds for a horror game where timing is critical.

The data suggests that users with this hardware should default to Medium settings for the best experience. The 1440p Medium configuration delivers 71.8 FPS, which is 35.1% faster than 4K Medium (59.4 FPS) while offering a resolution that is still sharp on most displays. For those with 4K monitors, dropping to Low settings is necessary to maintain smooth gameplay, as the 92.3 FPS at 4K Low is the only 4K result that exceeds 60 FPS.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest frame rate achievable with this combo at 1080p?

A: The maximum measured average FPS is 139.4 at 1080p with Low settings. The next highest is 84.6 FPS at 1080p Medium, showing a significant gap between Low and Medium presets.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the measured average FPS is 34.9, which is the lowest result in the entire dataset. This is 15.3 FPS below the 4K High result of 44 FPS.

Q: Is the Core i5-12400 a bottleneck at any resolution?

A: The data suggests the CPU becomes more relevant at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the 139.4 FPS result is likely constrained by the processor’s single-thread performance, whereas at 4K, the GPU’s workload dominates and the frame rates scale more closely with preset quality.

Q: What is the difference between 1440p Medium and 4K Medium?

A: The 1440p Medium result is 71.8 FPS, while 4K Medium is 59.4 FPS. This represents a 12.4 FPS difference, or approximately 17.3% higher performance at the lower resolution.

Q: How does the combo’s rank in this game compare to its overall hardware percentiles?

A: The combo ranks 523rd out of 1689 tested combinations in The Medium, placing it in the 69th percentile. The CPU has a 77th percentile ranking among all CPUs, and the GPU sits at the 87th percentile among all GPUs, indicating the game’s combined workload is more demanding than average.

Q: Can this hardware achieve 60 FPS at 4K?

A: Only with Low settings, which produces 92.3 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K yields 59.4 FPS, just below the 60 FPS threshold, while High and Ultra fall further behind at 44 and 34.9 FPS respectively.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-12400 and AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT achieves a rank of 523 out of 1689 tested combos in The Medium. This places the system in the upper 69% of all configurations, which is a respectable position given the game’s demanding nature. The rank reflects the balance between the CPU’s 77th percentile standing and the GPU’s 87th percentile, with the game’s specific engine optimizations pulling the combined score lower than either component’s individual percentile would suggest.

The CPU’s nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-9700 with an average score of 19831 and a delta of 0.1%, meaning the i5-12400 performs essentially identically to that older eight-core processor. The i7-8700 trails by 0.2%, while the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5995WX is 0.4% behind, which is notable given the Threadripper’s much higher core count. The i5-11600K is 0.4% ahead, showing that Intel’s previous generation six-core parts are closely matched.

On the GPU side, the RX 6800 XT’s nearest rival is the Intel Arc A550M, which is 0.5% behind. The NVIDIA RTX A1000 leads by 1.7%, while the NVIDIA CMP 50HX trails by 1.9%. The GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is 2.6% behind, indicating that the RX 6800 XT holds a slight edge over that newer card in synthetic benchmarks, though the measured game performance will vary.

The 523rd rank out of 1689 suggests that while this combo is not in the top tier for The Medium, it is far from the bottom. The measured FPS data confirms that the system can handle the game at playable frame rates across most settings, with the primary limitation being the GPU at 4K Ultra. The rank is consistent with the observed performance: solid mid-to-upper tier placement, with clear headroom for improvement if either component were upgraded.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache provide the memory hierarchy needed for handling the dual-world rendering in The Medium, which requires simultaneous processing of two camera views. The CPU’s 10 nm process and 65 W TDP indicate efficient power delivery, though the game’s workload appears to favor higher single-thread performance.

The benchmark results for the i5-12400 show a single-thread score of 910 in 3DMark, which rises to 1692 in the 2-thread test. The scaling from 2 to 4 threads shows a 78% increase (from 1692 to 3012), and from 4 to 8 threads a 57.5% increase (from 3012 to 4745). The 16-thread score of 5873 is nearly identical to the max-thread score of 5890, indicating that the processor’s 12 threads are fully utilized by the 16-thread test without additional headroom.

In Cinebench R23, the multicore score of 15935 and single-core score of 2249 show a ratio of 7.1x, which is typical for a 6-core/12-thread part. The PassMark multithread score of 18747 and single-thread score of 3456 further characterize the CPU’s capabilities. The data suggests that the i5-12400 has strong single-thread performance for gaming, but its 6 physical cores may limit performance in the most demanding multi-threaded scenes.

The Medium’s reliance on CPU performance is evident in the resolution scaling data. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 139.4 FPS, which is likely near the CPU’s maximum frame delivery capability. As resolution increases, the GPU becomes the bottleneck, and the CPU’s role diminishes. The fact that the 4K Low result (92.3 FPS) is still significantly higher than 4K High (44 FPS) indicates that the GPU’s shading and texture work dominates at higher presets, while the CPU maintains consistent frame pacing.

The i5-12400’s boost clock of 4.40 GHz is sufficient for the game’s single-threaded aspects, but the lack of a higher core count compared to some rivals means that scenes with heavy AI or physics calculations may cause frame drops. The measured FPS data does not include minimum frame rates, so the consistency of the experience cannot be fully assessed, but the average scores indicate that the CPU is not systematically holding back the GPU at most settings.