The Medium

The Medium, a horror title built on fixed camera angles and heavy volumetric effects, presents a unique load profile. This analysis examines the Intel Core i5-12400 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9070, using measured frame rate data to determine optimal settings, scaling behavior, and overall standing among tested hardware combinations.

Settings Recommendations

The data indicates that the Medium preset is the sweet spot for this configuration across all tested resolutions. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers 90.1 FPS average, which is a substantial 71% improvement over the High preset's 66 FPS. This performance headroom allows for smooth gameplay while retaining the game’s core visual identity. The jump from Medium to High costs 24.1 FPS at 1080p, a significant penalty for what is typically a modest visual gain in this title’s fixed-camera scenes.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset maintains a playable 73.3 FPS average. The High preset drops to 51.4 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold many players consider essential for a responsive experience. The Ultra preset is demonstrably too demanding for this combo at this resolution, yielding only 41.4 FPS. The Low preset, while providing 121.4 FPS, sacrifices the atmospheric lighting and shadow quality that are central to the horror aesthetic.

For 4K (3840x2160), the Medium preset is the only viable option for a playable experience, with an average of 58.1 FPS. High and Ultra fall to 40.4 FPS and 32.7 FPS respectively, which are too unstable for the game’s deliberate pacing. The Low preset at 91.9 FPS is smoother but loses the visual fidelity that makes the game’s environments effective.

The recommendation is clear: run the Medium preset. It provides the best balance of visual quality and performance. The High preset’s premium of roughly 30% fewer frames across all resolutions does not justify the graphical uplift in a game where the camera is often static. The data suggests that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher settings, as the frame rate drops are steep when transitioning from Medium to High, regardless of resolution.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run The Medium at 4K with high settings?

A: No. The measured data shows 40.4 FPS average at 3840x2160 on High settings. This is below the standard 60 FPS target and indicates a demanding load that the RX 9070 cannot sustain at this resolution with those settings.

Q: What is the best setting for a 1440p monitor?

A: The Medium preset is the best choice, delivering 73.3 FPS average. The High preset at 51.4 FPS is too slow for smooth gameplay, while the Low preset at 121.4 FPS offers performance but with reduced visual quality.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K on the same settings?

A: At the Low preset, the drop from 144.1 FPS to 91.9 FPS represents a 36% reduction in frame rate. At the Medium preset, the drop is from 90.1 FPS to 58.1 FPS, a 35% reduction. This consistent scaling indicates a GPU-bound scenario.

Q: Is the RX 9070 the limiting factor in this configuration?

A: The benchmark results suggest yes. The consistent percentage drop in FPS as resolution increases, combined with the steep performance penalties for raising settings from Low to Ultra, points to the GPU being the primary bottleneck rather than the Core i5-12400.

Q: Does the Ultra preset ever provide a playable frame rate?

A: Only at 1080p, where it achieves 52.7 FPS. At 1440p it drops to 41.4 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 32.7 FPS. These figures are below the threshold for a consistent experience.

Q: How does the Low preset compare to Medium in terms of FPS?

A: Low is significantly faster. At 1080p, it provides 144.1 FPS compared to 90.1 FPS on Medium. At 1440p, it provides 121.4 FPS versus 73.3 FPS. The trade-off is a reduction in graphical detail.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate data reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling. When moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 on the Medium preset, the average FPS drops from 90.1 to 73.3, a 19% reduction. Moving further to 3840x2160 brings it down to 58.1 FPS, another 21% reduction from the 1440p figure. This consistent decline is a hallmark of a system where the graphics card is the limiting component.

The scaling is similar across all settings. For the High preset, the FPS drops from 66 at 1080p to 51.4 at 1440p (a 22% loss), then to 40.4 at 4K (a 21% loss). The Low preset shows the same trend, with 144.1 FPS at 1080p, 121.4 at 1440p, and 91.9 at 4K. The linear nature of these drops indicates that the Intel Core i5-12400 is feeding the GPU adequately, as there is no sudden performance cliff that would suggest a CPU bottleneck at higher resolutions.

The fact that the 4K performance on Low (91.9 FPS) is higher than the 1080p performance on High (66 FPS) further confirms this. The resolution is not the primary constraint; the settings are. This suggests that for the best experience, users should prioritize adjusting in-game settings over lowering resolution. The data shows that this combo is capable of high frame rates at 4K if settings are reduced, but the Medium preset at 1440p offers the most balanced experience in terms of visual fidelity and performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080:

• Low: 144.1 FPS average. This is the maximum performance ceiling for this combo, suitable for high-refresh-rate monitors.
• Medium: 90.1 FPS average. The recommended setting for a smooth 1080p experience.
• High: 66 FPS average. Playable but with a significant performance cost over Medium.
• Ultra: 52.7 FPS average. The lowest playable setting at this resolution, but not ideal.

2560x1440:

• Low: 121.4 FPS average. Excellent performance for competitive or fast-paced play.
• Medium: 73.3 FPS average. The best balance of quality and speed at this resolution.
• High: 51.4 FPS average. Dips below the 60 FPS target.
• Ultra: 41.4 FPS average. Not recommended for a consistent experience.

3840x2160:

• Low: 91.9 FPS average. Surprisingly playable at 4K with reduced settings.
• Medium: 58.1 FPS average. The only setting that approaches a standard 60 FPS target at 4K.
• High: 40.4 FPS average. Too low for smooth gameplay.
• Ultra: 32.7 FPS average. The most demanding setting, resulting in a slideshow-like experience.

The data shows a consistent pattern: the Medium preset is the performance-to-quality sweet spot, while the Ultra preset is only viable for static scenes or screenshots. The gap between Medium and High is consistently larger than the gap between Low and Medium, indicating that the High preset introduces a disproportionately heavy rendering load, likely related to shadow resolution or volumetric effects.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the benchmark database, this specific configuration of the Intel Core i5-12400 and AMD Radeon RX 9070 ranks 514th out of 1689 tested combos for The Medium. This places it in the upper third of all tested systems, indicating a solidly capable pairing for this game.

The CPU itself holds a 77th percentile ranking among all tested processors. Its average benchmark score of 19850 is nearly identical to that of the Intel Core i7-9700, which scores 19831, a negligible 0.1% difference. It also slightly edges out the Intel Core i5-11600K, which scores 19771, a 0.4% difference. This suggests that the 6-core/12-thread Alder Lake processor provides ample processing power for this title, which is not known for being exceptionally CPU-intensive.

The GPU, the AMD Radeon RX 9070, holds a 79th percentile ranking among all tested GPUs. Its average score of 34780 is comparable to that of the NVIDIA Quadro GV100, which scores 34677, a 0.3% difference. It also outpaces the AMD Radeon PRO W6400, which scores 34511, a 0.8% advantage. The GPU’s strong performance is the primary driver of the combo’s overall rank.

Given that the GPU percentile (79) is slightly higher than the CPU percentile (77), the data suggests that the graphics card is the more dominant factor in determining performance in The Medium. The combo’s rank of 514 out of 1689 demonstrates that while there are many faster systems, this pairing is far from the bottom. It represents a well-balanced mid-to-high-end configuration that delivers playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p with the right settings, and even offers a viable path to 4K if visual fidelity is sacrificed.