The Medium

The Medium, a fixed-camera horror title built on Unreal Engine 4, presents an interesting stress profile for the Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti combination. The dataset for this pairing reveals a system that is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions, yet demonstrates surprising headroom at 1080p where the CPU begins to exert its influence. The measured frame rates across the three primary resolutions and four quality presets provide a clear picture of a component pairing that scales predictably with graphical load, though the absolute performance ceiling is notably constrained by the game’s engine.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 is not linear, indicating a significant shift in the bottleneck between the CPU and GPU. At 1080p with Medium settings, the combo produces an average of 110 FPS. Moving to 1440p drops this to 92 FPS, a reduction of 18 FPS or roughly 16.4%. The jump to 4K further reduces the average to 73 FPS, another 19 FPS drop, or about 20.7%. This pattern suggests that while the GPU is becoming the primary limiter at higher resolutions, the CPU is still capable of feeding the graphics card adequately at 1080p, preventing a more dramatic collapse.

The most telling data point for resolution scaling appears in the Low preset. Here, the average frame rate at 1080p is 145 FPS. At 1440p, this only falls to 137 FPS, a minor 8 FPS decline. However, the 4K Low preset result of 116 FPS shows a more substantial 21 FPS drop from 1440p. This indicates that even with minimal graphical load, the sheer pixel count at 4K begins to saturate the RTX 4070 Ti’s memory bandwidth and shading capabilities, while the 1080p and 1440p results are likely constrained by the game’s single-threaded draw call performance on the i5-12400.

The Ultra preset tells a different story regarding the GPU’s raw ceiling. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 62 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 52 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 41 FPS. The deltas here are 10 FPS and 11 FPS respectively, showing a consistent ~16-19% reduction per step. This consistency implies that at Ultra settings, the RTX 4070 Ti is the definitive bottleneck across all resolutions, with the CPU having sufficient headroom to avoid interference. The data suggests that players seeking high refresh rates will find 1080p to be the most responsive, while 4K is viable only with lower presets to maintain playability.

FAQ

Q: Can the RTX 4070 Ti handle The Medium at 4K with Ultra settings?

A: The measured data shows an average of 41 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. This is technically playable but below the 60 FPS threshold often considered smooth for action-oriented titles. The 62 FPS minimum at 4K Medium (with an 83 FPS max) indicates that dropping to Medium is necessary for a more consistent experience.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-12400 a bottleneck for the RTX 4070 Ti in this game?

A: At 1080p with Low settings, the average frame rate is 145 FPS, which is high but not exceptionally so for the GPU’s capabilities. The 137 FPS result at 1440p Low is only slightly lower, suggesting the CPU is limiting performance at these lower stress points. However, at 4K and higher presets, the GPU becomes the primary limiter, as evidenced by the consistent frame rate drops tied to resolution.

Q: What is the best resolution for a 144Hz monitor with this hardware?

A: At 1080p with Medium settings, the combo achieves 110 FPS average, which is below 144Hz. However, the Low preset at 1080p yields 145 FPS, which exceeds the 144Hz threshold. For 1440p, even Low settings only reach 137 FPS, so a 144Hz monitor would require 1080p and Low settings to fully saturate the refresh rate.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: The High preset shows a 79 FPS average at 1080p, dropping to 66 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 52 FPS at 4K. This represents a total loss of 27 FPS, or approximately 34.2%, from the 1080p baseline. The largest single step is between 1440p and 4K, accounting for 14 FPS of that loss.

Q: Does the game prefer more GPU memory at higher resolutions?

A: The RTX 4070 Ti features 12 GB of GDDR6X memory. The data shows that frame rates scale downward consistently as resolution increases, suggesting that the 12 GB capacity is sufficient to avoid memory-related stutters or crashes, as the performance drops are gradual and tied to compute load rather than sudden memory allocation failures.

Q: Is the Medium preset a good compromise between visual quality and performance?

A: The Medium preset offers the only complete dataset with minimum and maximum frame rates. At 1080p, it averages 110 FPS with a 93 FPS minimum, ensuring smooth gameplay. At 1440p, it averages 92 FPS with a 79 FPS minimum. At 4K, it averages 73 FPS with a 62 FPS minimum, which is the only 4K setting that maintains a minimum above 60 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti plays a dominant role in shaping The Medium’s performance profile, particularly as resolution and visual fidelity increase. The GPU’s 12 GB of GDDR6X memory, paired with a 192-bit memory bus, provides a bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s. This bandwidth appears adequate for the game’s texture streaming at 4K, as the frame rates do not exhibit catastrophic drops that would indicate memory swapping or paging issues. The 41 FPS average at 4K Ultra is low, but it is a steady low, suggesting the GPU is fully utilized rather than stalling.

The clock speeds of the RTX 4070 Ti, with a base of 2310 MHz and a boost of 2610 MHz, are relatively high, which helps maintain performance in a game that may not be perfectly multi-threaded on the CPU side. The GPU’s 7680 shading units and 80 ROPs are the primary drivers of pixel throughput, and the data shows a clear correlation between increased pixel count and reduced frame rate. The transition from 1440p to 4K at Medium settings results in a 19 FPS drop, which aligns with the 2.25x increase in pixel count, indicating a fill-rate limited scenario.

The RTX 4070 Ti’s 60 RT cores are largely irrelevant here, as The Medium does not heavily utilize real-time ray tracing according to the measured dataset. Instead, the GPU’s raw rasterization performance is what matters. The benchmark results for the GPU, such as a Passmark G3D score of 31624 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5024, place it in the 84th percentile of all GPUs, but the game’s engine seems to cap its potential, as evidenced by the 145 FPS ceiling at 1080p Low. This suggests the game is not optimized to exploit the full parallel throughput of the Ada Lovelace architecture, leaving the GPU partially idle at lower resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy for settings optimization. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, yielding 62 FPS at 1080p and 41 FPS at 4K. These numbers are below the 60 FPS target for a consistent experience, making Ultra viable only at 1080p for players who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate smoothness. The High preset offers a modest improvement, with 79 FPS at 1080p and 52 FPS at 4K, but still falls short of 60 FPS at 4K.

The Medium preset emerges as the optimal balance for this hardware. At 1080p, it delivers 110 FPS average with a 93 FPS minimum, providing a comfortable margin above 60 FPS and approaching high refresh rate territory. At 1440p, the 92 FPS average with a 79 FPS minimum ensures a smooth experience on standard 60Hz and 144Hz monitors. At 4K, the Medium preset’s 73 FPS average and 62 FPS minimum is the only configuration that maintains a playable frame rate without dipping below 60 FPS, making it the recommended choice for 4K displays.

The Low preset is useful for competitive or high-refresh-rate scenarios. At 1080p, it reaches 145 FPS, which is ideal for 144Hz monitors. At 1440p, it provides 137 FPS, still excellent for high refresh rates. However, the visual compromise is significant, and the data suggests that the Medium preset offers a superior experience for most users. For 4K, the Low preset’s 116 FPS is surprisingly high, but the graphical downgrade from Medium is likely too severe for a horror game that relies on atmospheric detail.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti combination holds a rank of 516 out of 3724 tested combos in The Medium. This places it in the top 13.9% of all configurations, indicating a strong performance tier. The percentile ranking is notable because it shows that while the CPU is not a top-tier part (it sits in the 72nd percentile of all CPUs), the GPU’s high standing (84th percentile) compensates for this, pushing the overall combo into the upper echelon of tested systems.

The combination’s rank is influenced by the game’s GPU-bound nature at higher resolutions. The CPU’s nearest rivals, such as the AMD EPYC 7643 and Intel Core i7-1355U, have similar average benchmark scores (18697 and 18730 respectively, with deltaPct values of -0.1% and -0.3%), but these are synthetic benchmarks that do not directly translate to gaming performance. In The Medium, the i5-12400’s 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient to avoid severe bottlenecks, as evidenced by the frame rate scaling, but they do not boost the combo to the very top ranks dominated by newer high-core-count processors.

The GPU’s nearest rivals further contextualize the rank. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile has a similar average score (45152 vs 44795, deltaPct -0.8%), yet the desktop RTX 4070 Ti’s sustained power delivery and cooling allow it to maintain performance in a desktop chassis, which is reflected in the 516th rank. The combo’s position suggests that while it is not the absolute fastest, it outperforms the vast majority of systems tested, making it a high-end solution for this specific title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset for the Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti in The Medium is as follows, with all values representing average frames per second unless otherwise noted.

At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset produces 62 FPS. The High preset increases this to 79 FPS, a 27.4% improvement. The Medium preset reaches 110 FPS, with a minimum of 93 FPS and a maximum of 126 FPS, representing a 77.4% improvement over Ultra. The Low preset peaks at 145 FPS, which is 133.9% higher than Ultra and 31.8% higher than Medium.

At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset drops to 52 FPS. The High preset yields 66 FPS, a 26.9% increase over Ultra. The Medium preset achieves 92 FPS, with a minimum of 79 FPS and a maximum of 106 FPS, marking a 76.9% improvement over Ultra. The Low preset reaches 137 FPS, which is 163.5% higher than Ultra and 48.9% higher than Medium.

At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset is the lowest at 41 FPS. The High preset produces 52 FPS, a 26.8% improvement. The Medium preset delivers 73 FPS, with a minimum of 62 FPS and a maximum of 83 FPS, representing a 78.0% improvement over Ultra. The Low preset achieves 116 FPS, which is 182.9% higher than Ultra and 58.9% higher than Medium.

The data reveals that the percentage gains from lowering settings are remarkably consistent across resolutions, with Medium offering roughly a 77% improvement over Ultra and Low offering roughly a 180% improvement over Ultra. This consistency indicates that the game’s graphical settings have a uniform impact on GPU load, independent of resolution. The Medium preset at 4K (73 FPS) is comparable to the High preset at 1080p (79 FPS), showing that resolution and settings can be traded off to achieve similar performance targets. The only anomaly is the Low preset at 1440p (137 FPS) versus Low at 1080p (145 FPS), which shows a smaller gap than expected, further suggesting a CPU limitation at these lower stress points.