The Medium

The Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 combination delivers a playable but demanding experience in The Medium, a horror title that clearly stresses both components. The data shows a system that is firmly mid-pack, ranking 1765th out of 2911 tested combos, placing it in the 60th percentile of all configurations. This pairing offers a foundation for 1080p gaming, but the measured frames per second reveal significant scaling challenges at higher resolutions and settings.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i5-12400 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The processor supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory across a dual-channel bus and connects via PCIe Gen 5 with 16 lanes. Its cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 18 MB of shared L3 cache.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-12400 demonstrates solid multi-threaded capability. It scores 15,989 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2,257 in single-core, while Geekbench results show 8,564 multi-core and 1,848 single-core. PassMark multi-thread performance is 18,747, with single-thread at 3,456. The 3DMark suite shows scaling from 910 in single-thread tests to 5,890 at max threads, indicating the processor can leverage its 12 threads effectively. This multi-threaded strength is relevant for The Medium, which is known for its fixed-camera angles and dual-reality rendering that can create CPU overhead.

The processor’s 72nd percentile ranking among all CPUs places it in the upper tier of desktop processors, but its nearest rivals show how tight the competition is. The AMD EPYC 7643 scores 18,697 (0.1% lower), the Intel Core i7-1355U scores 18,730 (0.3% lower), and the AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 scores 18,811 (0.7% lower). The Intel Core i3-14100F scores 18,519 (0.9% higher). These deltas are minimal, meaning the i5-12400 is statistically equivalent to several very different processors in raw compute, but its six physical cores provide a balance that avoids the bottlenecks seen in lower-core-count parts.

For The Medium, the CPU’s role is to maintain frame pacing and feed the GPU with draw calls. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 96 FPS, suggesting the processor can keep up with the GPU when graphical load is light. However, as resolution increases, the CPU becomes less of a limiting factor, and the GPU takes over. The lack of min FPS data for most settings makes it difficult to assess frame-time consistency, but the available Medium preset data shows a stable range (e.g., 51-69 FPS at 1080p), indicating the 12 threads handle the game's logic without severe hitches.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture using TSMC's 5 nm process, with a chip designated GB207. It contains 16,900 million transistors on a 149 mm² die, resulting in a transistor density of 113.4 million per mm². The GPU operates with a base clock of 2317 MHz and a boost clock of 2572 MHz, while memory runs at 2500 MHz (20 Gbps effective). It has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 320.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

The RTX 5050 includes 2,560 shading units, 80 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs, along with 20 RT cores and 80 tensor cores. Its compute capabilities include 13.17 TFLOPS of FP32 and FP16 performance, with a pixel rate of 82.30 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 205.8 GTexel/s. The card has a 130 W TDP and requires a 300 W power supply. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 17,326 in PassMark G3D and 9,184 in GPU compute, while 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 yields 2,502. Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan scores are 90,334 and 89,381, respectively.

The GPU’s 66th percentile ranking among all GPUs places it in the mid-range tier, but its nearest rivals reveal a crowded field. The AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL scores 21,153 (0.6% lower), the AMD Radeon HD 8970M scores 21,237 (1% lower), and the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile scores 21,379 (1.6% lower). The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT scores 20,713 (1.6% higher). These small deltas indicate the RTX 5050 is positioned near older mid-range parts in raw compute, but its modern architecture and 8 GB VRAM help in specific workloads.

For The Medium, the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. The 8 GB VRAM is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K, the memory bandwidth of 320.0 GB/s and the 128-bit bus become limiting factors. The data shows a steep drop from 64 FPS at 4K Low to 29 FPS at 4K High, which is a 54.7% reduction in performance. This pattern suggests the GPU's rasterization throughput, not VRAM capacity alone, is the main constraint, as even Low settings at 4K cannot maintain high frame rates.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in The Medium?*

A: 1080p is the only resolution where the combo achieves consistently playable frame rates across all settings. At 1080p Low, the average FPS is 96, while Medium yields 60, High produces 43, and Ultra drops to 34. 1440p and 4K show diminishing returns, with only Low settings exceeding 60 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival in multi-threaded performance?

A: The i5-12400 scores 18,747 in PassMark multi-thread, which is 0.1% higher than the AMD EPYC 7643 (18,697) and 0.3% higher than the Intel Core i7-1355U (18,730). It trails the AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 by 0.7% (18,811) and the Intel Core i3-14100F by 0.9% (18,519).

*Q: Is 8 GB of VRAM sufficient for The Medium at 4K?*

A: The measured data shows that at 4K Low, the combo achieves 64 FPS, but at 4K Medium it drops to 40 FPS and at 4K High to 29 FPS. The 8 GB capacity is not the only factor; the 128-bit memory bus and 320.0 GB/s bandwidth also limit performance, making 4K Ultra (23 FPS) unplayable.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 1440p, Low settings yield 81 FPS, while Ultra drops to 29 FPS. This represents a 64.2% reduction in average frame rate, indicating that Ultra settings impose a heavy load on the RTX 5050.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at 1080p?

A: At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 96 FPS, which is the highest measured average across all tests. This suggests the CPU can feed the GPU adequately at this resolution, but the lack of min FPS data prevents a full assessment of frame-time consistency.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400 with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 ranks 1765th out of 2911 tested combos, placing it in the upper-middle tier of all configurations tested for The Medium.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of how this combo scales across three resolutions and four settings. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest performance. Low settings produce an average of 96 FPS, which is the highest score in the entire dataset. Medium settings yield 60 FPS with a range of 51 to 69 FPS, indicating good frame pacing. High settings drop to 43 FPS, and Ultra falls to 34 FPS. This resolution is the only one where the combo maintains playable frame rates across all settings, though Ultra at 34 FPS is borderline.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance degrades noticeably. Low settings average 81 FPS, which is still smooth, but Medium drops to 51 FPS with a range of 43 to 58 FPS. High settings produce 36 FPS, and Ultra falls to 29 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium at 1440p is 30 FPS, showing that the GPU struggles as graphical complexity increases. At 1440p, only Low and Medium settings are viable for a consistent experience.

At 3840x2160, the combo is largely out of its depth. Low settings average 64 FPS, which is the only playable result at this resolution. Medium settings drop to 40 FPS with a range of 34 to 46 FPS, High produces 29 FPS, and Ultra falls to 23 FPS. The 4K results show a steep cliff between Low and Medium, with a 24 FPS drop. This indicates that the RTX 5050’s memory bandwidth and compute resources are insufficient for high-fidelity 4K rendering in The Medium.

The data also reveals that the Medium preset provides the most consistent frame times across all resolutions, as it is the only setting with min and max FPS values recorded. At 1080p, the range is 51 to 69 FPS (18 FPS spread), at 1440p it is 43 to 58 FPS (15 FPS spread), and at 4K it is 34 to 46 FPS (12 FPS spread). This consistency makes Medium the most predictable setting for maintaining frame pacing.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The scaling from 1080p to 4K highlights the GPU as the primary limiting component in this combination. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 96 at 1080p to 81 at 1440p (a 15.6% decrease) and then to 64 at 4K (a 33.3% decrease from 1080p). This gradual decline suggests that the GPU’s fill rate and shading units are being stressed, but the 8 GB VRAM and 320.0 GB/s bandwidth are still sufficient to maintain a playable frame rate.

At Medium settings, the scaling becomes more pronounced. The average FPS goes from 60 at 1080p to 51 at 1440p (a 15% drop) and then to 40 at 4K (a 33.3% drop from 1080p). The consistent percentage drop across these steps indicates a linear relationship between resolution and GPU load, which is typical for a rasterization-bound scenario. The min FPS values also scale proportionally, from 51 at 1080p to 43 at 1440p and 34 at 4K, showing that the GPU consistently struggles as pixel count increases.

High settings show the steepest relative drop. From 43 FPS at 1080p to 36 FPS at 1440p (a 16.3% drop) and then to 29 FPS at 4K (a 32.6% drop from 1080p). This suggests that High settings impose additional memory pressure, likely due to higher-resolution textures, which exacerbates the VRAM and bandwidth limitations. The drop from 1440p to 4K is 7 FPS, which is smaller than the 10 FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p, indicating that the GPU is approaching its architectural limits.

Ultra settings exhibit the worst scaling. From 34 FPS at 1080p to 29 FPS at 1440p (a 14.7% drop) and then to 23 FPS at 4K (a 32.4% drop from 1080p). The 4K Ultra result of 23 FPS is the lowest score in the dataset, confirming that this setting combination is not viable. The scaling pattern across all settings shows that the RTX 5050’s 128-bit memory bus is the critical bottleneck, as the percentage drops remain consistent regardless of settings, reinforcing that the GPU’s raw throughput, not CPU performance, determines frame rates at higher resolutions.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset offers the best balance between visual quality and performance for this combo across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers 60 FPS with a range of 51 to 69 FPS, which provides a smooth experience without the massive performance hit of High or Ultra. The consistency of the frame times, as shown by the min and max values, makes Medium the most predictable choice for avoiding stutter.

At 1440p, Medium produces 51 FPS with a range of 43 to 58 FPS. While this is below the 60 FPS threshold, it remains playable for a horror title where atmospheric tension is more important than competitive frame rates. High settings at 1440p drop to 36 FPS, which is noticeably less smooth, and Ultra at 29 FPS is borderline unplayable. Low settings at 1440p achieve 81 FPS, but they sacrifice visual fidelity in a game that relies heavily on lighting and shadow to create its horror atmosphere.

At 4K, the recommendation shifts to Low settings, which produce 64 FPS. Medium at 4K yields 40 FPS, which is playable but not ideal, while High (29 FPS) and Ultra (23 FPS) are not recommended. The 4K Low setting retains enough visual detail to be immersive while maintaining a frame rate that avoids the worst of the stuttering seen at lower FPS values.

For players prioritizing frame rate above all else, 1080p Low at 96 FPS is the smoothest option, but it undermines the game’s visual design. The Medium preset at 1080p is the recommended baseline, offering 60 FPS with consistent frame pacing. If a player has a 1440p monitor, Medium is still the best choice, as the 51 FPS average is sufficient for this genre. The data clearly shows that Ultra settings are not worth the performance cost on this hardware, as they provide diminishing visual returns while cutting frame rates by more than half compared to Medium.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The Intel Core i5-12400 with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 ranks 1765th out of 2911 tested combos in The Medium. This places the configuration in the upper-middle portion of the rankings, roughly in the 60th percentile. This rank reflects the combo’s ability to handle the game at lower resolutions and settings, but its struggles at 4K and Ultra settings prevent a higher placement.

The rank is consistent with the individual component percentiles: the CPU sits at the 72nd percentile among all processors, while the GPU is at the 66th percentile among all GPUs. The combo’s rank is slightly lower than either component’s individual percentile, suggesting that the GPU holds the pairing back in this specific game. The Medium’s fixed-camera angles and dual-reality rendering can be demanding on GPU memory bandwidth, which is a known weakness of the RTX 5050’s 128-bit bus.

Compared to the nearest rival GPUs, the RTX 5050’s performance is within 1.6% of the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT, which is an older card with different architectural strengths. This indicates that the RTX 5050 is not a significant upgrade over previous-generation mid-range parts in this title. The CPU, however, performs within 0.9% of the Intel Core i3-14100F, showing that the i5-12400’s extra cores do not provide a meaningful advantage in The Medium’s workload.

The rank of 1765 out of 2911 means that roughly 1,145 tested combos perform worse, while 1,765 perform better. This places the combo in the middle of the distribution, far from the top-tier configurations that can maintain 60 FPS at 4K Ultra, but also well above the low-end systems that struggle to reach 30 FPS at 1080p. For a mid-range desktop pairing, this rank is expected, and it confirms that the combo is best suited for 1080p gaming with medium settings, or 1440p with reduced graphical fidelity. The data does not support using this combo for high-refresh-rate 4K gaming, as even the best 4K result (64 FPS at Low) is below the 60 FPS threshold for many players.