The Medium

# The Medium with Intel Core i5-12400F + AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT delivers a playable but inconsistent experience in The Medium, a horror title that demands more from the GPU as resolution climbs. This combination ranks 1287th out of 1689 tested combos, placing it in the lower half of the database. The data shows a system that handles 1080p Low comfortably but struggles to maintain smooth frame rates at higher resolutions and quality presets, with the GPU emerging as the primary bottleneck across most scenarios.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. Its base clock of 2.50 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz provide a solid foundation for gaming workloads. The CPU's 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 processor achieves a single-thread score of 909 in 3DMark and 2332 in Cinebench R23 single-core, indicating strong per-core performance that helps maintain frame pacing in games like The Medium.

The processor sits at the 77th percentile among all CPUs tested, with an average benchmark score of 19221. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-8700K, scores 19210 — a delta of just 0.1%. This means the i5-12400F essentially trades blows with a previous-generation high-end part, delivering comparable multi-threaded capability. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 5895 and max-thread score of 5912 show that the CPU scales well with additional threads, which is relevant for a game that may spawn background tasks. However, the data reveals that in The Medium, the CPU is rarely the limiting factor; at 1080p Low, the system reaches 90.3 FPS, suggesting the processor has headroom that the GPU cannot exploit at higher settings.

PassMark multi-thread performance of 19433 and Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 16518 indicate a capable mid-range CPU. The Ryzen 5 7533HS, another close rival, scores 19364 on average — a delta of -0.7% from the i5-12400F. This consistency across benchmarks suggests the CPU delivers predictable performance, but the game's frame rates at 4K Ultra (21 FPS) versus 1080p Low (90.3 FPS) show a massive 69.3 FPS swing that cannot be attributed to CPU limitations alone. The processor's 65 W TDP and dual-channel memory support (DDR4 or DDR5) round out a configuration that is more than adequate for this title's computational demands.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT is built on the RDNA 1.0 architecture using TSMC's 7 nm process, with a die size of 251 mm² containing 10,300 million transistors. The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock runs at 1605 MHz, with a game clock of 1755 MHz and boost clock of 1905 MHz. The memory operates at 1750 MHz, effectively 14 Gbps. With 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, the card achieves a pixel rate of 121.9 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 304.8 GTexel/s, with FP32 compute rated at 9.754 TFLOPS.

In synthetic benchmarks, the GPU scores 16277 in PassMark G3D and 73091 in Geekbench Vulkan, placing it at the 68th percentile among all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 24731 sits within 0.1% of the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile (24763) and 0.6% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile (24592). These rival comparisons show that while the RX 5700 XT is not a top-tier part, it holds its own against more recent mobile offerings. However, in The Medium, the GPU's limitations become apparent at higher resolutions. At 4K Ultra, the combo produces 21 FPS — a figure that drops below playable thresholds. The 8 GB VRAM buffer, while adequate for 1080p, appears strained at 4K with Ultra settings, where the game's demands exceed what this mid-range card can deliver.

The GPU's DirectX 12 score of 64 in PassMark is notably lower than its DirectX 11 score of 116, which could indicate driver overhead or architectural limitations in this specific title. The data shows that at 1080p Medium, the system achieves 54 FPS, but at 1440p Medium it drops to 49.6 FPS, and at 4K Medium it falls to 38.7 FPS. This scaling pattern points to the GPU as the dominant constraint, with the CPU providing sufficient headroom throughout.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases. At 1080p Low, the combo delivers 90.3 FPS, which drops to 73.4 FPS at 1440p Low (an 18.7% reduction) and further to 61.2 FPS at 4K Low (a 32.2% reduction from 1080p). This moderate drop at Low settings suggests the GPU is still capable of maintaining reasonable frame rates when the visual load is light. Moving to High settings, the system achieves 40.2 FPS at 1080p, 31.4 FPS at 1440p, and 25.8 FPS at 4K — a 35.8% drop from 1080p to 4K.

The Ultra preset tells a more concerning story. At 1080p Ultra, the combo manages 30.9 FPS, which falls to 29.5 FPS at 1440p Ultra, and bottoms out at 21 FPS at 4K Ultra. The relatively small difference between 1080p and 1440p Ultra (1.4 FPS) suggests the GPU is already saturated at 1080p with these settings, meaning the limiting component is unequivocally the graphics card. The 9.9 FPS gap between 1440p Ultra and 4K Ultra further confirms that the RX 5700 XT lacks the raw throughput to handle The Medium's most demanding configuration.

The scaling from Low to Ultra at any given resolution is steep. At 1080p, the difference between Low (90.3 FPS) and Ultra (30.9 FPS) is 59.4 FPS — a 65.8% reduction. This indicates that the game's Ultra settings introduce significant rendering costs, likely from volumetric effects and complex lighting that are common in horror titles. The data suggests that users seeking smooth gameplay should target 1080p Medium (54 FPS) or 1440p Low (73.4 FPS) as the sweet spots, while 4K remains viable only at Low settings (61.2 FPS).

How This Combo Ranks

With a combo rank of 1287 out of 1689 tested combinations, this pairing sits in the bottom 24% of the database. This ranking reflects the GPU's mid-range status more than the CPU's capability. The i5-12400F ranks at the 77th percentile among CPUs, while the RX 5700 XT ranks at the 68th percentile among GPUs — yet their combined performance in The Medium is dragged down by the game's demanding nature at higher settings.

The combination's performance profile shows that it outperforms many lower-tier pairings at 1080p Low, where 90.3 FPS is respectable. However, the rank of 1287 indicates that a substantial number of other combos deliver better results in this specific title. The nearest GPU rival, the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile, scores within 0.1% in synthetic benchmarks, suggesting that similar GPU pairings would likely occupy nearby ranks. The CPU's close rivals — the i7-8700K (0.1% delta) and Ryzen 5 7533HS (-0.7% delta) — produce nearly identical average scores, meaning the choice of CPU has minimal impact on the overall ranking when paired with this GPU.

The data indicates that this combo is best suited for 1080p gaming with moderate settings, or 1440p with Low presets. At 4K, only the Low preset (61.2 FPS) approaches playability, while Ultra (21 FPS) is effectively unplayable. The 1689 tested combos include both stronger and weaker configurations, and this pairing's rank reflects a balanced but unexceptional mid-range setup that prioritizes CPU headroom over GPU throughput.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1080p Medium (54 FPS) and 1440p Low (73.4 FPS) as the most balanced options. At 4K, only Low settings (61.2 FPS) are playable, while Ultra at any resolution drops below 31 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the primary bottleneck in this game?

A: The GPU is the limiting component. The FPS drops from 90.3 at 1080p Low to 21 at 4K Ultra (a 69.3 FPS decrease) while the CPU's synthetic scores remain strong, indicating the RX 5700 XT cannot keep pace with the i5-12400F's capabilities at higher settings.

Q: How does this combo compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The CPU trades within 0.7% of its closest rivals (i7-8700K at 0.1% delta, Ryzen 5 7533HS at -0.7%). The GPU sits within 0.9% of its nearest competitors, including the RTX A5000 Mobile (-0.1% delta) and RTX 5060 Mobile (0.6% delta). Performance in-game is consistent with these margins.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in The Medium?

A: Only at Low settings (61.2 FPS). Medium settings drop to 38.7 FPS, High to 25.8 FPS, and Ultra to 21 FPS, all of which are below smooth gameplay thresholds. 4K is not recommended beyond Low preset.

Q: What is the difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: The gap is substantial: 90.3 FPS at Low versus 30.9 FPS at Ultra, a 59.4 FPS difference. This indicates that Ultra settings impose significant rendering costs that the GPU cannot absorb at this resolution.

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

A: It ranks 1287th out of 1689 combos, placing it in the bottom 24% of the database. This reflects the GPU's mid-range standing (68th percentile) rather than the CPU's stronger position (77th percentile).