The Medium

FAQ

Q: What is the overall rank of the Intel Core i5-12400F + AMD Radeon RX 580 combo in The Medium?

A: This combo ranks 1560th out of 1689 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom portion of the database for this game.

Q: Does the CPU outperform comparable processors in general benchmarks?

A: Yes. The i5-12400F has an average benchmark score of 19221, which is 0.1% ahead of the Intel Core i7-8700K (19210) and 0.3% ahead of the Intel Core i5-1335U (19167). It trails the AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS by 0.7% and beats the AMD EPYC 7773X by 1.3%.

Q: What is the GPU's relative standing among all graphics cards?

A: The RX 580 sits at the 53rd percentile among all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 13559 is essentially tied with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (13564, 0% delta) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 (13549, 0.1% delta).

Q: What is the best playable setting at 1920x1080?

A: Low settings deliver an average of 49.3 FPS, which is the only configuration above 30 FPS at this resolution. Medium settings drop to 33.3 FPS, while High yields 23.3 FPS and Ultra falls to 16.2 FPS.

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

A: Barely, and only at Low settings. At 3840x2160, Low produces 33.8 FPS average, but Medium drops to 19.6 FPS, High to 15.3 FPS, and Ultra to 13.5 FPS. None of the higher presets reach playable frame rates.

Q: How does the GPU's memory configuration affect performance?

A: The RX 580 features 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus with 256.0 GB/s bandwidth. Memory clocks run at 2000 MHz (8 Gbps effective). This capacity is sufficient for the game's assets, but the GPU's raw compute limits frame rates more than memory constraints.

How This Combo Ranks

The data places this combination at position 1560 out of 1689 tested combos for The Medium. That is the 92nd percentile from the top — meaning only about 8% of tested systems perform worse. This is a low-end pairing for this title, which is a demanding horror game with fixed camera angles and heavy post-processing.

To contextualize the rank, consider the CPU's general standing: the i5-12400F sits at the 77th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 19221. That is a solid mid-range processor by synthetic metrics. The bottleneck lies elsewhere. The RX 580, by contrast, sits at the 53rd percentile among all GPUs. The GPU's average score of 13559 places it near the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (13564, 0% delta) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 (13549, 0.1% delta), both of which are older architectures.

The disparity between CPU and GPU percentiles explains the low combo rank. The processor is capable of far more than the graphics card can deliver. In The Medium, the GPU becomes the limiting factor at every resolution above the lowest settings. The 1560th rank reflects this imbalance — the system is held back by graphics throughput rather than processing power.

Looking at the measured frames, the pattern is consistent: at 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves 49.3 FPS. At Medium, it drops to 33.3 FPS. At High, it falls to 23.3 FPS. At Ultra, it collapses to 16.2 FPS. The scaling from Low to Medium is a 16 FPS loss, while the jump from Medium to High costs another 10 FPS. This suggests the game's higher presets introduce effects that disproportionately tax the RX 580's 32 ROPs and 144 TMUs.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 580 is built on the Polaris 20 chip using GCN 4.0 architecture at a 14 nm process node. It packs 5,700 million transistors on a 232 mm² die, with a transistor density of 24.6M per mm². The GPU operates at a base clock of 1257 MHz and a boost clock of 1340 MHz. Memory runs at 2000 MHz with 8 Gbps effective speed, delivering 256.0 GB/s bandwidth across a 256-bit bus.

Compute resources include 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 32 raster operations pipelines. The pixel rate is 42.88 GPixel/s, texture rate is 193.0 GTexel/s, and FP32 throughput reaches 6.175 TFLOPS. These figures place the card at the 53rd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 13559. Its nearest rivals are the GTX 570 (13564, 0% delta) and GTX 950 (13549, 0.1% delta), confirming it operates in a performance tier that predates modern ray tracing hardware.

In The Medium, the GPU's role is decisive. At 2560x1440, the difference between Low and Medium is stark: 42.1 FPS versus 24.0 FPS. That is an 18.1 FPS drop for one preset step. At 3840x2160, the same comparison yields 33.8 FPS versus 19.6 FPS. The RX 580 simply lacks the fill rate and shader throughput to maintain fluid motion once volumetric lighting and shadow quality increase. The 8 GB VRAM is not the constraint — the compute units are.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy of playability. At 1920x1080, Low settings yield 49.3 FPS, which is the only preset that approaches smooth gameplay. Medium produces 33.3 FPS, which is borderline playable for a horror title where reaction time matters less than atmosphere. High drops to 23.3 FPS, and Ultra falls to 16.2 FPS — both are unsuitable for consistent play.

At 2560x1440, Low settings deliver 42.1 FPS, still above the 30 FPS threshold. Medium drops to 24.0 FPS, which is marginal. High (17.8 FPS) and Ultra (12.5 FPS) are not viable. At 3840x2160, only Low achieves a playable average at 33.8 FPS. Medium (19.6 FPS), High (15.3 FPS), and Ultra (13.5 FPS) all fall below acceptable levels.

The optimal configuration is 1920x1080 with Low settings, which provides the highest frame rate at 49.3 FPS. If visual fidelity is a priority, 1920x1080 Medium at 33.3 FPS is the best compromise — it keeps the experience above 30 FPS while improving lighting and texture detail. For users with 1440p displays, Low at 42.1 FPS is the only reasonable choice. 4K should only be attempted at Low, and even then, the 33.8 FPS average will feel stuttery during camera transitions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the measured averages are as follows: Low 33.8 FPS, Medium 19.6 FPS, High 15.3 FPS, Ultra 13.5 FPS. The drop from Low to Medium is 14.2 FPS, while the drop from Medium to High is 4.3 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra narrows to just 1.8 FPS, indicating diminishing returns at the highest preset.

At 2560x1440, Low delivers 42.1 FPS, Medium 24.0 FPS, High 17.8 FPS, and Ultra 12.5 FPS. The scaling from Low to Medium costs 18.1 FPS, the largest single-step drop across all resolutions. Medium to High costs 6.2 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 5.3 FPS.

At 1920x1080, the results are: Low 49.3 FPS, Medium 33.3 FPS, High 23.3 FPS, Ultra 16.2 FPS. The resolution scaling is consistent — moving from 1080p to 1440p at the same setting costs roughly 7 FPS at Low (49.3 to 42.1) and 9.3 FPS at Medium (33.3 to 24.0). Moving from 1440p to 4K at Low costs 8.3 FPS (42.1 to 33.8), but at Medium the cost is only 4.4 FPS (24.0 to 19.6), suggesting the GPU is already so saturated at 1440p that additional pixel count has less relative impact.

The highest measured average is 49.3 FPS at 1080p Low. The lowest is 12.5 FPS at 1440p Ultra. No configuration reaches 60 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Core 12th Gen series, built on Alder Lake architecture at a 10 nm process node. It features a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, with a TDP of 65 W. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB L1 per core, 1.25 MB L2 per core, and 18 MB shared L3. It supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in dual-channel mode, and connects via PCIe Gen 5 with 20 lanes.

Synthetic benchmarks show a strong processor. Cinebench R23 multi-core scores 16518, single-core 2332. Geekbench multi-core reaches 9138, single-core 2221. The 3DMark 16-thread score is 5895, while single-thread is 909. PassMark multithread is 19433 with a single-thread score of 3481. The average benchmark score of 19221 places it at the 77th percentile among all CPUs.

The nearest rivals confirm its position: the i7-8700K scores 19210 (0.1% slower), the i5-1335U scores 19167 (0.3% slower), the Ryzen 5 7533HS scores 19364 (0.7% faster), and the EPYC 7773X scores 18979 (1.3% slower). This is a competent mid-range chip.

In The Medium, however, the CPU is not the limiting factor. The game's frame rates are governed by the GPU at all tested settings. The evidence: at 1080p Low, the combo hits 49.3 FPS — a figure that suggests the CPU could push higher if the GPU allowed. The 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient for the game's threading model, which does not appear to scale beyond a handful of threads given the fixed-camera design. The 2.50 GHz base clock and 4.40 GHz boost provide adequate single-thread performance for the game's logic, but the RX 580's 6.175 TFLOPS FP32 throughput caps the overall experience. The CPU's 77th percentile standing versus the GPU's 53rd percentile illustrates the mismatch — the i5-12400F is ready for a more powerful graphics card, but paired with the RX 580, it waits.