The Medium

The Medium is a horror title that leans heavily on atmosphere, fixed camera angles, and a dual-reality mechanic that renders two worlds simultaneously. For the hardware combination of the Intel Core i5-12400F and the AMD Radeon RX 7700, benchmark data shows a system that is capable of smooth 1080p and 1440p play, but which struggles to maintain playable frame rates at 4K with higher settings. This analysis draws exclusively on measured results for this specific pairing, providing a practical breakdown for builders considering this configuration.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1920x1080 is the most reliable resolution, with average frame rates ranging from 41 FPS at Ultra to 115 FPS at Low. At 2560x1440, averages drop to between 34 FPS (Ultra) and 97 FPS (Low). At 3840x2160, only the Low preset achieves an average above 60 FPS, hitting 76 FPS, while Medium drops to 48 FPS.

Q: How does the RX 7700's 16 GB VRAM affect performance at high resolutions?

A: The RX 7700 has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 624.1 GB/s. At 3840x2160, the measured average frame rates are 34 FPS on High and 27 FPS on Ultra, indicating that while VRAM capacity is not the limiting factor, the GPU's compute power (25.18 TFLOPS FP32) is insufficient for smooth 4K gameplay at these settings.

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck in this game?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400F has 6 cores and 12 threads, with a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 12380 and single-core score is 1680. Given that frame rates scale predictably with resolution and settings changes, the data suggests the GPU is the primary constraint at higher resolutions, while the CPU provides adequate headroom for the game's dual-world rendering logic.

Q: What settings preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance?

A: At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers an average of 72 FPS with a minimum of 61 FPS, which is above typical 60 FPS targets. At 2560x1440, Medium averages 61 FPS with a minimum of 51 FPS. These are the highest settings that maintain playable averages without dipping below 60 FPS at 1080p.

Q: How does this combo rank against other tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 1307 out of 2911 tested combinations for The Medium, placing it in the 55th percentile of all tested systems. This indicates a mid-pack performance level, with the GPU's percentile rank at 58 and the CPU's at 73 relative to all other parts.

Q: Does the game benefit from the CPU's cache configuration?

A: The i5-12400F has 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per core of L2 cache. While no direct game-specific cache benchmarks exist in the data, the CPU's PassMark multi-thread score of 19433 and single-thread score of 3481 suggest sufficient processing capability for the game's fixed-camera scenes, which typically do not demand extreme CPU throughput.

How This Combo Ranks

The measured combo rank for The Medium places this pairing at 1307 out of 2911 tested combinations. This position, roughly in the middle of the distribution, reflects a system that is neither a high-end enthusiast build nor a budget compromise. The rank is determined solely by measured FPS results across the tested resolutions and settings, and the data shows a clear pattern: the system excels at 1080p, performs adequately at 1440p with medium settings, and falls short of 60 FPS at 4K except on the lowest preset.

This mid-pack ranking is consistent with the individual component percentiles. The CPU sits at the 73rd percentile compared to all CPUs, while the GPU is at the 58th percentile against all GPUs. The combination of a strong mid-range processor with a slightly below-average (in percentile terms) GPU creates a system where the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions. For comparison, the CPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS (average score 19047, 0% delta) and Intel Core 3 201E (average score 19056, -0.1% delta), showing the i5-12400F is well-matched with other mid-range processors. The GPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon R9 370X (average score 15862, -0.1% delta) and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (average score 16129, -1.7% delta), positioning the RX 7700 close to the RTX 3060 Ti but slightly behind in average benchmark score.

The rank of 1307 out of 2911 means that approximately 55% of tested combos perform better in The Medium, while 45% perform worse. This is not a leading-edge gaming system, but it is far from the bottom of the pile. Builders targeting 1080p or 1440p gaming with moderate settings will find this combo competitive; those aiming for 4K or max settings will need to look at higher-tier GPUs.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 is the dominant component in this pairing for The Medium. Its specifications paint a picture of a capable mid-range card: 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth, which is ample for the game's texture streaming and dual-reality rendering. The GPU's boost clock of 2459 MHz and game clock of 2041 MHz, based on a base clock of 1900 MHz, allow it to reach 25.18 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. This level of compute is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming but shows clear limits at 4K.

The measured FPS data illustrates the GPU's scaling. At 1920x1080, the card delivers 115 FPS on Low, 72 FPS on Medium, 51 FPS on High, and 41 FPS on Ultra. At 2560x1440, these numbers drop to 97, 61, 43, and 34 FPS respectively. At 3840x2160, the averages fall to 76 (Low), 48 (Medium), 34 (High), and 27 (Ultra). This pattern shows a consistent performance degradation as resolution increases, with the gap between Low and Ultra widening from 74 FPS at 1080p to 49 FPS at 4K.

The GPU's percentile rank of 58 indicates it performs slightly better than the median GPU in general benchmarks, but its nearest rivals show the competition is tight. The RX 7700's average benchmark score is 15852, with the AMD Radeon RX 9060 scoring 16014 (-1% delta) and the RTX 3060 Ti scoring 16129 (-1.7% delta). This places the RX 7700 in a competitive bracket, though the data shows it trailing the RTX 3060 Ti by a small margin in average scores. The GPU's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2865 and PassMark G3D score of 20974 provide additional context for its compute capabilities, which translate directly to the frame rates observed in The Medium.

The 16 GB VRAM is noteworthy because The Medium can be memory-hungry with its dual-world rendering. However, the FPS data does not show a sudden drop at 4K that would indicate a VRAM capacity issue; instead, the gradual decline across resolutions suggests the GPU's shader throughput is the bottleneck. The 2560 shading units and 160 texture mapping units process the game's visual effects, and the 96 ROPs handle pixel output. At 4K, the pixel rate of 236.1 GPixel/s is insufficient to maintain high frame rates on demanding settings, which explains the 27 FPS average on Ultra.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of this combo's performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. All numbers below are taken directly from the measured results.

At 1920x1080, the system achieves its best results. On Low settings, the average FPS is 115, which is well above any refresh rate concern. Medium settings yield an average of 72 FPS with a minimum of 61 FPS and a maximum of 83 FPS, providing a stable experience for standard 60 Hz monitors. High settings drop the average to 51 FPS, which is playable but may experience noticeable stutter on fast-moving scenes. Ultra settings produce an average of 41 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target but still playable for a slower-paced horror title.

At 2560x1440, performance decreases across the board. Low settings average 97 FPS, still excellent for competitive or smooth play. Medium settings average 61 FPS with a minimum of 51 FPS and a maximum of 70 FPS, which is borderline for 60 FPS gaming—the minimum occasionally dips below the target. High settings average 43 FPS, which requires a tolerance for lower frame rates. Ultra settings average 34 FPS, which is noticeably less smooth and may detract from the game's atmospheric tension.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles. Low settings average 76 FPS, which is playable and surprisingly strong for 4K. Medium settings average 48 FPS with a minimum of 40 FPS and a maximum of 55 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold but may be acceptable for a game with slower pacing. High settings average 34 FPS, and Ultra settings average 27 FPS. These latter two settings are not recommended for a smooth experience, as the frame rates fall into a range where motion judder becomes noticeable.

The data shows a clear pattern of diminishing returns with higher settings. At 1080p, the jump from Low to Medium costs 43 FPS (from 115 to 72), while the jump from High to Ultra costs 10 FPS (from 51 to 41). At 4K, the same Low-to-Medium transition costs 28 FPS (from 76 to 48), and High-to-Ultra costs 7 FPS (from 34 to 27). This suggests that the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, as it maintains frame rates above 60 FPS at 1080p and close to it at 1440p.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F plays a supporting role in this combo, but its specifications are important for understanding the system's overall behavior. This processor has 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. It is built on Intel's 10 nm process (Alder Lake architecture) and supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration. The CPU's TDP is 65 W, which is modest, and it uses the Intel Socket 1700.

In terms of raw compute, the i5-12400F delivers a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 12380 and a single-core score of 1680. Its Geekbench scores are 9472 multi-core and 1964 single-core. PassMark results show a multi-thread score of 19433 and a single-thread score of 3481. These numbers place the CPU at the 73rd percentile of all CPUs, indicating it is a solid mid-range performer. Its nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS (19047, 0% delta) and Intel Core 3 201E (19056, -0.1% delta), meaning the i5-12400F is essentially on par with these alternatives.

For The Medium specifically, the CPU's role is to handle the game's logic, AI, and the rendering of two simultaneous camera views. The game's fixed camera angles and pre-rendered backgrounds reduce the CPU load compared to open-world titles, but the dual-reality mechanic still requires consistent frame pacing. The i5-12400F's 12 threads provide enough parallelism for this task, and its boost clock of 4.40 GHz ensures responsive performance in single-threaded sections.

The measured FPS data does not show any CPU-related bottlenecks. If the CPU were limiting performance, we would expect frame rates to stay similar across resolutions, but the data shows a clear downward trend as resolution increases. At 1080p Low, the system hits 115 FPS, which is a high frame rate that would stress many CPUs, yet the i5-12400F handles it without issue. At 4K Ultra, the frame rate drops to 27 FPS, which is clearly GPU-bound. This indicates that the CPU is not the limiting factor in any of the tested configurations.

The CPU's cache configuration—80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 18 MB of shared L3—provides adequate data locality for the game's assets. The lack of an integrated GPU is irrelevant since the RX 7700 handles all graphics output. Overall, the i5-12400F is a competent partner for the RX 7700, providing enough processing power to avoid holding back the GPU at 1080p and 1440p while not being the reason for the 4K performance shortfall.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset is the clear recommendation for most users. At 1920x1080, Medium delivers an average of 72 FPS with a minimum of 61 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The minimum frame rate of 61 FPS ensures that even in demanding scenes, the game stays fluid. This is the best combination of visual quality and performance, as the High preset drops to 51 FPS average, which may introduce noticeable stutter, and Ultra falls to 41 FPS.

At 2560x1440, Medium remains the best option, averaging 61 FPS with a minimum of 51 FPS. The average is right at the 60 FPS target, but the minimum dips below it, suggesting occasional frame drops during intense moments. For players with adaptive sync monitors, this is acceptable; for those without, the Low preset at 97 FPS provides a much larger safety margin. The High preset at 43 FPS and Ultra at 34 FPS are too low for a smooth experience at this resolution.

For 3840x2160, the situation is more challenging. The Low preset averages 76 FPS, which is playable and provides a smooth experience for a horror game with slower pacing. The Medium preset averages 48 FPS, which is below 60 FPS but may be tolerable for some players. However, the minimum of 40 FPS can cause noticeable judder. High (34 FPS) and Ultra (27 FPS) are not recommended, as the frame rates are too low for enjoyable gameplay.

In summary, the Medium preset is the sweet spot for this combo at 1080p and 1440p. At 4K, players must choose between the Low preset for smooth performance or accept lower frame rates on Medium. The data does not support using High or Ultra settings at any resolution if maintaining a playable frame rate is a priority. For 1080p, Medium offers the best balance; for 1440p, Medium is recommended for those with adaptive sync, while Low is safer for standard monitors; for 4K, Low is the only viable option for consistent smoothness.