The Medium

The Medium presents a unique challenge for the Intel Core i5-12400F and AMD Radeon RX 9060 combination. The benchmark data reveals a configuration that is capable of delivering playable frame rates, but only when settings are managed carefully, as the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions and quality presets. This analysis examines the measured performance across various resolutions and settings, contextualizes the combo's standing against other tested systems, and provides actionable recommendations based on the data.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 clearly illustrates where the performance ceiling lies for this combo. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system achieves 101 FPS, but this drops to 85 FPS at 2560x1440 and then to 67 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 33.7% reduction in performance from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, indicating that the GPU is still managing the workload effectively at lower quality presets, though the scaling is not linear.

Moving to Medium settings, the drop becomes more pronounced. The system delivers 63 FPS at 1080p, 53 FPS at 1440p, and 42 FPS at 4K. The transition from 1080p to 1440p costs 15.9% of the frame rate, while the jump from 1440p to 4K costs another 20.8%. This steepening decline suggests that the Radeon RX 9060's 8 GB of memory and 128-bit bus are starting to struggle as pixel count increases, even at moderate quality settings.

The High preset shows a similar pattern but at lower absolute values: 45 FPS at 1080p, 38 FPS at 1440p, and 30 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 4K at High settings is exactly 33.3%, which mirrors the Low preset's scaling. However, at Ultra settings, the performance collapses more dramatically: 36 FPS at 1080p, 30 FPS at 1440p, and just 24 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 4K reduction at Ultra is 33.3% as well, but the starting point is so low that the 4K result becomes essentially unplayable.

The data indicates that the limiting component is the GPU, not the CPU. The Intel Core i5-12400F, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, maintains consistent performance across resolutions, as evidenced by the fact that frame rates scale with resolution changes rather than staying flat. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see similar frame rates at all resolutions for a given settings preset, which is not the case. The GPU's 8 GB VRAM capacity and 288.0 GB/s memory bandwidth are the constraining factors, particularly at 4K where the pixel throughput demands exceed what the card can deliver at higher quality settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12400F and AMD Radeon RX 9060 combination ranks 1648 out of 2911 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the 56.6th percentile of all systems tested. This is a solidly mid-pack result, indicating that while the combo is not a top-tier performer for this specific title, it is by no means a weak system either.

To contextualize this ranking, consider the individual components' standings. The CPU sits in the 73rd percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 19039. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS, scores 19047, a delta of 0%. The Intel Core 3 201E is 0.1% behind, and the Intel Core i5-1335U is 0.3% ahead. This suggests the i5-12400F is competitive with other mid-range processors, performing within a 0.3% margin of its closest competitors.

The GPU, however, is less impressive in relative terms. It sits in the 59th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 16014. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, scores 16129, meaning the RX 9060 is 0.7% behind that card. Interestingly, the AMD Radeon R9 370X and AMD Radeon RX 7700 are both 1% ahead of the RX 9060 in average score, while the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 is 2.1% ahead.

The gap between the CPU's 73rd percentile and the GPU's 59th percentile explains the combo's mid-pack ranking. The RX 9060 holds the system back relative to what the CPU alone might suggest. In a game like The Medium, which appears to be GPU-bound at higher settings, this imbalance becomes the defining characteristic of the combo's performance profile. The 1648th rank out of 2911 combos reflects this tension: the CPU is capable, but the GPU limits the overall experience in demanding scenarios.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run The Medium at 4K resolution?

A: Yes, but only at Low settings, where it achieves 67 FPS on average. At Medium settings, it drops to 42 FPS with a minimum of 35 FPS, and at High settings it falls to 30 FPS. Ultra settings at 4K produce just 24 FPS, which is not a playable experience.

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

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 provides the most consistent performance across all settings, with frame rates ranging from 36 FPS at Ultra to 101 FPS at Low. At 2560x1440, the system is still viable for Medium (53 FPS) and Low (85 FPS) presets, but High (38 FPS) and Ultra (30 FPS) become marginal.

Q: How does the RX 9060 compare to its closest GPU rival?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 9060 has an average benchmark score of 16014, which is 0.7% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti's score of 16129. The Radeon R9 370X and Radeon RX 7700 both score 1% higher, and the Radeon Pro W5500 scores 2.1% higher.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The GPU is the limiting factor. The frame rates scale significantly with resolution changes, which indicates a GPU bottleneck. The CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient to feed the GPU at all tested settings, as evidenced by the consistent scaling pattern.

Q: What is the minimum FPS at Medium settings across resolutions?

A: At 1920x1080 Medium, the minimum FPS is 53. At 2560x1440 Medium, it drops to 45 FPS. At 3840x2160 Medium, the minimum is 35 FPS. These figures suggest that Medium settings maintain playable minimums at 1080p and 1440p, but become risky at 4K.

Q: How does the CPU's single-thread performance compare to its multi-thread performance?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400F scores 1680 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 12380 in multi-core, a ratio of approximately 7.4:1. Its 3DMark single-thread score is 909, while max-thread score is 5912, a ratio of 6.5:1. This indicates strong multi-threading capability for a 6-core processor.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest results. Low settings produce an average of 101 FPS, which is the highest frame rate recorded for this system in any configuration. Medium settings yield 63 FPS on average, with a minimum of 53 FPS and maximum of 72 FPS, providing a comfortable margin above playability thresholds. High settings drop to 45 FPS average, while Ultra settings fall further to 36 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 65 FPS, showing that the quality preset has a massive impact on performance at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the performance curve shifts downward. Low settings still deliver a strong 85 FPS average, but Medium settings drop to 53 FPS with a minimum of 45 FPS and maximum of 61 FPS. High settings produce 38 FPS, and Ultra settings yield 30 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 55 FPS, slightly smaller than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is beginning to saturate at higher resolutions.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain playable frame rates at most settings. Low settings are the exception, delivering 67 FPS on average. Medium settings drop to 42 FPS, with a concerning minimum of 35 FPS. High settings produce exactly 30 FPS, which is on the edge of playability, and Ultra settings fall to 24 FPS, which is not a viable experience. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 43 FPS, showing that the GPU's performance ceiling is hit much sooner at this resolution.

The Medium settings row is the only one with complete data across all resolutions, providing minimum and maximum values. At 1080p, the range is 53-72 FPS, a 19 FPS spread. At 1440p, the range is 45-61 FPS, a 16 FPS spread. At 4K, the range is 35-48 FPS, a 13 FPS spread. This tightening range as resolution increases suggests that the GPU is becoming more consistently loaded, reducing frame time variance even as average performance drops.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with a Navi 44 chip manufactured on a 4 nm process at TSMC. It features 1792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation units, along with 28 ray tracing cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1700 MHz, a game clock of 2400 MHz, and a boost clock of 2990 MHz. These specifications translate to a pixel rate of 191.4 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 334.9 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance rated at 21.43 TFLOPS.

The memory subsystem is where the RX 9060 shows its limitations for The Medium. The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory operates at 2250 MHz with an 18 Gbps effective rate, but the 128-bit bus width restricts bandwidth to 288.0 GB/s. In a game that demands high texture fidelity, this bandwidth constraint becomes apparent at higher resolutions and settings. The 4K Ultra result of 24 FPS is likely a direct consequence of the GPU running out of memory bandwidth or capacity to handle the increased data throughput.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 16014 places it in the 59th percentile, with the nearest rival being the RTX 3060 Ti at 16129. The RX 9060's PassMark G3D score is 17631, but its DirectX 12 score is just 44, which is surprisingly low. This discrepancy suggests that the card's performance in synthetic benchmarks may not fully translate to real-world gaming, particularly in DirectX 12 titles like The Medium. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3322 and Geekbench Vulkan score of 39476 provide additional context, but the gaming-specific results in this dataset are what matter most.

CPU Role

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

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-12400F demonstrates solid performance for its class. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 12380, while single-core is 1680. The Geekbench multi-core score is 9472, and single-core is 1964. PassMark multi-thread score is 19433, with single-thread at 3481. The 3DMark scores show scaling from 909 single-thread to 5912 max-thread, indicating good multi-threading efficiency. These scores place the CPU in the 73rd percentile, with an average benchmark score of 19039.

In The Medium, the CPU's role is to provide consistent frame delivery without becoming a bottleneck. The data shows that the CPU is not limiting performance, as evidenced by the frame rate scaling with resolution changes. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect similar frame rates across resolutions at a given settings preset. Instead, the 1080p to 4K drops at each settings level indicate that the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient to handle the game's logic and draw calls, even at 4K, as the GPU still manages to produce 67 FPS at Low settings in that resolution.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the optimal experience for this combo in The Medium depends on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, Medium settings provide the best balance, with an average of 63 FPS and a minimum of 53 FPS. This ensures smooth gameplay with no significant drops below playability thresholds. While Low settings offer 101 FPS, the visual quality reduction may not be worth the performance gain for most users. High settings at 45 FPS are playable but leave little headroom, and Ultra at 36 FPS is marginal.

At 2560x1440, Medium settings remain the recommended choice, with an average of 53 FPS and a minimum of 45 FPS. This is a playable experience, though not as smooth as 1080p. Low settings at 85 FPS provide a much more comfortable margin and could be preferred for competitive or high-motion scenes. High settings at 38 FPS and Ultra at 30 FPS are not recommended, as they fall below the 40 FPS threshold that most users would consider acceptable for a horror title requiring immersion.

At 3840x2160, the options are limited. Low settings at 67 FPS are the only clearly playable option. Medium settings at 42 FPS with a 35 FPS minimum are technically playable but risk dropping into stutter territory during intense scenes. High settings at 30 FPS and Ultra at 24 FPS are not recommended for a smooth experience. Users with 4K displays should either accept Low settings or consider lowering the resolution to 1440p to use higher quality presets.

The data suggests that the RX 9060's 8 GB of VRAM is the primary constraint at higher settings and resolutions. The 288.0 GB/s bandwidth is insufficient for the demands of 4K Ultra textures, leading to the dramatic frame rate drops. Users who prioritize visual fidelity over resolution should choose 1440p Medium, while those who value smoothness above all should stick to 1080p Low. The Medium preset at 1440p appears to be the sweet spot for this hardware combination, offering a 53 FPS average with a reasonable 45 FPS minimum.