The Medium

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 occupies the 973rd position out of 1,689 tested combinations in The Medium, placing it near the middle of the database. This pairing of a 6-core, 12-thread Alder Lake processor with a 40-series Ada Lovelace GPU produces a playable but uneven experience, with results that shift dramatically based on the chosen settings and resolution. The data below breaks down exactly where this combo excels, where it struggles, and which configuration yields the most consistent frame rates.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F brings a 6-core, 12-thread configuration based on the Alder Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. Its base clock runs at 2.50 GHz with a boost clock reaching 4.40 GHz. The processor accesses an 18 MB shared L3 cache, supported by 1.25 MB of L2 cache per core and 80 KB of L1 cache per core. This CPU sits in the 77th percentile against all processors in the benchmark database, with an average benchmark score of 19,221.

In synthetic testing, the i5-12400F demonstrates a predictable scaling pattern. Single-thread performance in 3DMark reaches a score of 909, while 2-thread and 4-thread tests produce 1,699 and 3,067 respectively. The 8-thread test jumps to 4,779, and max-thread performance lands at 5,912. Cinebench R23 results show 2,332 in single-core and 16,518 in multi-core. The processor's nearest rivals in aggregate performance include the Intel Core i7-8700K at a 0.1% delta, the Intel Core i5-1335U at 0.3%, and the AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS at -0.7%. This places the i5-12400F in a tightly contested performance band where no single rival holds a decisive edge.

For The Medium specifically, the CPU's 6 physical cores and 12 threads are sufficient to feed the RTX 4060 at lower resolutions, but the data suggests the processor is not the primary constraint in this pairing. The 3DMark single-thread score of 909 indicates solid per-core capability, which matters for a horror title that often relies on draw calls and scripting logic. However, the measured frame rates show that GPU load dominates the experience, particularly as resolution increases. At 1080p Low settings, the combo reaches 106.4 FPS, but this drops to 41.1 FPS at Ultra, a pattern more consistent with GPU-bound rendering than CPU limitations.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture using TSMC's 5 nm process, with a chip designated AD107 containing 18,900 million transistors on a 159 mm² die. The GPU operates with a base clock of 1,830 MHz and a boost clock of 2,460 MHz. Memory consists of 8 GB of GDDR6 across a 128-bit bus, delivering 272.0 GB/s of bandwidth with memory clocks rated at 2,125 MHz (17 Gbps effective). The card includes 3,072 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 48 render output units, alongside 24 ray tracing cores and 96 tensor cores.

The RTX 4060 holds the 66th percentile among all GPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 23,181. Its nearest rivals show a tight grouping: the AMD Radeon RX 6600M trails by -0.6%, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti trails by -0.7%, the Intel Arc B580 leads by 0.7%, and the AMD Radeon 760M leads by 0.8%. This indicates the RTX 4060 sits in a crowded performance tier where results vary by only a few percentage points across competing hardware.

In The Medium, the GPU's 8 GB VRAM and 272.0 GB/s bandwidth become relevant when examining the resolution scaling data. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS collapses to 23.7, while 4K High manages 31.7 and 4K Medium reaches 44.7. The jump to 4K Low produces 70.6 FPS, showing that the card has enough raw throughput for playable frame rates at 4K only when graphical effects are minimized. The 128-bit memory bus appears to be a limiting factor at higher settings, where texture and shader demands outpace the available bandwidth.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling from 1080p to 4K. At Low settings, the combo delivers 106.4 FPS at 1080p, 93.8 FPS at 1440p, and 70.6 FPS at 4K. This represents a 33.6% drop from 1080p to 4K, which is relatively modest and suggests the GPU maintains efficiency when texture quality is low. The Medium setting shows a steeper decline: 68.5 FPS at 1080p, 55.7 FPS at 1440p, and 44.7 FPS at 4K, a 34.7% reduction overall.

High settings exhibit the most severe scaling penalty. The frame rate falls from 46.4 FPS at 1080p to 38.4 FPS at 1440p, then to 31.7 FPS at 4K, representing a 31.7% total drop. Ultra settings follow a similar trajectory: 41.1 FPS at 1080p, 34.3 FPS at 1440p, and 23.7 FPS at 4K, a 42.3% reduction. The Ultra preset at 4K falls below the 30 FPS threshold, making it unsuitable for smooth gameplay.

The scaling behavior indicates the RTX 4060 becomes the limiting component at higher resolutions and settings. The CPU's performance remains adequate across all tested configurations, as evidenced by the relatively consistent frame rates at 1080p Low versus 1440p Low. The bottleneck shifts to GPU memory bandwidth and shading throughput as resolution increases, with the 8 GB VRAM likely causing thrashing at 4K Ultra where the frame rate drops by nearly half compared to 1440p Ultra.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 ranks 973rd out of 1,689 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the 57.6th percentile of all configurations. This mid-pack ranking reflects the GPU's 66th percentile standing and the CPU's 77th percentile, suggesting the pairing underperforms relative to what each component achieves individually in other titles.

The benchmark data shows this combo is not optimized for this game's demands. At 1080p Ultra, the frame rate of 41.1 FPS is playable but far from smooth, while 1440p Ultra drops to 34.3 FPS and 4K Ultra becomes unplayable at 23.7 FPS. The processor's synthetic scores suggest it is not the weak link; rather, the RTX 4060's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit bus limit performance when the game's higher presets demand more memory bandwidth and capacity.

Compared to the GPU's nearest rivals, the RTX 4060 holds a slight edge over the AMD Radeon RX 6600M and GTX 780 Ti, but trails the Intel Arc B580 and AMD Radeon 760M. These marginal differences in aggregate scores translate to less than 1% variation, meaning the combo's ranking is more influenced by the game's specific engine characteristics than by raw component performance.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance for this combo. At 1080p Medium, the average frame rate of 68.5 FPS provides a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS target. Moving to 1440p Medium, the frame rate drops to 55.7 FPS, which remains acceptable for most players. The 4K Medium setting produces 44.7 FPS, a playable but less fluid experience.

The Low preset is the only configuration that delivers consistently high frame rates across all resolutions, with 106.4 FPS at 1080p, 93.8 FPS at 1440p, and 70.6 FPS at 4K. However, this setting sacrifices significant visual fidelity. The High preset falls short of 60 FPS at 1080p with 46.4 FPS and drops below 40 FPS at 1440p, making it a poor choice for smooth gameplay. Ultra settings should be avoided entirely, as even 1080p Ultra only reaches 41.1 FPS and 4K Ultra drops to 23.7 FPS.

For players prioritizing frame rate, the Medium preset at 1080p is the recommended configuration, offering nearly 70 FPS while retaining moderate visual quality. Those targeting 1440p should accept the Medium preset's 55.7 FPS, as the step to High costs 17.3 FPS and yields diminishing returns. The data clearly indicates that Ultra is not viable on this hardware for The Medium.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers 106.4 FPS on Low, 68.5 FPS on Medium, 46.4 FPS on High, and 41.1 FPS on Ultra. The gap between Low and Medium is 37.9 FPS, while the gap between Medium and High is 22.1 FPS, and High to Ultra is only 5.3 FPS. This suggests the High preset adds significant load without proportional visual benefit, while Ultra provides minimal improvement over High.

At 2560x1440, the results are 93.8 FPS on Low, 55.7 FPS on Medium, 38.4 FPS on High, and 34.3 FPS on Ultra. The Low to Medium drop is 38.1 FPS, Medium to High drops 17.3 FPS, and High to Ultra drops only 4.1 FPS. The 1440p data reinforces the pattern seen at 1080p: the performance cliff occurs between Low and Medium, while High and Ultra cluster together.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates are 70.6 FPS on Low, 44.7 FPS on Medium, 31.7 FPS on High, and 23.7 FPS on Ultra. The Low to Medium gap is 25.9 FPS, Medium to High is 13.0 FPS, and High to Ultra is 8.0 FPS. The 4K Ultra result of 23.7 FPS is the only measured configuration below 30 FPS, making it the single unplayable setting in the dataset. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at each preset shows a consistent GPU-bound pattern, with Low losing 35.8 FPS, Medium losing 23.8 FPS, High losing 14.7 FPS, and Ultra losing 17.4 FPS across the resolution range.