The Medium

# The Medium with Intel Core i5-12400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 delivers a playable but resolution-sensitive experience in The Medium, a horror title from 2021. Across the measured configurations, this combo ranks 1765th out of 2911 tested combinations, placing it in the lower-middle tier of the database. The data reveals a system that handles 1080p comfortably at Medium settings, struggles to maintain 60 FPS at higher presets, and becomes increasingly GPU-bound as resolution climbs. The following analysis breaks down how this pairing behaves across resolutions, settings, and component workloads.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings, indicating that the RTX 5050 is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions. At Medium settings, the average frame rate falls from 60 FPS at 1920x1080 to 51 FPS at 2560x1440, a 15% reduction, and then to 40 FPS at 3840x2160, a further 21.6% drop from the 1440p figure. This progressive decline suggests the GPU's 8 GB VRAM and 320.0 GB/s bandwidth are increasingly strained as pixel count grows.

At Low settings, the scaling pattern is similar but with higher absolute values: 96 FPS at 1080p, 81 FPS at 1440p (a 15.6% drop), and 64 FPS at 4K (a 21% drop from 1440p). The percentage reductions are nearly identical between Low and Medium, which implies that the rendering load scales proportionally with resolution regardless of quality preset. This is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario where the CPU has ample headroom.

The High preset tells a more concerning story. From 43 FPS at 1080p to 36 FPS at 1440p (a 16.3% drop) and then 29 FPS at 4K (a 19.4% drop from 1440p), the system never reaches 60 FPS at any resolution. At Ultra settings, the situation worsens: 34 FPS at 1080p, 29 FPS at 1440p, and 23 FPS at 4K. These figures indicate that High and Ultra presets are simply too demanding for this GPU in The Medium.

The data suggests that 1080p is the sweet spot for this combo, with 1440p being marginal and 4K only viable at Low settings. The consistent percentage-based scaling across presets points to the GPU as the bottleneck; if the CPU were limiting, we would expect to see smaller FPS differences between 1440p and 4K as the GPU becomes saturated. Instead, the uniform scaling pattern is classic GPU-bound behavior.

FAQ

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

A: Based on the measured data, 1920x1080 is the only resolution where the system achieves 60 FPS or higher, doing so at both Low (96 FPS) and Medium (60 FPS) settings. At 2560x1440, the maximum average FPS is 81 (Low), while at 3840x2160, the maximum is 64 (Low).

Q: Can this system run The Medium at 60 FPS on High settings?

A: No. The highest average FPS recorded at High settings is 43 at 1080p, dropping to 36 at 1440p and 29 at 4K. No measured configuration at High settings reaches 60 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 5050 compare to its nearest rival GPUs?

A: The RTX 5050 has an average benchmark score of 21035, placing it 0.6% behind the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL (21153), 1% behind the AMD Radeon HD 8970M (21237), and 1.6% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT (20713). It also trails the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile by 1.6%.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-12400F a bottleneck for this GPU?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU's 3DMark max-thread score is 5912 and single-thread score is 909, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 12380. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 96 FPS, which suggests the CPU can feed the GPU adequately at lower resolutions. The uniform FPS scaling across resolutions points to GPU saturation rather than CPU limitation.

Q: What is the difference between Medium and High settings at each resolution?

A: At 1080p, Medium averages 60 FPS versus 43 FPS for High (a 39.5% difference). At 1440p, Medium averages 51 FPS versus 36 FPS for High (a 41.7% difference). At 4K, Medium averages 40 FPS versus 29 FPS for High (a 37.9% difference). The consistent gap suggests High settings add a significant, uniform rendering load across all resolutions.

Q: Does the RTX 5050's VRAM capacity affect performance in The Medium?

A: With 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, the RTX 5050 has a bandwidth of 320.0 GB/s. At Ultra settings, the system drops to 34 FPS at 1080p and 23 FPS at 4K, which likely reflects both the memory bandwidth ceiling and the GPU's overall compute limits. The steep drop from Medium to Ultra suggests that texture and shader demands exceed what the 8 GB buffer can efficiently handle.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 ranks 1765th out of 2911 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the 39th percentile of all tested systems. This means roughly 39% of tested combinations perform worse, while 61% perform better. The ranking reflects the RTX 5050's mid-tier position; the GPU sits at the 66th percentile among all GPUs, while the CPU rests at the 73rd percentile among all CPUs.

The CPU's nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS (19047, 0% delta), the Intel Core 3 201E (19056, -0.1% delta), the Intel Core i5-1335U (18982, 0.3% delta), and the AMD EPYC 7773X (18979, 0.3% delta). These scores are all within 0.3% of each other, indicating that the i5-12400F's processing power is broadly comparable to a range of desktop and mobile parts, though the 12400F's 6 cores and 12 threads with a 4.40 GHz boost clock give it a solid foundation for gaming workloads.

The GPU's nearest rivals are more varied in performance class. The RTX 5050's average benchmark score of 21035 places it near the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL (21153, -0.6% delta), the AMD Radeon HD 8970M (21237, -1% delta), the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT (20713, 1.6% delta), and the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile (21379, -1.6% delta). The RX 5600 XT being only 1.6% behind is notable, as it suggests the RTX 5050's performance in this game is not dramatically ahead of older mid-range parts.

The combo's rank of 1765 suggests that while individual components are mid-tier, their pairing does not boost the system above the median in this specific title. The Medium's horror genre often features complex lighting and shadow effects, which can disproportionately impact GPU performance, and the measured FPS data confirms this system struggles with higher presets.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its best results. Low settings produce an average of 96 FPS, Medium produces 60 FPS with a minimum of 51 FPS and maximum of 69 FPS, High produces 43 FPS, and Ultra produces 34 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 36 FPS, while the gap between Medium and High is 17 FPS, and between High and Ultra is 9 FPS. This diminishing return pattern is typical; each step up in quality costs less in absolute FPS but represents a larger percentage loss relative to the remaining headroom.

At 2560x1440, performance drops noticeably. Low settings average 81 FPS, Medium averages 51 FPS (min 43, max 58), High averages 36 FPS, and Ultra averages 29 FPS. The Medium preset at 1440p offers a playable 51 FPS, but the minimum of 43 FPS indicates occasional dips below the 48 FPS threshold that some players consider the floor for smooth gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the system is clearly overextended for anything above Low. Low settings average 64 FPS, Medium averages 40 FPS (min 34, max 46), High averages 29 FPS, and Ultra averages 23 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K has a minimum of 34 FPS, which would result in visible stuttering during intense scenes. The Ultra preset at 23 FPS is effectively unplayable for most users.

Across all resolutions, the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience, providing 60 FPS at 1080p with a minimum of 51 FPS. The High and Ultra presets consistently fail to reach 60 FPS even at 1080p, and the Low preset, while fast, sacrifices visual quality that may matter in a horror game where atmosphere is key.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 features 2560 shading units, 80 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs, with 20 RT cores and 80 tensor cores. Its base clock is 2317 MHz with a boost clock of 2572 MHz, and it operates at a pixel rate of 82.30 GPixel/s with a texture rate of 205.8 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance is 13.17 TFLOPS, which is modest for a 50-series card but sufficient for 1080p gaming in most titles.

The 8 GB GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 320.0 GB/s of bandwidth. In The Medium, this memory configuration appears to be a limiting factor at higher settings. The transition from Medium to High at 1080p costs 17 FPS (from 60 to 43), which is a larger absolute drop than the transition from Low to Medium (36 FPS difference but from a higher baseline). This suggests that High settings invoke memory-intensive features that the 8 GB buffer cannot efficiently handle, leading to more pronounced performance degradation.

The GPU's benchmark scores reinforce its mid-range positioning. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 2502, and its Passmark G3D score is 17326. In comparison to its nearest rivals, the RTX 5050's average benchmark score of 21035 is 1.6% higher than the RX 5600 XT, which is a notable data point. However, in this game, the RTX 5050's performance at 4K High (29 FPS) and 4K Ultra (23 FPS) indicates that the card is not designed for high-resolution, high-fidelity gaming in demanding titles.

The GPU's 66th percentile ranking among all GPUs means it outperforms two-thirds of the database's GPUs. Yet, in The Medium specifically, the combo's 1765th rank out of 2911 shows that the game's requirements push this card harder than average. The RTX 5050's 20 RT cores suggest ray tracing capability, but The Medium's measured data does not include ray tracing metrics, so its impact cannot be assessed from this pack.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, fabricated on Intel's 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, with 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1.25 MB of L2 cache per core, and 18 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration, and its 65W TDP makes it a power-efficient choice for a gaming system.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-12400F scores 12380 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 1680 in single-core. Its Geekbench multi-core score is 9472 with a single-core score of 1964. The 3DMark scores show scaling from 909 (single-thread) to 5912 (max-threads), which indicates reasonable multi-threading efficiency. The Passmark multi-thread score of 19433 and single-thread score of 3481 place it in a competitive position among mid-range CPUs.

The CPU's 73rd percentile ranking among all CPUs is higher than the GPU's 66th percentile, suggesting that the processor is relatively stronger than the graphics card. In The Medium, this means the CPU is less likely to be the bottleneck. The measured FPS data supports this: at 1080p Low, the system achieves 96 FPS, which is a high enough frame rate that a weaker CPU would likely struggle to maintain. The consistent FPS scaling across resolutions further confirms that the GPU is the limiting component.

The i5-12400F's nearest rivals in average benchmark score are all within 0.3% of each other, including the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS (19047, 0% delta), the Intel Core 3 201E (19056, -0.1% delta), and the Intel Core i5-1335U (18982, 0.3% delta). This tight clustering suggests that the i5-12400F's performance is well within the expected range for a 6-core/12-thread modern processor, and its 4.40 GHz boost clock provides adequate single-thread performance for gaming workloads.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset at 1920x1080 is the recommended configuration for this combo. It delivers an average of 60 FPS with a minimum of 51 FPS and a maximum of 69 FPS, providing a smooth experience that stays above the 48 FPS threshold for most of the time. The 51 FPS minimum is acceptable for a horror game where slower pacing is common, and the 60 FPS average matches standard display refresh rates.

For players with 1440p monitors, the Medium preset at 2560x1440 is the highest quality option that remains playable, averaging 51 FPS with a minimum of 43 FPS. The 43 FPS minimum is below the 48 FPS threshold and may cause noticeable dips during demanding scenes, but the overall experience is acceptable for those prioritizing resolution over smoothness. Alternatively, dropping to Low at 1440p provides 81 FPS, which is well above 60 FPS and offers a much more comfortable margin.

At 4K, the Low preset is the only viable option, averaging 64 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K averages 40 FPS with a minimum of 34 FPS, which is too low for a consistent experience. High and Ultra at 4K are effectively unplayable, with averages of 29 FPS and 23 FPS respectively.

For players who value visual fidelity in a horror game's atmospheric environments, the High preset at 1080p (43 FPS) might be tempting, but the 17 FPS drop from Medium to High is substantial. The data suggests that Medium provides the best balance of quality and performance for this system, as it maintains 60 FPS at 1080p while offering a significantly better visual experience than Low. The Ultra preset should be avoided entirely, as it yields only 34 FPS at 1080p and 23 FPS at 4K, which is below the threshold for acceptable playability in most cases.