The Medium

The Intel Core i5-12400F is a 6-core, 12-thread desktop processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. It carries a 65 W TDP and is built on Intel's 10 nm process. In the context of The Medium, this CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The data shows its 3DMark single-thread score of 909 and multi-thread score of 5912 (max threads), which place it at the 77th percentile of all CPUs. When paired with a flagship GPU, the CPU's capability to sustain high frame rates becomes critical, especially at lower resolutions where the GPU is not the bottleneck. The processor's 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache help maintain consistent performance in the game's fixed-camera scenes, which often involve complex streaming of assets. Its average benchmark score of 19221 puts it nearly identical to the Intel Core i7-8700K (deltaPct 0.1%) and the Intel Core i5-1335U (deltaPct 0.3%), while being 0.7% slower than the AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS and 1.3% faster than the AMD EPYC 7773X. For a horror title like The Medium, which relies on fluid transitions between two simultaneous worlds, the CPU's 12 threads are sufficient to handle the game's background processes without becoming a limiting factor at 1440p and 4K, as evidenced by the FPS scaling patterns.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is the dominant component in this pairing. Built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a 5 nm process, it features 21,760 shading units, 170 RT cores, and 680 tensor cores. Its memory subsystem is massive: 32 GB of GDDR7 on a 512-bit bus, providing 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. The core clocks are 2017 MHz base and 2407 MHz boost, with memory running at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). This GPU posts a Passmark G3D score of 39650 and an average benchmark score of 84306, placing it in the 94th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D (deltaPct 0.1%), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile (deltaPct 0.2%), and the AMD Radeon PRO W6600 (deltaPct 1.3%), while it is 1.6% behind the NVIDIA CMP 40HX. In The Medium, the RTX 5090's raw compute power (104.8 TFLOPS FP32) and texture rate (1,636.8 GTexel/s) are directly responsible for rendering the game's dual-world mechanic, where two full scenes must be composited. The 32 GB VRAM capacity is far beyond what this 2021 title requires, meaning there is no memory capacity pressure; the limiting factor is instead the GPU's shading throughput and the game's engine optimization.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 143.9 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops this to 135.4 FPS, a reduction of 8.5 FPS, and then to 127.9 FPS at 4K Low, another 7.5 FPS drop. This gentle decline suggests that at Low settings, the CPU has enough headroom to keep the GPU fed even at 4K, but the GPU is still the primary limiter. The story changes dramatically at Ultra settings. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 78.5 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it falls to 63.6 FPS (a 19% drop), and at 4K Ultra, it plummets to 53.6 FPS (a 15.7% further drop). This steeper decline at higher settings indicates that the game's Ultra preset introduces effects that heavily tax the GPU's shading units and memory bandwidth. The gap between 1080p and 4K is largest at High settings: 99.9 FPS versus 63.9 FPS, a 36% reduction. This scaling behavior shows that the RTX 5090 is the bottleneck at all resolutions and settings tested, but the CPU's influence becomes more apparent at lower resolutions and settings. Specifically, the difference between 1080p Low (143.9 FPS) and 1440p Low (135.4 FPS) is only 8.5 FPS, while the difference between 1080p High (99.9 FPS) and 1440p High (81.2 FPS) is 18.7 FPS. This suggests that at Low settings, the CPU is beginning to cap the frame rate around 144 FPS, while at High settings, the GPU load is high enough to mask most CPU limitations.

Settings Recommendations

Analyzing the measured rows, the Medium preset at 1440p delivers 113 FPS, which is a strong balance between visual quality and performance. At 1080p, the Medium preset hits 122.7 FPS, while High drops to 99.9 FPS. For users targeting 60 FPS as a baseline, the 4K Medium preset (90.4 FPS) provides a comfortable margin above that threshold, whereas 4K High (63.9 FPS) is still playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes. The data indicates that the Ultra preset is the most punishing, costing a significant number of frames relative to High: at 1080p, Ultra (78.5 FPS) is 21.4 FPS slower than High (99.9 FPS); at 1440p, Ultra (63.6 FPS) is 17.6 FPS slower than High (81.2 FPS); and at 4K, Ultra (53.6 FPS) is 10.3 FPS slower than High (63.9 FPS). The Low preset is the only one that approaches 144 FPS at 1080p (143.9 FPS), but it sacrifices most visual features. Given the game's horror atmosphere, where visual fidelity contributes to immersion, the Medium preset at 4K (90.4 FPS) or High at 1440p (81.2 FPS) are the most sensible choices. The data shows that the jump from Medium to High at 4K costs 26.5 FPS (from 90.4 to 63.9), which is a 29% performance penalty for presumably modest visual gains. Conversely, the jump from High to Ultra at 4K costs only 10.3 FPS (from 63.9 to 53.6), but the absolute frame rate becomes too low for smooth gameplay on many displays.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achievable with this CPU and GPU combo in The Medium?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 143.9 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: Is the RTX 5090 or the Core i5-12400F the limiting factor at 4K Ultra settings?

A: The data shows 53.6 FPS at 4K Ultra, and the steep drop from 1080p Ultra (78.5 FPS) indicates the GPU is the primary limiter, as the CPU's relative performance does not degrade with resolution.

Q: How does the Core i5-12400F compare to its closest rival, the Intel Core i7-8700K?

A: The Core i5-12400F has an average benchmark score of 19221, which is 0.1% higher than the Intel Core i7-8700K's score of 19210, making them statistically equivalent in performance.

Q: What is the difference in performance between 1440p Medium and 4K Medium?

A: At 1440p Medium, the combo achieves 113 FPS, while at 4K Medium it achieves 90.4 FPS. This represents a 22.6 FPS drop when moving from 1440p to 4K at Medium settings.

Q: Can this system maintain a 60 FPS average at 4K with High settings?

A: Yes, the measured average at 4K High is 63.9 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold, though it does not leave a large margin for frame time spikes.

Q: Which resolution offers the largest performance gap between Low and Ultra settings?

A: At 1920x1080, the gap between Low (143.9 FPS) and Ultra (78.5 FPS) is 65.4 FPS, which is the largest absolute difference among all resolutions tested.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RTX 5090 and Core i5-12400F pairing delivers its highest performance across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 143.9 FPS, which is the peak measured result in the entire dataset. Medium settings reduce this to 122.7 FPS, a 21.2 FPS decrease. High settings yield 99.9 FPS, which is 22.8 FPS below Medium. Ultra settings are the most demanding, producing 78.5 FPS, which is 21.4 FPS lower than High and 65.4 FPS lower than Low. The 1080p results show a consistent step-down of roughly 21-23 FPS between each successive preset level, indicating that each quality tier adds a similar amount of GPU workload.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates shift downward across all settings. Low settings average 135.4 FPS, which is only 8.5 FPS slower than the 1080p Low result, showing that the GPU still has ample headroom at this resolution. Medium settings produce 113 FPS, a 9.7 FPS drop from 1080p Medium. High settings average 81.2 FPS, which is 18.7 FPS lower than 1080p High, indicating a more significant GPU load increase. Ultra settings fall to 63.6 FPS, a 14.9 FPS reduction from 1080p Ultra. The gaps between presets at 1440p are 22.4 FPS (Low to Medium), 31.8 FPS (Medium to High), and 17.6 FPS (High to Ultra), with the largest single drop occurring between Medium and High.

At 3840x2160, the 4K results show the most pronounced GPU limitations. Low settings average 127.9 FPS, which is 7.5 FPS below the 1440p Low result and 16 FPS below 1080p Low. Medium settings produce 90.4 FPS, a 22.6 FPS reduction from 1440p Medium. High settings average 63.9 FPS, which is 17.3 FPS lower than 1440p High. Ultra settings yield 53.6 FPS, the lowest measured result, which is 10 FPS below 1440p Ultra. The preset gaps at 4K are 37.5 FPS (Low to Medium), 26.5 FPS (Medium to High), and 10.3 FPS (High to Ultra). Notably, the gap between Medium and High at 4K is larger than the gap between High and Ultra, suggesting that the High preset's specific effects (likely shadows and reflections) are disproportionately expensive at this resolution. The 4K Ultra result of 53.6 FPS is the only measured configuration that falls below 60 FPS, indicating that this setting should be avoided for smooth gameplay.