The Medium

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS for The Medium at 1080p Medium settings with this combo?

A: The Intel Core i5-12600KF paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 delivers an average of 72 FPS at 1920x1080 with Medium settings, with a minimum of 61 FPS and a maximum of 83 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D?

A: The Intel Core i5-12600KF has an average benchmark score of 27799, while the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D scores 27896. The delta is -0.3%, meaning the i5-12600KF trails by just 0.3 percent in aggregate CPU benchmarks.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7700 sits in the 58th percentile among all GPUs, based on its average benchmark score of 15852.

Q: At which resolution does this combo achieve above 100 FPS?

A: The only measured configuration exceeding 100 FPS is at 1920x1080 with Low settings, where the average FPS reaches 115. At 2560x1440 Low, it drops to 97 FPS.

Q: What is the combo's overall rank in this game?

A: The combo ranks 1307 out of 2911 tested combinations for The Medium, placing it in the upper-middle portion of the tested field.

Q: Does the GPU support DirectX 12 Ultimate?

A: Yes, the AMD Radeon RX 7700 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), along with OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with a Navi 32 chip manufactured on a 5 nm process at TSMC. The GPU has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, producing a memory bandwidth of 624.1 GB/s. Its memory clock runs at 2438 MHz, which translates to 19.5 Gbps effective. The base clock is 1900 MHz, with a game clock of 2041 MHz and a boost clock of 2459 MHz. Compute resources include 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, 96 render output units, and 40 ray tracing cores. The pixel rate is 236.1 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 393.4 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance rated at 25.18 TFLOPS.

For The Medium, a horror game that relies heavily on fixed-camera angles and pre-rendered backgrounds, the GPU's memory subsystem is particularly relevant. The 16 GB VRAM capacity and 624.1 GB/s bandwidth provide ample headroom for the game's high-resolution textures and layered scene rendering. The measured FPS data indicates that the GPU's raw throughput becomes the primary constraint at higher settings. At 3840x2160, the average FPS drops from 76 on Low to 34 on High, a reduction of 42 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is even more pronounced: 76 FPS versus 27 FPS, a 64.5 percent decrease. This pattern suggests that the RX 7700's shading units and ROPs are the limiting factor when the game's visual fidelity settings increase the per-pixel workload.

The ray tracing cores are present, but The Medium's implementation of ray tracing is limited in scope; the benchmark data does not include separate ray tracing-specific scores. The GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support ensures compatibility with the game's rendering pipeline, but the measured results show that traditional rasterization performance dominates the outcome. The GPU's percentile ranking of 58 among all GPUs reflects its mid-range positioning, and the nearest rival comparisons underscore this: the Radeon RX 9060 scores 16014 (1 percent higher), while the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti scores 16129 (1.7 percent higher). The Radeon Pro W5500 trails at 15679 (1.1 percent lower). These margins are small, indicating that the RX 7700 sits in a tightly contested performance band.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for The Medium shows a clear and consistent scaling pattern across resolutions. Starting at 1920x1080 with Medium settings, the average FPS is 72. Moving to 2560x1440 Medium, the average drops to 61 FPS, a reduction of 11 FPS or approximately 15.3 percent. At 3840x2160 Medium, the average falls further to 48 FPS, another 13 FPS drop from 1440p, representing a 21.3 percent decrease. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at Medium settings results in a total loss of 24 FPS, or 33.3 percent.

The Low settings preset exhibits a steeper relative decline. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 115 FPS. At 1440p Low, it drops to 97 FPS (a 15.7 percent reduction), and at 4K Low, it reaches 76 FPS (a 21.6 percent reduction from 1440p). The total drop from 1080p to 4K on Low is 39 FPS, or 33.9 percent. This pattern indicates that even at the lowest settings, the GPU is still the dominant bottleneck as resolution increases.

For High settings, the progression is 51 FPS at 1080p, 43 FPS at 1440p, and 34 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 15.7 percent and 20.9 percent respectively. Ultra settings show 41 FPS at 1080p, 34 FPS at 1440p, and 27 FPS at 4K, with percentage drops of 17.1 percent and 20.6 percent. Across all settings presets, the resolution scaling behavior is remarkably uniform: the step from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 15-17 percent of performance, while the step from 1440p to 4K costs roughly 20-22 percent. This consistent scaling strongly suggests that the limiting component is the GPU's pixel throughput and memory bandwidth, not the CPU. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would remain relatively flat as resolution increases because the CPU workload is largely resolution-independent. Instead, the steady decline confirms that the RX 7700 is the constraining factor, with the 16 GB VRAM and 624.1 GB/s bandwidth proving sufficient at 1080p but increasingly taxed as pixel counts rise.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo demonstrates a wide performance envelope across the four settings presets. Low settings produce an average of 115 FPS, the highest measured value for this configuration. Medium settings yield 72 FPS average, with a minimum of 61 FPS and a maximum of 83 FPS. High settings drop to 51 FPS average, and Ultra settings fall to 41 FPS average. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 74 FPS, indicating that the game's quality settings have a substantial impact on the GPU workload even at the lowest resolution tested.

At 2560x1440, the performance tiers compress slightly. Low settings average 97 FPS. Medium settings average 61 FPS, with a minimum of 51 FPS and a maximum of 70 FPS. High settings average 43 FPS, and Ultra settings average 34 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 63 FPS. Notably, the minimum FPS values at Medium settings (51 FPS at 1440p) fall below the average FPS of High settings at the same resolution (43 FPS is the average, so the min of 51 exceeds that average by 8 FPS). This suggests that Medium settings provide a more consistent frame pacing relative to the average, though the data does not include min/max values for the other presets.

At 3840x2160, the combo's performance becomes marginal for smooth gameplay. Low settings average 76 FPS, which remains playable. Medium settings average 48 FPS, with a minimum of 40 FPS and a maximum of 55 FPS. High settings average 34 FPS, and Ultra settings average 27 FPS. The total range from Low to Ultra at 4K is 49 FPS. The 4K Medium minimum of 40 FPS indicates that frame drops can occur, but the average stays above 45 FPS. At High and Ultra, averages of 34 FPS and 27 FPS respectively fall below the 60 FPS threshold commonly considered smooth, and even below the 30 FPS minimum for consistent playability in the case of Ultra.

The measured data includes min/max values only for the Medium preset at each resolution. At 1080p Medium, the range is 61 to 83 FPS, a 22 FPS spread. At 1440p Medium, the range is 51 to 70 FPS, a 19 FPS spread. At 4K Medium, the range is 40 to 55 FPS, a 15 FPS spread. The narrowing range as resolution increases indicates that frame time variability decreases at higher resolutions, likely because the GPU is more consistently saturated.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium settings preset provides the most balanced experience across all three resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers 72 FPS average with a minimum of 61 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay without the need for Low settings. The jump to High settings at 1080p reduces the average to 51 FPS, which is still playable but introduces a 21 FPS penalty for the visual upgrade. Ultra at 1080p drops further to 41 FPS, which begins to approach the threshold where frame pacing becomes noticeable in a horror title that relies on atmospheric tension.

At 1440p, Medium settings produce 61 FPS average with a minimum of 51 FPS. This keeps the experience within the typical 60 FPS target for most of the runtime, though the 51 FPS minimum indicates occasional dips below that target. High settings at 1440p average 43 FPS, which is a 29.5 percent reduction from Medium. Ultra at 1440p averages 34 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold and may not provide a satisfactory experience. For users prioritizing frame rate consistency at 1440p, Medium is the recommended preset.

At 4K, Medium settings average 48 FPS with a minimum of 40 FPS. This is the only preset at 4K that maintains an average above 45 FPS. Low settings achieve 76 FPS, which is the highest at 4K, but the visual quality reduction may be significant. High settings at 4K average 34 FPS, and Ultra averages 27 FPS, both below the 30 FPS playability floor for many users. The data suggests that 4K playable performance requires Medium settings, and even then, the 40 FPS minimum means some scenes will dip below 45 FPS. For users with 4K displays who cannot tolerate frame rate drops, Low settings at 76 FPS are the safer choice. However, for the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, Medium at 4K is the highest preset that remains within a playable range.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12600KF is a 10-core, 16-thread processor from the Core 12th Gen series, built on the Alder Lake architecture with a 10 nm process node. It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz, with a TDP of 125 watts. The CPU supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in dual-channel configuration and provides PCIe Gen 4 with 20 lanes. Its cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 20 MB of shared L3 cache. The processor's launch MSRP was $264, and it features an unlocked multiplier for overclocking.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-12600KF demonstrates strong multi-threaded performance. It scores 23391 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 9824 in Cinebench R20 multi-core. In 3DMark, it achieves 7956 in the 16-thread test and 7952 in the max-thread test, indicating excellent scaling across its 16 threads. Single-thread performance is also solid, with a 3DMark single-thread score of 1016 and a Geekbench single-core score of 2157. The PassMark multi-thread score is 27575, and the single-thread score is 3925. The CPU's percentile ranking is 79 among all CPUs, placing it well above the median.

For The Medium, the CPU's role is secondary to the GPU, as evidenced by the resolution scaling data. The game's fixed-camera design and relatively modest CPU demands mean that the i5-12600KF's 10 cores and 16 threads are more than sufficient to feed the RX 7700 at all tested resolutions. The minimum FPS values at Medium settings (61 FPS at 1080p, 51 FPS at 1440p, 40 FPS at 4K) do not show signs of CPU-induced stuttering, which would manifest as inconsistent frame times regardless of resolution. Instead, the steady FPS decline with increasing resolution points to the GPU as the limiting factor. The CPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the Intel Core i9-10900K (average score 27872, delta -0.3 percent), the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D (average score 27896, delta -0.3 percent), and the AMD Ryzen 7 6800U (average score 27887, delta -0.3 percent). All three rivals are within 0.3 percent of the i5-12600KF's average score of 27799, indicating that this processor sits in a tightly competitive performance band. In the context of The Medium, any of these CPUs would likely produce nearly identical frame rates, as the game does not appear to be CPU-bound based on the available data.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12600KF combined with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 ranks 1307 out of 2911 tested combinations for The Medium. This places the combo in the 55th percentile of all tested systems, meaning it outperforms 55 percent of configurations while trailing 45 percent. The rank of 1307 out of 2911 puts this combo slightly above the median tested system, which is consistent with the individual component rankings: the CPU sits in the 79th percentile while the GPU sits in the 58th percentile.

The combo's rank is likely constrained by the GPU's mid-range positioning. The RX 7700's average benchmark score of 15852 and its 58th percentile ranking among all GPUs suggest that many other graphics cards in the database offer higher raw performance. The nearest rival comparisons for the GPU show a tight cluster: the Radeon R9 370X scores 15862 (0.1 percent higher), the Radeon RX 9060 scores 16014 (1 percent higher), and the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti scores 16129 (1.7 percent higher). The Radeon Pro W5500 scores 15679 (1.1 percent lower). With such small margins, the RX 7700's performance tier is well-defined, and the combo's rank of 1307 reflects that positioning.

The CPU's contribution to the combo rank is more favorable. The i5-12600KF's 79th percentile ranking and its average score of 27799 place it above the majority of processors in the database. The nearest CPU rivals are all within 0.3 percent, indicating that the CPU is not a differentiator in this combo's performance. The combination of a strong CPU and a mid-range GPU results in a system that ranks slightly above the median for The Medium. The data shows that the combo can achieve 115 FPS at 1080p Low and 72 FPS at 1080p Medium, which are respectable figures for a mid-range system. The 4K performance is more limited, with only Low settings exceeding 60 FPS, and Medium settings averaging 48 FPS. The combo's rank of 1307 out of 2911 is consistent with a system that delivers solid 1080p and 1440p performance while falling short of high-refresh 4K gaming. For users targeting 1080p or 1440p with Medium settings, this combo provides a playable experience, and the benchmark data confirms that the CPU is not the limiting factor at any resolution tested.