The Medium

The Medium presents a uniquely demanding workload for the Intel Core i5-12600KF and AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT combination. The data shows a fixed-camera horror title that scales heavily with GPU load, but the CPU still has a say at lower resolutions. This analysis breaks down the measured performance across resolutions and settings, placing the combo within the broader benchmark database.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound curve, but with an unexpected twist at the highest settings. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 at High settings drops average FPS from 69.8 to 54.4, a 22% reduction. The jump to 3840x2160 at High brings the average down to 43.6, representing a further 20% decline. This steady degradation is typical of a GPU struggling with pixel throughput, as the RX 9070 XT’s 16 GB of GDDR6 memory and 256-bit bus are pushed harder.

However, the scaling pattern changes dramatically when comparing Low settings across resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 151 FPS. Dropping to 1440p Low yields 122.9 FPS, and 4K Low still manages 96.7 FPS. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K at Low is 36%, which is significantly smaller than the 38% drop seen at High settings. This suggests that at Low, the bottleneck shifts slightly toward the CPU, particularly the i5-12600KF's 10 cores and 16 threads, which can feed frames faster than the GPU can render at 4K.

The most telling data point is at Ultra settings. At 1080p Ultra, the combo produces 55 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it falls to 45.5 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it bottoms out at 34.5 FPS. The scaling here is nearly linear with pixel count, indicating that the GPU’s shading units and ROPs are the limiting factor. The RX 9070 XT’s 4096 shading units and 128 ROPs are simply overwhelmed by the combination of high-resolution rendering and the game’s most demanding visual features.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT plays the dominant role in these results. Its boost clock of 2970 MHz and game clock of 2400 MHz provide substantial compute throughput, reflected in the 48.66 TFLOPS FP32 performance. The 16 GB VRAM capacity is more than sufficient for The Medium, even at 4K Ultra, where the game’s fixed-camera scenes and detailed textures demand large frame buffers. The 644.6 GB/s memory bandwidth ensures that texture streaming from the GDDR6 memory doesn’t become a bottleneck, which is critical for a game that relies on fluid scene transitions.

The GPU’s benchmark percentile of 82 places it above most tested graphics cards. Its nearest rivals in the database include the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 with a deltaPct of -0.6, meaning the RX 9070 XT performs within 1% of these cards on average. This is notable because the RX Vega 64 is an older architecture, but the data shows they cluster closely in synthetic benchmarks. In actual gameplay, however, the RX 9070 XT’s RDNA 4.0 architecture and 64 RT cores provide modern features that The Medium can leverage, particularly for its fixed-camera lighting effects.

The 4K Ultra result of 34.5 FPS is telling. It shows that even with a high-end GPU like the RX 9070 XT, The Medium at maximum settings is unplayable at 4K without upscaling. The 1080p Ultra result of 55 FPS is borderline, suggesting that the combination of the GPU’s 128 ROPs and the game’s heavy post-processing creates a hard ceiling. The data indicates that the GPU is the primary limiter in all scenes, but the CPU’s 3.70 GHz base clock and 4.90 GHz boost clock provide enough single-thread performance to avoid becoming a drag at 1080p Low.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 421st out of 1689 tested combinations in The Medium, placing it in the top 25% of all systems benchmarked. This rank reflects a balance between the i5-12600KF’s strong multi-threaded capabilities and the RX 9070 XT’s high-end rasterization performance. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 27827 puts it in the 84th percentile among all processors, with its nearest rival being the Intel Core i9-10900K, which scores 27829 with a deltaPct of 0. This means the i5-12600KF is effectively tied with the older i9 in synthetic tests, despite having fewer cores but a newer architecture.

The GPU’s average benchmark score of 39647 places it in the 82nd percentile, but its nearest rivals are surprising. The AMD Radeon Pro 575, NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile, and AMD Radeon Pro 575X all have average scores within 0.5% of the RX 9070 XT. This clustering suggests that the synthetic benchmark suite may not fully capture the RX 9070 XT’s capabilities in gaming workloads. In The Medium specifically, the combo’s rank of 421 out of 1689 indicates that it outperforms a majority of systems, but there are 420 combinations that achieve higher FPS.

Breaking down the rank by resolution, the combo performs relatively better at 1080p, where the CPU’s 3DMark single-thread score of 1016 and the GPU’s higher frame rates help it climb the rankings. At 4K, the rank likely falls due to GPU-bound performance, but the exact per-resolution ranks are not provided in this data. The overall rank of 421 is respectable for a mid-range CPU paired with a high-end GPU, and it suggests that the i5-12600KF is not severely bottlenecking the RX 9070 XT in this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its widest spread of performance. Low settings produce an average of 151 FPS, which is excellent for a horror game that benefits from smooth camera panning. Medium settings drop to 93.7 FPS, a 38% reduction from Low, indicating that medium-quality textures and shadows significantly increase GPU load. High settings yield 69.8 FPS, and Ultra brings the average down to 55 FPS. The 1080p Ultra result is playable but not ideal for a game that often uses dark, detailed environments where frame time consistency matters more than raw FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance curve shifts downward but remains playable at most settings. Low settings average 122.9 FPS, which is still above 120 FPS for high-refresh-rate monitors. Medium settings produce 78.7 FPS, a 36% drop from Low. High settings yield 54.4 FPS, and Ultra drops to 45.5 FPS. The 1440p Ultra result is the first point where the combo becomes marginal for smooth gameplay, as the fixed-camera angles can make frame drops more noticeable.

At 3840x2160, the results are mixed. Low settings average 96.7 FPS, which is surprisingly high for 4K and indicates that the RX 9070 XT’s 16 GB VRAM and 644.6 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for low-detail scenes. Medium settings drop to 61.6 FPS, a 36% reduction from Low. High settings average 43.6 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 34.5 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is below the 30 FPS threshold for some, but the 4K High result of 43.6 FPS is playable if the user is willing to accept lower visual fidelity.

The data shows a consistent pattern: Low settings across all resolutions provide a playable experience, with even 4K Low exceeding 60 FPS. Medium settings are viable at 1080p and 1440p, but 4K Medium at 61.6 FPS is borderline. High and Ultra settings are only recommended for 1080p and 1440p, with 4K requiring significant compromises. The gap between Low and Ultra at any given resolution is substantial, with 4K showing the largest absolute difference of 62.2 FPS between Low and Ultra.

FAQ

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-12600KF a bottleneck for the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT in The Medium?

A: The data suggests it is not a significant bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 151 FPS, indicating the CPU can feed the GPU efficiently. The 10-core, 16-thread design with a 4.90 GHz boost clock provides sufficient single-thread performance for this game.

Q: What is the best settings/resolution combination for a smooth 60 FPS experience?

A: Based on the measured FPS, 1440p Medium at 78.7 FPS or 1080p High at 69.8 FPS are the highest quality options that exceed 60 FPS. For 4K, only Low settings at 96.7 FPS achieve a comfortable margin above 60 FPS.

Q: How does the RX 9070 XT compare to its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64, in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RX 9070 XT has an average benchmark score of 39647, while the RX Vega 64 scores 39879, resulting in a deltaPct of -0.6. This means the RX 9070 XT is 0.6% slower on average in synthetic tests, despite being a much newer architecture.

Q: Is 16 GB of VRAM sufficient for The Medium at 4K Ultra?

A: Yes, the 16 GB GDDR6 memory is more than enough. The 4K Ultra result of 34.5 FPS is limited by the GPU’s compute and ROP throughput, not memory capacity. The 644.6 GB/s bandwidth also prevents texture streaming bottlenecks.

Q: What is the combo’s overall rank among all tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 421st out of 1689 total combinations tested in The Medium. This places it in the top 25% of all systems, indicating strong overall performance for this specific title.

Q: Does the CPU’s performance in 3DMark correlate with in-game results?

A: The i5-12600KF scores 7956 in 3DMark’s 16-thread test and 1016 in single-thread. These scores suggest strong multi-threading, but the in-game FPS at lower resolutions (151 FPS at 1080p Low) shows that the CPU can handle high frame rate scenarios without becoming a limiting factor.