The Medium

The Medium presents a fascinating stress test for the Intel Core i5-12600KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER. The benchmark data reveals a system that is highly capable at lower resolutions but struggles to maintain playable frame rates when pushed to 4K with maximum settings. The measured FPS across twelve distinct configurations offers a clear picture of where this combo excels and where its limitations become apparent.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and tells a clear story about the bottleneck in this system. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 99.1 FPS at 1920x1080 to 83.8 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 15.3 FPS, and then plummets to 66.7 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a total loss of 32.4 FPS from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the GPU is being increasingly taxed as pixel count rises.

The scaling becomes even more severe at higher quality presets. Moving from 1080p High (43.2 FPS) to 1440p High (38.1 FPS) costs only 5.1 FPS, but the jump to 4K High (32.6 FPS) results in a cumulative 10.6 FPS drop from the 1080p baseline. The Ultra preset shows the most punishing scaling curve: 33.9 FPS at 1080p, 32.9 FPS at 1440p, and a steep fall to 26.2 FPS at 4K. The data suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is doing more of the heavy lifting, while at 4K, the RTX 2070 SUPER becomes the limiting component, struggling to maintain fluid motion.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand scheme of tested combinations, this pairing sits at rank 1035 out of 1689 combos for The Medium. This places it in the lower-middle portion of the database, which is somewhat surprising given the individual component scores. The CPU ranks in the 84th percentile against all CPUs, while the GPU sits in the 65th percentile against all GPUs. The combination of a strong processor with a mid-range graphics card results in a system that performs below what the CPU alone might suggest.

The combo rank indicates that while the i5-12600KF has ample processing power, the RTX 2070 SUPER holds back the overall experience in this particular title. The game appears to be heavily GPU-bound, especially at higher resolutions and settings. The data implies that this combo is better suited for 1080p gaming, where it can leverage the CPU's strength, rather than for high-resolution or max-settings play.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. Its base clock runs at 1605 MHz with a boost clock of 1770 MHz. The GPU's memory runs at 1750 MHz, which translates to 14 Gbps effective. These specifications are directly reflected in the measured FPS, particularly at higher resolutions where memory bandwidth and capacity become critical.

At 4K Ultra, the game averages just 26.2 FPS, suggesting that the 8 GB VRAM buffer is likely being saturated by the game's high-resolution textures. The drop from Medium (42.6 FPS) to High (32.6 FPS) at 4K represents a significant 10 FPS penalty, indicating that the higher preset demands more from the GPU's shading units and memory system. The pixel rate of 113.3 GPixel/s and texture rate of 283.2 GTexel/s are respectable for the Turing architecture, but they are insufficient for maintaining 60 FPS at 4K in this horror title.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the most balanced experience comes from the Medium preset at 1920x1080, which delivers 65.4 FPS. This provides a smooth frame rate while still offering a visual quality improvement over Low settings. For players targeting 1440p, the Medium preset at 51.1 FPS is playable, though it dips below the 60 FPS threshold. The Low preset at 1080p achieves 99.1 FPS, which is ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors but sacrifices visual fidelity.

At 4K, the data strongly suggests that only the Low preset (66.7 FPS) is viable for consistent gameplay. The Medium preset at 4K (42.6 FPS) and High (32.6 FPS) fall into territory that may feel sluggish for action sequences. The Ultra preset should be avoided entirely at any resolution above 1080p, as even at 1080p it only manages 33.9 FPS. The sweet spot for this combo is clearly 1080p Medium or 1440p Low, depending on whether the user prioritizes resolution or visual effects.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1920x1080 as the optimal resolution, with the Medium preset delivering 65.4 FPS. This offers the best balance of smoothness and visual quality compared to other tested configurations.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in The Medium?

A: It can, but only at Low settings, which yields an average of 66.7 FPS. At Medium (42.6 FPS) and High (32.6 FPS), the frame rate drops significantly, making gameplay less fluid.

Q: How does the Ultra preset perform at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440 with Ultra settings, the combo averages 32.9 FPS. This is below the playable threshold and suggests that Ultra should be reserved for 1080p, where it achieves 33.9 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the main bottleneck at 4K?

A: The scaling data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor at 4K. The FPS drops from 66.7 at Low to 26.2 at Ultra, showing that the RTX 2070 SUPER cannot keep up with the increased pixel workload.

Q: What is the difference in FPS between Low and High at 1080p?

A: The Low preset averages 99.1 FPS, while High drops to 43.2 FPS. This represents a 55.9 FPS difference, highlighting the significant impact of preset selection on performance.

Q: Does this combo rank well against other configurations?

A: It ranks 1035 out of 1689 combos, placing it in the lower-middle range. The CPU's strong 84th percentile score is offset by the GPU's 65th percentile, resulting in a mid-pack overall performance.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12600KF brings substantial processing power to this pairing, with 10 cores and 16 threads running at a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. Its 20 MB of shared L3 cache and support for both DDR4 and DDR5 memory make it a versatile processor. The benchmark scores reflect its strength: a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 23444 and a single-core score of 3309, with a Geekbench multicore result of 12373.

In The Medium, the CPU's role appears to diminish as resolution increases. The 1080p Low result of 99.1 FPS suggests the CPU is capable of feeding frames rapidly, but the 4K results show the GPU becoming the primary constraint. The CPU's 3DMark 16-thread score of 7956 and max-thread score of 7952 indicate robust multi-threaded performance, which helps maintain consistent frame delivery even when the GPU is under heavy load. However, the game's engine seems to rely more on GPU throughput than CPU calculations at higher settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full spectrum of settings shows a wide performance range. Low settings deliver an average of 99.1 FPS, Medium achieves 65.4 FPS, High drops to 43.2 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 33.9 FPS. This represents a 65.2 FPS spread between the lowest and highest presets, giving players significant control over the visual-to-performance tradeoff.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages are 83.8 FPS for Low, 51.1 FPS for Medium, 38.1 FPS for High, and 32.9 FPS for Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 50.9 FPS, showing that the GPU struggles more at this resolution. At 3840x2160, the results are 66.7 FPS (Low), 42.6 FPS (Medium), 32.6 FPS (High), and 26.2 FPS (Ultra). The spread here is 40.5 FPS, the smallest of all tested resolutions, indicating that the GPU is reaching its limits across all settings.

The data reveals that the RTX 2070 SUPER's 8 GB of VRAM and 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth are sufficient for 1080p gaming but become strained at 4K. The CPU's strong single-thread performance (3DMark single-thread score of 1016) ensures that it never becomes a bottleneck at lower resolutions, but the GPU's 9.062 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power is simply not enough for max settings at high pixel counts. The overall picture is a system that offers excellent 1080p performance, acceptable 1440p performance with adjusted settings, and limited 4K capability that requires Low settings for a decent experience.