The Medium

The Medium, a fixed-camera horror title built around dual-reality rendering, presents a distinctive workload that scales unusually well with the tested configuration of an Intel Core i5-12600KF and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. Analysis of the measured frame rates reveals a system where the GPU’s immense compute resources are the primary driver of performance, but the game’s engine introduces significant variance based on resolution and quality presets. The data indicates a combination that ranks in the top tier of all tested configurations, yet the frame pacing across settings shows that the game’s optimization profile is far from linear.

Resolution Scaling

The performance delta between 1080p and 4K is the clearest indicator of where the bottleneck lies for this pairing. At 1080p with Low settings, the average frame rate is 166.8 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops this to 154.3 FPS, a reduction of roughly 7.5%. The jump to 4K Low yields 142.2 FPS, which is a further 7.8% decline from the 1440p result. This relatively shallow scaling curve across a 4x increase in pixel count suggests that at lower graphical presets, the CPU is still capable of feeding the GPU adequately, but the RTX 4090 is not being pushed to its absolute limit.

The scaling behavior changes dramatically when the quality preset is elevated. At High settings, the 1080p average is 92.6 FPS, while 1440p High drops to 77.8 FPS (a 16% reduction). The 4K High result is 63.3 FPS, another 18.6% reduction from 1440p. This steeper slope indicates that the graphical load is beginning to saturate the GPU’s processing units. The Ultra preset amplifies this trend further: 1080p Ultra produces 77.8 FPS, 1440p Ultra falls to 64.7 FPS (a 16.8% drop), and 4K Ultra bottoms out at 49.1 FPS (a 24.1% drop from 1440p). The data shows that the limiting component transitions from a balanced CPU/GPU state at Low settings to a purely GPU-bound state at Ultra, where the 4K resolution imposes a nearly 37% performance penalty compared to 1080p Ultra.

Notably, the gap between Low and Ultra at the same resolution reveals the engine’s heavy reliance on pixel shading and memory bandwidth. At 1080p, the difference between Low (166.8 FPS) and Ultra (77.8 FPS) is a 53% reduction in frame rate. At 4K, that same Low-to-Ultra delta results in a 65% performance drop (142.2 FPS to 49.1 FPS). This suggests that the game’s higher presets introduce effects that are disproportionately expensive at higher resolutions, likely related to the dual-world rendering technique that requires simultaneous scene composition.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the benchmark database, this specific combination of the Intel Core i5-12600KF and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 achieves a combo rank of 36 out of 1689 tested configurations for The Medium. This places the system in the 97.9th percentile of all tested combos, indicating that it outperforms the vast majority of hardware pairings in this specific title. The rank is particularly impressive given that the CPU itself, while strong, is not the absolute fastest available. The processor holds an 84th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 27,827.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the Intel Core i9-10900K, which scores 27,829 (a 0% delta), and the Intel Core i5-12600K, which scores 27,851 (a -0.1% delta). This means the 12600KF is effectively performance-equivalent to its direct sibling and the older i9 flagship in general compute tasks. However, the GPU’s dominance is what boosts the combo ranking. The RTX 4090 holds a 91st percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 66,473. Its nearest rivals in GPU benchmarks, such as the NVIDIA Tesla T4 (66,733, -0.4% delta) and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 (67,097, -0.9% delta), are professional or workstation cards that do not represent typical gaming comparisons.

The data suggests that while the CPU is a capable partner, the combo’s high rank in The Medium is almost entirely attributable to the GPU’s raw throughput. The processor’s 10 cores and 16 threads, with a boost clock of 4.90 GHz, are sufficient to avoid becoming a significant constraint, but the game’s performance ceiling is dictated by the graphics card. The 36th place finish out of 1689 combos demonstrates that this pairing is near the apex of what is achievable for this title, with only a handful of configurations likely using faster CPUs or more specialized hardware.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achievable with this combo?

A: The maximum measured average frame rate is 166.8 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is the only configuration in the data set that exceeds 160 FPS.

Q: How does the Ultra preset affect performance at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average frame rate drops to 49.1 FPS. This is a 65% reduction compared to the 4K Low result of 142.2 FPS, confirming that the Ultra preset is extremely demanding at this resolution.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1440p High?

A: The data shows a 1440p High average of 77.8 FPS, which is identical to the 1080p Ultra average of 77.8 FPS. This coincidence suggests that the GPU is the primary limiter, as the frame rate remains constant despite a resolution change when the preset is adjusted to a comparable load.

Q: What is the performance difference between 1080p Medium and 1440p Medium?

A: At 1080p Medium, the average frame rate is 129.7 FPS. At 1440p Medium, it is 113.0 FPS. This represents a 12.9% reduction in frame rate when moving from 1080p to 1440p at the same quality setting.

Q: How does the combo rank compare to other tested systems?

A: The configuration ranks 36th out of 1689 tested combos for The Medium. This places it in the top 2.1% of all tested systems, indicating that it delivers near-top-tier performance for this specific game.

Q: Does the RTX 4090’s memory bandwidth help at 4K?

A: The GPU features 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s. The 4K Ultra result of 49.1 FPS suggests that this bandwidth is sufficient to maintain playable frame rates, though the dramatic drop from 4K Medium (88.7 FPS) implies that the Ultra preset’s additional memory pressure is substantial.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four quality presets. At 1920x1080, the frame rates range from a minimum of 77.8 FPS on Ultra to a maximum of 166.8 FPS on Low. The Medium preset at 1080p yields 129.7 FPS, while High produces 92.6 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a consistent degradation: Low (166.8), Medium (129.7), High (92.6), and Ultra (77.8). The step from Medium to High is the largest single drop at 28.6%, while the step from High to Ultra is a 16% reduction.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates compress slightly. The Low preset delivers 154.3 FPS, which is 12.5 FPS lower than the 1080p Low result. Medium at 1440p is 113.0 FPS, a 16.7 FPS reduction from 1080p Medium. High at 1440p is 77.8 FPS, matching the 1080p Ultra result exactly. Ultra at 1440p is 64.7 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is most severe on the Low preset, where the 12.5 FPS drop represents a 7.5% decrease, but the absolute FPS loss is highest on the Medium preset, where the 16.7 FPS drop is a 12.9% decrease.

At 3840x2160, the performance curve becomes significantly steeper. Low delivers 142.2 FPS, which is still an excellent result for 4K. Medium yields 88.7 FPS, representing a 37.6% drop from the Low preset. High produces 63.3 FPS, a 28.6% drop from Medium. Ultra is 49.1 FPS, a 22.4% drop from High. The cumulative effect of moving from Low to Ultra at 4K is a 65.5% reduction in frame rate, from 142.2 FPS down to 49.1 FPS. This shows that the Ultra preset at 4K is the most demanding configuration tested, while Low at 4K remains surprisingly playable due to the RTX 4090’s raw power.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the dominant component in this configuration, and its specifications directly explain the measured frame rates. The GPU operates with a base clock of 2235 MHz and a boost clock of 2520 MHz, built on the AD102 chip using a 5 nm process from TSMC. The 76,300 million transistors and 609 mm² die size provide the foundation for 16,384 shading units, 512 texture mapping units, and 176 raster output units. These raw numbers translate into a pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s, which are critical for the high-resolution rendering demands of The Medium.

The memory subsystem is equally important for this game. The 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s, with memory clocks running at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). This bandwidth is essential for the game’s dual-world rendering technique, where two distinct scenes must be composited in real-time. The 4K Ultra result of 49.1 FPS, while the lowest in the data set, still represents a playable experience, and the 4K High result of 63.3 FPS shows that the memory bandwidth is sufficient to handle the higher-quality textures and effects without causing a catastrophic drop.

The GPU’s benchmark data further contextualizes its role. The RTX 4090 achieves a Passmark G3D score of 38,194 and a Passmark GPU Compute score of 26,613, with an average benchmark score of 66,473. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 9,223 indicates strong DirectX 12 performance, which aligns with The Medium’s use of modern rendering APIs. The GPU’s 91st percentile ranking among all GPUs confirms that it is a top-tier part, and the measured FPS data in The Medium reflects this, with even the most demanding 4K Ultra preset staying above 45 FPS. The combination of high clock speeds, massive memory bandwidth, and a high shader count ensures that the RTX 4090 is the primary driver of the combo’s 36th place ranking, with the CPU acting as a sufficient but secondary partner.