The Medium

The Medium is a fixed-camera horror title that leans heavily on atmosphere and art direction, and the benchmark data for the Intel Core i5-13400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 580 shows a combination that is fundamentally limited by the graphics card in most scenarios. This pairing, ranked 3394 out of 3724 tested combos for this specific game, places it in the lower tier of systems, meaning that while the CPU is a modern and capable part, the GPU’s age and architecture hold the entire experience back. The measured frames per second at every resolution and preset tell a consistent story: this is a setup for low-to-medium settings at 1080p, with any ambition beyond that requiring significant compromises.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 3394 out of 3724 tested combinations places this system in the bottom 9% of all pairings tested for The Medium. That is a stark figure, but it is not a reflection of the CPU. The Intel Core i5-13400F sits in the 77th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 25292. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS and the AMD Ryzen 7 6800H, both of which are within 0.4% of its average score, and the Intel Core 5 120 and AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D, which are 0.3% behind. In other words, the processor is performing exactly where it should be for a 10-core, 16-thread Raptor Lake part.

The GPU, however, is a different matter. The AMD Radeon RX 580 is in the 53rd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 12928. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile (0.1% behind), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER (0.4% behind), the AMD Radeon 740M (0.5% ahead), and the AMD FirePro W5100 (0.6% ahead). This places the RX 580 squarely in mid-pack territory for general compute, but The Medium’s specific demands push it down. The rank of 3394 out of 3724 is lower than either component’s individual percentile would suggest, indicating that the game’s rendering engine is particularly unfriendly to this GPU architecture.

The data shows a combo that is CPU-heavy relative to its GPU. The i5-13400F has a 3DMark max threads score of 7307 and a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 22604, which are strong numbers. The RX 580, with a Passmark G3D score of 8813, is merely average. When you pair a top-quartile CPU with a mid-pack GPU in a demanding horror title, the bottleneck is obvious. Every measured FPS row in the fact pack reflects this imbalance, with the GPU being the primary constraint at all resolutions and settings. The rank is not a surprise; it is the expected outcome of this specific hardware pairing.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 580 is built on the Polaris 20 chip, using the GCN 4.0 architecture on a 14 nm process from GlobalFoundries. It has 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 32 render output units. The GPU’s base clock is 1257 MHz with a boost clock of 1340 MHz, and the memory runs at 2000 MHz (8 Gbps effective) across a 256-bit bus. This provides 8 GB of GDDR5 memory with a bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s. Those are the specs that define its performance envelope, and they are old by current standards.

In The Medium, this GPU produces an average of 49 FPS at 1080p Low settings. That is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo in any measured scenario. At 1080p Medium, the average drops to 31 FPS, with a minimum of 26 and a maximum of 35. At 1080p High, it falls further to 22 FPS, and at 1080p Ultra, it is 17 FPS. The pattern is clear: the RX 580’s 8 GB of VRAM and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth are not the issue at lower presets, but the raw compute power of 6.175 TFLOPS FP32 is insufficient for the game’s higher graphical loads.

The texture rate of 193.0 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 42.88 GPixel/s are the physical limits here. The game’s fixed-camera angles and detailed environments require substantial pixel and texture throughput, and the RX 580 simply does not have enough. The GPU’s DirectX 12 support (12_0) is present, but the benchmark results show that it cannot leverage that API effectively in this title. The Vulkan 1.3 support is also there, but again, the measured FPS numbers indicate a hard ceiling. The GPU’s nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER, is only 0.4% ahead in average benchmark score, but that small edge does not translate into playable frame rates at higher settings in this game. The RX 580 is a capable 1080p card for older titles, but The Medium demands more than it can deliver at anything above Low.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and expected decline as resolution increases, but the magnitude of that decline reveals where the bottleneck lies. At 1080p Low, the combo averages 49 FPS. At 1440p Low, it drops to 41 FPS, a decrease of 8 FPS or roughly 16%. At 4K Low, it falls to 32 FPS, which is 35% lower than the 1080p figure. This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor, because a CPU-bound system would show less of a drop at higher resolutions.

The Medium settings tell the same story. At 1080p Medium, the average is 31 FPS. At 1440p Medium, it is 26 FPS, and at 4K Medium, it is 20 FPS. The minimum FPS at 1440p Medium is 22, and at 4K Medium it is 17. These are not playable numbers for a game that relies on slow, deliberate pacing, but they do show a consistent degradation. The High preset is worse: 22 FPS at 1080p, 18 FPS at 1440p, and 14 FPS at 4K. Ultra is nearly unplayable across the board, with 17 FPS at 1080p, 15 FPS at 1440p, and 11 FPS at 4K.

The resolution scaling suggests that the CPU is not the constraint. The i5-13400F’s 3DMark single thread score of 960 and Cinebench R23 single core score of 3191 are more than sufficient for this game’s logic and scene management. The fact that FPS drops by roughly 35% from 1080p to 4K at Low settings points directly at the GPU’s pixel fillrate and memory bandwidth. The RX 580’s 256.0 GB/s bandwidth is the same at all resolutions, but the number of pixels to fill quadruples from 1080p to 4K. The GPU cannot keep up, so the frame rate collapses. This is a textbook GPU-bound scenario, and the data confirms it.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 is the only resolution where the average FPS reaches playable levels. At 1080p Low, the average is 49 FPS. At 1440p and 4K, even Low settings drop below 41 FPS and 32 FPS respectively, so 1080p is the practical choice.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-13400F holding the RX 580 back?

A: No. The CPU has a 3DMark max threads score of 7307 and a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 22604, placing it in the 77th percentile of all CPUs. The GPU’s Passmark G3D score of 8813 and 53rd percentile rank indicate the GPU is the weaker component. The measured FPS scaling with resolution confirms the GPU is the bottleneck.

Q: Can this combo run The Medium at Ultra settings?

A: Technically yes, but not playably. At 1080p Ultra, the average FPS is 17. At 1440p Ultra, it is 15, and at 4K Ultra, it is 11. These numbers are below the threshold for a smooth experience, so Ultra is not recommended.

Q: How does the RX 580 compare to its nearest rivals in benchmark scores?

A: The RX 580 has an average benchmark score of 12928. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile is 0.1% behind, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER is 0.4% behind, the AMD Radeon 740M is 0.5% ahead, and the AMD FirePro W5100 is 0.6% ahead. These are all within a narrow band, but the game’s results still show the RX 580 struggling.

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p Medium?

A: The measured average is 31 FPS, with a minimum of 26 and a maximum of 35. This is the second-highest average FPS recorded for this combo, after 1080p Low’s 49 FPS.

Q: Does the GPU’s 8 GB of VRAM matter in this game?

A: The RX 580 has 8 GB of GDDR5 memory with a 256-bit bus and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth. The game’s performance at higher settings drops significantly, but the data does not show a VRAM capacity limit. The compute and fillrate limits appear to be the primary constraints.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the only preset that delivers a consistently playable experience is Low at 1080p, with an average of 49 FPS. That is the recommended starting point. The next step up, 1080p Medium, averages 31 FPS, which is playable but with noticeable dips to 26 FPS minimum. For a horror game where frame pacing matters for atmosphere, a minimum of 26 FPS is borderline.

The Medium settings at 1080p High produce an average of 22 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay. The Ultra preset at 1080p averages 17 FPS, which is a slideshow. At 1440p and 4K, no preset is playable. The 1440p Low average of 41 FPS is the only non-1080p result above 30 FPS, but even that is marginal. The 4K Low average of 32 FPS is technically above 30, but the frame time consistency is not measured, and the overall pattern suggests it will not feel smooth.

The practical advice from the data is to run 1080p Low for a stable experience, or 1080p Medium if you accept the lower average and minimum. The gap between Low and Medium is 18 FPS on average, which is substantial. The gap between Medium and High is only 9 FPS, but that drop pushes the experience into unplayable territory. The Ultra preset is not viable at any resolution. The GPU’s 6.175 TFLOPS FP32 and 42.88 GPixel/s pixel rate are the hard limits, and the settings recommendations reflect those physical constraints. If you want higher visual fidelity, you would need a different GPU, but within this combo’s measured data, Low at 1080p is the best experience.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor from the Raptor Lake architecture, built on Intel’s 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz, with a 20 MB shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory over a dual-channel bus, and it has a 65 W TDP. These specifications place it in the upper mid-range of desktop processors, and its benchmark scores confirm that.

In The Medium, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with scene data, handle game logic, and manage the fixed-camera transitions. The data shows that it does this without being a limiting factor. The 3DMark single thread score of 960 and Cinebench R23 single core score of 3191 indicate strong per-core performance, which is important for a game that may not fully utilize all 16 threads. The multi-threaded scores are also strong, with a 3DMark max threads score of 7307 and a Cinebench R20 multicore score of 8892. The Passmark multithread score of 25032 and Geekbench multicore score of 11068 further support the conclusion that the CPU is not the bottleneck.

The game’s measured FPS at 1080p Low is 49, which is higher than at any other resolution. If the CPU were the constraint, you would expect the FPS to remain roughly constant across resolutions, since the CPU’s workload does not scale with pixel count. Instead, the FPS drops as resolution increases, which proves the GPU is the limiting component. The CPU’s nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS and AMD Ryzen 7 6800H, both within 0.4% of its average score, and the Intel Core 5 120 and AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D, within 0.3%. This means the i5-13400F is performing exactly in line with its expected class, and there is no CPU-side deficiency affecting the game’s results.

The 10 cores and 16 threads are more than sufficient for a game like The Medium, which was released in 2021 and does not have the extreme thread scaling of modern simulators. The CPU’s 65 W TDP and Intel Socket 1700 platform are standard for this class, and the boost clock of 4.60 GHz ensures that single-threaded tasks are handled quickly. The benchmark results indicate that the CPU is a strong partner for any GPU, but in this specific combo, it is paired with a GPU that cannot keep up. The CPU’s 77th percentile ranking and average score of 25292 are far above the GPU’s 53rd percentile and 12928 average score, so the CPU is doing its job. The game’s performance is entirely dictated by the RX 580, and the CPU is not the reason this combo ranks 3394 out of 3724.