The Medium

The Medium, a fixed-camera horror title from 2021, presents a demanding workload that scales significantly with both resolution and quality settings. This analysis examines the performance of the Intel Core i5-13400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT, based on measured frame rate data. The combination ranks 2362nd out of 3724 tested combos for this game, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database. The data reveals a system that can handle the game at 1080p and 1440p with adjusted settings, but struggles to maintain smooth frame rates at 4K, primarily due to the GPU's performance ceiling.

FAQ

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

A: Based on the measured FPS data, 1920x1080 is the most viable resolution. At this resolution, the combo achieves 60 FPS on Medium settings and 96 FPS on Low settings. At 2560x1440, performance drops to 51 FPS on Medium, and at 3840x2160, it falls to 40 FPS on Medium, making 1080p the only resolution where consistent 60+ FPS is achievable without dropping to Low settings.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Intel Core i5-13400F has an average benchmark score of 25292, which is nearly identical to its closest rivals. It is 0% different from the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS (25284), 0.4% faster than the AMD Ryzen 7 6800H (25201), and 0.3% slower than both the Intel Core 5 120 (25362) and AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D (25365). This indicates the CPU's performance is tightly grouped with these competitors.

Q: What is the GPU's performance percentile and how does it affect gaming?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT sits in the 60th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17083. In gaming, this places it as a mid-range performer. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, scores 17208, which is 0.7% higher, showing the RX 7600 XT is competitive with that card but not a top-tier solution, which aligns with its 4K performance struggles.

Q: Is the 16 GB of VRAM on the GPU a significant factor for this game?

A: The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus with 288.0 GB/s bandwidth. While this is a large memory pool, the game's performance data suggests that raw memory capacity is not the primary bottleneck. The FPS drops significantly at higher resolutions and settings, indicating that the GPU's processing power, rather than its VRAM capacity, limits performance in The Medium.

Q: What is the CPU's core and thread configuration?

A: The Intel Core i5-13400F has 10 cores and 16 threads, based on the Raptor Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. This configuration provides strong multi-threaded performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 22604, but the game's performance is more dependent on the GPU.

Q: Does the combo perform better at High or Medium settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Medium preset provides a significantly better experience. The Medium setting achieves an average of 51 FPS (with a min of 43 and max of 58), while the High setting only manages 36 FPS. This 15 FPS difference represents a substantial improvement in smoothness, making Medium the recommended choice for this resolution.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy of performance across the four presets at each resolution. For a balanced experience, the Medium preset is the optimal choice for this hardware combination in The Medium. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers an average of 60 FPS, with a minimum of 51 FPS and a maximum of 69 FPS. This is the only setting at 1080p that achieves a 60 FPS average without sacrificing visual quality to the Low preset, which reaches 96 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset is again the best option, though it requires a compromise. The average drops to 51 FPS, with a range of 43 to 58 FPS. While this is below the 60 FPS target, the Low preset at 1440p reaches 81 FPS, but the visual downgrade is substantial. The High preset at 1440p only manages 36 FPS, which is too low for smooth gameplay. Therefore, for users prioritizing a playable frame rate with moderate visual fidelity, Medium at 1440p is the recommended choice.

The 3840x2160 resolution presents a significant challenge. The Medium preset yields an average of 40 FPS, which is playable but not ideal, while the Low preset jumps to 64 FPS. The High and Ultra presets are not viable, with averages of 28 FPS and 23 FPS respectively. Given the data, users with a 4K display should either use the Low preset for a smoother experience or consider dropping to 1440p with the Medium preset for a better balance of quality and performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-13400F and AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT ranks 2362nd out of 3724 tested combinations for The Medium. This places the system in the 63rd percentile of all tested combos, indicating that while it is not a top-tier performer, it is also not among the lowest-performing systems. The ranking suggests that a majority of tested hardware configurations deliver better performance in this specific game.

This mid-pack ranking is consistent with the individual components' performance profiles. The GPU sits in the 60th percentile of all GPUs, and the CPU is in the 77th percentile of all CPUs. However, the game's performance appears to be heavily GPU-bound, as the measured FPS at high resolutions is low. The CPU's strong synthetic benchmarks, such as a Passmark multi-thread score of 25032, do not translate into high frame rates at 4K, confirming that the GPU is the limiting factor in this pairing.

In the context of the database, this combo's rank means that users should not expect high-refresh-rate or 4K gaming. The data shows it is a capable 1080p machine, and the rankings reflect that it is outclassed by many other combinations that can handle The Medium at higher settings and resolutions. For a horror game that relies on atmosphere, the 60 FPS at 1080p Medium is a reasonable baseline, but there is little headroom for future, more demanding titles.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a detailed look at how the system scales across resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the performance ranges from 96 FPS on Low to 34 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset is the standout, hitting exactly 60 FPS on average with a minimum of 51 and a maximum of 69. The High preset drops to 43 FPS, showing a steep falloff from Medium. This suggests that the jump from Medium to High includes effects that significantly tax the GPU.

Moving to 2560x1440, all settings see a performance reduction. The Low preset remains the highest at 81 FPS, followed by Medium at 51 FPS (min 43, max 58). The High preset drops to 36 FPS, and Ultra falls to 29 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is roughly linear for each preset, with a decrease of approximately 15-16% for Low, 15% for Medium, 16% for High, and 15% for Ultra.

At 3840x2160, the system is clearly overburdened. The Low preset is the only one that maintains a playable frame rate at 64 FPS. The Medium preset drops to 40 FPS (min 34, max 46), while the High preset manages just 28 FPS, and Ultra is nearly unplayable at 23 FPS. The data shows that 4K requires a significant reduction in settings to achieve smooth gameplay, and even then, the frame rate is not consistently high.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT is the primary determinant of performance in The Medium. With a boost clock of 2755 MHz and a game clock of 2470 MHz, the GPU's raw compute power is substantial for 1080p gaming. It features 2048 shading units and 32 ray accelerators, but the game's performance at higher resolutions suggests these resources are insufficient for 4K workloads.

The GPU's 16 GB of GDDR6 memory with 288.0 GB/s bandwidth is a notable feature. However, the measured FPS data indicates that the memory bandwidth is not a limiting factor, as the frame rates drop consistently with resolution increases, which points to a compute or fill-rate limitation. The GPU's pixel rate is 176.3 GPixel/s, and its texture rate is 352.6 GTexel/s, which are moderate figures that explain the performance cliff at 4K.

The RX 7600 XT's average benchmark score of 17083 places it in the 60th percentile. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, scores 17208, which is only 0.7% higher. This close benchmark parity, however, does not translate to identical gaming experiences, as driver optimizations and specific game engines can favor one architecture over another. In The Medium, the data shows the RX 7600 XT is a solid 1080p card but struggles to maintain 60 FPS at 1440p on higher presets.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F provides ample processing power for The Medium, but its role is secondary to the GPU in this title. With 10 cores and 16 threads, the CPU has a strong multi-threaded capability, reflected in its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 22604. The base clock of 2.50 GHz and boost clock of 4.60 GHz ensure that even single-threaded tasks are handled efficiently, as shown by the 3DMark single-thread score of 960.

The CPU's performance in synthetic benchmarks is closely matched by its rivals. Its average benchmark score of 25292 is within 0.4% of the AMD Ryzen 7 6800H and 0.3% of the Intel Core 5 120. This indicates that the i5-13400F is a balanced performer that will not bottleneck the GPU in most gaming scenarios. However, in The Medium, the frame rates at 1440p and 4K are so low that the CPU is unlikely to be the limiting factor.

The CPU's 20 MB of shared L3 cache and support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory provide a solid foundation for gaming. Yet, the measured FPS data shows that the CPU's capabilities are underutilized at higher resolutions. For example, at 4K Ultra, the system achieves only 23 FPS, which is far below what the CPU can support. This confirms that the GPU is the sole bottleneck in this configuration for this game.

Resolution Scaling

The scaling of performance from 1080p to 4K reveals the GPU-bound nature of this combo. At the Medium preset, the average FPS drops from 60 at 1920x1080 to 51 at 2560x1440, a decrease of 9 FPS. Moving to 3840x2160, the average drops further to 40 FPS, a total decrease of 20 FPS from 1080p. This scaling is consistent with a GPU that is being pushed beyond its limits, as the pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K.

Looking at the Low preset, the scaling is more dramatic. At 1080p, the system achieves 96 FPS, which drops to 81 FPS at 1440p and then to 64 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1440p to 4K is 17 FPS, which is a 21% reduction. This suggests that even at the lowest settings, the GPU is struggling to fill the 4K pixel count, indicating a hard limit on its render output capabilities.

The data shows that the limiting component is unambiguously the GPU. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see smaller FPS differences between resolutions, as the CPU workload remains relatively constant. Instead, the significant drops at higher resolutions—such as the 23 FPS at 4K Ultra compared to 34 FPS at 1080p Ultra—demonstrate that the RX 7600 XT cannot handle the increased pixel throughput. This analysis confirms that users should prioritize GPU upgrades for better performance in The Medium at higher resolutions.