The Medium

The Intel Core i5-13400F and AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT combination ranks 704th out of 1689 tested combos for The Medium, placing it in the upper-middle tier of the database. This position reflects a balanced pairing where neither component dramatically bottlenecks the other, though the benchmark data reveals that the GPU is the primary driver of performance across most settings. The combo sits just above the 58th percentile of all tested configurations, meaning a majority of systems will deliver lower frame rates, but a significant minority of high-end rigs will outperform it. The practical takeaway from the ranking is that this setup is positioned for smooth 1080p and acceptable 1440p play, with 4K requiring compromises that the measured frames per second (FPS) data makes clear.

How This Combo Ranks

The 704th rank out of 1689 combos indicates a solid mid-pack performer, not a top-tier enthusiast build but far from a low-end entry. In practical terms, the data shows this combo outperforms roughly 58% of all tested configurations for The Medium, which is a horror title that tends to favor GPU throughput over CPU muscle. The CPU’s own benchmark percentile of 82 versus all processors suggests it is a strong partner, but the GPU’s percentile of 73 against all graphics cards is the limiting factor in this pairing. When compared to its nearest rivals, the RX 7700 XT’s average benchmark score of 30097 is essentially tied with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 at 30109 (a 0% delta), so the combo’s rank is not held back by an unusually weak GPU sample. The Intel Core i5-13400F’s average score of 25236 is likewise within 0.5% of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D, indicating that the CPU is delivering expected performance for its class. The rank reflects a balanced system where the GPU’s 12 GB memory and 432.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for the game’s demands, but the Ultra preset at higher resolutions pushes the combo down the order.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the best experience is achieved at 1920x1080 with Medium settings, which yields an average of 78.3 FPS. This is a strong sweet spot: it is over 24 FPS faster than High settings at the same resolution (54 FPS) and only 46.5 FPS short of Low settings (124.8 FPS), but Medium typically preserves visual fidelity that Low sacrifices. At 2560x1440, Medium settings drop to 66 FPS, which is still playable, but High settings at 46.6 FPS begin to feel less fluid for a horror game where responsiveness matters. For 3840x2160, no preset achieves a consistently smooth frame rate; even Low settings only reach 85.3 FPS, but Medium falls to 52.6 FPS and High dips to 40.1 FPS, so 4K users should stick to Low or Medium depending on tolerance for stutter. The data suggests that Ultra settings are not viable at any resolution: the best Ultra result is 44.2 FPS at 1080p, and it falls to 30 FPS at 4K, which is below the threshold for comfortable play. A practical recommendation is to prioritize Medium at 1080p or 1440p, as it offers the most balanced frame rates without the steep performance penalty of High or Ultra.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1920x1080 delivers the highest average FPS across all settings, with Low reaching 124.8 FPS and Medium at 78.3 FPS, making it the most fluid resolution for this pairing.

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

A: At 3840x2160, the measured results are limited: Low settings average 85.3 FPS, Medium 52.6 FPS, High 40.1 FPS, and Ultra 30 FPS, so only Low is consistently smooth, while higher presets risk noticeable drops.

Q: How does the RX 7700 XT compare to its closest rival?

A: The RX 7700 XT’s average benchmark score of 30097 is essentially identical to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 at 30109, with a deltaPct of 0%, meaning they perform at the same level in synthetic tests.

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck for this GPU in this game?

A: The i5-13400F’s average benchmark score of 25236 is within 0.5% of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D, and its 82nd percentile ranking suggests it is not the limiting factor; the GPU’s 73rd percentile is the more likely constraint.

Q: What is the difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, Low settings average 124.8 FPS, while Ultra drops to 44.2 FPS, a difference of 80.6 FPS, indicating that Ultra demands far more GPU resources than the card can comfortably provide.

Q: Does the combo’s rank improve with lower resolution?

A: The rank of 704 out of 1689 is fixed for the combo, but the measured FPS data shows higher frame rates at lower resolutions, so the user experience is better at 1080p than at 1440p or 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RX 7700 XT and i5-13400F produce a wide spread of results. Low settings average 124.8 FPS, which is the highest of any preset at any resolution, making it ideal for high-refresh monitors. Medium settings average 78.3 FPS, a 46.5 FPS drop from Low but still comfortably above 60 FPS. High settings average 54 FPS, which is playable but not smooth for fast-paced scenes. Ultra settings average 44.2 FPS, the lowest at 1080p, showing a 64.4% reduction from Low. Moving to 2560x1440, the pattern holds but with lower absolute numbers: Low averages 105.1 FPS, Medium 66 FPS, High 46.6 FPS, and Ultra 39.9 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is most pronounced at Medium, where the 78.3 FPS falls to 66 FPS, a 15.7% decrease. At 3840x2160, the performance degrades further: Low averages 85.3 FPS, Medium 52.6 FPS, High 40.1 FPS, and Ultra 30 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is exactly 30 FPS, which is the minimum threshold for console-like play but often feels choppy. Across all resolutions, the gap between Low and Ultra widens as resolution increases: at 1080p the difference is 80.6 FPS, at 1440p it is 65.2 FPS, and at 4K it is 55.3 FPS. This indicates that the GPU’s 12 GB memory and 432.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for Low and Medium, but the shading units and texture rate (549.5 GTexel/s) struggle with the added pixel load of High and Ultra at higher resolutions.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT is the workhorse of this combo, and its specifications directly explain the measured FPS. It features 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 432.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is adequate for The Medium’s textures at 1080p and 1440p but becomes a limiting factor at 4K where the 30 FPS Ultra result shows the memory subsystem is overtaxed. The GPU’s boost clock of 2544 MHz and game clock of 2171 MHz drive its FP32 performance of 35.17 TFLOPS, which is why Low settings at 1080p can hit 124.8 FPS. The 3456 shading units and 96 ROPs handle the pixel workload, with a pixel rate of 244.2 GPixel/s, but the Ultra preset at 4K demands more than this can deliver. The GPU’s average benchmark score of 30097 places it in the 73rd percentile of all GPUs, and its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060, scores 30109 with a 0% delta, confirming that the card is performing at expected levels. The 245 W TDP and 2x 8-pin power connectors indicate a power-hungry part, but the data shows no thermal throttling artifacts in the FPS numbers. The PCIe 4.0 x16 interface is more than sufficient for the game’s data transfer needs, and the 5 nm process node from TSMC keeps the 28,100 million transistors efficient. The RT cores (54 total) are not directly benchmarked in the FPS data, but the game’s horror atmosphere likely benefits from them at lower settings where frame rates are higher.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F provides the processing backbone for this combo, with 10 cores and 16 threads running at a base clock of 2.50 GHz and boost clock of 4.60 GHz. Its L3 cache of 20 MB shared across the cores helps with game logic and asset streaming, but the measured FPS data indicates that the CPU is rarely the bottleneck. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 25236 places it in the 82nd percentile of all processors, and its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-13620H, scores 25201 with a 0.1% delta, showing the i5-13400F is slightly ahead. In synthetic tests, the multi-threaded Cinebench R23 score of 21279 and single-core score of 3004 suggest strong overall performance, but The Medium’s reliance on GPU rendering means the CPU’s 16 threads are not fully utilized at higher resolutions. The 65 W TDP and Intel Socket 1700 compatibility make it a practical choice for mid-range builds, and its DDR4 and DDR5 memory support offers flexibility. The CPU’s 3DMark scores show a scaling pattern from 1880 in 2-thread tests to 7314 in 16-thread tests, indicating good multi-threading efficiency, but the game’s FPS at 4K Ultra (30 FPS) is clearly GPU-limited, not CPU-limited. The 10 nm process node and 215 mm² die size are modest, but the data shows no CPU-induced frame drops, as even the lowest FPS results (30 FPS at 4K Ultra) align with GPU constraints rather than processor stalls. For this title, the i5-13400F is a quiet, capable partner that lets the RX 7700 XT do the heavy lifting, and its 82nd percentile ranking confirms it is well above average for gaming workloads.