The Medium

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i5-13400F is a 10-core, 16-thread desktop processor built on the Raptor Lake architecture. It runs at a 2.50 GHz base clock and boosts up to 4.60 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. This combination of physical cores and high boost frequency matters for The Medium because the game is a horror title that often shifts between two simultaneous rendered worlds — a mechanic that can load multiple threads heavily. Benchmark results show the CPU holding its own in synthetic tests: a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 22604 and a single-core score of 3191 indicate strong all-around throughput.

The processor's cache layout includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 20 MB of shared L3 cache. That L3 pool is shared across all cores, which helps when the game's engine distributes tasks between the performance and efficiency cores. In the measured FPS data, the CPU does not appear to be the limiting factor at lower resolutions where frame rates are high. At 1080p Low settings, the combo averages 101 FPS, which suggests the processor can feed the GPU adequately even when the graphics load is light.

The i5-13400F's 3DMark results reinforce this picture. A 16-thread score of 7314 and a max-thread score of 7307 show that scaling from 8 to 16 threads yields minimal gains — the chip's multitasking headroom is already saturated. The single-thread score of 960 is modest, but The Medium's fixed-camera angles and scripted sequences do not demand extreme per-core performance. The CPU's 77th percentile ranking among all CPUs places it in the upper tier of processors, and its average benchmark score of 25292 sits within 0.4% of the AMD Ryzen 7 6800H and essentially tied with the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS. This means the i5-13400F provides a balanced foundation for the game, though the GPU will ultimately determine playability at higher settings.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This specific pairing of the Intel Core i5-13400F with the AMD Radeon RX 9060 achieves a rank of 1648 out of 2911 tested combinations in The Medium. That places it in the 56th percentile of all combos — squarely in the middle of the pack. The rank reflects the aggregate performance across all measured resolutions and settings, and it indicates that while this system is capable, it does not sit at the top of the hierarchy for this particular game.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 16014 is remarkably close to its nearest rivals. The RX 9060 trails the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti by just 0.7% and sits 1% ahead of both the AMD Radeon R9 370X and the AMD Radeon RX 7700. This clustering means the combo's rank is driven more by the GPU than the CPU, since the i5-13400F's average score of 25292 is nearly identical to its direct competitors. The CPU's nearest rivals — the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS, Intel Core 5 120, and AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D — all sit within 0.4% of each other, so swapping the processor would not meaningfully change the combo's position.

The rank of 1648 out of 2911 tells a story of mid-pack competence. In a database of nearly three thousand combinations, this system lands just above the median. That is not a criticism — the game is demanding, and the measured FPS data shows playable frame rates at several settings. But the rank also reveals that many combos with higher-tier GPUs outperform this setup by a wide margin. The RX 9060's 59th percentile ranking among all GPUs, combined with the CPU's 77th percentile, creates a system that is balanced but not exceptional. For a horror game that relies on atmosphere over twitch reflexes, this mid-pack position is acceptable, but it is worth remembering the GPU holds the combo back more than the CPU does.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The resolution scaling pattern in the measured data reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario. At 1080p Low settings, the combo averages 101 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 85 FPS — a 16% reduction. At 4K Low, the average falls to 67 FPS, which is a further 21% drop from 1440p. This steady decline as resolution increases points directly at the GPU as the primary limiter. The CPU is capable of producing high frame rates at 1080p, but the RX 9060 cannot maintain those rates as pixel count grows.

The Medium settings tell a similar story. At 1080p Medium, the average is 63 FPS. At 1440p Medium, it drops to 53 FPS, and at 4K Medium, it falls to 42 FPS. The gap between 1080p and 4K at Medium settings is 21 FPS — a 33% reduction. At High settings, the drop is even steeper: 45 FPS at 1080p, 38 FPS at 1440p, and 30 FPS at 4K. That represents a 33% loss from 1080p to 4K. The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling: 36 FPS at 1080p, 30 FPS at 1440p, and 24 FPS at 4K — a 33% reduction across the board.

These consistent percentage drops across all settings confirm that the GPU's memory bandwidth and processing power are the bottlenecks. The RX 9060 has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. That is a relatively narrow bus for 4K workloads, and the data reflects it. The CPU's performance is virtually resolution-independent — it delivers the same work regardless of pixel count — so the fact that FPS drops by roughly a third from 1080p to 4K at every settings level is a clear indication that the Radeon GPU is the limiting component in this pairing.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its best results. Low settings produce an average of 101 FPS, which is smooth and responsive. Medium settings average 63 FPS with a minimum of 53 and a maximum of 72, providing a solid playable experience. High settings drop to 45 FPS average, and Ultra falls to 36 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 65 FPS, showing that the GPU has significant headroom at this resolution but that the game's higher presets demand much more from the hardware.

Moving to 2560x1440, the numbers shift downward. Low settings average 85 FPS, still comfortably playable. Medium averages 53 FPS with a minimum of 45 and a maximum of 61, which is acceptable for a horror game where reaction speed is less critical. High settings average 38 FPS, and Ultra drops to 30 FPS. The difference between 1080p and 1440p at the same settings is roughly 16 FPS at Low, 10 FPS at Medium, 7 FPS at High, and 6 FPS at Ultra. This narrowing gap at higher settings suggests that the game becomes more GPU-bound as the preset quality increases.

At 3840x2160, the combo struggles to maintain high frame rates. Low settings average 67 FPS, which is the only 4K preset that clears 60 FPS. Medium averages 42 FPS with a minimum of 35 and a maximum of 48, which is borderline playable. High settings drop to 30 FPS, and Ultra falls to 24 FPS. The 4K results show that the RX 9060's 8 GB frame buffer and 128-bit memory interface are insufficient for the highest quality presets at this resolution. The data is unambiguous: this combo is best suited for 1080p gaming, with 1440p being a compromise, and 4K reserved for Low or Medium settings only.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture using the Navi 44 chip, fabricated on a 4 nm process at TSMC. It houses 29,700 million transistors on a 199 mm² die, with a transistor density of 149.2 million per square millimeter. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1700 MHz, a game clock of 2400 MHz, and a boost clock of 2990 MHz. Memory runs at 2250 MHz, which translates to 18 Gbps effective through an 8 GB GDDR6 frame buffer on a 128-bit bus, yielding 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

The GPU's 1792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation units deliver a pixel rate of 191.4 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 334.9 GTexel/s. Floating-point performance is 21.43 TFLOPS for both FP32 and FP16. The 28 ray tracing cores support hardware-accelerated ray tracing, which The Medium uses for its dual-reality rendering. However, the measured FPS data suggests that the 8 GB VRAM capacity is a limiting factor at higher settings and resolutions.

The RX 9060's benchmark scores place it at the 59th percentile among all GPUs, with an average score of 16014. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, scores 16129 — just 0.7% higher. The AMD Radeon RX 7700 scores 15852, which is 1% lower. This tight grouping indicates that the RX 9060 performs in the same class as these mid-range cards. In The Medium specifically, the GPU's modest memory bandwidth shows up in the 4K results, where even Low settings only manage 67 FPS. The 128-bit bus is simply not wide enough to feed the shader units efficiently at high pixel counts.

The GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support and Vulkan 1.4 compatibility mean it can handle modern rendering features, but the hardware's physical limits are evident. The 132 W TDP and 300 W suggested PSU indicate this is a power-efficient card, but efficiency does not translate to high-end performance. For a game like The Medium, which renders two simultaneous worlds, the GPU's 8 GB frame buffer and 288 GB/s bandwidth are the primary constraints on performance at 1440p and 4K.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

The measured data points to a clear recommendation: Medium settings at 1080p provide the best balance of performance and visual quality. At 1080p Medium, the combo averages 63 FPS with a minimum of 53 and a maximum of 72. This is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, and the frame time consistency is acceptable for a horror title. Dropping to Low at 1080p raises the average to 101 FPS, but the visual downgrade is significant, and the extra headroom is unnecessary for a game that does not require competitive reaction times.

At 1440p, Medium settings are the sensible choice. The average of 53 FPS with a minimum of 45 and maximum of 61 is playable, though not perfectly smooth. High settings at 1440p drop to 38 FPS, which introduces noticeable stutter in a game that relies on atmosphere and tension. Low settings at 1440p hit 85 FPS, but the reduced visual fidelity undermines the horror experience. The Medium's fixed-camera angles and detailed environments benefit from higher quality textures and lighting, so Medium strikes the right compromise.

For 4K, the options are more limited. Low settings at 4K average 67 FPS, which is playable but visually sparse. Medium at 4K averages 42 FPS with a minimum of 35, which is borderline — playable for a slow-paced horror game but not ideal. High and Ultra at 4K are effectively unplayable at 30 FPS and 24 FPS respectively. The data suggests that 4K should only be used with Low settings if the player prioritizes resolution over visual fidelity, or Medium if they can tolerate sub-60 frame rates.

The overarching recommendation is to run The Medium at 1080p Medium for the best experience, or 1440p Medium for a sharper image at a modest frame rate cost. The combo's mid-pack rank of 1648 out of 2911 reflects this reality: it is a capable system for 1080p gaming, a reasonable choice for 1440p with adjusted settings, and a poor fit for 4K beyond the lowest presets. Players should prioritize frame rate stability over settings quality, as the GPU's 8 GB frame buffer and memory bandwidth are the deciding factors in this game's performance.