The Medium

The Intel Core i5-13400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 combination delivers a playable experience in The Medium, but the data reveals a system that is heavily constrained by the GPU at higher resolutions and settings. Across all tested configurations, the sweet spot is the Medium preset, which provides the only consistent frame pacing with recorded minimum and maximum values, making it the most reliable choice for a stable experience. The data indicates that while the CPU has ample headroom, the RTX 3070 struggles to maintain high frame rates when pushed to Ultra or 4K resolutions, making Medium the optimal balance of visual fidelity and performance.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark results are clear: the Medium preset is the best experience for this hardware combination. At 1920x1080, Medium produces an average of 77 FPS, which is a substantial 33 FPS higher than High and 33 FPS higher than Ultra. More importantly, Medium is the only setting at any resolution that includes both minimum and maximum FPS data, showing a range of 65 to 88 FPS at 1080p. This indicates a stable frame delivery without the severe dips that would make the game feel unresponsive.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset delivers 65 FPS average, with a recorded range of 55 to 74 FPS. This is still comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, and the minimum of 55 FPS is acceptable for a horror title where slower pacing is common. The High preset at 1440p drops to 46 FPS, which is playable but noticeably less fluid, while Ultra falls to 37 FPS, which risks feeling choppy during intense scenes. Low at 1440p hits 104 FPS, but the visual sacrifice is significant and unnecessary given that Medium offers a much better balance.

For 4K, the situation is more challenging. The Medium preset at 3840x2160 produces 51 FPS average, with a range of 43 to 58 FPS. This is the only 4K setting that remains borderline playable, though the 43 FPS minimum is close to the edge of comfort. High at 4K drops to 36 FPS, and Ultra falls to 29 FPS, both of which are too low for a smooth experience. Low at 4K achieves 81 FPS, but this is a last-resort option for players who prioritize frame rate above all else.

The recommendation is straightforward: use Medium for all resolutions. At 1080p, it offers the best frame pacing. At 1440p, it is the only setting that consistently stays above 60 FPS. At 4K, it is the only preset that remains playable without dropping to Low. Players with 1080p monitors can consider High at 55 FPS if they prefer better visuals, but the lack of minimum FPS data for High means the frame time consistency is unverified. The data favors Medium as the default choice.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best settings preset for this CPU and GPU combo in The Medium?*

A: The Medium preset is the best choice across all resolutions. At 1080p it averages 77 FPS, at 1440p it averages 65 FPS, and at 4K it averages 51 FPS. It is the only preset that provides recorded minimum and maximum FPS values, indicating more stable frame delivery than High or Ultra.

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

A: Yes, but only with compromises. At 4K with Medium settings, the average FPS is 51, which is playable. However, High drops to 36 FPS and Ultra falls to 29 FPS, which are not smooth experiences. Low at 4K achieves 81 FPS but requires significant visual downgrades.

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. It is essentially tied with the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS, which scores 25284 with a 0% delta. It is 0.3% behind the Intel Core 5 120 (25362) and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D (25365), and 0.4% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 7 6800H (25201).

Q: Is the RTX 3070 a strong performer relative to its peers?

A: The RTX 3070 has an average benchmark score of 17208, placing it in the 61st percentile of all GPUs. It is 0.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT (17083), 1% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 (17037), and 1.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon HD 7970M (17019). It trails the NVIDIA Tesla K40c by 1.5% (17468).

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

A: At 1920x1080, Low settings produce an average of 123 FPS, while Ultra produces 44 FPS. This is a difference of 79 FPS, representing a 64% reduction in performance from Low to Ultra. Medium sits between them at 77 FPS.

Q: Does the game become more CPU-bound at lower resolutions?

A: The data suggests the opposite. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 123 FPS, which is the highest score recorded, indicating that the CPU can push well beyond this level. The performance drop from Low to Medium (123 to 77 FPS) and from Medium to High (77 to 55 FPS) is more attributable to GPU load, as the CPU has a strong 3DMark single-thread score of 960 and a max threads score of 7307.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i5-13400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 ranks 1570 out of 3724 tested combos in The Medium. This places it in the 58th percentile of all system configurations, meaning it outperforms the majority of tested setups but is not near the top tier. The rank of 1570 indicates that while this system is capable, it is outclassed by a significant number of higher-end configurations, likely those with newer GPUs or more powerful CPUs.

The ranking is consistent with the measured FPS data. The system performs adequately at 1080p and 1440p with Medium settings, but it falls behind at 4K Ultra where it only manages 29 FPS. The 61st percentile GPU performance and 77th percentile CPU performance suggest that the bottleneck is the GPU, as the CPU is relatively stronger. This is confirmed by the FPS scaling: at 1080p Low, the system hits 123 FPS, which is close to the ceiling for many displays, but at 4K Ultra it drops to 29 FPS, showing the GPU cannot handle the increased resolution load.

Compared to the rival combos, this system is well-balanced. The CPU's nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS, has a nearly identical average score, and the GPU's nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT, is only 0.7% behind. However, the ranking in this specific game is more dependent on the GPU's ability to handle The Medium's rendering demands, which appear to be substantial given the steep performance drop at 4K. The 1570 rank out of 3724 is a solid mid-pack result, confirming that this is a dependable but not exceptional gaming system.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers four settings (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) across three resolutions (1920x1080, 2560x1440, 3840x2160). The complete breakdown is as follows:

1920x1080:

• Low: 123 FPS average
• Medium: 77 FPS average (min 65, max 88)
• High: 55 FPS average
• Ultra: 44 FPS average

2560x1440:

• Low: 104 FPS average
• Medium: 65 FPS average (min 55, max 74)
• High: 46 FPS average
• Ultra: 37 FPS average

3840x2160:

• Low: 81 FPS average
• Medium: 51 FPS average (min 43, max 58)
• High: 36 FPS average
• Ultra: 29 FPS average

The data shows a consistent pattern: each step up in settings costs approximately 20-25% of the frame rate. At 1080p, moving from Low to Medium reduces FPS from 123 to 77 (a 37% drop), from Medium to High reduces it from 77 to 55 (a 29% drop), and from High to Ultra reduces it from 55 to 44 (a 20% drop). This diminishing penalty suggests the game's Ultra preset introduces effects that are increasingly expensive to render.

Resolution scaling is also linear. At Medium settings, going from 1080p to 1440p drops FPS from 77 to 65 (a 16% reduction), and from 1440p to 4K drops it from 65 to 51 (a 22% reduction). The only setting where 4K remains playable is Low, which hits 81 FPS, but this is still 34% lower than the 1080p Low score of 123 FPS. The minimum and maximum FPS data is only available for Medium, showing the frame time variance increases with resolution: at 1080p the range is 23 FPS, at 1440p it is 19 FPS, and at 4K it is 15 FPS—this narrowing range at higher resolutions indicates the GPU is becoming the limiting factor, reducing the CPU's ability to inject frame spikes.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is severe and consistent across all settings, indicating that the GPU is the primary bottleneck. At Low settings, the drop is from 123 FPS at 1080p to 81 FPS at 4K, a 34% reduction. At Medium, it goes from 77 to 51 FPS, a 34% reduction. At High, it goes from 55 to 36 FPS, a 35% reduction. At Ultra, it goes from 44 to 29 FPS, a 34% reduction. The consistency of this ~34% drop across all settings is a classic sign of a GPU-bound scenario, where the rendering load scales directly with pixel count.

The pixel count from 1080p to 4K increases by a factor of 4 (1920x1080 = 2.07 million pixels, 3840x2160 = 8.29 million pixels). However, the FPS only drops by about 34%, not 75% as would be expected if the GPU were perfectly scaling. This suggests that the RTX 3070 has some headroom in its memory bandwidth (448.0 GB/s) and that the game's rendering pipeline is not purely pixel-limited. The fact that the drop is less than proportional to pixel count indicates that other factors, such as the CPU's ability to feed the GPU, are also at play, but the CPU is not the main constraint.

The data shows that at 4K, the system only achieves playable frame rates on Medium (51 FPS) or Low (81 FPS). The High and Ultra presets at 4K are effectively unplayable, with 36 and 29 FPS respectively. This points to the GPU's 8 GB of VRAM and 256-bit memory bus being sufficient for the game's textures, but the compute units (5888 shading units) simply cannot handle the load. The 34% FPS drop is consistent, meaning that players wanting 4K must accept Low settings for a smooth experience, or Medium for a playable one with some frame dips.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor based on Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. Its benchmark scores show strong multithreaded performance: a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 22604 and a Passmark multithread score of 25032. The single-thread performance is also solid, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3191 and a 3DMark single-thread score of 960.

In The Medium, the CPU's role is secondary to the GPU. The game is a horror title that likely relies on heavy rendering effects, as evidenced by the steep performance drop at 4K. The CPU's 3DMark max threads score of 7307 is close to its 16-thread score of 7314, indicating that it scales well with all cores utilized. However, the game does not seem to be bottlenecked by the CPU even at low resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 123 FPS, which is a high frame rate that would challenge many CPUs, but the i5-13400F handles it without issue, as its Passmark single-thread score of 3634 is strong.

The 10 cores and 16 threads are more than sufficient for The Medium. The game's genre typically involves scripted sequences and slow pacing, which do not require high core counts. The CPU's performance percentile of 77 places it above most processors, and its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS, has a nearly identical average benchmark score (25284 vs 25292). The deltaPct values are negligible (0% to 0.4%), meaning this CPU is at parity with its closest competitors.

The data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this combo. The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K is consistent with a GPU bottleneck, and the CPU's ability to maintain high frame rates at 1080p Low (123 FPS) confirms it has ample headroom. The RTX 3070, with its 61st percentile ranking and 8 GB of VRAM, is the component that determines the overall gaming experience. Players looking to improve performance in The Medium should focus on GPU settings, not CPU upgrades, as the i5-13400F is already delivering beyond what this game requires.