The Medium

The Medium at 4K Ultra is the only setting that brings this Intel Core i5-13400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 combo near its limits, producing 60 FPS on average. At every other resolution and preset, the system delivers frame rates that are far beyond what a 60Hz or even 144Hz display can use, indicating that the GPU is the primary bottleneck only at the most demanding settings. The data shows a classic performance curve where lower resolutions and settings yield massive headroom, making this a highly capable horror title performer for high-refresh-rate monitors.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS figures reveal a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 461 FPS, which drops to 291 FPS at 1440p and further to 152 FPS at 4K. This represents a 67% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, showing that even at the lowest graphical fidelity, the pixel count heavily influences the final frame rate.

Moving to Medium settings, the scaling remains consistent: 365 FPS at 1080p, 231 FPS at 1440p, and 121 FPS at 4K. The 4K figure is 67% lower than 1080p, matching the Low preset's relative drop. However, the absolute numbers are still very high, with 4K Medium producing 121 FPS, which is well above typical display refresh rates.

High settings show a similar pattern but with a slightly steeper decline. The combo delivers 290 FPS at 1080p, 183 FPS at 1440p, and 96 FPS at 4K. The 4K-to-1080p ratio here is a 67% reduction, consistent with the other presets. Notably, 4K High still clears the 60 FPS threshold with a 36 FPS margin, indicating that the GPU has enough headroom to handle this resolution without compromising playability.

Ultra settings present the most dramatic scaling. At 1080p, the system reaches 181 FPS, which drops to 114 FPS at 1440p and then plummets to 60 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is exactly 33% of the 1080p figure, revealing a much steeper performance cliff compared to the other presets. This suggests that at Ultra, the combination of higher-resolution textures, shadows, and effects finally saturates the RTX 4060's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 128-bit bus, making the GPU the definitive limiting factor.

The scaling behavior indicates that at 1080p and 1440p, even the most demanding presets leave substantial performance on the table. The gap between 1080p Low (461 FPS) and 1080p Ultra (181 FPS) is 280 FPS, yet both are far beyond the refresh rates of mainstream monitors. The real bottleneck emerges only at 4K Ultra, where the 60 FPS average suggests the GPU is working near its full capacity, while the CPU's 10 cores and 16 threads remain underutilized.

How This Combo Ranks

This configuration ranks 3rd out of 3,724 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the top 0.1% of all systems benchmarked for this title. This exceptional standing is driven by the combination of the RTX 4060's strong rasterization performance and the i5-13400F's high single-thread and multi-thread capabilities.

The GPU's percentile rank of 61 places it above the median of all graphics cards, but its nearest rivals show that the 4060 is closely matched with older and integrated solutions. Specifically, the AMD Radeon HD 7790 scores 17,666 in average benchmarks, a mere 0.2% higher than the 4060's 17,639. Similarly, the AMD Radeon 780M integrated GPU scores 17,588, just 0.3% lower. This proximity to older discrete and modern integrated GPUs suggests that the 4060's raw compute is not what sets this combo apart.

Instead, the CPU plays a significant role in achieving the 3rd-place ranking. The i5-13400F holds a 77th percentile rank among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 25,292. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS, scores 25,284 (0% delta), while the Intel Core 5 120 scores 25,362 (-0.3%). This tight clustering shows that the i5-13400F is a strong mid-range processor that can keep pace with higher-tier mobile and desktop chips in synthetic tests.

In The Medium specifically, the combo's rank of 3 out of 3,724 indicates that the game is highly optimized for this hardware pairing. The 4K Ultra result of 60 FPS, while the lowest measured, still represents a playable experience, and the 1080p results exceed 460 FPS. These figures suggest that the game's fixed camera angles and pre-rendered backgrounds place a moderate load on the GPU, allowing the CPU to maintain high frame pacing even at lower resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal setting for most users is Medium at 1440p, delivering 231 FPS with a minimum of 196 FPS and a maximum of 265 FPS. This combination offers a 196 FPS floor that comfortably exceeds 144Hz refresh rates, ensuring smooth gameplay even during the game's stutter-inducing dual-world sequences. The 4K Medium preset also performs admirably at 121 FPS, making it a viable option for 4K displays with high refresh rates.

For users with 1080p displays, Medium at 365 FPS is overkill for most monitors, but it provides massive headroom for recording or streaming. High settings at 1080p yield 290 FPS, still far above any practical refresh rate. The Ultra preset at 1080p produces 181 FPS, which is the most visually demanding option that remains fluid on 144Hz panels.

At 4K, the choice is more nuanced. Ultra delivers exactly 60 FPS, which is suitable for 60Hz displays but leaves no margin for drops. High at 4K provides 96 FPS, a 60% improvement over Ultra, while Medium reaches 121 FPS. Given that the game is a slow-paced horror title, 4K Medium at 121 FPS strikes the best balance between visual fidelity and performance, as the difference between Medium and Ultra is typically subtle in this genre.

The data suggests avoiding Ultra at 4K unless the display is strictly 60Hz and visual quality is paramount. The 60 FPS average is exactly at the threshold, but any demanding scene could cause dips below that target. For most users, 4K High at 96 FPS or 4K Medium at 121 FPS provides a safer and more responsive experience without sacrificing noticeable visual quality.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves in The Medium?

A: The highest measured average is 461 FPS at 1080p with Low settings. This represents the absolute ceiling for this hardware configuration in the game.

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

A: Yes, but the experience varies by preset. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 60, which is playable on a 60Hz display. At 4K High, it rises to 96 FPS, and at 4K Medium, it reaches 121 FPS, making 4K a very practical resolution for this title.

Q: How does the RTX 4060 compare to its closest GPU rivals?

A: The RTX 4060 has an average benchmark score of 17,639. The AMD Radeon HD 7790 scores 17,666 (0.2% higher), the AMD Radeon 780M scores 17,588 (0.3% lower), and the AMD Radeon Pro 560 scores 17,551 (0.5% lower). These differences are negligible in real-world gaming.

Q: What is the CPU's performance ranking relative to all processors?

A: The Intel Core i5-13400F ranks in the 77th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 25,292. Its closest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS, scores 25,284, while the Intel Core 5 120 scores 25,362.

Q: Is the 8 GB VRAM on the RTX 4060 sufficient for The Medium?

A: The measured results indicate that 8 GB is sufficient. The game achieves 60 FPS at 4K Ultra, which is the most demanding configuration tested. No VRAM-related stuttering or performance drops are visible in the minimum FPS data at 1440p Medium (196 FPS) or 1080p Medium (311 FPS).

Q: What is the best resolution for a 144Hz monitor?

A: At 1440p, the Medium preset delivers 231 FPS with a 196 FPS minimum, fully saturating a 144Hz display. For 1080p, High settings at 290 FPS also exceed 144Hz. At 4K, only the Medium preset at 121 FPS is close to 144Hz, but it falls short.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is built on the AD107 chip using a 5 nm process from TSMC, with 18,900 million transistors on a 159 mm² die. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory operates on a 128-bit bus, providing 272.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU has 3,072 shading units, 96 TMUs, and 48 ROPs, with base and boost clocks of 1830 MHz and 2460 MHz respectively. The memory clock is set at 2125 MHz, offering 17 Gbps effective speed.

In The Medium, the GPU's role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution and settings increase. At 1080p Low, the 461 FPS result indicates that the GPU is not the bottleneck, as the CPU is likely limiting the frame rate. However, at 4K Ultra, the 60 FPS average shows the GPU is fully saturated. The 128-bit memory bus and 272.0 GB/s bandwidth are adequate for the game's fixed-camera scenes, but the 8 GB VRAM may be a constraint at Ultra settings, which typically load higher-resolution textures.

The GPU's benchmark scores provide context for its performance. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 2,302, while Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan scores are 95,057 and 48,643 respectively. Passmark G3D and GPU Compute scores are 19,545 and 9,213. These figures place the 4060 in the 61st percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17,639. Its proximity to the AMD Radeon HD 7790 (17,666) and Radeon 780M (17,588) suggests that the 4060's raw compute is not exceptional, but its modern architecture and features like DLSS (not measured here) contribute to its strong in-game performance.

The pixel rate of 118.1 GPixel/s and texture rate of 236.2 GTexel/s are sufficient to handle the game's resolution scaling. The 15.11 TFLOPS FP32 performance is moderate, but The Medium's reliance on fixed camera angles and pre-baked lighting reduces the shader load compared to open-world titles. This allows the 4060 to deliver high frame rates even at 1080p and 1440p.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, manufactured on a 10 nm process. Its base clock is 2.50 GHz, boosting up to 4.60 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU has 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 20 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports dual-channel DDR4 and DDR5 memory and has 16 PCIe Gen 5 lanes.

In The Medium, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and handle game logic. The benchmark results show that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 461 FPS, which is indicative of CPU-bound behavior. The i5-13400F's single-thread performance is strong, as evidenced by its 3DMark single-thread score of 960 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3,191. These scores translate to responsive frame pacing in a game that relies on consistent frame times.

The multi-threaded performance is also robust. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 22,604 and 3DMark max-threads score of 7,307 show that the 10 cores can handle demanding workloads. In The Medium, which likely uses multiple threads for audio, physics, and streaming, this headroom ensures that the CPU does not become a bottleneck even at high frame rates.

The CPU's percentile rank of 77 places it above the majority of processors. Its average benchmark score of 25,292 is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS (25,284) and AMD Ryzen 7 6800H (25,201), while slightly below the Intel Core 5 120 (25,362) and AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D (25,365). This grouping indicates that the i5-13400F offers competitive performance for its class.

At 4K Ultra, the CPU's influence diminishes as the GPU becomes the limiting factor. The 60 FPS result at this setting is entirely GPU-bound, as the CPU has ample capacity to handle the game's logic at lower resolutions. The measured FPS data shows that the CPU can sustain over 460 FPS at 1080p Low, meaning it is never a constraint in this title, even at the highest settings.