The Medium

The Intel Core i5-13400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti lands at rank 211 out of 1689 tested combinations for The Medium, placing it in the top 12.5% of all configurations. This is a strong showing for a horror title that often favors raw GPU throughput, but the rank suggests that while this combo is clearly capable, there are 210 other setups that deliver higher average frame rates. The data implies a balanced pairing, where neither component is dramatically bottlenecking the other, yet the ceiling is set by the GPU's raw performance rather than the CPU's processing power. The combination's percentile ranking among CPUs (82) and GPUs (85) independently is high, but the in-game rank of 211 indicates that the specific demands of The Medium create a hierarchy where some less-balanced but higher-end combos pull ahead.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 211 out of 1689 establishes it as a top-tier performer, but the gap between this position and the very top reveals the performance ceiling. When examining the nearest rivals for the individual components, the CPU's average benchmark score of 25236 is nearly identical to the Intel Core i7-13620H (25201, deltaPct 0.1) and slightly above the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D (25365, deltaPct -0.5). This tight clustering suggests that the CPU is not the differentiating factor in this game; the GPU holds the reins. The RTX 4070 Ti's average benchmark score of 44900 is within a 1.6% margin of error of its closest rivals, including the RTX 5090 Mobile and AMD Radeon Pro 580, showing that the GPU is also a known quantity. The in-game rank, therefore, reflects how this specific pairing of a mid-high CPU with a high-end GPU executes The Medium's engine, which appears to favor consistent frame pacing over extreme peak throughput.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is the primary driver of performance in The Medium, and its specifications align with the observed frame rates. The GPU packs 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s, which is ample for the game's fixed-camera environments and texture streaming. The boost clock of 2610 MHz, combined with 7680 shading units, delivers a pixel rate of 208.8 GPixel/s. This raw throughput is what enables high frame rates at lower settings, but the data shows a steep drop as settings increase, suggesting that the game's advanced effects, such as the dual-reality rendering mechanic, place a heavy load on the GPU's compute units. The 60 RT cores and 240 tensor cores are present, but without specific ray tracing benchmarks in the data, their impact on The Medium is indirect; the FP32 performance of 40.09 TFLOPS is the more relevant metric for the standard rasterized scenes. The GPU's end-of-life production status and launch MSRP of 799 USD contextualize it as a previous-generation high-end part, yet its 85th percentile ranking among all GPUs shows it remains a formidable option.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear scaling pattern across resolutions, with the CPU's role diminishing as the resolution increases. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 154.9 FPS, but this drops to 144.6 FPS at 1440p Low (-7%) and further to 114.6 FPS at 4K Low (-26%). This 26% drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings indicates that even at the lowest graphical preset, the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions. The trend becomes more pronounced at Ultra settings: 63.3 FPS at 1080p, 49.8 FPS at 1440p (-21%), and 42.3 FPS at 4K (-33%). The scaling factor between resolutions is consistent, suggesting a GPU-bound workload across all settings. However, the relatively modest drop from 1080p to 1440p (around 20% on average) compared to the 1440p to 4K drop (around 30% on average) hints that at 1080p, the CPU can occasionally keep pace, but the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute capacity are quickly saturated as pixel count increases. The data strongly implies that for 4K Ultra, the RTX 4070 Ti is working near its limit, while at 1080p, there is headroom that the CPU can partially exploit, but only at Low settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

Examining the exact measured rows provides a granular view of the combo's behavior. At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 63.3 at Ultra to 154.9 at Low, with Medium at 110.5 and High at 79. This shows a 145% performance difference between the lowest and highest presets. At 2560x1440, the spread narrows: Ultra hits 49.8 FPS, High 67.9, Medium 91.4, and Low 144.6. The 1440p Low result is particularly notable because it exceeds the 1080p High result (79 FPS), indicating that resolution scaling is not linear and that the GPU has enough headroom at 1440p to handle a lower preset better than a higher preset at 1080p. At 3840x2160, the numbers compress further: Ultra 42.3, High 53.1, Medium 72.4, and Low 114.6. The 4K Low result is still above 100 FPS, demonstrating the GPU's strength, but the 4K Ultra result falls below the 60 FPS threshold, which is a critical point for gameplay smoothness. The delta between Medium and High at 4K (72.4 vs 53.1) is a 27% jump, while the delta between Low and Medium (114.6 vs 72.4) is 37%, showing that the cost of each preset tier increases as resolution rises.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target refresh rate and resolution. For 4K displays, the Medium preset at 72.4 FPS is the sweet spot, as it stays above the 60 FPS threshold while providing a visual uplift over Low (114.6 FPS). The High preset at 53.1 FPS is playable but dips below 60, and Ultra at 42.3 FPS should be avoided for smooth motion. For 1440p, the High preset at 67.9 FPS offers the best balance, as it remains above 60 FPS and includes higher-quality textures and effects; the Medium preset at 91.4 FPS is a safer choice for those with 144Hz displays, while Ultra at 49.8 FPS is not recommended. At 1080p, the High preset at 79 FPS is the most sensible choice, as it stays above 60 FPS, but users with high-refresh monitors can push to Medium at 110.5 FPS or Low at 154.9 FPS for competitive smoothness. The Ultra preset at 1080p (63.3 FPS) is the only Ultra option that maintains playability, but the visual gains over High are marginal given the 20% FPS cost. The data suggests that Medium or High presets are the "best experience" across all resolutions, offering a balance between visual fidelity and frame rate consistency.

FAQ

Q: Does this combo achieve 60 FPS at 4K Ultra in The Medium?

A: No. The measured average FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 42.3 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS threshold. To reach 60 FPS at 4K, the user must drop to the Medium preset, which yields 72.4 FPS.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-13400F a bottleneck for the RTX 4070 Ti in this game?

A: The data does not indicate a CPU bottleneck. The CPU's nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-13620H, has a nearly identical average benchmark score (25201 vs 25236, deltaPct 0.1). The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K is consistent, suggesting the GPU is the limiting factor, especially at higher resolutions and settings.

Q: What is the highest FPS this combo can achieve in the game?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 154.9 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The second-highest is 144.6 at 2560x1440 with Low settings, showing that the GPU can push high frame rates at lower presets.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 Ti compare to its nearest rival, the RTX 5090 Mobile?

A: The RTX 4070 Ti has an average benchmark score of 44900, while the RTX 5090 Mobile scores 45152, a deltaPct of -0.6%. This means the RTX 4070 Ti is 0.6% slower on average in synthetic benchmarks, but in-game performance may vary.

Q: Is the CPU's 10-core, 16-thread configuration sufficient for this game's threading?

A: The CPU's benchmark data shows a 3dmark_max_threads score of 7307 and a cinebench_r23_multicore score of 21279, indicating strong multi-threaded capability. The game's performance at 1080p Low (154.9 FPS) suggests the CPU can feed the GPU adequately, as the frame rate is not artificially capped by a low thread count.

Q: What is the performance difference between Medium and High settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Medium preset averages 91.4 FPS, while High averages 67.9 FPS. This is a 25.7% decrease in FPS when moving from Medium to High, a significant cost for the visual improvements.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F plays a supporting but stable role in this combo. Its 10 cores and 16 threads, based on the Raptor Lake architecture, provide a solid foundation for The Medium's engine, which is not typically CPU-intensive. The CPU's base clock of 2.50 GHz and boost clock of 4.60 GHz are adequate for maintaining frame pacing, as evidenced by the 1080p Low result of 154.9 FPS, which is the highest in the dataset. The L3 cache of 20 MB shared helps with data locality, but the game's performance is not sensitive to cache size, as the CPU's nearest rivals show negligible score differences (deltaPct of 0.1 to 0.5). The CPU's 3dmark_single_thread score of 960 and geekbench_singlecore score of 2301 indicate that single-threaded performance is sufficient to avoid bottlenecks at lower resolutions, but the scaling data shows that as resolution increases, the GPU's workload grows and the CPU's contribution becomes less relevant. The 65W TDP and 10 nm process node suggest efficient operation, but the data does not allow for power draw analysis; the focus remains on the measured FPS, which shows the CPU enabling, rather than limiting, the GPU's output. The CPU's percentile rank of 82 among all processors confirms it is a strong mid-range part, but in The Medium, it is the junior partner to the RTX 4070 Ti.