The Medium

# The Medium with Intel Core i5-13400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

The pairing of an Intel Core i5-13400F with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 in The Medium produces a fascinating dataset that reveals a classic high-end GPU bottleneck scenario, particularly as resolution climbs. The measured frames per second across three resolutions and four quality presets show that while this combination delivers playable performance at 4K, the scaling behavior from 1080p to 4K exposes where the system's true limits lie. The combo ranks 51st out of 1,689 tested configurations, placing it in the top 3% of all tested hardware pairings for this horror title.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 is dramatic and tells a clear story about component limiting. At Low settings, the system delivers 152.9 FPS at 1080p, but that falls to 143.3 FPS at 1440p and further to 134.8 FPS at 4K. That represents only a 11.8% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, suggesting the RTX 4090 has ample headroom even when pixel count quadruples. The i5-13400F's 10 cores and 16 threads are clearly not the limiting factor here, as the frame rate remains remarkably stable across resolutions when graphical load is light.

At Medium settings, the scaling becomes more pronounced. The 1080p result of 130.1 FPS drops to 112.2 FPS at 1440p (a 13.8% reduction) and then to 85.8 FPS at 4K (a 34% reduction from 1080p). This steeper decline indicates that the GPU is starting to feel the pressure of higher pixel counts combined with moderate graphical complexity. The RTX 4090's 24 GB of GDDR6X memory and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth are being utilized more heavily, but the card still maintains respectable triple-digit performance at 1440p.

High settings show a similar pattern with more pronounced drops. The 92.6 FPS at 1080p falls to 81.5 FPS at 1440p (12% reduction) and then to 65 FPS at 4K (29.8% reduction from 1080p). The gap between 1440p and 4K is 16.5 FPS, which is larger than the 11.1 FPS gap between 1080p and 1440p. This acceleration in performance loss suggests that memory bandwidth and pixel throughput are becoming increasingly critical as resolution rises.

Ultra settings produce the most dramatic scaling curve. At 1080p, the system achieves 76.1 FPS, which drops to 66 FPS at 1440p (13.3% reduction) and then plummets to 49.2 FPS at 4K (35.4% reduction from 1080p). The 4K Ultra result is the only configuration that dips below 50 FPS, indicating that this setting pushes the RTX 4090 to its limits in this title. The data implies that The Medium's Ultra preset introduces effects that scale non-linearly with resolution, likely including volumetric lighting and high-resolution shadows that tax the GPU's compute units.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide clear guidance for optimal settings at each resolution. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers 76.1 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. However, the jump from High to Ultra costs 16.5 FPS (from 92.6 to 76.1), representing a 17.8% performance penalty for the visual upgrade. Players with high-refresh-rate monitors might prefer High settings at 1080p to approach the 92.6 FPS mark, while those prioritizing visual fidelity can safely enable Ultra without dropping below playable rates.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset offers the best balance with 112.2 FPS. This is a significant improvement over High's 81.5 FPS and Ultra's 66 FPS. The gap between Medium and High is 30.7 FPS, suggesting that High's additional effects are disproportionately expensive at this resolution. For a horror game where atmosphere matters, High at 1440p still provides smooth performance at 81.5 FPS, but Medium allows for headroom that might be preferable for maintaining consistent frame pacing during intense scenes.

At 3840x2160, the choices become more constrained. Medium delivers 85.8 FPS, which is excellent for 4K gaming, while High drops to 65 FPS — still playable but closer to the edge. Ultra at 49.2 FPS dips below the 60 FPS threshold, making it suitable only for players who prioritize visuals over smoothness. The Low preset at 134.8 FPS demonstrates that the RTX 4090 can easily handle 4K when graphical demands are minimal, but the visual quality loss would be noticeable in a game that relies heavily on atmosphere and lighting.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS measured for this combo at 4K?

A: The Low preset at 3840x2160 produces 134.8 FPS, which is the fastest 4K result in the dataset.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations in The Medium?

A: It ranks 51st out of 1,689 tested combos, placing it in the top 3% of all hardware pairings tested for this game.

Q: What is the largest FPS difference between 1080p and 4K for a single preset?

A: At Ultra settings, the difference is 26.9 FPS (76.1 at 1080p versus 49.2 at 4K), representing the largest absolute drop across presets.

Q: Does the i5-13400F bottleneck the RTX 4090 at any resolution?

A: The data suggests minimal CPU limitation, as FPS drops from 1080p to 4K follow a consistent pattern that aligns with GPU workload scaling rather than CPU constraints.

Q: Which resolution and preset combination yields the highest FPS overall?

A: The 1920x1080 Low preset achieves 152.9 FPS, the fastest measured result in the dataset.

Q: Is the 4K Ultra preset playable with this hardware?

A: At 49.2 FPS, it is below the 60 FPS threshold but remains technically playable for those who accept lower frame rates in exchange for maximum visual quality.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system produces 152.9 FPS on Low, 130.1 FPS on Medium, 92.6 FPS on High, and 76.1 FPS on Ultra. The progression from Low to Medium costs 22.8 FPS, while Medium to High costs 37.5 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 16.5 FPS. The steep drop between Medium and High suggests that High enables computationally expensive features that significantly impact frame rates even at 1080p.

At 2560x1440, the results show 143.3 FPS on Low, 112.2 FPS on Medium, 81.5 FPS on High, and 66 FPS on Ultra. The step from Low to Medium costs 31.1 FPS, Medium to High costs 30.7 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 15.5 FPS. The consistent ~30 FPS penalty for each preset step up to High indicates that the RTX 4090 is scaling predictably with graphical complexity at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the measurements are 134.8 FPS on Low, 85.8 FPS on Medium, 65 FPS on High, and 49.2 FPS on Ultra. The Low to Medium drop of 49 FPS is the largest single-step penalty in the entire dataset, highlighting how much more demanding Medium becomes at 4K. The Medium to High reduction of 20.8 FPS and High to Ultra reduction of 15.8 FPS show diminishing returns as the GPU approaches its limits.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 51 out of 1,689 tested configurations places it in the top 3% of all tested hardware pairings for The Medium. This high ranking reflects the strength of both components: the RTX 4090's 91st percentile standing among all GPUs and the i5-13400F's 82nd percentile among all CPUs. The GPU's average benchmark score of 66,473 places it near the NVIDIA Tesla T4 (66,733, a 0.4% difference) and above the Tesla P40 (66,127, a 0.5% difference), showing that the RTX 4090 performs at the upper echelon of tested graphics hardware.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 25,236 is nearly identical to the Intel Core i7-13620H (25,201, a 0.1% difference) and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D (25,365, a -0.5% difference). This clustering indicates that the i5-13400F sits in a performance tier where many processors achieve similar aggregate scores. The ranking in The Medium specifically suggests that the combination of this CPU and GPU works particularly well together for this title, likely because the game's rendering demands favor the RTX 4090's massive compute resources.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F features 10 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. Its 20 MB of shared L3 cache and Raptor Lake architecture provide strong multi-threaded performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 21,279 and Geekbench multicore score of 10,971. The CPU's 3DMark 16-thread score of 7,314 and max-thread score of 7,307 indicate consistent scaling across thread counts, suggesting that The Medium can utilize multiple cores effectively.

In this game, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU, as evidenced by the relatively small FPS drops when moving from 1080p to 4K at Low settings. The 152.9 FPS at 1080p Low versus 134.8 FPS at 4K Low shows only an 11.8% reduction, which is modest given the fourfold increase in pixel count. This suggests that at lower graphical settings, the i5-13400F's raw processing power is sufficient to feed the RTX 4090 without becoming a bottleneck. The CPU's 65 W TDP and 10 nm process node contribute to its efficiency, though the game's performance is more heavily influenced by the GPU's capabilities.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the dominant component in this pairing, with its 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus providing 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. The card's 16,384 shading units, 512 texture mapping units, and 176 raster output units deliver substantial pixel throughput, with a pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s. Its 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 128 ray tracing cores make it exceptionally well-suited for The Medium's horror aesthetics, which likely rely on advanced lighting effects.

The GPU's 91st percentile ranking among all GPUs and average benchmark score of 66,473 confirm its position near the top of the performance hierarchy. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 9,223 and Geekbench Vulkan score of 270,615 indicate strong DirectX 12 and Vulkan performance, both relevant to modern game engines. The data shows that the RTX 4090's performance ceiling in The Medium is reached at 4K Ultra settings, where it produces 49.2 FPS — a result that, while below 60 FPS, still demonstrates the card's ability to handle demanding resolutions when paired with a capable CPU.