The Medium

The Intel Core i5-13400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 delivers a playable but demanding experience in The Medium, firmly positioning this combo as a mid-range contender. The data shows that this system is capable of smooth 1080p gameplay at Medium settings, where it hits 60 FPS, but struggles to maintain high frame rates at higher resolutions and quality presets. The core bottleneck shifts from the CPU at lower resolutions to the GPU as resolution increases, with the RTX 5050's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus becoming the primary limiting factor at 4K.

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

The Intel Core i5-13400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU features a 20 MB shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 cache per core, supporting both DDR4 and DDR5 memory. In synthetic benchmarks, the 13400F scores 22,604 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 3,191 in single-core, placing it in the 77th percentile of all CPUs.

For The Medium, a horror title that relies on fixed camera angles and pre-rendered scenes, the CPU's role is significant but not dominant. The game's engine benefits from the 16 threads, allowing the 13400F to handle background tasks and physics without bottlenecking the GPU. The benchmark results show that at 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 96 FPS, indicating that the CPU can feed the RTX 5050 adequately at lower resolutions. However, the single-thread performance, scoring 960 in 3DMark single-thread, is adequate for the game's logic but not exceptional, which aligns with the observed frame rates that plateau around 96 FPS even at Low settings.

The 13400F's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS (deltaPct 0%), Intel Core 5 120 (deltaPct -0.3%), and AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D (deltaPct -0.3%). These comparisons show that the 13400F is competitive with mobile and desktop chips in its class, but none of these rivals exhibit a performance advantage that would materially change the frame rates in The Medium. The CPU's multi-threaded score of 25,032 in PassMark and 11,068 in Geekbench multi-core suggest it has enough headroom for the game's demands, but the measured FPS indicates that the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher settings.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: What is the maximum average FPS achievable with this combo in The Medium?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 96 FPS at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. At Medium settings, the system achieves 60 FPS at the same resolution.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K resolution?

A: At 3840x2160, the average FPS ranges from 23 FPS on Ultra settings to 64 FPS on Low settings. Medium settings produce 40 FPS with a minimum of 34 FPS and a maximum of 46 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the average FPS drops from 81 on Low to 36 on High, indicating the GPU is the primary limiting factor. The RTX 5050's performance scales poorly with resolution, suggesting VRAM or memory bandwidth constraints.

Q: What is the combo's ranking among all tested configurations?

A: This combo ranks 1765 out of 2911 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 40% of systems for The Medium. This ranking reflects its mid-tier performance, with better results at lower resolutions.

Q: Does the 8 GB VRAM of the RTX 5050 affect performance?

A: The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 23, which is likely due to the 8 GB VRAM being insufficient for the game's high-resolution textures. At 1080p Medium, the 60 FPS average suggests VRAM is not a limitation at lower resolutions.

Q: How does the RTX 5050 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5050's average benchmark score is 21,035, with the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL at 21,153 (deltaPct -0.6%) and the AMD Radeon HD 8970M at 21,237 (deltaPct -1%). The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT scores 20,713 (deltaPct 1.6%), showing the RTX 5050 is within 2% of these competitors.

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

The resolution scaling data reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound performance, with frame rates dropping dramatically as resolution increases. At 1080p Medium, the combo achieves 60 FPS, which is the baseline for playability. Moving to 1440p Medium, the average FPS drops to 51, a 15% reduction. At 4K Medium, the average FPS falls to 40, a 33% drop from 1080p. This scaling is consistent with a GPU that has limited memory bandwidth (320.0 GB/s) and a 128-bit bus, which struggles to feed the higher pixel counts.

The Low settings provide a clearer picture of the CPU's headroom. At 1080p Low, the system hits 96 FPS, but at 1440p Low, it drops to 81 FPS, and at 4K Low, it falls to 64 FPS. Even at the lowest settings, the 4K resolution causes a 33% performance loss, indicating that the RTX 5050 is the primary bottleneck. The CPU's performance remains relatively stable across resolutions, as evidenced by the 3DMark 16-thread score of 7,314, which is sufficient for the game's low CPU overhead.

The Ultra settings show the most severe scaling, with 1080p Ultra at 34 FPS, 1440p Ultra at 29 FPS, and 4K Ultra at 23 FPS. This 32% drop from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings underscores the GPU's inability to handle the highest quality presets at higher resolutions. The data suggests that the 8 GB VRAM is a limiting factor, as the game's Ultra textures likely exceed this capacity at 4K, causing the frame rate to collapse. The RTX 5050's pixel rate of 82.30 GPixel/s and texture rate of 205.8 GTexel/s are not sufficient for 4K Ultra in this title.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This combination of the Intel Core i5-13400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 ranks 1765 out of 2911 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the 39th percentile of all systems. This ranking indicates that the combo performs below the median, with a significant portion of other configurations delivering higher frame rates. The rank reflects the RTX 5050's mid-tier positioning, as the GPU's average benchmark score of 21,035 places it in the 66th percentile of all GPUs, but the game's demanding nature at higher settings drags the overall performance down.

The CPU's percentile rank of 77th is higher than the GPU's 66th, suggesting that the processor is less of a bottleneck than the graphics card. However, the combo's overall rank is dragged down by the GPU's limitations in The Medium. The nearest GPU rivals, such as the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL (deltaPct -0.6%) and the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT (deltaPct 1.6%), show that the RTX 5050 is competitive at similar performance levels, but none of these cards would significantly improve the ranking. The combo's position at 1765 suggests that users seeking higher frame rates at 1440p or 4K would need to consider a more powerful GPU, as the CPU has sufficient headroom to support it.

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a GB207 chip, using TSMC's 5 nm process. It features 2,560 shading units, 80 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs, with 20 RT cores and 80 tensor cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2,317 MHz and a boost clock of 2,572 MHz, with memory running at 2,500 MHz (20 Gbps effective). The 8 GB GDDR6 memory is connected via a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 320.0 GB/s. The GPU's FP32 performance is 13.17 TFLOPS, with a pixel rate of 82.30 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 205.8 GTexel/s.

In The Medium, the RTX 5050's 8 GB VRAM is a critical factor. At 1080p Medium, the game uses enough memory to run smoothly, achieving 60 FPS. However, at 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 23, which is below playable thresholds. The 128-bit memory bus and 320.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for the high-resolution textures in this horror title, as the game's fixed camera angles and detailed environments demand significant memory bandwidth. The GPU's 13.17 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is adequate for the game's shader work, but the memory subsystem becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

The RTX 5050's benchmark scores show a mixed picture. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 2,502, while PassMark G3D scores 17,326. The GPU's percentile rank of 66th places it above average, but its nearest rivals, including the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL (deltaPct -0.6%) and the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile (deltaPct -1.6%), indicate that the RTX 5050 is not a high-end part. The 8 GB VRAM is a notable limitation for modern games, and The Medium's data confirms this, as the 4K High preset (29 FPS) and 4K Ultra (23 FPS) both suffer from performance degradation.

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

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the combo's performance across all resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the system achieves the following average FPS: Low 96, Medium 60 (with a minimum of 51 and maximum of 69), High 43, and Ultra 34. This shows that 1080p Medium is the sweet spot for playability, while Ultra settings require a compromise on frame rate. The 1080p Low setting's 96 FPS indicates that the CPU is capable of delivering high frame rates when the GPU is not taxed.

At 2560x1440, the average FPS drops to: Low 81, Medium 51 (minimum 43, maximum 58), High 36, and Ultra 29. The 1440p Medium setting provides a playable experience, but the 51 FPS average is below the 60 FPS target. The 1440p High and Ultra settings are not recommended for smooth gameplay, as they fall below 40 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p shows a 15% performance loss at Medium settings, which is consistent with the GPU's memory bandwidth limitations.

At 3840x2160, the average FPS is: Low 64, Medium 40 (minimum 34, maximum 46), High 29, and Ultra 23. The 4K Low setting is the only playable option, with 64 FPS, while Medium settings provide a borderline experience at 40 FPS. The 4K High and Ultra settings are not suitable for gameplay, as they drop below 30 FPS. The 4K Medium setting's minimum of 34 FPS and maximum of 46 FPS shows significant frame time variance, which could lead to stuttering. The data clearly indicates that this combo is best suited for 1080p Medium or 1440p Low settings, with 4K reserved for the lowest quality presets.