The Medium

The Intel Core i5-13400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 combination delivers a compelling, high-refresh-rate experience in The Medium, but the data reveals a clear bottleneck shift as resolution increases. At 1080p, the system achieves a 149.4 FPS average on Low settings, but this drops to 99.7 FPS on High, indicating that the CPU is struggling to feed the immensely powerful RTX 5090 at lower resolutions. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is moderate, with High settings falling from 99.7 FPS to 83.6 FPS, a 16.1% reduction. However, the most significant drop occurs when moving from 1440p to 4K, where High settings plummet from 83.6 FPS to 62.9 FPS. This 24.8% decrease at the highest resolution confirms that the GPU becomes the primary limiting factor at 4K, while the CPU's influence wanes, allowing the RTX 5090's raw power to dominate the rendering pipeline.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate data for The Medium shows a distinct pattern of diminishing returns as resolution increases, with the RTX 5090's immense compute resources being progressively taxed. At 1080p on Low settings, the system hits 149.4 FPS, but this only rises to 144.8 FPS at 1440p and 135 FPS at 4K. This minimal drop of just 9.6% from 1080p to 4K on Low settings suggests the CPU is the hard limit at lower graphical loads, preventing the GPU from reaching its full potential. The story changes dramatically on Ultra settings, where 1080p yields 76.3 FPS, 1440p drops to 68.9 FPS, and 4K falls to 50.8 FPS. The 33.4% reduction from 1080p to 4K on Ultra demonstrates that the RTX 5090's 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is being fully engaged, making the GPU the definitive bottleneck at higher resolutions and settings. The 4K High preset's 62.9 FPS average is particularly telling, as it sits precariously close to the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that even this flagship GPU requires careful settings management to maintain smooth gameplay at 4K.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is the undisputed performance driver in this pairing, equipped with 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. This massive memory allocation ensures that The Medium's high-resolution textures are never starved for data, even at 4K Ultra where the 50.8 FPS average is limited by compute rather than memory capacity. The GPU's boost clock of 2407 MHz and base clock of 2017 MHz, combined with 21,760 shading units, allows it to maintain impressive throughput across all settings. The benchmark results show the RTX 5090 achieves a 94th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 84,306. In direct comparison, it sits just 0.1% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D and 1.3% ahead of the AMD Radeon PRO W6600, while trailing the NVIDIA CMP 40HX by 1.6%. This narrow margin against the RTX 5090 D suggests that the GPU's performance is near the peak of what is currently available, yet The Medium's engine still manages to push it to its limits at 4K Ultra, where the 50.8 FPS result highlights the game's demanding nature.

Settings Recommendations

For the RTX 5090 and i5-13400F combination, the High preset at 1440p offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, delivering 83.6 FPS. This comfortably exceeds the 60 FPS threshold while maintaining a significant visual upgrade over Medium, which runs at 113.2 FPS. At 4K, the High preset's 62.9 FPS is playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes, making Medium at 90.1 FPS the safer choice for those prioritizing smoothness over maximum detail. The Ultra preset is the most punishing, dropping to 50.8 FPS at 4K and 68.9 FPS at 1440p, which may cause noticeable stutter in fast-paced horror sequences. The Low preset at 1080p produces 149.4 FPS, but this sacrifices too much visual quality for a game that relies heavily on atmosphere and environmental storytelling. The data suggests that High at 1440p is the sweet spot, offering a 22.2% improvement over the 4K High result while maintaining the graphical richness that The Medium's fixed-camera angles demand.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific CPU-GPU combination ranks 46th out of 1,689 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the top 2.7% of all systems benchmarked. This high ranking is largely attributable to the RTX 5090's exceptional performance, as the GPU alone holds a 94th percentile ranking among all graphics cards. The i5-13400F, while not the strongest CPU available, holds an 82nd percentile ranking among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 25,236. The CPU's nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-13620H, which scores 25,201 (0.1% higher), and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D at 25,365 (0.5% higher), indicating that the i5-13400F is well within the performance envelope of its peers. The 46th overall rank among 1,689 combos suggests that while this system is not the absolute fastest configuration for The Medium, it delivers near-top-tier performance that will satisfy the vast majority of players, especially at 1440p and 4K where the GPU's dominance is most apparent.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable with this combo?

A: The highest recorded average FPS is 149.4, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This indicates the CPU's maximum frame delivery capability in this game.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the system averages 50.8 FPS. This is the most demanding configuration tested and falls below the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay.

Q: Is the RTX 5090 the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: No, the data suggests the CPU is the limiting factor at 1080p. The FPS difference between Low (149.4) and High (99.7) settings at 1080p is substantial, indicating the CPU cannot fully utilize the GPU's power at lower resolutions.

Q: What settings provide the best 4K experience?

A: Medium settings at 4K deliver 90.1 FPS, which is 43.2% higher than High settings' 62.9 FPS. This provides a smoother experience while maintaining moderate visual quality.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: This combo ranks 46th out of 1,689 tested combinations in The Medium. This places it in the top 2.7% of all systems benchmarked for this game.

Q: What is the performance difference between 1440p and 4K on High settings?

A: At 1440p High, the system averages 83.6 FPS, while at 4K High it drops to 62.9 FPS. This represents a 24.8% performance decrease when moving to the higher resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system demonstrates its CPU-limited nature with a narrow range across settings: Low produces 149.4 FPS, Medium 129.1 FPS, High 99.7 FPS, and Ultra 76.3 FPS. The 95.9% difference between Low and Ultra at this resolution underscores how much headroom the RTX 5090 has when the CPU is the primary constraint. Moving to 2560x1440, the spread widens as the GPU begins to take over: Low delivers 144.8 FPS, Medium 113.2 FPS, High 83.6 FPS, and Ultra 68.9 FPS. The 4K results show the most significant GPU impact, with Low at 135 FPS, Medium at 90.1 FPS, High at 62.9 FPS, and Ultra at 50.8 FPS. The progression from 1080p to 4K on Ultra settings reveals a 33.4% drop from 76.3 FPS to 50.8 FPS, while Low settings only decrease by 9.6% from 149.4 to 135 FPS, confirming that the RTX 5090's massive compute resources are the determining factor at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F provides the foundation for this system, featuring 10 cores and 16 threads with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. This Raptor Lake processor, built on a 10 nm process, delivers strong multi-threaded performance with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 21,279 and a single-core score of 3,004. The CPU's 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache help maintain responsive frame pacing in The Medium's horror sequences. However, the benchmark data shows that the CPU's 82nd percentile ranking (average score 25,236) is notably lower than the GPU's 94th percentile, creating an imbalance that manifests most clearly at 1080p. The 3DMark results, including a max threads score of 7,307 and a single-thread score of 960, indicate that while the i5-13400F is capable, it cannot fully saturate the RTX 5090's capabilities at lower resolutions. The CPU's nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-13620H, scores within 0.1%, suggesting that the i5-13400F is well-matched to its peers, but the GPU's overwhelming power means the CPU becomes the limiting factor in less demanding scenarios.