The Medium

The Medium, a fixed-camera horror title built on Unreal Engine 4, presents a unique load profile that combines heavy GPU rendering with significant CPU demands for its dual-world mechanics. This analysis examines the measured performance of the Intel Core i5-14400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT across three resolutions and four quality presets, interpreting the data to identify system bottlenecks and optimal configurations.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling as resolution increases. At 1080p with Medium settings, the combo delivers 72 FPS average. Moving to 1440p drops this to 61 FPS, a reduction of approximately 15%. The jump to 4K further reduces performance to 48 FPS, another 21% decline from the 1440p figure. This scaling curve is typical for a title where the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher pixel counts.

Examining the Low preset provides a clearer picture of the CPU's ceiling. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 115 FPS. At 1440p Low, it achieves 97 FPS, and at 4K Low, it still manages 76 FPS. The relatively modest decline from 1080p to 4K at Low settings (115 to 76 FPS, a 34% drop) suggests that at lower graphical loads, the CPU is still able to feed the GPU effectively, though the GPU is beginning to strain. The gap between 1440p and 4K at Low (97 to 76 FPS) indicates the GPU is taking on more work, but the frame rates remain playable.

The High preset tells a different story. At 1080p High, the average is 52 FPS. At 1440p High, it falls to 43 FPS, and at 4K High, it drops to 34 FPS. This steeper degradation curve highlights that the High preset's additional visual effects, likely including more complex lighting and shadows, place a heavy burden on the RX 6750 XT's 12 GB of GDDR6 memory and 2560 shading units. The result at 4K High is a borderline playable 34 FPS, indicating the GPU is the primary constraint.

The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling. Starting at 41 FPS in 1080p, it falls to 34 FPS at 1440p and bottoms out at 27 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 1440p drop of 7 FPS is significant, and the 1440p to 4K drop of another 7 FPS demonstrates that Ultra settings are simply too demanding for this GPU at any resolution above 1080p. The data consistently shows that the RX 6750 XT is the limiting component in this pairing across all tested settings, with the i5-14400F's 10 cores and 16 threads proving sufficient to avoid bottlenecking the GPU even at 1080p Low where the frame rate peaks.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance for this hardware combination. At 1080p Medium, the system produces 72 FPS average with a minimum of 61 FPS, providing a smooth experience with headroom above the 60 FPS threshold. The 1440p Medium result of 61 FPS average with a minimum of 52 FPS is also acceptable for players prioritizing higher resolution, though it dips below 60 FPS in demanding scenes.

The Low preset is the only option that maintains consistently high frame rates across all resolutions. At 4K Low, the system achieves 76 FPS, which is notably higher than the 48 FPS at 4K Medium. For players with 4K displays who prioritize smoothness over visual fidelity, Low is the recommended preset. However, the visual compromise is substantial, as The Medium's atmospheric horror relies heavily on lighting and shadow quality.

The High preset presents a trade-off. At 1080p High, the 52 FPS average is playable but not optimal for a horror game where consistent frame times matter for immersion. The 1440p High result of 43 FPS and 4K High of 34 FPS fall below the threshold for comfortable gameplay. The Ultra preset is not recommended for this combo, as even 1080p Ultra only reaches 41 FPS, and 4K Ultra drops to 27 FPS, which is below playable standards.

The data suggests that the Medium preset at 1080p is the sweet spot, offering 72 FPS with a minimum of 61 FPS, which provides a stable experience without sacrificing too much visual quality. For 1440p users, Medium at 61 FPS is the best option, while 4K users should stick to Low to avoid the sub-50 FPS results seen at Medium and above.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU-GPU combo in The Medium?

A: Based on the measured data, 1920x1080 provides the most consistent performance across all settings. At Medium settings, it achieves 72 FPS average with a minimum of 61 FPS, while 2560x1440 Medium drops to 61 FPS average with a 52 FPS minimum, and 3840x2160 Medium falls to 48 FPS average.

Q: How does the RX 6750 XT perform at 4K in this game?

A: The GPU struggles at 4K with higher presets. At 4K Low it manages 76 FPS, but 4K Medium drops to 48 FPS, 4K High to 34 FPS, and 4K Ultra to 27 FPS. The data indicates 4K is only viable with the Low preset for playable frame rates.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-14400F bottlenecking the GPU in this game?

A: The data does not indicate a CPU bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 115 FPS, which is a high frame rate that exercises the CPU heavily. The consistent scaling of FPS with resolution changes suggests the GPU is the limiting factor, not the CPU.

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

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings produce 97 FPS average, while Medium produces 61 FPS average with a minimum of 52 FPS. This represents a 36 FPS difference, indicating that the Medium preset's additional effects significantly impact GPU performance.

Q: Can this combo handle the Ultra preset at any resolution?

A: The Ultra preset is only marginally playable at 1080p, where it achieves 41 FPS average. At 1440p it drops to 34 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 27 FPS. These results suggest Ultra is not recommended for this hardware configuration.

Q: How does the frame time consistency vary across settings?

A: The data includes minimum and maximum FPS only for the Medium preset. At 1080p Medium, the range is 61 to 83 FPS, at 1440p Medium it is 52 to 70 FPS, and at 4K Medium it is 40 to 55 FPS. This narrowing range at higher resolutions indicates more consistent frame pacing but lower overall performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset for this combination shows a clear hierarchy of performance across resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers the highest average at 115 FPS, followed by Medium at 72 FPS (minimum 61, maximum 83), High at 52 FPS, and Ultra at 41 FPS. The 1080p results demonstrate that the CPU and GPU can achieve high frame rates when the graphical load is moderate.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Low preset still performs well at 97 FPS, but the Medium preset drops to 61 FPS (minimum 52, maximum 70). The High preset at 1440p produces 43 FPS, and Ultra falls to 34 FPS. The decline from Low to Medium at 1440p is 36 FPS, which is a larger absolute drop than the 43 FPS decline seen at 1080p (115 to 72), suggesting that the Medium preset scales more heavily with resolution.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset remains the only option above 60 FPS, achieving 76 FPS. Medium drops to 48 FPS (minimum 40, maximum 55), High to 34 FPS, and Ultra to 27 FPS. The 4K results show a compression of the performance envelope, with the difference between Low and Ultra being 49 FPS, compared to 74 FPS at 1080p. This indicates that at 4K, the GPU is so heavily loaded that even lowering settings from Ultra to Low only provides a modest absolute gain.

The Medium preset is the only one with full min/max data. At 1080p, the 61 FPS minimum ensures gameplay rarely drops below playable levels. At 1440p, the 52 FPS minimum is borderline but acceptable for a horror title. At 4K, the 40 FPS minimum may cause noticeable stutter in intense scenes. The maximum FPS values of 83, 70, and 55 at the three resolutions respectively show that the system has some headroom even at Medium settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-14400F with AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT combination ranks 1707 out of 3724 tested combos in The Medium. This places it in the 54th percentile of all tested configurations, meaning it outperforms slightly more than half of all recorded systems. The rank is a measure of overall performance across all settings and resolutions, reflecting the combo's capability to handle the game's demands.

The CPU component of this combo has an average benchmark score of 32279, placing it in the 83rd percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U with a score of 32233 (0.1% higher), the Intel Core i9-11900 at 32226 (0.2% higher), and the AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS at 32354 (0.2% lower). This indicates the i5-14400F is a strong mid-range processor that can hold its own against both mobile and older desktop parts.

The GPU component has an average benchmark score of 26011, placing it in the 71st percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon R9 M395X at 25891 (0.5% lower), the AMD FirePro W7100 at 25856 (0.6% lower), and the AMD FirePro D700 at 25842 (0.7% lower). The RX 6750 XT's score is notably higher than these rivals, but the 1707th rank in-game suggests that The Medium's specific requirements may not align perfectly with the GPU's strengths.

The rank of 1707 out of 3724 indicates that while this combo is not top-tier, it is above average. The 54th percentile ranking means there are many systems that perform worse, but also a significant number that perform better. The data suggests that the RX 6750 XT's 12 GB VRAM and 432.0 GB/s bandwidth are adequate for the game's textures, but the GPU's raw compute power limits high preset performance at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. It has 20 MB of shared L3 cache and supports dual-channel DDR4 or DDR5 memory. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21645 and single-core score of 3055 indicate strong performance for both threaded and single-threaded workloads.

In The Medium, the CPU's role is to handle the game's dual-world rendering logic, which requires processing two camera views simultaneously. The 10 cores and 16 threads provide ample parallelism for this task. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system reaches 115 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's limit for this game. The fact that increasing resolution to 1440p only drops the Low preset FPS to 97, and 4K to 76, suggests that the CPU can maintain high frame rates when the GPU is not the bottleneck.

The CPU's 65W TDP and 10 nm process node indicate an efficient design that can sustain boost clocks under load. The PassMark multi-thread score of 25470 and single-thread score of 3701 further confirm its capability. The nearest CPU rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS with a 0.2% lower score, show that the i5-14400F is competitive with other mid-range processors. In this game, the CPU does not appear to be a limiting factor, as the frame rate scales consistently with GPU load changes.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT is based on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with a Navi 22 chip manufactured on a 7 nm process. It has 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, with a boost clock of 2600 MHz and a game clock of 2495 MHz. The GPU features 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 432.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its FP32 performance is rated at 13.31 TFLOPS.

In The Medium, the GPU is clearly the primary determinant of performance at higher settings. The data shows that at 1080p Ultra, the GPU produces 41 FPS, while at 4K Ultra it drops to 27 FPS. This 34% reduction in performance from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings is consistent with a GPU that is heavily taxed by the game's rendering requirements. The 12 GB VRAM is likely sufficient for the game's textures, but the 2560 shading units struggle with the pixel and compute load at high resolutions.

The GPU's 71st percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 26011, indicates it is a solid mid-range performer. Its nearest rivals, such as the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Mobile with a 1.1% higher score, are comparable in overall capability. However, in The Medium specifically, the RX 6750 XT's performance at 4K is limited, with only the Low preset achieving playable frame rates. The GPU's 250W TDP and dual-slot design suggest it is a power-hungry part that requires adequate cooling to maintain boost clocks.