The Medium

# How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-14400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX achieves a combo rank of 218 out of 1,689 tested combinations in The Medium. This places the pairing in the top 13% of all recorded configurations, a strong result that reflects the substantial GPU headroom provided by the Radeon RX 7900 XTX. The GPU itself sits at the 85th percentile among all graphics cards, while the CPU holds an 88th percentile ranking, indicating both components are operating near the top of their respective performance tiers.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 44,019 places it within 0.4% of the AMD Radeon Pro 580 and 0.8% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile, with a 1.6% lead over the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 and a 2% gap behind the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti. This tight clustering suggests the RX 7900 XTX is positioned in a highly competitive performance band. The CPU's average score of 32,508 sits virtually level with the Intel Core i7-12800H (0% delta), just 0.2% behind the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645, and within 0.2% of both the AMD Ryzen 7 250 and Intel Core i7-13705H. The near-identical scores among these processors mean the i5-14400F provides a balanced foundation without introducing a bottleneck in this title.

In practical terms, the combo's ranking indicates that while it is not among the absolute elite configurations, it delivers frame rates that are highly playable across most settings and resolutions, with the measured data confirming a system that scales well from 1080p through 4K.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows the strongest balance of performance and visual fidelity at 2560x1440 with Medium settings, delivering 89.2 FPS. This resolution offers a substantial improvement over 4K's demanding requirements while still providing a meaningful resolution increase over 1080p.

Q: How does the RX 7900 XTX compare to its closest GPU rivals?

A: The RX 7900 XTX's average benchmark score of 44,019 is 0.4% lower than the AMD Radeon Pro 580, 0.8% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile, 1.6% ahead of the NVIDIA Quadro M6000, and 2% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti. These deltas are minor, indicating near-parity performance across this group.

Q: Is the i5-14400F a limiting factor for this GPU?

A: The CPU's average benchmark score of 32,508 is within 0.2% of its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645, and shows no significant deficit. Given the GPU's 85th percentile ranking and the CPU's 88th percentile ranking, the processor appears well-matched for the task.

Q: What FPS can be expected at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: The measured average frame rate at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings is 59.7 FPS, which is just below the 60 FPS threshold commonly considered essential for smooth gameplay. Lowering to High settings yields 75.6 FPS, providing greater headroom.

Q: How does performance scale from 1080p to 4K?

A: At Medium settings, frame rates drop from 106.5 FPS at 1920x1080 to 89.2 FPS at 2560x1440, and further to 73.6 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 31% reduction from 1080p to 4K, indicating the GPU is the primary scaling factor.

Q: Is the 24 GB memory capacity of the RX 7900 XTX beneficial for this game?

A: The GPU's 24 GB GDDR6 memory with a 384-bit bus and 960.0 GB/s bandwidth provides ample capacity for The Medium's horror-themed environments. The measured data shows no indication of memory-related performance limitations at any tested resolution or setting.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals how this combo's performance scales across the three tested resolutions. At Low settings, the frame rate drops from 152.6 FPS at 1920x1080 to 148.1 FPS at 2560x1440, a modest 3% reduction, and then to 114.1 FPS at 3840x2160, an additional 23% drop. This pattern suggests that at Low settings, the system remains largely CPU-bound at 1080p and 1440p, with the GPU only becoming the limiting factor at 4K.

Moving to Medium settings, the scaling becomes more pronounced. From 106.5 FPS at 1080p, the frame rate falls to 89.2 FPS at 1440p (a 16% decrease) and then to 73.6 FPS at 4K (another 17.5% decrease). The consistent percentage drops indicate a balanced scaling where both CPU and GPU contributions are roughly equal as resolution increases.

At High settings, the resolution scaling is more aggressive. The frame rate declines from 75.6 FPS at 1080p to 66.1 FPS at 1440p (a 12.6% drop) and then to 49.9 FPS at 4K (a 24.5% drop). This steeper decline at 4K suggests the GPU is becoming the dominant constraint, as the higher detail settings increase the per-pixel workload.

Ultra settings show the most dramatic scaling. From 59.7 FPS at 1080p, performance falls to 53.7 FPS at 1440p (a 10% reduction) and then to 43.7 FPS at 4K (an 18.6% reduction). The relatively smaller drop from 1080p to 1440p, compared to the larger drop from 1440p to 4K, indicates that at Ultra settings, the GPU's compute resources are heavily taxed even at lower resolutions, with 4K pushing the system to its limits.

The overall pattern points to the RX 7900 XTX as the primary scaling driver. The CPU's high percentile ranking and the near-linear FPS reductions with increasing resolution both support this conclusion. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 152.6 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's frame delivery ceiling, while at 4K Ultra, the 43.7 FPS result reflects the GPU's maximum throughput under maximum load.

Settings Recommendations

For 1920x1080, the data supports High settings as the optimal choice. The 75.6 FPS average provides smooth gameplay while maintaining visual quality, and the jump to Ultra (59.7 FPS) risks dropping below the 60 FPS threshold. Low settings at this resolution (152.6 FPS) offer excessive performance that most users would trade for better visuals.

At 2560x1440, Medium settings deliver 89.2 FPS, which represents the best balance of frame rate and image quality. High settings at 66.1 FPS remain playable, but the margin over the 60 FPS baseline is thinner. Ultra settings at 53.7 FPS fall below the smoothness threshold, making Medium the recommended preset.

For 3840x2160, the situation is more constrained. Low settings produce 114.1 FPS, which is playable, but the visual compromise is significant for a 4K display. Medium settings at 73.6 FPS offer a solid compromise, while High settings drop to 49.9 FPS and Ultra to 43.7 FPS, both of which may feel sluggish in a horror title where responsive controls matter.

The data indicates that the RX 7900 XTX, with its 24 GB memory and 61.39 TFLOPS FP32 throughput, is capable of driving The Medium at 4K with Medium settings, which is the recommended config for that resolution. For users prioritizing frame rate, dropping to Low at 4K yields more than double the FPS of Ultra, with 114.1 versus 43.7 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 152.6 FPS, Medium achieves 106.5 FPS, High reaches 75.6 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 59.7 FPS. The progression shows a consistent decline of roughly 30 FPS per settings tier, with the largest single drop occurring between Medium and High (30.9 FPS).

At 2560x1440, performance scales downward from the 1080p results. Low settings average 148.1 FPS, a mere 4.5 FPS reduction from 1080p, indicating minimal resolution impact at this setting. Medium settings deliver 89.2 FPS, a 17.3 FPS drop, while High falls to 66.1 FPS (a 9.5 FPS reduction) and Ultra to 53.7 FPS (a 6 FPS reduction). The smaller absolute drops at higher settings suggest that GPU load is already substantial at these quality levels.

At 3840x2160, the 4K results show the greatest sensitivity to settings changes. Low settings yield 114.1 FPS, which is still a highly playable frame rate. Medium settings produce 73.6 FPS, representing a 40.5 FPS drop from Low. High settings fall to 49.9 FPS, a 23.7 FPS reduction from Medium, and Ultra drops further to 43.7 FPS, a 6.2 FPS decrease from High.

Across all resolutions, the delta between Low and Ultra settings narrows as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference is 92.9 FPS (152.6 minus 59.7), at 1440p it is 94.4 FPS (148.1 minus 53.7), and at 4K it is 70.4 FPS (114.1 minus 43.7). This compression at 4K indicates that GPU resources are more fully utilized at higher resolutions, making the frame rate less sensitive to settings changes and more dependent on raw compute throughput.

The RX 7900 XTX's pixel rate of 479.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 959.2 GTexel/s provide the throughput needed for the higher-resolution workloads, while the 96 ray accelerators support the game's horror-themed lighting effects. The CPU's 10 cores and 16 threads, with a boost clock of 4.70 GHz, ensure consistent frame delivery across all tested configurations.