The Medium

The Medium is a demanding title that leans heavily on the GPU, and this pairing of an Intel Core i5-14400F with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER shows a clear performance ceiling. The benchmark results reveal a system that is perfectly capable of smooth gameplay at 1080p and can handle 1440p with adjustments, but it struggles to maintain playable framerates at 4K Ultra. This analysis breaks down the measured data to explain exactly where this combo excels and where it hits its limits.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a dramatic and predictable decline as resolution increases, confirming that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is the primary limiting component in this configuration. At 1080p, the system achieves an average of 101 FPS on Low settings, which drops to 63 FPS on Medium and 45 FPS on High. This is a steep 55% performance hit from Low to High at the same resolution, indicating that the GPU is already being pushed hard by the game's visual effects and geometry.

Moving to 1440p, the averages fall to 85 FPS on Low, 53 FPS on Medium, and 38 FPS on High. The scaling here is more gradual than the 1080p to 4K jump, but the trend is unmistakable. The data shows that the RTX 2070 SUPER can still deliver a playable experience at 1440p High, but the headroom is shrinking. The gap between Low and High settings at 1440p is a 47 FPS difference, showing that the GPU is still the bottleneck, but the CPU's 10 cores and 16 threads are likely keeping up with the increased draw calls.

The most telling numbers come at 4K. The average framerate plummets to 67 FPS on Low, 42 FPS on Medium, and 30 FPS on High. At 4K Ultra, the system averages just 24 FPS, which is not a playable experience for a horror title that relies on atmosphere and timing. The scaling from 1440p High (38 FPS) to 4K High (30 FPS) is a 21% drop, but the jump from 1080p High (45 FPS) to 4K High (30 FPS) is a 33% reduction. This steep curve indicates that the GPU's 8 GB of VRAM and 256-bit memory bus are being saturated, and the pixel fill rate is simply not sufficient for the 8.3 million pixels at 3840x2160.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand scheme of tested hardware, this specific combination of the Core i5-14400F and RTX 2070 SUPER ranks at 2162 out of 3724 total combos for The Medium. This places it in the bottom 42% of all tested systems, which is a sobering statistic for a modern setup. The ranking reflects the GPU's age and performance tier; while the CPU is a strong modern part, the graphics card holds the entire system back in this specific title.

The CPU's own benchmark percentile is 83, meaning it outperforms 83% of all tested processors in general compute tasks. However, the GPU's percentile is just 65, and its average benchmark score of 20282 is nearly identical to the RTX 3070 Mobile and Intel Arc B570. This data suggests that while the CPU has plenty of headroom, the GPU is the weak link in the chain for The Medium. The combo rank of 2162 indicates that many other systems with slower CPUs but faster GPUs will deliver higher framerates in this game, reinforcing the notion that the RTX 2070 SUPER is the limiting factor here.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run The Medium at 4K?

A: Technically yes, but only at Low settings, where it averages 67 FPS. At Medium settings, the average drops to 42 FPS, and at High it falls to 30 FPS. Ultra settings are not viable, with an average of just 24 FPS.

Q: What is the best resolution for a smooth experience?

A: The data shows that 1080p is the sweet spot. At Medium settings, the system averages 63 FPS, and at High it averages 45 FPS. For a more consistent experience, 1080p Low delivers 101 FPS, which is well above the threshold for most displays.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck?

A: The benchmark results indicate the GPU is the primary bottleneck. The RTX 2070 SUPER's performance drops significantly at higher resolutions, while the Core i5-14400F, with its 10 cores and 16 threads, has enough processing power to feed the GPU at 1080p and 1440p without holding it back.

Q: How much of a performance difference is there between the lowest and highest settings?

A: At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 65 FPS (101 FPS vs 36 FPS). At 1440p, the difference is 55 FPS (85 FPS vs 30 FPS). At 4K, the difference is 43 FPS (67 FPS vs 24 FPS).

Q: What are the minimum FPS numbers at Medium settings?

A: The measured data provides min FPS figures only for Medium settings. At 1080p, the minimum is 54 FPS; at 1440p, it is 45 FPS; and at 4K, it is 35 FPS.

Q: Is this a good combo for a horror game like The Medium?

A: It is acceptable for 1080p and 1440p gaming. The game's fixed camera angles and pre-rendered backgrounds can be forgiving, but the low framerates at 4K Ultra would detract from the experience. The combo's rank of 2162 out of 3724 suggests better options exist for this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following data represents the exact measured averages for this hardware configuration in The Medium.

1920x1080:

• Low: 101 FPS average
• Medium: 63 FPS average, with a minimum of 54 FPS and a maximum of 72 FPS
• High: 45 FPS average
• Ultra: 36 FPS average

2560x1440:

• Low: 85 FPS average
• Medium: 53 FPS average, with a minimum of 45 FPS and a maximum of 61 FPS
• High: 38 FPS average
• Ultra: 30 FPS average

3840x2160:

• Low: 67 FPS average
• Medium: 42 FPS average, with a minimum of 35 FPS and a maximum of 48 FPS
• High: 30 FPS average
• Ultra: 24 FPS average

The data reveals that the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience, providing a playable 63 FPS at 1080p. The difference between Medium and High at 1080p is 18 FPS, which is significant enough to feel in gameplay. At 4K, the step from Low to Medium is a 25 FPS drop, and the step from Medium to High is a 12 FPS drop, showing diminishing returns on performance as visual fidelity increases.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is the decisive factor in this system's performance. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p but becomes a constraint at 4K. The benchmark results at 4K Ultra (24 FPS) and 4K High (30 FPS) suggest that the memory capacity and bandwidth are being saturated by the high-resolution textures and effects.

The GPU's clock speeds, with a base of 1605 MHz and a boost of 1770 MHz, are moderate by modern standards. The data shows that the Turing architecture, with 2560 shading units and 40 RT cores, is capable of delivering solid performance at lower resolutions. However, the pixel rate of 113.3 GPixel/s is a clear limiting factor at 3840x2160, where the card must process over 8 million pixels per frame.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 20282 places it just 1.5% behind the Intel Arc A750 and 1.3% behind the Intel Arc B570. This indicates that the RTX 2070 SUPER is competitive with mid-range modern cards, but it lacks the raw compute power (9.062 TFLOPS FP32) to handle The Medium at high resolutions with maxed settings. The 12 nm process node also means it runs hotter and less efficiently than newer cards, but that is a secondary concern to the performance data.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F provides a robust foundation for this gaming system. With 10 cores (6 performance and 4 efficient) and 16 threads, it offers strong multi-threaded performance that is more than adequate for The Medium. The CPU's boost clock of 4.70 GHz ensures that single-threaded tasks, which are common in game logic and physics, are handled swiftly.

The benchmark data for the CPU is impressive, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21645 and a single-core score of 3055. This places it in the 83rd percentile of all CPUs, and its average benchmark score of 32279 is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS and Intel Core i9-11900. The CPU is clearly not the bottleneck in this configuration.

In The Medium, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and manage the game's internal systems. Given that the framerates drop significantly from 1080p to 4K, it is evident that the CPU is providing consistent performance across all resolutions. The 20 MB of shared L3 cache and DDR4/DDR5 memory support ensure that data is readily available for the GPU to process. The data shows that the i5-14400F has ample headroom; if paired with a more powerful GPU, this system would likely see significant framerate improvements at all resolutions.