The Medium

The Medium presents a severe challenge for the Intel Core i5-14400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4 GB pairing, with benchmark data showing that playable frame rates are largely out of reach at higher settings. The combination ranks 1547 out of 1689 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 9% of systems, which firmly establishes this as a low-end configuration for this specific horror title. The data indicates that the RTX 3050 4 GB is the primary bottleneck, as the CPU’s strong multi-core performance cannot compensate for the GPU's limited memory bandwidth and VRAM capacity.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep but not uniform across all settings, revealing where the GPU becomes overwhelmed. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 64.2 at 1920x1080 to 41.7 at 3840x2160, a reduction of 22.5 FPS or roughly 35%. This is a significant decline, but the game remains technically playable at 4K Low, suggesting the GPU still has some headroom at the most modest preset.

However, the scaling becomes brutal when settings are raised. At Medium, the average FPS drops from 41.0 at 1080p to 25.5 at 4K, a loss of 15.5 FPS (38%). At High, it falls from 28.0 to 21.1, a 25% reduction. The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic collapse, plummeting from 21.6 at 1080p to just 15.6 at 4K. This pattern indicates that the 4 GB VRAM buffer is exhausted at higher resolutions and settings, forcing the GPU into a state where it cannot maintain consistent performance. The data suggests that the limiting component is clearly the graphics card, as the CPU’s performance would not degrade in this manner based on resolution changes alone.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4 GB is the definitive constraint in this system. Its 4 GB GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 192.0 GB/s, which is insufficient for The Medium's high-resolution textures and effects. This is evident in the measured results: at 2560x1440 Ultra, the card produces only 17.1 FPS, and at 1920x1080 Ultra, it manages just 21.6 FPS. These numbers reveal that even at the most common gaming resolution, the GPU cannot handle the game's maximum visual fidelity.

The card's clock speeds, with a base of 1545 MHz and a boost of 1740 MHz, are not the issue; rather, it is the memory subsystem that fails to keep up. The benchmark results show a clear pattern where increasing settings from Low to Ultra at any resolution causes a disproportionate performance hit. For instance, at 1080p, moving from Low to Ultra reduces the average FPS from 64.2 to 21.6, a 66% drop. This is not a CPU-bottleneck scenario; it is the GPU running out of memory and compute resources. The 64 TMUs and 32 ROPs are simply not enough to process the game's complex scenes at high detail levels.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the only viable path to a smooth experience is the Low preset, and even then, only at lower resolutions. At 1920x1080 Low, the system achieves 64.2 FPS, which is the single best result in the entire dataset. This is the only configuration that clears the 60 FPS threshold, making it the clear recommendation for any player seeking fluid motion. At 2560x1440 Low, the average drops to 52.6 FPS, which is still playable but not ideal for fast-paced action.

The Medium preset delivers 41.0 FPS at 1080p and 32.5 FPS at 1440p, which may be acceptable for a slower-paced horror game, but the data shows it is a significant compromise. High and Ultra presets should be avoided entirely, as they produce average frame rates below 30 FPS at every resolution tested. The data strongly suggests that the best experience is found by prioritizing frame rate over visual quality, with the Low preset at 1080p being the only setting that provides a consistently smooth and responsive experience.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 1547 out of 1689 tested combos places this system in the bottom 8.4% of all configurations tested for The Medium. This is a poor showing that aligns with the measured frame rates, which are consistently below the thresholds for comfortable play at higher settings. The ranking indicates that the vast majority of other CPU-GPU pairings in the database outperform this one in this specific game.

This ranking is heavily influenced by the GPU, which sits at the 50th percentile among all GPUs. The CPU, however, is a much stronger component, ranking in the 88th percentile among all CPUs. This discrepancy highlights the imbalance of the system: the Intel Core i5-14400F is capable of far more demanding workloads, but it is held back by the RTX 3050 4 GB. The data shows that the CPU is not a limiting factor in this game, as its performance metrics are far superior to what the GPU can deliver. The system is effectively a strong processor paired with a weak graphics card, resulting in a low overall ranking for this GPU-intensive title.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F is not the bottleneck in The Medium, as evidenced by the benchmark data. The CPU features 10 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. Its multi-core performance is robust, as shown by a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21914 and a Geekbench multi-core score of 11209. These numbers indicate that the processor has ample headroom to handle the game's logic and AI, which are typically not the primary demands in a title like this.

The CPU's single-core performance is also solid, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3093 and a Geekbench single-core score of 2333. This is important for games that rely on a few heavily threaded tasks. However, the measured FPS data shows that the frame rates are consistently low across all settings, regardless of resolution. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect to see frame rates that improve significantly when the resolution is lowered, since the GPU would have less work to do. Instead, the data shows that even at 1080p Low, the system only reaches 64.2 FPS, which is far below what the CPU is capable of supporting. This confirms that the GPU is the sole constraint, and the CPU's performance is more than sufficient for this game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers a wide range of performance depending on the preset. Low settings produce an average of 64.2 FPS, the highest recorded for this combo. Medium settings yield 41.0 FPS, while High settings drop to 28.0 FPS. Ultra settings are nearly unplayable at 21.6 FPS. This shows a clear, linear decline as visual fidelity increases.

Moving to 2560x1440, the results follow a similar pattern but with lower absolute numbers. Low settings average 52.6 FPS, which is still playable. Medium settings produce 32.5 FPS, High settings drop to 23.8 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 17.1 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium widens at this resolution, indicating that the GPU is struggling more with the increased pixel count.

At 3840x2160, the system is severely challenged. Low settings are the only playable option, with an average of 41.7 FPS. Medium settings fall to 25.5 FPS, High to 21.1 FPS, and Ultra is a slideshow at 15.6 FPS. The data clearly shows that the RTX 3050 4 GB is not designed for 4K gaming in this title, and even the Low preset is borderline. The overall trend is that the GPU's performance degrades sharply with both resolution and settings, confirming its role as the primary limiting factor.

FAQ

Q: What is the best average FPS this combo can achieve in The Medium?

A: The best measured result is 64.2 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: Is this system capable of 4K gaming in The Medium?

A: The data shows that 4K is only playable at Low settings, with an average FPS of 41.7. Higher settings at 4K produce average frame rates below 26 FPS, which is not a smooth experience.

Q: How does the CPU's performance compare to its rivals?

A: The Intel Core i5-14400F has an average benchmark score of 32508, which is nearly identical to the Intel Core i7-12800H (32513, 0% delta) and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 (32446, 0.2% delta). It is also within 0.2% of the AMD Ryzen 7 250 (32584) and Intel Core i7-13705H (32586).

Q: Why is the Ultra preset so slow?

A: The Ultra preset places excessive demands on the GPU's 4 GB of GDDR6 memory and 192.0 GB/s bandwidth. The measured average FPS at 1080p Ultra is only 21.6, which is less than half the performance of the Low preset.

Q: What is the CPU's single-threaded performance relative to its multi-core performance?

A: The CPU scores 311 in Cinebench R15 single-core and 2208 in multi-core, and 1299 in Cinebench R20 single-core versus 9203 in multi-core. This shows a strong multi-core capability, but the game's performance is still limited by the GPU.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested systems?

A: This combo ranks 1547 out of 1689 tested combos, placing it in the bottom percentile of systems for performance in The Medium.