The Medium

The Medium, a horror title released on January 27, 2021, presents a significant challenge for the tested configuration pairing the Intel Core i5-14600K with the AMD Radeon RX 570. The benchmark data shows a system that is heavily constrained by its graphics card, particularly at higher resolutions and settings, where frame rates fall below playable thresholds.

FAQ

Q: What is the best average frame rate achieved by this combo in The Medium?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 46.1, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is the only configuration in the measured data that approaches a smooth 60 FPS target, though it still falls short of it.

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-14600K compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i5-14600K has an average benchmark score of 49166, placing it 0.2% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, which scores 49062. It is also 1% ahead of the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H, which scores 48698.

Q: What is the performance difference between the RX 570 and its closest competitor?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 570 has an average benchmark score of 30158. This is a 0.2% difference from the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060, which scores 30109, and a 0.6% difference from the NVIDIA Tesla M60, which scores 29969.

Q: At which resolution does the game become unplayable at Medium settings?

A: At 3840x2160 resolution with Medium settings, the average FPS drops to 20.3. While not the lowest score, this is below the generally accepted threshold for smooth gameplay, indicating a poor experience at 4K.

Q: Does lowering the resolution from 1440p to 1080p provide a significant boost at Low settings?

A: Yes, the data indicates a substantial improvement. At 2560x1440 Low, the average FPS is 36.2. Dropping to 1920x1080 Low increases the average FPS by 9.9 frames to 46.1, a 27% performance gain.

Q: What is the combo's overall rank among all tested configurations for this game?

A: The combination of the Intel Core i5-14600K and AMD Radeon RX 570 ranks 1596 out of 1689 tested combos in The Medium. This places it in the lower percentile of systems, highlighting its struggle with this specific title.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 570 is the primary bottleneck in this configuration for The Medium. Its 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s. The GPU's base clock is 1168 MHz with a boost clock of 1244 MHz. According to the benchmark results, this GPU holds a percentile rank of 74 among all GPUs, yet its performance in this game is severely limited.

The data shows a stark drop in frame rates as resolution and settings increase. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the card manages an average of 46.1 FPS. However, moving to Medium settings at the same resolution drops the average to 29.1 FPS. This pattern suggests that the RX 570's raw compute power, rated at 5.095 TFLOPS, is insufficient for the game's rendering demands beyond the lowest preset. At 4K, the card is overwhelmed, with the Ultra preset yielding a mere 9.5 FPS average. The GPU's role is clearly the limiting factor, as even the most modest settings struggle to provide a consistently smooth experience.

How This Combo Ranks

The combined performance of the Intel Core i5-14600K and AMD Radeon RX 570 places it at rank 1596 out of 1689 tested combinations for The Medium. This ranking, which is in the bottom 6% of all tested systems, indicates that this pairing is not well-suited for this particular game. The CPU itself is a high performer, ranking in the 93rd percentile among all CPUs, but its capabilities are rendered moot by the GPU's inability to keep up.

The disconnect between the CPU's potential and the final result is significant. While the i5-14600K's average benchmark score of 49166 places it near the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, the in-game experience is dictated by the GPU. This combo rank reflects the system's overall weakness in The Medium, showing that a powerful processor cannot compensate for an underpowered graphics card in a GPU-intensive scenario.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates reveal a clear hierarchy of performance across different settings and resolutions.

At 1920x1080, the game is only playable at Low settings, with an average of 46.1 FPS. The Medium preset drops the average to 29.1 FPS, while High yields 22.3 FPS and Ultra falls to 14.6 FPS. None of these higher presets provide a smooth experience.

At 2560x1440, the situation worsens. The Low preset averages 36.2 FPS, which is a noticeable step down from 1080p. Medium drops to 22.4 FPS, High to 16.9 FPS, and Ultra is nearly unplayable at 13.2 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the RX 570 is completely outclassed. The Low preset is the only option that approaches playability, with an average of 32 FPS. Medium averages 20.3 FPS, High drops to 13.8 FPS, and Ultra is a slideshow at 9.5 FPS.

The data shows a consistent pattern: each increase in resolution or settings has a significant negative impact on performance. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 31.5 FPS, while at 4K it narrows to 22.5 FPS, but from an already very low baseline.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K is a 14-core, 20-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. With 24 MB of shared L3 cache, this CPU is designed for high-performance computing and gaming. Its percentile rank of 93 among all CPUs confirms its strong standing in the market.

In the context of The Medium, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with data and handle game logic. The data shows that the i5-14600K is more than capable of this task. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 32881 and single-core score of 4642 indicate a powerful processor. However, the measured FPS results show that the CPU's performance is not the limiting factor. Even with a top-tier CPU, the GPU becomes the bottleneck, especially at higher resolutions where the rendering load increases. The CPU is effectively waiting on the GPU in most scenarios, meaning its power is underutilized in this specific game.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the only viable configuration for a reasonable experience is at 1920x1080 with Low settings, which yields an average of 46.1 FPS. This is the only setting that comes close to a playable frame rate, though it still falls short of 60 FPS.

For users willing to accept lower visual fidelity, the Low preset at 2560x1440, with an average of 36.2 FPS, is an option for those who prioritize resolution over smoothness. However, the drop from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings costs 9.9 FPS, which may be too significant for some.

The Medium and High presets are not recommendable at any resolution. At 1080p, they produce averages of 29.1 and 22.3 FPS respectively, which are below the threshold for comfortable gameplay. The Ultra preset is entirely unsuitable, with the highest average being 14.6 FPS at 1080p. The data clearly indicates that this GPU cannot handle the game's demands at higher settings, making the Low preset the only sensible choice for this hardware combination.