The Medium

The Medium, a fixed-camera horror title from 2021, presents a demanding workload that quickly exposes the balance between the Intel Core i5-14600K and the AMD Radeon RX 6600. The measured frame rates across resolutions and settings show a system where the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher quality presets, yet the CPU's headroom is revealed at lower settings. This analysis breaks down the measured data to show exactly where this combo stands among the 1,689 tested configurations.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and tells a clear story about which component governs performance. At High settings, the average FPS moves from 35.2 at 1920x1080 down to 35.0 at 2560x1440, then falls sharply to 25.4 at 3840x2160. The near-identical results between 1080p and 1440p at High settings—a difference of just 0.2 FPS—indicates that the Radeon RX 6600 is already saturated at this quality level, making the resolution increase from 1080p to 1440p nearly free. The real cliff arrives at 4K, where the 25.4 FPS average represents a 27.8% drop from the 1440p figure.

At Low settings, the scaling pattern changes character. The 1080p result of 84.6 FPS drops to 68.2 at 1440p, a 19.4% reduction, and then to 55.6 at 4K, which is a further 18.5% decline. This more gradual slope suggests that at Low settings the CPU begins to matter more, but the GPU still carries the load. The 4K Low result of 55.6 FPS is more than double the 4K High result of 25.4, demonstrating that settings adjustments have a massive impact on the limiting component. The data indicates this is a GPU-bound system at all tested points; the i5-14600K's 14 cores and 5.30 GHz boost clock are not the constraining factor in this title.

FAQ

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

A: At 2560x1440 with High settings, the system produces 35.0 FPS, which is playable but not smooth. For a better experience, 1920x1080 at Medium settings yields 51.6 FPS, while Low settings at 1080p reaches 84.6 FPS. The 4K High preset is not viable at 25.4 FPS.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K at the same settings?

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 35.2 at 1080p to 25.4 at 4K, a 27.8% reduction. At Low settings, the drop is from 84.6 to 55.6 FPS, which is a 34.3% reduction. The loss is proportionally larger at Low settings because the CPU becomes a relatively larger part of the frame time.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-14600K holding back the AMD Radeon RX 6600?

A: Benchmark results indicate no. The CPU has a 93rd percentile ranking versus all CPUs and scores 32,881 in Cinebench R23 multi-core. The GPU has a 69th percentile ranking versus all GPUs. The FPS data shows that at High and Ultra settings, the GPU is the bottleneck, as the frame rates are nearly identical between 1080p and 1440p.

Q: How does this combo rank overall?

A: The combination ranks 1,381 out of 1,689 tested combos for The Medium, placing it in the lower half of all configurations. This low rank is primarily due to the GPU's position in the market, not the CPU.

Q: What is the impact of the Ultra preset?

A: The Ultra preset is the most demanding. At 1080p, it produces 31.5 FPS, which is only slightly below the High preset's 35.2 FPS. At 4K, Ultra drops to 18.5 FPS, making it unplayable. The jump from High to Ultra yields a much smaller performance hit than the jump from Medium to High.

Q: Does the GPU's 8 GB VRAM cause issues?

A: The data does not show a specific VRAM-related stutter, but the 8 GB GDDR6 memory with a 224.0 GB/s bandwidth is a limiting factor at 4K High and Ultra settings, where average FPS falls to 25.4 and 18.5, respectively. The lower settings are less likely to exceed the VRAM capacity.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K is a 14-core, 20-thread processor from the Raptor Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. Its 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 5.30 GHz boost clock give it substantial single-thread and multi-thread capability. In synthetic benchmarks, it achieves 32,881 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 4,642 in single-core, with a Passmark multi-thread score of 38,682. It sits at the 93rd percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 49,166, placing it just 0.2% above the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and 0.4% below the Intel Core i5-14600KF.

In The Medium, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The measured FPS shows that at 1080p Low, the system reaches 84.6 FPS, but this is still not CPU-bound. The evidence is that increasing resolution from 1080p to 1440p at High settings only changes the average FPS from 35.2 to 35.0, which is a negligible difference. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would remain constant regardless of resolution. This behavior confirms that the i5-14600K has ample headroom, and the game's fixed-camera angles likely limit the CPU workload, making the graphics card the definitive constraint.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-14600K and AMD Radeon RX 6600 ranks 1,381 out of 1,689 tested combos for The Medium. This places it in the bottom 18.2% of all configurations. The low rank is directly attributable to the GPU. The RX 6600 has an average benchmark score of 25,235 and a 69th percentile ranking versus all GPUs, putting it near the AMD Radeon 890M (0% delta) and the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP (-0.2% delta). Its 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1,492 and Passmark G3D score of 15,096 illustrate its position as a mid-range part.

The CPU's high percentile (93rd) does not compensate for the GPU's mid-range standing in a game that is clearly GPU-bound. The 1,689 total combos tested include high-end GPUs that push the average FPS up, which is why this mid-range pairing falls so far down the list. The data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor; the RX 6600's 8 GB VRAM and 8.928 TFLOPS of FP32 performance are the primary barriers to higher frame rates in The Medium.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with a Navi 23 chip on TSMC's 7 nm process. It features 1,792 shading units, 112 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, with a boost clock of 2491 MHz. The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its Passmark G3D score of 15,096 and 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1,492 place it at the 69th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 25,235. It is essentially tied with the AMD Radeon 890M (0% delta) and the AMD Radeon RX 6700M (0.2% delta).

In The Medium, the GPU's performance dictates the experience. At 4K Ultra, the card produces 18.5 FPS, which is a slideshow. At 4K High, it manages 25.4 FPS, still below playable thresholds. The card only becomes comfortable at 1080p, where it hits 51.6 FPS at Medium settings and 84.6 FPS at Low settings. The GPU's 8 GB VRAM is a concern at higher resolutions and settings; the 4K High result of 25.4 FPS and the 4K Medium result of 35.4 FPS suggest that memory bandwidth and capacity are stretched thin. The data shows that the RX 6600 is best suited for 1080p gaming in this title, where it can maintain playable frame rates with moderate settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data provides a complete grid of average FPS across four resolutions and four settings levels. Starting at 3840x2160, the results are: Low 55.6, Medium 35.4, High 25.4, and Ultra 18.5. The step from Low to Medium is a 36.3% performance loss, while the step from High to Ultra is a 27.2% loss. This shows that the Medium preset is a significant jump in graphical fidelity for a large FPS cost.

At 2560x1440, the figures are: Low 68.2, Medium 42.3, High 35.0, and Ultra 25.5. The Medium to High transition costs 17.3% performance, while High to Ultra costs 27.1%. The 1440p High result of 35.0 FPS is nearly identical to the 1080p High result of 35.2 FPS, confirming that the GPU is fully saturated at this quality level regardless of resolution.

At 1920x1080, the results are: Low 84.6, Medium 51.6, High 35.2, and Ultra 31.5. The jump from Low to Medium is a 39.0% drop, the largest proportional loss across any settings change in the entire dataset. From Medium to High, the drop is 31.8%, and from High to Ultra, it is 10.5%. The 1080p Low result of 84.6 FPS is the highest measured value for this combo, and the only one that approaches high-refresh-rate territory. The data makes clear that for a smooth experience, players must use Low or Medium settings at 1080p, or Low settings at 1440p. The Ultra preset is only marginally worse than High at 1080p, but the gap widens at higher resolutions, suggesting that Ultra adds memory pressure that the RX 6600 cannot handle at 1440p and 4K.