The Medium

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates for The Medium across the three tested resolutions reveal a system heavily constrained by the graphics subsystem. At 1080p with Low settings, the combination of the Intel Core i5-14600K and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4 GB produces 66.2 FPS. Moving to 1440p at the same settings drops the average to 55 FPS, a reduction of approximately 17%. At 4K, the Low preset yields 41.3 FPS, which is 37.6% lower than the 1440p result and 62.4% lower than the 1080p baseline. This steep, consistent decline across resolutions with identical settings indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting factor; the CPU, with its 14 cores and 20 threads, is not the bottleneck in this scenario.

The scaling pattern becomes more pronounced at higher quality presets. At Medium settings, the transition from 1080p (37.8 FPS) to 1440p (33 FPS) represents a 12.7% drop, while moving from 1440p to 4K (27.2 FPS) costs another 17.6%. The High preset shows a similar trend: 30.3 FPS at 1080p, 26.8 FPS at 1440p, and 16.4 FPS at 4K. The most dramatic collapse occurs between 1440p High and 4K High, where performance falls by 38.8%. The Ultra preset, which is the most demanding, yields 24.7 FPS at 1080p, 18.8 FPS at 1440p, and 17.9 FPS at 4K. Interestingly, the gap between 1440p Ultra and 4K Ultra is only 4.8%, suggesting that at these extreme settings, the rendering workload exceeds what the 4 GB frame buffer can efficiently manage, causing the GPU to hit a memory or bandwidth ceiling rather than a pure compute limit.

The data indicates that the 4K High result of 16.4 FPS is the worst-case scenario, falling below playability thresholds. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at High settings is a 45.9% reduction in frame rate, which is more severe than the 37.6% reduction seen at Low settings. This nonlinear scaling suggests that the game's higher-quality presets introduce additional memory pressure and shader complexity that disproportionately affect the RTX 3050 4 GB. The GPU's 128-bit memory bus and 192.0 GB/s of bandwidth are insufficient for the higher texture and geometry loads at 4K, even when the CPU is capable of feeding frames faster. The benchmark results confirm that this pairing is best suited for 1080p operation, with 1440p being viable only at Low or Medium settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achieved by this CPU and GPU combination in The Medium?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 66.2 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the RTX 3050 4 GB perform at 4K resolution in this game?

A: At 3840x2160, the average frame rates range from 41.3 FPS on Low settings down to 16.4 FPS on High and 17.9 FPS on Ultra, indicating that 4K is only marginally playable at the lowest preset.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-14600K the bottleneck in this configuration?

A: No, the data shows that frame rates scale heavily with resolution and settings, which is characteristic of a GPU bottleneck. The CPU's benchmark scores, such as 32,881 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, indicate it is far more capable than what this game requires at these settings.

Q: What is the difference in performance between Medium and High settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, Medium settings produce 37.8 FPS, while High settings produce 30.3 FPS, a difference of 7.5 FPS (approximately 19.8% lower performance on High).

Q: Does the 4 GB VRAM capacity affect performance at higher resolutions?

A: Yes, the data suggests a memory capacity or bandwidth constraint, as the performance gap between 1440p Ultra (18.8 FPS) and 4K Ultra (17.9 FPS) is only 4.8%, whereas lower settings show larger relative drops when moving to 4K.

Q: What is the overall ranking of this specific CPU and GPU combination for The Medium?

A: This combination ranks 1528 out of 1689 tested configurations for this game, placing it in the lower percentile of all possible pairings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4 GB is the decisive component in these benchmark results. Its specifications—4 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus with 192.0 GB/s of bandwidth—are modest by modern standards, and the measured frame rates reflect this limitation. The GPU operates with a base clock of 1545 MHz and a boost clock of 1740 MHz, which are relatively low for the Ampere architecture, and it delivers 7.127 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. The 8 nm process node and 8,700 million transistors on a 200 mm² die indicate a chip designed for efficiency (90 W TDP) rather than raw throughput, which aligns with the end-of-life production status.

In The Medium, the GPU's role is clearly dominant. The frame rate differences between Low and Ultra settings at any given resolution are substantial. At 1080p, the jump from Low (66.2 FPS) to Ultra (24.7 FPS) represents a 62.7% reduction in performance. At 4K, the same settings transition drops from 41.3 FPS to 17.9 FPS, a 56.7% reduction. This sensitivity to settings suggests that the game's visual features—likely including volumetric lighting, ray-traced effects, and high-resolution textures—are heavily taxing the GPU's shading units and memory subsystem. The 16 RT cores and 64 tensor cores are present but do not provide enough throughput to maintain high frame rates at 4K.

The VRAM capacity of 4 GB is a particular concern. The 128-bit bus width limits the memory bandwidth to 192.0 GB/s, which is insufficient for the data transfer demands of 4K textures and geometry. The benchmark shows that at 4K Ultra, the frame rate (17.9 FPS) is nearly identical to 4K High (16.4 FPS), which is atypical. In a purely compute-bound scenario, higher settings should reduce performance more noticeably. The near-parity suggests that the GPU is stalling due to memory constraints, where the frame buffer cannot hold the required assets, forcing constant swapping. The 55.68 GPixel/s pixel rate and 111.4 GTexel/s texture rate are also limiting factors at 4K, where the sheer number of pixels to fill exceeds the GPU's fill rate capabilities.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured average frame rates for this combination is as follows. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 66.2 FPS, which is the only result above 60 FPS across all tests. Medium settings yield 37.8 FPS, High settings produce 30.3 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 24.7 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra represents a cumulative performance loss of 41.5 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the results are consistently lower. Low settings achieve 55 FPS, which is the only 1440p result above 50 FPS. Medium settings drop to 33 FPS, High settings fall to 26.8 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 18.8 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 36.2 FPS, showing a similar sensitivity to settings as at 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the performance is marginal. Low settings produce 41.3 FPS, which is the only 4K result above 30 FPS. Medium settings yield 27.2 FPS, High settings drop to 16.4 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 17.9 FPS. Notably, the High preset at 4K performs slightly worse than Ultra, which is an anomaly that could be attributed to specific rendering paths or driver behavior under memory pressure. The 4K results confirm that this GPU is not designed for high-resolution gaming in a demanding title like The Medium, as the average frame rate across all four settings is 25.7 FPS.

The data also shows how settings scaling changes with resolution. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Medium is 28.4 FPS. At 1440p, that difference narrows to 22 FPS, and at 4K, it narrows to 14.1 FPS. This trend indicates that as resolution increases, the GPU becomes more saturated, and the relative impact of quality settings diminishes. The CPU, with its strong single-thread performance (4,642 in Cinebench R23 single-core), is not holding back the system, as the frame rates are consistently low enough that the CPU has ample headroom to prepare frames.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the optimal experience for this configuration is at 1920x1080 with the Low preset, which achieves 66.2 FPS. This is the only setting combination that provides a frame rate comfortably above 60 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay in a horror title where responsiveness matters. The Low preset at 1440p also deserves consideration, as it produces 55 FPS, which is playable for most users, but the 1080p Low result is superior in terms of fluidity.

For users who prioritize visual fidelity over raw frame rate, the Medium preset at 1080p (37.8 FPS) is a viable compromise. It offers a noticeable improvement over Low in terms of texture quality and effects while maintaining a frame rate that is above 30 FPS. The High preset at 1080p (30.3 FPS) is borderline, and the Ultra preset at 1080p (24.7 FPS) falls below the 30 FPS threshold that is often considered the minimum for acceptable playability on PC.

At higher resolutions, the recommendations are more restrictive. At 1440p, the Low preset (55 FPS) is the only setting that provides a smooth experience. The Medium preset (33 FPS) is playable but may exhibit stuttering in demanding scenes. The High and Ultra presets at 1440p (26.8 FPS and 18.8 FPS, respectively) are not recommended for active gameplay. At 4K, only the Low preset (41.3 FPS) is viable, and even then, the frame rate is not ideal for a game that relies on atmospheric tension and precise timing. The Medium preset at 4K (27.2 FPS) is marginal, while High and Ultra (16.4 FPS and 17.9 FPS) are effectively unplayable.

The benchmark data suggests that the best experience per the measured rows is achieved by prioritizing resolution over settings. The 1080p Low result is the clear winner, providing a frame rate that is 19.6% higher than the next best result (1440p Low at 55 FPS). For a game like The Medium, where the horror atmosphere is enhanced by smooth motion, the 1080p Low preset is the recommended configuration. Users with a tolerance for lower frame rates may opt for 1440p Low or 1080p Medium, but the data indicates that the GPU's 4 GB memory capacity and 192.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for higher-quality presets without significant performance penalties.