The Medium

# The Medium with Intel Core i5-14600K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti

The Intel Core i5-14600K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti delivers a playable but demanding experience in The Medium, with performance varying dramatically across resolutions and presets. At 1080p Medium, the combo achieves 82.5 FPS, which drops to 66.3 FPS at 1440p and 53.4 FPS at 4K, showing a clear progression of GPU-bound scaling. The system ranks 677th out of 1689 tested combos in this game, placing it in the upper-middle tier of benchmarked configurations.

FAQ

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

A: 1080p is the strongest resolution, where the combo delivers 126.7 FPS on Low, 82.5 FPS on Medium, 57.4 FPS on High, and 44.4 FPS on Ultra. At 1440p, performance drops to 106.6 FPS on Low and 66.3 FPS on Medium, while 4K falls to 86.8 FPS on Low and 53.4 FPS on Medium.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Intel Core i5-14600K has an average benchmark score of 49166, which is 0.2% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X at 49062 and 1% higher than the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H at 48698. It trails the Intel Core i5-14600KF by 0.4% and the AMD EPYC 4345P by 0.9%.

Q: What is the GPU's performance percentile?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti sits in the 74th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 30849. Its closest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 590 GME, scores 30755 (0.3% lower), while the AMD Radeon RX 6700 scores 31112 (0.8% higher).

Q: Does the game run better on Low or High settings?

A: Low settings provide dramatically higher frame rates across all resolutions. At 1080p, Low delivers 126.7 FPS versus 57.4 FPS on High, a difference of 69.3 FPS. At 4K, Low achieves 86.8 FPS compared to 35.7 FPS on High, showing that settings have a massive impact on this title.

Q: How much VRAM does the GPU have and what type?

A: The RTX 3070 Ti features 8 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 608.3 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is paired with 6144 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units.

Q: What is the CPU's core and thread configuration?

A: The Intel Core i5-14600K has 14 cores and 20 threads, with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. It features 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB of L2 cache per core, built on Intel's 10 nm process with Raptor Lake architecture.

Settings Recommendations

The data indicates that Medium settings provide the best balance of visual quality and performance for this combo. At 1080p, Medium delivers 82.5 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, while High drops to 57.4 FPS and Ultra falls to 44.4 FPS. The gap between Medium and High is substantial — 25.1 FPS at 1080p — suggesting that the game's higher presets impose a heavy cost on the RTX 3070 Ti.

At 1440p, Medium produces 66.3 FPS, which remains playable for most users, while High drops to 47.4 FPS and Ultra to 39 FPS. For 4K gaming, Medium is borderline at 53.4 FPS, and users seeking higher frame rates would need to drop to Low, which delivers 86.8 FPS. The Ultra preset is consistently the worst performer, yielding 32.9 FPS at 4K, 39 FPS at 1440p, and 44.4 FPS at 1080p — all below ideal playability thresholds.

For the best experience on this hardware, Medium at 1080p or 1440p is the recommended configuration. High settings are viable only at 1080p with a 57.4 FPS average, but the frame rate is close to the edge of smoothness. Low settings are unnecessarily aggressive for most users, as the jump from Low to Medium costs 44.2 FPS at 1080p but provides significantly better visuals.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K brings substantial processing power to this pairing, with 14 cores and 20 threads operating between 3.50 GHz base and 5.30 GHz boost clocks. The CPU's multi-threaded capabilities are demonstrated by its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32881 and single-core score of 4642, indicating strong performance for both threaded and lightly-threaded workloads. Its PassMark multithread score of 38682 and physics score of 2473 suggest the processor can handle the simulation and logic demands of a horror title like The Medium.

The CPU's 93rd percentile ranking among all CPUs places it well above average, with an average benchmark score of 49166. This positions the i5-14600K 0.2% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and 1% ahead of the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H, while trailing the i5-14600KF by 0.4%. In game performance, the CPU is unlikely to be the bottleneck at higher resolutions, as the measured FPS drops proportionally with resolution increases, indicating the GPU becomes the limiting factor.

The processor's 125 W TDP and Intel Socket 1700 compatibility make it a mainstream desktop part, and its unlocked multiplier allows overclocking for users seeking additional performance. The 24 MB shared L3 cache provides ample capacity for game data, while the 10 nm process node from Intel's Raptor Lake architecture balances power efficiency with clock speed.

How This Combo Ranks

This configuration ranks 677th out of 1689 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the 60th percentile of all benchmarked systems. This ranking reflects the balanced nature of the i5-14600K and RTX 3070 Ti pairing — both components are strong mid-to-high-end parts, but neither is top-tier in the current hardware landscape.

The CPU's 93rd percentile ranking among all CPUs is notably higher than the GPU's 74th percentile, suggesting the processor is relatively stronger than the graphics card in this pairing. This imbalance means the RTX 3070 Ti is likely the limiting factor in The Medium's performance, particularly at higher resolutions and settings where GPU load increases significantly.

The combo's mid-pack ranking is consistent with the measured FPS data, which shows solid 1080p performance but struggles at 4K Ultra (32.9 FPS). The system outperforms many lower-end configurations while falling short of top-tier builds featuring more powerful GPUs, making it a reasonable but not exceptional choice for this specific game.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is built on the Ampere architecture with the GA104 chip, manufactured on Samsung's 8 nm process with 17,400 million transistors. Its 8 GB of GDDR6X memory delivers 608.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which proves sufficient for The Medium at most settings but may become strained at 4K Ultra. The GPU's boost clock of 1770 MHz and base clock of 1575 MHz drive 6144 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs.

The GPU's 74th percentile ranking places it above the median but below top-tier cards, and its average benchmark score of 30849 is nearly identical to the AMD Radeon RX 590 GME at 30755 (0.3% lower). The RTX 3070 Ti trails the AMD Radeon RX 6700 by 0.8% and the NVIDIA Quadro M5000 by 0.9% in average scores, showing tight competition in this performance class.

In The Medium, the GPU's role is clearly dominant, as evidenced by the large FPS differences between settings at the same resolution. At 1080p, Low delivers 126.7 FPS while Ultra drops to 44.4 FPS — a 82.3 FPS spread that illustrates how heavily the game's rendering load falls on the graphics card. The GPU's 21.75 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 339.8 GTexel/s texture rate provide ample raw power, but the 8 GB VRAM capacity may limit Ultra settings at higher resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the combo delivers its strongest performance across all presets. Low settings achieve 126.7 FPS, Medium reaches 82.5 FPS, High produces 57.4 FPS, and Ultra drops to 44.4 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a consistent decline of roughly 20-25 FPS per tier, with the largest single drop occurring between Low and Medium at 44.2 FPS.

Moving to 1440p, performance decreases across every preset. Low delivers 106.6 FPS (a 20.1 FPS drop from 1080p), Medium achieves 66.3 FPS (down 16.2 FPS), High produces 47.4 FPS (down 10 FPS), and Ultra reaches 39 FPS (down 5.4 FPS). The smaller absolute drops at higher settings indicate that the GPU is already heavily loaded at these presets.

At 4K, the performance picture becomes more challenging. Low still delivers a playable 86.8 FPS, but Medium drops to 53.4 FPS, High falls to 35.7 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 32.9 FPS. These numbers show that 4K gaming is only viable on Low settings, while 1440p and 1080p offer more flexibility across the preset range.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals important insights about the limiting component in this system. At Medium settings, performance drops from 82.5 FPS at 1080p to 66.3 FPS at 1440p (a 19.6% decrease) and then to 53.4 FPS at 4K (a further 19.5% decrease from 1440p). This consistent percentage drop across resolutions indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck, as the CPU's workload does not increase with resolution.

At Low settings, the scaling is even more pronounced: 126.7 FPS at 1080p, 106.6 FPS at 1440p, and 86.8 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 4K drop of 39.9 FPS (31.5%) at Low settings shows that even minimal graphical load is heavily affected by resolution increases, confirming the GPU-bound nature of this title.

The High and Ultra presets show smaller absolute drops between resolutions — High goes from 57.4 to 47.4 to 35.7 FPS, while Ultra moves from 44.4 to 39 to 32.9 FPS. The flattening of performance at higher settings and resolutions suggests the game becomes increasingly GPU-limited, with the RTX 3070 Ti's 8 GB VRAM and 608.3 GB/s bandwidth proving insufficient to maintain frame rates at 4K Ultra. The CPU's 93rd percentile ranking and strong multi-threaded scores indicate it has ample headroom, but the GPU's 74th percentile ranking and measured performance show it is the limiting factor in this configuration.