The Medium

The Medium is a demanding horror title that stresses both GPU and CPU depending on the resolution and quality preset. For the Intel Core i5-14600K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 combination, the benchmark data reveals a system that is firmly GPU-limited at higher resolutions, while the processor’s strong single-thread performance keeps frame rates competitive at lower settings. The measured results show a clear hierarchy: the combo ranks 952nd out of 1689 tested configurations, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database, which aligns with the RTX 4060’s 66th percentile standing among all GPUs.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all quality settings, indicating that the RTX 4060 is the primary bottleneck. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 107.8 FPS at 1920x1080 to 73.3 FPS at 3840x2160, a reduction of roughly 32%. This scaling is typical for a GPU with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and a 128-bit memory bus, as the pixel throughput demands at 4K overwhelm the card’s 118.1 GPixel/s fill rate.

Moving to Medium settings, the drop is even more pronounced: 69.6 FPS at 1080p falls to 45.6 FPS at 4K, a 34.5% decrease. High settings show a similar pattern, with 47 FPS at 1080p dropping to 34.7 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset is the most punishing, as the 37.7 FPS at 1080p collapses to 26 FPS at 4K, making the game nearly unplayable at the highest resolution. This pattern confirms that the RTX 4060’s 15.11 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is simply insufficient for 4K Ultra in this title.

The scaling between 1440p and 4K is less severe but still significant. At Low settings, 90.3 FPS at 2560x1440 drops to 73.3 FPS at 4K, a 18.8% reduction. The gap narrows at higher presets: Medium goes from 59.5 FPS to 45.6 FPS, while High drops from 40.5 FPS to 34.7 FPS. The data suggests that the CPU, with its 14 cores and 20 threads, is not the limiting factor at these resolutions—the GPU’s memory bandwidth of 272.0 GB/s becomes the constraining resource as resolution increases.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to achieve 60 FPS?

A: At 1080p with Low settings, the system averages 107.8 FPS, and at Medium it hits 69.6 FPS. At 1440p, only Low settings exceed 60 FPS, with 90.3 FPS; Medium at 1440p drops to 59.5 FPS, just below the threshold.

Q: How does the RTX 4060 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The GPU’s average benchmark score of 23181 places it 0.6% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6600M and 0.7% behind the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti, while it is 0.7% ahead of the Intel Arc B580 and 0.8% ahead of the AMD Radeon 760M.

Q: Is the Core i5-14600K a strong match for this game?

A: The CPU ranks in the 93rd percentile among all processors, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 32881 and a single-core score of 4642. These results indicate ample headroom for The Medium’s CPU demands, as frame rates scale primarily with GPU settings.

Q: What happens to frame rates at Ultra settings across resolutions?

A: Ultra is the most demanding preset: 37.7 FPS at 1080p, 31 FPS at 1440p, and 26 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result represents the lowest measured performance in the dataset, showing a 31% drop from 1080p Ultra.

Q: How does the combo rank overall in this game?

A: The combination ranks 952nd out of 1689 tested combos, placing it in the 56th percentile of all configurations. This rank reflects the GPU’s mid-tier standing more than the CPU’s high-tier performance.

Q: Does the 8 GB VRAM limit performance at 4K?

A: The data shows a significant frame rate drop at 4K compared to 1440p across all settings, consistent with the 8 GB memory capacity being a limiting factor. The 4K Low result of 73.3 FPS is still playable, but High and Ultra settings fall below 35 FPS.

CPU Role

The Core i5-14600K’s specifications are robust for a gaming workload. With 14 cores and 20 threads, the processor handles multi-threaded tasks efficiently, as evidenced by its Geekbench multicore score of 15846 and Passmark multithread score of 38682. The boost clock of 5.30 GHz, combined with a 24 MB shared L3 cache, provides the single-thread responsiveness that The Medium’s fixed-camera angles and scripted scenes require.

The CPU’s single-core performance is exceptional: a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4642 and a Passmark single-thread score of 4270. These numbers place it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs, meaning it outperforms the vast majority of processors in lightly-threaded scenarios. The game’s frame rates at 1080p Low (107.8 FPS) versus 1440p Low (90.3 FPS) show only a modest 16% drop, suggesting that the CPU is not the bottleneck at lower resolutions—the GPU’s rendering pipeline takes over as the primary constraint.

The processor’s 125 W TDP and active production status indicate it is designed for sustained gaming loads, and its memory support for DDR4 and DDR5 offers flexibility. However, benchmark data shows the CPU is not the limiting factor in this title; even at 4K Ultra, where the GPU produces only 26 FPS, the CPU’s 14 cores and 20 threads are far from saturated. The i5-14600K’s nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, scores an average of 49062 in benchmarks, just 0.2% behind, confirming that the Intel chip is competitively positioned for this workload.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 952 out of 1689 tested configurations places it in the lower half of the database, which is surprising given the CPU’s high percentile. This discrepancy highlights that The Medium is heavily GPU-bound, and the RTX 4060’s 66th percentile among GPUs drags the overall ranking down. The combo’s position is consistent with the GPU’s measured performance: 19545 in Passmark G3D and 2302 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12.

Compared to other combos in the database, this pairing is not optimized for high-refresh-rate gaming at 4K, but it is adequate for 1080p and 1440p at medium settings. The rank suggests that users with higher-tier GPUs, such as those in the top 10% of the database, would see significantly better results, particularly at 1440p Ultra where this combo only manages 31 FPS. The CPU’s strong benchmark scores—32881 in Cinebench R23 multicore—mean that upgrading the GPU would yield substantial gains without requiring a processor change.

The deltaPct values for the GPU’s nearest rivals show that the RTX 4060 is competitive within its class, but the overall combo rank reflects the game’s demanding nature. The 952nd position out of 1689 is a mid-pack result, with roughly 44% of tested combos performing worse and 56% performing better. This is a fair assessment for a mid-range GPU paired with a high-end CPU in a title that prioritizes GPU compute.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers playable frame rates across most settings. Low settings produce an average of 107.8 FPS, which is smooth for a horror title. Medium settings drop to 69.6 FPS, still well above the 60 FPS threshold. High settings average 47 FPS, which is noticeably less fluid but acceptable for slower-paced gameplay. Ultra settings fall to 37.7 FPS, making the game feel stuttery during intense scenes.

At 2560x1440, the performance degrades predictably. Low settings maintain a solid 90.3 FPS, while Medium drops to 59.5 FPS—just under the 60 FPS target. High settings average 40.5 FPS, and Ultra falls to 31 FPS. The 1440p results show that the RTX 4060 can handle the game at medium quality, but higher presets require compromises.

At 3840x2160, the GPU struggles. Low settings produce 73.3 FPS, which is surprising given the resolution, but Medium drops to 45.6 FPS. High settings average 34.7 FPS, and Ultra falls to 26 FPS, making the game nearly unplayable at the highest preset. The 4K data points are consistent with the GPU’s 128-bit memory bus and 8 GB VRAM, which limit texture streaming and pixel throughput at high resolutions.

The data shows a clear pattern: the RTX 4060 is capable of 1080p gaming at high settings (47 FPS) but requires low settings for a consistent 60+ FPS experience. At 1440p, medium settings are the ceiling for playability, and at 4K, only low settings are viable. The Core i5-14600K’s performance remains consistent across all resolutions, confirming that the GPU is the definitive bottleneck in this configuration.