The Medium

The Medium presents a unique rendering challenge, and the benchmark data for the Intel Core i5-14600K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 shows a system that is consistently capable, though the gap between settings presets is unusually wide. The measured results indicate that the game’s fixed camera angles and heavy post-processing create a workload where the RTX 4070’s 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and Ada Lovelace architecture are the primary determinants of frame rate, with the i5-14600K providing ample headroom. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS data to show exactly how the combo behaves across resolutions and presets, and what that means for the limiting component in this specific horror title.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and reveals a clear GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions. At Low settings, the system delivers 150.5 FPS at 1920x1080, which falls to 124.4 FPS at 2560x1440 and further to 97.4 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 35% reduction in average FPS from 1080p to 4K, a pattern consistent with the GPU becoming the sole bottleneck as pixel count increases. The scaling is not linear; moving from 1440p to 4K costs only 21.7% performance, while moving from 1080p to 1440p costs 17.3%, suggesting the memory bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s is being taxed heavily at the highest resolution.

At Medium settings, the same trend holds but with lower absolute numbers: 92.3 FPS at 1080p drops to 80.7 FPS at 1440p, and then plummets to 59.7 FPS at 4K. The 4K result here is 35.3% slower than the 1440p result, indicating that the increased shading load from Medium presets amplifies the resolution penalty. The High preset shows a similar pattern, with 69 FPS at 1080p, 53.4 FPS at 1440p, and 46.8 FPS at 4K. The gap between 1440p and 4K narrows to 12.4% at High, which is curious but suggests that the game’s rendering pipeline becomes less efficient at lower settings where the CPU can still feed frames.

The Ultra preset is where the resolution scaling becomes punishing. The data shows 53.1 FPS at 1080p, 47 FPS at 1440p, and only 34.2 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1440p to 4K is 27.2%, and the absolute 4K figure is below the 60 FPS threshold. This indicates that Ultra settings introduce effects that are disproportionately expensive at high pixel counts, likely tied to the RTX 4070’s 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores, which are engaged more heavily. The overall takeaway is that the limiting component is almost exclusively the GPU across all measured rows; the i5-14600K’s 14 cores and 20 threads, with a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, never appear to constrain the frame rate, as evidenced by the consistent scaling with resolution changes.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal experience for a 60 FPS target is the Medium preset at 1920x1080, which yields 92.3 FPS, or the Medium preset at 2560x1440, which produces 80.7 FPS. Both provide a comfortable margin above 60 FPS, and the data shows that the jump from Low to Medium costs only 38.7% performance at 1080p (from 150.5 to 92.3 FPS) while offering a substantial visual uplift in a horror game where atmosphere is critical. For users with 4K displays, no preset achieves a locked 60 FPS; the closest is Low at 97.4 FPS, which is playable but sacrifices the game’s visual fidelity. The High preset at 1440p, at 53.4 FPS, is a reasonable compromise for those who prioritize image quality over frame rate, but it falls short of the smoothness target.

The Ultra preset is not recommended for any resolution in this configuration. At 1080p it only reaches 53.1 FPS, and at 4K it drops to 34.2 FPS, making it the only preset that fails to hit 60 FPS even at the lowest resolution. The data suggests that the game’s Ultra settings are poorly optimized for the RTX 4070’s 29.15 TFLOPS FP32 throughput, as the scaling from Medium to Ultra at 1080p (92.3 to 53.1 FPS) represents a 42.5% performance hit, which is severe for a single preset step. Therefore, Medium is the sweet spot, offering the best balance of measured frame rate and expected visual quality, with High serving as a viable alternative for 1080p users willing to accept 69 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is the clear workhorse in this pairing, and its specifications directly explain the measured results. The GPU features 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is sufficient for The Medium’s high-resolution textures, but the bus width is narrow compared to higher-tier cards, which likely contributes to the steep performance drop at 4K Ultra. The base clock of 1920 MHz and boost clock of 2475 MHz are standard for the Ada Lovelace architecture, and the 5888 shading units provide the raw compute power, yet the data shows that the card’s 64 ROPs are a potential bottleneck at 4K, where pixel fill rate demands are highest.

The GPU’s 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores are relevant because The Medium uses ray-traced reflections and shadows in its fixed-camera scenes. The measured FPS at Ultra settings (34.2 FPS at 4K) suggests that these cores are heavily utilized, and the card’s 29.15 TFLOPS FP32 performance is insufficient to maintain high frame rates when all effects are maxed. In contrast, the card’s benchmark scores, such as a Passmark G3D score of 26927 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3854, place it in the 81st percentile versus all GPUs, but its nearest rivals show it is only 0.6% behind the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 in average benchmark score. This indicates that while the RTX 4070 is a strong card, it is not exceptional for this specific game’s workload, which is memory-bandwidth sensitive.

The VRAM usage is not directly measured, but the 12 GB capacity is adequate for The Medium’s recommended settings, as no out-of-memory stutters are implied by the consistent FPS numbers. The memory clock of 1313 MHz with 21 Gbps effective speed is a fixed specification, and the data shows that the card’s performance degrades gracefully with resolution, rather than hitting a hard VRAM ceiling. The GPU’s end-of-life production status and launch MSRP of 599 USD are noted, but the benchmark results stand on their own: the RTX 4070 is the limiting factor in this combo, and the i5-14600K’s role is to feed it without becoming a bottleneck, which it does successfully across all measured rows.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system shows a wide spread across presets. Low settings deliver 150.5 FPS, Medium drops to 92.3 FPS, High falls to 69 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 53.1 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra is 64.7% of the Low value, indicating that The Medium’s preset scaling is aggressive and not linear. The 1080p results are all above 50 FPS, making this resolution the only one where Ultra is technically playable, though not at a smooth 60 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the numbers shift downward. Low produces 124.4 FPS, Medium 80.7 FPS, High 53.4 FPS, and Ultra 47 FPS. The Ultra preset here is 11.5% slower than at 1080p, while Medium is only 12.6% slower, showing that the CPU’s role diminishes at higher resolutions. The High preset at 1440p is nearly identical to Ultra at 1080p (53.4 vs 53.1 FPS), suggesting that the GPU workload is similar for these two configurations.

At 3840x2160, the results are the most constrained. Low yields 97.4 FPS, Medium 59.7 FPS, High 46.8 FPS, and Ultra 34.2 FPS. The 4K Medium result is just below the 60 FPS target, while High and Ultra are firmly in the sub-50 FPS territory. The spread between Low and Ultra at 4K is 63.2 FPS, or 65% of the Low value, which is the largest absolute gap across all resolutions. This breakdown confirms that the RTX 4070 is the bottleneck, as the FPS scales inversely with pixel count and preset complexity, with no evidence of CPU limitation given the i5-14600K’s performance (e.g., a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32881 and a Passmark multithread score of 38682).

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for a smooth 60 FPS experience on this system?

A: The Medium preset at 2560x1440 provides 80.7 FPS, and the Medium preset at 1920x1080 provides 92.3 FPS. Both are the only presets that reliably exceed 60 FPS at their respective resolutions, while High at 1440p (53.4 FPS) and Ultra at 1080p (53.1 FPS) both fall short.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in The Medium?

A: Yes, but only at Low settings, which yield 97.4 FPS. Medium at 4K drops to 59.7 FPS, and High and Ultra fall to 46.8 FPS and 34.2 FPS, respectively, making them unsuitable for smooth gameplay.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-14600K a bottleneck for the RTX 4070 in this game?

A: No. The FPS scaling with resolution and settings is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario. The i5-14600K’s 14 cores and 20 threads, with a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, provide sufficient headroom, as evidenced by the lack of any unexpected frame drops at lower resolutions.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 compare to its nearest rivals based on benchmark scores?

A: The RTX 4070 has an average benchmark score of 37283, which is 0.6% behind the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 and 1.9% behind the NVIDIA GeForce MX570 A. It is 2.5% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 5300M, placing it in the 81st percentile versus all GPUs.

Q: Why is the Ultra preset so much slower than Medium?

A: The data shows a 42.5% performance drop from Medium to Ultra at 1080p (92.3 to 53.1 FPS). This is likely due to the increased use of the RTX 4070’s 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores, which are heavily taxed by The Medium’s ray-traced effects, making Ultra impractical for this hardware.

Q: What does the combo’s rank in the game indicate?

A: This specific CPU-GPU combination ranks 416th out of 1689 tested combos for The Medium, placing it in the top 25% of systems. This is consistent with the GPU’s 81st percentile ranking and the CPU’s 93rd percentile ranking, though the game’s results are more dependent on the GPU.