The Medium

The Intel Core i5-14600K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti delivers a highly capable experience in The Medium, but the data reveals a clear trade-off between visual fidelity and frame rate. The sweet spot for most users is the Medium preset, which provides a balanced experience across all resolutions, offering a significant performance uplift over High settings while maintaining smooth gameplay. For those with high-refresh-rate 1080p monitors, the Low preset unlocks exceptional frame rates, while the Ultra preset is best reserved for owners of 4K displays who prioritize visual quality over raw FPS.

Settings Recommendations

Benchmark results indicate that the Medium preset is the optimal choice for this combination. At 1080p, Medium delivers an average of 113 FPS, which is a substantial 32 FPS improvement over the High preset’s 81 FPS. This headroom ensures smooth gameplay even during intense scenes. At 1440p, Medium maintains a strong 95 FPS average, comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for most displays. Even at 4K, the Medium preset produces a playable 74 FPS average, demonstrating its versatility.

The Low preset is the performance king, yielding 179 FPS at 1080p, 152 FPS at 1440p, and 119 FPS at 4K. These numbers are ideal for competitive play or for users with very high refresh rate monitors. However, the visual downgrade may be significant for a horror game that relies on atmosphere and detail.

The High preset presents a middle ground, offering 81 FPS at 1080p, 68 FPS at 1440p, and 53 FPS at 4K. While playable at 1080p and 1440p, the 4K result dips below the ideal smoothness threshold. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, producing 64 FPS at 1080p, 54 FPS at 1440p, and a choppy 42 FPS at 4K. Given the data, Ultra should only be considered for 1080p or 1440p gaming where some frame rate fluctuation is acceptable.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for a 1440p monitor?

A: The Medium preset is the recommended choice for 1440p. It achieves an average of 95 FPS, which is 27 FPS higher than the High preset’s 68 FPS and 41 FPS higher than the Ultra preset’s 54 FPS. This provides a smooth and responsive experience without the performance penalty of higher settings.

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

A: Yes, but with caveats. The Medium preset at 4K yields a playable 74 FPS average, with a minimum of 63 FPS and a maximum of 86 FPS. The High preset drops to 53 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls to 42 FPS. For a consistent 4K experience, Medium is the highest playable setting.

Q: How does the Low preset compare to Medium in terms of performance?

A: The Low preset provides a significant performance boost over Medium. At 1080p, it offers 179 FPS compared to 113 FPS, a difference of 66 FPS. At 1440p, the gap is 57 FPS (152 vs. 95), and at 4K, it is 45 FPS (119 vs. 74). This performance comes at the cost of visual fidelity.

Q: Is the Ultra preset ever the right choice for this combo?

A: The data suggests that Ultra is only viable at 1080p, where it produces an average of 64 FPS. At 1440p, it drops to 54 FPS, and at 4K, it falls to 42 FPS. For most users, the visual improvements of Ultra do not justify the substantial frame rate losses compared to Medium or High.

Q: What kind of frame rate consistency can I expect at Medium settings?

A: The measured FPS data for the Medium preset includes minimum and maximum values. At 1080p, the range is 96 to 130 FPS. At 1440p, it is 81 to 109 FPS. At 4K, it is 63 to 86 FPS. This indicates a stable performance profile with no major dips.

Q: How does the RTX 5070 Ti's performance in this game compare to its overall benchmark standing?

A: The GPU holds an 86th percentile ranking among all GPUs based on its average benchmark score. In The Medium, the performance scales predictably with resolution and settings, showing that the card is well-suited for high-refresh-rate 1080p and 1440p gaming, with the capability to handle 4K at medium settings.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data reveals a clear pattern of resolution scaling that points to the GPU as the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions. The most dramatic performance shift occurs between 1440p and 4K. At Medium settings, the average frame rate drops from 95 FPS at 1440p to 74 FPS at 4K, a decrease of 21 FPS or roughly 22%. This significant drop indicates that the rendering load at 4K is substantially taxing the RTX 5070 Ti.

The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is less severe but still noticeable. At Medium settings, the average FPS falls from 113 at 1080p to 95 at 1440p, a reduction of 18 FPS. This suggests that while the GPU is still the main bottleneck, the CPU (Intel Core i5-14600K) is capable of feeding it enough data to maintain a high frame rate at the lower resolution.

At Low settings, the scaling pattern is similar. The 4K average of 119 FPS is 33 FPS lower than the 1080p average of 179 FPS. This demonstrates that even when the graphical load is reduced, the sheer pixel count at 4K creates a substantial performance penalty. The CPU’s influence is most apparent at 1080p Low, where the 179 FPS average is very high, suggesting that the game is not heavily CPU-bound at this resolution and settings combination.

The data indicates that the system is well-balanced, with the GPU becoming the limiting component as resolution increases. The CPU’s strong single-threaded performance, evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2064, ensures it does not bottleneck the GPU at lower resolutions, allowing the graphics card to stretch its legs.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1080p (1920x1080):

• Low: The average FPS is 179, representing the highest performance tier.
• Medium: The average FPS is 113, with a minimum of 96 and a maximum of 130.
• High: The average FPS is 81.
• Ultra: The average FPS is 64.

1440p (2560x1440):

• Low: The average FPS is 152.
• Medium: The average FPS is 95, with a minimum of 81 and a maximum of 109.
• High: The average FPS is 68.
• Ultra: The average FPS is 54.

4K (3840x2160):

• Low: The average FPS is 119.
• Medium: The average FPS is 74, with a minimum of 63 and a maximum of 86.
• High: The average FPS is 53.
• Ultra: The average FPS is 42.

The data shows a consistent hierarchy across all resolutions, with Low being the fastest and Ultra being the slowest. The Medium preset offers the best compromise, providing playable frame rates at all resolutions, including a 74 FPS average at 4K. The High preset is a viable option for 1080p and 1440p, but it struggles at 4K. The Ultra preset is only recommended for 1080p displays.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for The Medium, the Intel Core i5-14600K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti configuration ranks 324th out of 3724 total combos. This places it in the top 9% of all tested systems, indicating a high level of performance. This ranking is consistent with the individual component standings, as the CPU is in the 90th percentile of all CPUs and the GPU is in the 86th percentile of all GPUs.

The combo’s strong ranking is a direct result of the balanced partnership between the two components. The CPU’s high multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 24491, and the GPU’s raw power combine to handle the game’s demands effectively. The ranking suggests that this system will outperform the vast majority of other configurations in this specific title, delivering a high-quality gaming experience.

This performance level is not an outlier. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 48618 is very close to its nearest rivals, such as the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H which has a score of 48698 and a delta of -0.2%. Similarly, the GPU’s average score of 49957 is comparable to the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64, which scores 50001. This indicates that the components are performing as expected relative to their peers, and the high combo rank is a result of their combined strength.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K is a 14-core, 20-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. This configuration provides a strong foundation for gaming, as the high boost clock ensures excellent single-threaded performance, which is crucial for game logic and physics. The processor’s 24 MB of shared L3 cache also helps to reduce memory latency and improve data access speeds.

In The Medium, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and process game logic. The benchmark results suggest that the CPU is not a bottleneck in this system. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 179 FPS, a very high frame rate that indicates the CPU is capable of handling the game’s demands without limiting the GPU. Even at 1440p and 4K, the scaling of performance is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario, as the frame rate drops with increased resolution and settings.

The processor’s multi-threaded capabilities, demonstrated by its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 13709, are also beneficial for a game like The Medium, which may utilize multiple threads for streaming assets and environmental calculations. The CPU’s 90th percentile ranking among all CPUs underscores its high performance. While the GPU is the primary driver of frame rates at higher resolutions, the i5-14600K provides enough processing power to ensure that the RTX 5070 Ti is fully utilized, making this a well-matched pair for this horror title.