The Medium

The Medium, a fixed-camera horror title built on Unreal Engine 4, presents a unique stress profile that shifts dramatically between resolutions. When paired with the Intel Core i5-14600K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, the data reveals a system that scales predictably but with notable bottlenecks at lower resolutions, while maintaining playability at 4K. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS across three resolutions and four quality presets, interpreting what those numbers mean for the limiting component in each scenario.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS deltas across resolutions for this combo tell a clear story about where the performance ceiling lies. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 179 FPS on average. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 169 FPS, a modest 5.6% reduction, but jumping to 4K Low yields 143 FPS, which is a 20.1% drop from 1080p. This pattern—where the 1080p to 1440p step is minor but the 1440p to 4K step is severe—indicates that the RTX 5090 is not fully saturated until the pixel count becomes extreme.

The scaling becomes more pronounced at higher settings. At High settings, the average FPS goes from 97 at 1080p to 82 at 1440p (a 15.5% decline) and then to 64 at 4K (a 34% decline from 1080p). The Ultra preset shows the steepest curve: 77 FPS at 1080p, 65 FPS at 1440p, and 51 FPS at 4K. Across all presets, the 4K results are consistently 29-34% lower than their 1080p counterparts, which suggests that the GPU's rendering load is scaling almost linearly with pixel count.

What stands out is the gap between the 1080p and 1440p results at Low settings. A mere 10 FPS difference between these resolutions implies that the CPU is becoming the limiting factor at 1080p Low, preventing the RTX 5090 from reaching its full potential. The 143 FPS at 4K Low is closer to the 1440p Low result than the 1080p result, reinforcing that the bottleneck shifts from CPU-bound at 1080p to GPU-bound as resolution increases.

The Medium's fixed-camera angles and pre-rendered backgrounds likely contribute to this scaling behavior. The game's rendering load is heavy on pixel fill and shading, which taxes the GPU more at higher resolutions, but the CPU's role in managing draw calls for the interactive foreground elements becomes more prominent at lower pixel counts. The data shows that 1440p is the sweet spot for this pairing, where neither component is entirely wasted.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is a Blackwell 2.0 architecture part built on a 5 nm process at TSMC, featuring 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus. Its memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s is substantial, and the core runs at a base clock of 2017 MHz with a boost of 2407 MHz. The GPU has 21,760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs, along with 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores.

In The Medium, the GPU's massive memory pool is unlikely to be a constraint, as the game's textures and geometry are not exceptionally demanding by modern standards. The 32 GB frame buffer is far more than the game requires, meaning VRAM capacity does not factor into the measured FPS drops. Instead, the GPU's raw compute throughput—104.8 TFLOPS FP32—drives the results, especially at 4K where the Ultra preset yields 51 FPS.

The RTX 5090's pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s are the specifications most relevant to this game. The Medium relies heavily on detailed texture work and atmospheric effects, which engage the TMUs and ROPs. The 176 ROPs handle the pixel output, and the data shows that at 4K Ultra, the GPU is working hard to maintain 51 FPS, which is a demanding workload for any card.

The benchmark scores for the RTX 5090 place it in the 92nd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 79,842. Its nearest rivals in synthetic tests include the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (0.3% higher score), the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (0.6% higher), and the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (1.1% higher). These are datacenter and laptop parts, not direct gaming competitors, which highlights the RTX 5090's position at the top of the consumer stack.

The GPU's 575 W TDP and 1x 16-pin power connector are notable, but the measured FPS results show that this power budget translates into playable frame rates even at 4K High (64 FPS). The low setting at 4K achieves 143 FPS, indicating that the GPU has substantial headroom when the visual fidelity is reduced. The GPU's passmark G3D score of 39,650 and directX 12 score of 185 are synthetic benchmarks, but they correlate with the strong 4K performance observed in this title.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K is a 14-core, 20-thread processor based on Raptor Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, with a TDP of 125 W. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3. This is a desktop part with an unlocked multiplier, supporting DDR4 and DDR5 memory.

In The Medium, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p Low, where the average FPS of 179 is still 36 FPS higher than 4K Low, but the scaling between 1080p and 1440p is minimal. The 20 threads provide ample headroom for the game's logic and draw calls, but the fixed-camera design limits the number of on-screen objects that need processing. The CPU's single-core performance, as measured by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,064, is likely the more critical factor for this game's frame pacing.

The 14 cores include performance and efficiency cores, but The Medium is unlikely to utilize all 20 threads effectively. The game's engine is not known for heavy multi-threading, so the CPU's high boost clock of 5.30 GHz on the performance cores is what matters most. The benchmark results show a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 24,491 and a Geekbench multi-core score of 16,673, but these are less relevant to gaming than the single-core scores.

The CPU's 90th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 48,618, places it in strong company. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H (-0.2% delta), AMD EPYC 4345P (0.3% delta), and Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX (0.7% delta). These are all high-end parts, but the i5-14600K holds its own in synthetic tests.

The data indicates that at 1080p Low, the CPU is the limiting factor, capping FPS at 179. At higher settings and resolutions, the GPU takes over as the bottleneck. The CPU's 24 MB of L3 cache helps with game data locality, but the game's modest thread usage means the 20 threads are not fully exploited. The measured FPS at 1440p Low (169) and 1080p Low (179) are close, suggesting the CPU is near its limit in both scenarios.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across all settings.

At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves the highest average at 179 FPS, with no min or max reported. The Medium preset averages 135 FPS, with a minimum of 115 FPS and a maximum of 156 FPS. High settings average 97 FPS, and Ultra averages 77 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 102 FPS, showing that the game's settings have a significant impact on GPU load at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 169 FPS, a 5.6% drop from 1080p Low. Medium averages 114 FPS (97 min, 131 max), High averages 82 FPS, and Ultra averages 65 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra here is 104 FPS, similar to 1080p, but the absolute numbers are lower across the board. The min FPS of 97 at Medium 1440p indicates that even with the RTX 5090, there are moments of frame rate fluctuation.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 143 FPS, which is 20.1% lower than 1080p Low. Medium averages 90 FPS (76 min, 103 max), High averages 64 FPS, and Ultra averages 51 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 92 FPS, slightly narrower than at lower resolutions. The min FPS of 76 at Medium 4K is notable, as it shows the game can dip below 60 FPS even on the most powerful consumer GPU.

Comparing presets across resolutions, the Medium setting shows the most consistent scaling: 135 FPS at 1080p, 114 FPS at 1440p, and 90 FPS at 4K. This represents a 33.3% drop from 1080p to 4K. The High preset drops 34% from 1080p to 4K, and Ultra drops 33.8%. The Low preset drops 20.1%, which is smaller because the CPU bottleneck at 1080p Low artificially caps the FPS.

The Ultra preset at 4K yields 51 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold many consider the minimum for smooth gameplay, but still playable for a slow-paced horror title. The High preset at 4K achieves 64 FPS, which is above that threshold. The Medium preset at 4K with its 76 FPS minimum provides a comfortable margin. For players seeking the highest visual fidelity, the data shows that High settings at 4K is the realistic ceiling for maintaining playable frame rates.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations, this pairing of the Intel Core i5-14600K with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 78th out of 3,724 combos in The Medium. This puts it in the top 2.1% of all tested systems, which is a strong result given the game's demanding 4K Ultra settings.

The rank of 78 out of 3,724 reflects the CPU's position relative to other processors tested with the RTX 5090. The CPU's average benchmark score of 48,618 places it in the 90th percentile, meaning it outperforms 90% of all CPUs. However, the GPU's 92nd percentile ranking suggests the GPU is slightly stronger relative to its peers than the CPU is relative to its peers.

The nearest rivals in CPU benchmarks include the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H, which scores 48,698 on average (0.2% higher), and the AMD EPYC 4345P at 48,470 (0.3% lower). These deltas are tiny, indicating that the i5-14600K is in a performance class with these parts. For the GPU, the nearest rivals are the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (0.3% higher score) and the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (1.1% higher), but these are not direct gaming comparisons.

The combo rank of 78 suggests that there are 77 other combinations that perform better in The Medium. Given the RTX 5090 is the top consumer GPU, those higher-ranked combos likely feature CPUs with higher single-core performance or better memory configurations. The CPU's 5.30 GHz boost clock is high, but the game may benefit from processors with even higher IPC or lower memory latency.

The rank also indicates that this combo is well-balanced for this game. The 1080p Low FPS of 179 is a hard cap imposed by the CPU, meaning that even with a stronger GPU, the FPS would not increase. Conversely, the 4K Ultra FPS of 51 is GPU-limited, so a stronger CPU would not help. The combo sits in a sweet spot where both components are utilized effectively, though neither is pushed to its absolute limit.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: The average FPS at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings is 77 FPS. This is the lowest result at 1080p, and it is 102 FPS below the Low preset's 179 FPS average.

Q: How does 4K performance compare to 1440p performance?

A: At 4K High settings, the average FPS is 64, compared to 82 FPS at 1440p High. This represents a 22% drop in performance when moving from 1440p to 4K at the same settings.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p Low?

A: The data suggests the CPU is the limiting factor at 1080p Low, where the average FPS is 179. The 1440p Low result of 169 FPS is only 5.6% lower, indicating that the GPU has headroom that the CPU cannot feed.

Q: Does the RTX 5090's 32 GB of VRAM ever become a constraint in The Medium?

A: The 32 GB frame buffer is far larger than what The Medium requires. The measured FPS drops across resolutions and settings are consistent with GPU compute limitations, not VRAM capacity, so the VRAM does not appear to be a constraint.

Q: What is the best preset for 4K gaming on this combo?

A: The High preset at 4K averages 64 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold. The Ultra preset averages 51 FPS, which is below that threshold, making High the recommended setting for smooth 4K gameplay.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: This combination ranks 78th out of 3,724 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the top 2.1% of all systems. This rank reflects the balance between the CPU's 90th percentile and GPU's 92nd percentile standings.