The Medium

The Medium presents an interesting case study in system balancing. The combination of the Intel Core i5-14600KF and the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT produces a dataset that reveals how a fixed-function horror game with heavy fixed-camera angles interacts with a modern mid-range setup. The measured FPS across resolutions and settings shows a pattern that is not purely linear, suggesting a complex interplay between the CPU’s high core count and the GPU’s memory configuration.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The data reveals a stark and somewhat surprising scaling pattern. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 110 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops this to 92 FPS, a decrease that suggests the GPU is already becoming a factor at this lower preset. However, the most dramatic shift occurs when jumping to 4K Low, where the average falls to 73 FPS. This represents a 34% reduction from the 1080p figure, a steep cliff that points directly at the GPU’s pixel throughput limits.

When we look at the higher settings, the story changes in character. At High settings, the progression from 1080p (49 FPS) to 1440p (41 FPS) is a 16% drop, but the move to 4K (32 FPS) is a 22% drop from 1440p. This non-uniform scaling indicates that the RX 6700 XT’s 192-bit memory bus and 384.0 GB/s bandwidth become a bottleneck as the pixel count rises, particularly when texture filtering and shading complexity increase. The Ultra preset tells the most damning tale: 39 FPS at 1080p, 33 FPS at 1440p, and 26 FPS at 4K. The gap between 1080p and 1440p is only 6 FPS, but the 1440p to 4K transition is a 7 FPS drop, showing that the GPU’s compute units (2560 shading units) are saturated.

The data implies that at 1080p, the i5-14600KF is capable of feeding the GPU adequately at Low and Medium settings, but at 4K, the GPU is the indisputable limiting component. The fact that the 4K Low (73 FPS) is higher than the 1440p High (41 FPS) suggests that the game’s rendering engine is heavily dependent on the quality of pixel shading rather than just resolution alone. This is a game where the GPU’s raw fill rate (165.2 GPixel/s) and texture rate (413.0 GTexel/s) are the primary drivers of performance, not the CPU’s 14 cores.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT features 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, which provides 384.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The game’s results at 4K High (32 FPS) and 4K Ultra (26 FPS) suggest that the memory subsystem is under severe stress. The 12 GB capacity is likely sufficient for The Medium’s textures, but the bandwidth is the limiting factor. The boost clock of 2581 MHz and game clock of 2424 MHz indicate a high-frequency design, yet these clocks cannot compensate for the memory bottleneck at 4K.

The GPU’s 40 ray accelerators are relevant here, as The Medium uses ray-traced reflections and shadows in its dual-reality rendering. The measured FPS at 1080p Medium (69 FPS) with a min FPS of 58 shows that the GPU can handle the ray tracing load at lower resolutions, but the drop to 45 FPS at 4K Medium (with a min of 39) reveals that the RT cores are competing with the traditional shading units for memory bandwidth. The FP32 performance of 13.21 TFLOPS is strong for rasterization, but the ray tracing workload in this game appears to be disproportionately punishing at higher resolutions.

The data shows that the GPU’s role shifts from a balanced contributor at 1080p to the sole bottleneck at 4K. The fact that the 1080p Ultra (39 FPS) is higher than the 4K Medium (45 FPS) is counterintuitive, but it indicates that the Ultra preset introduces effects that are more memory-intensive than pure resolution scaling. This is a GPU that performs admirably at 1440p and below, but the 4K results are consistently sub-30 FPS at High and Ultra, making it unsuitable for 4K gaming in this title without significant settings compromises.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

The measured data points to Medium as the optimal settings preset for this combination. At 1080p Medium, the combo delivers 69 FPS with a minimum of 58 FPS and a maximum of 79 FPS. This is a playable range that maintains smoothness during the game’s fixed-camera transitions. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 58 FPS with a min of 49 and max of 66, which is still acceptable for a horror title where slower pacing is common. The 4K Medium result of 45 FPS (min 39, max 52) is borderline, but the min FPS suggests potential stutter in demanding scenes.

The High preset is not recommended for 4K, as the 32 FPS average is below the threshold for comfortable play. However, at 1080p High (49 FPS) and 1440p High (41 FPS), the experience is playable but not ideal. The Ultra preset is the worst choice, with 39 FPS at 1080p and 26 FPS at 4K, making it unsuitable for any resolution in this dataset. The Low preset, while achieving high frame rates (110 FPS at 1080p), likely sacrifices the visual atmosphere that is central to The Medium’s horror experience.

The data suggests that Medium provides the best balance between visual fidelity and performance. The min FPS values for Medium are noticeably higher than the averages for High, indicating that Medium offers more consistent frame pacing. For users with 1440p monitors, Medium is the clear choice, as the 58 FPS average is within the range of high refresh rate displays. For 4K users, Medium is the only viable preset, but the 45 FPS average may require adaptive sync to mask the frame time variance.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1080p, the full settings range was measured. Low settings produce an average of 110 FPS, Medium produces 69 FPS (min 58, max 79), High produces 49 FPS, and Ultra produces 39 FPS. The progression from Low to Medium is a 41 FPS drop, while the Medium to High drop is 20 FPS, and the High to Ultra drop is 10 FPS. This diminishing returns pattern indicates that the Medium preset is the sweet spot, as the visual uplift from Medium to High costs 20 FPS, which is a significant sacrifice.

At 1440p, the measurements show Low at 92 FPS, Medium at 58 FPS (min 49, max 66), High at 41 FPS, and Ultra at 33 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 34 FPS, which is the largest single-setting drop at this resolution. The Medium to High drop is 17 FPS, and the High to Ultra drop is 8 FPS. The 1440p Medium result of 58 FPS is nearly identical to the 1080p High result of 49 FPS, suggesting that the resolution increase costs roughly the same as a settings increase.

At 4K, the data shows Low at 73 FPS, Medium at 45 FPS (min 39, max 52), High at 32 FPS, and Ultra at 26 FPS. The Low to Medium drop is 28 FPS, which is the largest gap at any resolution. The Medium to High drop is 13 FPS, and the High to Ultra drop is only 6 FPS. The 4K Medium min FPS of 39 is notably lower than the 1440p Medium average of 58, indicating that 4K pushes the GPU to its limits even at Medium settings. The Ultra preset at 4K is effectively unplayable at 26 FPS, and even High at 32 FPS is marginal.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the Intel Core i5-14600KF and AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT ranks 1941 out of 3724 tested combos in The Medium. This places it in the 48th percentile of all combinations, meaning it performs slightly better than the median system. This ranking is surprisingly low given the CPU’s high benchmark scores. The i5-14600KF has a percentile of 90 against all CPUs, and its average benchmark score of 49394 places it within 0.3% of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 and 0.8% of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245.

The GPU’s percentile is 72 against all GPUs, with an average score of 27425. This is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile (deltaPct 0) and only 0.5% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090. Yet, the combo ranking suggests that the game is not fully utilizing the CPU’s capabilities. The data implies that The Medium is more GPU-bound than CPU-bound, as the RX 6700 XT’s 72nd percentile ranking is the primary limiter. The combo’s 1941 rank out of 3724 indicates that many other combinations with similar or slightly better GPUs achieve higher frame rates, even if their CPUs are less powerful.

This ranking is informative because it shows that the i5-14600KF’s 14 cores and 20 threads are not a differentiator in this game. The CPU’s nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900, has a deltaPct of 0.3% in average benchmark score, yet the combo ranking would likely be identical if the GPU were swapped. The data suggests that users with this CPU should focus on GPU selection for The Medium, as the CPU is not the bottleneck at any resolution or setting in this dataset.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this hardware in The Medium?

A: The data shows that 1080p Medium provides the best experience, with an average of 69 FPS and a minimum of 58 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 58 FPS, which is still playable. The 4K Medium average of 45 FPS is the only viable 4K option.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The measured FPS scaling indicates the GPU is the primary limiting factor, especially at higher resolutions. The i5-14600KF’s 14 cores are not the bottleneck, as the 4K Low preset (73 FPS) is much higher than the 4K High preset (32 FPS), showing that GPU settings have a larger impact than resolution.

Q: How does the RX 6700 XT compare to its nearest rivals in terms of GPU benchmarks?

A: The RX 6700 XT has an average benchmark score of 27425, which is identical to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile (deltaPct 0) and 0.5% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090. It is 1.1% higher than the NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell.

Q: What is the combo’s overall ranking among all tested systems?

A: The i5-14600KF and RX 6700 XT combination ranks 1941 out of 3724 tested combos in The Medium. This places it in the lower half of all systems tested, suggesting that the GPU’s performance is the limiting factor.

Q: Is the Ultra preset ever recommended for this hardware?

A: No. The Ultra preset yields 39 FPS at 1080p, 33 FPS at 1440p, and 26 FPS at 4K. These frame rates are below 40 FPS at all resolutions, making the Ultra preset unsuitable for smooth gameplay in The Medium.

Q: How does the CPU’s benchmark performance compare to its rivals?

A: The i5-14600KF has an average benchmark score of 49394, which is 0.3% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 and 0.4% higher than the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G. It is 0.8% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 5 245.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i5-14600KF has 14 cores, 20 threads, and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 32544 and single-core is 4594, placing it in the 90th percentile of all CPUs. However, the measured FPS in The Medium does not reflect this CPU strength. The 1080p Low preset achieves 110 FPS, which is high, but the 4K Low preset still hits 73 FPS, suggesting the CPU is not the limiting factor even at low settings.

The CPU’s L3 cache is 24 MB shared, and its architecture is Raptor Lake-R on a 10 nm process. The data shows that the game’s performance scales more with GPU settings than with CPU capabilities. For instance, the difference between 1080p Low (110 FPS) and 1080p Ultra (39 FPS) is 71 FPS, while the difference between 1080p Low and 1440p Low is only 18 FPS. This indicates that the CPU’s 3.50 GHz base clock is sufficient to maintain frame delivery, and the boost clock of 5.30 GHz is rarely the limiting factor.

The CPU’s benchmark percentile of 90 is far higher than the GPU’s percentile of 72, and the combo rank of 1941 out of 3724 reflects this imbalance. In a game like The Medium, which appears to be heavily GPU-bound, the CPU’s 20 threads are underutilized. The data suggests that users could pair this CPU with a more powerful GPU to achieve higher frame rates, as the CPU has headroom. However, the measured results show that at 4K Ultra, the game drops to 26 FPS, which is purely a GPU limitation, as the CPU’s single-thread performance is more than adequate for the game’s fixed-camera angles. The CPU’s role in this combo is to provide a stable foundation, but the GPU determines the final frame rate.