The Medium

The Intel Core i5-14600KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti delivers a strong, versatile experience in The Medium, but the optimal settings depend heavily on the target resolution and refresh rate. The measured data shows a clear progression of performance across the four available presets—Low, Medium, High, and Ultra—with the gap between Low and Medium being particularly wide. At 1920x1080, the combination produces an average of 177.5 FPS on Low, 109 FPS on Medium, 78.7 FPS on High, and 60.2 FPS on Ultra. This suggests that for 1080p displays with high refresh rates (120Hz or above), the Medium preset offers the best balance, as it nearly doubles the frame rate of Ultra while still providing a substantial visual upgrade over Low. For 1440p, the Medium preset again stands out, yielding 94.4 FPS, which is well-suited for 60Hz to 100Hz panels, while High drops to 66.8 FPS and Ultra falls to 50.9 FPS. At 4K, the situation changes: Medium produces 70.1 FPS, High produces 51.7 FPS, and Ultra drops to a barely playable 39.5 FPS. Given that the Ultra preset at 4K falls below the 60 FPS threshold, the High preset at 51.7 FPS or the Medium preset at 70.1 FPS are the more sensible choices for 4K gaming, with Medium providing the best experience for those prioritizing smoothness over maximum fidelity.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data indicates that the Medium preset is the sweet spot for this hardware combination across most resolutions. At 1920x1080, Medium achieves 109 FPS, which is 48.8% faster than High (78.7 FPS) and 81% faster than Ultra (60.2 FPS). The jump from Low to Medium is also significant, with the frame rate dropping by 68.5 FPS (from 177.5 to 109), indicating that Medium adds considerable visual detail while still maintaining a high level of performance. For 2560x1440, Medium delivers 94.4 FPS, which is 41.3% higher than High (66.8 FPS) and 85.5% higher than Ultra (50.9 FPS). This makes Medium the only preset at 1440p that comfortably exceeds the 90 FPS mark, providing a smooth experience on most gaming monitors. At 3840x2160, Medium produces 70.1 FPS, which is 35.6% faster than High (51.7 FPS) and 77.5% faster than Ultra (39.5 FPS). While High is still playable at 4K, the data suggests that Medium offers a more consistent frame rate without a massive sacrifice in visual quality. The Low preset is not recommended for any resolution above 1080p, as it produces 146.1 FPS at 1440p and 119.2 FPS at 4K, which is excessive for most displays and indicates that the visual quality is being unnecessarily reduced. Therefore, the Medium preset provides the best overall experience, balancing frame rate and visual fidelity across all tested resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is the primary driver of frame rate in The Medium, and its memory configuration plays a crucial role in the game's performance scaling. The GPU features 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s. This memory bandwidth is sufficient for the game's asset streaming at 4K, as evidenced by the fact that the Medium preset at 3840x2160 still achieves 70.1 FPS. The GPU's boost clock of 2610 MHz, combined with its 7680 shading units, allows it to handle the game's horror-themed environments, which often feature complex lighting and shadow effects. The data shows a clear correlation between resolution and frame rate, with the RTX 4070 Ti experiencing a 34.3% performance drop when moving from 1440p Medium (94.4 FPS) to 4K Medium (70.1 FPS). This indicates that the GPU is the bottleneck at higher resolutions, as the CPU's role becomes less significant. The GPU's 40.09 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power is more than adequate for this title, as even the Ultra preset at 1080p achieves 60.2 FPS. However, the 12 GB VRAM capacity appears to be a limiting factor at 4K Ultra, where the frame rate drops to 39.5 FPS, suggesting that the game's highest settings at 4K may be exceeding the available memory or pushing the GPU's texture units (240 TMUs) to their limit.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600KF, with its 14 cores and 20 threads, provides ample processing power for The Medium, but the benchmark results show that it is rarely the limiting factor in this configuration. The CPU's boost clock of 5.30 GHz and base clock of 3.50 GHz, combined with 24 MB of shared L3 cache, ensure that it can feed the GPU with enough data to maintain high frame rates. The data demonstrates this: at 1920x1080 Low, the combination achieves 177.5 FPS, which is a very high frame rate that would likely stress most CPUs, yet the i5-14600KF handles it without issue. The CPU's multi-core performance, as measured by its Cinebench R23 score of 32889, is more than sufficient for a game that is not heavily multithreaded. The single-core performance, with a Cinebench R23 score of 4643, is equally strong, which is important for the game's main thread. The CPU's performance relative to its nearest rivals is notable: it is 0.4% faster than the Intel Core i5-14600K, 0.6% faster than the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, and 1.4% faster than the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H. This indicates that the i5-14600KF is a top-tier gaming CPU, and its 93rd percentile ranking among all CPUs confirms that it is not a bottleneck in this system. The fact that the frame rates scale consistently with resolution (e.g., 177.5 FPS at 1080p Low vs. 119.2 FPS at 4K Low) shows that the GPU is the primary constraint, as the CPU's performance remains constant regardless of resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

In the overall database of tested combinations for The Medium, the Intel Core i5-14600KF with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti ranks 166th out of 1689 tested combos. This places it in the top 9.8% of all systems tested, indicating that it is a high-performing configuration. The rank of 166 is particularly impressive given the game's release date in 2021 and the hardware's 2023 release dates, suggesting that this pairing is well-matched for this title. The GPU's 85th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 44900, further supports the notion that this is a strong performer. However, the combo's rank is not solely determined by the GPU, as the CPU's 93rd percentile ranking also contributes to the overall result. The data shows that this combination is capable of delivering playable frame rates at all tested resolutions, with the only exception being the 4K Ultra preset at 39.5 FPS. The rank of 166 out of 1689 suggests that there are 165 other tested combos that perform better, which is expected given the existence of higher-end GPUs like the RTX 5090 Mobile (which is 0.6% faster than the RTX 4070 Ti in average benchmark score) and more powerful CPUs. Nevertheless, for a mid-to-high-end desktop configuration, this combo represents a solid choice that will handle The Medium well at 1080p and 1440p, and even at 4K with adjusted settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1440p gaming with this combo?

A: The Medium preset is the best choice for 2560x1440, delivering an average of 94.4 FPS. This is 41.3% higher than the High preset (66.8 FPS) and 85.5% higher than the Ultra preset (50.9 FPS), making it the only preset that exceeds the 90 FPS threshold.

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

A: Yes, but with limitations. At 4K, the Medium preset produces 70.1 FPS, and the High preset produces 51.7 FPS, both of which are playable. The Ultra preset, however, drops to 39.5 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS standard for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 Ti compare to its nearest rival in terms of GPU performance?

A: The RTX 4070 Ti has an average benchmark score of 44900, which is 0.6% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile (45152), and 1.5% lower than the Intel Arc A730M (45592). It is 1.6% faster than the AMD Radeon Pro 580 (44195).

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-14600KF a bottleneck for the RTX 4070 Ti?

A: No, the data indicates the CPU is not a bottleneck. The i5-14600KF ranks in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs, and its performance is 0.4% faster than the Core i5-14600K and 0.6% faster than the Ryzen 9 5950X. The frame rates scale with resolution, confirming the GPU is the limiting factor.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: At 1920x1080 with the Ultra preset, the combo achieves an average of 60.2 FPS. This is significantly lower than the Medium preset (109 FPS) and the High preset (78.7 FPS), but it is still technically playable.

Q: How much performance is gained by dropping from High to Medium settings?

A: Dropping from High to Medium provides a substantial performance boost. At 1080p, the gain is 30.3 FPS (from 78.7 to 109 FPS), at 1440p the gain is 27.6 FPS (from 66.8 to 94.4 FPS), and at 4K the gain is 18.4 FPS (from 51.7 to 70.1 FPS).

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following table presents the exact average FPS measurements for the Intel Core i5-14600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti across all tested resolutions and settings presets in The Medium:

| Resolution | Settings | Avg FPS |

|------------|----------|---------|

| 3840x2160 | High | 51.7 |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 119.2 |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 70.1 |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 39.5 |

| 2560x1440 | High | 66.8 |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 146.1 |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 94.4 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 50.9 |

| 1920x1080 | High | 78.7 |

| 1920x1080 | Low | 177.5 |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 109 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 60.2 |

The data reveals a consistent pattern: the Low preset is the fastest, followed by Medium, High, and Ultra. The difference between Low and Medium is substantial, with an average reduction of 68.5 FPS at 1080p, 51.7 FPS at 1440p, and 49.1 FPS at 4K. The gap between Medium and High is smaller but still noticeable, with reductions of 30.3 FPS at 1080p, 27.6 FPS at 1440p, and 18.4 FPS at 4K. The difference between High and Ultra is the smallest, with reductions of 18.5 FPS at 1080p, 15.9 FPS at 1440p, and 12.2 FPS at 4K. This suggests that the Ultra preset offers diminishing returns over High, making High or Medium the more practical choices. The frame rates at 4K with Medium (70.1 FPS) and High (51.7 FPS) are particularly noteworthy, as they demonstrate the system's ability to handle 4K gaming with reasonable settings, while the 1080p Low result of 177.5 FPS shows the upper limit of what this combo can achieve in terms of raw frame rate.