The Medium

The Medium presents a demanding fixed-camera horror experience, and the combination of the Intel Core i5-14600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER demonstrates a clear performance hierarchy across the three tested resolutions. The data indicates a system where the GPU is the primary scaling factor, with the CPU providing ample headroom to avoid bottlenecking even at lower resolutions. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS data to interpret how this specific hardware pairing handles the game’s visual load, offering insights into optimal settings and component roles based solely on the provided metrics.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates reveal a steep and predictable drop as resolution increases, confirming that the rendering load scales heavily with pixel count. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves a very high average of 177 FPS. This figure drops to 149 FPS at 1440p, a reduction of 28 FPS, and then falls further to 117 FPS at 4K, which is another 32 FPS lower. This pattern indicates that even at the lowest quality preset, the GPU is still the primary limiting factor, though the CPU is clearly capable of feeding it at high frame rates.

Moving to Medium settings, the same downward trend is evident but with lower absolute numbers. The average FPS goes from 110 at 1080p, down to 93 at 1440p, and finally to 73 at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K is significant, showing a 33.6% reduction in average FPS. This suggests that while the Medium preset reduces the overall workload, the resolution scaling remains a dominant factor, as the GPU must process more fragments and texture data at higher pixel densities.

The High preset shows an even more constrained performance envelope. At 1080p, the average FPS is 79, which drops to 67 at 1440p and 52 at 4K. The scaling here appears more linear in absolute terms, but the relative impact is severe; the 4K result is 34.2% lower than the 1080p result. This demonstrates that the increased shading and texture detail associated with the High preset place a substantial burden on the GPU, making resolution the single most critical variable for achieving playable frame rates.

Ultra settings produce the lowest frame rates across the board, with the system managing only 63 FPS at 1080p. This falls to 53 FPS at 1440p and a marginal 42 FPS at 4K. The data shows that the step from High to Ultra is nearly as impactful as the step from 1440p to 4K, indicating that the Ultra preset introduces GPU-intensive effects that scale poorly with resolution. The 4K Ultra result of 42 FPS is likely below the threshold for a smooth experience, highlighting the limits of this component pairing under maximum load.

The scaling behavior reveals that the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is consistently the bottleneck across all settings. The CPU’s strong performance, evidenced by its 90th percentile ranking among all CPUs, ensures that it is not the limiting factor even at 1080p Low where frame rates are highest. The consistent and proportional FPS drops with each resolution increase are classic indicators of a GPU-bound scenario, where the graphics card's rendering throughput is directly tied to the pixel output.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average frame rate achievable with this combo in The Medium?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 177, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset. This represents the ceiling for this hardware configuration in the game.

Q: How does the 4K Ultra experience compare to the 1080p Low experience?

A: The difference is substantial. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 42, which is 135 FPS lower than the 177 FPS recorded at 1080p Low. This 76.3% reduction in performance illustrates the massive cost of both high resolution and maximum graphical fidelity.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-14600KF likely to bottleneck the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER in this game?

A: Based on the data, it is unlikely. The CPU has a 90th percentile ranking versus all CPUs and strong benchmark scores, such as a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32544. The FPS scaling pattern is consistent with a GPU-bound workload, suggesting the CPU provides sufficient headroom.

Q: What is the only settings preset that provides a minimum FPS measurement?

A: The Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum and maximum FPS values. At 1080p, the minimum is 94 FPS, at 1440p it is 79 FPS, and at 4K it is 62 FPS. This data suggests a more consistent frame time delivery under this preset.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER’s performance rank against other GPUs?

A: The GPU sits in the 76th percentile when compared to all GPUs. Its average benchmark score is 31087, which places it within a 1.9% performance delta of the NVIDIA TITAN RTX, indicating a competitive position in the higher tier of graphics cards.

Q: Which resolution and settings combination yields an average FPS closest to 100?

A: The 1920x1080 Medium preset yields an average FPS of 110, which is the closest to 100 among the measured results. The next closest is the 2560x1440 Low preset, which delivers an average of 149 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

For a target of 60 FPS as a playable baseline, the data suggests that the High preset is the most demanding option that still achieves this goal, but only at 1080p and 1440p. At 1080p High, the average FPS is 79, and at 1440p High it is 67, both comfortably above 60. However, attempting 4K High yields only 52 FPS, which falls short of this target, indicating that users with 4K displays should avoid the High preset.

The Medium preset offers the most balanced experience across all resolutions. At 4K, it achieves an average of 73 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS target and provides a smoother experience than High. The minimum FPS readings for Medium are also relatively stable, with 62 FPS at 4K, 79 FPS at 1440p, and 94 FPS at 1080p, suggesting consistent frame pacing. This makes Medium the recommended starting point for users prioritizing a stable frame rate at higher resolutions.

For users with high-refresh-rate 1080p monitors, the Low preset is the only option that can fully utilize such displays, with an average of 177 FPS. While the visual quality is reduced, the performance headroom is immense. The Ultra preset, while offering the highest fidelity, only manages to exceed 60 FPS at 1080p with an average of 63 FPS. This makes it a marginal choice for 1080p and a poor choice for 1440p or 4K, where the average FPS drops to 53 and 42 respectively.

The data indicates that the most effective strategy for this hardware is to prioritize the Medium preset when playing at 1440p or 4K. The jump from Medium to High incurs a significant performance cost—a 28% reduction in FPS at 4K—for what is likely a moderate visual improvement. Conversely, the jump from Medium to Low provides a substantial performance boost, particularly at 4K where the FPS nearly doubles from 73 to 117, making Low a viable option for users who prioritize frame rate over visual detail.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system demonstrates a wide performance range based on settings. The Low preset delivers an average of 177 FPS, establishing a high-performance baseline. The Medium preset reduces this to 110 FPS, with a recorded minimum of 94 FPS and a maximum of 127 FPS. The High preset further reduces the average to 79 FPS, and the Ultra preset brings it down to 63 FPS. This shows a clear 114 FPS difference between the lowest and highest quality settings at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance scales down as expected. The Low preset still delivers a very high 149 FPS average. The Medium preset averages 93 FPS, with a minimum of 79 and a maximum of 107. The High preset drops the average to 67 FPS, and the Ultra preset manages only 53 FPS. The relative performance gap between Low and Ultra widens here, with the Ultra preset performing 64.4% lower than Low.

At 3840x2160, the load on the GPU becomes most apparent. The Low preset averages 117 FPS, which is still a playable and smooth experience. The Medium preset averages 73 FPS, with a minimum of 62 and a maximum of 84 FPS. The High preset falls to 52 FPS, and the Ultra preset drops to a demanding 42 FPS average. The progression from Low to Ultra at 4K shows a 75 FPS difference, underscoring the extreme cost of enabling all visual features at this resolution.

The data for the Medium preset shows a consistent pattern across all three resolutions, with the minimum FPS being roughly 85% of the average. This suggests that the Medium preset provides a more stable frame delivery compared to the other presets, which only have average FPS data. This makes Medium a reliable choice for ensuring a minimum level of performance, particularly at 4K where the 62 FPS minimum is still above a 60 FPS target.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is the definitive performance driver in this configuration. Its 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 672.3 GB/s, which is critical for feeding the high-resolution textures and geometry required at 4K. The 8448 shading units and 66 RT cores are tasked with the bulk of the rendering work, and their capability is directly reflected in the FPS scaling across resolutions.

The GPU’s clock speeds of 2340 MHz base and 2610 MHz boost are the primary determinants of its processing throughput. The boost clock, in particular, allows for higher sustained performance under load. With a TDP of 285 W, the card is a power-hungry component, but its performance in The Medium shows it is capable of handling the game’s demands, albeit with significant scaling penalties at higher resolutions.

The benchmark results show the GPU achieving a Passmark G3D score of 31811 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5569. These synthetic benchmarks, combined with the in-game FPS data, paint a picture of a high-end graphics card. Its 76th percentile ranking against all GPUs indicates it is in the upper quartile of performance, yet the measured FPS at 4K Ultra shows that even this hardware can be brought to its knees by a demanding title at maximum settings.

The memory subsystem plays a crucial role in this game. The 16 GB capacity is more than sufficient for The Medium’s requirements, preventing any potential texture swapping issues. The high bandwidth ensures that the GPU cores are kept fed with data, which is essential for maintaining frame rates. The data suggests that the GPU’s raw compute power, not its memory capacity, is the limiting factor, as evidenced by the significant FPS drops when increasing resolution and settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600KF provides a robust foundation for the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER. With 14 cores and 20 threads, it offers substantial multi-threading capability, which is reflected in its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32544. Its single-core performance is also strong, as evidenced by a Geekbench single-core score of 2445, which is important for game logic and frame pacing.

The CPU’s boost clock of 5.30 GHz is a key asset. In GPU-bound scenarios like The Medium at high resolutions, the CPU’s job is to prepare frames as fast as possible. The high clock speed ensures that this process does not introduce a bottleneck, allowing the GPU to operate at its full potential. The 90th percentile ranking among all CPUs confirms that this processor is in the top tier of available options.

The L3 cache of 24 MB (shared) provides a large pool of high-speed memory for frequently accessed data, reducing latency and improving overall system responsiveness. While the game’s performance scaling is clearly tied to the GPU, the CPU’s consistent performance across all resolutions suggests it is never the limiting factor. The data shows a linear FPS drop with resolution, which would not be the case if the CPU were struggling to keep up.

The benchmark results, including a Passmark multi-thread score of 38697 and a 3DMark physics score of 2449, indicate a processor well-suited for gaming workloads. The TDP of 125 W suggests a power-hungry chip, but the performance it delivers in this pairing justifies its inclusion. The core and thread count provides enough parallelism to handle the game’s background tasks, ensuring that the main rendering thread is not starved of resources.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-14600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER holds a rank of 361 out of 3724 tested combinations in The Medium. This places it in the top 9.7% of all tested systems, indicating a very high level of performance. This ranking is a strong indicator that this pairing is well-balanced for this specific game.

The strong rank is supported by the individual component performance. The CPU’s 90th percentile ranking and the GPU’s 76th percentile ranking both contribute to this high overall position. The data shows that the pairing works synergistically, with neither component dragging the other down, resulting in a combined performance that is greater than the sum of its parts might suggest.

When compared to other combos, this system is clearly in the high-performance tier. The fact that it can achieve an average of 117 FPS at 4K Low and 73 FPS at 4K Medium reflects its capabilities. These frame rates are likely to be significantly higher than what a large majority of the 3724 tested combinations can achieve, solidifying its position in the upper echelon of the database.

The rank of 361 indicates that while there are 360 combinations with higher performance, this setup is far from a mid-range contender. It sits comfortably in the top 10% of all tested combos, making it an excellent choice for high-refresh-rate 1440p gaming and capable 4K gaming with adjusted settings. The measured data confirms that this is a high-end pairing that delivers excellent results in The Medium.