The Medium

The Medium presents a demanding fixed-camera horror experience, and the combination of the Intel Core i5-14600KF with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 produces a predictable, GPU-bound performance curve. The measured data shows a clear hierarchy where frame rates scale inversely with resolution, but the relationship is not linear, revealing where the bottlenecks lie. The RTX 4090's immense compute resources dominate the 1080p results, but the gap narrows considerably at 4K, suggesting that even this flagship card is stretched by the game's highest settings. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS data to interpret what the numbers mean for actual gameplay, focusing strictly on the provided metrics.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a steep and consistent drop in average frame rates as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160, confirming that The Medium is heavily dependent on the GPU's rendering throughput. At Low settings, the transition from 1080p to 1440p yields a 10 FPS reduction (178 to 168), while moving to 4K results in a much larger 28 FPS drop (168 to 140). This pattern intensifies at higher presets. With Medium settings, the average FPS falls from 132 at 1080p to 111 at 1440p, and then to 87 at 4K. The most dramatic scaling occurs at Ultra, where the average drops from 75 at 1080p to 63 at 1440p, and finally to 50 at 4K.

This behavior indicates that the RTX 4090 has sufficient headroom at 1080p and 1440p to maintain high frame rates, but the pixel workload at 4K begins to saturate its capabilities, especially with the more demanding settings. The percentage reduction from 1080p to 4K is significant: 21% for Low, 34% for Medium, 34% for High, and 33% for Ultra. The fact that the drop is proportionally similar for Medium, High, and Ultra suggests that the game's rendering pipeline adds a consistent pixel-cost overhead, whereas the Low preset reduces other GPU-intensive effects, allowing the card to scale more efficiently. The limiting component at all resolutions is unequivocally the GPU, as the CPU's role becomes negligible once the resolution exceeds the point where the graphics card can maintain a high enough frame rate to expose a CPU bottleneck. The data suggests that 4K Ultra is the only configuration where the RTX 4090 falls below the 60 FPS threshold, indicating a hard limit for this specific combination.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the primary driver of performance in this test, and its specifications explain the observed frame rates. With a massive 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, the card has ample bandwidth (1.01 TB/s) and capacity to handle The Medium's high-resolution textures and effects without memory-related stutters. The boost clock of 2520 MHz, coupled with 16384 shading units, provides the raw compute power necessary to achieve the high frame rates seen at 1080p and 1440p. The card's 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is a clear indicator of its ability to process the complex lighting and volumetric effects that The Medium is known for.

The benchmark results show that the RTX 4090 is the performance ceiling for this game, as the measured FPS at 1080p Low (178 FPS) is likely limited by the game engine's frame rate cap or the CPU's ability to feed the GPU, rather than the GPU itself. This is a classic sign of a GPU that is over-provisioned for the task. The frame times at 1440p Medium (95 min, 128 max) and 1080p Medium (112 min, 152 max) show a variance that is typical for a game that loads assets dynamically, but the averages remain consistently high. The GPU's 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores are relevant for the game's use of ray-traced reflections and DLSS, though the data does not specify whether DLSS was enabled. The card's 88th percentile ranking among all GPUs underscores its top-tier status, and the measured data confirms that it is the sole reason this system can approach playable frame rates at 4K, albeit only on the High preset.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600KF plays a supporting role in this configuration, and its specifications are more than sufficient to avoid bottlenecking the RTX 4090. With 14 cores (6 performance and 8 efficient) and 20 threads, the CPU can handle the game's background simulation and streaming tasks without issue. The boost clock of 5.30 GHz on the performance cores provides the single-threaded speed necessary for the game's main logic thread, which is often the limiting factor in CPU-bound scenarios. The 24 MB of shared L3 cache is ample for the game's data access patterns. The CPU's benchmark results, such as a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32544 and a single-core score of 4594, place it in the 90th percentile of all CPUs, indicating that it is a high-end part.

The data shows that the CPU is not the limiting component in any of the measured configurations. At 1080p Low, the average FPS of 178 is high, but the fact that it is not higher than the 1440p Low score of 168 by a larger margin suggests that the CPU is nearing its limit for frame generation, but it is still not a bottleneck. In contrast, the 4K results are consistently lower, which can only be attributed to the GPU's pixel throughput. The CPU's performance is stable across all settings, as evidenced by the fact that the difference between 1080p Low and 1080p Ultra is 103 FPS, a gap that is entirely due to the GPU's workload. The Core i5-14600KF's memory support for DDR5 and its dual-channel bus provide sufficient bandwidth to feed the GPU's data requests. The CPU's TDP of 125 W is a moderate figure, but it is not a factor in the measured FPS. The nearest rivals in CPU benchmarks, such as the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 (0.3% delta) and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 (0.8% delta), show that the i5-14600KF is a competitive part, but these scores do not translate to measurable differences in this GPU-bound scenario.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play The Medium with this hardware?

A: Based on the measured FPS, 2560x1440 provides the best balance. At High settings, it averages 80 FPS, which is smooth, while 4K High averages 63 FPS, and 4K Ultra drops to 50 FPS. 1080p offers higher frame rates but does not utilize the RTX 4090's full potential.

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

A: Yes, but with caveats. At 4K High, the average FPS is 63, which is playable. At 4K Medium, it rises to 87 FPS. However, 4K Ultra is not recommended, as the average drops to 50 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-14600KF a bottleneck for the RTX 4090 in this game?

A: No. The data shows that frame rates scale consistently with resolution, which is a characteristic of a GPU bottleneck. For instance, at 1080p Low, the average is 178 FPS, while at 1440p Low, it is 168 FPS. The CPU's performance is sufficient to keep the GPU fed.

Q: How much performance is gained by lowering settings from Ultra to Low?

A: The gain is substantial and depends on resolution. At 1080p, the difference is 103 FPS (178 Low vs 75 Ultra). At 1440p, it is 105 FPS (168 Low vs 63 Ultra). At 4K, the difference is 90 FPS (140 Low vs 50 Ultra).

Q: What is the role of the RTX 4090's 24 GB of VRAM in these results?

A: The 24 GB of GDDR6X memory ensures that the card never runs out of memory at 4K with High or Ultra settings, preventing texture pop-in and stuttering. The memory bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s is also critical for maintaining high frame rates at 4K.

Q: What are the minimum frame rates for the Medium preset?

A: The measured data only includes min FPS values for the Medium preset. At 1920x1080, the min is 112 FPS. At 2560x1440, the min is 95 FPS. At 3840x2160, the min is 74 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy for choosing a settings preset. For a standard 60 FPS target, the 4K High preset is the most demanding option that achieves the goal, with an average of 63 FPS. However, for a more comfortable margin, the 1440p High preset, averaging 80 FPS, is a superior choice, offering a higher frame rate without a massive visual sacrifice. The Ultra preset is not recommended for any resolution, as it produces an average of 75 FPS at 1080p, 63 FPS at 1440p, and 50 FPS at 4K, with the 4K result being below the playable threshold. The Low preset offers the highest frame rates (178 FPS at 1080p, 168 FPS at 1440p, 140 FPS at 4K) but likely reduces visual fidelity too much for a horror game that relies on atmosphere. The Medium preset is a balanced option, providing averages of 132 FPS at 1080p, 111 FPS at 1440p, and 87 FPS at 4K, with the only measured minimum frame rates in the dataset (112 at 1080p, 95 at 1440p, 74 at 4K), indicating a stable experience. The best experience is arguably the 1440p Medium preset, which combines an 111 FPS average with a 95 FPS minimum, ensuring smooth gameplay with detailed visuals. For users prioritizing visual quality over raw frame rate, the 4K High preset is the most demanding playable option, but the 1440p High preset is the sweet spot for a 60+ FPS experience with high fidelity.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data consists of 12 distinct configurations, spanning three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 178 on Low to 75 on Ultra. The Medium preset yields 132 FPS, with a minimum of 112 and a maximum of 152. The High preset yields 95 FPS. At 2560x1440, the averages are 168 for Low, 111 for Medium (min 95, max 128), 80 for High, and 63 for Ultra. At 3840x2160, the averages are 140 for Low, 87 for Medium (min 74, max 101), 63 for High, and 50 for Ultra. The data shows a consistent pattern: for each resolution, the frame rate drops by a similar absolute amount when moving from Low to Medium, then to High, and finally to Ultra. The delta between Low and Ultra is roughly 100 FPS at 1080p and 1440p, and 90 FPS at 4K. The Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum and maximum frame rates, which shows its stability. The High preset at 4K is the only configuration with an average below 60 FPS that is still above 60, while the Ultra preset at 4K is the only one that falls below the 60 FPS line. The performance gap between 1080p and 1440p is smaller than the gap between 1440p and 4K, highlighting the exponential increase in pixel count at 4K. For example, at High settings, the difference between 1080p and 1440p is 15 FPS, while the difference between 1440p and 4K is 17 FPS. This indicates that the RTX 4090's memory bandwidth is sufficient for 1440p but becomes a limiting factor at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for The Medium, this pairing of the Intel Core i5-14600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 holds a rank of 95 out of 3724 tested combos. This places it in the top 2.5% of all systems tested, which is a very strong result. The rank reflects the absolute performance of the system, and given that the RTX 4090 is an end-of-life product with a 88th percentile ranking among all GPUs, this high rank is expected. The CPU's 90th percentile ranking also contributes to the system's overall strength. The data shows that the combination is well-balanced for this game, as the GPU is the clear bottleneck, and the CPU does not hinder its performance. The rank of 95 indicates that there are only 94 other combinations that produce higher average frame rates across the tested settings, likely consisting of systems with more powerful GPUs (if any exist) or configurations that are more optimized for this specific title. The data does not specify the performance of the combos ranked above this one, but the high rank confirms that this is a top-tier setup for The Medium. The fact that the combo ranking is higher than the GPU's individual percentile (88th) suggests that the CPU's performance contributes positively to the overall result, even if it is not the bottleneck.