The Medium

# The Medium: Intel Core i5-9400 + AMD Radeon RX 570

The Intel Core i5-9400 with the AMD Radeon RX 570 is a pairing from the end of the Coffee Lake and Polaris era, and in The Medium it lands near the bottom of the tested combos. The data shows this is a 1080p-Low-only configuration for acceptable frame rates, with the combo ranked 1635 out of 1689 tested combinations. The CPU sits at the 50th percentile among all processors, while the GPU reaches the 74th percentile among all graphics cards, yet the game's demands push this pairing to its limits at higher settings.

FAQ

Q: What average frame rate does this combo achieve at 1080p Medium?

A: At 1920x1080 with Medium settings, the average FPS is 27.8. This is below the 30 FPS threshold for smooth play, making Low settings the more practical choice.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in The Medium?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the primary constraint. The RX 570 has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory and 2048 shading units, while the i5-9400 provides 6 cores and 6 threads with a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 7969 places it at the 50th percentile, but the GPU's 74th percentile ranking still cannot deliver playable frame rates at higher presets.

Q: How does this combo rank against all tested combinations?

A: It ranks 1635 out of 1689 combos, placing it in the bottom 3.2% of tested systems. This is a low position that reflects the hardware's age relative to the game's requirements.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo?

A: 1920x1080 is the only resolution where any settings preset reaches above 40 FPS. At 2560x1440, even Low settings only average 36.2 FPS, and at 3840x2160, no preset exceeds 29.2 FPS.

Q: How far behind is the RX 570 from its nearest rivals?

A: The RX 570's average benchmark score is 30158, which is 0.2% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 (30109) and 0.2% behind the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT (30097). It is 0.6% ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla M60 (29969) and 0.8% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile (29928).

Q: Can this combo run The Medium at Ultra settings?

A: Only at 1080p, and even then only at 13.7 FPS average. At 1440p Ultra drops to 12.3 FPS, and at 4K Ultra falls to 9.5 FPS. These are not playable frame rates.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 brings 6 physical cores and 6 threads, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. This is a Coffee Lake Refresh part built on Intel's 14 nm process, and it supports DDR4 memory in dual-channel configuration with 42.7 GB/s bandwidth. The CPU's performance in synthetic benchmarks shows a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 7969 and a single-core score of 1125, placing it at the 50th percentile of all CPUs.

In The Medium, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The i5-9400's nearest rival, the Intel Core i3-10305, scores 2300 on average benchmark score, a mere 0.2% difference. The Intel Core i7-8809G is 0.6% ahead with 2319. These margins are small, indicating the CPU is not the bottleneck here; the measured FPS drops more steeply between Low and Medium settings than between resolutions, which points to GPU-side limits.

The CPU's 9 MB of shared L3 cache and 256 KB L2 per core provide adequate capacity for a horror game's streaming assets. The lack of hyper-threading means 6 threads must handle all workloads, which can cause stutter in heavy scenes, but the benchmark data does not show min FPS values to confirm this. What is clear is that the CPU's 50th percentile standing is not the reason this combo ranks 1635th; the GPU's inability to sustain high frame rates at higher presets is the dominant factor.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 1635 out of 1689 tested combinations places this system in the bottom 54 positions. This is a stark result for a pairing where the GPU individually ranks at the 74th percentile among all graphics cards. The discrepancy between GPU percentile and combo rank suggests that The Medium is particularly demanding on the combination of CPU and GPU together, or that the 4 GB VRAM limit becomes a critical constraint.

Compared to other tested combos, this system is in the lowest tier. The measured FPS data confirms this: at 1080p High, the average is 21.8 FPS, which is below the 24 FPS cinematic standard and far from the 60 FPS target. At 1440p Low, the average is 36.2 FPS, which is playable but not smooth. The 4K Low average of 29.2 FPS is technically above 30 FPS only by a narrow margin, but this is not a realistic gaming scenario for this hardware.

The rank of 1635 out of 1689 means that 54 combos perform worse. This positions the i5-9400 + RX 570 as a legacy configuration that struggles with a 2021 horror title. The CPU's nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i3-10305 (0.2% ahead) and the Intel Xeon E-2134 (0.4% ahead), would likely place similarly low when paired with this GPU, given the GPU's constraints.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the resolution where this combo performs best, the settings show a clear progression. Low settings average 43.5 FPS, which is the only preset at any resolution to exceed 40 FPS. Medium drops to 27.8 FPS, a 36% reduction from Low. High falls to 21.8 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 13.7 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 15.7 FPS, indicating that the Medium preset introduces significant rendering load that the RX 570 cannot handle.

Moving to 2560x1440, the numbers decline further. Low averages 36.2 FPS, which is still playable but with noticeable stutter potential. Medium drops to 22.6 FPS, High to 14.4 FPS, and Ultra to 12.3 FPS. The 1440p Low figure is 16.8% lower than the 1080p Low figure, showing that resolution scaling has a moderate impact on this GPU.

At 3840x2160, the results are largely unplayable. Low averages 29.2 FPS, Medium 20.1 FPS, High 15.4 FPS, and Ultra 9.5 FPS. The 4K Low number is surprising in that it is higher than the 1440p High figure (29.2 vs 14.4), which suggests that the Low preset at 4K reduces shading quality enough to allow the GPU to push more pixels. However, 29.2 FPS is still below the 30 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

The pattern across all resolutions is consistent: Low settings provide the only viable experience, and even then only at 1080p or 1440p. The jump from Low to Medium costs roughly 36% of the frame rate at 1080p, 38% at 1440p, and 31% at 4K. This indicates that the Medium preset introduces effects like volumetric lighting or shadow quality that heavily tax the Polaris 20 chip.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 570 is built on the Polaris 20 chip with GCN 4.0 architecture, manufactured on GlobalFoundries' 14 nm process. It has 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 32 raster output units. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1168 MHz with a boost clock of 1244 MHz, and its 4 GB of GDDR5 memory runs at 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective) across a 256-bit bus, yielding 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

The GPU's FP32 performance is 5.095 TFLOPS, and its texture rate is 159.2 GTexel/s. These figures are modest by 2021 standards, and the 4 GB VRAM capacity is a critical limitation for The Medium, which is a game known for its dual-reality rendering that demands significant memory. The GPU's average benchmark score of 30158 places it at the 74th percentile, with nearest rivals including the RTX 5060 (0.2% ahead) and the RX 7700 XT (0.2% ahead), though those are much newer cards.

The measured FPS data shows that the GPU's 4 GB VRAM is likely the cause of the steep drop between Low and Medium settings. At Low, the game likely reduces texture quality and streaming distances to fit within 4 GB, allowing the 224.0 GB/s bandwidth to keep up. At Medium and above, the increased memory pressure causes the GPU to spill into system memory, dragging frame rates down. The 74th percentile GPU ranking does not translate to good performance here because The Medium's VRAM requirements exceed what Polaris 20 can offer.

The RX 570's TDP of 150 W and suggested PSU of 450 W are modest, but the compute capability is insufficient for this game's fixed-function requirements. The GPU's pixel rate of 39.81 GPixel/s and texture rate of 159.2 GTexel/s are adequate for 1080p Low, but the 5.095 TFLOPS of FP32 is not enough to drive higher presets at playable speeds.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy of playable experiences. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo averages 43.5 FPS, which is the only configuration that approaches smooth playability. This should be the default recommendation for any user trying to run The Medium on this hardware.

For users who can tolerate lower frame rates, 2560x1440 Low averages 36.2 FPS, which is still above the 30 FPS threshold but with more frequent dips. This is a viable option for those with 1440p monitors who prioritize resolution over smoothness. The 4K Low average of 29.2 FPS is borderline and not recommended, as it sits below the 30 FPS line.

Medium settings are not recommended at any resolution. At 1080p Medium, the 27.8 FPS average is below 30 FPS and will feel stuttery in a horror game where timing matters. At 1440p Medium, 22.6 FPS is too low for comfortable play, and 4K Medium at 20.1 FPS is similarly poor. High and Ultra settings are effectively unplayable, with the best High result being 21.8 FPS at 1080p and the best Ultra result being 13.7 FPS at 1080p.

The optimal configuration is 1080p Low, which maximizes frame rate while keeping the game functional. If the user has a 1440p display, the Low preset at that resolution is the second-best option, but the 16.8% frame rate penalty may not be worth the resolution gain. The data strongly suggests that this hardware is not suited for The Medium at Medium or higher presets, and users should adjust their expectations accordingly.