The Medium

The Medium is a demanding title, and the pairing of the Intel Core i5-9400 with the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT produces a results curve that is heavily dictated by graphical settings rather than raw resolution. The data shows a system that can deliver smooth gameplay at 1080p and 1440p on medium presets, but struggles to maintain frame rates at 4K Ultra, where the GPU is clearly the limiting factor. This combination ranks 799th out of 1689 tested combos, placing it in the upper-middle tier of the database for this specific horror title.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in The Medium?

A: Based on the measured data, 1920x1080 provides the most consistent performance, with all four settings presets achieving playable average frame rates, from 84.8 FPS on Low down to 46.4 FPS on Ultra.

Q: How does the CPU's core count affect performance in this game?

A: The Intel Core i5-9400 offers 6 cores and 6 threads, which is a configuration that allows the GPU to perform to its potential at lower resolutions, but the benchmark results indicate that at 4K, the GPU's workload becomes the dominant factor in determining frame rates.

Q: Is the Radeon RX 7800 XT's 16 GB of VRAM sufficient for The Medium?

A: Yes, the 16 GB of GDDR6 memory is more than adequate for the game's requirements, as the measured performance drops are more closely tied to the compute load at higher settings rather than memory capacity limitations.

Q: What is the difference in performance between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the average frame rate drops from 83.9 FPS on Low settings to 38.8 FPS on Ultra settings, representing a significant 45.1 FPS penalty for the highest visual quality preset.

Q: How does this combo rank relative to all other tested configurations?

A: The combo rank in game is 799 out of 1689 total combos, which places it in the 47th percentile, meaning it outperforms approximately 47% of all other tested system configurations for this game.

Q: Does the game scale better with resolution or settings changes?

A: The data indicates that settings changes have a larger impact on performance than resolution changes. For instance, moving from 1080p Medium to 4K Medium results in a 16.7 FPS drop, while moving from 1080p Medium to 1080p Low results in a 12.9 FPS increase.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a 6-core, 6-thread processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture, running on the Intel Socket 1151 platform. Its base clock of 2.90 GHz can boost up to 4.10 GHz, providing a solid foundation for gaming workloads. In the context of The Medium, this CPU's role is to feed the GPU with enough data to keep it busy, particularly at lower resolutions where the graphics card is not the bottleneck.

The CPU's benchmark scores reflect a mid-range standing, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 7969 and a single-core score of 1125. Its average benchmark score of 2305 places it at the 50th percentile of all CPUs, with nearest rivals including the Intel Core i3-10305 (0.2% faster) and the Intel Xeon E-2134 (0.4% faster). This level of compute performance is sufficient to drive the RX 7800 XT at 1080p and 1440p, as evidenced by the FPS data, but the game's engine does not appear to be heavily CPU-bound in the measured scenarios.

At higher resolutions like 3840x2160, the CPU's influence wanes. The frame rates drop significantly across all settings, but this is a symptom of the GPU struggling with the pixel count, not the CPU being overloaded. The 6-thread configuration is adequate for this title, and the data does not suggest that a processor with more cores would yield substantially higher frame rates at 4K, given the GPU's performance ceiling. The CPU's 9 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support are standard for its generation and do not present a bottleneck in the measured results.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT is the dominant component in this pairing, built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with the Navi 32 chip. It features a generous 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 624.1 GB/s. Its boost clock of 2430 MHz and game clock of 2124 MHz enable substantial compute throughput, including 37.32 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. This hardware is clearly capable of high frame rates, but The Medium's Ultra preset proves to be a heavy load.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 32619 places it at the 76th percentile of all GPUs, with its nearest rival being the AMD FirePro S9300 X2, which is 0.2% faster. In the game itself, the RX 7800 XT's performance scales predictably with settings. At 1080p, the Ultra preset yields 46.4 FPS, which is a 45% reduction compared to the Low preset's 84.8 FPS. This indicates that the game's Ultra settings introduce a significant computational load, likely through advanced lighting and shadow effects.

The VRAM capacity is not a constraining factor here, as even at 4K Ultra, the frame rate is limited by the GPU's compute units, not its memory pool. The data shows a clear trend: the RX 7800 XT is powerful enough for high-refresh 1080p and smooth 1440p gaming, but 4K gaming requires a reduction in settings to achieve playable frame rates. The 263 W TDP and dual-slot design are consistent with its performance class.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the combo's performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the average frame rates are 84.8 FPS on Low, 71.9 FPS on Medium, 62.0 FPS on High, and 46.4 FPS on Ultra. This shows a clear step-down in performance as visual fidelity increases, with the gap between Low and Ultra being 38.4 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates decrease across the board. The Low preset delivers 83.9 FPS, which is nearly identical to the 1080p result, suggesting that the CPU is still able to keep up at this resolution. The Medium preset drops to 66.0 FPS, High to 53.8 FPS, and Ultra to 38.8 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p on the Medium preset is 5.9 FPS, which is a modest penalty.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. The Low preset averages 78.4 FPS, which is still playable, but the Medium preset falls to 55.2 FPS, High to 38.2 FPS, and Ultra to 29.8 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the only measured configuration that falls below the 30 FPS threshold, indicating that this combo is not suited for maximum settings at 4K resolution. The scaling from 1440p to 4K on the High preset results in a 15.6 FPS drop, highlighting the significant pixel count increase.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Core i5-9400 and RX 7800 XT achieves a combo rank of 799 out of 1689 total tested combinations in The Medium. This places the system in the 47th percentile, meaning it outperforms just under half of all other configurations in the database. This ranking suggests a balanced but not top-tier system, where the GPU is a strong performer, but the older CPU holds the overall score back slightly.

The rank is primarily influenced by the GPU's high percentile ranking (76th) versus the CPU's more modest standing (50th). The data implies that if this system were paired with a faster processor, its rank could potentially improve. However, the measured frame rates at 1080p and 1440p are already quite respectable, so the practical impact of the CPU on gameplay is minimal. The system is clearly positioned for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it can hold its own against many other configurations, but it is not a contender for 4K Ultra gaming, where its rank would likely be lower if that setting were the sole criterion.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual quality and performance, the Medium preset is the recommended starting point across all resolutions. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers 71.9 FPS, which is smooth and responsive, while still providing a significant visual upgrade over the Low preset. At 2560x1440, the Medium preset yields 66.0 FPS, which remains comfortably playable. Even at 3840x2160, the Medium preset manages 55.2 FPS, which is a playable experience for a slower-paced horror title.

Choosing the High preset is viable at 1080p (62.0 FPS) and 1440p (53.8 FPS), but the frame rate drops to 38.2 FPS at 4K, which may feel less fluid. The Ultra preset is only recommended for 1080p gaming, where the 46.4 FPS average is acceptable, but at 1440p and 4K, the frame rates of 38.8 FPS and 29.8 FPS respectively are too low for a consistent experience. The Low preset is always the highest performing option, but it sacrifices too much visual detail for the modest frame rate gains seen at higher resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The scaling behavior from 1080p to 4K reveals the limiting component in this system. At the Low preset, the frame rate drops from 84.8 FPS at 1080p to 83.9 FPS at 1440p, a negligible 0.9 FPS loss. However, moving to 4K drops the frame rate to 78.4 FPS, a further 5.5 FPS loss. This indicates that even at Low settings, the GPU is starting to feel the pressure of the increased pixel count, but the CPU is still keeping up.

At the Medium preset, the drop from 1080p (71.9 FPS) to 1440p (66.0 FPS) is 5.9 FPS, and then to 4K (55.2 FPS) is another 10.8 FPS. This shows that the GPU's workload is scaling with resolution. The High preset shows a similar pattern: 62.0 FPS at 1080p, 53.8 FPS at 1440p (an 8.2 FPS drop), and 38.2 FPS at 4K (a 15.6 FPS drop). This increasingly large penalty at higher resolutions confirms that the GPU is the primary bottleneck.

The Ultra preset exhibits the most severe scaling, with a 7.6 FPS drop from 1080p (46.4 FPS) to 1440p (38.8 FPS), and a further 9.0 FPS drop to 4K (29.8 FPS). The consistent pattern across all settings shows that the RX 7800 XT is the limiting factor at 4K, while the CPU is capable of driving the GPU efficiently at lower resolutions. The data clearly indicates that for 4K gaming, users should stick to the Medium preset to maintain a playable frame rate.