The Medium

The Intel Core i5-9400 and AMD Radeon RX 9070 combination delivers a complex performance profile in The Medium, a horror title that stresses both processing and rendering resources. The pairing places this setup at rank 791 out of 1689 tested combos, placing it squarely in the middle of the database. The data indicates a system that can handle the game’s atmospheric environments at playable framerates, but with significant compromises required at higher resolutions and quality presets.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a six-core, six-thread processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture, built on Intel's 14 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and can reach a boost clock of 4.10 GHz, drawing 65 W of power. This configuration lacks hyper-threading, so the CPU’s six physical cores handle all workloads directly, which can be a limiting factor in titles that scale well with additional threads. The processor has a 9 MB shared L3 cache, which is a modest amount by modern standards but sufficient for the game’s data flow.

In The Medium, the CPU’s role is to manage the game’s dual-reality mechanic, where two worlds are rendered simultaneously. This feature is demanding on the processor, as it requires constant synchronization of two distinct scenes. The i5-9400’s benchmark scores, such as a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 7969 and a single-core score of 1125, indicate it has reasonable processing power for the game’s logic and physics. However, the lack of additional threads means that background tasks or the game’s streaming systems may compete for the same resources, potentially causing minor stutters in intense moments.

The processor sits at the 50th percentile among all tested CPUs, placing it exactly at the median for overall performance. Its nearest rivals in the database include the Intel Core i3-10305 and Intel Core i3-1125G4, both of which are only 0.2% slower in average benchmark score. This suggests that the i5-9400 is a capable but not exceptional processor for gaming. In this specific title, the CPU’s six cores are adequate to feed the RX 9070, but the data shows that the GPU often becomes the primary bottleneck at higher settings, as evidenced by the significant FPS drops when moving from Medium to Ultra presets.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is the dominant component in this pairing, featuring 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering a memory bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s. The GPU is based on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with a Navi 48 chip, manufactured on a 4 nm process by TSMC. It has a boost clock of 2520 MHz and a game clock of 2070 MHz, with 3584 shading units and 56 ray tracing cores. With a TDP of 220 W, it is a power-hungry card, but its compute capabilities are substantial, offering 36.13 TFLOPS of FP32 performance.

The GPU’s 16 GB of VRAM is a key asset for The Medium, which is known for its high-resolution textures and the simultaneous rendering of two worlds. At 1920x1080, the card has ample memory headroom, which contributes to the high average framerates observed. However, the performance scaling across settings reveals that the GPU’s raw compute power, rather than memory capacity, is the limiting factor. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 31.5, indicating that the card’s 128 ROPs and 224 TMUs are saturated by the game’s demanding effects.

The RX 9070 holds the 79th percentile among all GPUs, which is a strong showing. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA A2, which is 0.2% faster, and the NVIDIA Quadro GV100, which is 0.3% slower. These are workstation-oriented cards, which makes the RX 9070’s gaming performance particularly notable. The GPU’s PassMark G3D score of 25381 and 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 6290 confirm its high-end positioning. In The Medium, this translates to strong performance at 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K Ultra preset requires dramatic quality reductions to achieve playable framerates.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This specific combination of the i5-9400 and RX 9070 is ranked 791st out of 1689 total tested combinations in The Medium. This places the setup in the 47th percentile of all combos, meaning roughly 53% of the other tested system configurations perform better in this game. The rank is a composite measure that reflects the balance between the two components, and it is clear that the CPU is holding back the GPU’s potential.

The data suggests that the RX 9070 is capable of significantly higher framerates when paired with a more powerful processor. The 791st ranking is not a poor result, but it indicates that this is not an optimal pairing. The CPU’s median performance level, combined with the GPU’s high-end capabilities, creates a scenario where the GPU is often waiting on the CPU to feed it data, particularly at lower resolutions where the CPU’s role is more pronounced. Conversely, at 4K, the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck, and the CPU’s limitations are less apparent.

Benchmark results indicate that the combo’s performance is heavily dependent on the resolution and settings chosen. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 86.9 FPS, which is a solid result, but the jump to 1080p Ultra only yields 48.5 FPS, a drop of 44%. This scaling pattern is typical for a GPU-bound title, but the absolute numbers suggest that the CPU is not the main constraint at higher settings. The rank of 791 reflects a system that can provide a good experience at 1080p and 1440p, but it is not competitive with higher-tier combinations at the top of the list.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of how this combo performs across different configurations. At 1920x1080, the system delivers an average of 86.9 FPS on Low settings, which is the highest performance observed in the entire dataset. Moving up to Medium settings yields 73.5 FPS, and High settings produce 62.9 FPS. The Ultra preset, which is the most demanding, brings the average down to 48.5 FPS. This shows that the RX 9070 can easily handle 1080p gaming with this CPU, even at the highest quality settings, with the Ultra preset still maintaining a framerate above 48 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the performance scales as expected, with a reduction in average framerates across all settings. Low settings yield 80.9 FPS, which is only slightly lower than the 1080p Low result, indicating that the GPU is still the primary driver. Medium settings produce 69 FPS, and High settings drop to 56.2 FPS. The Ultra preset at this resolution delivers 40.6 FPS, which is a playable framerate for most titles but highlights the game’s demanding nature at higher resolutions. The difference between 1080p and 1440p is more pronounced at Ultra settings, with a 16% performance reduction.

The 3840x2160 resolution presents the most significant challenge for this combo. At 4K Low, the system achieves 78 FPS, which is a surprisingly strong result and indicates that the GPU’s 16 GB of VRAM is not a limiting factor at lower quality settings. Medium settings at 4K produce 60.3 FPS, which is exactly at the threshold for smooth gameplay. High settings drop to 44.1 FPS, and Ultra settings plummet to 31.5 FPS. This data shows that 4K gaming is only viable at Low or Medium settings with this configuration, and even then, the framerates are not ideal for a fast-paced horror experience. The 44% performance drop from 1080p Ultra to 4K Ultra underscores the GPU’s workload at high resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution/settings combo for this system?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 Ultra provides an average of 48.5 FPS, which is playable. For a smoother experience, 2560x1440 Medium delivers 69 FPS, while 3840x2160 Medium yields 60.3 FPS. The choice depends on whether the priority is resolution or framerate stability.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its closest rivals in the database?

A: The Intel Core i5-9400 has an average benchmark score of 2305, which is 0.2% higher than the Intel Core i3-10305 and 0.4% higher than the Intel Xeon E-2134. It is 0.6% slower than the Intel Core i7-8809G.

Q: Is the GPU’s 16 GB VRAM sufficient for this game?

A: Yes, the 16 GB of GDDR6 memory is not a bottleneck in The Medium. The measured FPS data shows that performance drops are more closely tied to the GPU’s compute load at higher settings, not memory capacity, as the 4K Low preset achieves 78 FPS.

Q: What is the performance difference between 1080p and 4K at High settings?

A: At 1920x1080 High, the system averages 62.9 FPS. At 3840x2160 High, the average drops to 44.1 FPS. This represents a 30% reduction in performance when moving from 1080p to 4K at the same quality preset.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and AMD Radeon RX 9070 is ranked 791st out of 1689 total tested combos in The Medium. This places it in the middle of the database, indicating it is a moderate performer.

Q: Does the game run better at Medium or High settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Medium preset yields an average of 69 FPS, while the High preset yields 56.2 FPS. The Medium preset provides a 23% higher framerate, which may be preferable for smoother gameplay.