The Medium

The Medium presents a demanding fixed-camera horror experience, and the combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER produces a specific performance profile that varies significantly with resolution and quality settings. This analysis breaks down the measured data for this pairing, focusing on where the CPU and GPU each become the limiting factor and which settings deliver the most playable experience.

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

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. It operates at a base clock of 2.90 GHz and can boost up to 4.10 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The processor includes 9 MB of shared L3 cache and supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with a bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s. In synthetic benchmarks, this CPU scores 6629 points in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 935 points in single-core tests, placing it in the 47th percentile among all CPUs tested.

For a game like The Medium, which relies heavily on consistent frame pacing, the i5-9400's six physical threads without hyper-threading could be a concern in heavily populated scenes, but the measured data suggests it is not the primary bottleneck at most settings. The CPU's nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (0.2% slower), the Intel Core i7-10710U (0.3% faster), and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (0.4% faster). This indicates the i5-9400 sits in a narrow performance band where small differences are negligible.

The data shows that at 1080p Low settings, the combo achieves 87 FPS, which is the highest recorded average across all tested configurations. This high frame rate indicates that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU adequately at lower graphical loads. However, the fact that the score drops to 57 FPS at 1080p Medium and 41 FPS at 1080p High suggests that the GPU begins to take over as the limiting factor as settings increase, rather than the CPU holding the system back. The 6-core/6-thread configuration is sufficient to keep the RTX 2060 SUPER occupied, but it does not provide massive headroom for future titles with higher thread counts.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo if targeting 60 FPS?

A: The only resolution that achieves a 60+ FPS average is 1080p with Low settings, which delivers 87 FPS. At 1440p Low, the average drops to 77 FPS, still above 60. At 4K Low, the average falls to 61 FPS, which is just barely above the 60 FPS threshold, but any settings above Low at 4K drop below playable levels.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its closest rivals in terms of average benchmark score?

A: The i5-9400 has an average benchmark score of 2254. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-1068NG7, scores 2259, which is 0.2% higher. The AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 scores 2246, which is 0.4% lower. These differences are within 0.5%, indicating essentially equivalent performance among these processors.

Q: What is the frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K at Medium settings?

A: At 1080p Medium, the combo produces an average of 57 FPS with a minimum of 49 and maximum of 66. At 4K Medium, the average drops to 38 FPS with a minimum of 32 and maximum of 43. This represents a 33% reduction in average frame rate when moving from 1080p to 4K at Medium settings.

Q: Does the GPU outperform its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 2060 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 18093. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile, scores 18159, which is 0.4% higher. The AMD Radeon Pro 5700 scores 18189, which is 0.5% higher. The RTX 2060 SUPER trails these rivals by less than 1%, making it statistically comparable in raw compute performance.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested combinations for this game?

A: The combo ranks 2703 out of 3724 total tested combinations, placing it in the lower half of the distribution. This rank reflects that while the individual components are mid-range, the overall performance in The Medium is not exceptional, particularly at higher resolutions and settings.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more likely to be the limiting factor at 1440p Ultra?

A: At 1440p Ultra, the combo achieves only 27 FPS. Given that the GPU's percentile rank is 62 while the CPU's is 47, the GPU is relatively stronger, but the massive frame rate drop from Ultra to High (35 FPS) suggests that the game's ultra settings impose a heavy load on the GPU, making it the primary limiter at this resolution.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured data reveals a clear pattern of frame rate degradation as resolution increases, which is typical for a GPU-bound scenario. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 87 at 1080p to 77 at 1440p (an 11.5% decrease) and then to 61 at 4K (a 20.8% decrease from 1440p). This scaling is relatively gentle, indicating that at Low settings, the system is less strained and the GPU has more headroom.

At Medium settings, the drop is more pronounced: 57 FPS at 1080p falls to 48 FPS at 1440p (a 15.8% decrease) and then to 38 FPS at 4K (a 20.8% decrease from 1440p). This steeper decline suggests that the GPU is becoming more saturated as resolution increases, but the CPU is still keeping up.

At High settings, the pattern continues: 41 FPS at 1080p, 35 FPS at 1440p (a 14.6% decrease), and 27 FPS at 4K (a 22.9% decrease from 1440p). The consistent 15-20% drops per resolution step indicate that the rendering pipeline is primarily GPU-limited, as a CPU bottleneck would show more dramatic drops at lower resolutions where the CPU has to work harder to keep up with frame generation.

The most telling data point is at Ultra settings, where the frame rates are 33 FPS at 1080p, 27 FPS at 1440p, and 21 FPS at 4K. These are all below 35 FPS, suggesting that Ultra settings are simply too demanding for this combo at any resolution. The diminishing returns from 1080p to 4K at Ultra (a 36% total drop) are less severe than at other settings, which could indicate that the GPU is already so overwhelmed that additional resolution has a smaller marginal impact.

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

1920x1080: At 1080p, the combo delivers its strongest performance. Low settings produce an average of 87 FPS, which is the highest score in the entire dataset. Medium settings yield 57 FPS average, with a minimum of 49 and maximum of 66 FPS. High settings drop to 41 FPS average, while Ultra settings fall to 33 FPS average. The range from Low to Ultra represents a 62% reduction in frame rate, showing how heavily the graphical settings impact performance.

2560x1440: At 1440p, the performance scales down predictably. Low settings achieve 77 FPS average, still comfortably above 60 FPS. Medium settings produce 48 FPS average, with a minimum of 41 and maximum of 55 FPS. High settings drop to 35 FPS average, and Ultra settings fall to 27 FPS average. The step from Low to Medium at 1440p is a 37.7% drop, which is slightly steeper than the 34.5% drop at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is working harder at this resolution.

3840x2160: At 4K, the combo struggles to maintain playable frame rates. Low settings achieve 61 FPS average, which is just above the 60 FPS target. Medium settings drop to 38 FPS average, with a minimum of 32 and maximum of 43 FPS. High settings fall to 27 FPS average, and Ultra settings bottom out at 21 FPS average. The 4K Low result is notable because it is the only 4K configuration that reaches 60 FPS, but it requires sacrificing all visual quality.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER ranks 2703 out of 3724 tested combos in The Medium. This places the combo in the 27th percentile from the top, meaning that roughly 73% of tested combinations perform better. This rank is somewhat surprising given the individual component scores—the CPU is in the 47th percentile and the GPU is in the 62nd percentile—but it reflects the demanding nature of the game.

The rank suggests that while the RTX 2060 SUPER is a capable mid-range GPU, its performance in The Medium is hampered by the game's heavy reliance on GPU compute and memory bandwidth. The GPU's average benchmark score of 18093 places it just below the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile (0.4% lower) and the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 (0.5% lower), but these close margins do not translate into competitive in-game results. The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K results show that the memory subsystem is likely a limiting factor at higher resolutions.

The CPU's rank of 2703 overall is also influenced by the fact that many higher-ranked combos likely feature more powerful GPUs. The i5-9400's 6-core/6-thread configuration is adequate, but it does not provide the headroom that would allow the RTX 2060 SUPER to stretch its legs in less GPU-bound scenarios. The fact that the combo performs best at 1080p Low (87 FPS) and falls off rapidly at higher settings indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck, but the CPU's modest single-thread performance (935 in Cinebench R23) could also be a factor in scenes with heavy physics or AI.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Based on the measured data, the optimal setting for this combo depends on the target resolution and frame rate preference. For 1080p, the Medium preset provides the best balance, delivering 57 FPS average with a minimum of 49 FPS. This is close to the 60 FPS target and offers significantly better visual quality than Low settings, which achieve 87 FPS but at a substantial visual cost. The High preset at 1080p drops to 41 FPS, which is below the smooth threshold for a horror game where consistent pacing matters.

At 1440p, the Low preset is the only option that maintains a frame rate above 60 FPS, achieving 77 FPS average. The Medium preset at 1440p produces 48 FPS average, which is playable but may feel less smooth during fast camera movements. For players who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate, the Medium preset at 1440p is the highest acceptable setting, as High (35 FPS) and Ultra (27 FPS) fall into unplayable territory.

At 4K, the Low preset is the only viable option, achieving 61 FPS average. The Medium preset at 4K drops to 38 FPS, which is too low for a smooth experience, and High (27 FPS) and Ultra (21 FPS) are effectively slideshows. Given that The Medium is a horror game where atmospheric tension relies on smooth motion, the recommendation is to use the Medium preset at 1080p or the Low preset at 1440p or 4K.

The data shows that the Medium preset at 1080p offers the best overall experience, as it provides a frame rate within 5% of the 60 FPS target while retaining more visual detail than Low. The minimum frame rate of 49 FPS at this setting also indicates that the game maintains reasonably consistent performance without major stutters.

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is built on the Turing architecture using a 12 nm process, featuring the TU106 chip with 10,800 million transistors on a 445 mm² die. It operates at a base clock of 1470 MHz and boosts to 1650 MHz, with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU includes 2176 shading units, 136 texture mapping units, 64 ROPs, 34 RT cores, and 272 tensor cores, delivering 7.181 TFLOPS of FP32 performance.

The GPU's 8 GB of VRAM is a critical factor in The Medium, which features complex scenes with high-resolution textures. At 1080p, the VRAM capacity is sufficient, allowing the GPU to maintain 87 FPS at Low settings. However, as resolution increases to 1440p and 4K, the VRAM requirement grows, and the 448.0 GB/s bandwidth becomes a potential bottleneck. The 4K Medium result of 38 FPS, compared to the 1080p Medium result of 57 FPS, suggests that the memory subsystem is struggling to keep up with the increased data demands.

The GPU's synthetic benchmark scores reflect its mid-range positioning. It scores 16462 in Passmark G3D and 76957 in Geekbench OpenCL, placing it in the 62nd percentile among all GPUs. The nearest rivals—the RTX 3060 Mobile (0.4% faster), AMD Radeon Pro 5700 (0.5% faster), and AMD Radeon RX 460 (1.5% faster)—are all within 2% of the RTX 2060 SUPER's average score of 18093. This narrow margin indicates that the GPU is well-matched to its peers.

The 34 RT cores and 272 tensor cores are present but not heavily utilized in The Medium, which does not appear to leverage ray tracing or DLSS based on the measured frame rates. The game relies more on raw rasterization performance, which is why the GPU's FP32 throughput of 7.181 TFLOPS and texture rate of 224.4 GTexel/s are more relevant. The pixel rate of 105.6 GPixel/s is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K results show that the GPU is overextended at that resolution, with even Low settings barely hitting 61 FPS. The launch MSRP of 399 USD positions it as a mid-range option, and the measured data confirms that it is best suited for 1080p gaming, with 1440p viable at lower settings.