The Medium

The Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 combination ranks 789th out of 1689 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the upper-middle tier of the database. This pairing of a six-core Coffee Lake CPU with a high-end Ampere GPU produces a system that is clearly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, yet shows signs of CPU limitation at 1080p. The data indicates a capable 1440p machine that struggles to maintain smooth 4K Ultra performance, making it a practical choice for players who prioritize resolution scaling over maximum visual fidelity.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 789 out of 1689 tested configurations puts it just above the median, which is noteworthy given the RTX 3080’s individual standing. The GPU itself sits at the 80th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35787, placing it within 1% of rivals like the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE (which scores 36101, a 0.9% lead) and the AMD Radeon Pro Duo (35860, a 0.2% lead). The CPU, however, is a limiting factor in this pairing; its average benchmark score of 2305 places it at exactly the 50th percentile among all CPUs, with its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-8809G, scoring 2319 and beating it by 0.6%.

This rank disparity reveals that the combo’s overall position is dragged down by the CPU’s mid-pack performance. In The Medium, this translates to a system that can push high frame rates at lower resolutions but loses steam as the pixel count climbs. Compared to other combos in the database, this pairing is not a top-tier performer for the game’s most demanding settings, but it outranks a significant portion of the field. The CPU’s six cores and six threads without hyper-threading are adequate for the game’s fixed-camera horror design, but they do not provide the headroom needed to fully exploit the RTX 3080’s capabilities in CPU-bound scenarios.

FAQ

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-9400 a bottleneck for the RTX 3080 in The Medium?

A: Benchmark results indicate that the CPU becomes a limiting factor at 1080p. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 86.1 FPS, while at 1440p Low it drops to 81.3 FPS and at 4K Low it falls to 77.2 FPS. The relatively small gap between 1080p and 1440p suggests the CPU is holding back performance at lower resolutions where the GPU has more headroom.

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

A: The data shows that 1440p offers the best balance of visual quality and performance. At 1440p High, the combo delivers 53.7 FPS, which is playable, while 1440p Medium reaches 66.6 FPS. At 4K High, the frame rate drops to 43.4 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the RTX 3080’s 10 GB VRAM affect performance at 4K?

A: The GPU has 10 GB of GDDR6X memory with a 320-bit bus and 760.3 GB/s bandwidth. At 4K Ultra, the combo averages 36 FPS, and at 4K High it averages 43.4 FPS. The memory capacity is sufficient for the game’s textures at these settings, but the raw performance drop from 4K Low (77.2 FPS) to 4K Ultra (36 FPS) indicates that VRAM is not the sole constraint; the GPU’s compute load is the primary factor.

Q: Should I use the Ultra preset with this combo?

A: No. The measured FPS at Ultra settings are 53 FPS at 1080p, 44.2 FPS at 1440p, and 36 FPS at 4K. These are all below the 60 FPS target for smooth play. The High preset provides a better experience, with 64.8 FPS at 1080p and 53.7 FPS at 1440p.

Q: Does the CPU’s lack of hyper-threading hurt performance in this game?

A: The Intel Core i5-9400 has six cores and six threads, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost of 4.10 GHz. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 7969 is modest. The benchmark results suggest that the game does not benefit from a heavily threaded workload, but the single-core score of 1125 indicates that the CPU’s per-core performance is adequate for the game’s main thread.

Q: How does this combo compare to one with a stronger CPU?

A: The CPU’s nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i3-10305 (scoring 2300, a 0.2% difference), perform nearly identically in synthetic benchmarks. This suggests that swapping to a marginally faster CPU would yield minimal gains in The Medium, as the GPU is the dominant component at higher resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is the star of this combo, and its specifications directly explain the measured FPS numbers. The GPU is built on the Ampere architecture with a GA102 chip, manufactured on Samsung’s 8 nm process. It contains 28,300 million transistors on a 628 mm² die, with 8704 shading units, 272 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units. The boost clock is 1710 MHz, and the memory runs at 19 Gbps effective across a 320-bit bus, yielding 760.3 GB/s of bandwidth.

In The Medium, the GPU’s role becomes clear when examining the FPS scaling across settings. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 86.1 FPS, which is the highest measured value. This shows the GPU can handle the game’s fixed-camera angles and pre-rendered backgrounds with ease at lower settings. However, at 4K Ultra, the frame rate plummets to 36 FPS, indicating that the GPU’s compute resources are fully saturated. The RTX 3080’s 10 GB of GDDR6X VRAM is not the bottleneck; rather, the 29.77 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is being taxed by the game’s lighting and shadow effects at higher presets.

The GPU’s percentile ranking of 80th among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35787, places it just 1% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Mobile (which scores 35435, a 1% delta) and 0.9% behind the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE. This confirms that the RTX 3080 is a high-tier card, but its performance in The Medium is capped by the CPU pairing at lower resolutions. At 4K, the GPU is the clear limiting factor, as evidenced by the 77.2 FPS at Low settings, which still cannot reach the 86.1 FPS seen at 1080p Low.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of this combo’s performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1080p, the average frame rates are 86.1 FPS on Low, 73 FPS on Medium, 64.8 FPS on High, and 53 FPS on Ultra. This shows a steady decline of roughly 10-15% per preset step, with the Low preset being the only one that comfortably exceeds 60 FPS.

At 1440p, the numbers drop predictably: 81.3 FPS on Low, 66.6 FPS on Medium, 53.7 FPS on High, and 44.2 FPS on Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 37.1 FPS, which is a significant reduction of 45.6%. This indicates that the GPU is being pushed harder at this resolution, and the Ultra preset becomes impractical for smooth play.

At 4K, the performance falls further: 77.2 FPS on Low, 57.6 FPS on Medium, 43.4 FPS on High, and 36 FPS on Ultra. The 4K Low result is notable because it is only 8.9 FPS lower than the 1080p Low result, suggesting that the CPU is beginning to bottleneck even at Low settings when the GPU has less work to do. The 4K Ultra result of 36 FPS is the lowest in the entire dataset, confirming that this combo cannot handle the game’s maximum settings at 4K.

The data shows that the Medium preset at 1440p (66.6 FPS) is the sweet spot for playable performance, while the High preset at 1080p (64.8 FPS) offers a similar experience with slightly better visuals. The Ultra preset is only viable at 1080p, where it achieves 53 FPS, but this remains below the 60 FPS target.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the limiting component at each resolution. At Low settings, the frame rates are 86.1 FPS at 1080p, 81.3 FPS at 1440p, and 77.2 FPS at 4K. This represents a drop of only 8.9 FPS (10.3%) from 1080p to 4K, which is remarkably small. This pattern indicates that at Low settings, the CPU is the primary bottleneck, as the GPU has enough headroom to handle the increased pixel count without a proportional frame rate penalty.

At Ultra settings, the scaling is much steeper: 53 FPS at 1080p, 44.2 FPS at 1440p, and 36 FPS at 4K. This is a 17 FPS drop (32.1%) from 1080p to 4K, showing that the GPU becomes the dominant limiting factor when the visual load is maximized. The RTX 3080’s compute units are fully occupied at these settings, and the additional pixels at 4K cause a significant performance penalty.

The Medium preset shows an intermediate behavior: 73 FPS at 1080p, 66.6 FPS at 1440p, and 57.6 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 4K is 15.4 FPS (21.1%), which is more than at Low settings but less than at Ultra. This indicates that the system transitions from a CPU-bound state at Low to a GPU-bound state at Ultra, with Medium representing a balanced workload. The practical implication is that players on a 4K display should use the Low or Medium preset to maintain playable frame rates, while those on 1080p can afford to use High or Ultra.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the best experience for this combo depends on the target resolution. For 1080p displays, the High preset is the recommended choice, as it delivers 64.8 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The Ultra preset at 53 FPS is playable but not ideal, and the Medium preset at 73 FPS offers a smoother experience at a slight visual cost.

For 1440p displays, the Medium preset is the clear winner, achieving 66.6 FPS. The High preset at 53.7 FPS is acceptable for players who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate, but it falls below 60 FPS. The Low preset at 81.3 FPS provides the highest frame rate but sacrifices visual quality, which is not recommended for a horror game that relies on atmosphere.

For 4K displays, the Low preset is the only viable option, delivering 77.2 FPS. The Medium preset at 57.6 FPS is borderline, and the High preset at 43.4 FPS is too slow for a smooth experience. The Ultra preset at 36 FPS should be avoided entirely, as it is below the playable threshold. The data suggests that this combo is best suited for 1080p or 1440p gaming, where it can balance visual quality and performance effectively. Players with a 4K monitor should accept lower settings to maintain playability, as the GPU cannot handle the game’s maximum presets at that resolution.