The Medium

The Medium, a fixed-camera horror title built around dual-reality rendering, presents a unique load profile. This analysis examines the measured performance of the Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 across resolutions and settings, using only the provided benchmark data.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals how the rendering load shifts as resolution increases. At 1080p with Medium settings, the combo produces an average of 72 FPS. Moving to 1440p at Medium settings, the average drops to 68 FPS, a reduction of 4 FPS. At 4K with Medium settings, the average falls further to 63 FPS. This scaling pattern—a 5.6% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 7.4% drop from 1440p to 4K—indicates that the GPU is not fully saturated at lower resolutions, but the performance ceiling is being approached as pixel count increases.

The Low preset shows a similar but slightly more pronounced trend. At 1080p Low, the average is 87 FPS. At 1440p Low, it drops to 82 FPS, and at 4K Low, it reaches 76 FPS. The percentage decrease from 1080p to 4K for Low settings is 12.6%, compared to a 12.5% decrease for Medium settings. This consistency suggests the game's engine scales resolution costs predictably, with the delta between presets remaining relatively stable across resolutions.

The High preset tells a more revealing story. At 1080p High, the average is 64 FPS. At 1440p High, it drops to 60 FPS, and at 4K High, it falls to 56 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 6.3%, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 6.7%. These diminishing returns suggest that the RTX 4080, with its 16 GB of GDDR6X memory and 716.8 GB/s bandwidth, is becoming the limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the GPU's compute resources are taxed more heavily by the increased pixel workload.

The Ultra preset exhibits the steepest scaling curve. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 59 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 56 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 45 FPS. The drop from 1440p to 4K is a substantial 19.6%, indicating that Ultra settings at 4K push the GPU beyond its comfort zone. This pattern confirms that the RTX 4080 is the primary bottleneck at 4K Ultra, while at 1080p, the CPU's six cores and six threads may be holding back the GPU from achieving higher frame rates.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is a high-end Ada Lovelace architecture GPU with 9728 shading units, 304 texture mapping units, and 112 raster operation pipelines. Its 16 GB of GDDR6X memory operates on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s. The GPU's base clock is 2205 MHz, with a boost clock of 2505 MHz, and its FP32 performance is rated at 48.74 TFLOPS.

In The Medium, the GPU's role is clearly dominant at higher resolutions. The measured data shows that at 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 45, which is 24% lower than the 59 FPS at 1080p Ultra. This significant drop indicates that the GPU's pixel throughput is the limiting factor when maximum settings are applied at 4K. The RTX 4080's memory bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s is sufficient to feed the GPU at 1440p, as evidenced by the relatively small 4 FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p at Medium settings.

The GPU's percentile rank of 86 among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54247, positions it as a top-tier part. Its nearest rival, the RTX 4080 SUPER, scores 54209, a delta of just 0.1%, confirming that the standard RTX 4080 is virtually identical in raw compute performance to its SUPER variant. The AMD Radeon Pro W5700X scores 54828, which is 1.1% higher, but the RTX 4080's architectural advantages in ray tracing and DLSS likely contribute to its performance in this horror title.

The measured FPS data indicates that the RTX 4080 is well-suited for 1440p gaming in The Medium, where it achieves 68 FPS at Medium settings and 60 FPS at High settings. At 4K, the GPU can handle Medium settings at 63 FPS, but Ultra settings drop to 45 FPS, which may be below the threshold for smooth gameplay. The GPU's 16 GB VRAM is not a limiting factor in this game, as even at 4K Ultra, the memory capacity is sufficient to handle the dual-reality rendering that The Medium is known for.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with Medium settings?

A: The measured average FPS is 72, with a minimum of 62 and a maximum of 83.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 compare to its nearest rival in average benchmark score?

A: The RTX 4080 scores 54247, while the RTX 4080 SUPER scores 54209, a delta of 0.1%. The AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB scores 55698, which is 2.6% higher.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 4K Ultra settings?

A: The data shows a 19.6% drop from 1440p Ultra (56 FPS) to 4K Ultra (45 FPS), indicating the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K Ultra.

Q: What is the best performance at 1440p?

A: The highest average FPS at 1440p is 82, achieved with Low settings. Medium settings yield 68 FPS, and High yields 60 FPS.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested combos in this game?

A: The combo ranks 1301 out of 3724 tested combos, placing it in the top 35% of all combinations.

Q: Does the RTX 4080 have enough VRAM for The Medium at 4K?

A: The GPU has 16 GB of GDDR6X memory, and the measured data shows it can achieve 63 FPS at 4K Medium settings, indicating VRAM is sufficient for this game.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 ranks 1301 out of 3724 tested combos in The Medium. This places the combo in the 65th percentile of all combinations tested, meaning it outperforms 65% of all combos in this specific game. Given the GPU's high percentile rank of 86 among all GPUs, the combo's lower overall rank suggests that the CPU is holding back the GPU's potential in this title.

The CPU's percentile rank of 47 among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 2254, is notably lower than the GPU's. This disparity is reflected in the measured FPS data, where the combo achieves 87 FPS at 1080p Low but only 45 FPS at 4K Ultra. The CPU's six cores and six threads, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and boost clock of 4.10 GHz, are sufficient for the game's CPU demands, but they may limit the GPU's ability to push higher frame rates at lower resolutions.

The combo's rank of 1301 out of 3724 indicates that while the RTX 4080 is a powerful GPU, its pairing with a mid-range 2018-era CPU prevents it from reaching the top echelons of performance in this game. The CPU's nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (delta of -0.2%) and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (delta of 0.4%), have similar average scores, suggesting that the i5-9400 is competitive with other mid-range CPUs but not with higher-end parts that could better complement the RTX 4080.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For 1080p gaming, the Medium preset provides an average of 72 FPS, which is smooth for a horror title. The High preset at 1080p yields 64 FPS, while Ultra drops to 59 FPS. The data shows that the step from High to Ultra at 1080p costs only 5 FPS, but the step from Medium to High costs 8 FPS. For players prioritizing frame rate, Medium at 1080p offers the best balance, as the jump to High yields diminishing returns.

At 1440p, the Medium preset achieves 68 FPS, which is the recommended choice for a balanced experience. High settings at 1440p drop to 60 FPS, and Ultra drops to 56 FPS. The Low preset at 1440p achieves 82 FPS, but the visual quality reduction is likely too significant for a game that relies on atmospheric horror. The data suggests that Medium at 1440p is the sweet spot, providing a 12 FPS improvement over High while maintaining acceptable visual fidelity.

For 4K gaming, the Medium preset achieves 63 FPS, which is the only preset that clears the 60 FPS threshold. High at 4K drops to 56 FPS, and Ultra drops to 45 FPS. The Low preset at 4K achieves 76 FPS, but the visual compromises are substantial. The measured data indicates that Medium at 4K is the only viable option for smooth gameplay, as High and Ultra both fall below the 60 FPS target. The 4K Medium result of 63 FPS is close to the 1080p High result of 64 FPS, suggesting that the GPU is being utilized efficiently at this setting.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following table summarizes the measured average FPS across all resolutions and settings, with minimum and maximum values where available:

| Resolution | Settings | Avg FPS | Min FPS | Max FPS |

|------------|----------|---------|---------|---------|

| 3840x2160 | High | 56 | — | — |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 76 | — | — |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 63 | 54 | 73 |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 45 | — | — |

| 2560x1440 | High | 60 | — | — |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 82 | — | — |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 68 | 58 | 79 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 56 | — | — |

| 1920x1080 | High | 64 | — | — |

| 1920x1080 | Low | 87 | — | — |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 72 | 62 | 83 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 59 | — | — |

The data shows a consistent pattern across all resolutions: Low settings provide the highest frame rates, followed by Medium, High, and Ultra. The gap between Low and Medium is relatively consistent, ranging from 11 FPS at 1080p to 13 FPS at 4K. The gap between Medium and High is 8 FPS at 1080p, 8 FPS at 1440p, and 7 FPS at 4K. The gap between High and Ultra is 5 FPS at 1080p, 4 FPS at 1440p, and 11 FPS at 4K, with the largest drop occurring at 4K, further confirming the GPU's bottleneck at that resolution.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a six-core, six-thread processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture, manufactured on a 14 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz, with a 9 MB shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR4 memory in a dual-channel configuration, providing a memory bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s. Its TDP is 65 W, and it is compatible with Intel Socket 1151.

In The Medium, the CPU's role is secondary to the GPU at higher resolutions, but it becomes more relevant at 1080p. The measured data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 87 FPS, which is the highest frame rate recorded. At 1080p Ultra, the frame rate drops to 59 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 28 FPS, which is the largest gap across all resolutions. This suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is able to feed the GPU enough data to reach 87 FPS, but the GPU's rendering of Ultra settings at 1080p is still the limiting factor, as the CPU's six threads are not fully utilized by the game's engine.

The CPU's benchmark scores place it at the 47th percentile among all CPUs, with an average score of 2254. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-1068NG7, scores 2259, a delta of -0.2%, indicating that the i5-9400 is slightly slower. The AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 scores 2246, a delta of 0.4%, meaning the i5-9400 is slightly faster. These small deltas confirm that the i5-9400 is a mid-range CPU whose performance is comparable to other six-core parts from its era.

The CPU's 9 MB L3 cache and dual-channel memory bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s are sufficient for The Medium's CPU demands, as the game is primarily GPU-bound at resolutions above 1080p. The measured FPS data shows that at 4K, the CPU's influence is minimal, with the frame rate differences between presets being driven almost entirely by the GPU. However, at 1080p, the CPU's six cores and six threads may limit the GPU's ability to exceed 87 FPS, as the game's fixed-camera angles and dual-reality rendering require a certain level of CPU throughput that the i5-9400 can provide but not exceed.