The Medium

The Medium presents an unusual pairing in this database entry: a six-core Intel Core i5-9400 from the Coffee Lake era paired with the flagship NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090. The benchmark data reveals a system where the GPU is operating far below its potential ceiling, constrained by a processor that was mid-range at its launch. This analysis walks through the measured frame rates to show exactly where the bottleneck lies and what it means for playable performance.

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 with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. It belongs to the Coffee Lake architecture, fabricated on a 14 nm process, and features 9 MB of shared L3 cache. The processor's memory bandwidth is rated at 42.7 GB/s over a dual-channel DDR4 interface. Its benchmark profile places it in the 47th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 2254. Its nearest rivals in aggregate performance are the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (0.2% faster), the Intel Core i3-10305 (0.4% faster), and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (0.4% slower), indicating it sits in a tightly clustered performance band.

In the context of The Medium's measured FPS, the CPU's role is best understood as a limiting factor. The game is a fixed-camera horror title that relies heavily on simultaneous rendering of two worlds, a technique that is traditionally demanding on both CPU and GPU. However, the data shows a pattern where frame rates do not scale proportionally with resolution changes, which is a hallmark of CPU limitation. The single-core performance of the i5-9400, reflected in a Geekbench single-core score of 1389 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 935, is adequate for the game's logic, but the lack of multi-threading (6 threads, not 12) means the processor cannot feed the RTX 5090 with enough draw calls and physics updates to keep it saturated. The boost clock of 4.10 GHz helps in lightly-threaded scenes, but the overall throughput is capped by the 6-thread design.

The measured FPS at 1080p Medium (72 average) versus 4K Medium (63 average) shows only a 12.5% drop, which is far less than the resolution's pixel count increase would suggest. This indicates that the CPU is the primary constraint at lower resolutions, preventing the GPU from fully engaging. The i5-9400's 65 W TDP and end-of-life production status underscore that it is a dated component, and the benchmark data confirms that it is holding back the system in this specific title.

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is a Blackwell 2.0 architecture GPU with 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock is 2017 MHz with a boost clock of 2407 MHz, and the memory operates at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). The GPU has 21760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 ROPs. It also includes 170 ray tracing cores and 680 tensor cores. The FP32 compute throughput is rated at 104.8 TFLOPS. Its benchmark profile places it in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 79842. Its nearest rivals in aggregate performance are the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X (1.4% faster) and the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (1.1% slower), showing it is near the top of the performance stack.

In The Medium, the RTX 5090's immense resources are underutilized. The GPU's 32 GB VRAM is far beyond what this game requires, and the 1.79 TB/s bandwidth is overkill for the measured frame rates. The data shows that at 1080p Ultra, the average FPS is 59, which is lower than the 1080p Medium average of 72. This suggests that the Ultra preset introduces GPU-heavy effects that the CPU cannot feed quickly enough to keep the GPU busy, resulting in a performance plateau. The GPU's 92nd percentile ranking indicates it is capable of much higher frame rates in less CPU-bound scenarios, but the i5-9400 prevents it from reaching those levels.

The RTX 5090's role in this pairing is that of a high-performance component operating in a constrained environment. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 51, which is the only resolution where the GPU's workload begins to approach the CPU's output capacity. The fact that the 4K Low average is 76 FPS, versus 4K High at 56 FPS, demonstrates that the GPU can still produce significant frame rate differences when the CPU is not the sole bottleneck, but the CPU's ceiling is evident in the narrow range between resolution presets.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 1283 out of 3724 tested combos in The Medium. This places it in the 65.5th percentile of all system pairings, meaning it outperforms roughly two-thirds of tested configurations but is far from the top. This ranking is notable because the GPU alone is in the 92nd percentile, while the CPU is in the 47th percentile. The disparity between the two components' individual rankings and the combo's overall ranking highlights the degree to which the CPU drags down the system's performance in this game.

Compared to the nearest rival combos, this pairing's rank suggests that the CPU bottleneck is severe enough to negate the GPU's high-end advantages. The data indicates that a system with a more balanced CPU-GPU pairing would likely rank higher, as the RTX 5090's capabilities are largely wasted in this configuration. The combo rank of 1283 out of 3724 is a direct consequence of the i5-9400's inability to keep pace with the RTX 5090's processing demands. The measured FPS values across all resolutions and settings are consistent with a system that is CPU-limited, as the frame rates are more dependent on the CPU's single-thread performance than on the GPU's raw throughput.

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

At 1920x1080, the lowest resolution tested, the system produces its highest frame rates. The Low preset averages 87 FPS, the Medium preset averages 72 FPS with a minimum of 62 and a maximum of 83, the High preset averages 64 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 59 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 28 FPS, which is relatively narrow for a resolution with this pixel count, indicating that the CPU is limiting the upper bound. The Medium preset's minimum of 62 FPS suggests that even at this resolution, there are moments where the CPU cannot maintain steady frame delivery.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates begin to compress further. The Low preset averages 82 FPS, the Medium preset averages 68 FPS with a minimum of 58 and a maximum of 79, the High preset averages 60 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 56 FPS. The drop from 1080p Low to 1440p Low is only 5 FPS, and from 1080p Ultra to 1440p Ultra is only 3 FPS. This near-flat scaling is a clear sign of CPU limitation, as the GPU should be able to handle the increased pixel count with minimal impact if it were the bottleneck.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates show the most variation across settings. The Low preset averages 76 FPS, the Medium preset averages 63 FPS with a minimum of 54 and a maximum of 73, the High preset averages 56 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 51 FPS. The drop from 1080p Low to 4K Low is 11 FPS, and from 1080p High to 4K High is 8 FPS. These are the largest resolution-based deltas in the dataset, indicating that at 4K, the GPU begins to become a more significant factor, though the CPU still caps the maximum frame rate.

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

The resolution scaling data is the clearest indicator of the system's bottleneck. Moving from 1080p to 1440p, the Low preset drops from 87 to 82 FPS (a 5.7% decrease), while moving from 1440p to 4K, it drops from 82 to 76 FPS (a 7.3% decrease). For the Medium preset, the drops are 72 to 68 (5.6%) and 68 to 63 (7.4%). For High, the drops are 64 to 60 (6.3%) and 60 to 56 (6.7%). For Ultra, the drops are 59 to 56 (5.1%) and 56 to 51 (8.9%).

These percentage drops are remarkably small given that 4K has four times the pixels of 1080p. In a GPU-limited scenario, dropping from 1080p to 4K would typically halve the frame rate or worse, depending on the game and settings. The fact that the average FPS only drops by roughly 10-15% from 1080p to 4K across all presets indicates that the CPU's processing capacity is the hard ceiling. The RTX 5090 is powerful enough to render 4K at nearly the same speed as 1080p in this game, but it cannot exceed the frame rate that the i5-9400 allows. The data suggests that the CPU's 6-thread design creates a fixed throughput limit, and the GPU's performance scaling is stunted by this constraint. The slight increase in FPS drops at 4K, particularly for the Ultra preset (8.9% drop from 1440p), hints that the GPU's workload is beginning to approach the CPU's output limit, but the overall pattern remains firmly CPU-bound.

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

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience across all resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the average FPS of 72 with a minimum of 62 and maximum of 83 provides a smooth, playable frame rate that stays above the 60 FPS threshold for the majority of the time. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 68 with a minimum of 58, which is still acceptable for a horror game where precise timing is less critical. At 4K Medium, the average is 63 with a minimum of 54, which is on the edge of playability but maintains a consistent experience.

The High preset is a step down in performance, averaging 64 FPS at 1080p, 60 FPS at 1440p, and 56 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset produces the lowest frame rates, averaging 59 FPS at 1080p, 56 FPS at 1440p, and 51 FPS at 4K. The Low preset offers the highest frame rates, averaging 87 FPS at 1080p, 82 FPS at 1440p, and 76 FPS at 4K, but it likely sacrifices visual quality that the Medium preset retains.

The data shows that the Medium preset provides the best ratio of visual fidelity to frame rate, as it is the only preset that maintains an average FPS above 60 at 1080p and 1440p, and remains above 60 at 4K. The minimum FPS of 54 at 4K Medium is the lowest recorded in the dataset, but it is still within the range of acceptable performance for a slow-paced horror game. The Ultra preset offers no meaningful advantage in this CPU-bound configuration, as the frame rates are too low to justify the visual upgrade. The recommendation is to use the Medium preset for all resolutions, as it delivers the most consistent and playable results given the CPU's limitations.

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

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

A: The average frame rate at 1920x1080 with Medium settings is 72 FPS, with a minimum of 62 FPS and a maximum of 83 FPS.

Q: How much does the frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K on the Low preset?

A: The Low preset drops from 87 FPS at 1920x1080 to 76 FPS at 3840x2160, a decrease of 11 FPS.

Q: Does the RTX 5090 perform better at 4K Ultra than the i5-9400 allows?

A: At 4K Ultra, the average frame rate is 51 FPS, which is lower than the 4K Low average of 76 FPS, indicating the GPU is still not fully utilized due to the CPU bottleneck.

Q: What is the combo rank for this CPU-GPU pairing in The Medium?

A: The combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 1283 out of 3724 tested combos.

Q: Which preset provides the highest average FPS at 1440p?

A: The Low preset provides the highest average FPS at 2560x1440, with an average of 82 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this system?

A: The data indicates the CPU is the limiting factor, as frame rates barely change from 1080p to 4K, with the 1080p Low average of 87 FPS only dropping to 76 FPS at 4K Low.