The Medium

The Medium presents a significant challenge for the Intel Core i7-12700K and AMD Radeon RX 580 combination. The measured data shows this pairing struggles to maintain playable frame rates at most settings, with performance heavily dependent on resolution and preset selection. The RX 580, an older graphics card, is clearly the limiting factor in this configuration, as the CPU has substantial headroom. This analysis walks through the measured results to determine the best way to experience the game with this hardware.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the only configuration that approaches a consistently playable experience is the Low preset at 1920x1080, which delivers an average of 46.7 FPS. This is the standout result in the dataset, offering more than double the frame rate of the next best 1080p option (Medium at 28.9 FPS). The data suggests that users should prioritize the Low preset at 1080p to get the smoothest performance from this combo.

The Medium preset at 1080p, with an average of 28.9 FPS, is borderline playable but will feel stuttery in a horror title where smooth motion is critical for atmosphere. The High preset at 1080p drops further to 23.4 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls to 15.1 FPS, which is effectively unplayable. At higher resolutions, even the Low preset struggles: 2560x1440 Low yields 43.9 FPS, while 3840x2160 Low drops to 33.6 FPS. These are playable but not ideal.

The recommendation is clear: use the Low preset at 1920x1080 for the best experience. If visual quality is prioritized over frame rate, the Medium preset at 1080p is the highest setting that stays above 25 FPS, but the trade-off is significant. The data indicates that no Ultra or High preset at any resolution reaches 30 FPS, making those options unsuitable for this hardware combination. The RX 580’s 8 GB of VRAM is not the bottleneck here; raw compute power is.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and preset for this CPU-GPU combo in The Medium?

A: The best measured result is the Low preset at 1920x1080, which achieves an average of 46.7 FPS. This is the only configuration in the dataset that clears 45 FPS, making it the recommended choice for playable performance.

Q: How does the RX 580 perform at 4K in this game?

A: At 3840x2160, the RX 580 delivers 33.6 FPS on Low, 18.5 FPS on Medium, 15.8 FPS on High, and 9 FPS on Ultra. Only the Low preset is marginally playable; all other 4K settings fall well below 20 FPS.

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-12700K a bottleneck in this configuration?

A: No, the data suggests the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU has an average benchmark score of 35684 and a percentile of 89, while the GPU has an average score of 13559 and a percentile of 53. The frame rate drops are consistent with GPU-bound scenarios, not CPU limitations.

Q: What is the performance difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 46.7 FPS, while Ultra averages 15.1 FPS. This represents a 31.6 FPS difference, meaning the Ultra preset runs at roughly one-third the speed of Low, as per the measured data.

Q: How does the RX 580 compare to its nearest rivals in this context?

A: The GPU’s nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570, has a deltaPct of 0, meaning they are statistically identical in average benchmark score. Other rivals, like the GTX 950 (0.1% faster) and AMD Radeon Pro 455 (1.1% faster), are also within a narrow margin, confirming the RX 580 is a mid-tier performer.

Q: Can this combo handle the Medium preset at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Medium preset averages 23.5 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay. The Low preset at 1440p is better at 43.9 FPS, but the 1080p Low preset remains superior.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 580 is the primary determinant of performance in The Medium for this combo. The GPU’s specifications include 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s. Its base clock is 1257 MHz, boosting to 1340 MHz, and memory runs at 2000 MHz (8 Gbps effective). These clocks are modest by modern standards, and the data reflects that.

The GPU’s benchmark scores are telling: it has a percentile of 53 among all GPUs, placing it in the lower half of the performance distribution. Its average benchmark score is 13559, with nearest rivals like the GTX 570 (deltaPct 0) and GTX 950 (deltaPct 0.1%) showing it is essentially on par with older mid-range cards. In The Medium, this translates to severe frame rate drops at higher presets.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity is not the issue at 1080p, but the GPU’s raw compute power (6.175 TFLOPS FP32) is insufficient for the game’s demands at High or Ultra settings. The measured FPS shows a clear pattern: as the preset increases from Low to Ultra, frame rates plummet. At 1080p, the drop from Low (46.7 FPS) to Medium (28.9 FPS) is 17.8 FPS, and from Medium to High (23.4 FPS) is another 5.5 FPS. This indicates the GPU is saturated at even Medium settings, with the Polaris 20 chip unable to keep up with the fixed-function work required by the game’s dual-reality rendering.

The GPU’s memory bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s is adequate for 1080p, but at higher resolutions, the texture and shader workload overwhelms the 32 ROPs and 144 TMUs. The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the average FPS collapses to 9, which is a slideshow. The RX 580’s end-of-life production status and 2017 release date are reflected in these results, as it simply lacks the architectural efficiency needed for a 2021 title like The Medium at high fidelity.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-12700K and AMD Radeon RX 580 ranks 1582 out of 1689 tested combos for The Medium, placing it in the bottom 6% of all configurations. This low rank is almost entirely attributable to the GPU, as the CPU is a high-end part. The i7-12700K has a percentile of 89 among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35684, while the RX 580 has a percentile of 53 and an average score of 13559.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in benchmark scores include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 (deltaPct -0.3%) and Intel Core i5-14500HX (deltaPct -0.7%), both of which are slightly slower, but the GPU’s rivals are all in the same performance tier. This disparity means the combo’s rank is dragged down by the graphics card. In practical terms, the 1582nd rank out of 1689 means that nearly every other tested pairing delivers better frame rates in The Medium.

The data shows that even with a powerful 12-core, 20-thread processor, the RX 580 cannot push past 47 FPS in any measured configuration. The CPU’s multi-threaded capabilities, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 29241, are irrelevant when the GPU is the bottleneck. The combo rank of 1582 is a direct reflection of this imbalance. For context, the i7-12700K’s single-thread score of 4128 in Cinebench R23 indicates it can handle game logic easily, but the RX 580’s 53rd percentile performance means it cannot translate that CPU headroom into visual output.

The measured FPS data confirms this: at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 46.7 FPS, but this is the ceiling. The rank suggests that users should expect a subpar experience compared to other combos, and the numbers support that assessment.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals how the combo scales across resolutions. At the Low preset, the average FPS drops from 46.7 at 1920x1080 to 43.9 at 2560x1440, a decrease of 2.8 FPS, and then to 33.6 at 3840x2160, a further drop of 10.3 FPS. This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU becomes progressively more stressed as pixel count increases, but the drop from 1440p to 4K is more severe than from 1080p to 1440p.

At the Medium preset, the FPS falls from 28.9 at 1080p to 23.5 at 1440p (a 5.4 FPS drop) and then to 18.5 at 4K (a 5 FPS drop). The High preset shows a similar trend: 23.4 at 1080p, 16.2 at 1440p, and 15.8 at 4K. The Ultra preset is the most punishing, dropping from 15.1 at 1080p to 12.3 at 1440p and 9 at 4K.

The resolution scaling data points to the GPU as the limiting component. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would remain relatively flat across resolutions, since the CPU’s workload does not change with pixel count. Instead, the FPS drops consistently as resolution increases, which is the classic signature of a GPU-bound system. The i7-12700K’s high single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4128) ensures it is not holding back the frame rate, but the RX 580’s 256.0 GB/s bandwidth and 6.175 TFLOPS compute are insufficient to maintain performance at higher resolutions.

The most telling comparison is the Low preset: the drop from 1080p to 1440p is only 6%, but from 1440p to 4K it is 23.5%. This non-linear scaling suggests that the GPU’s memory bandwidth is saturated at 4K, causing a more pronounced degradation. Overall, the data shows that this combo is best used at 1080p, where the GPU’s limitations are least impactful.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS values for the Intel Core i7-12700K and AMD Radeon RX 580 in The Medium are as follows:

At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 46.7 FPS, the highest of any configuration. The Medium preset averages 28.9 FPS, the High preset averages 23.4 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 15.1 FPS. This shows a clear degradation of 18.5 FPS from Medium to Low, and another 5.5 FPS from Medium to High.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 43.9 FPS, which is still playable but lower than 1080p. The Medium preset drops to 23.5 FPS, the High preset to 16.2 FPS, and the Ultra preset to 12.3 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium at 1440p is 20.4 FPS, indicating a significant performance cliff when moving from the lowest to medium settings.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 33.6 FPS, which is the only 4K configuration above 30 FPS. The Medium preset averages 18.5 FPS, the High preset averages 15.8 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 9 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the worst in the entire dataset, underlining the GPU’s inability to handle high-fidelity rendering at this resolution.

The data shows that the Low preset is consistently the best performer at every resolution, with the gap between Low and Medium widening as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference is 17.8 FPS; at 1440p, it is 20.4 FPS; and at 4K, it is 15.1 FPS. The High and Ultra presets are uniformly poor, never exceeding 23.4 FPS at any resolution. These numbers confirm that the RX 580 is only viable at the lowest settings, and even then, only at 1080p does it achieve a frame rate suitable for a smooth experience. The i7-12700K’s performance is not reflected in these results, as the GPU is the sole bottleneck across all measured points.