The Medium

The Medium presents a demanding fixed-camera horror experience, and the benchmark data for the Intel Core i7-12700K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 shows a configuration that scales predictably with resolution and settings. This combination lands in the 547th position out of 1689 tested combos, placing it in the upper third of all systems measured. The data indicates a system that can handle the game's atmospheric tension at high frame rates, provided the settings are balanced correctly.

FAQ

Q: What is the best performance setting for this combo at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 138.6 FPS, which is the highest measured for this configuration. The Medium preset still provides a very playable 90.1 FPS, while the High preset drops to 61.8 FPS.

Q: How does the i7-12700K compare to its closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Intel Core i7-12700K posts an average benchmark score of 35684, which is 0.3% lower than the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 and 0.7% lower than the Intel Core i5-14500HX. It is 0.6% faster than the Intel Core i7-13700T and 0.8% faster than the Intel Core i7-13800H.

Q: Is the RX 9070 strong enough for 4K gaming in this title?

A: The data shows that at 3840x2160, the Ultra preset yields an average of 32.3 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target. The High preset achieves 41.5 FPS, and only the Low preset at 92.9 FPS provides a fully smooth 4K experience.

Q: What is the performance delta between the CPU and GPU's nearest rivals?

A: The CPU's average score is 35684, with its closest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845, scoring 35802, a delta of -0.3%. The GPU's average score is 34780, with the NVIDIA A2 scoring 34866, a delta of -0.2% from the RX 9070.

Q: How much faster is the Low preset compared to Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset achieves 116.6 FPS, which is 164% faster than the Ultra preset's 44.1 FPS. This suggests that the Ultra settings impose a significant rendering load on the GPU.

Q: Does the benchmark data suggest a CPU or GPU bottleneck?

A: The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K indicates a GPU-centric workload. At 1080p Low, the system hits 138.6 FPS, but at 4K Low, it drops to 92.9 FPS, showing the GPU's limits are reached as resolution increases, while the CPU maintains its output.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is the primary driver of frame rates in The Medium, as evidenced by the significant performance shifts across presets. The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s. This memory configuration is a key factor in handling the game's high-resolution textures and complex scenes at 4K. The card's boost clock of 2520 MHz and game clock of 2070 MHz allow it to process the game's DirectX 12 Ultimate workload, which includes ray tracing effects.

The data shows that the GPU's load is the limiting factor at higher settings. For instance, moving from Low to Medium at 1080p reduces performance from 138.6 FPS to 90.1 FPS, a 35% drop. This trend is consistent across all resolutions, indicating that the RX 9070's compute units, which number 3584 shading units, are fully engaged as the visual fidelity increases. The GPU's 128 ROPs and 224 TMUs contribute to the pixel and texture fill rates, which are essential for the game's fixed-camera angles that often feature detailed backgrounds. The RX 9070's performance percentile of 79 versus all GPUs confirms its position as a capable upper-mid-range part for this horror title.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-12700K and AMD Radeon RX 9070 combination is ranked 547th out of 1689 tested combos for The Medium. This places the system in the 67th percentile of all configurations, meaning it outperforms the majority of tested setups. The ranking reflects a balanced pairing where the CPU's multi-threaded capabilities, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 29241, are sufficient to feed the GPU without creating a substantial bottleneck.

The CPU itself holds an 89th percentile ranking against all CPUs, while the GPU holds a 79th percentile ranking against all GPUs. The slight discrepancy suggests that the system's overall rank is more influenced by the GPU's performance class. In practical terms, this combo is positioned ahead of systems using lower-tier graphics cards or older CPUs. The data shows that this is not a top-tier enthusiast build, but it is firmly in the high-performance mainstream segment, capable of delivering a high-refresh-rate experience at 1080p and a playable experience at 1440p with adjusted settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a detailed look at the system's performance across three resolutions and four quality presets. At 1920x1080, the system is highly capable. The Low preset delivers an average of 138.6 FPS, offering a fluid experience for high-refresh-rate monitors. The Medium preset at 90.1 FPS is also excellent, providing a good balance of visual quality and speed. The High preset drops to 61.8 FPS, which is still smooth for most players, while the Ultra preset at 52 FPS is the first sign of strain, though it remains playable.

Moving to 2560x1440, the demands on the GPU become more apparent. The Low preset achieves 116.6 FPS, which shows the CPU's strength in maintaining high frame rates. The Medium preset drops to 72.9 FPS, still a very good result. The High preset at 51 FPS is at the threshold of smoothness, and the Ultra preset at 44.1 FPS begins to feel less fluid. At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly the limiting factor. The Low preset manages 92.9 FPS, but the Medium preset falls to 56.7 FPS. The High preset at 41.5 FPS and the Ultra preset at 32.3 FPS indicate that 4K gaming requires significant compromises to maintain a stable frame rate.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K highlights the GPU's workload. At the Low preset, the system delivers 138.6 FPS at 1080p, 116.6 FPS at 1440p, and 92.9 FPS at 4K. This represents a 33% reduction in performance from 1080p to 4K. The scaling is less steep than the resolution increase (which is 4 times the pixel count), indicating that the game is not purely pixel-bound at lower settings, and the CPU still has headroom.

However, at the Ultra preset, the performance drops from 52 FPS at 1080p to 44.1 FPS at 1440p and 32.3 FPS at 4K. This is a 38% reduction from 1080p to 4K. The smaller absolute difference in FPS at Ultra settings suggests that the GPU is already saturated at 1080p with these heavy effects. The data indicates that as the resolution increases, the system becomes more GPU-limited, and the 12-core, 20-thread Intel Core i7-12700K is not the constraining component. The consistent performance drop across all presets confirms that the RX 9070's rendering capabilities are the determining factor for frame rates in The Medium at higher resolutions.