The Medium

# The Medium with Intel Core i7-12700K + AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT

This combination of the Intel Core i7-12700K and AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT delivers a distinctly mixed experience in The Medium, a horror title from 2021 that proves surprisingly demanding at higher settings. The combo ranks 857th out of 3724 tested configurations, placing it in the upper quarter of all tested systems, yet the frame rate data reveals significant volatility depending on how the game is configured. The measurement set shows a system that can deliver triple-digit frame rates at low settings but drops to barely playable levels at ultra preset in 4K, suggesting the game's rendering load scales aggressively with quality settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The 857th position out of 3724 total tested combos places this pairing in the 77th percentile of all configurations, which is respectable for a mid-high range setup. However, the ranking tells a more nuanced story when examined against the component-level benchmark data. The CPU's percentile vs all CPUs stands at 84, indicating the i7-12700K is a strong processor relative to the broader market. The GPU's percentile vs all GPUs is notably lower at 55, suggesting the RX 9070 XT sits closer to the median in overall graphics performance benchmarks, though this may not fully capture gaming-specific behavior in a title like The Medium.

The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are remarkably close: the Intel Core i5-13600T scores 35305 versus the i7-12700K's 35287 average, a delta of just -0.1%. The Core i7-12700KF trails by only -0.2% at 35365, while the Core i7-13700T and Core 5 213PE sit at -0.3% and -0.4% respectively. This clustering suggests the i7-12700K is essentially performance-equivalent to several newer and lower-power parts in general compute workloads, which is notable for a 12th-generation chip.

On the GPU side, the nearest rivals to the RX 9070 XT in average benchmark score are dramatically older and slower parts: the AMD Radeon HD 7770M (13536, +0.1%), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (13515, +0.2%), NVIDIA P106-090 (13470, +0.5%), and AMD Radeon Pro 555 (13407, +1.0%). This odd clustering appears to be an artifact of the benchmark database's averaging methodology, as the actual gaming performance measured in The Medium is far beyond what those legacy GPUs could deliver. The GPU's passmark G3D score of 26795 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 7260 paint a much more capable picture than the nearest rival deltas suggest.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT brings 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, with memory clocked at 2518 MHz for 20.1 Gbps effective throughput, yielding 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's boost clock reaches 2970 MHz with a game clock of 2400 MHz, while the base clock sits at 1660 MHz. This memory configuration is substantial for The Medium, which is a game that can push texture memory usage higher at increased resolutions, but the data suggests the bottleneck shifts differently across settings.

The GPU's FP32 compute rating of 48.66 TFLOPS and texture rate of 760.3 GTexel/s are strong on paper, yet the measured FPS in The Medium at 4K Ultra is only 35 frames per second. This indicates that the game's ultra preset imposes rendering workloads that challenge even this relatively modern RDNA 4.0 architecture. The 64 RT cores and 128 ROPs suggest ray tracing and rasterization capability, but The Medium's specific rendering paths may not fully leverage these resources efficiently. The pixel rate of 380.2 GPixel/s and the 4096 shading units provide theoretical headroom that the game's engine does not consistently exploit across all quality presets.

At 4K Medium, the GPU produces 62 FPS with minimums of 53 and maximums of 71, which represents a playable experience. The frame time consistency at medium settings, as evidenced by the min/max spread, is tighter than what ultra settings deliver, suggesting that the GPU's memory subsystem and compute units are better utilized when the game's shader complexity is reduced. Interestingly, the 16 GB VRAM capacity is never explicitly stressed in the measured data, but the significant FPS jumps when dropping from High to Low (44 to 99 at 4K) hint that fill-rate and shading demands, rather than raw memory capacity, drive the performance differences.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals where the RX 9070 XT operates within its performance envelope. At Low settings, the progression is 149 FPS at 1080p, 126 FPS at 1440p, and 99 FPS at 4K — representing a 17% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a further 21% drop to 4K. This relatively gentle scaling curve at low settings indicates the GPU remains the primary performance driver, but the CPU is still contributing meaningfully at lower resolutions.

The Medium settings tell a more revealing story about the limiting component. At Medium, the FPS drops from 93 at 1080p, to 79 at 1440p, to 62 at 4K — nearly linear scaling that suggests both CPU and GPU are sharing the workload. At High settings, the numbers are 67, 56, and 44 respectively, showing similar proportional drops. The Ultra preset exhibits the steepest resolution penalty: 53 FPS at 1080p, 45 at 1440p, and 35 at 4K, a 34% reduction from 1080p to 4K.

The 1080p Ultra result of 53 FPS is particularly telling. If the GPU were the sole bottleneck, we would expect 1080p Ultra to approach the same frame rates as 1440p Medium (79 FPS) or higher, since both represent similar pixel counts. The fact that 1080p Ultra (53 FPS) is actually lower than 1440p Medium (79 FPS) indicates the game's ultra preset introduces CPU-bound or engine-level overhead that limits performance regardless of resolution. This suggests that at ultra settings, the i7-12700K's single-thread performance, while strong, becomes a constraining factor for The Medium's simulation and rendering logic.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo better suited for 1080p or 4K gaming in The Medium?

A: The data shows this combo is far more comfortable at 1080p. At Low settings, 1080p produces 149 FPS versus 99 FPS at 4K, and at Medium settings the gap is 93 FPS versus 62 FPS. The 4K experience only becomes fully playable at Medium (62 FPS) or Low (99 FPS), while 1080p allows for smooth gameplay even at High settings with 67 FPS.

Q: What causes the massive performance difference between Low and Ultra settings?

A: The jump from Low to Ultra at any resolution is dramatic: at 1080p, Low delivers 149 FPS while Ultra drops to 53 FPS, a 64% reduction. This represents the game's ultra preset increasing shading complexity, texture filtering, and potentially post-processing effects that heavily tax the GPU's 4096 shading units and 128 ROPs, while also introducing CPU-side overhead that limits the i7-12700K.

Q: How does the CPU's benchmark performance relate to its in-game results?

A: The i7-12700K's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 19784 and single-core score of 1850.5 indicate a well-balanced processor. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 9276 and max-thread score of 9979 show strong scaling across its 12 cores and 20 threads. Given that The Medium's frame rates at ultra settings drop below what pure GPU benchmarks would predict, the CPU's single-thread score becomes relevant, as the game appears to have engine threads that cannot be fully parallelized.

Q: Is the 16 GB VRAM on the RX 9070 XT sufficient for this game?

A: The measured frame rates do not indicate VRAM capacity becoming a limiting factor. The memory bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s and the 256-bit bus provide ample data throughput, and the game's performance scaling from Low to Ultra follows consistent patterns that suggest compute and shading limits rather than memory exhaustion. No stutter patterns indicative of VRAM swapping appear in the min FPS data at Medium settings.

Q: What are the most stable frame times across the measured configurations?

A: The only settings with reported min and max FPS are Medium presets. At 1080p Medium, the range is 79 to 107 FPS around a 93 average. At 1440p Medium, it's 67 to 90 FPS around 79 average. At 4K Medium, it's 53 to 71 FPS around 62 average. These relatively tight spreads indicate medium settings provide consistent frame pacing, which is crucial for a horror game where frame hitches can disrupt atmosphere.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: The combo sits at rank 857 out of 3724, meaning roughly 77% of tested configurations perform worse. This places the system in the upper quartile of all tested combos, though the GPU's percentile ranking of 55 suggests that pairing this CPU with a higher-performing GPU would likely yield a substantially better rank in this specific game.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, Medium settings provide the most balanced experience across all three resolutions. At 4K Medium, the combo delivers 62 FPS with a minimum of 53 and maximum of 71, which is playable for a horror title where atmospheric pacing matters more than high refresh rates. The min FPS of 53 stays above the critical 50 FPS threshold, ensuring no major stutter events that would break immersion.

For users targeting 1440p, Medium settings at 79 FPS (min 67, max 90) offer excellent smoothness with visual quality that remains respectable for this 2021 title. The jump to High at 1440p costs 23 FPS (down to 56), which is a substantial penalty for marginal visual improvements. At 1080p, Medium at 93 FPS (min 79, max 107) is the sweet spot, though High at 67 FPS remains viable if visual fidelity is prioritized.

Ultra settings are not recommended at any resolution. Even at 1080p, Ultra produces only 53 FPS, which is below the ideal range for a game that benefits from smooth camera movements. Low settings, while delivering 149 FPS at 1080p and 99 FPS at 4K, sacrifice too much visual detail for a horror game where environmental storytelling relies on texture and lighting fidelity. The Medium preset offers the best compromise, with the 1080p Medium result of 93 FPS being particularly attractive for high-refresh-rate displays.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K is an Alder Lake-S processor with 12 cores and 20 threads, featuring a base clock of 3.60 GHz and boost clock of 5.00 GHz. Its 25 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 cache per core provide substantial on-die storage for game data. The CPU's 3DMark single-thread score of 1043 and PassMark single-thread score of 4013 indicate strong per-core performance, which is critical for games like The Medium that may not scale perfectly across many threads.

The CPU's multi-threaded capabilities are robust, with Cinebench R20 multi-core scoring 12229 and Geekbench multi-core at 15790. The 3DMark 2-thread score of 2065 and 4-thread score of 4011 show that even modest thread counts deliver solid performance. However, the game's frame rate data at ultra settings suggests that The Medium's engine may have a serial bottleneck that limits utilization of the CPU's 20 threads. The fact that 1080p Ultra (53 FPS) is lower than 1440p Medium (79 FPS) supports this theory, as the ultra preset likely increases CPU-side workload for draw calls and object updates that cannot be parallelized effectively.

The CPU's performance relative to its rivals is essentially identical, with the nearest rival delta being only -0.1% against the Core i5-13600T. This means that swapping to a newer or different CPU within this performance class would likely produce negligible changes in The Medium's frame rates, further confirming that the GPU and game engine are the primary performance determinants. The PassMark physics score of 1790 and integer math score of 114264 indicate strong general compute capability, but the game's specific engine characteristics matter more than raw throughput in this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest results. Low settings produce 149 FPS average, Medium produces 93 FPS with a range of 79 to 107, High produces 67 FPS, and Ultra produces 53 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 64% reduction in performance, with each step up in quality costing roughly 20-30 FPS until the final Ultra step which only loses 14 FPS from High.

At 2560x1440, the results scale predictably downward. Low settings yield 126 FPS, Medium yields 79 FPS (min 67, max 90), High yields 56 FPS, and Ultra yields 45 FPS. The relative gaps between settings narrow slightly compared to 1080p, with the Low-to-Ultra spread being 64% similar to 1080p, suggesting the GPU is becoming more dominant as the pixel count increases.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates drop to their lowest measured levels. Low settings produce 99 FPS, Medium produces 62 FPS (min 53, max 71), High produces 44 FPS, and Ultra produces 35 FPS. The 4K Low result of 99 FPS is notable as it shows the system can still deliver high refresh rates at 4K when visual quality is reduced. The 4K Ultra result of 35 FPS is the only measured configuration below 40 FPS, making it unsuitable for smooth gameplay. The 4K Medium result of 62 FPS with a min of 53 represents the best 4K experience, providing both playability and reasonable visual fidelity for this horror title.