The Medium

The Intel Core i7-12700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4 GB delivers a performance profile in The Medium that is overwhelmingly constrained by the graphics card. The data shows that frame rates plummet dramatically as resolution increases, and the GPU's 4 GB VRAM capacity becomes a critical bottleneck at higher settings. This combination ranks in the bottom 10% of all tested configurations, making it suitable only for lower-resolution, lower-fidelity play.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a textbook case of GPU-bound performance. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces an average of 64.7 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 54.3 FPS, a 16% reduction. At 4K Low, the average falls to 42.6 FPS, which is a 34% drop from the 1080p figure. This scaling pattern indicates that the CPU has ample headroom, but the GPU's compute and memory bandwidth are being saturated as pixel count rises.

The situation becomes more severe at higher quality presets. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 31.6 FPS at 1080p to 26.8 FPS at 1440p (a 15% drop), and then to 21.3 FPS at 4K (a further 21% drop). The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic degradation: starting at 25.2 FPS at 1080p, it falls to 16.4 FPS at 1440p and bottoms out at 13.7 FPS at 4K. This 46% total reduction from 1080p to 4K Ultra demonstrates that the GPU is the limiting component, with the 4 GB VRAM buffer likely causing significant texture thrashing at higher resolutions.

The delta between Low and Ultra at each resolution is also telling. At 1080p, Ultra is 61% slower than Low (25.2 vs 64.7 FPS). At 4K, Ultra is 68% slower than Low (13.7 vs 42.6 FPS). The widening gap at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU's 192.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 4 GB frame buffer are insufficient to handle the increased data load, making the card the clear performance ceiling.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K is a 12-core, 20-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. Its benchmark results are strong: it scores 29,241 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 4,128 in single-core, placing it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs. In The Medium, however, this processing power is largely underutilized.

The measured frame rates show no evidence of CPU limitation. At 1080p Low, where the GPU is least stressed, the combo still achieves 64.7 FPS — a figure that would likely be higher if the CPU were the bottleneck. The fact that performance degrades so sharply with resolution and settings increases confirms that the i7-12700K is not the limiting factor. The processor's 25 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel memory support (DDR4, DDR5) provide ample bandwidth for the game's logic and streaming, but the GPU simply cannot keep up.

The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 (with a delta of -0.3%) and the Intel Core i5-14500HX (delta of -0.7%), while it edges out the Intel Core i7-13700T (delta of 0.6%). None of these differences would meaningfully change the game's frame rates, as the GPU bottleneck is so dominant. The data indicates that upgrading the CPU would yield no measurable benefit in The Medium at any settings preset.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4 GB is the clear performance limiter in this configuration. Its specifications — 2048 shading units, 64 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and 16 RT cores — are modest for a modern game, but the 4 GB GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus with 192.0 GB/s bandwidth is the standout weakness. The GPU runs at a base clock of 1545 MHz and boosts to 1740 MHz, with a TDP of just 90 W, but these characteristics do not compensate for the small frame buffer.

The measured FPS data across all resolutions and settings points directly to VRAM saturation. At 1080p High, the combo averages 31.6 FPS, which is already below playable thresholds for many users. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 32.3 FPS, and at 4K Medium it falls to 29.7 FPS. The Ultra preset is uniformly unplayable, with 25.2 FPS at 1080p, 16.4 FPS at 1440p, and 13.7 FPS at 4K. These numbers indicate that the GPU cannot handle the texture and geometry loads of The Medium at higher presets, regardless of resolution.

The GPU's 50th percentile ranking among all GPUs places it squarely in the mid-range, but its end-of-life production status and 4 GB memory capacity make it poorly suited for a game released in 2021 that demands substantial VRAM. The 7.127 TFLOPS FP32 performance is not the issue; rather, the memory subsystem is the bottleneck. The absence of any nearest rivals in the GPU data further underscores that this card is in a class by itself — and not in a good way for this game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete frame rate data for this combo is as follows:

• 1920x1080: Low 64.7 FPS, Medium 41.7 FPS, High 31.6 FPS, Ultra 25.2 FPS
• 2560x1440: Low 54.3 FPS, Medium 32.3 FPS, High 26.8 FPS, Ultra 16.4 FPS
• 3840x2160: Low 42.6 FPS, Medium 29.7 FPS, High 21.3 FPS, Ultra 13.7 FPS

The only preset that achieves a consistently smooth experience is 1080p Low, with 64.7 FPS. At 1080p Medium, the frame rate drops to 41.7 FPS, which is playable but not ideal. At 1440p, only Low (54.3 FPS) reaches the 60 FPS threshold, and Medium (32.3 FPS) falls below it. At 4K, even Low (42.6 FPS) is below 60 FPS, and all other presets are well under 30 FPS.

The scaling between presets is consistent: Medium is roughly 35-40% slower than Low at each resolution (e.g., 41.7 vs 64.7 at 1080p, a 36% drop). High is another 24-27% slower than Medium (31.6 vs 41.7 at 1080p). Ultra is the most punishing, being 20-28% slower than High (25.2 vs 31.6 at 1080p, and 13.7 vs 21.3 at 4K). This progressive degradation suggests that each preset level adds substantial VRAM and shading pressure that the RTX 3050 4 GB cannot absorb.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination ranks 1520 out of 1689 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the 90th percentile from the bottom — or, more accurately, in the bottom 10% of all configurations. This is a poor result for a mid-range CPU paired with a budget GPU, and the data confirms that the ranking is driven almost entirely by the GPU's limitations.

The i7-12700K's 89th percentile CPU ranking is irrelevant in this context, as the game's frame rates are 70-80% lower than what the CPU could support. The combo's position of 1520 out of 1689 means that 169 combos perform worse, but the vast majority of systems — including those with older or lower-tier GPUs — deliver better results. The data suggests that the RTX 3050 4 GB is the sole reason for this low ranking, as any GPU with more VRAM or higher bandwidth would immediately boost the combo's standing.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal experience for this combo is 1080p Low, which delivers 64.7 FPS — the only preset to exceed 60 FPS. This is the recommended configuration for smooth gameplay, as it avoids the VRAM bottleneck entirely. The next viable option is 1080p Medium at 41.7 FPS, which is acceptable for slower-paced horror titles but may cause noticeable stutter during action sequences.

At 1440p, only Low (54.3 FPS) is playable, and even then, the frame rate is below 60 FPS. For users with 1440p monitors, dropping to 1080p Low would be a better trade-off for smoothness. At 4K, no preset is recommended, as even Low (42.6 FPS) falls short of playable standards, and Medium (29.7 FPS) is borderline unplayable. The Ultra preset is not viable at any resolution, with the highest average being 25.2 FPS at 1080p.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combo for this system?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 with Low settings delivers 64.7 FPS, which is the only configuration exceeding 60 FPS. This is the recommended setup for smooth performance.

Q: Can this combo run the game at 4K?

A: At 4K, even Low settings only produce 42.6 FPS, and High settings drop to 21.3 FPS. The 4 GB VRAM and 192.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for 4K play.

Q: How much faster is Low compared to Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, Low averages 64.7 FPS while Ultra averages 25.2 FPS. Low is 157% faster, indicating a massive performance penalty for the Ultra preset.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this game?

A: The GPU is the clear bottleneck. The i7-12700K scores in the 89th percentile of CPUs, yet frame rates drop by up to 68% from Low to Ultra at 4K, which points entirely to GPU limitations.

Q: What is the frame rate at 1440p Medium?

A: At 1440p Medium, the combo averages 32.3 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold and only marginally playable for a horror game.

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

A: This combination ranks 1520 out of 1689 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 10% of all configurations for The Medium.