The Medium

The Medium presents a demanding fixed-camera horror experience where the Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 combination delivers a wide performance envelope. The measured data shows this pairing produces frame rates ranging from a playable 36.5 FPS at 4K Ultra to a fluid 159.3 FPS at 1080p Low, with the CPU's strong single-threaded performance and the GPU's 12 GB of GDDR7 memory shaping the overall results. This analysis breaks down the benchmark data for this specific combo, focusing on how the components interact across resolutions and settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the combo's overall rank among tested configurations in The Medium?

A: The Intel Core i7-12700K with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 ranks 298th out of 1689 tested combos, placing it in the top 18% of all configurations measured for this game.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in general benchmark scores?

A: The Core i7-12700K has an average benchmark score of 35684, sitting 0.3% behind the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 (35802) and 0.6% ahead of the Intel Core i7-13700T (35468). It also trails the Intel Core i5-14500HX by 0.7% and leads the Intel Core i7-13800H by 0.8%.

Q: What is the best average FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 159.3 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is significantly higher than the 4K Low result of 105.6 FPS, showing a 53.7 FPS gap between the two resolutions at the same settings.

Q: How much VRAM does the GPU have and what kind is it?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 features 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 672.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is paired with a boost clock of 2512 MHz.

Q: Is the GPU faster than the RTX 3090 according to the data?

A: Based on the average benchmark score, yes. The RTX 5070 scores 41687, which is 0.6% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090's score of 41441. The RTX 5070 also holds a 0.2% lead over the AMD Radeon Pro 5300.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 136.6 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 50.5 FPS. This represents a performance drop of 86.1 FPS, or roughly 63%, when moving from the lowest to the highest quality settings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 is the primary driver of frame rates in The Medium, with its 12 GB of GDDR7 memory and 672.0 GB/s bandwidth proving sufficient for the game's texture-heavy environments. The GPU's base clock of 2325 MHz and boost clock of 2512 MHz allow it to scale performance directly with resolution, as evidenced by the measured FPS data. At 4K Ultra, the combo produces 36.5 FPS, which indicates the GPU is heavily loaded by the combination of high resolution and maximum settings.

The GPU's 83rd percentile ranking among all GPUs and its 30.87 TFLOPS FP32 compute capability support the observed behavior where settings changes have a more pronounced effect than resolution changes. For instance, at 1080p, dropping from Ultra to Low increases performance from 54.7 FPS to 159.3 FPS, a 104.6 FPS jump. This suggests that the RTX 5070's shading units (6144) and texture mapping units (192) are the limiting factors at higher settings, rather than the memory subsystem. The 48 RT cores also contribute to the game's rendering pipeline, though the title's fixed-camera angles may reduce the demand for real-time ray tracing compared to open-world titles.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 298 out of 1689 tested configurations places this pairing in the 82.4th percentile of all results in The Medium. This is a strong showing, especially considering the game's release in 2021, which means the RTX 5070's modern architecture is well-suited to the title's engine. The CPU's 89th percentile ranking among all processors (avg score 35684) and the GPU's 83rd percentile (avg score 41687) both contribute to this top-tier result.

Compared to the nearest rival GPUs, the RTX 5070's average benchmark score of 41687 is notably higher than the RTX 3090's 41441, indicating a 0.6% advantage. This edge is reflected in the game's measured FPS, where the combo achieves playable frame rates at 4K Medium (70.1 FPS) and 1440p Ultra (50.5 FPS). The CPU's performance relative to its rivals shows a tight cluster, with deltas of less than 1% against all four nearest competitors, meaning the i7-12700K provides consistent processing power that does not bottleneck the GPU in this title.

The rank also benefits from the CPU's high multi-threaded throughput, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 29241 and a Passmark multithread score of 34404. These results indicate that the 12 cores and 20 threads handle the game's background tasks and streaming efficiently, leaving the RTX 5070 free to focus on rendering.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data reveals a clear performance hierarchy across the twelve tested configurations. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers 159.3 FPS on Low, 103.4 FPS on Medium, 71.5 FPS on High, and 54.7 FPS on Ultra. The 1080p Low result is the highest frame rate recorded for this combo, suggesting that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU enough data to saturate its rendering pipeline at lower resolutions.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates drop to 136.6 FPS (Low), 85.1 FPS (Medium), 63.8 FPS (High), and 50.5 FPS (Ultra). The 1440p Low result remains above 120 FPS, indicating that the combo can drive high-refresh-rate monitors at this resolution with lower settings. At 3840x2160, the performance falls to 105.6 FPS (Low), 70.1 FPS (Medium), 46.3 FPS (High), and 36.5 FPS (Ultra). The 4K Ultra result is the only configuration below 40 FPS, making it marginal for smooth gameplay.

The data shows that the gap between Low and Medium settings is consistent across resolutions: 55.9 FPS at 1080p, 51.5 FPS at 1440p, and 35.5 FPS at 4K. The gap between Medium and High is smaller: 31.9 FPS at 1080p, 21.3 FPS at 1440p, and 23.8 FPS at 4K. The High to Ultra transition is the most costly, with drops of 16.8 FPS at 1080p, 13.3 FPS at 1440p, and 9.8 FPS at 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K shows how the limiting component shifts with resolution. At Low settings, the FPS drops from 159.3 at 1080p to 136.6 at 1440p (a 14.2% decrease) and then to 105.6 at 4K (a 22.7% decrease from 1440p). This relatively gentle scaling indicates that at Low settings, the CPU is more of a bottleneck, as the GPU has spare capacity to render higher resolutions without a proportional FPS loss.

At Ultra settings, the scaling is more severe: 54.7 FPS at 1080p falls to 50.5 FPS at 1440p (a 7.7% decrease) and then to 36.5 FPS at 4K (a 27.7% decrease from 1440p). The larger drop from 1440p to 4K at Ultra suggests that the GPU becomes the primary limiter at this quality level. The 4K Ultra result of 36.5 FPS shows that the RTX 5070's 12 GB VRAM and 672.0 GB/s bandwidth are being taxed by the game's highest quality assets.

The Medium setting shows a middle ground: 103.4 FPS at 1080p, 85.1 FPS at 1440p (a 17.7% drop), and 70.1 FPS at 4K (a 17.6% drop from 1440p). This linear scaling pattern indicates a balanced workload between CPU and GPU, where neither component is a clear bottleneck. The 4K Medium result of 70.1 FPS is a strong outcome, showing that the combo can handle 4K gaming with moderate settings.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset provides the best balance between visual quality and performance across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers 103.4 FPS, which is smooth for most displays and represents a 48.7 FPS improvement over High. At 1440p, Medium averages 85.1 FPS, keeping the experience above 60 FPS while offering better visuals than Low. At 4K, Medium achieves 70.1 FPS, which is the only setting above 60 FPS at this resolution.

For users prioritizing frame rate over visual fidelity, the Low preset offers the highest performance: 159.3 FPS at 1080p, 136.6 FPS at 1440p, and 105.6 FPS at 4K. These results are well above the refresh rates of most monitors, making Low a viable choice for competitive play or high-refresh-rate displays. The High preset provides 71.5 FPS at 1080p and 63.8 FPS at 1440p, which are playable but not ideal for 120 Hz displays. The Ultra preset is only recommended for 1080p (54.7 FPS) or 1440p (50.5 FPS) users who prioritize visual quality over smoothness, as the 4K Ultra result of 36.5 FPS is below the threshold for comfortable gameplay.

The data indicates that the Medium preset is the optimal choice for this combo, offering a 44.7% performance improvement over High at 4K (70.1 vs 46.3 FPS) and a 35.5% improvement at 4K over the next lower setting. This makes Medium the recommended setting for a consistent 60+ FPS experience across all tested resolutions.