The Medium

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this hardware in The Medium?

A: Based on the measured data, 2560x1440 on Low settings provides the best balance, delivering 105.3 FPS average. At 1920x1080 on Low, the combo reaches 127.3 FPS, while 3840x2160 on Low drops to 85.4 FPS.

Q: How does the combo perform at Ultra settings across different resolutions?

A: At 1920x1080 Ultra, the average FPS is 46.7. At 2560x1440 Ultra, it falls to 39.5, and at 3840x2160 Ultra, it drops further to 31.8 FPS. These figures suggest Ultra is only viable at the lowest resolution for smooth gameplay.

Q: What is the FPS difference between High and Medium settings at 1920x1080?

A: At 1920x1080, High settings yield 58 FPS average, while Medium settings produce 80.4 FPS. This represents a 22.4 FPS improvement when moving from High to Medium.

Q: How does the GPU's benchmark score compare to its nearest rival?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT has an average benchmark score of 30097, which is effectively tied with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 at 30109, showing a deltaPct of 0. The RX 7700 XT sits slightly ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla M60 by 0.4%.

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking among tested hardware combinations?

A: The combination of the Intel Core i7-12700KF and AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT ranks 681 out of 1689 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the upper half of the database.

Q: Does the game scale better with resolution changes or settings changes?

A: Resolution scaling shows a larger impact. At Low settings, moving from 1920x1080 (127.3 FPS) to 2560x1440 (105.3 FPS) to 3840x2160 (85.4 FPS) shows a 41.9 FPS total drop. Settings changes at 2560x1440 from Low to Ultra show a 65.8 FPS drop, indicating settings have a stronger effect.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT, based on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with the Navi 32 chip, provides the graphical foundation for this combo's performance in The Medium. With 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, the card offers 432.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The GPU's boost clock reaches 2544 MHz, with a game clock of 2171 MHz, while the memory operates at 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective). These specifications position the card at the 73rd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 30097.

The measured FPS data reveals that the GPU's memory bandwidth is a critical factor. At 3840x2160, the card's 432.0 GB/s bandwidth becomes a constraint, as evidenced by the steep drop from Low (85.4 FPS) to Medium (49.7 FPS) settings. This 35.7 FPS gap suggests that higher texture fidelity at 4K resolution quickly saturates the available memory throughput. The 12 GB VRAM capacity, while sufficient for this title at the tested settings, does not prevent performance degradation at Ultra presets, where the card manages only 31.8 FPS at 4K.

At 1920x1080, the GPU demonstrates its strengths. The difference between Low (127.3 FPS) and Medium (80.4 FPS) is a 46.9 FPS reduction, but the card still delivers playable frame rates. The 58 FPS at High settings indicates that the GPU maintains solid performance at 1080p, though the gap between Medium and High (22.4 FPS) shows that quality presets increasingly tax the shader units. With 3456 shading units and 96 ROPs, the card handles the horror game's visual effects reasonably well at lower resolutions.

The GPU's benchmark results align with these in-game observations. Its Passmark G3D score of 22547 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3316 reflect a mid-range competitor. The nearest rival comparison shows a 0 deltaPct against the RTX 5060, indicating performance parity in synthetic tests. However, the 0.4% advantage over the Tesla M60 and 0.6% disadvantage to the RTX 5070 Mobile suggest the RX 7700 XT sits in a tight competitive cluster, which translates to the measured FPS ranges seen across the three resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data indicates that Medium settings provide the most balanced experience for this combination, particularly at 1920x1080 and 2560x1440. At 1920x1080 Medium, the combo achieves 80.4 FPS, which offers a substantial improvement over High's 58 FPS while maintaining visual quality. The gap between Medium and Low at this resolution is 46.9 FPS (80.4 vs 127.3), suggesting that Low sacrifices too much visual fidelity for a marginal smoothness gain beyond what is necessary for most displays.

At 2560x1440, Medium produces 64.5 FPS, which remains playable and represents a 18.8 FPS improvement over High's 45.7 FPS. This resolution and preset combination appears optimal for users with 1440p monitors, as the frame rate stays above the 60 FPS threshold. High settings at this resolution fall below 60 FPS, making Medium the clear choice for those prioritizing smooth gameplay over maximum visual detail.

For 3840x2160, the data shows that even Low settings (85.4 FPS) outperform Medium (49.7 FPS) by a wide margin. However, the 35.7 FPS drop from Low to Medium indicates that 4K gaming with this GPU requires conservative settings. Ultra at 4K produces 31.8 FPS, which is below playable thresholds for most users. Therefore, Low is the recommended preset for 4K, as it maintains acceptable frame rates while avoiding the severe penalties seen at higher presets.

The performance scaling pattern across resolutions suggests that the GPU's 12 GB VRAM and 432.0 GB/s bandwidth are the limiting factors at higher resolutions. Users should prioritize Medium at 1080p and 1440p, reserving Low for 4K, to achieve the best balance between visual quality and frame rate stability as measured in the benchmark data.

How This Combo Ranks

This hardware combination ranks 681 out of 1689 tested combos in The Medium, placing it within the top 40% of all configurations. The ranking reflects a balanced pairing where neither the CPU nor GPU becomes a systemic bottleneck, but neither component pushes the combo into the upper echelons of performance. The 681st position indicates that while this setup delivers competent frame rates at lower resolutions and settings, it falls short of the high-end configurations that dominate the top of the ranking.

The GPU's position within its own competitive set provides context for this ranking. With an average benchmark score of 30097, the RX 7700 XT sits at the 73rd percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the RTX 5060, has a nearly identical score of 30109, showing a deltaPct of 0. This near-parity suggests that the combo's ranking is not driven by an exceptional GPU, but rather by the consistent performance of the entire system. The CPU's 89th percentile ranking among all processors (average benchmark score of 35355) actually exceeds the GPU's percentile, indicating that the CPU contributes positively to the combo's overall standing.

The deltaPct values for the CPU's nearest rivals are minimal, ranging from -0.2% (Core i7-13800H) to 0.3% (Core i5-13600T). This tight clustering means that swapping the i7-12700KF for any of these alternatives would produce negligible changes in synthetic benchmarks, and by extension, likely similar in-game results. The combo's 681st rank therefore reflects a stable, predictable hardware pairing rather than one that benefits from exceptional component synergy or suffers from notable mismatches.

The measured FPS data supports this assessment. At 1920x1080 Medium, the 80.4 FPS average is respectable for a mid-range setup but far from the 144+ FPS that top-tier configurations might achieve. The 2560x1440 Medium result of 64.5 FPS further illustrates this mid-pack positioning. The combo's ranking suggests it handles The Medium competently at mainstream resolutions and settings, but it does not challenge the performance leaders in the database.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700KF, based on the Alder Lake architecture, provides the processing foundation for this combo. With 12 cores and 20 threads, the CPU operates at a base clock of 3.60 GHz and boosts up to 5.00 GHz. This configuration delivers strong multi-threaded performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 28979 and Geekbench multicore score of 13596. The CPU's single-thread performance is equally notable, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4091 and a Geekbench single-core score of 2526.

In The Medium, the CPU's role is primarily to feed the GPU with draw calls and manage the game's horror-themed physics and AI systems. The CPU's 89th percentile ranking among all processors indicates that it provides ample headroom for the RX 7700 XT. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 9282 and max-thread score of 9983 demonstrate that the CPU can handle substantial parallel workloads, which is beneficial for a game that may utilize multiple threads for streaming and environmental effects.

The CPU's nearest rivals show minimal performance deltas, with the i5-14400 at 0.1% ahead and the i9-12900HX at 0.2% behind. This tight grouping means that the i7-12700KF's contribution to the combo's in-game performance is consistent with other processors in its class. The 20 threads provide sufficient parallelism for modern game engines, and the 5.00 GHz boost clock ensures responsive single-threaded performance for game logic and rendering commands.

The L3 cache of 25 MB (shared) helps reduce memory latency, which is crucial for maintaining consistent frame times in a game like The Medium that features fixed-camera angles and complex scenes. The CPU's memory support for both DDR4 and DDR5, with dual-channel configuration, allows for flexible system builds without compromising performance. The measured FPS data, particularly the 105.3 FPS at 1440p Low, suggests that the CPU does not bottleneck the GPU at lower settings, where the GPU becomes the primary performance driver. However, at Ultra settings across all resolutions, the CPU's role diminishes as the GPU's workload increases, and the frame rates align closely with GPU-bound expectations.