The Medium

The Intel Core i7-12700KF paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9060 lands at rank 1,648 out of 2,911 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the 43rd percentile of all configurations. That middling overall standing hides a stark split: the CPU is a top-tier performer, sitting in the 85th percentile among all processors, while the GPU lags behind in the 59th percentile. This imbalance suggests the combo’s ranking is held back by the graphics card, not the processor. The data implies that in a horror title like The Medium, which relies on heavy atmospheric rendering and fixed camera angles, the burden falls unevenly on the two components.

How This Combo Ranks

The comboRankInGame value of 1,648 out of 2,911 is a clear signal that this system is not built for top-tier performance in The Medium. Over 1,200 other combinations deliver better results, which places this rig firmly in the middle of the pack. The percentile gap between the components is the first clue: the CPU’s 85th percentile ranking versus the GPU’s 59th percentile means the processor is capable of far more than the graphics card can deliver in this title. Benchmark results indicate that the Intel Core i7-12700KF’s average benchmark score of 35,365 is nearly identical to its nearest rivals, with a deltaPct of just -0.1% against the Intel Core i7-13700T and 0.2% against the Intel Core i5-13600T. The CPU is punching at its weight class. The AMD Radeon RX 9060, however, shows a different story—its average score of 16,014 is 0.7% below the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti and only 1% above the AMD Radeon R9 370X, a card from a completely different era. The data suggests that this combo’s rank is almost entirely a function of the GPU’s mid-tier standing, while the CPU waits idle for more demanding workloads.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 brings 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock runs at 2250 MHz, which translates to 18 Gbps effective. The base clock is 1700 MHz, the game clock is 2400 MHz, and the boost clock reaches 2990 MHz. These numbers paint a picture of a card that is clocked aggressively but constrained by its narrow memory bus. In The Medium, the GPU’s 59th percentile ranking among all GPUs suggests it handles the game’s visual effects adequately at lower settings but struggles when the resolution and detail levels climb. The card’s 28 ray tracing cores and RDNA 4.0 architecture with 21.43 TFLOPS of FP32 performance are present, but the measured FPS data shows that these features do not translate into high frame rates at demanding settings. The GPU’s nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, scores only 0.7% higher in average benchmarks, which places the RX 9060 in a competitive but not dominant position. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is a notable limitation for a 2021 horror game that uses high-resolution textures; the data shows that at 4K Ultra, the combo drops to 24 FPS, which is likely a direct consequence of the GPU struggling to feed the frame buffer.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700KF is a 12-core, 20-thread processor based on Alder Lake architecture, built on Intel’s 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, with a 125 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 25 MB of shared L3. The CPU’s benchmark scores are robust: a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 28,838 and a single-core score of 4,071, with a Geekbench multicore result of 14,367. These numbers place it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs, meaning it outperforms the vast majority of processors on the market. In The Medium, the CPU’s role appears to be secondary. The measured FPS at 1080p Low is 101 FPS, which is a solid result, but the frame rate does not scale linearly with resolution—at 4K Low, it drops to 67 FPS, a 34% reduction. This drop is more attributable to the GPU’s pixel-pushing limits than the CPU’s processing power. The processor’s nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i7-13700T with a deltaPct of -0.1%, confirm that the 12700KF is not a bottleneck; it has ample headroom to drive higher frame rates if the GPU could keep up. The data implies that the CPU is overqualified for this pairing in The Medium, which is a GPU-bound title at higher settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a granular look at how this combo performs across resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the Low preset yields an average of 101 FPS, which is the highest frame rate recorded for this system. The Medium preset at 1080p drops to 63 FPS, with a minimum of 53 FPS and a maximum of 72 FPS, indicating some frame time variance but still a playable experience. High at 1080p averages 45 FPS, and Ultra falls to 36 FPS. The scaling at 1080p shows a steep cliff between Low and Ultra, with a 64% performance hit. Moving to 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 85 FPS, Medium averages 53 FPS with a min of 45 and max of 61, High averages 38 FPS, and Ultra averages 30 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at Low is 16 FPS, a 16% reduction, while at Ultra the drop is 6 FPS, a 17% reduction. At 3840x2160, the numbers become more telling: Low averages 67 FPS, Medium averages 42 FPS with a min of 35 and max of 48, High averages 30 FPS, and Ultra averages 24 FPS. The 4K Low result is nearly double the 4K Ultra result, highlighting the GPU’s sensitivity to settings. The data shows that the combo can handle 1080p and 1440p at Low to Medium settings with acceptable frame rates, but 4K gaming is only viable at Low settings, and even then, the 67 FPS average is borderline for a smooth experience.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the limiting component clearly. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 101 at 1080p to 85 at 1440p and finally to 67 at 4K. That is a 34% reduction from 1080p to 4K, which is a relatively modest decline for a 4x increase in pixel count. This suggests that at Low settings, the system is not purely GPU-bound; the CPU is still contributing to frame generation. However, at Medium settings, the drop is steeper: 63 FPS at 1080p, 53 FPS at 1440p, and 42 FPS at 4K, a 33% reduction. The High preset shows a similar pattern: 45 FPS at 1080p, 38 FPS at 1440p, and 30 FPS at 4K, a 33% reduction. Ultra is the most punishing: 36 FPS at 1080p, 30 FPS at 1440p, and 24 FPS at 4K, a 33% reduction. The consistency of the ~33% drop across all settings is a strong indicator that the GPU is the primary bottleneck. If the CPU were limiting, the drop would be more pronounced at lower resolutions where the CPU has more work to do relative to the GPU. The fact that the scaling is uniform suggests that the RX 9060’s 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus are hitting their limits as resolution increases, regardless of the graphical preset. The data implies that the i7-12700KF has enough headroom to feed the GPU at all resolutions, but the GPU cannot translate that into higher frame rates at higher resolutions.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in The Medium?*

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 is the most viable resolution, with an average of 101 FPS at Low settings and 63 FPS at Medium. At 2560x1440, the frame rates drop to 85 FPS at Low and 53 FPS at Medium, which is still playable but less comfortable. At 3840x2160, only Low settings achieve an average above 60 FPS, at 67 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Intel Core i7-12700KF has an average benchmark score of 35,365, which is -0.1% below the Intel Core i7-13700T and 0.2% above the Intel Core i5-13600T. This places it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs, indicating it is a strong performer that is not likely to bottleneck the GPU in this game.

Q: Is the GPU the limiting factor in this system?

A: Yes, the data supports this conclusion. The GPU’s average benchmark score of 16,014 places it in the 59th percentile, and the uniform ~33% FPS drop from 1080p to 4K across all settings indicates that the GPU is the primary constraint, not the CPU.

Q: What is the frame rate at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the combo averages 24 FPS. This is below the threshold for smooth gameplay, suggesting that Ultra settings at 4K are not practical for this configuration.

Q: How does the GPU’s performance compare to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 9060 has an average benchmark score of 16,014, which is 0.7% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti’s score of 16,129. This indicates the two cards are closely matched in overall performance, though the RX 9060 has less VRAM (8 GB vs. the RTX 3060 Ti’s unspecified amount) and a narrower memory bus.

*Q: Can this combo achieve 60 FPS in The Medium?*

A: Yes, but only at 1080p Low (101 FPS), 1440p Low (85 FPS), and 4K Low (67 FPS). At Medium settings, the frame rates drop below 60 FPS at all resolutions: 63 FPS at 1080p, 53 FPS at 1440p, and 42 FPS at 4K.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows indicate that the best experience for this combo is at 1920x1080 with the Low preset, which delivers an average of 101 FPS. This is the only setting and resolution combination that provides a frame rate well above 60 FPS, offering headroom for smooth gameplay. For players who prefer Medium settings, the 1080p Medium preset averages 63 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS threshold, but the minimum of 53 FPS suggests occasional dips that could be noticeable in a horror game’s tense moments. At 2560x1440, the Low preset at 85 FPS is the most comfortable option, while Medium at 53 FPS is borderline. The High and Ultra presets are not recommended at any resolution, as they all fall below 45 FPS, with 4K Ultra dropping to 24 FPS. The data implies that this combo is best suited for 1080p gaming with Low to Medium settings, or 1440p with Low settings, to maintain a playable frame rate. The GPU’s 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit bus are the limiting factors, so sacrificing visual fidelity for frame rate is the prudent choice with this hardware.