The Medium

The Medium presents an interesting stressor for the Intel Core i7-12700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER pairing. The data shows a system capable of smooth play at lower settings, but one that clearly struggles to maintain high frame rates when visual fidelity is pushed to its limits. This analysis examines the measured FPS data to understand where the bottleneck lies and how to best configure the game for this specific hardware combination.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i7-12700KF 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. This CPU sits in the 89th percentile when compared to all processors, indicating strong overall performance. In synthetic benchmarks, it achieves a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 28979 and a single-core score of 4091, which demonstrates substantial headroom for gaming workloads that typically rely on fewer threads.

In the context of The Medium, the CPU’s capability appears more than sufficient. The measured frame rates across all resolutions and settings show a pattern typical of a GPU-bound scenario. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 90.9 FPS, but this drops to 39.4 FPS at High settings, a difference that is far more attributable to the graphics card’s workload than the processor. The CPU’s nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i5-14400 with a deltaPct of 0.1 and the Intel Core i9-12900HX with a deltaPct of 0.2, show virtually identical average benchmark scores, reinforcing that this tier of processing power is not the limiting factor in this game.

The 3DMark scores further illustrate this point. The processor scores 9983 in the max threads test and 1043 in single-thread, which are robust figures. However, the frame rate data from The Medium does not show the kind of fluctuation that would indicate CPU stalls. The consistent scaling of FPS with graphical settings suggests that the game’s rendering pipeline is waiting on the GPU to complete its work, not the CPU. The processor’s high single-thread performance, evidenced by a Passmark single-thread score of 3984, is likely more than enough to handle the game’s logic and draw calls, leaving the GPU as the primary constraint.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is a Turing-architecture card with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. Its base clock is 1470 MHz with a boost clock of 1650 MHz. The GPU sits in the 63rd percentile among all graphics cards, with an average benchmark score of 19774. This places it as a mid-range performer, and the measured results in The Medium align with that positioning.

The GPU’s role is clearly dominant in this pairing. At 4K resolution, the card produces only 29 FPS on High settings and a playable 58.2 FPS on Low. This steep drop-off with increased resolution and settings points directly to the GPU’s pixel and texture throughput limits. The card’s 7.181 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 105.6 GPixel/s pixel rate are being saturated by the game’s demands at higher presets. The RTX 2060 SUPER’s nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070, has an average score that is only 0.5% higher, indicating that the 2060 SUPER is performing exactly as expected for its tier. The data confirms that while the CPU has ample headroom, the GPU is the component that dictates the achievable frame rates in this title.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of which settings preset offers the best experience. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers a very smooth 90.9 FPS, while the Medium preset drops to 55.9 FPS, which is still playable. The High preset yields 39.4 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls to 31.2 FPS. For a 60 FPS target at 1080p, the Medium preset appears to be the optimal choice, as it provides a significant visual upgrade over Low while maintaining a frame rate well above 30 FPS.

At 1440p, the situation is more constrained. The Low preset achieves 79.5 FPS, making it the only preset that comfortably exceeds 60 FPS. The Medium preset drops to 50.8 FPS, which is acceptable for slower-paced horror games but may not be ideal for all players. High and Ultra presets at this resolution fall to 34.2 FPS and 25.2 FPS, respectively, which are generally considered too low for a smooth experience. Therefore, the data suggests that 1440p users should stick with Low or Medium settings to balance visual quality with playability.

At 4K, the results are more challenging. The Low preset is the only viable option, producing an average of 58.2 FPS. The Medium preset falls to 38.7 FPS, which is borderline, while High (29 FPS) and Ultra (21.4 FPS) are not recommended for sustained play. The best experience per the measured rows is dependent on resolution, but the data consistently points to the Medium preset at 1080p as the sweet spot for this combo, offering a playable frame rate with a reasonable increase in visual fidelity over the Low preset.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the Intel Core i7-12700KF and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER ranks at position 1226 out of 1689 tested combinations in The Medium. This places the system in the lower-mid tier of all tested hardware configurations, which is consistent with the GPU’s 63rd percentile ranking. While the CPU is a high-end part, the overall combo ranking is dragged down by the mid-range GPU, which is the limiting factor in this game.

The data implies that the system is more capable than roughly 27% of tested combos but is outperformed by the majority. This ranking makes sense given that many other tested combos likely include more powerful graphics cards. The benchmark results indicate that the CPU’s potential is not fully utilized in this game, as the GPU is unable to keep up with its processing power. This suggests that users with this CPU could see significant performance gains by upgrading the GPU, but for the current configuration, the ranking reflects a balanced but not exceptional gaming system for this specific title.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K provides clear evidence of a GPU bottleneck. At Low settings, the system achieves 90.9 FPS at 1080p, drops to 79.5 FPS at 1440p, and falls to 58.2 FPS at 4K. This represents a 36% reduction in frame rate when moving from 1080p to 4K, which is a significant but not linear drop. The pattern is similar at other settings, with Medium settings showing 55.9 FPS at 1080p, 50.8 FPS at 1440p, and 38.7 FPS at 4K.

This scaling behavior is characteristic of a GPU-limited scenario. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rates would remain relatively constant across resolutions, as the CPU’s workload would not change significantly with resolution. Instead, the data shows a clear decline in FPS as resolution increases, which indicates that the GPU’s fill rate and memory bandwidth are being taxed more heavily. The 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and the 8 GB VRAM capacity are likely being saturated at higher resolutions, particularly at 4K with higher settings. The drop from 90.9 FPS at 1080p Low to 58.2 FPS at 4K Low is a direct consequence of the GPU’s inability to process the increased number of pixels at the same rate, confirming that the RTX 2060 SUPER is the limiting component in this configuration.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average FPS achievable with this combo at 1080p?

A: The highest measured average FPS at 1920x1080 is 90.9 FPS, which is achieved with the Low settings preset.

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-12700KF a bottleneck for the RTX 2060 SUPER in The Medium?

A: The data indicates no. The CPU ranks in the 89th percentile, and the FPS scaling with resolution points to the GPU as the limiting factor.

Q: What settings preset provides the best balance of visuals and performance at 1440p?

A: Based on the measured data, the Low preset is the only one that delivers over 60 FPS at 2560x1440, with an average of 79.5 FPS. The Medium preset offers 50.8 FPS.

Q: Can this system run The Medium at 4K with playable frame rates?

A: It depends on the settings. The Low preset at 3840x2160 achieves an average of 58.2 FPS, which is playable. Higher presets drop below 40 FPS.

Q: How does this combo rank against all other tested combinations?

A: The Intel Core i7-12700KF and RTX 2060 SUPER combo ranks 1226th out of 1689 tested combos in The Medium.

Q: What is the average FPS difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 90.9 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 31.2 FPS, a difference of 59.7 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The following table details the exact measured average FPS for the Intel Core i7-12700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER in The Medium:

| Resolution | Settings | Avg FPS |

|------------|----------|---------|

| 3840x2160 | High | 29.0 |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 58.2 |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 38.7 |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 21.4 |

| 2560x1440 | High | 34.2 |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 79.5 |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 50.8 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 25.2 |

| 1920x1080 | High | 39.4 |

| 1920x1080 | Low | 90.9 |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 55.9 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 31.2 |

The data reveals a consistent pattern: the RTX 2060 SUPER can handle the game’s lower presets with relative ease, but the higher presets cause significant performance degradation. The most substantial drop occurs between Low and Medium settings at each resolution, indicating that the Medium preset introduces a significant increase in GPU workload. The Ultra preset at 4K is the most demanding, yielding only 21.4 FPS, which is below playable thresholds for most users. These numbers suggest that for a smooth experience, users should prioritize the Low or Medium presets, depending on their resolution preferences.