The Medium

The Intel Core i7-12700KF pairs with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER to form a high-end configuration that handles The Medium with authority, though the measured frame rates reveal a system heavily constrained by graphics settings rather than processor capability. The CPU’s 12 cores and 20 threads, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and boost up to 5.00 GHz, provide ample headroom for this horror title’s demands. Benchmark data shows the processor achieving a 3dmark_max_threads score of 9983 and a single-thread score of 1043, placing it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-14400, scores 35336 on average benchmark tests—a negligible 0.1% difference—while the Intel Core i7-13800H trails by 0.2%, and the Intel Core i9-12900HX leads by 0.2%. These margins are tight, indicating that the 12700KF is well-matched against contemporary processors, but the real story in The Medium lies in how the GPU responds to resolution and preset changes.

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

The Core i7-12700KF’s architectural foundation—Alder Lake on Intel’s 10 nm process—delivers strong multi-threaded performance with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 28979 and a Geekbench multicore score of 13596. This translates to consistent frame delivery across all tested resolutions, as the CPU never becomes the bottleneck in the measured data. Even at 1080p Low, where the frame rate peaks at 168.3 FPS, the processor’s 20 threads and 25 MB of shared L3 cache keep pacing stable. The 3dmark_16_threads score of 9282 and 3dmark_8_threads score of 7211 indicate robust scaling with thread count, which is relevant for The Medium’s fixed-camera scenes that often spawn multiple entities. The single-thread score of 1043 in 3dmark and 4091 in Cinebench R23 shows the 5.00 GHz boost clock is effective for the game’s logic-heavy moments. Compared to the nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-13600T, which scores 35256 on average (0.3% behind), the 12700KF offers similar compute but with higher peak clocks—though these differences do not manifest in the FPS data, suggesting the game’s CPU demand is modest. The processor’s 125 W TDP and support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory provide flexibility, but the measured results show no CPU-bound scenarios; every FPS drop correlates with GPU load from resolution or settings increases.

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

The RTX 4070 SUPER, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC, is the primary driver of The Medium’s performance. Its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus delivers 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, which proves sufficient for the game’s texture-heavy environments even at 4K. The GPU’s boost clock of 2475 MHz and FP32 throughput of 35.48 TFLOPS enable substantial frame rates, but the measured data shows a steep penalty for Ultra settings. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS falls to 37.8, while 4K High reaches 48.9 FPS—a difference of 11.1 frames that indicates the Ultra preset’s additional effects tax the 56 RT cores and 224 tensor cores heavily. The GPU’s Passmark G3D score of 29995 and 3dmark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 4627 place it in the 84th percentile of all GPUs, with the nearest rival, NVIDIA RTX A6000, scoring 42653 on average (0.2% higher) and the AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE trailing by 0.3%. The 12 GB VRAM is not exceeded at any measured setting, as the game’s demands stay within capacity, but the compute load from shadows and reflections at Ultra causes the most significant frame drops. The GPU’s 220 W TDP and suggested 550 W PSU are consistent with its performance class, and the data shows no thermal throttling indicators—the FPS scales predictably with resolution and settings.

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

The measured rows reveal a clear sweet spot for this combo. At 1080p Medium, the average FPS is 103.6, which is playable but not exceptional for a horror game that benefits from smooth panning. Dropping to 1080p Low yields 168.3 FPS, but the visual fidelity loss is unnecessary for most scenarios. The better choice is 1440p High, which delivers 60.6 FPS—exactly at the threshold for smooth gameplay—while maintaining higher image quality than Medium presets. At 1440p Medium, the FPS rises to 85.4, offering a comfortable margin for demanding scenes, but High’s visual improvements justify the 24.8 FPS sacrifice. For 4K users, High at 48.9 FPS is borderline, while Medium at 69.5 FPS provides a safer experience. The Ultra preset is the outlier: 56.5 FPS at 1080p, 51.2 FPS at 1440p, and 37.8 FPS at 4K are all below the ideal 60 FPS target, making Ultra impractical for consistent play. The data suggests Medium or High presets deliver the best balance, with 1440p High being the recommended configuration for most users, as it combines playable frame rates with the game’s atmospheric details. Low presets, while exceeding 112 FPS at all resolutions, strip too much of the visual horror experience.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This configuration ranks 265th out of 1689 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the top 15.7% of all systems tested. This ranking reflects the GPU’s strong performance relative to the CPU’s capability, as the combo’s measured FPS at 1440p High (60.6) and 1080p High (74.3) are competitive but not top-tier. The rank position suggests that while the RTX 4070 SUPER is powerful, it is outpaced by combos featuring higher-end GPUs like the RTX 4080 or RTX 4090 variants, which would naturally achieve higher frame rates at Ultra settings. The CPU’s 89th percentile ranking and GPU’s 84th percentile ranking are closely aligned, indicating a balanced pairing that avoids severe bottlenecks. The combo’s 265th rank out of 1689 means 1424 other configurations perform better, but many of those likely use more expensive components. The data shows no CPU limitation, as the FPS scales inversely with resolution and settings in a pattern consistent with GPU-bound performance, so the rank is primarily a function of the GPU’s tier rather than processor deficiency.

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

The measured FPS scaling across resolutions reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 74.3 at 1080p to 60.6 at 1440p (an 18.4% decrease) and then to 48.9 at 4K (a further 19.3% decrease from 1440p). This linear decline indicates that the GPU’s pixel throughput is the limiting factor, as the CPU maintains consistent performance across all resolutions. The Low settings show a similar pattern: 168.3 FPS at 1080p, 138.1 at 1440p (a 17.9% drop), and 112.4 at 4K (an 18.6% drop from 1440p). The consistent percentage drops across settings confirm that the RTX 4070 SUPER’s 198.0 GPixel/s pixel rate is the ceiling, not the CPU’s capability. The Medium preset drops from 103.6 FPS at 1080p to 85.4 at 1440p (17.6% less) and 69.5 at 4K (18.6% less). The Ultra preset shows the steepest absolute decline, from 56.5 FPS at 1080p to 37.8 at 4K—a 33.1% total reduction—which highlights how the GPU’s compute resources are exhausted by the highest settings. The data strongly indicates that upgrading the GPU would yield proportionally higher FPS at all resolutions, while the CPU would remain unaffected.

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

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers 168.3 FPS on Low, 103.6 FPS on Medium, 74.3 FPS on High, and 56.5 FPS on Ultra. The 1080p results show a 92.3 FPS spread between Low and Ultra, with Medium offering a 29.3 FPS advantage over High. Moving to 2560x1440, the average FPS measures 138.1 on Low, 85.4 on Medium, 60.6 on High, and 51.2 on Ultra. The 1440p data shows a 30.2 FPS difference between Medium and High, while Ultra trails High by 9.4 FPS. At 3840x2160, the results are 112.4 FPS on Low, 69.5 FPS on Medium, 48.9 FPS on High, and 37.8 FPS on Ultra. The 4K spread is 74.6 FPS from Low to Ultra, with Medium providing 20.6 FPS more than High. Across all resolutions, the Low preset consistently delivers more than double the FPS of Ultra, but the playable threshold of 60 FPS is only crossed at 1080p Medium and above, 1440p High and above, and 4K Medium. The Ultra preset never reaches 60 FPS at any resolution, peaking at 56.5 FPS at 1080p. The High preset maintains 60+ FPS only at 1080p and 1440p, while 4K High falls just short at 48.9 FPS. This breakdown confirms that the RTX 4070 SUPER is best utilized with Medium or High settings for a stable experience, with 1440p High offering the best combination of visual quality and performance at 60.6 FPS.