The Medium

The Medium presents a severe challenge for the AMD Radeon RX 580, even when paired with the powerful Intel Core i7-13700K. Benchmark data indicates that this combination is fundamentally GPU-limited at every resolution and settings preset, with the processor's substantial headroom unable to compensate for the graphics card's age. The measured results show a configuration that can achieve playable frame rates only at the lowest settings and lowest resolution, making it a strictly entry-level option for this horror title.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings, confirming that the Radeon RX 580 is the primary bottleneck. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 52.1 at 1920x1080 to 43.1 at 2560x1440, a reduction of 9 frames, and then plummets to 30.0 at 3840x2160. This scaling pattern shows that even at the least demanding preset, the GPU's rendering throughput collapses as pixel count increases.

The High preset demonstrates an even more dramatic decline: 25.1 FPS at 1080p drops to 20.1 at 1440p and finally to 13.5 at 4K. The gap between 1440p and 4K is proportionally larger than the gap between 1080p and 1440p, indicating that the graphics card's memory bandwidth and pixel fill rate are being saturated at higher resolutions. The RX 580's 256-bit memory bus and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth are clearly insufficient for 4K workloads in this title.

Ultra settings are nearly unplayable at any resolution, with the average FPS never exceeding 18.7 at 1080p and falling to just 14.0 at 4K. The data suggests that resolution scaling is not linear; rather, each step up in resolution compounds the GPU's performance deficit. The Core i7-13700K, with its 16 cores and 24 threads, is never the limiting factor here—the FPS curve is dictated entirely by the graphics card's ability to process frames.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 580 is an end-of-life product built on the GCN 4.0 architecture with a 14 nm process node. Its 8 GB of GDDR5 memory is adequate for capacity, but the 2000 MHz memory clock and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth are modest by modern standards. The GPU's boost clock of 1340 MHz and base clock of 1257 MHz, combined with 2304 shading units, produce a peak FP32 throughput of 6.175 TFLOPS—a figure that is simply too low for The Medium's demanding visual effects.

Benchmark results place this GPU at the 53rd percentile among all graphics cards, with an average benchmark score of 13559. Its nearest rivals in synthetic tests are the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (deltaPct 0), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 (deltaPct 0.1), and the AMD Radeon Pro 455 (deltaPct 1.1). These comparisons highlight that the RX 580 performs in the same class as decade-old hardware, which explains its struggles in a 2021 title.

The measured FPS data shows that the GPU's performance collapses when settings are increased. At 1080p, moving from Low to Medium costs 20.7 FPS (52.1 to 31.4), and moving from Medium to High costs another 6.3 FPS. The jump from High to Ultra is comparatively smaller (6.4 FPS drop), suggesting that the Ultra preset introduces effects that the GPU cannot handle at all, creating a hard ceiling rather than a gradual degradation.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K is a high-end desktop processor with 16 cores, 24 threads, and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. Its synthetic benchmarks are exceptional: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 39000 and a single-core score of 5505, placing it at the 93rd percentile among all CPUs. The processor's average benchmark score of 47282 is nearly identical to its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-13700KF (deltaPct -0.1), and it edges out the AMD EPYC 4364P by 0.3 and the Intel Core i9-12900F by 0.4.

In The Medium, however, this CPU's power is largely wasted. The measured FPS at any given settings preset is nearly identical across resolutions when the GPU is the bottleneck, but the data shows that the CPU is not struggling. The fact that Low settings at 1080p yields 52.1 FPS while Ultra at the same resolution yields only 18.7 FPS proves that the GPU, not the processor, is determining performance. The CPU's 30 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache are irrelevant when the GPU cannot render frames quickly enough.

The Core i7-13700K's passmark multi-thread score of 45887 and single-thread score of 4333 indicate that it could easily feed a much more powerful graphics card. In this pairing, the CPU sits idle for most of the frame time, waiting for the RX 580 to complete its work. The data suggests that users would see no meaningful FPS improvement from upgrading the CPU alone; the graphics card is the sole constraint.

Settings Recommendations

The only viable preset for this combination is Low, and even then, only at 1080p or 1440p. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the average FPS is 52.1, which is the only configuration that approaches a smooth 60 FPS target. Dropping to 2560x1440 at Low yields 43.1 FPS, which is playable but not ideal. At 4K, Low settings produce just 30.0 FPS, which is borderline for a horror game that benefits from smooth motion.

Medium settings are not recommended. At 1080p, the average FPS falls to 31.4, and at 1440p it drops to 27.9. These numbers are below the threshold for comfortable gameplay in a title that relies on atmospheric tension. High settings are worse, with 25.1 FPS at 1080p and 20.1 at 1440p. Ultra is effectively unplayable, with all resolutions below 19 FPS.

The data indicates that users should prioritize resolution over visual fidelity. Running at 1080p with Low settings provides a playable experience, whereas attempting 1440p or 4K with Medium or higher presets results in a slideshow. The 8 GB VRAM is not the limiting factor here; the GPU's raw compute power is insufficient for this game's rendering demands.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations, this pairing of the Intel Core i7-13700K and AMD Radeon RX 580 ranks 1552 out of 1689 combos for The Medium. This places it in the bottom 8% of all tested configurations, which is consistent with the measured FPS data. The high-performing CPU cannot rescue the low-performing GPU, and the combination's rank reflects the weakest link.

This ranking is particularly telling because the CPU alone is in the top 7% of all processors (93rd percentile), while the GPU is in the 53rd percentile. The massive disparity between the two components means that the combo's overall performance is dragged down entirely by the graphics card. Users considering this pairing should understand that they are paying for CPU headroom that will not be utilized in this game.

The rank of 1552 out of 1689 suggests that there are only 137 tested combinations that perform worse in The Medium. This is a strong signal that the RX 580 is not suitable for this title at any settings beyond the absolute minimum, and that users would need to upgrade the GPU to achieve acceptable performance.

FAQ

Q: What is the best frame rate achievable with this combo?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 52.1 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. At 2560x1440 Low, it drops to 43.1, and at 3840x2160 Low, it falls to 30.0.

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-13700K or the AMD Radeon RX 580 the bottleneck?

A: The data clearly shows the GPU is the bottleneck. The CPU's benchmark scores (Cinebench R23 multi-core 39000) are far above the GPU's (average benchmark score 13559), and FPS scales with resolution and settings in a way that only affects the graphics card.

Q: Can this combo run The Medium at 4K?

A: Technically yes, but not well. At 4K with Low settings, it achieves 30.0 FPS average. At Medium, it drops to 22.3, and at High it is 13.5. Only Low settings at 4K are marginally playable.

Q: How does this GPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RX 580's average benchmark score of 13559 is essentially tied with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (deltaPct 0) and GTX 950 (deltaPct 0.1). It is 1.1% faster than the AMD Radeon Pro 455 and 1.1% slower than the NVIDIA P106-090.

Q: What settings should be used for a smooth experience?

A: Low settings at 1080p is the only configuration that provides a comfortable frame rate (52.1 FPS). Medium at 1080p (31.4 FPS) is borderline, and anything above that is not recommended.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: This pairing ranks 1552 out of 1689 combos, placing it in the bottom 8% of all tested systems for The Medium.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 52.1 on Low to 18.7 on Ultra. The Medium preset yields 31.4 FPS, and High yields 25.1 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 20.7 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is 6.4 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the average FPS is 43.1 on Low, 27.9 on Medium, 20.1 on High, and 17.1 on Ultra. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings is 9.0 FPS, while at High settings it is 5.0 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the average FPS is 30.0 on Low, 22.3 on Medium, 13.5 on High, and 14.0 on Ultra. Notably, Ultra at 4K is actually 0.5 FPS faster than High, which may indicate a measurement anomaly or that the Ultra preset is not meaningfully more demanding at this resolution. The 4K Low result of 30.0 FPS is the only double-digit figure at this resolution that approaches playability.