The Medium

The Intel Core i7-13700K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT delivers a highly capable 1440p experience in The Medium, but the data indicates that 4K Ultra is not viable. The benchmark results show a clear performance hierarchy where Medium settings at 1440p offer the best balance of fluidity and visual fidelity, while 4K requires significant settings compromises to remain playable. This combination ranks in the top third of all tested configurations, confirming its status as a high-end pairing that is nonetheless challenged by the game's demanding fixed-camera rendering.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of frame rate and visual quality, Medium settings at 2560x1440 is the optimal choice. The data shows this configuration achieves an average of 70.7 FPS, which is smooth for a horror title where atmospheric pacing matters more than twitch reflexes. Dropping to Low at this resolution yields 115.2 FPS, but the jump from Medium to Low represents a 63% performance increase that likely comes at too great a visual cost for the genre's emphasis on environment detail.

At 1920x1080, Medium settings provide 90.1 FPS, which is excellent for competitive or high-refresh displays, while High still delivers a respectable 62.4 FPS. Ultra settings are the outlier at every resolution, with the 1080p Ultra result of 49.3 FPS being the weakest showing above 4K. The data suggests that Ultra's marginal visual gains over High are not worth the 21% performance drop seen at 1080p (62.4 to 49.3 FPS) or the 15% drop at 1440p (51.7 to 43.8 FPS).

The most striking settings-related finding is the massive gulf between Low and Ultra. At 4K, Low achieves 93.6 FPS while Ultra plummets to 36 FPS, a 160% spread that indicates the game's ultra preset imposes a disproportionate load. For players prioritizing frame rate, Low at 1440p or 1080p delivers 115.2 and 139 FPS respectively, making it the only preset capable of fully exploiting high-refresh monitors. However, given the horror genre's reliance on shadow and lighting quality, Medium at 1440p remains the recommended baseline.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is the primary driver of frame rate in this pairing. The GPU's 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 512.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for The Medium's high-resolution textures even at 4K. The card's 4608 shading units and 72 ray accelerators handle the game's fixed-camera scenes with authority, though the data shows that raw compute power is the limiting factor at higher presets.

The GPU's boost clock of 2250 MHz and game clock of 2015 MHz contribute to its strong baseline performance. In benchmark terms, the RX 6800 XT scores 24980 in Passmark G3D and 199366 in Geekbench Metal, placing it in the 87th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA RTX 4070 Ti SUPER, trails by 2.6% in average benchmark score, while the Intel Arc A550M is only 0.5% behind. This competitive positioning explains why the card can handle Medium settings comfortably but struggles with Ultra, where the 20.74 TFLOPS FP32 throughput is stretched thin.

The RX 6800 XT's 300 W TDP and dual-slot design make it a power-hungry component, but the data shows this investment pays off in the 4K Low result of 93.6 FPS. The card's 128 ROPs and 288 TMUs ensure that texture fill rates remain high, yet the Ultra preset at 4K drops to 36 FPS, indicating that the GPU's compute units become saturated with the game's post-processing effects. The 16 GB VRAM capacity is never a bottleneck in these measurements, as evidenced by the fact that performance scales consistently with settings rather than resolution-specific memory constraints.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K reveals a mostly GPU-bound scenario, but with important nuances at lower settings. At Medium settings, the frame rate drops from 90.1 FPS at 1080p to 70.7 FPS at 1440p and 59.4 FPS at 4K. This represents a 21.5% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a further 16% drop to 4K, showing a predictable scaling curve that indicates the RX 6800 XT is the limiting factor.

The Low preset shows a different pattern. From 139 FPS at 1080p to 115.2 FPS at 1440p (a 17% drop) and 93.6 FPS at 4K (a 19% further drop), the scaling is steeper at the top end. This suggests that at Low settings, the game becomes more CPU-bound at lower resolutions, with the i7-13700K's 16 cores and 24 threads providing sufficient headroom. The 4K Low result of 93.6 FPS is particularly notable because it demonstrates that the GPU is not the sole bottleneck—the gap between 1440p Low and 4K Low (115.2 to 93.6 FPS) is proportionally similar to the GPU's compute scaling.

High settings exhibit the most severe resolution penalty. From 62.4 FPS at 1080p to 51.7 FPS at 1440p (a 17% drop) and 43.9 FPS at 4K (a 15% further drop), the curve flattens, suggesting that the game's high preset introduces effects that cause diminishing returns as resolution increases. Ultra settings are even more extreme, with 49.3 FPS at 1080p dropping to 43.8 FPS at 1440p and 36 FPS at 4K—the latter representing a 27% drop from 1080p, which is the largest proportional penalty of any preset.

How This Combo Ranks

This configuration ranks 531st out of 1689 tested combinations in The Medium, placing it in the 68.5th percentile of all systems tested. This is a strong result that reflects the balanced nature of the pairing, though it falls short of the top-tier combinations that achieve 4K Ultra playability. The rank indicates that while this system is firmly in the upper third of performers, there are over 500 combinations that deliver higher average frame rates, likely featuring newer GPUs or more aggressive CPU overclocks.

The ranking is consistent with the GPU's 87th percentile standing and the CPU's 93rd percentile standing, suggesting that the i7-13700K is slightly more capable than the RX 6800 XT relative to their respective pools. This means the GPU is the bottleneck in most scenarios, which is unusual for a game like The Medium that features fixed-camera angles and pre-rendered elements. The combo's rank of 531 versus 1689 total systems (a 31.4% position from the bottom) shows that this pairing is better suited for high-refresh 1440p gaming than for 4K enthusiasts.

Compared to other test results, the system's 4K Medium score of 59.4 FPS is a solid middle-ground achievement, but the 4K Ultra score of 36 FPS places it below the threshold for smooth 4K gaming. The data suggests that players with this combo should target 1440p Medium or High for the best experience, as the 4K results, while playable at Medium, do not justify the resolution upgrade given the frame rate trade-offs.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K provides a robust foundation for this pairing, with 16 cores and 24 threads running at a base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.40 GHz. In The Medium, this CPU's role is secondary to the GPU, but the data shows it prevents any CPU-induced frame rate drops even at 1080p Low where the GPU produces 139 FPS. The CPU's 30 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache ensure that the game's streaming assets are always available without stutter.

Benchmark results for the i7-13700K are impressive, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 39000 and a single-core score of 5505. The CPU's Passmark multithread score of 45887 and single-thread score of 4333 place it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-13700KF, is essentially identical at -0.1% average benchmark score, while the AMD EPYC 4364P trails by 0.3%. This performance headroom means that even at 1080p Low where the frame rate reaches 139 FPS, the CPU is not limiting the system.

The i7-13700K's 125 W TDP and support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory give it flexibility, but in this game, the CPU's 16 cores are more than sufficient. The Medium is not a heavily threaded title, so the CPU's single-core performance (5505 in Cinebench R23) is more relevant than its multicore prowess. The 5.40 GHz boost clock ensures that the game's main thread runs at maximum speed, contributing to the consistent frame times observed across all resolution and settings combinations.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured results show a clear progression: Low averages 139 FPS, Medium averages 90.1 FPS, High averages 62.4 FPS, and Ultra averages 49.3 FPS. The 1080p Low result is the highest frame rate in the entire dataset, demonstrating that this combo can push well beyond 120 FPS when settings are minimized. The jump from Medium to High at 1080p represents a 31% performance drop, indicating a significant visual quality threshold.

At 2560x1440, the results scale predictably: Low averages 115.2 FPS, Medium averages 70.7 FPS, High averages 51.7 FPS, and Ultra averages 43.8 FPS. The 1440p Medium result of 70.7 FPS is the sweet spot for this resolution, providing smooth gameplay while maintaining the visual fidelity that the horror genre requires. The 1440p Low result of 115.2 FPS is impressive but likely exhibits significant visual downgrades given the 63% difference from Medium.

At 3840x2160, the data shows the system's limitations: Low averages 93.6 FPS, Medium averages 59.4 FPS, High averages 43.9 FPS, and Ultra averages 36 FPS. The 4K Medium result of 59.4 FPS is borderline playable, while the 4K High result of 43.9 FPS is marginal. The 4K Ultra result of 36 FPS confirms that this preset is not viable at this resolution, regardless of the GPU's 16 GB VRAM capacity.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this system?

A: The data shows that 2560x1440 with Medium settings, achieving 70.7 FPS, offers the best balance of frame rate and visual quality. For higher frame rates, 1920x1080 with Medium settings provides 90.1 FPS.

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

A: Yes, but only at Low settings where it achieves 93.6 FPS. Medium settings at 4K average 59.4 FPS, while Ultra settings drop to 36 FPS, making 4K Ultra impractical.

Q: How does the RX 6800 XT compare to its nearest rivals in this game?

A: Based on benchmark scores, the RX 6800 XT outperforms the NVIDIA RTX 4070 Ti SUPER by 2.6% in average score. The Intel Arc A550M is only 0.5% behind, while the NVIDIA CMP 50HX trails by 1.9%.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this configuration?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the primary bottleneck, particularly at higher settings. The CPU's 93rd percentile ranking versus the GPU's 87th percentile suggests the i7-13700K has more headroom than the RX 6800 XT.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings average 115.2 FPS while Ultra settings average 43.8 FPS, representing a 163% performance difference between the two presets.

Q: How does this system rank among all tested configurations in The Medium?

A: This combo ranks 531st out of 1689 tested systems, placing it in the top 31.4% of all configurations tested for this game.