The Medium

The Intel Core i7-13700K and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT combination delivers a strong, playable experience in The Medium, but the data reveals a clear ceiling at higher settings. The measured frame rates show the graphics card, not the processor, as the primary bottleneck. Overall, this combo ranks in the 83rd percentile among tested systems, indicating solid performance but with notable limitations at 4K Ultra.

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

The Intel Core i7-13700K is a 16-core, 24-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture. Its base clock is 3.40 GHz, and it boosts to 5.40 GHz. The processor has 30 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB of L2 cache per core. The benchmark results show that this is a highly capable CPU, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 30745 and a single-core score of 2116. In Geekbench, it scores 19429 in multi-core and 2529 in single-core. This processing power is far beyond what The Medium—a horror game that is not particularly CPU-intensive—requires.

The FPS data confirms this. At 1080p with Low settings, the average FPS is 161. This high frame rate suggests that the CPU is providing enough headroom for the GPU to work at its full capacity. Even at 4K, the performance drop across settings is clearly GPU-bound. For instance, at 3840x2160 with Low settings, the average FPS is 107, while at Ultra it drops to 38. The CPU's performance is not the limiting factor here. The data shows a 5.40 GHz boost clock and 30 MB of shared L3 cache, but the game's frame rate is not driven by these specifics. The i7-13700K has a 125W TDP and supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory. Its percentile vs. all CPUs is 89, indicating it outperforms most processors. Its average benchmark score is 46881, placing it near the AMD Ryzen 9 5900, which scores 46971, a difference of -0.2%. This means the i7-13700K is essentially on par with that rival, but such CPU differences do not translate to meaningful differences in The Medium at the tested settings.

The CPU's performance is more than sufficient. For instance, the i7-13700K's Cinebench R20 multi-core score is 16292, and its 3DMark 16-thread score is 10717. These are indicators of raw computing power, but the game's frame rate at 1080p Medium is 101 FPS, and at 1440p High, it is 61 FPS. The processor is not the constraint. The data indicates that the bottleneck shifts to the GPU, especially at higher resolutions and settings.

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

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT is the clear performance driver in this combo. It has 20GB of GDDR6 memory with a 320-bit bus and a bandwidth of 800.0 GB/s. The GPU features 5376 shading units, 336 texture mapping units, and 192 ROPs. Its boost clock is 2394 MHz, and it has a game clock of 2025 MHz. The GPU is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture using a 5 nm process. Its pixel rate is 459.6 GPixel/s, and its texture rate is 804.4 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance is 51.48 TFLOPS.

This hardware is powerful. At 1080p with Low settings, the GPU achieves 161 FPS. At 1080p Medium, it drops to 101 FPS, and at High, it is 72 FPS. The trend scales with resolution. At 1440p, the GPU delivers 136 FPS on Low, 85 FPS on Medium, and 61 FPS on High. At 4K, the GPU's performance is more limited: 107 FPS on Low, 67 FPS on Medium, 48 FPS on High, and 38 FPS on Ultra. The 20GB of VRAM is more than enough for this game, and the data shows that the GPU is the limiting factor. The 800.0 GB/s memory bandwidth is robust, but the frame rates at 4K Ultra (38 FPS) and even 4K High (48 FPS) are not ideal for a smooth experience.

The GPU's benchmark scores reflect its capability, but they are not a direct indicator of in-game performance. It scores 29009 in Passmark G3D, but its percentile versus all GPUs is only 55, meaning it is in the top 55% of GPUs. Its average benchmark score is 13745, which is -0.5% behind the AMD Radeon 660M and -0.5% behind the NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile. However, these rivals are drastically different in performance, and the benchmark scores do not align with the actual gaming performance. The RX 7900 XT's in-game results are clearly superior, as shown by the measured FPS. The GPU's role is to drive the frame rate, and the data shows that at 1080p and 1440p, it can produce high frame rates, but at 4K, the performance drops off.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with Medium settings?

A: The average FPS is 101, with a minimum of 86 and a maximum of 116.

Q: How does the CPU's single-core performance compare to its multi-core?

A: The i7-13700K scores 2116 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 30745 in multi-core. This is a 14.5x difference, but the game is not CPU-bound with the RX 7900 XT.

Q: What is the GPU's boost clock?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT has a boost clock of 2394 MHz.

Q: Which resolution and setting yields the highest average FPS?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the average FPS is 161.

Q: How much VRAM does the RX 7900 XT have?

A: The GPU has 20GB of GDDR6 memory with a 320-bit bus.

Q: What is the combo's rank in The Medium?

A: The combo ranks 632 out of 3724 tested combos.

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

The best experience depends on the target resolution. At 1080p, High settings with 72 FPS is a good balance, but Medium at 101 FPS is smoother. Low at 161 FPS is the highest, but it compromises visual quality. For a horror game, a stable frame rate is important, so High at 1080p with 72 FPS is acceptable, but Medium is better for smoothness.

At 1440p, the choice is more nuanced. High gives 61 FPS, which is playable, but Medium gives 85 FPS, which is a significant improvement. Low gives 136 FPS, but at a visual cost. For a horror game, a frame rate above 60 is preferable, so Medium at 1440p is recommended.

At 4K, the situation is the most challenging. Ultra delivers a poor 38 FPS, which is not ideal. High is only 48 FPS, which is still below 60. Medium is 67 FPS, which is the best balance. Low is 107 FPS, but at a major visual sacrifice. The data shows that Medium at 4K is the best choice, providing 67 FPS and a decent visual experience. The minimum FPS at 4K Medium is 57, which is still above 30, but it can be a bit low. The max is 77. For a horror game, which relies on atmosphere, the visual quality of High or Ultra might be tempting, but the FPS penalty is too large. Medium is the sweet spot.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This combo ranks 632 out of 3724 tested combos. This places it in the 83rd percentile (100 - 632/3724 * 100 = 83.0). It is a strong result, but not a top-tier one. The rank is likely due to the RX 7900 XT's performance at 4K, which is the main bottleneck. The CPU is not the issue, as the i7-13700K is a high-end processor. The GPU does well at lower resolutions but struggles at 4K Ultra. The data shows that the combo performs exceptionally well at 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K frame rates drag down the overall rank. The 632nd rank out of 3724 means there are 631 combos that are faster, likely with more powerful GPUs. The CPU's strong benchmark scores do not help at 4K, where the GPU's 20GB VRAM and 800.0 GB/s bandwidth are not enough to maintain high FPS. The rank is a reflection of the GPU's limitations at the highest settings.

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

The measured FPS data is as follows:

• 3840x2160 (4K):
• High: avg 48 FPS
• Low: avg 107 FPS
• Medium: avg 67 FPS (min 57, max 77)
• Ultra: avg 38 FPS

• 2560x1440 (1440p):
• High: avg 61 FPS
• Low: avg 136 FPS
• Medium: avg 85 FPS (min 72, max 98)
• Ultra: avg 48 FPS

• 1920x1080 (1080p):
• High: avg 72 FPS
• Low: avg 161 FPS
• Medium: avg 101 FPS (min 86, max 116)
• Ultra: avg 57 FPS

The data shows a clear scaling. At each resolution, the Low preset yields the highest FPS, followed by Medium, then High, with Ultra as the lowest. The gap between Medium and High is not always large. At 1080p, Medium is 101 and High is 72, a 29 FPS difference. At 1440p, Medium is 85 and High is 61, a 24 FPS difference. At 4K, Medium is 67 and High is 48, a 19 FPS difference. The Ultra preset is consistently the worst, with 57 FPS at 1080p, 48 at 1440p, and 38 at 4K. The minimum FPS for Medium settings are 86, 72, and 57 at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K respectively. The max FPS are 116, 98, and 77. These numbers indicate that the game is playable at Medium at all resolutions, with the only concern being the 4K Medium min FPS of 57, which is still acceptable. The data suggests that the RX 7900 XT is a powerful card, but its performance at 4K Ultra is not up to the standard of its lower-resolution performance.