The Medium

The Intel Core i7-13700K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX delivers a performance profile in The Medium that is heavily dictated by graphics settings rather than resolution. The data reveals a system capable of high refresh rate play at 1080p and 1440p, but one that requires careful settings management to achieve smooth frame rates at 4K. The most striking finding is the massive performance gulf between the Low and Ultra presets, which points to specific engine bottlenecks that this hardware configuration must navigate.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is not uniform across settings, which reveals where the system becomes limited. At Low settings, the transition from 1920x1080 (175.8 FPS) to 3840x2160 (113.6 FPS) represents a 35% reduction in average frame rate. This is a relatively modest decline, indicating that at Low settings, the CPU is still a significant contributor to overall performance, as the GPU has ample headroom to render frames quickly.

However, at Ultra settings, the scaling is far more punishing. The average frame rate falls from 63.0 FPS at 1080p to 38.9 FPS at 4K, a 38% drop. This steeper decline at higher settings suggests that the GPU becomes the primary limiting component as the graphical load increases. The RX 7900 XTX's 24 GB of GDDR6 memory is not the issue; rather, the sheer computational demand of the Ultra preset at 4K resolution outstrips what the GPU can deliver for a consistently smooth experience.

The most telling data point is the performance gap between Medium and High settings at 4K. At Medium, the system achieves 72.5 FPS, which drops to 53.1 FPS at High—a 27% reduction. This indicates that the High preset introduces a significant increase in rendering complexity, likely through advanced lighting and shadow effects, that disproportionately impacts the GPU. The pattern across all resolutions shows that the RX 7900 XTX is capable of brute-forcing Low settings at 4K, but the step from Medium to High to Ultra represents a steep curve of diminishing returns for this specific game.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark results clearly indicate that the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience for this combination. At 1080p, Medium delivers 109.0 FPS, which is a 39% improvement over High (78.2 FPS) and nearly double the Ultra frame rate (63.0 FPS). At 1440p, Medium maintains 91.4 FPS, which is well above the 64.8 FPS seen at High and the 53.2 FPS at Ultra.

For 4K gaming, Medium is the only preset that approaches a playable standard for most users. The 72.5 FPS at 3840x2160 with Medium settings is a solid result, while High drops to 53.1 FPS and Ultra falls to 38.9 FPS. The data suggests that Medium provides the best visual-to-performance ratio, as it retains enough graphical fidelity to be immersive while avoiding the severe frame rate penalties of High and Ultra.

The Low preset, while delivering 113.6 FPS at 4K and 175.8 FPS at 1080p, is not recommended for a horror game where atmosphere is paramount. The visual degradation is likely too severe to justify the performance gain, especially since Medium already provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS at 1440p and 4K. For users prioritizing a locked 60 FPS experience, Medium at 4K is the optimal choice, while those with high refresh rate monitors at 1080p can safely explore High settings.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX features a substantial 24 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus, providing 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is more than sufficient for The Medium at any resolution, as the game's textures and assets do not appear to stress the VRAM capacity. The benchmark results show no signs of memory-related stuttering or performance cliffs, indicating that the 24 GB capacity is not a limiting factor.

The GPU's clock behavior plays a more critical role in the observed results. With a base clock of 1929 MHz and a boost clock of 2498 MHz, the RX 7900 XTX demonstrates significant dynamic scaling. The game clock of 2365 MHz represents the typical sustained frequency under load, and the performance data suggests that The Medium is able to keep the GPU near this operating point. The 61.39 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power is the primary driver of the high frame rates seen at Low and Medium settings.

The RX 7900 XTX's 96 ray accelerators and 192 ROPs are relevant to the performance drop at Ultra settings. The Ultra preset likely enables more intensive ray-traced effects or higher-fidelity shadow rendering, which taxes these specific hardware units. The result is a substantial frame rate penalty, from 72.5 FPS at Medium 4K to 38.9 FPS at Ultra 4K, indicating that the GPU's ray tracing throughput is not sufficient to carry the Ultra preset at high resolutions.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU/GPU combo in The Medium?*

A: The data shows that 2560x1440 with Medium settings provides an excellent balance, achieving 91.4 FPS. For 4K, Medium settings at 72.5 FPS is the highest playable option, while 1080p offers the highest frame rates across all settings.

*Q: Can this system run The Medium at 4K with high settings?*

A: Yes, but with a caveat. The average frame rate at 3840x2160 with High settings is 53.1 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for a smooth experience. Users seeking a locked 60 FPS will need to use Medium settings.

Q: How does the RX 7900 XTX's 24 GB VRAM affect performance?

A: The 24 GB of GDDR6 memory is not a limiting factor in The Medium. The performance differences between settings are driven by compute load and rendering complexity, not memory capacity or bandwidth.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 175.8 FPS, suggesting the CPU is still capable of feeding the GPU. However, the frame rate ceiling at this resolution indicates that the GPU is the primary limiter as settings increase.

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

A: The difference is substantial. Low settings produce 144.9 FPS, while Ultra produces 53.2 FPS, a 63% reduction in average frame rate. Medium provides a middle ground at 91.4 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K contributes significantly to the high frame rates observed at lower resolutions and settings. With 16 cores and 24 threads, the CPU has ample parallelism for The Medium's background tasks. The benchmark results show that at 1080p Low, the system reaches 175.8 FPS, indicating that the CPU is not a bottleneck for this workload.

The CPU's boost clock of 5.40 GHz is critical for single-threaded performance, which The Medium likely relies on for game logic and scene management. The measured 3DMark single-thread score of 1136 and PassMark single-thread score of 4333 reinforce that this processor has excellent per-core performance. This is evident in the scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings, where the frame rate drops only from 175.8 FPS to 144.9 FPS, a 17.5% reduction that is consistent with a GPU-limited scenario.

The CPU's 30 MB of shared L3 cache also plays a role in maintaining smooth frame pacing. The data shows that at 4K Medium, the system achieves 72.5 FPS, which is a 20% drop from the 1440p Medium result of 91.4 FPS. This scaling indicates that the CPU is still providing enough throughput to keep the GPU fed even at higher resolutions, and the performance drops are primarily attributable to increased GPU workload.

The Core i7-13700K's position in the broader benchmark landscape, ranking in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs, confirms that it is not the limiting component in this pairing. The nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-13700KF, scores 0.1% higher on average, while the AMD EPYC 4364P is 0.3% behind. This performance headroom means that for The Medium, the CPU is rarely the cause of frame rate drops.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data provides a complete picture of performance across three resolutions and four settings. At 1920x1080, the system delivers 175.8 FPS on Low, 109.0 FPS on Medium, 78.2 FPS on High, and 63.0 FPS on Ultra. These results show a clear hierarchy, with Low providing a 61% improvement over Medium and Medium providing a 39% improvement over High.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates are 144.9 FPS (Low), 91.4 FPS (Medium), 64.8 FPS (High), and 53.2 FPS (Ultra). The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is consistent, with approximately a 17-20% reduction in frame rate across all settings. This consistency indicates that the system is well-balanced at this resolution, with neither component being severely overburdened.

The 3840x2160 results show the most dramatic differences: 113.6 FPS (Low), 72.5 FPS (Medium), 53.1 FPS (High), and 38.9 FPS (Ultra). The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 65.8%, which is the largest across all resolutions. This suggests that the Ultra preset's additional graphical features have a disproportionate impact at 4K, where the GPU is already working at maximum capacity.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for The Medium, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i7-13700K and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX ranks 180th out of 1689 combinations. This places the combo in the top 11% of all systems tested for this game. The rank reflects the combined capability of both components, and the measured frame rates indicate that this is a high-performing configuration.

The ranking is notable given the GPU's overall percentile of 85 against all GPUs, while the CPU sits in the 93rd percentile. The combination's strong rank suggests that The Medium benefits from the balanced nature of this pairing, where neither component dramatically underperforms the other. The 180th rank out of 1689 is a strong result, indicating that only a small fraction of tested systems can deliver higher frame rates in this game.

The GPU's closest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti, has an average score 2% lower, while the AMD Radeon Pro 580 is 0.4% lower. The CPU's closest rival, the Intel Core i7-13700KF, is effectively tied at 0.1% lower average score. This benchmark data confirms that the RX 7900 XTX is positioned well above mid-range competitors, and the Core i7-13700K provides the necessary headroom to exploit that GPU performance fully.