The Medium

The Medium is a horror title that stresses both the CPU and GPU, and the pairing of the Intel Core i7-13700K with the AMD Radeon RX 9060 produces a combo that ranks 1648 out of 2911 tested configurations. This places the system in the lower-middle portion of the database, indicating that while the components are competent, the overall experience in this specific game is limited by the graphics card rather than the processor. The data shows a clear pattern: the CPU is far more powerful than the GPU, and this imbalance dictates the frame rates you will see across resolutions and settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 1648 out of 2911 tested combos places this system at roughly the 43rd percentile of all tested pairings for The Medium. This is not a top-tier result, and benchmark results indicate that many other combinations of hardware deliver higher average frame rates. The rank reflects the measured FPS data, which shows a system that can handle the game at playable speeds at 1080p and 1440p with the right settings, but struggles to maintain smooth performance at 4K. The ranking is a direct consequence of the GPU’s performance ceiling, as the CPU is not the bottleneck in this scenario. For context, the AMD Radeon RX 9060 sits at the 59th percentile among all GPUs, while the Intel Core i7-13700K is at the 89th percentile among all CPUs. This gap in relative performance explains why the combo rank is not higher: the processor is capable of far more than the graphics card can deliver in this title.

The nearest rivals for the GPU, based on average benchmark scores, include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, which scores 16129 with a delta of -0.7%, and the AMD Radeon RX 7700, which scores 15852 with a delta of 1%. The RX 9060’s average benchmark score is 16014, placing it in the same performance tier as these cards. For the CPU, the nearest rivals are the AMD Ryzen 9 5900 with an average score of 46971 and a delta of -0.2%, and the AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX with a score of 46654 and a delta of 0.5%. The i7-13700K’s average benchmark score is 46881, showing that it is virtually tied with these processors. However, in The Medium, the GPU’s limitations are the primary factor, and the combo rank reflects that the system is held back by the graphics card’s ability to render the game’s scenes.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 is the limiting component in this pairing for The Medium. It has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. The memory clock is 2250 MHz, which translates to 18 Gbps effective. These specifications are modest for a modern title, and the game’s demands at higher resolutions and settings expose the GPU’s constraints. The base clock is 1700 MHz, with a game clock of 2400 MHz and a boost clock of 2990 MHz. The GPU has 1792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operations pipelines, along with 28 ray tracing cores. The pixel rate is 191.4 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 334.9 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance of 21.43 TFLOPS.

In The Medium, the GPU’s role is critical because the game is graphically intensive. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 101 FPS, but this drops to 45 FPS at High settings and 36 FPS at Ultra. At 1440p, the Low setting still manages 85 FPS, but High drops to 38 FPS and Ultra to 30 FPS. At 4K, the situation worsens: Low yields 67 FPS, Medium 42 FPS, High 30 FPS, and Ultra only 24 FPS. These numbers indicate that the GPU’s 8 GB VRAM and bandwidth are insufficient for the higher presets, especially at higher resolutions. The GPU’s average benchmark score of 16014 and its 59th percentile ranking among all GPUs confirm that it is a mid-range card, and the data shows that it cannot maintain high frame rates when the game’s settings are increased.

The GPU’s memory configuration is a key factor. With only 8 GB of VRAM, the card may run into capacity limits at 4K with High or Ultra settings, causing the frame rate to drop. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra is 24 FPS, which is not playable for a smooth experience. Even at 1440p Ultra, the average FPS is 30, which is borderline. The GPU’s performance in this game is best described as adequate for 1080p gaming at medium settings, but it struggles beyond that. The ray tracing cores are present, but the game’s use of such features is not detailed in the measured data, so the focus remains on the traditional rasterization performance, which is clearly the bottleneck.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drops from 1080p to 4K reveal a system that is heavily GPU-limited. At 1080p with Low settings, the average FPS is 101. At 1440p Low, it drops to 85 FPS, a decrease of 16 FPS, and at 4K Low, it falls to 67 FPS, a further decrease of 18 FPS. This scaling shows that even at the lowest settings, the GPU cannot maintain high frame rates as resolution increases, indicating that the graphics card is the limiting factor. At Medium settings, the progression is 63 FPS at 1080p, 53 FPS at 1440p, and 42 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 4K is 21 FPS, which is a significant reduction. At High settings, the numbers are 45 FPS at 1080p, 38 FPS at 1440p, and 30 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 4K is 15 FPS, which is less severe but still substantial. At Ultra settings, the FPS goes from 36 at 1080p to 30 at 1440p and then to 24 at 4K, a total drop of 12 FPS.

The pattern is consistent: as resolution increases, the frame rate decreases, and the rate of decrease is more pronounced at lower settings. This is typical of a GPU-bound scenario, where the CPU has enough headroom to handle the increased pixel count, but the GPU’s rendering capacity is exhausted. The CPU’s high performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 30745 and single-core score of 2116, means it is not the bottleneck. Instead, the GPU’s limited VRAM and bandwidth cause the frame rate to scale poorly with resolution. For example, at 4K Medium, the FPS is 42, which is only 67% of the 1080p Medium score of 63. This indicates that the GPU’s performance degrades significantly at higher resolutions, and the data suggests that the system is best suited for 1080p or 1440p gaming, with 4K being viable only at Low settings.

The limiting component is clearly the GPU. The CPU’s architecture, Raptor Lake, with 16 cores and 24 threads, provides more than enough processing power for this game. The benchmark results for the CPU, such as the Geekbench multi-core score of 19429 and Passmark multi-thread score of 45887, show that it is a high-end processor. However, the GPU’s performance, as measured by its 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 3322 and Passmark G3D score of 17631, is mid-range. The resolution scaling data confirms that the GPU is the bottleneck, as the FPS drops are consistent with a card that is struggling to fill the frame buffer at higher pixel counts.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the best experience for this system in The Medium is at 1080p with Medium settings. The average FPS at 1080p Medium is 63, with a minimum FPS of 53 and a maximum FPS of 72, which provides a smooth and consistent experience. This is the sweet spot, as it offers a balance between visual quality and performance. At 1080p High, the FPS drops to 45, which is still playable but noticeably less smooth, and at 1080p Ultra, the FPS is 36, which may feel stuttery in a horror game where frame pacing is important. The Low setting at 1080p achieves 101 FPS, but the visual quality is likely too compromised for a game that relies on atmosphere and detail.

At 1440p, the recommended setting is also Medium, with an average FPS of 53, a minimum of 45, and a maximum of 61. This is a playable experience, though not as smooth as 1080p Medium. The High setting at 1440p drops to 38 FPS, which is borderline, and Ultra at 30 FPS is not recommended for a consistent experience. For 4K, the only viable option is Low, which achieves 67 FPS. The Medium setting at 4K yields 42 FPS, which is playable but may have noticeable dips, and High at 30 FPS is marginal, while Ultra at 24 FPS is not recommended.

The data indicates that the Medium preset provides the best experience per the measured rows, as it offers the highest frame rates that remain above 40 FPS at 1080p and 1440p, with minimum FPS values that do not drop below 45 FPS. The High and Ultra presets do not offer a significant enough improvement in visual quality to justify the frame rate penalty, especially given the horror genre’s need for smooth motion. For users with a 144Hz monitor, 1080p Medium is the way to go, as it delivers frame rates that are close to the refresh rate’s sweet spot. For those with a 60Hz monitor, 1440p Medium is also a viable option, as it stays above 50 FPS on average.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a detailed look at the system’s performance across three resolutions and four settings. At 1920x1080, the Low setting achieves an average FPS of 101, with no minimum or maximum values recorded. The Medium setting averages 63 FPS, with a minimum of 53 and a maximum of 72. The High setting averages 45 FPS, and the Ultra setting averages 36 FPS. This shows a clear progression: as settings increase, the frame rate drops by roughly 20 FPS per step from Low to Medium, then 18 FPS from Medium to High, and 9 FPS from High to Ultra. The Low setting is the only one that breaks the 100 FPS barrier, while Ultra is the only one that falls below 40 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the Low setting averages 85 FPS, which is a 16 FPS drop from 1080p Low. The Medium setting averages 53 FPS, with a minimum of 45 and a maximum of 61, which is a 10 FPS drop from 1080p Medium. The High setting averages 38 FPS, a 7 FPS drop from 1080p High, and the Ultra setting averages 30 FPS, a 6 FPS drop from 1080p Ultra. The pattern shows that the FPS drops are smaller at higher settings, indicating that the GPU is already near its limits at 1080p High and Ultra, so the resolution increase has less impact.

At 3840x2160, the Low setting averages 67 FPS, which is an 18 FPS drop from 1440p Low. The Medium setting averages 42 FPS, with a minimum of 35 and a maximum of 48, which is an 11 FPS drop from 1440p Medium. The High setting averages 30 FPS, an 8 FPS drop from 1440p High, and the Ultra setting averages 24 FPS, a 6 FPS drop from 1440p Ultra. The 4K data shows that the system can only achieve playable frame rates at Low settings, with Medium being borderline and High and Ultra being too slow for a smooth experience.

The data also shows that the minimum and maximum FPS values are only recorded for the Medium settings. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 53 and the maximum is 72, which represents a range of 19 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the minimum is 45 and the maximum is 61, a range of 16 FPS. At 4K Medium, the minimum is 35 and the maximum is 48, a range of 13 FPS. This suggests that the frame pacing is relatively stable at Medium settings, with no major spikes or drops, which is important for a horror game that relies on tension and atmosphere.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K is a high-end processor that is not the limiting factor in this system for The Medium. It has 16 cores and 24 threads, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. The CPU’s architecture is Raptor Lake, built on a 10 nm process, and it has 30 MB of shared L3 cache. The benchmark scores confirm its strength: the Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 30745, and the single-core score is 2116. The Geekbench multi-core score is 19429, and the single-core score is 2529. The Passmark multi-thread score is 45887, and the single-thread score is 4333. These numbers place the CPU at the 89th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 46881.

In The Medium, the CPU’s role is to handle the game’s logic, AI, and physics, and the data shows that it does so without bottlenecking the GPU. The measured FPS at 1080p Low is 101, which is likely constrained by the GPU’s maximum rendering speed, not the CPU. The CPU’s performance in the 3DMark tests is also strong, with a 16-thread score of 10717 and a max-thread score of 12412. These scores indicate that the CPU can handle multi-threaded workloads, which is beneficial for a game that may use multiple cores for rendering and simulation. The CPU’s nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 5900, which has an average score of 46971 and a delta of -0.2%, and the AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX, with a score of 46654 and a delta of 0.5%. The i7-13700K’s score of 46881 is within 0.5% of these processors, showing that it is on par with other high-end CPUs.

The CPU’s cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 2 MB of L2 cache per core, and 30 MB of shared L3 cache. This large cache helps with game performance by keeping frequently accessed data close to the cores. The CPU also supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory, with a dual-channel memory bus, which allows for high memory bandwidth, though the specific bandwidth is not listed in the data. The CPU’s TDP is 125 W, and it has an integrated GPU, the UHD Graphics 770, which is not used for gaming in this system. The CPU’s socket is Intel Socket 1700, and it supports PCIe Gen 5 with 20 lanes, which provides ample bandwidth for the GPU.

The data suggests that the CPU is not the bottleneck at any resolution or setting. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect to see similar FPS across different resolutions, but the FPS drops consistently as resolution increases, indicating that the GPU is the constraint. For example, at 1080p Ultra, the FPS is 36, while at 4K Ultra, it is 24, a drop of 12 FPS. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would remain around 36 regardless of resolution. The CPU’s high single-thread performance, as evidenced by the Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2116, is sufficient for the game’s main thread, and the multi-core performance ensures that background tasks do not interfere with gameplay. In summary, the Intel Core i7-13700K provides more than enough processing power for The Medium, and the system’s overall performance is entirely dependent on the AMD Radeon RX 9060’s capabilities.