The Medium

# How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-13700K and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4 GB places at rank 3275 out of 3724 tested combos in The Medium. This position, sitting in the 12th percentile of all tested configurations, indicates that this pairing struggles significantly with this particular horror title. The data shows a system that is capable of running the game but only at the lower end of the performance spectrum, with most other combinations delivering better frame rates.

Looking at the CPU side of this pairing, the Core i7-13700K is a strong processor relative to its peers, holding an 89th percentile ranking among all CPUs tested. Its nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the AMD Ryzen 9 5900, which scores 0.2% higher on average, and the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375, which leads by 0.3%. The AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX and Intel Xeon w3-2535 both trail the i7-13700K by 0.5%. These margins are negligible, placing the i7-13700K in a tightly contested group of high-performance processors. This suggests that the CPU is not the bottleneck in this system; rather, the GPU holds the combo back.

The RTX 3050 4 GB sits at the 50th percentile among all GPUs, which is a middling position. With no nearest rivals listed in the data, the GPU's standing is harder to contextualize directly, but its 4 GB VRAM capacity and 128-bit memory bus clearly limit its ability to handle The Medium's demanding visuals. The combination of a top-tier CPU with a mid-range GPU creates an imbalance, and the benchmark results reflect this, as frame rates drop sharply at higher resolutions and settings.

# Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance on which settings preset delivers the best experience for this hardware combination. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 65 FPS, which is the highest frame rate recorded for any configuration in the dataset. This is the only setting that pushes the frame rate into the 60+ range, making it the recommended choice for smooth gameplay at this resolution.

The Medium preset at 1080p delivers an average of 40 FPS, with a minimum of 34 and a maximum of 46. While this is playable, the drop from Low to Medium represents a 38.5% reduction in average frame rate, which is substantial. The High preset at 1080p averages 29 FPS, and Ultra drops to 23 FPS, both of which fall below the threshold for comfortable play. For 1080p, the data strongly favors Low settings to maintain fluid motion.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 54 FPS, which is the only playable option at this resolution. Medium drops to 34 FPS, High to 24 FPS, and Ultra to 19 FPS. The scaling pattern is consistent: each step up in settings costs roughly 10-15 FPS on average. For players prioritizing frame rate over visual fidelity, Low at 1440p is the viable choice, though the 54 FPS average is noticeably lower than the 65 FPS achievable at 1080p Low.

At 3840x2160, even the Low preset only manages an average of 43 FPS, with Medium at 27 FPS, High at 19 FPS, and Ultra at 15 FPS. None of the 4K settings deliver a consistently smooth experience, and the minimum frame rates for Medium at this resolution (23 FPS) suggest noticeable stuttering. The data indicates that 4K gaming is not feasible with this combo, and users should target 1080p Low for the best balance of performance and stability.

# Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K reveals how the GPU becomes the limiting factor as pixel count increases. At Low settings, the average frame rate drops from 65 FPS at 1080p to 54 FPS at 1440p, a 16.9% reduction, and then to 43 FPS at 4K, a 33.8% reduction from 1440p. This scaling pattern is typical of a GPU-bound scenario, where the rendering load increases exponentially with resolution.

At Medium settings, the averages are 40 FPS at 1080p, 34 FPS at 1440p (15% drop), and 27 FPS at 4K (20.6% drop from 1440p). The High preset shows 29 FPS at 1080p, 24 FPS at 1440p (17.2% drop), and 19 FPS at 4K (20.8% drop). Ultra follows a similar trajectory: 23 FPS at 1080p, 19 FPS at 1440p (17.4% drop), and 15 FPS at 4K (21.1% drop from 1440p).

The consistent pattern across all settings—where the drop from 1080p to 1440p is roughly 15-17%, and the drop from 1440p to 4K is roughly 20-21%—indicates that the RTX 3050 4 GB's memory bandwidth and compute resources are saturated at higher resolutions. The 192.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 128-bit bus width are simply insufficient for the 4K frame buffer. The CPU, by contrast, shows no signs of bottlenecking, as its benchmark scores (e.g., 30,745 in Cinebench R23 multi-core) far exceed what The Medium requires at these frame rates.

# FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in The Medium?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 with Low settings produces an average of 65 FPS, which is the highest frame rate recorded. At 1440p, the Low preset averages 54 FPS, while 4K Low averages 43 FPS. For consistent smoothness, 1080p Low is the safest choice.

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

A: At 4K, the Ultra preset averages only 15 FPS, High averages 19 FPS, Medium averages 27 FPS, and Low averages 43 FPS. None of these configurations provide a consistently playable experience, with even the lowest settings falling below 60 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Intel Core i7-13700K scores within 0.5% of its closest competitors. The AMD Ryzen 9 5900 is 0.2% faster, the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375 is 0.3% faster, while the AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX and Intel Xeon w3-2535 are both 0.5% slower. The differences are minor.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The benchmark results indicate that the GPU is the limiting component. The CPU holds an 89th percentile ranking, while the GPU sits at the 50th percentile. The significant FPS drops when increasing resolution or settings point to GPU saturation, not CPU limitations.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, Low averages 65 FPS, while Ultra averages 23 FPS. This represents a 64.6% reduction in average frame rate when moving from the lowest to the highest settings preset.

Q: Are there any settings where the frame rate exceeds 60 FPS?

A: Only one configuration in the dataset exceeds 60 FPS: 1080p with Low settings, which averages 65 FPS. All other resolution and settings combinations fall below this threshold.

# GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4 GB is built on the Ampere architecture with the GA107 chip, manufactured on Samsung's 8 nm process. It features 2048 shading units, 64 texture mapping units, and 32 raster output units, along with 16 ray tracing cores and 64 tensor cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1545 MHz and a boost clock of 1740 MHz, with memory running at 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective).

The 4 GB GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 192.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is the primary constraint in The Medium, as the game's high-resolution textures and effects quickly exhaust the available VRAM. The pixel rate of 55.68 GPixel/s and texture rate of 111.4 GTexel/s are modest figures, and the FP32 performance of 7.127 TFLOPS reflects a mid-range GPU that is now marked as end-of-life.

In the measured results, the GPU's limitations are evident. At 1080p Medium, the average FPS is 40, with a minimum of 34. At 1440p Medium, this drops to 34 average with a 29 minimum. The 4K Medium result of 27 average (23 minimum) shows that the GPU cannot maintain playable frame rates at higher resolutions. The scaling behavior across resolutions and settings confirms that the RTX 3050 4 GB is the performance bottleneck, as the CPU's capabilities far exceed what this GPU can feed.

# CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K is a 16-core, 24-thread processor from the Raptor Lake family, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, with a 125 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 30 MB of shared L3 cache. The processor supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration and connects via PCIe Gen 5 with 20 CPU lanes.

Benchmark results for the i7-13700K show strong multi-threaded performance: 30,745 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, 16,292 in Cinebench R20, and 4,507.5 in Cinebench R15. Single-thread scores are 2,116 in Cinebench R23 and 303 in Cinebench R15. PassMark results include 45,887 for multi-thread and 4,333 for single-thread. These numbers place the CPU in the 89th percentile of all processors.

In The Medium, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. Given that the GPU produces frame rates ranging from 15 to 65 FPS depending on settings, the i7-13700K has ample headroom. The CPU's benchmark scores, particularly the multi-threaded results, indicate it could handle much higher frame rates if paired with a more powerful GPU. The 16-core configuration with 24 threads is more than sufficient for this game, and the data shows no evidence of CPU-induced frame rate limits, as the FPS scales predictably with GPU load.

# Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the data shows four settings presets with distinct performance levels. The Low preset achieves an average of 65 FPS, with no minimum or maximum values recorded. Medium averages 40 FPS, with a minimum of 34 and maximum of 46. High averages 29 FPS, and Ultra averages 23 FPS, both without recorded minimum or maximum values. The gap between Low and Medium is 25 FPS, while the gap between Medium and High is 11 FPS, and High to Ultra is 6 FPS.

At 2560x1440, Low averages 54 FPS, representing a 16.9% drop from the 1080p Low result. Medium averages 34 FPS, with a minimum of 29 and maximum of 39. High averages 24 FPS, and Ultra averages 19 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p shows reductions of 11 FPS for Low, 6 FPS for Medium, 5 FPS for High, and 4 FPS for Ultra across the settings range.

At 3840x2160, Low averages 43 FPS, which is a 20.4% reduction from the 1440p Low result. Medium averages 27 FPS, with a minimum of 23 and maximum of 31. High averages 19 FPS, and Ultra averages 15 FPS. The 4K results show that even the lowest settings cannot reach 60 FPS, and the Ultra preset at 15 FPS is effectively unplayable. The minimum frame rate recorded for Medium at 4K (23 FPS) indicates that the experience would involve noticeable stutter, as the GPU struggles to maintain consistent frame pacing.

Across all resolutions, the data reveals a consistent pattern: Low settings are the only preset that approaches acceptable frame rates, and even then, only at 1080p does it exceed 60 FPS. The Medium preset provides a playable but not smooth experience at 1080p, while at higher resolutions, all settings fail to reach 60 FPS. The measured results substantiate the conclusion that this combo is best suited for 1080p gaming with reduced graphical settings in The Medium.