The Medium

The Medium, a fixed-camera horror title released in early 2021, presents a demanding workload that stresses both the GPU and CPU depending on the settings and resolution chosen. This analysis examines the measured performance of the Intel Core i7-13700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, interpreting the data to provide a clear picture of what this specific combination can deliver.

Settings Recommendations

The data shows a clear performance hierarchy across the four tested presets, with the choice of settings dictating whether this combo delivers a playable experience or one that is more suited for observation. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average frame rate of 115.6 FPS, which is the highest measured for this combo in any configuration. This makes it the only setting that comfortably exceeds the 100 FPS threshold, providing a very fluid experience. The Medium preset at the same resolution drops to 68.9 FPS, a significant 40% reduction from Low, but still well within the range for smooth gameplay. The High preset at 1080p yields 48.1 FPS, and the Ultra preset is only marginally lower at 41.2 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the pattern shifts. The Low preset remains the best performer at 97.1 FPS, staying above the 60 FPS mark. The Medium preset at 57.3 FPS is the closest to achieving a solid 60 FPS experience at this resolution, while High (42.8 FPS) and Ultra (31.7 FPS) fall into a range where frame pacing becomes more noticeable. At 3840x2160, only the Low preset provides a smoothly playable result with an average of 77.1 FPS. The Medium preset at 47.9 FPS is borderline, and High (35.2 FPS) and Ultra (25.4 FPS) both fall below the 40 FPS mark, which is typically not ideal for an action-oriented title.

The recommendation is clear. For the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, the Medium preset at 2560x1440 is the most sensible target. It delivers 57.3 FPS, which is close to a standard 60 FPS target while offering a noticeable visual upgrade over the Low preset. For users with a 1080p display who prefer higher frame rates, the Medium preset at 68.9 FPS is the optimal choice, as it provides a significant improvement over the High preset's 48.1 FPS without the steep performance cost of Ultra. The Ultra preset provides little benefit over High in terms of frame rate, with only a 6.9 FPS difference at 1080p, making it an inefficient choice for this hardware.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is the primary bottleneck in this configuration, particularly at higher resolutions and settings. The GPU is built on the Ampere architecture and features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is sufficient for the game at 1080p and 1440p, but the data suggests it may be a limiting factor at 4K with higher presets. The GPU's boost clock of 1665 MHz and its 4864 shading units contribute to its overall compute capability, which is rated at 16.20 TFLOPS for FP32 operations.

The frame rates across presets show how heavily the GPU is tasked. At 1920x1080, the difference between Low and Ultra is 74.4 FPS, a massive swing that indicates the GPU is the primary driver of performance. In contrast, the scaling from 1440p to 4K on the same preset is more moderate. For example, on the High preset, the frame rate drops from 42.8 FPS at 1440p to 35.2 FPS at 4K, a 17.8% decrease. This suggests that while the GPU is heavily stressed, the 8 GB VRAM capacity might be causing the GPU to work harder at 4K, as the gap between resolutions is not as wide as one might expect if purely compute-bound.

The RTX 3060 Ti sits in the 69th percentile of all GPUs, and its average benchmark score of 25120 places it in close competition with the AMD Radeon RX 6700M, which is 0.2% behind, and the AMD Radeon RX 6600, which is 0.5% ahead. This data indicates the GPU is a solid mid-range performer. In this game, its performance is adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but it struggles to maintain playable frame rates at 4K with high or ultra settings, where the data shows it falls to 35.2 FPS and 25.4 FPS respectively.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K is a high-end desktop processor with 16 cores and 24 threads, capable of boosting up to 5.40 GHz. Its benchmark scores are robust, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 39000 and a single-core score of 5505. The processor's 30 MB of shared L3 cache and support for both DDR4 and DDR5 memory make it a versatile and powerful component. It ranks in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 47282.

In the context of The Medium, the CPU appears to be more than sufficient for the task. The evidence for this lies in the frame rate scaling at 1080p. When the resolution is held constant at 1920x1080, the frame rates are highly sensitive to the graphics preset, ranging from 115.6 FPS on Low to 41.2 FPS on Ultra. If the CPU were the primary bottleneck, we would expect to see a cap on the maximum frame rate, with the Low preset not exceeding a certain threshold. The fact that the Low preset achieves 115.6 FPS suggests that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU enough data to reach this level of performance.

Further evidence is seen in the scaling from 1080p to 1440p. On the Low preset, the frame rate drops from 115.6 FPS to 97.1 FPS, a 16% decrease. This drop is larger than the drop on the Ultra preset, which goes from 41.2 FPS to 31.7 FPS, a 23% decrease. This pattern indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor; as the resolution increases, the GPU takes longer to render each frame, and the CPU's role becomes less significant. The i7-13700K is not holding this combo back; the data consistently points to the RTX 3060 Ti as the component that determines the final frame rate.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-13700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti combination ranks 873rd out of 1689 tested combos in this game. This places it in the lower-middle portion of all tested configurations, which is a reasonable position given the GPU's mid-range status. The ranking reflects that while the CPU is a top-tier performer, the GPU prevents this combo from achieving the frame rates seen with higher-end graphics cards.

The combo's ranking is a direct result of the GPU's limitations. The i7-13700K is a powerful processor, but it cannot compensate for the RTX 3060 Ti's performance ceiling in this specific title. The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the combo produces only 25.4 FPS, which is not a playable experience. This performance level, combined with the GPU's 69th percentile ranking, explains why the combo does not rank higher. It is a balanced pairing for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but it is not a high-end setup for 4K. The CPU's strength is evident in its ability to maintain high frame rates at lower resolutions, but the GPU's workload at higher resolutions drags the overall ranking down.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drops as resolution increases reveal the nature of the bottleneck in this system. From 1920x1080 to 2560x1440, the average frame rate across all settings drops by a factor of roughly 0.83. For instance, on the Medium preset, the frame rate goes from 68.9 FPS to 57.3 FPS, a 16.8% decrease. This is a moderate drop, indicating that the GPU is being pushed harder but is still managing to keep up with the additional pixel count.

The scaling from 2560x1440 to 3840x2160 is more severe. On the Medium preset, the frame rate drops from 57.3 FPS to 47.9 FPS, a 16.4% decrease. However, on the High preset, the drop is from 42.8 FPS to 35.2 FPS, an 17.8% decrease. This pattern suggests that at 4K, the GPU is becoming heavily saturated. The RTX 3060 Ti's 8 GB of VRAM may also be a factor here, as the higher resolution textures and effects at High and Ultra settings could be exceeding the memory capacity, causing additional performance penalties.

The overall trend shows that the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU's performance is consistent across resolutions, so the variation in frame rates is almost entirely attributable to the GPU's rendering load. The data shows that this combo is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming. At 4K, only the Low preset offers a playable frame rate of 77.1 FPS, while the higher presets fall into a range that is not suitable for a smooth experience. The scaling indicates that users should target 1440p or 1080p with this hardware for the best balance of quality and performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates are consistent and show a clear hierarchy.

At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers the highest average frame rate at 115.6 FPS. The Medium preset follows at 68.9 FPS, a 40.4% decrease. The High preset drops further to 48.1 FPS, and the Ultra preset is the lowest at 41.2 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra is only 6.9 FPS, suggesting that the Ultra preset offers diminishing returns.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset remains the most playable at 97.1 FPS. The Medium preset achieves 57.3 FPS, which is a 41% drop from Low. The High preset yields 42.8 FPS, and the Ultra preset drops to 31.7 FPS. The gap between Medium and High is 14.5 FPS, which is more significant than the gap between High and Ultra at 11.1 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset is the only one that provides a consistently smooth experience, with an average of 77.1 FPS. The Medium preset falls to 47.9 FPS, which is a 37.9% drop. The High preset is at 35.2 FPS, and the Ultra preset is the slowest at 25.4 FPS. The data shows that at 4K, the RTX 3060 Ti is overwhelmed by the Ultra preset, making it unusable for practical gameplay.

Across all resolutions, the Low preset provides a playable frame rate, while the Medium preset is playable at 1080p and 1440p. High and Ultra presets are only recommended for 1080p gaming, where they offer 48.1 FPS and 41.2 FPS respectively, which are still below the 60 FPS target.