The Medium

The Intel Core i7-13700K pairs 16 cores (8 performance and 8 efficient) with 24 threads, a combination that gives it a 93rd percentile standing against all CPUs. Its Raptor Lake architecture runs at a 3.40 GHz base clock and boosts to 5.40 GHz, figures that matter less in a horror title like The Medium than the sheer thread count. The CPU’s Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 39000 and single-core score of 5505 indicate substantial headroom for game logic and scene streaming. In benchmark results for this title, the processor’s role becomes clear when comparing settings: at 1080p Low, the combo hits 125 FPS, but at 4K Ultra it falls to 29 FPS. That massive drop is not a CPU limitation, the 16-core part is far from saturated. Instead, the data points to the GPU as the primary constraint at higher resolutions. The i7-13700K’s 30 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache help maintain consistent frame pacing, which is critical in a game with fixed-camera angles and streaming environments. Compared to its nearest rivals, the i7-13700K scores 47334 on the average benchmark for the Core i7-13700KF (a -0.1% delta) and 47131 for the AMD EPYC 4364P (a 0.3% delta), showing it sits squarely in a competitive mid-pack. For The Medium specifically, the CPU’s 24 threads ensure that background asset loading and shader compilation do not introduce stutter, even when the GPU is maxed out. The processor’s 125 W TDP and 10 nm process node are secondary to its performance here; what matters is that at 1080p Low, the CPU is clearly not the bottleneck, as the 125 FPS result demonstrates.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is the star of this combo, and its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth is the defining specification for The Medium. The game’s dual-reality rendering, where two worlds are displayed simultaneously, places enormous pressure on VRAM and memory throughput. At 4K Ultra, the combo produces 29 FPS, which is playable but not smooth, and the 8 GB frame buffer is likely the culprit. The GPU’s 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output pipelines provide a theoretical FP32 performance of 20.31 TFLOPS. Boost clock sits at 1725 MHz, with a base of 1500 MHz. The RTX 3070’s 46 ray tracing cores are relevant because The Medium uses ray-traced reflections and lighting in its horror scenes. However, the benchmark data shows that raw rasterization power is the limiting factor at higher settings. The GPU holds a 72nd percentile rank among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 28238. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT, scores 27985 (a 0.9% delta), while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti scores 27956 (a 1% delta). This places the RTX 3070 in a tight cluster, but the 8 GB VRAM is a clear advantage over the GTX 980 Ti’s older architecture. At 1080p Medium, the combo reaches 77.8 FPS, which indicates the GPU is well-utilized. At 4K Medium, the frame rate drops to 48.9 FPS, a 37% reduction from 1080p, showing that the memory bandwidth and capacity are being stretched. The 14 Gbps effective memory clock is adequate for 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K, the 8 GB capacity becomes a wall, especially with Ultra settings that likely increase texture detail and shadow resolution beyond what the frame buffer can hold efficiently.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario, with the CPU’s influence fading as resolution increases. At Low settings, the combo delivers 125 FPS at 1080p, 106.1 FPS at 1440p, and 83.8 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 4K is 33%, which is modest compared to higher settings. This suggests that at Low, the game is still partially CPU-limited at 1080p, but the GPU takes over as the primary constraint at 4K. For Medium settings, the numbers tell a different story: 77.8 FPS at 1080p, 66 FPS at 1440p, and 48.9 FPS at 4K, a 37% decline from 1080p to 4K. The scaling is consistent, indicating the GPU is the limiting component across all resolutions at this setting. High settings show 55.6 FPS at 1080p, 47.4 FPS at 1440p, and 33.8 FPS at 4K, a 39% drop. Ultra is the most demanding: 42.6 FPS at 1080p, 38.2 FPS at 1440p, and 29 FPS at 4K, a 32% reduction. The key insight is that the RTX 3070’s 8 GB VRAM is the bottleneck at 4K Ultra, where the frame rate falls below 30 FPS. At 1080p and 1440p, the GPU is still the limiting factor, but the CPU’s 16 cores ensure that frame times remain consistent, as evidenced by the smooth scaling. The data shows that this combo is not designed for 4K Ultra in The Medium; it is a 1080p and 1440p performer, with 4K viable only at Low or Medium settings. The scaling pattern, where the percentage drop from 1080p to 4K is relatively stable across settings, indicates that the GPU’s rasterization and memory bandwidth are the primary constraints, not the CPU’s core count or clock speed.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the combo shows its strongest performance across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 125 FPS, which is excellent for a horror title where smooth camera panning is essential. Medium settings yield 77.8 FPS, still well above the 60 FPS threshold for comfortable play. High settings drop to 55.6 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for fast-paced scenes. Ultra settings produce 42.6 FPS, which is borderline for a game that relies on atmosphere rather than twitch reflexes. Moving to 1440p, the numbers shift downward but remain respectable. Low settings hit 106.1 FPS, a 15% reduction from 1080p. Medium settings produce 66 FPS, a 15% drop. High settings yield 47.4 FPS, a 15% drop. Ultra settings fall to 38.2 FPS, a 10% drop from 1080p. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is almost linear, confirming that the GPU is the limiting factor. At 4K, the performance degrades significantly. Low settings average 83.8 FPS, which is still playable, but Medium settings drop to 48.9 FPS, and High settings fall to 33.8 FPS. Ultra settings produce just 29 FPS, which is below the playable threshold for most users. The data indicates that the RTX 3070’s 8 GB VRAM is overwhelmed at 4K Ultra, likely due to the game’s dual-world rendering requiring two full sets of textures and lighting data. The measured FPS at 1440p High (47.4 FPS) and 4K Medium (48.9 FPS) are nearly identical, suggesting that the GPU’s compute resources are the bottleneck at these settings, not the memory capacity. For 1080p, the combo is a solid performer, with Low and Medium settings providing headroom for high refresh rate monitors.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo of the Intel Core i7-13700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 ranks 765th out of 1689 tested combinations in The Medium. This places it in the 45th percentile of all combos, meaning it outperforms roughly 55% of the field. The rank is surprising given the CPU’s 93rd percentile standing and the GPU’s 72nd percentile, but it reflects the game’s specific demands. The Medium is a horror title that relies heavily on GPU memory and shading, rather than CPU compute. The i7-13700K’s strong multi-threaded scores, such as the 3DMark max threads score of 12412 and the Passmark multithread score of 45887, do not translate directly into game performance because the title’s engine is not heavily threaded. Instead, the GPU’s 8 GB VRAM and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are the deciding factors. Compared to other combos, this pairing sits above the median but below the top 20% of systems. The rank of 765 out of 1689 indicates that while the CPU is overqualified for this title, the GPU is the limiting factor. A combo with a weaker CPU but a stronger GPU would likely rank higher, as The Medium’s benchmark results show a clear GPU-bound pattern. The data suggests that for this game, the i7-13700K’s 16 cores provide no tangible benefit over a 6-core or 8-core part, as the FPS numbers are dictated almost entirely by the RTX 3070’s performance. The combo’s rank is still respectable, placing it in the upper half of all tested systems, but it is not a top-tier configuration for The Medium. Users seeking higher frame rates at 4K would need a GPU with more VRAM and bandwidth, while those playing at 1080p will find this combo more than adequate. The rank also reflects the game’s release date in January 2021, meaning it was optimized for GPUs from that era, and the RTX 3070’s specifications align closely with the game’s requirements.