The Medium

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for The Medium with the Intel Core i7-14700F and AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT shows a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo delivers 111.1 FPS, which drops to 92.8 FPS at 1440p and further to 69.9 FPS at 4K. This represents a 37.1% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, indicating that the GPU is becoming the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions.

The scaling pattern becomes more pronounced at higher quality settings. At High settings, the frame rate falls from 46.8 FPS at 1080p to 41.6 FPS at 1440p and finally to 30.1 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 4K at High settings is 35.7%, which is slightly less severe than at Low settings, but the absolute numbers remain low. At Ultra settings, the performance collapses more dramatically: 40 FPS at 1080p, 35.1 FPS at 1440p, and 28.5 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset at 4K produces the worst result in the entire dataset.

The Medium preset shows a middle ground: 67.8 FPS at 1080p, 57.2 FPS at 1440p, and 43.3 FPS at 4K. The relative drop from 1080p to 4K at Medium is 36.1%, consistent with the other presets. This consistency across settings suggests that the scaling behavior is largely resolution-driven rather than settings-driven, which points to the GPU's rendering throughput as the bottleneck. The data indicates that at 1080p, the system has headroom for higher frame rates, but at 4K, even Low settings barely maintain playable frame rates.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with a 7 nm process from TSMC, featuring 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus. The memory clock runs at 2000 MHz with 16 Gbps effective speed, yielding a bandwidth of 384.0 GB/s. The GPU's base clock is 2321 MHz, with a game clock of 2424 MHz and a boost clock of 2581 MHz. The shading units number 2560, with 160 TMUs and 64 ROPs, plus 40 ray tracing cores. The peak FP32 throughput is 13.21 TFLOPS, and the pixel rate is 165.2 GPixel/s.

In this game, the GPU's 12 GB VRAM is sufficient for the resolution range tested, as the data does not indicate any memory-related stutter or performance cliffs. The benchmark scores show the GPU at the 77th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 33721. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6800, scores 33493, which is 0.7% lower. The NVIDIA RTX A5000 is 1.3% behind, while the AMD Radeon HD 7950 and RX 480 are 1% ahead. These margins are small, suggesting the RX 6700 XT sits in a tightly contested performance band.

The game clock of 2424 MHz is the most relevant figure for sustained gaming workloads, and it sits between the base and boost clocks. The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the frame rate drops to 28.5 FPS, which is below the 30 FPS threshold often considered the minimum for playability. At 4K High, the result is 30.1 FPS, barely above that line. The GPU's performance at 1440p Medium (57.2 FPS) and 1080p Medium (67.8 FPS) suggests that the card handles mid-range settings well, but the Ultra preset at any resolution forces the GPU into a range where frame rates become marginal.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play The Medium with this combo for a smooth experience?

A: At 1080p with Medium settings, the combo achieves 67.8 FPS, which is the highest frame rate at a medium quality preset. At 1440p Medium, it drops to 57.2 FPS, still playable but with a 15.6% reduction.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest rival in raw benchmark performance?

A: The RX 6700 XT has an average benchmark score of 33721, placing it 0.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6800 (33493) and 1.3% ahead of the NVIDIA RTX A5000 (33294). The AMD Radeon HD 7950 and RX 480 are both 1% ahead.

Q: Is the 12 GB VRAM sufficient for 4K gaming in The Medium?

A: The data shows the GPU can handle 4K Low at 69.9 FPS and 4K Medium at 43.3 FPS, indicating that VRAM is not the limiting factor. The bottleneck appears to be raw compute throughput, as 4K Ultra drops to 28.5 FPS.

Q: What is the CPU's percentile ranking among all CPUs?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700F sits at the 94th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54097. Its closest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X, scores 54450, which is 0.6% higher.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested combinations in this game?

A: The combo ranks 948 out of 1689 tested combos, placing it in the middle of the distribution. This suggests that while the individual components are strong, the combination is not optimized for this specific title.

Q: What frame rate can be expected at 1440p Ultra?

A: At 1440p Ultra, the combo delivers 35.1 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay. The setting is playable but not ideal for fast-paced action.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo of the Intel Core i7-14700F and AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT ranks 948 out of 1689 tested combinations in The Medium. This places it in the 56th percentile of all tested combos, meaning roughly 44% of combinations perform better. The rank is notable because the CPU alone sits at the 94th percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU sits at the 77th percentile. The gap between these two percentiles and the combo's mid-pack ranking suggests that The Medium is more reliant on GPU performance than CPU performance.

The data indicates that the CPU's high benchmark scores do not translate into a top-tier gaming result for this title. The CPU's nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X, scores 54450 in average benchmarks, which is 0.6% higher than the i7-14700F's 54097. This small CPU delta is unlikely to explain the combo's rank, as the GPU's 77th percentile is the more likely limiting factor. The RX 6700 XT's nearest rival, the RX 6800, is only 0.7% behind, indicating that the GPU is in a competitive band but not a top performer.

The rank of 948 out of 1689 means that there are many combos that outperform this one in The Medium. The data suggests that users seeking higher frame rates would need a more powerful GPU, as the CPU has headroom. The combo's positioning in the middle of the pack is consistent with the GPU's 77th percentile ranking, which is solid but not elite.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process. The base clock is 2.10 GHz, and the boost clock reaches 5.40 GHz. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 33 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in dual-channel mode and has 16 PCIe Gen 5 lanes. The TDP is 65 W, which is modest for a 20-core part.

In terms of benchmark performance, the i7-14700F achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35443 and a single-core score of 5003. Geekbench results show 16571 for multi-core and 2711 for single-core. Passmark multi-thread score is 41765, with a single-thread score of 4261. The CPU's average benchmark score is 54097, placing it at the 94th percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X, scores 54450, which is 0.6% higher. The Ryzen 9 9900X3D is 1.1% higher, while the Intel Xeon Phi 7290 and AMD EPYC 7313P are 1.2% and 1.7% lower, respectively.

In The Medium, the CPU's role appears to be secondary to the GPU. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the frame rate reaches 111.1 FPS, which suggests the CPU can feed the GPU adequately at lower resolutions. However, as resolution increases, the frame rate drops in a pattern consistent with GPU limitation. The CPU's high single-thread score of 5003 in Cinebench R23 indicates strong per-core performance, which is important for games that rely on a few threads. The 20 cores and 28 threads provide ample multi-threading headroom, but The Medium may not fully utilize this, given the GPU-bound behavior observed in the FPS data.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers four resolutions and four quality settings, for a total of twelve data points. At 1920x1080, the Low preset yields 111.1 FPS, which is the highest result in the entire dataset. Medium at 1080p produces 67.8 FPS, High produces 46.8 FPS, and Ultra drops to 40 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 71.1 FPS, showing a significant performance cost for higher quality settings.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset delivers 92.8 FPS, which is still above 60 FPS. Medium drops to 57.2 FPS, High to 41.6 FPS, and Ultra to 35.1 FPS. The spread at 1440p is 57.7 FPS, which is smaller than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is becoming more of a bottleneck. The drop from Low to Ultra at 1440p is 62.2%, compared to 64.0% at 1080p, showing a slightly less severe relative penalty.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset yields 69.9 FPS, which is still playable. Medium drops to 43.3 FPS, High to 30.1 FPS, and Ultra to 28.5 FPS. The spread at 4K is 41.4 FPS, the smallest of any resolution, indicating that the GPU is heavily constrained at this resolution. The Ultra preset at 4K is the only data point below 30 FPS, at 28.5 FPS. The High preset at 4K is barely above 30 FPS at 30.1 FPS.

Across all resolutions, the Low preset consistently provides the highest frame rates, with a minimum of 69.9 FPS at 4K. The Medium preset stays above 43 FPS at all resolutions, making it the highest quality setting that remains playable at 4K. The Ultra preset is only viable at 1080p, where it reaches 40 FPS. The data shows that for a consistent 60 FPS experience, users should target 1080p Low or Medium, while 1440p Low provides the best balance of resolution and frame rate.