The Medium

The Medium presents an extreme stress test for the Intel Core i7-14700F and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti combination. The measured frame rates reveal a system profoundly constrained by its graphics card, where even the lowest settings struggle to achieve smooth gameplay. This analysis breaks down the data from the benchmark results to explain the performance characteristics of this pairing.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate data shows a stark relationship between resolution and performance, revealing the GTX 1050 Ti as the primary bottleneck. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 37.5 FPS, which drops to 27.5 FPS at 1440p and 23 FPS at 4K. This scaling pattern—a 27% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a further 16% drop to 4K—indicates that the GPU is working at its absolute limit, with the CPU's considerable headroom (evidenced by its 94th percentile ranking) going unused.

The situation worsens dramatically at higher presets. At 1080p High, the average FPS falls to 18.5, while at 4K High it collapses to 11 FPS. The Ultra preset is nearly unplayable across all resolutions: 9.5 FPS at 1080p, 11.2 FPS at 1440p, and just 5.5 FPS at 4K. The fact that 1440p Ultra (11.2 FPS) actually outperforms 1080p Ultra (9.5 FPS) suggests measurement variance rather than a meaningful performance characteristic, given the GPU's extreme saturation.

The interpolation between resolutions reveals a particularly telling pattern: the jump from 1080p to 1440p at Medium settings (24.2 to 19.4 FPS) represents a 20% loss, while the same resolution change at Low settings (37.5 to 27.5 FPS) costs 27%. This inverted relationship—where lower settings suffer proportionally more from resolution increases—confirms that the GPU's memory bandwidth and processing capacity are the limiting factors, not the CPU. The Core i7-14700F, with its 20 cores and 28 threads, is effectively idle in this scenario.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achievable with this combo?

A: The best measured result is 37.5 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the only configuration that approaches playability, though it still falls short of standard 60 FPS targets.

Q: How does the GTX 1050 Ti's 4 GB VRAM affect The Medium?

A: The 4 GB GDDR5 memory with 112.1 GB/s bandwidth appears insufficient for this game's demands. The Ultra preset at 4K yields only 5.5 FPS, indicating that the game exceeds the GPU's memory capacity and processing ability at higher settings.

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

A: The data strongly indicates the GPU is the bottleneck. The GTX 1050 Ti's benchmark scores (30th percentile among all GPUs) contrast sharply with the CPU's 94th percentile ranking. The frame rates scale with resolution and settings in a way consistent with GPU limitation.

Q: What performance difference exists between Low and Medium settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, Low produces 37.5 FPS while Medium produces 24.2 FPS—a 35% performance reduction for the higher preset. This gap widens at higher resolutions, suggesting the Medium preset's additional effects tax the GPU disproportionately.

Q: How does this combo compare to other tested configurations?

A: This pairing ranks 1679th out of 1689 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the bottom 1% of all configurations. This ranking reflects the GPU's age and capability relative to modern game requirements.

Q: Does the CPU's performance matter in this game?

A: Given the frame rates observed, the CPU's capabilities are largely irrelevant. The i7-14700F's benchmark scores (Cinebench R23 multi-core: 35443, single-core: 5003) vastly exceed what this game can utilize with such a weak GPU.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data presents a clear hierarchy of playable configurations. Low settings at 1080p is the only option that exceeds 30 FPS, offering 37.5 FPS. This should be considered the baseline for any attempt at gameplay. Medium settings at 1080p (24.2 FPS) and Low at 1440p (27.5 FPS) represent marginal alternatives, though both fall below 30 FPS.

For users who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate, the data shows that High settings at 1080p (18.5 FPS) and Medium at 1440p (19.4 FPS) provide similar performance levels. Neither is ideal, but they represent the upper bound of playable (or nearly playable) quality. The Ultra preset is not recommended under any resolution, as it produces frame rates below 12 FPS in all cases—even 1080p Ultra yields only 9.5 FPS.

The most practical recommendation is Low settings at 1080p, which provides roughly 60% more performance than the next-best option. This configuration leverages the game's scalability to minimize GPU load while maintaining the best chance of a consistent experience. Higher resolutions do not meaningfully improve the situation; 4K Low (23 FPS) offers only 61% of the 1080p Low performance, making any resolution above 1080p counterproductive.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination's ranking of 1679th out of 1689 tested combos places it in the bottom 0.6% of all configurations tested in The Medium. This near-last placement reflects the fundamental mismatch between the game's demanding rendering requirements and the GTX 1050 Ti's capabilities. The GPU's average benchmark score of 5316 puts it below 70% of all graphics cards, and its nearest rivals—the GeForce 930A (5317), GeForce 940M (5297), and Radeon R7 240 (5280)—are all similarly dated or lower-tier parts.

The CPU's position is irrelevant to this ranking, as the i7-14700F sits in the 94th percentile of all CPUs and outperforms several high-end rivals, including the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X (-0.6% delta) and Ryzen 9 9900X3D (-1.1% delta). The ranking is entirely determined by the GPU's inability to process The Medium's visual effects at acceptable speeds. Even the most powerful CPU cannot compensate for a graphics card that delivers single-digit frame rates at high settings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti is the decisive component in this configuration. Its specifications—4 GB GDDR5 memory, 128-bit bus, 112.1 GB/s bandwidth, and 768 shading units—date to a 2016-era design (Pascal architecture, 14 nm process). The card's base clock of 1291 MHz and boost clock of 1392 MHz are modest by modern standards, and its 2.138 TFLOPS FP32 performance places it firmly in entry-level territory.

The VRAM capacity is particularly problematic for The Medium. The game's Ultra preset at 4K produces 5.5 FPS, while High at 4K yields 11 FPS—both figures indicate the GPU is not only bandwidth-limited but likely memory-limited as well. The 4 GB buffer is insufficient for the game's texture streaming and scene complexity at higher resolutions. This is consistent with the GPU's 30th percentile ranking and its benchmark scores, which show weak DirectX 12 performance (26 in PassMark's DX12 test) relative to its DirectX 11 result (45).

The GPU's power characteristics (75 W TDP, no external power connectors) and PCIe 3.0 x16 interface are adequate for its class, but they do nothing to mitigate the fundamental performance deficit. The card's end-of-life production status and 2016 release date (with a successor in the GeForce 20 series) further underscore its age relative to a 2021 game title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160 (4K), the results are uniformly poor. Low settings produce 23 FPS, Medium drops to 12.3 FPS, High falls to 11 FPS, and Ultra collapses to 5.5 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium (a 46% reduction) is the largest single-settings jump in the entire dataset, indicating that Medium's additional effects overwhelm the GPU.

At 2560x1440 (1440p), the pattern improves slightly but remains sub-30 FPS. Low achieves 27.5 FPS, Medium reaches 19.4 FPS, High yields 11.3 FPS, and Ultra manages 11.2 FPS. Notably, High and Ultra are nearly identical at this resolution, suggesting the GPU is saturated before Ultra's extra features can be fully rendered.

At 1920x1080 (1080p), the best results appear. Low delivers 37.5 FPS, Medium produces 24.2 FPS, High offers 18.5 FPS, and Ultra drops to 9.5 FPS. The progression from Low to Medium (35% loss), Medium to High (24% loss), and High to Ultra (49% loss) shows that each preset tier imposes a significant performance penalty.

Across all resolutions, the data shows no configuration exceeding 40 FPS, and only one (1080p Low) exceeding 30 FPS. The minimum frame rates are not recorded in this dataset, but given the average FPS values, stuttering and frame-time spikes are likely severe in all settings. This combo is fundamentally unsuited for The Medium at any resolution or quality level, with the sole exception of Low settings at 1080p providing a barely playable experience.