The Medium

The Intel Core i7-14700F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 ranks 1432nd out of 1689 tested combinations for The Medium, placing it in the lower third of the database. This position reflects a fundamental mismatch: the CPU is a modern high-end part with top-tier processing power, while the GPU is an older mid-range model that was already aging when this horror title launched in early 2021. A rank of 1432nd out of 1689 means roughly 85% of tested systems outperform this pairing in this specific game, which is a surprisingly weak showing given the CPU's capabilities. The data indicates that this combo sits below the median tested configuration, and the bottleneck is clearly identifiable from the frame rate patterns across resolutions and settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 1432 out of 1689 combos places this system firmly in the lower percentile of tested hardware for The Medium. This is a notable underperformance when considering the CPU alone sits in the 94th percentile of all processors tested, meaning the i7-14700F is faster than 94% of CPUs in the database. The GPU, by contrast, sits in the 51st percentile of all graphics cards, which is almost exactly the median. The combination of a top-decile CPU with a median GPU results in a system that ranks in the bottom 15% of combos, which strongly suggests the graphics card is the limiting factor. The CPU's average benchmark score of 54097 puts it within 1% of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X (54450, deltaPct -0.6) and the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D (54681, deltaPct -1.1), meaning this processor is competitive with some of the fastest consumer chips available. Meanwhile, the GTX 1070's average score of 12331 is nearly identical to the NVIDIA Quadro K4200 (12241, deltaPct 0.7) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M (12490, deltaPct -1.3), which are both much older or lower-tier parts. The disparity between the two components' relative standings in the database explains the disappointing combo rank.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 is built on the Pascal architecture with a GP104 chip manufactured on a 16 nm process. It carries 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 256.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1506 MHz and a boost clock of 1683 MHz, with memory running at 2002 MHz (8 Gbps effective). The card has 1920 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 64 render output units, producing a pixel rate of 107.7 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 202.0 GTexel/s. Its FP32 performance is 6.463 TFLOPS. These specifications place the GPU at the 51st percentile of all graphics cards in the database, with an average benchmark score of 12331. Its nearest rivals in terms of average score include the NVIDIA Quadro K4200 (12241, deltaPct 0.7) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M (12490, deltaPct -1.3), which shows the 1070 is performing roughly on par with much older mobile or workstation parts in synthetic tests. For The Medium, a game that relies heavily on detailed environments and fixed camera angles, the 8 GB VRAM is adequate for most settings, but the GPU's raw compute power becomes the primary constraint. The card's end-of-life production status and 2016 release date mean it lacks modern features like ray tracing and DLSS, which are not present in this game but indicate the architectural age. The measured frame rates show that the GTX 1070 cannot maintain playable performance at higher settings, regardless of resolution, which aligns with its median percentile standing.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F is a Raptor Lake Refresh part with 20 cores and 28 threads, running at a base clock of 2.10 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. It has 33 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB of L2 cache per core, with a 10 nm process node. The CPU's benchmark performance is exceptional: it scores 35443 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 5003 in single-core, while Geekbench results show 16571 multi-core and 2711 single-core. Its Passmark multi-thread score is 41765, and the average benchmark score across all tests is 54097, placing it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs. The nearest rivals in the database are the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X (54450, deltaPct -0.6) and the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D (54681, deltaPct -1.1), meaning the i7-14700F is within 1% of these flagship processors in overall CPU performance. For The Medium, which is a fixed-camera horror game that does not typically stress CPU resources heavily, the i7-14700F provides an enormous surplus of processing power. The game's rendering engine relies more on GPU throughput for the dual-reality mechanic where two worlds are rendered simultaneously. The CPU's 65 W TDP and locked multiplier indicate it is designed for efficiency rather than overclocking, but its 20 cores and 28 threads are far more than this title requires. In every measured configuration, the CPU is not the limiting factor; the frame rates are dictated entirely by GPU performance, as evidenced by the relatively small FPS differences between resolutions at the same settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates reveal a clear pattern of GPU-bound performance across all resolutions and settings. At 1080p, the lowest resolution tested, the system achieves 73.4 FPS on Low settings, which drops to 47.4 FPS on Medium, 34.9 FPS on High, and 25.7 FPS on Ultra. This shows a steady decline of roughly 25-30% with each settings tier increase. At 1440p, the numbers are 61.5 FPS on Low, 41.9 FPS on Medium, 27.6 FPS on High, and 19.9 FPS on Ultra. The drop from Low to Medium at 1440p is 19.6 FPS, while the drop from High to Ultra is only 7.7 FPS, suggesting diminishing returns at the highest preset. At 4K, the results are 50.2 FPS on Low, 31.4 FPS on Medium, 21.7 FPS on High, and 15.6 FPS on Ultra. The 4K Low result is the only configuration at this resolution that approaches playability, while 4K Ultra is effectively unplayable at 15.6 FPS. Comparing across resolutions at the same settings, the 1080p to 1440p drop for Low is 11.9 FPS (from 73.4 to 61.5), while the 1440p to 4K drop for Low is 11.3 FPS (from 61.5 to 50.2). These consistent deltas of roughly 10-12 FPS per resolution step indicate the GPU is being saturated at each level.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling behavior provides direct evidence of GPU limitation. When moving from 1080p to 1440p, the average FPS across all settings drops by approximately 18-20%, which is consistent with the pixel count increase of about 78%. The scaling is not perfectly linear because the GPU is already near its limits at 1080p High. From 1440p to 4K, the FPS drops further by similar margins: for example, at High settings, the system goes from 27.6 FPS at 1440p to 21.7 FPS at 4K, a 21% reduction. At Low settings, the drop from 1440p (61.5 FPS) to 4K (50.2 FPS) is 18.4%. These percentage drops are larger than what would be expected from a CPU-bound scenario, where resolution has minimal impact on frame rates. The fact that FPS decreases significantly with each resolution step confirms that the GTX 1070 is the limiting component. A CPU-bound system would show nearly identical FPS at 1080p and 4K, but the data shows a 31.5% reduction from 1080p Low (73.4 FPS) to 4K Low (50.2 FPS). The i7-14700F's massive headroom is never utilized because the GPU cannot feed frames fast enough at any resolution. This is particularly evident at Ultra settings, where the 1080p result of 25.7 FPS is only marginally better than the 4K result of 15.6 FPS, showing that the GPU is fully saturated even at the lowest resolution with maximum settings.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data points to only one viable configuration for a playable experience, and even that is marginal. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 73.4 FPS, which is smooth and responsive, well above the 60 FPS threshold. The next step up, 1080p Medium at 47.4 FPS, is playable but with noticeable stutter in a horror game where smooth camera movement is critical for atmosphere. At 1440p Low, the 61.5 FPS result is also acceptable, though slightly below the 1080p Low figure. For players prioritizing visual fidelity over frame rate, 1080p Medium offers a balance, but the drop from Low to Medium is significant (26 FPS reduction). The High preset at any resolution fails to maintain 35 FPS, which is below the playability threshold for this genre. Ultra settings are not recommended under any circumstances, as the best Ultra result is 25.7 FPS at 1080p, which is well below playable. At 4K, only the Low preset (50.2 FPS) approaches playability, but this is borderline and not recommended for a game that relies on tension and timing. The optimal configuration is 1080p Low, which provides the highest frame rate headroom and allows the fixed-camera scenes to render without judder. If the user can tolerate lower frame rates, 1440p Low at 61.5 FPS is a viable alternative that offers better image clarity. However, the data shows that this system is best suited for 1080p Low or Medium, with no viable path to higher settings without significant FPS loss.