The Medium

The Medium is a fixed-camera horror title that leans heavily on atmosphere, and the measured frame rates for the Intel Core i7-14700F with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 show a system that is clearly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, while becoming increasingly CPU-influenced only at 1080p. This combination, ranked 227th out of 3724 tested combos in this game, delivers playable performance across most settings, but the data reveals a steep cost for Ultra presets at 4K, dropping to an average of 45 FPS, which is a substantial hit from the 57 FPS average seen at High settings.

Resolution Scaling

The scaling from 1080p to 4K on this system is dramatic, with the measured FPS dropping by roughly 63% between the lowest and highest tested resolutions when using the same settings. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 178 at 1920x1080 to 161 at 2560x1440, then further down to 127 at 3840x2160. This pattern suggests the CPU is still feeding frames efficiently at 1080p, but the GPU is taking on more work as pixel count rises. The gap between 1080p and 1440p Low is only 17 FPS, but the jump from 1440p to 4K Low is a steeper 34 FPS drop, indicating the RTX 4080's rendering load is scaling non-linearly with resolution.

At Medium settings, the same trend appears: 120 FPS at 1080p, 101 FPS at 1440p, and 79 FPS at 4K. The delta between 1080p and 1440p is 19 FPS, while the delta between 1440p and 4K is 22 FPS, showing a near-consistent penalty per resolution step. For High settings, the averages are 86, 72, and 57 FPS for 1080p, 1440p, and 4K respectively. Here, the drop from 1080p to 1440p is 14 FPS, and from 1440p to 4K is 15 FPS, again a steady decline. Ultra settings are the most punishing: 68 FPS at 1080p, 57 FPS at 1440p, and 45 FPS at 4K. The 1440p to 4K Ultra drop of 12 FPS is smaller in absolute terms than the Low settings drop, but the relative hit is severe, pushing the game below the 60 FPS threshold.

These numbers indicate that the limiting component shifts based on resolution. At 1080p, the RTX 4080 is not fully saturated, as evidenced by the high frame rates, but at 4K, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck, especially under Medium and High presets where the frame rate scales almost inversely with pixel count. The fact that Low settings at 4K achieve 127 FPS while Ultra at 4K only reaches 45 FPS shows that the rendering features enabled at Ultra are far more demanding than raw resolution alone. This is a GPU-limited scenario at 4K, with the Core i7-14700F's 20 cores and 28 threads providing ample headroom to avoid CPU stalls.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, based on the Ada Lovelace architecture and built on a 5 nm process at TSMC, brings 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s. The GPU's base clock is 2205 MHz with a boost clock of 2505 MHz, and it has 9728 shading units, 304 TMUs, and 112 ROPs. In The Medium, these specifications translate into a performance envelope that is strong at 1080p and 1440p but tested at the limits of playability at 4K Ultra.

The measured FPS reveals that the RTX 4080's memory subsystem is likely not a constraint at lower resolutions, but the 4K Ultra result of 45 FPS suggests that the GPU's compute and rasterization throughput are the limiting factors. The card's pixel rate is 280.6 GPixel/s and its texture rate is 761.5 GTexel/s, which are high figures, but The Medium's use of heavy post-processing and lighting effects at Ultra can still challenge these resources. The 16 GB VRAM capacity is more than sufficient for this game at any resolution, as the data does not indicate any memory-related stuttering or frame drops; the minimum FPS recorded at Medium settings is 67 at 4K, 86 at 1440p, and 102 at 1080p, showing no VRAM overflow.

The RTX 4080's 76 RT cores and 304 tensor cores are present in the hardware, but The Medium does not appear to be a ray-tracing-focused title in these measurements, as the frame rates are more consistent with traditional rasterization loads. The GPU's FP32 performance is 48.74 TFLOPS, which is a raw measure of compute capability, but the game's engine seems to favor texture and pixel throughput over pure math, given the large gaps between Low and Ultra settings at the same resolution. The 22.4 Gbps effective memory speed is another factor; at 4K, the bandwidth demand increases, and the 716.8 GB/s figure appears adequate for Medium and High presets, but Ultra's extra effects may be pushing the memory controller harder, contributing to the 45 FPS average.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the Medium preset offers the best balance between visual quality and frame rate for this combo. At 1920x1080, Medium delivers 120 FPS average with a minimum of 102 FPS and a maximum of 138 FPS, which is a smooth experience well above the 60 FPS target. At 2560x1440, Medium still holds 101 FPS with a 86 FPS minimum, keeping gameplay fluid. Even at 3840x2160, Medium achieves 79 FPS with a 67 FPS minimum, which is playable for most users, though the minimum frame rate dips close to 60 FPS, suggesting potential stutter in demanding scenes.

High settings are a viable alternative for those prioritizing visual fidelity over raw speed. At 1080p, High averages 86 FPS, at 1440p it averages 72 FPS, and at 4K it averages 57 FPS. The 4K High result is just below the 60 FPS mark, which may be acceptable for a horror game with slower pacing, but the 57 FPS average does not have a recorded minimum, so frame pacing could be inconsistent. Ultra settings are not recommended for this configuration, as the 4K Ultra average of 45 FPS falls below playable thresholds, and even 1440p Ultra only reaches 57 FPS, which is borderline. The data suggests that Low settings are unnecessary for this hardware, as even 4K Low achieves 127 FPS, so users should start at Medium and adjust upward only if they have headroom.

The sweet spot is clearly Medium across all resolutions. The measured minimum FPS values for Medium are 102 at 1080p, 86 at 1440p, and 67 at 4K, which are all above the critical 60 FPS line except for the 4K minimum that sits at 67, leaving a small buffer. In contrast, High settings lack recorded minimums, so we cannot assess the worst-case frame times, but the averages suggest a noticeable drop in stability. For a game like The Medium, where atmosphere and pacing matter more than fast reaction times, Medium at 4K is the recommended balance, offering 79 FPS average with a 67 FPS minimum, which is a much safer bet than High's 57 FPS average.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the data shows a wide spread across settings. Low settings yield an average of 178 FPS, which is the highest frame rate in the entire dataset, indicating no CPU limitation at this resolution. Medium settings produce 120 FPS average with a 102 FPS minimum and 138 FPS maximum, providing a stable experience. High settings drop to 86 FPS average, and Ultra falls further to 68 FPS average. The gap between Low and Medium is 58 FPS, while the gap between Medium and High is 34 FPS, and between High and Ultra is 18 FPS. This diminishing returns pattern suggests that each preset tier adds graphical features that cost progressively less relative performance at 1080p.

Moving to 2560x1440, Low settings average 161 FPS, Medium averages 101 FPS with a 86 FPS minimum and 116 FPS maximum, High averages 72 FPS, and Ultra averages 57 FPS. The drop from Low to Medium is 60 FPS, from Medium to High is 29 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 15 FPS. Compared to 1080p, the Medium preset loses 19 FPS, High loses 14 FPS, and Ultra loses 11 FPS when moving to 1440p. The Low preset loses only 17 FPS, showing that the least demanding settings are less sensitive to resolution changes.

At 3840x2160, the numbers compress further. Low averages 127 FPS, Medium averages 79 FPS with a 67 FPS minimum and 91 FPS maximum, High averages 57 FPS, and Ultra averages 45 FPS. The Low-to-Medium drop is 48 FPS, Medium-to-High is 22 FPS, and High-to-Ultra is 12 FPS. The 4K Medium minimum of 67 FPS is a critical data point, as it shows the system can maintain playable frame times even at this resolution. The 4K High average of 57 FPS is just below the 60 FPS target, while 4K Ultra at 45 FPS is clearly too slow for a smooth experience. The maximum FPS values for Medium settings are 138 at 1080p, 116 at 1440p, and 91 at 4K, showing that even the peaks decrease with resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-14700F with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 combination ranks 227th out of 3724 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the top 6.1% of all configurations. This is a strong showing, but the percentile field for the GPU indicates the RTX 4080 sits in the 86th percentile against all GPUs, while the CPU is in the 91st percentile against all CPUs. The GPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER, which has an average score of 54209 and a deltaPct of 0.1, meaning the RTX 4080 is essentially tied with that card. The AMD Radeon Pro W5700X has a score of 54828 with a deltaPct of -1.1, indicating the RTX 4080 is 1.1% behind that card, while the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB scores 55698 with a -2.6 deltaPct, and the AMD Radeon 8060S scores 55757 with a -2.7 deltaPct.

These rival deltas are small, suggesting that GPU performance in this game is closely clustered among top-tier cards, but the measured FPS for this combo in The Medium shows that the RTX 4080 is not the absolute fastest, as the 4K Ultra average of 45 FPS is low for a card in this class. The combo rank of 227 out of 3724 means there are 226 other combinations that perform better in this specific game, which could include systems with faster GPUs or CPUs with better gaming optimizations. The CPU's nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon 6505P with a deltaPct of -0.2, the Intel Xeon Phi 7290 with a +0.3 deltaPct, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X with a +0.6 deltaPct, and the AMD EPYC 7313P with a +0.8 deltaPct. These small deltas indicate that the Core i7-14700F is competitive with other high-end CPUs, but none of these rivals are specifically tuned for gaming.

The data suggests that this combo's rank is driven more by the GPU than the CPU, as the RTX 4080's percentile is lower than the CPU's percentile. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (178 FPS) shows that the CPU is not a limiting factor, but the 4K Ultra result (45 FPS) indicates that the GPU is holding the combo back from higher ranks. If the RTX 4080 were paired with a faster GPU, the rank would likely improve, but within this specific pairing, the 227th position out of 3724 is a respectable result, placing it ahead of the vast majority of tested systems.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.10 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. Its L3 cache is 33 MB shared, and it supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory on a dual-channel bus. In The Medium, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic, and the measured FPS at 1080p Low (178 FPS) indicates that the CPU is not a bottleneck at lower resolutions. Even at 1080p Medium, the 120 FPS average with a 102 FPS minimum shows that the processor can sustain high frame rates without stuttering.

The CPU's benchmark scores provide context for its gaming performance. In Cinebench R23, it scores 35122 in multicore and 4958 in singlecore, with a Geekbench multicore score of 19620 and singlecore of 2429. These numbers are strong, but The Medium is not a CPU-heavy title, as evidenced by the relatively small differences between 1080p and 1440p at the same settings. For example, at Medium settings, the drop from 1080p to 1440p is 19 FPS, and from 1440p to 4K is 22 FPS, which suggests the GPU is taking on more work as resolution increases, while the CPU maintains a consistent frame delivery.

The CPU's 20 cores and 28 threads are overkill for this game, as the data does not show any CPU-bound scenarios at any resolution. The 91st percentile ranking against all CPUs confirms its high performance, but the nearest rivals like the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X, which has a deltaPct of 0.6, show that the Core i7-14700F is only slightly faster in synthetic benchmarks. In The Medium, the CPU's boost clock of 5.40 GHz likely helps maintain high single-thread performance, which is important for game logic, but the fact that 1080p Low achieves 178 FPS while 4K Low achieves 127 FPS indicates that the GPU is the dominant factor in frame rate scaling.

The CPU's memory support for DDR5 could also play a role, but the fact pack does not include specific memory bandwidth numbers beyond the dual-channel configuration. The L3 cache of 33 MB is ample for gaming, and the processor's 65 W TDP suggests efficient power delivery, though that does not directly impact frame rates. Overall, the Core i7-14700F provides a solid foundation for the RTX 4080 in The Medium, with no evidence of CPU-induced frame drops at any resolution, making the GPU the primary determinant of the measured performance.