The Medium

The Intel Core i7-14700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER combination delivers a profoundly resolution-dependent experience in The Medium, with the data revealing a clear transition from a CPU-governed environment at 1080p to a GPU-bound scenario at 4K. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset yields 67.1 FPS, but dropping to Low settings catapults performance to 176.2 FPS, a 162.7% uplift that indicates the graphics card is far from saturated. However, at 3840x2160, the same settings swing produces a jump from 47.8 FPS to 127.2 FPS, suggesting that while the GPU still has headroom, the scaling pattern shifts dramatically. The most telling metric is the Medium preset progression: 119.3 FPS at 1080p, 99.6 FPS at 1440p, and 75.8 FPS at 4K, showing a 36.5% performance drop from the lowest to highest resolution, which is a relatively modest decline for a title with this visual fidelity, pointing to a system where neither component becomes a complete bottleneck until the higher presets are engaged.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling curve for this combo in The Medium reveals a performance profile that is unusually flat at lower settings but steepens considerably as visual fidelity increases. At Low settings, the frame rate descends from 176.2 FPS at 1080p to 159.5 FPS at 1440p and finally to 127.2 FPS at 4K, representing a 27.8% total drop across the resolution ladder—a sign that the RTX 4080 SUPER's 16 GB frame buffer and 736.3 GB/s bandwidth are ample for even the highest pixel counts at minimal graphical complexity. Moving to Medium, the scaling tightens: 119.3 FPS at 1080p becomes 99.6 FPS at 1440p and 75.8 FPS at 4K, a 36.5% reduction that indicates the shader workload is beginning to engage the GPU more meaningfully. High settings exacerbate this trend, with 85.4 FPS at 1080p falling to 71.2 FPS at 1440p and 53.5 FPS at 4K, a 37.4% decline. Ultra is where the GPU takes full control: 67.1 FPS at 1080p, 54.9 FPS at 1440p, and 47.8 FPS at 4K, a 28.8% drop that, while substantial, still leaves the game playable at every resolution. The data suggests that at 1080p with Low or Medium settings, the Intel Core i7-14700F's 28 threads are the limiting factor, as the GPU is capable of far higher output than the 176.2 FPS ceiling observed.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific pairing of the Intel Core i7-14700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER achieves a combo rank of 87 out of 1689 tested combinations in The Medium, placing it firmly in the top 5.1% of all systems evaluated. This high percentile is consistent with the individual component strengths: the CPU's average benchmark score of 54097 places it at the 94th percentile of all processors, while the GPU's average score of 53610 sits at the 88th percentile of all graphics cards. The ranking indicates that this combo outperforms the vast majority of tested systems, though it is not at the absolute apex. The GPU's nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, scores a near-identical 53489 (a delta of just 0.2%), while the CPU's closest competitor, the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X, scores 54450, a 0.6% advantage. This marginal separation in synthetic benchmarks translates to a combo that is well-balanced but not dominant, with the ranking suggesting that systems pairing higher-end CPUs with the same GPU would likely achieve better frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios at 1080p.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER's specifications directly explain its performance characteristics in The Medium. With 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus delivering 736.3 GB/s of bandwidth, the card has no difficulty handling the game's textures at any resolution, even at 4K Ultra where the 47.8 FPS result is a function of raw compute rather than memory limitations. The GPU's boost clock of 2550 MHz and its 10240 shading units contribute to a FP32 throughput of 52.22 TFLOPS, which is the primary driver of the frame rates observed at High and Ultra settings. The benchmark data shows that at 4K Ultra, the card produces 47.8 FPS, which is 36.5% lower than the 75.8 FPS at 4K Medium, highlighting the significant cost of the Ultra preset's additional effects. The GPU's 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores, while not explicitly benchmarked in this game, are part of the architecture that enables the Ada Lovelace feature set. The card's 88th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 53610, places it just ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT (53489, 0.2% delta) and the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (53414, 0.4% delta), indicating that its performance is well-established. The data shows that the GPU is the dominant factor at 4K, where the frame rate scales almost linearly with the preset quality, whereas at 1080p, the CPU's capabilities cap the maximum achievable frame rate.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for maintaining a stable 60 FPS at High settings?

A: The data shows that at 2560x1440 with High settings, the combo achieves 71.2 FPS, which is comfortably above 60 FPS. At 3840x2160 with High settings, the frame rate drops to 53.5 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold. Therefore, 1440p High is the highest resolution that guarantees a 60+ FPS experience on this preset.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings?

A: At 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, the system produces 67.1 FPS, while at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, it produces 47.8 FPS. This represents a 28.8% reduction in average frame rate, which is a relatively modest penalty given the 4x increase in pixel count, indicating the GPU's strength at high resolutions.

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-14700F a bottleneck at any resolution?

A: The benchmark results indicate that at 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system reaches 176.2 FPS, but the GPU is capable of higher output based on its 88th percentile ranking. This suggests that the CPU, with its 20 cores and 28 threads boosting to 5.40 GHz, is the limiting factor at this low-resolution, low-settings configuration, as the GPU cannot fully stretch its legs.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset achieves 159.5 FPS, while the Ultra preset achieves 54.9 FPS. This is a 65.6% reduction in performance, demonstrating the substantial graphical workload added by the Ultra preset over the Low preset at this resolution.

Q: How does this combo's ranking compare to its component percentiles?

A: The combo ranks 87th out of 1689 tested combinations, placing it in the top 5.1%. This is consistent with the CPU's 94th percentile ranking and the GPU's 88th percentile ranking, showing that the combination performs slightly better than the GPU's individual percentile would suggest, benefiting from the CPU's strong multithreaded performance.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming at all presets?

A: Yes, the data shows that at 3840x2160, the system achieves 127.2 FPS on Low, 75.8 FPS on Medium, 53.5 FPS on High, and 47.8 FPS on Ultra. All presets are playable, though Ultra dips below the 60 FPS threshold, and High is borderline at 53.5 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for the Intel Core i7-14700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER in The Medium provides a complete picture across all resolutions and presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 176.2 FPS, Medium delivers 119.3 FPS, High delivers 85.4 FPS, and Ultra delivers 67.1 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440, the numbers are 159.5 FPS for Low, 99.6 FPS for Medium, 71.2 FPS for High, and 54.9 FPS for Ultra. Finally, at 3840x2160, the system produces 127.2 FPS on Low, 75.8 FPS on Medium, 53.5 FPS on High, and 47.8 FPS on Ultra. The data shows that the gap between Low and Medium narrows as resolution increases: at 1080p, the difference is 56.9 FPS, at 1440p it is 59.9 FPS, and at 4K it is 51.4 FPS. Conversely, the gap between High and Ultra widens at higher resolutions, with a 18.3 FPS difference at 1080p, 16.3 FPS at 1440p, and only 5.7 FPS at 4K, indicating that Ultra's additional effects become less impactful relative to the base High preset at higher pixel counts. The 4K Low result of 127.2 FPS is particularly notable, as it exceeds the 1080p High result of 85.4 FPS, demonstrating that the GPU has substantial headroom when not constrained by demanding graphical effects.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F plays a critical role in determining the maximum achievable frame rates in The Medium, particularly at lower resolutions and settings. With 20 cores, 28 threads, and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, this Raptor Lake Refresh processor from the Core 14th Gen series provides substantial single-threaded and multithreaded performance. The CPU's benchmark results are impressive: a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 35443 and a single-core score of 5003, along with a Geekbench multicore score of 16571 and a single-core score of 2711. These scores place the CPU at the 94th percentile of all processors, with an average benchmark score of 54097. The nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X, scores 54450, a mere 0.6% higher, while the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D scores 54681, a 1.1% difference. In The Medium, the CPU's influence is most apparent at 1920x1080 with Low settings, where the frame rate of 176.2 FPS represents the practical ceiling imposed by the CPU's game-thread processing capabilities. The fact that the 4K Low result is 127.2 FPS, which is 49.0 FPS lower than the 1080p Low result, shows that the GPU does scale with resolution, but the 1080p Low result is likely limited by the CPU's ability to feed the GPU with draw calls. The CPU's 33 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache help maintain consistent frame pacing, as evidenced by the smooth scaling across presets at each resolution.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For players seeking a locked 60 FPS experience at 3840x2160, the Medium preset is the only viable option, delivering 75.8 FPS with a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS threshold. The High preset at 4K produces 53.5 FPS, which is below 60 FPS and may result in noticeable stutter on 60 Hz displays, while Ultra at 4K drops to 47.8 FPS, which is best avoided for smooth gameplay. At 2560x1440, the High preset is the recommended choice, providing 71.2 FPS and a significant visual upgrade over the Medium preset's 99.6 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1440p delivers 54.9 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for competitive or fast-paced segments. For 1920x1080, the High preset at 85.4 FPS is the sweet spot, offering a balance of visual fidelity and performance, with the Ultra preset at 67.1 FPS remaining a viable option for players who prioritize image quality over raw frame rate. The data indicates that the Medium preset is the most versatile, providing above-60 FPS performance at every resolution, from 119.3 FPS at 1080p to 75.8 FPS at 4K. Given the horror genre's emphasis on atmosphere and visual immersion, the High preset at 1440p is the strongest overall recommendation, as it delivers smooth performance while maintaining the graphical fidelity that the game's fixed-camera angles and detailed environments require. The Ultra preset should only be used at 1080p, where the 67.1 FPS result is acceptable, or by players who prioritize maximum visual quality over frame rate consistency.