The Medium

# FAQ

Q: What is the combo rank for the Intel Core i7-14700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 in The Medium?

A: This combination ranks 275th out of 1,689 tested combos in the benchmark database, placing it in the top 16% of all tested configurations. This high percentile indicates strong overall performance for this game.

Q: How does the RTX 5070 compare to its closest rival, the AMD Radeon Pro 5300?

A: The RTX 5070 has an average benchmark score of 41,687, which is only 0.2% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro 5300's score of 41,610. This makes the two cards effectively equivalent in raw compute performance, though their gaming characteristics differ.

Q: What is the CPU's single-thread performance relative to its rivals?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700F scores 5,003 in Cinebench R23 single-core, with a Geekbench single-core score of 2,711. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X, has an average score only 0.6% higher, showing the i7-14700F is competitive in lightly threaded workloads.

Q: What frame rate does this combo achieve at 1080p with High settings?

A: At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo delivers an average of 71.7 FPS. This is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, and the system can push much higher at lower settings, reaching 162 FPS at Low.

Q: How does the RTX 5070's memory bandwidth compare to its 12 GB VRAM allocation?

A: The GPU features 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 672.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This high bandwidth is critical for The Medium's dual-reality rendering, which requires streaming large texture sets.

Q: Is the i7-14700F's 20-core configuration beneficial for this game?

A: The CPU's 20 cores and 28 threads provide substantial multi-threaded capacity, scoring 35,443 in Cinebench R23 multi-core. However, The Medium relies more on GPU throughput, so the CPU's advantage is primarily in maintaining consistent frame pacing rather than raw FPS.

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GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 is the primary driver of frame rate in The Medium, a horror title that leverages heavy visual effects and dual-world rendering. The GPU's 12 GB of GDDR7 memory is a crucial asset; at 4K resolution with Ultra settings, the combo produces 39.8 FPS, while dropping to High settings yields 49.6 FPS. The memory bandwidth of 672.0 GB/s ensures that texture streaming remains fluid even during scene transitions between the two parallel realities.

Clock speeds further define performance. The base clock of 2,325 MHz and boost clock of 2,512 MHz allow the card to sustain high throughput under load. The 6,144 shading units and 48 RT cores handle the game's lighting and reflection effects, though The Medium's fixed-camera angles reduce the need for extreme geometry processing. The GPU's 30.87 TFLOPS FP32 compute capacity is ample for this title, as evidenced by the substantial FPS gains when moving from Ultra to Medium settings at any resolution.

The RTX 5070's 83rd percentile ranking among all GPUs underscores its mid-to-high-end positioning. Its closest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, is just 0.6% behind in average score, meaning the 5070 offers comparable compute with newer architecture. At 1440p High, the combo hits 63.9 FPS, while at 4K High it drops to 49.6 FPS — a 22% reduction that reflects the GPU's memory bandwidth limits rather than raw compute. The card's 192-bit bus width, while narrower than some competitors, is partially offset by GDDR7's higher data rates.

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CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F provides the computational backbone for this combo, offering 20 cores and 28 threads with a base clock of 2.10 GHz and boost up to 5.40 GHz. This Raptor Lake architecture processor, built on Intel's 10 nm process, delivers strong single-thread performance with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 5,003. In The Medium, single-thread performance matters for game logic and AI pathfinding, while multi-threading handles asset streaming and background tasks.

The CPU's 33 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache reduce memory latency, which is beneficial for the game's frequent camera cuts and loading of new environments. The i7-14700F's 94th percentile ranking among all CPUs places it well above average, and its benchmark scores show it trading blows with the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X (0.6% difference) and the Ryzen 9 9900X3D (1.1% difference). This indicates the CPU is not a bottleneck in most scenarios.

However, the data shows that at 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 162 FPS, suggesting the CPU can feed the GPU adequately even at high frame rates. The processor's 65 W TDP and support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory give builders flexibility, though the game's performance scales more with GPU settings than CPU settings. The i7-14700F's 5.40 GHz boost clock is particularly useful in maintaining minimum frame rates during intense action sequences, where the GPU's frame time spikes need to be smoothed by rapid CPU response.

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How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 275 out of 1,689 tested configurations places it in the 84th percentile of all CPU-GPU pairs tested in The Medium. This is a strong showing, but the ranking reveals nuance about where this system excels. Compared to the CPU's 94th percentile and the GPU's 83rd percentile individually, the combo's overall rank is pulled down slightly by the GPU being the weaker link.

The rank suggests that while the i7-14700F is a top-tier processor, the RTX 5070 is a mid-to-high-end graphics card that limits the system in this GPU-heavy title. The data confirms this: at 4K Ultra, the combo delivers 39.8 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay, while at 1080p Low it hits 162 FPS. The spread between these scores indicates that the system's performance ceiling is defined by the GPU's capabilities, not the CPU.

Among the nearest rivals, the RTX 5070's average score of 41,687 is nearly identical to the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 (41,610) and NVIDIA Tesla M40 (41,897), yet the 5070 offers modern features like DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4 support. The combo's rank of 275 means it outperforms roughly 1,414 other tested combinations, placing it in the upper echelon for this game.

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Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling. Moving from 1080p to 1440p to 4K at High settings produces average FPS of 71.7, 63.9, and 49.6 respectively. This represents a 31% drop from 1080p to 4K, which is consistent with a system where the GPU is the primary limiter. The CPU's role becomes more apparent at lower resolutions: at 1080p Low, the combo hits 162 FPS, and at 1440p Low it achieves 138.6 FPS, showing that the i7-14700F can maintain high frame rates when the GPU is less stressed.

The scaling pattern shifts with settings. At Ultra, the FPS drops from 59.3 at 1080p to 47.9 at 1440p and 39.8 at 4K — a 33% reduction from 1080p to 4K. This steeper decline at higher settings indicates that the GPU's memory bandwidth becomes a bottleneck as resolution increases. The 12 GB VRAM allocation is sufficient, but the 192-bit bus width limits data transfer rates, which is reflected in the 4K Ultra result.

At Medium settings, the combo delivers 101.3 FPS at 1080p, 84.4 at 1440p, and 69.8 at 4K. The more moderate 31% drop from 1080p to 4K at Medium suggests the GPU has headroom when texture detail is reduced. The resolution scaling data overall indicates that this system is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it can maintain high frame rates, while 4K gaming requires reduced settings to stay above 60 FPS.