The Medium

The Intel Core i7-14700K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT delivers a playable but resolution-sensitive experience in The Medium, with the combo ranking in the 52nd percentile of all tested configurations. At 1080p, the system handles the game comfortably, but 4K Ultra pushes the GPU to its limits, resulting in an average of 26 FPS. The data indicates that this pairing is best suited for 1440p Medium or 1080p High settings, where frame rates remain smooth, while the CPU’s strong multi-core performance ensures consistent frame pacing even in the game’s most demanding scenes.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this hardware in The Medium?*

A: Based on the measured FPS data, 1920x1080 Medium delivers 69 FPS average, while 2560x1440 Medium achieves 58 FPS average. For higher visual fidelity, 1920x1080 High runs at 49 FPS average, and 2560x1440 High drops to 41 FPS average. The sweet spot is 1440p Medium, balancing visual quality with performance.

Q: How does the RX 6700 XT perform at 4K in this game?

A: At 3840x2160, the GPU produces 45 FPS average on Medium settings, with a minimum of 39 FPS and a maximum of 52 FPS. However, High settings at 4K yield 32 FPS average, and Ultra drops to 26 FPS average, indicating that 4K is only viable on Medium or lower settings.

*Q: Is the Core i7-14700K a bottleneck for the RX 6700 XT in The Medium?*

A: The CPU’s benchmark data shows strong multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 33440.5 and a Passmark multithread score of 52392. Given that the game’s frame rates scale significantly with resolution (from 110 FPS at 1080p Low to 32 FPS at 4K High), the GPU is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions, not the CPU.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to all other tested combinations?

A: The combo ranks 1941 out of 3724 tested combinations, placing it in the middle of the pack. This indicates that while it is not a top-tier configuration for The Medium, it outperforms a substantial portion of systems tested.

Q: What is the difference in performance between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings produce 92 FPS average, Medium produces 58 FPS average, High produces 41 FPS average, and Ultra produces 33 FPS average. This represents a 64% drop from Low to Ultra, showing the significant GPU load increase from the game’s higher preset levels.

Q: Does the RX 6700 XT’s 12 GB VRAM cause any issues in this game?

A: The GPU has 12 GB of GDDR6 memory with a 384.0 GB/s bandwidth. The measured frame rates at 4K Ultra (26 FPS average) and 4K High (32 FPS average) suggest that while VRAM capacity is sufficient, the GPU’s raw compute power—13.21 TFLOPS FP32—limits performance at extreme settings rather than memory capacity.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with a Navi 22 chip, featuring 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 render output units. Its base clock runs at 2321 MHz, with a boost clock of 2581 MHz and a game clock of 2424 MHz. The GPU’s 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus provides 384.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is crucial for handling the high-resolution textures and detailed environments in The Medium.

In this horror title, the GPU’s role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution increases. At 1920x1080 Low, the system achieves 110 FPS average, but this drops to 69 FPS at Medium, 49 FPS at High, and 39 FPS at Ultra. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p represents a 65% performance reduction, demonstrating how the game’s graphical presets heavily tax the GPU’s shading units and memory bandwidth.

The RX 6700 XT’s 40 ray tracing cores and DirectX 12 Ultimate support (12_2) are present, although the measured data does not specify whether ray tracing is enabled in these tests. The pixel rate of 165.2 GPixel/s and texture rate of 413.0 GTexel/s provide the fill rate needed for the game’s fixed-camera angles and pre-rendered backgrounds. At 4K, the GPU’s limitations become apparent: Medium settings yield 45 FPS average, but High drops to 32 FPS and Ultra to 26 FPS. This pattern indicates that the GPU’s FP32 throughput of 13.21 TFLOPS is the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

The GPU’s benchmark scores support this analysis. Its Passmark G3D score of 19786 places it in the 72nd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 27425. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile, scores 27435, a delta of 0%, while the RTX 3090 scores 27565, a delta of -0.5%. These figures show that the RX 6700 XT sits in a competitive performance tier, though it is not a high-end card by current standards.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-14700K and AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT ranks 1941 out of 3724 tested combos in The Medium. This places it in the 52nd percentile, meaning it performs better than roughly half of all systems tested but lags behind the top configurations. The ranking reflects the mid-range positioning of the GPU, which is the primary determinant of gaming performance, while the CPU provides ample headroom.

The CPU itself ranks in the 94th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 69355. Its nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 9115 with a score of 69288 (delta 0.1%), the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X with 69515 (delta -0.2%), and the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX with 69875 (delta -0.7%). These small deltas indicate that the i7-14700K performs essentially on par with top-tier desktop and mobile processors, making it unlikely to bottleneck the GPU in most scenarios.

The GPU, by contrast, ranks in the 72nd percentile, with an average benchmark score of 27425. Its nearest rivals are the RTX 4070 Mobile at 27435 (delta 0%), the RTX 3090 at 27565 (delta -0.5%), and the RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell at 27135 (delta 1.1%). The 0% delta with the RTX 4070 Mobile is notable, as it suggests the RX 6700 XT offers comparable performance to a mobile high-end GPU, but the RTX 3090’s -0.5% delta shows that a desktop flagship is only marginally ahead in synthetic benchmarks.

In the context of The Medium, this ranking means that the combo is capable of running the game smoothly at 1080p and 1440p with adjusted settings, but it will struggle at 4K Ultra. The 52nd percentile ranking is a direct consequence of the GPU’s mid-tier performance, as the CPU’s high percentile ranking does not compensate for the GPU’s limitations in a graphically intensive title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its best performance. Low settings produce 110 FPS average, which is more than sufficient for smooth gameplay. Medium settings yield 69 FPS average, with a minimum of 58 FPS and a maximum of 79 FPS, ensuring a consistent experience. High settings drop to 49 FPS average, which remains playable, while Ultra settings reduce performance to 39 FPS average, pushing the frame rate below the 60 FPS threshold.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance impact is noticeable. Low settings achieve 92 FPS average, which is still excellent, but Medium drops to 58 FPS average, with a minimum of 49 FPS and a maximum of 66 FPS. High settings yield 41 FPS average, and Ultra settings fall to 33 FPS average. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at the same settings is consistent: Medium loses 11 FPS, High loses 8 FPS, and Ultra loses 6 FPS, indicating that the GPU is becoming the bottleneck as pixel count increases.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly overburdened. Low settings produce 73 FPS average, which is surprising given the resolution, but Medium drops to 45 FPS average, with a minimum of 39 FPS and a maximum of 52 FPS. High settings yield only 32 FPS average, and Ultra settings produce 26 FPS average. The gap between Low and Medium at 4K is particularly stark, with a 28 FPS difference, suggesting that Medium settings introduce significant additional GPU load, likely from increased texture detail and shadow quality.

The minimum FPS data for Medium settings shows that the game maintains reasonably stable frame rates: at 1080p, the minimum is 58 FPS; at 1440p, it is 49 FPS; and at 4K, it is 39 FPS. These minimums are close to the average values, indicating that the frame pacing is consistent, with no severe stuttering or drops. This stability is likely attributable to the CPU’s strong performance, as the i7-14700K’s 20 cores and 28 threads provide ample processing power for the game’s simulation and streaming tasks.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the GPU-bound nature of The Medium on this hardware. At Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 69 at 1080p to 58 at 1440p (a 16% decrease) and then to 45 at 4K (a 35% decrease from 1440p). The total drop from 1080p to 4K is 24 FPS, or 35% of the 1080p value.

At High settings, the scaling is similar: 49 FPS at 1080p, 41 FPS at 1440p (a 16% decrease), and 32 FPS at 4K (a 22% decrease from 1440p). The total drop is 17 FPS, or 35% of the 1080p value. At Ultra settings, 39 FPS at 1080p drops to 33 FPS at 1440p (a 15% decrease) and then to 26 FPS at 4K (a 21% decrease from 1440p), for a total drop of 13 FPS, or 33%.

The nearly identical percentage drops across all settings indicate that the scaling is resolution-driven rather than settings-driven. This pattern is characteristic of a GPU-limited scenario, where the rendering load increases proportionally with pixel count. The CPU’s performance does not degrade with resolution, as its workload remains constant regardless of the output resolution. The i7-14700K’s high single-thread performance, evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2160, ensures that it can feed the GPU with draw calls and geometry at all resolutions.

The data also shows that Low settings scale more efficiently: 110 FPS at 1080p, 92 FPS at 1440p (a 16% decrease), and 73 FPS at 4K (a 21% decrease from 1440p). This suggests that at Low settings, the GPU has more headroom, and the scaling is more linear. However, the overall trend is clear: users seeking 60 FPS gameplay should target 1080p Medium or 1440p Low, while those with 4K displays will need to accept Low settings to achieve playable frame rates.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700K is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel’s 10 nm process. It features a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, with 33 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB of L2 cache per core. The CPU supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory, and its performance benchmarks place it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs.

In The Medium, the CPU’s role is to handle the game’s simulation, AI, and streaming systems. The game utilizes fixed camera angles and pre-rendered backgrounds, which reduces the real-time geometry load but still requires substantial CPU resources for scene management and scripted events. The i7-14700K’s multi-core performance, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 33440.5 and a Geekbench multi-core score of 20767, ensures that the game’s background tasks do not interfere with frame rendering.

The CPU’s single-thread performance is equally important for game logic. Its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2160 and Geekbench single-core score of 2569 indicate strong per-core performance, which is critical for the game’s main thread. The Passmark single-thread score of 4472 further confirms this capability. These scores suggest that the CPU can maintain high frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios, though the measured data shows that the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

The CPU’s 125 W TDP and the fact that it is multiplier-unlocked indicate that it is a high-performance desktop part, but its power consumption is not directly relevant to the game’s performance. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 110 FPS, which is likely near the game’s engine limit, as the GPU has significant headroom at this resolution. At 4K Ultra, the frame rate drops to 26 FPS, which is clearly GPU-limited, as the CPU’s workload does not change with resolution.

The i7-14700K’s nearest rivals in CPU benchmarks include the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, which scores 69515 on average (a -0.2% delta), and the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX, which scores 69875 (a -0.7% delta). These negligible differences mean that swapping the CPU would have little impact on The Medium’s performance, as the GPU is the determining factor for the measured frame rates. The CPU’s high benchmark scores and percentile ranking ensure that it does not introduce any bottlenecks, even in the game’s most demanding scenes with multiple characters and complex lighting.