The Medium

The Medium is a horror title built around fixed camera angles and a heavy atmospheric presentation, making frame pacing and stability more important than raw speed. This analysis examines the Intel Core i7-14700K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7700, using measured data to show how this combination handles the game’s demands across resolutions and settings. The data indicates a system that is firmly GPU-limited at higher resolutions, yet capable of delivering smooth performance at 1080p when settings are managed correctly.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates reveal a steep performance cliff as resolution increases, pointing directly at the GPU as the primary bottleneck. At 1080p with High settings, the combo produces 51 FPS on average. Moving to 1440p drops that to 43 FPS, a 15.7% reduction, and 4K falls to 34 FPS, which is 33.3% lower than the 1080p result. This pattern is consistent across all settings, confirming that the RX 7700’s rendering throughput, not the CPU’s processing power, dictates the experience.

The scaling becomes even more pronounced at the lower presets. With Low settings, 1080p delivers 115 FPS, 1440p yields 97 FPS, and 4K produces 76 FPS. The gap between 1080p and 4K here is 33.9%, nearly identical to the High preset’s drop. This uniformity suggests the game’s engine is not introducing a CPU bottleneck at lower resolutions; if it were, the 1080p-to-1440p delta would shrink as the GPU gets less stressed. Instead, the consistent percentage declines indicate that the RX 7700’s fill rate and memory bandwidth are the limiting factors across the board.

Ultra settings illustrate the most extreme case. At 1080p, the combo manages 41 FPS, which falls to 34 FPS at 1440p and bottoms out at 27 FPS in 4K. The 4K Ultra result is 34.1% slower than 1080p Ultra, aligning with the other presets. This tells a clear story: the Core i7-14700K has ample headroom, as its 20 cores and 28 threads are not being stressed by a game like this. The data shows that any attempt to push beyond 1440p at high quality will result in a sub-60 FPS experience, and even 1080p Ultra cannot hold a consistent 60 FPS.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 is the defining component in this pairing, and its specifications explain the measured outcomes. It features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth. This is a substantial amount of memory, which prevents capacity-related stutters even at 4K, but the raw compute power is what limits FPS. The GPU’s boost clock is 2459 MHz, with a game clock of 2041 MHz, and it houses 2560 shading units. These numbers translate to 25.18 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, which is the ceiling for this card’s rasterization work.

In The Medium, the GPU’s role is evident in the min and max FPS data for Medium settings. At 1080p, the frame time variance is 61 to 83 FPS, a spread of 22 FPS. At 1440p, the spread narrows to 51 to 70 FPS, and at 4K it is 40 to 55 FPS. This tightening of the range at higher resolutions is typical of a GPU-bound scenario, where frame times become more consistent as the render load saturates the hardware. The card’s 96 ROPs and 160 TMUs are working harder at 4K, smoothing out the frame delivery but also lowering the average.

The GPU’s benchmark scores reinforce its mid-range positioning. Its PassMark G3D score is 20974, and its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 2865. These place it in the 58th percentile among all GPUs, which is modest. The nearest rival data shows it is nearly identical to the AMD Radeon R9 370X, with a delta of -0.1%, and about 1% slower than the AMD Radeon RX 9060. It is also 1.7% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti in average score. This context makes the FPS numbers sensible: the card is not a high-end performer, and The Medium’s fixed-camera scenes with complex lighting push it to its limits.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the benchmark database, this specific combination of the Intel Core i7-14700K and AMD Radeon RX 7700 ranks 1307 out of 2911 tested combos for The Medium. This places it in the top 44.9% of all pairings, which is a respectable but not dominant position. The ranking reflects the GPU’s limitations more than the CPU’s capabilities, as the i7-14700K is a high-end processor that sits in the 94th percentile among all CPUs.

The CPU’s nearest rivals show how much headroom exists in this system. The Core i7-14700K’s average benchmark score is 69355, which is 0.1% higher than the AMD EPYC 9115, 0.2% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, and 0.7% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX. It is 0.9% faster than the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F. These tiny deltas suggest that swapping the CPU for any of these alternatives would produce nearly identical frame rates in The Medium, as the game simply does not stress the processor enough to differentiate them.

The combination ranking is therefore a reflection of the GPU’s standing. The RX 7700’s nearest rivals include the R9 370X and RTX 3060 Ti, which are older or lower-tier cards. The fact that this combo ranks in the middle of the pack confirms that the GPU is holding back the overall experience. For a builder, this means the CPU is not the weak link; any frame rate improvement would require a GPU upgrade, not a processor change.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data provides a complete picture of performance across all settings and resolutions. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers an average of 115 FPS, which is the highest recorded for this combo. Medium drops to 72 FPS, with a minimum of 61 and maximum of 83. High reduces the average to 51 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 41 FPS. This shows a clear linear scaling from Low to Ultra, with each step up in quality costing roughly 20-25% performance.

At 1440p, the pattern repeats with lower absolute numbers. Low produces 97 FPS, Medium averages 61 FPS with a range of 51 to 70, High yields 43 FPS, and Ultra falls to 34 FPS. The Medium preset’s frame time consistency is notable here, as the 19 FPS spread is nearly identical to the 1080p result, suggesting that the GPU is handling the increased pixel count without introducing instability.

The 4K results are the most telling for those considering a high-resolution display. Low averages 76 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for a horror game where smooth motion is crucial. Medium averages 48 FPS, with a minimum of 40 and maximum of 55, indicating that frame drops will be noticeable. High averages 34 FPS, and Ultra averages just 27 FPS. None of these 4K results reach the 60 FPS threshold, and even the Low preset’s 76 FPS average would feel inconsistent during fast camera transitions.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal experience for this combo is at 1080p with the Medium preset. This setting delivers an average of 72 FPS, with a minimum of 61 FPS that ensures most scenes stay above the 60 FPS line. The 61 FPS minimum is crucial for a horror game, as dropped frames during scripted scares can break immersion. The High preset at 1080p drops to 51 FPS average, which is a 29.2% reduction from Medium, and the Ultra preset at 41 FPS is not worth the visual gain given the performance cost.

For 1440p users, the Medium preset is also the recommended choice, producing 61 FPS on average with a 51 FPS minimum. This is marginal but playable, and it offers a better visual experience than 1080p Medium due to the higher pixel density. The Low preset at 1440p yields 97 FPS, which is smoother, but the visual downgrade in texture quality is likely too severe for a game that relies on atmosphere. High and Ultra at 1440p are not advisable, as they fall below 45 FPS.

At 4K, the data suggests that this combo should not be pushed beyond Low settings, which averages 76 FPS. The Medium preset’s 48 FPS average is technically playable but will suffer from noticeable stutter in demanding scenes. For those with a 4K display, the recommendation is to either accept Low settings or reduce the resolution to 1440p and use Medium, as the latter provides a better balance of image quality and frame rate.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in The Medium?

A: The data shows that 4K performance is limited. Low settings average 76 FPS, but Medium drops to 48 FPS, High falls to 34 FPS, and Ultra averages just 27 FPS. Only the Low preset is consistently smooth at 4K.

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-14700K bottlenecking the Radeon RX 7700 in this game?

A: No. The CPU ranks in the 94th percentile among all processors, and its nearest rivals all score within 0.9% of it. The frame rates scale consistently with resolution, indicating the GPU is the limiting factor, not the CPU.

Q: What is the best settings preset for a 60 FPS experience?

A: At 1080p, the Medium preset achieves a 72 FPS average with a 61 FPS minimum, making it the only preset that reliably stays above 60 FPS. At 1440p, Medium averages 61 FPS but has a 51 FPS minimum, so it may dip below the target.

Q: How does this GPU compare to its closest rivals?

A: The RX 7700’s average benchmark score is 15852, which is 0.1% below the AMD Radeon R9 370X and 1% below the AMD Radeon RX 9060. It is 1.1% faster than the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 and 1.7% slower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti.

Q: Does the 16 GB VRAM help at higher resolutions?

A: The 16 GB memory capacity with 624.1 GB/s bandwidth prevents texture loading issues, but it does not compensate for the GPU’s compute limits. The FPS still drops significantly from 1080p to 4K, showing that bandwidth is sufficient but raw power is not.

Q: What frame rates can I expect with the Ultra preset?

A: Ultra is the most demanding preset. At 1080p, it averages 41 FPS. At 1440p, it drops to 34 FPS. At 4K, it averages just 27 FPS. These results are below the smoothness threshold for a horror game, so Ultra is not recommended for this combination.