The Medium

The Medium, a fixed-camera horror title built on Unreal Engine 4, presents an extreme stress test for legacy hardware. The combination of the Intel Core i7-14700KF and the AMD Radeon RX 570 produces results that are almost uniformly unplayable, with the data indicating a severe and constant GPU bottleneck. Across all resolutions and settings, the average frame rate never reaches 45 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, the experience degrades to a slideshow-like 10 FPS. The benchmark data clearly shows that this configuration is unsuitable for The Medium, regardless of the graphics preset chosen.

FAQ

Q: What is the best average frame rate this CPU/GPU combo can achieve in The Medium?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 44 FPS, which occurs at 1080p resolution with the Low preset. This is the only setting that approaches playability, though it still falls short of a smooth 60 FPS target.

Q: How does the RX 570 perform at 1440p with the Medium preset?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the combo produces an average of 23 FPS, with reported minimum and maximum frames of 20 and 27 FPS respectively. This indicates a consistently stuttery and unresponsive experience.

Q: Is the 4K resolution viable for this hardware?

A: No. The data shows that at 3840x2160, even the Low preset only manages an average of 29 FPS. The High preset drops to 13 FPS, and the Ultra preset yields just 10 FPS, making 4K entirely unplayable in this title.

Q: How does this GPU compare to its closest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 470?

A: According to the average benchmark scores, the RX 570 is 0.8% behind the AMD Radeon RX 470. This negligible difference means their performance in The Medium would be virtually identical, confirming the RX 570's position as a bottleneck.

Q: What is the performance percentile of the Intel Core i7-14700KF?

A: The CPU sits in the 94th percentile of all processors, indicating it is a high-end part. Its average benchmark score of 70,163 places it 0.2% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and 0.9% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, showing it is not the limiting factor in this game.

Q: Does increasing the resolution have a predictable impact on frame rate?

A: Yes. The data shows a consistent and significant drop in FPS as resolution increases. For example, on the Low preset, the average FPS falls from 44 at 1080p to 37 at 1440p, and then to 29 at 4K, demonstrating that the GPU is the primary performance constraint.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture. It features a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, drawing a TDP of 125 W. With a 94th percentile ranking among all CPUs and an average benchmark score of 70,163, the processor's compute capability is substantial. It outperforms its nearest rivals in the database, including the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X by 0.9% and the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F by 0.2%, while trailing the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K by 1%.

In the context of The Medium, the CPU's role is largely relegated to feeding the GPU with draw calls and handling game logic. Given the RX 570's performance, the i7-14700KF is never the bottleneck. The benchmark results, which show frame rates plummeting with increased resolution, are a classic sign of a GPU-limited scenario. The processor's high single-thread performance, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 6,235, is more than sufficient for the game's demands. The data suggests that the 20-core processor is vastly overqualified for this pairing, as its power is left untapped while the GPU struggles to maintain even 30 FPS. The massive L3 cache of 33 MB shared and the dual-channel memory support further ensure that the CPU side is not introducing any stalls that would further degrade the already low frame rates.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 570 is the definitive performance ceiling for this configuration. This GCN 4.0 architecture GPU, built on a 14 nm process, has 2,048 shading units and 32 ROPs. It operates at a base clock of 1168 MHz and a boost clock of 1244 MHz, delivering a FP32 performance of 5.095 TFLOPS. The 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s. Its average benchmark score of 28,766 places it in the 74th percentile of all GPUs, but this is misleading for gaming performance in this specific title.

The benchmark data in The Medium reveals the RX 570's limitations. Its closest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6800M, scores only 0.4% higher on average, but the RX 570 is also 0.8% behind the older AMD Radeon RX 470. This places the card in a performance tier that is simply inadequate for a demanding modern title. The 4 GB VRAM buffer is a likely contributor to the low frame rates, especially at higher resolutions and settings where texture data exceeds this capacity, causing constant swapping. The GPU's pixel rate of 39.81 GPixel/s and texture rate of 159.2 GTexel/s are insufficient to maintain fluid motion in The Medium's rendering environment. The data indicates the GPU is the sole reason for the sub-30 FPS figures observed in most configurations.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data shows a linear and steep decline in performance as graphical demands increase. At 1920x1080, the lowest resolution tested, the combo achieves 44 FPS on Low, which drops to 28 FPS on Medium, 20 FPS on High, and 16 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset at 1080p has a minimum FPS of 23 and a maximum of 32, showing an inconsistent frame pacing that would be noticeable to the player.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance falls further. The Low preset yields 37 FPS, Medium drops to 23 FPS (min 20, max 27), High produces 17 FPS, and Ultra only 13 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 24 FPS, a significant margin that highlights the GPU's inability to handle the increased shading and texture work.

At 3840x2160, the results become catastrophic. The Low preset manages 29 FPS, but Medium drops to 18 FPS (min 15, max 21), High falls to 13 FPS, and Ultra is effectively frozen at 10 FPS. The data confirms that this hardware combination is not viable for The Medium at 4K, as no preset reaches a playable threshold. The overall combo rank in the game of 3,557 out of 3,724 configurations places this setup in the bottom 5% of all tested hardware, confirming its status as a low-performance outlier.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K clearly identifies the GPU as the limiting component. On the Low preset, performance drops by 15.9% from 1080p to 1440p (44 to 37 FPS) and by another 21.6% from 1440p to 4K (37 to 29 FPS). This near-linear degradation with pixel count is a textbook indication of a fill-rate or bandwidth-bound GPU.

On the Medium preset, the scaling is even more punishing. The average FPS drops from 28 at 1080p to 23 at 1440p, a 17.8% reduction, and then to 18 at 4K, a further 21.7% reduction. The minimum FPS at 4K Medium is 15, meaning the game spends a significant amount of time in single-digit territory during complex scenes. The High preset shows a similar trend, with 20 FPS at 1080p, 17 FPS at 1440p, and 13 FPS at 4K.

This scaling behavior conclusively shows that the RX 570's 224.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth and 5.095 TFLOPS of compute power are overwhelmed by the increasing pixel load. The CPU's performance, which is in the 94th percentile, remains constant across these tests, proving it is not a factor. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rate would remain relatively stable as resolution increases, but the data shows a consistent and substantial drop, placing the blame squarely on the GPU.

Settings Recommendations

Given the measured data, the only viable configuration for this hardware is the Low preset at 1920x1080, which yields an average of 44 FPS. This is the sole setting that approaches a playable frame rate, though it still falls short of the 60 FPS target for a smooth experience. Even with this preset, players should expect occasional dips, as the minimum FPS is not reported for this setting, but the average is the highest of any test.

The Medium preset at 1080p is not recommended. While it produces an average of 28 FPS, the minimum FPS of 23 indicates that the game will frequently stutter, making it a worse experience than the lower frame rate suggests. The High and Ultra presets at any resolution are unplayable, with average frame rates ranging from 10 to 20 FPS, which is far too low for a game that requires timing and atmospheric tension.

At higher resolutions, no preset is viable. Even the Low preset at 1440p only achieves 37 FPS, and the frame pacing is likely inconsistent. For players who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate, the data suggests that the High preset at 1080p, with an average of 20 FPS, is a cinematic but non-interactive experience. Ultimately, the benchmark results indicate that to enjoy The Medium with this GPU, one must sacrifice all visual quality and resolution, and even then, the performance is marginal.