The Medium

The Medium places heavy demands on the AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT, and the data shows a clear pattern: resolution scaling is steep, and the GPU is the limiting factor in almost every configuration. This pairing with the Intel Core i7-14700KF is a study in imbalance, where the CPU’s immense headroom is left largely untapped by a horror title that prioritizes graphical fidelity over physics or simulation.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS figures reveal how quickly performance erodes as pixel count rises. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo delivers 43.4 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 drops that to 37.1 FPS, a reduction of roughly 14.5%. The jump to 3840x2160 is far more punishing, landing at 25.4 FPS—a 41.5% decline from the 1080p High result. This is a classic sign of a GPU-bound scenario: the RX 6650 XT’s 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 128-bit bus are simply overwhelmed by the 4K pixel workload.

The scaling pattern holds across all settings. With Low presets, the combo hits 98 FPS at 1080p, 81.5 FPS at 1440p, and 60.4 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 16.8%, and from 1080p to 4K it is 38.4%. The Medium preset tells a similar story: 58.5 FPS at 1080p, 49.1 FPS at 1440p, and 38 FPS at 4K. The data indicates that the CPU is never the bottleneck here; even at 1080p Low, where the GPU is least stressed, the i7-14700KF’s 20 cores and 28 threads are not the constraint. Instead, the GPU’s 2048 shading units and 64 ROPs dictate the ceiling.

What is notable is how much headroom the CPU leaves on the table. The i7-14700KF boosts to 5.60 GHz and posts a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44557, yet the game’s frame rates are uniformly modest. This suggests that The Medium is not a CPU-intensive title in this configuration; the limiting component is squarely the graphics card. The 4K Ultra result of 19.4 FPS is nearly unplayable, while 4K High at 25.4 FPS is only marginally better. For a smooth experience, the data points to 1080p or 1440p as the viable territory.

FAQ

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

A: Not at playable framerates. The best 4K result is 60.4 FPS on Low settings, but High drops to 25.4 FPS, Medium to 38 FPS, and Ultra to 19.4 FPS. The GPU lacks the bandwidth and compute for 4K at quality presets.

Q: What is the best resolution for this pairing?

A: 1920x1080 is the sweet spot. At High settings, it delivers 43.4 FPS, and Low reaches 98 FPS. 2560x1440 is playable but requires Low (81.5 FPS) or Medium (49.1 FPS) to stay fluid; High at 37.1 FPS is borderline.

Q: How does the RX 6650 XT compare to its closest rivals?

A: The GPU’s average benchmark score of 29024 is nearly identical to the AMD Radeon RX 6800M (29011, 0% delta) and the AMD Radeon RX 470 (28996, 0.1% delta). It trails the Intel Arc A370M by 0.5% (29175) and the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH by 0.6% (29197). The differences are negligible.

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-14700KF holding back the GPU?

A: No. The CPU ranks in the 96th percentile among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 70104, and its nearest rivals—the Intel Core i7-14700K (70074, 0% delta) and AMD Ryzen 9 9950X (70420, -0.4% delta)—are within 1.3% of its performance. The game’s frame rates are limited by the GPU, not the processor.

Q: What settings should I use for a 60 FPS target?

A: At 1080p, Low settings hit 98 FPS, which is well above 60. For higher quality, Medium at 1080p yields 58.5 FPS, just shy of the target. At 1440p, Low is required for 81.5 FPS; Medium falls to 49.1 FPS.

Q: Does the CPU’s high core count benefit this game?

A: The data suggests little benefit. The i7-14700KF has 20 cores and 28 threads, but The Medium’s frame rates scale almost entirely with resolution and settings, not CPU load. The GPU is the bottleneck across all measured rows.

How This Combo Ranks

Out of 1689 tested combinations, this pairing of the Intel Core i7-14700KF and AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT ranks 1098th in The Medium. That places it in the lower third of all combos, which is a direct consequence of the GPU’s limitations. The CPU is a top-tier part—its percentileVsAllCpus is 96, meaning it outperforms 96% of all CPUs in synthetic benchmarks—but the GPU’s percentileVsAllGpus is only 72, and its average benchmark score of 29024 is modest.

The ranking reflects the real-world gaming bottleneck. The i7-14700KF’s nearest rivals in CPU performance, such as the Intel Core i7-14700K (70074 score, 0% delta) and the AMD EPYC 9115 (69887, 0.3% delta), would not meaningfully change the outcome because the GPU cannot be pushed harder. Similarly, the RX 6650 XT’s closest competitors—the RX 6800M (29011, 0% delta) and RX 470 (28996, 0.1% delta)—deliver nearly identical performance, confirming that this GPU is the weak link. The 1098th rank is not a condemnation of the CPU; it is a reflection of a mid-range graphics card struggling with a demanding title.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy of playability. At 3840x2160, no preset is truly viable for smooth gameplay: Ultra (19.4 FPS) and High (25.4 FPS) are slideshows, Medium (38 FPS) is barely interactive, and Low (60.4 FPS) is the only option that approaches a playable threshold, though it sacrifices visual fidelity. For a 4K display, the recommendation is to drop to Low and accept the compromise, or reconsider the resolution entirely.

At 2560x1440, the options improve. Low (81.5 FPS) is the only preset that guarantees a fluid experience above 60 FPS. Medium (49.1 FPS) is playable but not smooth, and High (37.1 FPS) is marginal. Ultra (31 FPS) is not recommended. The best balance of quality and performance at 1440p is Low, with Medium as a fallback for those who prioritize visuals over frame rate.

At 1920x1080, the combo finally shines. Low (98 FPS) is excellent, Medium (58.5 FPS) is close to a 60 FPS target, and High (43.4 FPS) is acceptable for a slower-paced horror game. Ultra (36.8 FPS) is playable but not ideal. The data recommends 1080p Medium as the sweet spot for a quality experience, or Low if you want to maximize headroom. For most players, 1080p High offers a good compromise between atmosphere and responsiveness, but be prepared for dips below 40 FPS in heavy scenes.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The full dataset shows a consistent pattern across all twelve measured rows. At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from a high of 98 on Low to a low of 36.8 on Ultra, with Medium at 58.5 and High at 43.4. At 2560x1440, the spread narrows: Low hits 81.5, Medium 49.1, High 37.1, and Ultra 31. At 3840x2160, the numbers compress further: Low is 60.4, Medium 38, High 25.4, and Ultra 19.4.

The delta between Low and Ultra at each resolution is telling. At 1080p, the gap is 61.2 FPS (from 98 to 36.8), a 62.4% drop. At 1440p, the gap is 50.5 FPS (from 81.5 to 31), a 62% drop. At 4K, the gap is 41 FPS (from 60.4 to 19.4), a 67.9% drop. The percentage loss grows with resolution, indicating that the GPU’s fixed resources—its 128 texture units and 280.3 GB/s memory bandwidth—are spread thinner as pixel count rises.

The 4K Low result of 60.4 FPS is the standout anomaly, proving that the GPU can hit a decent frame rate if settings are stripped back. However, the jump from Low to Medium at 4K is a 37.1% drop (from 60.4 to 38), which shows how sensitive the card is to even modest quality increases. At 1080p, the drop from Low to Medium is 40.3% (from 98 to 58.5), a similar sensitivity. The data suggests that the RX 6650 XT has a narrow operating window: it excels at Low settings and degrades rapidly as quality rises.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, built on Intel’s 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, with 33 MB of shared L3 cache. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 44557 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 6290 in single-core, with a Geekbench multi-core score of 19287. Its average benchmark score of 70104 places it in the 96th percentile of all CPUs, and it trades blows with the Intel Core i7-14700K (70074, 0% delta) and AMD Ryzen 9 9950X (70420, -0.4% delta).

In The Medium, however, this CPU power is largely irrelevant. The measured frame rates show no sign of CPU limitation: even at 1080p Low, where the GPU has the least work, the 98 FPS result is far below what the CPU could theoretically support. The game’s horror genre typically involves fixed camera angles and pre-rendered environments, which shift the load onto the GPU’s shading units and memory subsystem. The i7-14700KF’s 28 threads are simply not exercised by this workload.

The GPU, in contrast, is the clear bottleneck. The RX 6650 XT has 2048 shading units, 32 ray accelerators, and 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, yielding 280.3 GB/s of bandwidth. Its 10.79 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is adequate for 1080p but insufficient for higher resolutions. The CPU’s role is to feed the GPU without stalling, and the data confirms it does so flawlessly—but it cannot compensate for the GPU’s physical limits. If you are building this combo for The Medium, the CPU is overkill; a less powerful processor would produce identical results. The bottleneck is unequivocally the graphics card.