The Medium

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for The Medium reveals a clear and consistent scaling pattern across the three tested resolutions. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the Intel Core i7-14700KF and AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT combination produces 126.2 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 Low drops this to 105.4 FPS, a reduction of 20.8 FPS. At 3840x2160 Low, the average falls further to 84.4 FPS. This progression shows that even at the lowest preset, the rendering load scales substantially with pixel count.

The High preset tells a more demanding story. At 1920x1080 High, the system achieves 55.6 FPS. At 2560x1440 High, the average drops to 45.2 FPS, and at 3840x2160 High, it reaches only 37.5 FPS. The delta between 1080p and 1440p High is 10.4 FPS, while the delta between 1440p and 4K High is 7.7 FPS. This narrowing gap at higher resolutions suggests the GPU is becoming the primary limiting factor as pixel count increases.

Ultra settings exhibit the steepest absolute declines. The system starts at 43.6 FPS at 1080p Ultra, falls to 37.1 FPS at 1440p Ultra, and bottoms out at 30.2 FPS at 4K Ultra. The 4K Ultra result sits just above the 30 FPS threshold, indicating that this preset at this resolution is borderline for smooth gameplay. The data shows that the RX 7700 XT maintains playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p across all presets, but 4K Ultra pushes the hardware to its limits.

The scaling behavior points to a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions. The CPU, with 20 cores and 28 threads, has ample headroom to feed the GPU at 1080p, where the Low preset reaches 126.2 FPS. As resolution climbs, the GPU workload increases disproportionately, and the frame rate deltas between presets shrink. This is characteristic of a system where the graphics card is the bottleneck at 4K, while the processor is more than capable of keeping up even at lower resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide a clear hierarchy of performance across four presets. At 1920x1080, Low settings deliver 126.2 FPS, Medium delivers 78 FPS, High delivers 55.6 FPS, and Ultra delivers 43.6 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium costs 48.2 FPS, while the jump from Medium to High costs 22.4 FPS, and the jump from High to Ultra costs 12 FPS. This diminishing returns pattern suggests that Medium offers the best balance of visual quality and performance at 1080p, as it retains a comfortable margin above 60 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the picture changes. Low yields 105.4 FPS, Medium yields 67.8 FPS, High yields 45.2 FPS, and Ultra yields 37.1 FPS. The Medium preset at 1440p is the only option that stays above 60 FPS, making it the recommended choice for smooth gameplay at this resolution. High and Ultra fall below 60 FPS, which may be acceptable for a horror title but not ideal for consistent frame pacing.

At 3840x2160, the situation becomes more constrained. Low produces 84.4 FPS, Medium produces 51.6 FPS, High produces 37.5 FPS, and Ultra produces 30.2 FPS. The Low preset is the only one that clears 60 FPS at 4K. For players prioritizing frame rate, Low at 4K is the sensible pick. Those who prefer visual fidelity over smoothness might consider Medium at 51.6 FPS, which remains playable but requires compromise.

Across all resolutions, the data indicates that Medium is the best overall experience for this combination. At 1080p it delivers 78 FPS, at 1440p it delivers 67.8 FPS, and at 4K it delivers 51.6 FPS. This preset consistently provides a playable frame rate without sacrificing the visual improvements over Low. Ultra, by contrast, only exceeds 40 FPS at 1080p, making it a niche choice for players with lower refresh rate displays.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with a Navi 32 chip fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. The GPU contains 28,100 million transistors on a 346 mm² die, with a transistor density of 81.2M per mm². Its 12 GB of GDDR6 memory operates across a 192-bit bus, delivering 432.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock runs at 2250 MHz, which translates to 18 Gbps effective.

Clock speeds for this GPU are substantial. The base clock is 1435 MHz, the game clock is 2171 MHz, and the boost clock reaches 2544 MHz. This headroom between base and boost explains why the GPU can maintain strong performance in less demanding scenes. The shading units number 3456, with 216 texture mapping units and 96 render output units. The pixel rate is 244.2 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 549.5 GTexel/s.

In The Medium, the GPU's role is decisive at higher resolutions. The measured FPS data shows that at 4K Ultra, the system achieves only 30.2 FPS, while at 4K Low it reaches 84.4 FPS. This 54.2 FPS spread across presets at the same resolution underscores how much the graphics card's workload varies with settings. The 12 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for the game's requirements at these tested presets, as no data indicates memory-related stuttering or performance collapse.

The RX 7700 XT ranks in the 73rd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 30097. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 with a delta of 0%, the AMD Radeon RX 570 with a delta of -0.2%, and the NVIDIA Tesla M60 with a delta of 0.4%. This positioning places it in the upper-midrange tier, which aligns with the observed frame rates in The Medium — capable at 1080p and 1440p, but struggling at 4K with high presets.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achieved by this system in The Medium?

A: The highest recorded average is 126.2 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next highest is 105.4 FPS at 2560x1440 Low, followed by 84.4 FPS at 3840x2160 Low.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K resolution?

A: At 3840x2160, only the Low preset exceeds 60 FPS with an average of 84.4 FPS. Medium delivers 51.6 FPS, High delivers 37.5 FPS, and Ultra delivers 30.2 FPS, all below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the RX 7700 XT compare to its closest rival, the RTX 5060?

A: The RX 7700 XT has an average benchmark score of 30097, while the RTX 5060 has a score of 30109, resulting in a delta of 0%. They are effectively tied in synthetic benchmarks.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between High and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, High delivers 45.2 FPS while Ultra delivers 37.1 FPS. The difference is 8.1 FPS, making Ultra a marginal upgrade in visual quality at a measurable performance cost.

Q: Which preset offers the best balance at 1080p?

A: Medium delivers 78 FPS at 1920x1080, which is well above 60 FPS. High delivers 55.6 FPS and Ultra delivers 43.6 FPS, so Medium provides the best combination of smoothness and visual fidelity.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at any resolution?

A: The data shows no evidence of CPU limitation. The i7-14700KF has 20 cores and 28 threads, and the frame rates scale consistently with resolution and settings, indicating the GPU is the constraining factor at higher loads.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF is a 20-core, 28-thread processor from the Raptor Lake Refresh generation. It operates with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 33 MB of shared L3 cache. This configuration provides substantial headroom for feeding the GPU in The Medium.

Benchmark results for this CPU are strong. It scores 44557 in Cinebench R23 multicore, 6290 in Cinebench R23 singlecore, 19287 in Geekbench multicore, and 2972 in Geekbench singlecore. The Passmark multithread score is 52425, and the Passmark single thread score is 4480. The processor ranks in the 96th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 70104.

The nearest CPU rivals show a tightly clustered field. The Intel Core i7-14700K has an average score of 70074 with a delta of 0%, the AMD EPYC 9115 scores 69887 with a delta of 0.3%, and the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X scores 70420 with a delta of -0.4%. The Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 scores 71056 with a delta of -1.3%. This indicates the i7-14700KF sits squarely in the high-end desktop segment.

In The Medium, the CPU's role is to keep frame rates stable across varied scene complexity. The measured FPS at 1080p Low reaches 126.2 FPS, which requires the processor to handle game logic and draw calls efficiently. The high single-thread performance, evidenced by the 6290 Cinebench R23 singlecore score, is particularly relevant for this title. The data shows no scenario where the CPU becomes the limiting factor, as even the most demanding GPU settings at 4K produce consistent results.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured dataset for this system in The Medium is as follows. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 126.2 FPS, Medium delivers 78 FPS, High delivers 55.6 FPS, and Ultra delivers 43.6 FPS. These four values show a clear progression from highest to lowest, with Low more than doubling the Ultra frame rate.

At 2560x1440, Low produces 105.4 FPS, Medium produces 67.8 FPS, High produces 45.2 FPS, and Ultra produces 37.1 FPS. The 1440p results are consistently lower than 1080p by margins ranging from 20.8 FPS at Low to 6.5 FPS at Ultra. This narrowing gap at higher presets confirms that the GPU workload dominates as settings increase.

At 3840x2160, Low achieves 84.4 FPS, Medium achieves 51.6 FPS, High achieves 37.5 FPS, and Ultra achieves 30.2 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the lowest in the entire dataset, falling just above 30 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra at 4K is 54.2 FPS, the largest of any resolution, indicating that preset selection has the most impact at this resolution.

Across all twelve measured combinations, the system's rank in this game is 728 out of 1689 total combinations. This places the i7-14700KF and RX 7700 XT in the upper half of all tested hardware pairings for The Medium. The data confirms that this system is well-suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming across all presets, with 4K requiring preset compromises to maintain smooth frame rates.