The Medium

The Medium is a horror game built around fixed camera angles and a split-world mechanic, and the data for this pairing of an Intel Core i7-14700KF and AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT shows a system that is capable but requires careful settings management to hit smooth framerates. The measured results across three resolutions and four presets reveal a clear pattern: this combo is more than enough for 1080p, comfortable at 1440p with some compromises, and only viable at 4K on the lowest settings. The sweet spot for most players will be the Medium preset at 1440p, which delivers an average of 71 FPS with a minimum of 60 FPS, ensuring a stable experience without the sharp performance hit of High or Ultra. At 1080p, the Medium preset also shines with an average of 84 FPS and a minimum of 72 FPS, making it the best balance of visual fidelity and smoothness for those on lower-resolution displays.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear hierarchy for this game. At 1080p, the Low preset hits an average of 135 FPS, while Medium drops to 84 FPS, High to 61 FPS, and Ultra to 48 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium is steep, but the drop from Medium to High is also significant, costing 23 FPS. For a horror game where atmosphere matters, the Medium preset is the recommended choice for 1080p, as it keeps the average above 80 FPS and the minimum above 70 FPS, which is well within the range for a smooth experience on standard 60Hz or even 144Hz monitors. The High preset at 61 FPS is acceptable, but the 23 FPS loss over Medium is hard to justify for the marginal visual gain, and Ultra at 48 FPS should be avoided unless you prioritize visuals over responsiveness.

At 1440p, the situation becomes more nuanced. Low delivers a high 114 FPS, but Medium is the practical recommendation with an average of 71 FPS and a minimum of 60 FPS. This is the first resolution where the minimum FPS is a critical factor; the Medium preset’s 60 FPS floor ensures no drops below standard refresh rates. High at 51 FPS is playable but not ideal for a game that relies on tension and timing, while Ultra at 40 FPS is a slideshow in comparison. The data suggests that Medium is the intended sweet spot for this combo at 1440p, as it provides a 20 FPS advantage over High and keeps the experience fluid.

For 4K, the numbers are stark. Low is the only playable option, averaging 89 FPS, which is impressive for a 4K resolution. Medium drops to 56 FPS with a minimum of 47 FPS, which is borderline for a smooth experience and will be noticeable in fast camera transitions. High at 40 FPS and Ultra at 32 FPS are not recommended for any serious playthrough. The recommendation here is to use Low if you must play at 4K, but the data indicates that 1440p Medium is the superior experience, offering a much higher minimum FPS and better visual detail without the performance penalty.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT is the primary driver of performance in this game, as evidenced by the large FPS swings when changing resolution and settings. The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 624.1 GB/s. This memory configuration is ample for The Medium’s high-resolution textures, even at 4K, where the game’s split-world rendering can double the memory pressure. The GPU’s boost clock of 2430 MHz and game clock of 2124 MHz are solid, but the data shows that raw compute is the limiting factor at higher presets, not memory capacity. The RX 7800 XT’s 3840 shading units and 60 RT cores are put to work here, but the game’s engine seems to scale more with raw rasterization power than with ray tracing features.

The GPU’s benchmark scores place it in the 51st percentile of all GPUs, which is a middle-of-the-pack ranking. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660, has a nearly identical average score, differing by only -0.5%, while the AMD Radeon Pro 5500M is just 0.9% behind. This is surprising given the generational gap, but it highlights that the RX 7800 XT’s synthetic benchmarks do not fully translate to gaming performance in this title. In practice, the GPU’s behavior in The Medium is more telling: the 4K Low preset at 89 FPS versus the 4K Ultra at 32 FPS shows a massive 57 FPS spread, indicating that the GPU is heavily taxed by the game’s visual effects, particularly at Ultra settings. The 16 GB VRAM is a future-proofing advantage, but for this specific game, it is not the bottleneck—the GPU’s compute throughput is.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF is a high-end processor with 20 cores and 28 threads, boosting up to 5.60 GHz. In The Medium, this CPU is largely a supporting player, as the game is not particularly CPU-intensive at lower resolutions. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo hits 135 FPS, which is high enough to suggest the CPU is not limiting the frame rate. However, the CPU’s performance does become relevant at 1080p Medium and above, where the frame rates drop to 84 FPS and below, but this is more likely due to GPU load increasing than CPU inability.

The CPU’s benchmark scores are robust, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44167 and a single-core score of 6235, placing it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, which is 0.9% slower on average, and the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K, which is 1% faster. These differences are negligible in gaming, and the 14700KF’s high single-thread performance is what matters for The Medium’s main thread. The game’s camera and logic systems are likely single-threaded, and the 5.60 GHz boost clock ensures that this is not a bottleneck. Even at 4K Low, where the GPU is working harder, the CPU still delivers 89 FPS, showing that it has ample headroom. The CPU’s 33 MB of L3 cache and support for DDR4 or DDR5 memory also contribute to smooth overall system performance, but the data indicates that the CPU is never the limiting component in this pairing.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Core i7-14700KF and Radeon RX 7800 XT ranks 1221 out of 3724 tested combos for The Medium. This places it in roughly the 67th percentile of all combos, which is a solid but not exceptional ranking. The rank reflects the GPU’s middling position in the overall GPU hierarchy, as the CPU is near the top of its class. The combo’s performance is likely held back by the GPU, which is in the 51st percentile of all GPUs, rather than the CPU, which is in the 94th percentile. This means that in a game like The Medium, the GPU is the primary determinant of the combo’s rank, and the CPU’s high scores do not boost the system above other combos with similarly powerful GPUs.

The ranking also suggests that many other combinations of CPUs and GPUs can achieve similar or better performance, likely those pairing higher-end GPUs with mid-range CPUs. The combo’s rank is not a reflection of poor hardware, but rather a realistic assessment of where the RX 7800 XT sits in the performance spectrum. For a system with this CPU, a stronger GPU would likely push the rank much higher, as the CPU has plenty of headroom. Conversely, pairing this GPU with a weaker CPU would likely result in a similar rank, confirming that the GPU is the binding constraint in this pairing.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data across resolutions shows a clear scaling pattern that highlights the GPU as the limiting component. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 135 at 1080p to 114 at 1440p (a 15.6% decrease) and then to 89 at 4K (a 21.9% decrease from 1440p). This gradual decline indicates that the GPU is handling the increased pixel count but not being overwhelmed, likely due to the 16 GB VRAM preventing memory-related stutters. At Medium settings, the drop is more pronounced: from 84 FPS at 1080p to 71 FPS at 1440p (a 15.5% decrease) and then to 56 FPS at 4K (a 21.1% decrease). This suggests that the GPU’s compute units are being taxed more heavily as the resolution increases, but the scaling is still linear.

At High settings, the pattern is similar, with 61 FPS at 1080p dropping to 51 FPS at 1440p (a 16.4% decrease) and then to 40 FPS at 4K (a 21.6% decrease). The consistency of these percentage drops across presets indicates that the GPU is scaling predictably with resolution, and there is no sudden cliff or memory-related collapse. The 4K to 1080p ratio at High settings shows a 34% reduction in FPS, which is a typical GPU-bound scenario. The data strongly suggests that the GPU is the limiting factor at all resolutions above 1080p Low, as the CPU’s performance is more than sufficient to feed the GPU. The 4K Medium preset’s minimum FPS of 47 is the lowest recorded, and it underscores that 4K is only viable on Low settings for this combo.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset to use at 1440p for a smooth experience?

A: The Medium preset is the best choice at 1440p, delivering an average of 71 FPS with a minimum of 60 FPS. The High preset drops to 51 FPS, which is noticeably less fluid, while Ultra at 40 FPS is not recommended for gameplay.

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

A: Yes, but only on the Low preset, which averages 89 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K averages 56 FPS with a minimum of 47 FPS, which is borderline, and High at 40 FPS or Ultra at 32 FPS are not playable for a smooth experience.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU’s high single-core performance and 5.60 GHz boost clock keep it from being a bottleneck, as shown by the consistent FPS drops across resolutions that scale with GPU load. The GPU’s 51st percentile ranking versus the CPU’s 94th percentile confirms this.

Q: How does the RX 7800 XT compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RX 7800 XT’s average benchmark score is 11627, which is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660’s score of 11680, a difference of -0.5%. It is also just 0.9% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 5500M and 1.8% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT.

Q: What is the minimum FPS guarantee at 1080p Medium?

A: The 1080p Medium preset has a measured minimum FPS of 72, with an average of 84 FPS and a maximum of 97 FPS. This ensures no drops below standard 60Hz refresh rates.

Q: Does 16 GB of VRAM help at 4K in this game?

A: The 16 GB VRAM prevents memory-related stutters, but it does not overcome the GPU’s compute limitations. The 4K Low preset runs at 89 FPS, but the 4K Ultra preset drops to 32 FPS, showing that the GPU’s processing power, not memory size, is the primary constraint at higher settings.