The Medium

The Medium is a demanding horror title that stresses both CPU and GPU heavily, but the pairing of the Intel Core i9-14900K and AMD Radeon RX 6600 creates a clear bottleneck at higher resolutions. The data shows a system that is capable of smooth 1080p play at medium settings, but which falls apart quickly as resolution increases. This analysis breaks down the measured performance, component roles, and practical settings for this specific configuration.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates show a steep and consistent decline as resolution moves from 1920x1080 up to 3840x2160. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces an average of 84 FPS, which is the highest score recorded across all tested configurations. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 71 FPS, and at 4K Low it falls further to 55 FPS. This represents a 34.5% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, indicating that even at the least demanding preset, the GPU is struggling to keep up with the pixel count.

The pattern becomes more pronounced at higher quality presets. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 37 FPS at 1080p to 32 FPS at 1440p, then to 25 FPS at 4K. The jump from 1440p to 4K at High settings costs 7 FPS, or roughly 22% of the 1440p score. At Medium settings, the 1080p average of 52 FPS drops to 44 FPS at 1440p and then to 35 FPS at 4K. The 4K Medium result also has a minimum frame rate of 29 FPS and a maximum of 40 FPS, showing significant variance that would be noticeable during gameplay.

Ultra settings paint the bleakest picture. The 1080p average of 30 FPS drops to 25 FPS at 1440p and then to 20 FPS at 4K. These numbers are consistently below the 30 FPS threshold that many players consider the minimum for playable performance. The data indicates that the limiting component shifts with resolution. At 1080p, the CPU has enough headroom to push the GPU to its limits, but as resolution climbs, the GPU's rendering workload becomes the dominant constraint. The RX 6600's 8 GB of VRAM and 128-bit memory bus are clearly insufficient for 4K textures and pixel throughput, as evidenced by the dramatic FPS collapse at 3840x2160.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K is a 24-core, 32-thread processor based on Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.20 GHz and a boost clock of 6.00 GHz. Its benchmark results place it in the 95th percentile of all CPUs tested, with an average benchmark score of 79097. In Cinebench R23, it scores 39399.5 in multi-core and 2262.5 in single-core tests, while Geekbench shows 21697 multi-core and 2655 single-core scores. This is an exceptionally powerful CPU by any measure.

For The Medium, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and handle game logic, physics, and AI. The game's genre is horror, which often features complex scripted sequences and environmental interactions that can tax the processor. The i9-14900K's 36 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache provide ample room for the game's data, and its high single-core performance (324.5 in Cinebench R15 single-core) ensures that the main game thread is not a bottleneck.

However, the measured frame rates suggest that the CPU is rarely the limiting factor in this config. At 1080p Low, the 84 FPS average is likely near the GPU's maximum output, but the CPU could probably push higher if paired with a more powerful graphics card. Comparing to the nearest rivals, the i9-14900K sits just 0.3% behind the Intel Core i9-14900KF in average score, and it is 1.7% ahead of the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395. This level of performance means that any FPS drops in The Medium should be attributed to the RX 6600, not the processor. The CPU's 125 W TDP and unlocked multiplier also indicate that there is headroom for overclocking, though the data does not show any overclocked results.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the i9-14900K and RX 6600 ranks 2904 out of 3724 tested combos in The Medium. This places it in the bottom 22% of all configurations, which is a poor showing for a processor that is in the top 5% of all CPUs. The ranking reflects the GPU's limitations rather than the CPU's capabilities. The RX 6600's own benchmark percentile is 63, meaning it outperforms only 63% of all GPUs, and its average benchmark score of 19036 places it nearly level with the NVIDIA Quadro K6000 (0% delta) and just 0.1% behind the GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile.

The combo rank indicates that this pairing is poorly balanced for The Medium specifically. While the CPU is overqualified, the GPU is underpowered for the game's demands. In practical terms, this means that upgrading the GPU alone would yield significant performance gains, while upgrading the CPU would provide almost no benefit in this title. The 2904th position out of 3724 combos suggests that there are many other configurations that achieve better frame rates, likely because they pair the RX 6600 with a less powerful but adequate CPU, or pair the i9-14900K with a more capable GPU.

For context, the GPU's nearest rivals show that it is competitive with other mid-range cards, but those cards are not typically paired with flagship CPUs. The data implies that a more balanced build would either use a cheaper CPU with the RX 6600 or a better GPU with the i9-14900K. The current combination wastes the CPU's potential while the GPU struggles to maintain playable frame rates at higher resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play The Medium with this combo?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 is the only resolution where the combo achieves consistently playable frame rates across multiple presets. At 1080p Medium, the average is 52 FPS with a minimum of 44 FPS, while 1080p Low reaches 84 FPS. At 1440p, only Low settings (71 FPS) are comfortably playable, and at 4K, even Low drops to 55 FPS.

Q: Can this combo handle Ultra settings in The Medium?

A: No. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 30 FPS, which is borderline. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 25 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 20 FPS. These numbers are below the 30 FPS minimum that most players find acceptable, and the lack of minimum frame rate data for most Ultra results suggests the performance is unstable.

Q: How does the i9-14900K compare to its closest rival in CPU benchmarks?

A: The i9-14900K has an average benchmark score of 79097, which is 0.3% lower than the Intel Core i9-14900KF (79371) and 0.6% lower than the Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus (79574). It is 1.7% higher than the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 (77740). These are all very close scores, indicating the i9-14900K is at the top of the desktop CPU hierarchy.

Q: What is the RX 6600's performance relative to its nearest rivals?

A: The RX 6600 has an average benchmark score of 19036. The NVIDIA Quadro K6000 scores 19030 (0% delta), the GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile scores 19049 (-0.1% delta), and the Tesla K20m scores 19089 (-0.3% delta). The RTX 2000 Ada Generation scores 18954 (0.4% delta). These are all within a fraction of a percent, showing the RX 6600 is a solid mid-range performer.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the main bottleneck in this game?

A: The GPU is clearly the limiting factor. The i9-14900K is in the 95th percentile of all CPUs, while the RX 6600 is in the 63rd percentile of GPUs. The frame rate drops from 84 FPS at 1080p Low to 25 FPS at 4K High show that the GPU cannot handle higher resolutions, whereas the CPU's high single-core and multi-core scores suggest it is not the constraining component.

Q: What are the minimum and maximum frame rates at 1440p Medium?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the combo achieves an average of 44 FPS, with a minimum of 37 FPS and a maximum of 51 FPS. This shows a range of 14 FPS, indicating some scene-to-scene variability but generally stable performance.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 is based on the Navi 23 chip using RDNA 2.0 architecture, built on a 7 nm process at TSMC. It has 1792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operations pipelines. The GPU's boost clock is 2491 MHz, with a game clock of 2044 MHz and a base clock of 1626 MHz. Memory consists of 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s. The card supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.4, and OpenGL 4.6.

In The Medium, the GPU's role is central to rendering the game's dual-world mechanic, which often shows two perspectives simultaneously. This feature is particularly demanding on rasterization and memory bandwidth. The RX 6600's 8 GB VRAM is sufficient for 1080p but becomes a liability at higher resolutions where texture data exceeds the available memory. The 128-bit memory bus and 224.0 GB/s bandwidth are also modest, limiting the speed at which the GPU can access textures and geometry.

The measured FPS data confirms these limitations. At 1080p Low, the GPU produces 84 FPS, showing that it can handle the game at lower settings. However, at 4K Low, the average drops to 55 FPS, and at 4K Medium, it falls to 35 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium at 4K is 20 FPS, while at 1080p the same gap is 32 FPS (84 to 52). This suggests that the GPU is running out of memory bandwidth and compute resources as resolution increases. The pixel rate of 159.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 279.0 GTexel/s are not sufficient for 4K rendering of a modern horror game.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it at the 63rd percentile, with a Passmark G3D score of 15096 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1492. These numbers indicate that the RX 6600 is a capable 1080p card, but its performance ceiling is reached quickly when pushed to higher resolutions. For The Medium, the data suggests that players should stick to 1080p or accept lower settings at 1440p.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the best experience for this combo is at 1920x1080 with Medium settings. The average of 52 FPS with a minimum of 44 FPS provides a smooth and stable gameplay experience, which is essential for a horror title where frame pacing issues can ruin the atmosphere. The maximum of 60 FPS shows that the system can occasionally hit 60 FPS in less demanding scenes, but the average is more representative.

For players who prefer higher frame rates over visual fidelity, 1080p Low settings deliver an average of 84 FPS. This is well above the 60 FPS threshold and provides a very responsive experience. The trade-off is reduced visual quality, but for a game like The Medium, the atmospheric lighting and shadows are important, so Medium settings are the better balance. At 1080p High, the average drops to 37 FPS, which is playable but not ideal, and 1080p Ultra at 30 FPS is borderline.

At 1440p, the only reasonable option is Low settings, which produce 71 FPS. Medium settings at 1440p yield 44 FPS, which is acceptable for slower-paced horror gameplay, but the minimum of 37 FPS might cause noticeable stutters. High and Ultra at 1440p are not recommended, with averages of 32 FPS and 25 FPS respectively. At 4K, even Low settings only achieve 55 FPS, and Medium drops to 35 FPS, so 4K gaming with this combo is not advisable for a smooth experience.

The data indicates that the sweet spot is 1080p Medium, offering the best combination of visual quality and performance. Players who prioritize smoothness above all else can drop to Low at 1080p, while those who want higher resolution should stick to 1440p Low. Ultra settings are not viable at any resolution, with the highest average being 30 FPS at 1080p. The 4K results are uniformly poor, with the best case being 55 FPS at Low, which is not enough headroom for consistent play.