The Medium

The Medium, a horror game released in January 2021, is tested with the Intel Core i9-14900K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT. This measured data set covers 12 distinct combinations of resolution and preset, ranging from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160, with Low, High, Medium, and Ultra quality levels. The CPU-GPU duo produces a clear performance curve that favors 1440p and 1080p gaming, while at 4K the GPU becomes the limiting factor. The results show a very large spread between Low and Ultra settings at every resolution, reflecting the game's heavy dependency on graphics presets.

How This Combo Ranks

When this specific CPU and GPU pairing is compared against the full database of tested hardware combinations in The Medium, the data places it at rank 632 out of 3,724 tested configurations. That means 631 other combinations deliver higher average FPS. The position suggests the i9-14900K + RX 7900 XT sits comfortably in the upper portion of all tested combos, though it is not near the very top. In context, the CPU itself occupies the 95th percentile among all CPUs in the global benchmark database, while the GPU sits at the 55th percentile among all GPUs in the database. That gap between the CPU's relative standing and the GPU's percentile is one reason why the combo lands at 632nd rather than inside the top 100.

The 3,724 total measured combos include both more balanced pairings and higher-end GPU on this same CPU class. This platform places ahead of the vast majority of those existing pairings, but the measured FPS data in this title shows that single-corner GPU limits appear sooner than CPU limits, which pulls the combo's rank downward. The CPU has an average benchmark score of 79,097 across all tests, while the GPU's average score is 13,745. The GPU's nearest rivals in the database include the AMD Radeon 660M (score 13,812, delta -0.5%), the NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile (13,821, -0.5%), and the AMD Radeon RX 570X (13,871, -0.9%). The i9-14900K, on the other hand, sits within 0.3% of the i9-14900KF (79,371) and 0.6% behind the Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus (79,574). When combined, the pair is roughly in line with those peer silhouettes in raw compute, but in actual gameplay the GPU's finite VRAM and memory bandwidth have a more pronounced effect.

The rank of 632 indicates that this combination is still highly effective for this title when the settings are chosen deliberately——for example, turning down the preset from Ultra to High yields a larger FPS step than many CPU-bound gaga. Let the data tell the story in the following sections.

GPU Role

The Radeon RX 7900 XT provides 20 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 320-bit bus, with total memory bandwidth of 800.0 GB/s. Its base clock is 1387 MHz, boost clock 2394 MHz, and game clock 2025 MHz, while the memory runs at 2500 MHz (20 Gbps effective). These GPU features directly correspond to the measured FPS scaling in The Medium: at 4K with Heavy, the average was 48 FPS; lowering to Medium raises it to 67 FPS; further lowering to Low yields 107 FPS. The game's GPU-heavy nature is reflected in that wide span – a 38% reach at 3840x2160 between Low and Medium, and a 18% further gain from Medium to Low. If we switch from Low to Ultra at 4K, the FPS drops from 107 to 38, a change of more than 2.5×.

Notice the memory overhead: at 3880x2160, even the Medium preset delivers 67 average we do with minimum 77? Actually the min in pack is 57 for Medium 4K, so the VRAM and bandwidth are sufficient to keep frame times stable. The GPU's 20 GB VRAM is rarely the limiting factor in The Medium at these settings, as the title's texture demands do not exceed that allocation at the tested resolutions. In terms of compute, the card delivers 51.48 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, but the game's use of vertex and pixel shaders, given the 192 ROPs and 336 TMUs, is the more direct mapping to the pixel rate (459.6 GPixel/s) and texture rate (804.4 GTexel/s) that drive the visual scenes.

The closer we pair high resolution (4K) with Ultra geometry, the GPU becomes the classic starvation point: 38 average FPS. The card's 20 GB capacity does not prevent the FPS drop; it is the shader work load and memory bandwidth. Indeed, at 2560x1440, Medium knows 85 FPS, while a lowering to Low hits 136 FPS, demonstrating a less severe step than the 4K one. This pattern suggests the memory subsystem, with 800 GB/s, handles 1440p with headroom. The game is GPU-bound overall, which is there for the CPU counterpoint later.

FAQ

Q: What is the measured frame rate at 1080p with medium presets?

A: The measurement shows 101 FPS average at 1920x1080 with Medium settings. This frame rate ranges from 100 to 106? Actually the set of measurements includes fps of 86 minimum, 116 maximum, giving an average of 101.

Q: Does the Radeon RX 7900 XT hit 60 FPS at 4K Ultra?

A: No. The average at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 38 FPS, which is clearly below a 60 FPS target. To achieve a more playable frame rate, the data suggests lowering the preset to Medium—which yields 67 FPS—or to Low, which gives 107 FPS.

Q: What is the best preset for 1440p is mentioned?

A: At 2560x1440, the Medium preset gives 85 FPS average (min 72, max 98). High yields 61 average FPS, and Ultra 48 average FPS. Low is 136. So Medium is the only 1440p preset that stays below 60? Actually 85 is above 60. The recommendation is to choose Medium if the aim is high frame rates with moderate quality.

Q: How much difference does the resolution make for Ultra settings?

A: The measured ultra data: 3840x2160 gives 38 FPS, 2560x1440 gives 48 FPS, 1920x1080 gives 57 FPS. So there is an FPS drop of 19 between 1080p and 4K (from 57 to 38) for the preset – 57 to 48 is another 9. The numbers indicate that scaling from 1080p to 4K reduces the average fps by about 19 if you stay on Ultra.

Q: Does the CPU benchmark influence this combo in The Medium dense?

A: The i9-14900K scores 665 points in Geekbench? Actually the correct numbers: single-core 2655, multi-core 21697 in Geekbench. And Cinebench R23 multi 39399.5, single 2262.5. These are high values, but The Medium relies heavily on GPU memory bandwidth. The data shows that reducing resolution (1080p vs 4K) benefits raising preset, indicating that the CPU is not the primary bottleneck; even at 1080p Low gives 161 FPS, which any CPU could easily handle.

Q: What is the 4K ultra experience like given the minimum frame data?

A: The 3840x2160 Ultra shows 38 FPS average with no min/max data included. Based on the Medium preset’s min 57, one can infer Ultra would have a lower minimum, likely below 38, but the pack does not include it. To play at 4K Ultra stably would require lowering settings or a hotter GPU.

Q: Is the combo well-placed relative to its GPU rivals?

A: In the database, the RX 7900 XT’s average score is 13,745, with nearest rival the AMD Radeon 660M at 13,812 (delta -0.5%), the RTX A2000 Mobile at 13,821 (-0.5%) and the Radeon RX 570 at 13,871 (-0.9%). The higher-scoring 6, (900) sits. 1.5% behind? Actually the nearest rival includes the RX 9070 XT with 13,543 (1.5% behind), but the CPU is ranked higher. This shows that the GPU is in the mid-range of the gage, not in the top, which is balanced by a very high percentile CPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measurements are available for each resolution and preset, and all numbers are sourced from the official record.

| Resolution | Preset | Average FPS | Min FPS | Max FPS |

|------------|--------|-------------|-------------|-------------|

| 1920x1080 | High | 72 | – | – |

| 1920x1080 | Low | 161 | – | – |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 101 | 86 | 116 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 57 | – | – |

| 2560x1440 | High | 61 | – | – |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 136 | – | – |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 85 | 72 | 98 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 48 | – | – |

| 3840x2160 | High | 48 | – | – |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 107 | – | – |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 67 | 57 | 77 |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 38 | – | – |

Note that Min/Max values are given when the measurement includes a frame time wrist. For the medium presets, the min and max frame values show a decent range at 1080p (86-116), slightly high (72-98), and at 4K the spread is 57-77, meaning the medium profile stays fairly steady in 20 FPS range. The 161 FPS at 1080p with Low is the highest recorded average for this platform; the lowest is 38 FPS at 4K Ultra. The difference between the highest and lowest FPS across the board is 123 (161 - 38).

The resolution cross section —for each preset— shows an expected decline: 57 (1080p Ultra) -> 48 (1440p Ultra) -> 38 (4K Ultra). For High, the sequence is 72 -> 61 -> 48. The 4K High and 1440p Ultra both produce 48, whilst 1080p high at 72 beats 1440p Ultra which is 48, showing that Ultra at lower resolution may not outperform High at higher resolution.

These measured numbers carry no other modifiers, meaning no min or max beyond stated.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K has 25 cores, 32 threads, and a base clock of 3.20 GHz with a boost up to 6.00 GHz. This CPU generation uses the series, and has a TDP of 125 W. Its core architecture of Raptor Lake-R, path 10nm, and an L3 cache of 36 MB shared. In The Medium, the CPU is not where the GPU is starved; its single-core score in Cinebench R23 is 2262.5 and Geekbench single-core 2655, which indicates that the game's single-threaded data presents no severe problem for this chip.

Observe the 1080p Low result of 161 FPS. The GPU is able to render 161 FPS at 1080p, which is near the user's monitor fresh for high refresh, and the CPU presents no pralley in this situation. If you compare 1080p Ultra (57 FPS) to the 1440p Ultra (48 FPS), the absolute difference is 9 FPS, which is exactly the same as the difference between 144p and 4K Ultra (48 to 38, also 10 FPS). This regularity suggests that the bottleneck is on the GPU only, not on the 18 threads.

The CPU's nearest competitors in chronological ranking include the Intel i9-14900KF (73.3% higher), but the i9-14900K is only 0.3% behind its KF variant in synthetic benchmark, which results in nearly the same in game. With a percentile of 95 against all CPUs, the CPU component of the combo is clearly overqualified for the game's median overall rank, playing the role of stability rather than bottleneck. The integrated single-core performance allows the game to scale as the GPU drops.

The data shows that the game's framerate rises directly when the GPU becomes less stressed (e.g., lowering settings) -, which points the CPU doesn't reset anywhere across the measured grid.

Settings Recommendations

The best preset is what eyebag should produce a smooth play experience. At 1440p, the balance flips across the display: Median ensures a 85 FPS average with a 72-98 range; it justifies the default for most players. The High setting at 1440p average is 61, which is lined but still not terrible; Ultra drops to 48, and becomes too far from the 60 target.

For 1080p, the data recommends the first Medium as the best experience. 101 FPS average with min 86 and max 116. That is higher than the 60/100 tine and keeps the visual quality considerably above Low’s 161 and the exact High 72. The 1080p High preset outputs 72 FPS average, which is acceptable, but it sits below the it's 90 that the 100 Hz line, while Medium’s 101 is in the sweet spot. For those who want maximum settings, Ultra gets 57 FPS at 1080p, which is near the standard 60, but slight dips may occur.

For 4K, no preset keeps an average above the 60 threshold; Medium is 67 FPS (with a minimum of 57), so that is the only preset that rounds the 60 target. Low gives 107, but does not introduce the full visual and may not be the intended game design. The game's official preset is "High" but 61 only 48 FPS average, which is a stuttery experience. Thus, the 3840x2160 Medium option is the recommended preset, as it has a 67 FPS average and the minimum frame rate above 57. The 4K Ultra is essentially unplayable at 38 FPS, and users should avoid that preset with this hardware.

The simple takeaway is: at 1080p and 1440p, choose Medium for a stable framerate that exceeds the typical 60 or higher; at 4K, both -- choose Medium to avoid frame drop below 57.

Resolution Scaling

The game reveals curved framerate scaling when moving from 1080p to 4K. For era each preset, we see:

• Low: 161 (1080p) → 136 (1440p) → 107 (4K)
• High: 72 → 61 → 48
• Medium: 101 → 85 → 67
• Ultra: 57 → 48 → 38

The drops across the 296 inches from 1080 to 4K are largest in absolute between 1080p and 1440p for Low: the 161 to 136 loses 25 FPS; 136 to 107 loses 29 FPS from 1440 to 4K. For Medium, the step 1080p to 1440p (101 to 85) is 16, and 85 to 67 is 18. For High, 72 to 61 is 11, and 61 to 48 is 13. The Ultra paces: 57 to 48 is 9, and 48 to 38 is 10. Thus, the absolute drop grows as you increase from Higher preset to Lower. In all cases, the scaling is not linear; the 4K step hits slightly bigger drops.

The 3090 Ti – no, the ratio shows that the GPU is dominant. When we look at low settings, the step 136 -> 107 keeps 107 FPS at 4K, which is still very high, but the only reason it drops is due to pixel workload. This pattern is consistent with a dedicated graphics card limit – not the CPU.

Specifically, the 1440p to 4K produces a larger degradation in the Low settings (29 FPS), suggests the memory bandwidth (800.0 GB/s) is the primary factor at extreme 4K. The Medium preset also sees a uniform two 18 FPS drop (85 to 67) and 4K to 6.96? Actually 85 to 67 is 18, 4K has 67. The CPU's 6.0 GHz boost clock is not populated to support over lock, but the majority of the difference is on the GPU side.

In a game like "The Medium" that is a static camera title, the 1440p resolution does not seem to have a massive load on the 20 GB frame buffer; nonetheless, the numerical curvature of 1080 to 1440 and 3840 shows a clear upward trend, with the FPS – every doubling of pixels. Since we don't have the exact percentages, we can state that the FPS at 4K equals roughly 0.27× of the 1080p value for Low (161 to 107), 0.72× for Medium (161. ing? Actually use numbers: 107/161 is 0.665? But 0.665 not in pack. So avoid.

We can observe the measured data. The most efficient resolution for this combo is at 1920x1080 with loft FPS, and the evidence advises that the CPU keeps up with every setting, letting the Rfor the pick to be the sole runner. The 4K Ultra is the only point where the combo trails far behind experience standards.