The Medium

The Medium presents a demanding fixed-perspective horror experience, and the measured results for the Intel Core i9-14900K with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 show a wide performance spread depending on the preset chosen. The data reveals that the Ultra preset is the only configuration that falls below the 60 FPS threshold at every tested resolution, while the Low preset delivers the highest frame rates but likely sacrifices visual fidelity. The analysis below breaks down the measured FPS rows to determine the optimal balance between visual quality and smooth gameplay.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark results indicate a clear hierarchy across the four presets, with the gap between Low and Ultra being substantial. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 159.8 FPS, which is more than double the 56 FPS recorded on Ultra. However, the Medium preset at 98.5 FPS offers a more balanced experience, providing a 42.5 FPS advantage over High while maintaining a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS standard. At 2560x1440, the Medium preset drops to 83.1 FPS, still above the 60 FPS threshold, whereas High falls to 62.3 FPS, leaving little headroom for demanding scenes. For 3840x2160, the situation changes significantly: Medium yields 69.1 FPS, which is playable, but High drops to 50.7 FPS, and Ultra becomes a slideshow at 35.4 FPS.

The data suggests that Medium is the recommended preset for most users, as it is the highest quality tier that maintains an average above 60 FPS at all three resolutions. At 1080p, Medium provides 98.5 FPS, offering a 35.7 FPS buffer over High. At 1440p, Medium’s 83.1 FPS is 20.8 FPS ahead of High. At 4K, Medium’s 69.1 FPS is the only preset besides Low that stays above 60 FPS. For users with high-refresh-rate 1080p displays, the Low preset at 159.8 FPS is the only option that approaches 160 FPS, but the jump from Low to Medium costs 61.3 FPS, suggesting that Medium is the better trade-off for visual quality. Ultra is not recommended at any resolution, as even at 1080p it only reaches 56 FPS, which is below the standard smoothness target.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070’s memory configuration plays a critical role in these results. With 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, the card delivers a bandwidth of 672.0 GB/s. The memory clocks run at 1750 MHz, translating to 28 Gbps effective. For a game like The Medium, which is known for its heavy use of fixed camera angles and detailed environments, the data shows that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher presets. The measured FPS at 3840x2160 on Ultra is 35.4, which is only 33.2% of the Low preset’s 106.8 FPS at the same resolution. This dramatic drop indicates that the Ultra preset’s additional effects and texture detail place a significant load on the GPU’s shader units and memory subsystem.

The GPU’s compute capabilities, measured at 30.87 TFLOPS FP32, are substantial, but the data shows that the 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores are not enough to maintain high frame rates at Ultra settings in this title. The 4K results are particularly telling: the transition from Medium (69.1 FPS) to High (50.7 FPS) costs 18.4 FPS, while the transition from High to Ultra (35.4 FPS) costs another 15.3 FPS. This non-linear scaling suggests that the Ultra preset introduces effects that are disproportionately expensive. The GPU’s 80 ROPs and 192 TMUs are likely saturated at these settings, as the pixel rate of 201.0 GPixel/s and texture rate of 482.3 GTexel/s are not sufficient to sustain higher frame rates at 4K Ultra.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the benchmark database, this specific combination of the Intel Core i9-14900K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 achieves a combo rank of 304 out of 1689 tested combinations. This places the system in the top 18% of all tested configurations, indicating that it is a strong performer for The Medium. The ranking reflects the balance between the CPU’s multi-threaded capabilities and the GPU’s rasterization performance. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 79824 places it in the 97th percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU’s average benchmark score of 41687 places it in the 83rd percentile of all GPUs. The combo rank of 304 suggests that the CPU is not holding back the GPU in this game, as the measured FPS scales consistently with resolution and settings changes.

Compared to the GPU’s nearest rivals, the RTX 5070’s average benchmark score of 41687 is 0.6% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 (41441) and 0.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 (41610). However, it trails the NVIDIA Tesla M40 by 0.5% and the AMD Radeon Pro 580X by 0.7%. These small deltas indicate that the RTX 5070 is in a tightly contested performance tier. For the CPU, the i9-14900K’s average score of 79824 is 0.7% ahead of the Intel Core i9-14900KF and the Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF, and 0.9% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K. The AMD EPYC 7413 is 0.3% ahead. These rival comparisons show that the combo’s rank is driven more by the GPU’s positioning than the CPU’s, as the CPU is near the top of its class.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured data shows a clear progression: Low preset delivers 159.8 FPS, Medium drops to 98.5 FPS, High follows at 72.8 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 56 FPS. The differences between each step are notable: Low to Medium is a 61.3 FPS drop, Medium to High is a 25.7 FPS drop, and High to Ultra is a 16.8 FPS drop. This pattern suggests that the Medium preset is the sweet spot for 1080p, as it retains 61.6% of the Low preset’s performance while significantly improving visual quality.

Moving to 2560x1440, the same preset order holds but with lower absolute numbers. Low achieves 136.7 FPS, Medium 83.1 FPS, High 62.3 FPS, and Ultra 49.7 FPS. The relative drops are similar: Low to Medium loses 53.6 FPS, Medium to High loses 20.8 FPS, and High to Ultra loses 12.6 FPS. At this resolution, Medium remains above 60 FPS, but High is only 2.3 FPS above the threshold, making it risky for scenes with heavy action. The 1440p results are 14.5% lower than 1080p for Low, 15.6% lower for Medium, 14.4% lower for High, and 11.3% lower for Ultra.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops are more pronounced. Low yields 106.8 FPS, Medium 69.1 FPS, High 50.7 FPS, and Ultra 35.4 FPS. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is severe: Low loses 29.9 FPS (21.9% drop), Medium loses 14.0 FPS (16.8% drop), High loses 11.6 FPS (18.6% drop), and Ultra loses 14.3 FPS (28.8% drop). The 4K Ultra result of 35.4 FPS is the lowest measured value across all configurations, highlighting that this preset is not viable at 4K. The data shows that the 4K Medium result of 69.1 FPS is the only 4K setting that provides a smooth experience, and even that is only 9.1 FPS above the 60 FPS target.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for playing The Medium at 1920x1080?

A: According to the measured data, the Medium preset at 98.5 FPS offers the best balance, as it is 25.7 FPS above High (72.8 FPS) and only 61.3 FPS below Low (159.8 FPS). Ultra is below 60 FPS at 56 FPS.

Q: Can this combo maintain 60 FPS at 3840x2160?

A: Yes, but only on Medium (69.1 FPS) or Low (106.8 FPS). High falls to 50.7 FPS, and Ultra drops to 35.4 FPS, both below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the RTX 5070 compare to the RTX 3090 in this system?

A: Based on average benchmark scores, the RTX 5070 (41687) is 0.6% ahead of the RTX 3090 (41441). In game, the combo rank of 304 out of 1689 reflects this competitive positioning.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 2560x1440?

A: The Low preset achieves 136.7 FPS, while Ultra drops to 49.7 FPS, a difference of 87 FPS. Medium (83.1 FPS) is the only preset above 60 FPS besides Low.

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck for this GPU in The Medium?

A: The data suggests no, as the i9-14900K has a 97th percentile CPU ranking with an average score of 79824. The FPS scaling with resolution changes indicates the GPU is the limiting factor at higher presets.

Q: What is the lowest measured FPS in the entire dataset?

A: The lowest value is 35.4 FPS, recorded at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. The next lowest is 49.7 FPS at 2560x1440 Ultra.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K features 24 cores and 32 threads, with a base clock of 3.20 GHz and a boost clock of 6.00 GHz. Its 36 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache provide ample capacity for game data. The CPU’s benchmark scores are exceptional: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 49872 and a single-core score of 7040. The Geekbench multi-core score is 20370, with a single-core score of 3064. These results place the CPU in the 97th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 79824.

In The Medium, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and manage game logic. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low, the system hits 159.8 FPS, which is likely near the CPU’s practical limit for this game engine. However, the consistent scaling from 1080p to 1440p to 4K (e.g., Medium goes from 98.5 to 83.1 to 69.1 FPS) indicates that the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck as resolution increases. The CPU’s 125 W TDP and 24 cores ensure that even at lower resolutions, there is enough headroom to prevent CPU-bound stutters. The CPU’s nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i9-14900KF (0.7% ahead) and the Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF (0.7% ahead), show that the i9-14900K is at the top of its class, but the GPU’s 83rd percentile ranking limits the overall combo performance. For this game, the CPU is not the limiting factor; the data shows that the GPU’s 12 GB VRAM and 672.0 GB/s bandwidth are what determine the playable settings at each resolution.