The Medium

The Medium, a fixed-camera horror title from 2021, presents an interesting scaling pattern on the Intel Core i9-14900K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 combination. The measured data shows this pairing ranks 3rd out of 1,689 tested configurations, placing it in the top fraction of systems for this specific game. The benchmark results reveal a title that responds predictably to resolution changes while maintaining a clear separation between quality presets, with the RTX 5090's substantial memory capacity and the i9-14900K's high core count both playing roles in the observed performance.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial but not uniform across settings, indicating where the GPU becomes the limiting factor. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 194.8 FPS at 1920x1080 to 148 FPS at 3840x2160, a reduction of 46.8 FPS or roughly 24%. This relatively modest decline suggests that at lower graphical loads, the system retains considerable headroom even at 4K resolution.

Moving to Medium settings, the scaling becomes more pronounced. The 136.8 FPS average at 1080p drops to 89.1 FPS at 4K, a loss of 47.7 FPS or about 35%. This steeper curve indicates that the additional pixel count at 4K begins to tax the GPU more heavily once medium-quality effects are enabled. The High preset shows a similar pattern: 96.1 FPS at 1080p falls to 64.1 FPS at 4K, a 32 FPS or 33% reduction.

The Ultra preset exhibits the most dramatic scaling, with 81 FPS at 1080p dropping to 50.2 FPS at 4K. This 30.8 FPS decline (38%) reveals that at maximum settings, the RTX 5090 is working considerably harder to maintain playable frame rates as resolution increases. The data suggests that between 1440p and 4K, the Ultra preset crosses below the 60 FPS threshold, while High remains just above it at 64.1 FPS, making 4K High the practical ceiling for smooth gameplay on this combination.

FAQ

Q: Does the RTX 5090 maintain 60+ FPS at 4K in The Medium?

A: Yes, but only at Low, Medium, and High presets. The measured averages are 148 FPS for Low, 89.1 FPS for Medium, and 64.1 FPS for High at 3840x2160. The Ultra preset falls below this threshold at 50.2 FPS.

Q: What is the performance difference between 1080p and 4K at High settings?

A: The average frame rate drops from 96.1 FPS at 1920x1080 to 64.1 FPS at 3840x2160, a reduction of 32 FPS or approximately 33%. This indicates a significant GPU load increase with resolution.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Ultra averages 64.7 FPS while High averages 84.5 FPS, making High roughly 31% faster. The gap widens at 4K, where Ultra produces 50.2 FPS versus High's 64.1 FPS.

Q: Is the i9-14900K a bottleneck at 1080p Low settings?

A: The 194.8 FPS average at 1920x1080 Low suggests the CPU is keeping pace. Given the processor's 24 cores and 6.00 GHz boost clock, the data shows no obvious CPU limitation at these frame rates.

Q: What frame rate can be expected at 4K Medium settings?

A: The measured average is 89.1 FPS at 3840x2160 with Medium settings. This is 25 FPS higher than the High preset at the same resolution, indicating a substantial performance headroom when lowering quality one step.

Q: Does the game scale better with resolution at lower or higher presets?

A: The data shows less severe FPS drops at lower presets. From 1080p to 4K, Low loses 46.8 FPS while Ultra loses 30.8 FPS, but the percentage drop is larger for Ultra (38% versus 24%), meaning higher presets are more resolution-sensitive.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 brings 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. In The Medium, this memory configuration likely prevents any texture streaming or asset loading bottlenecks, particularly at 4K where the game's fixed-camera scenes can demand large texture buffers. The benchmark results show the GPU handling the 4K Ultra preset at 50.2 FPS, which aligns with the card's 94th percentile ranking among all GPUs.

The RTX 5090's clock behavior contributes to the observed scaling. With a base clock of 2017 MHz and a boost clock of 2407 MHz, the card maintains high frequencies under load. The 5 nm process node from TSMC and 92,200 million transistors allow for efficient power delivery across the 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 throughput. In practical terms, this compute capacity translates to the measured 194.8 FPS at 1080p Low, where the GPU is not heavily stressed.

The card's 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores may influence The Medium's visual effects, though the game's 2021 release date means it likely does not fully exploit Blackwell 2.0 architecture features. The data shows a consistent FPS hierarchy across presets—Low, Medium, High, Ultra—with each step reducing the average by roughly 25-30% at a given resolution. This predictable scaling indicates the GPU's shading units (21,760) and texture mapping units (680) are the primary drivers of performance rather than any specialized hardware.

Settings Recommendations

For 4K displays, the High preset provides the best balance, averaging 64.1 FPS. This stays above the 60 FPS playability threshold while offering better visual quality than Medium's 89.1 FPS. The Ultra preset at 50.2 FPS falls short of smooth gameplay, so it is not recommended for 4K unless the user prioritizes maximum fidelity over frame rate.

At 1440p, the High preset delivers 84.5 FPS, which is comfortable for most displays. Users with 144 Hz monitors may prefer Medium at 117 FPS for higher refresh rates, while those wanting maximum quality can use Ultra at 64.7 FPS, which remains playable. The Low preset at 186.2 FPS offers no practical benefit unless chasing extremely high refresh rates.

For 1080p, the data supports using Ultra at 81 FPS as the default choice. This provides full visual quality while maintaining a smooth frame rate. Users with 144 Hz or 165 Hz displays could step down to High at 96.1 FPS, but the jump to Medium at 136.8 FPS is necessary to approach those refresh rates. The Low preset at 194.8 FPS exceeds most 1080p monitor capabilities.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the four presets produce distinct averages: Low runs at 148 FPS, Medium at 89.1 FPS, High at 64.1 FPS, and Ultra at 50.2 FPS. The step from Low to Medium is the largest single drop at 58.9 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is 13.9 FPS, the smallest relative difference.

The 2560x1440 measurements show a similar hierarchy with higher overall values. Low achieves 186.2 FPS, Medium reaches 117 FPS, High hits 84.5 FPS, and Ultra falls to 64.7 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra here is 19.8 FPS, which is proportionally larger than at 4K, suggesting the Ultra preset's additional effects are more costly at lower resolutions where pixel fill rate is less of a constraint.

At 1920x1080, the results are 194.8 FPS for Low, 136.8 FPS for Medium, 96.1 FPS for High, and 81 FPS for Ultra. The spread from Low to Ultra is 113.8 FPS, the widest across all resolutions. Notably, the 1080p Low result at 194.8 FPS is only slightly higher than the 1440p Low result at 186.2 FPS, indicating that at these low settings, the system is approaching a CPU-bound ceiling where resolution has less impact.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K provides 24 cores and 32 threads with a base clock of 3.20 GHz and a boost clock of 6.00 GHz. This processor ranks in the 97th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 79,824. The Cinebench R23 results show 49,872 multi-core and 7,040 single-core scores, indicating strong performance in both threaded and single-threaded workloads.

In The Medium's benchmark data, the CPU's influence is most visible at lower resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the 194.8 FPS result is only 8.6 FPS higher than the 1440p Low result of 186.2 FPS. This small gap suggests the system is nearing a CPU limitation at these frame rates, as the GPU has ample headroom at such low graphical loads. The 1080p Medium result of 136.8 FPS versus 1440p Medium's 117 FPS shows a 19.8 FPS difference, indicating the GPU becomes more involved as settings increase.

The processor's 36 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache likely help with The Medium's asset streaming, particularly in the game's dual-reality sequences where two scenes render simultaneously. The 10 nm process node and 125 W TDP keep power consumption manageable while maintaining high clock speeds. The i9-14900K's nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7413 with a delta of -0.3%, indicating the Intel chip essentially matches a server-class processor in aggregate benchmarks, though the gaming-specific results here show a clear advantage for the consumer platform.