The Medium

The Medium is a demanding horror title that stresses both the GPU and the memory subsystem of a laptop. The measured performance for the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile shows a clear hierarchy across resolutions. This combo ranks 1999th out of 3724 tested configurations, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database for this specific game. The data indicates that while the system can handle 1080p and 1440p gaming at medium settings, it struggles to maintain playable framerates at 4K on higher presets. The following analysis breaks down the measured results to provide practical guidance on how to configure the game for the best experience.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a significant performance drop as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 49 FPS at 1920x1080 to 41 FPS at 2560x1440, then down to 32 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 16% decrease from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 22% decrease from 1440p to 4K. The pattern is consistent across all settings presets, indicating that resolution scaling is heavily dependent on the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth.

At Low settings, the system achieves 108 FPS at 1080p, 91 FPS at 1440p, and 72 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 4K here is 33%, which is less severe than the 35% drop seen at High settings. This suggests that at lower presets, the bottleneck shifts slightly away from the GPU and toward the CPU, which has enough headroom to feed frames faster. The RTX 4070 Mobile's 256.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 8 GB of GDDR6 VRAM become the limiting factors at higher resolutions, where texture data and framebuffer sizes exceed what the memory subsystem can efficiently handle.

The Medium's fixed camera angles and pre-rendered environments mean that resolution scaling is primarily a GPU-bound process. The data shows that at Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 68 at 1080p to 57 at 1440p, and then to 45 at 4K. The delta between 1080p and 1440p is 16%, while the delta between 1440p and 4K is 21%. This nonlinear scaling indicates that the GPU's 128-bit memory bus becomes increasingly saturated as pixel count grows. The 32 FPS at 4K High and 25 FPS at 4K Ultra are both below the 30 FPS threshold that many players consider the minimum for playable horror experiences, making 4K impractical for this combo on those presets.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal balance between visual quality and performance is achieved at Medium settings across all resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the system delivers 68 FPS average with a minimum of 58 FPS and maximum of 78 FPS. This is well above the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay and provides enough headroom for dips during intense scenes. The 1440p Medium result of 57 FPS is also acceptable, though slightly below the 60 FPS mark, with a minimum of 49 FPS that may cause noticeable stuttering in action-heavy sequences.

For players prioritizing frame rate over visual fidelity, Low settings provide the best experience. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 108 FPS, which is more than sufficient for fast-paced gameplay and leaves room for background tasks. The 1440p Low result of 91 FPS is equally impressive, making this the recommended setting for competitive or high-refresh-rate displays. At 4K Low, the 72 FPS average is playable, but the visual downgrade may not be worth the resolution trade-off when compared to 1440p Medium's 57 FPS.

High settings are only viable at 1080p, where the 49 FPS average is borderline playable but not ideal for a game that relies on atmospheric tension. The 41 FPS at 1440p High and 32 FPS at 4K High are below acceptable thresholds for most players. Ultra settings are not recommended for any resolution, as the 39 FPS at 1080p Ultra and 25 FPS at 4K Ultra demonstrate that the GPU cannot maintain smooth framerates even at the lowest resolution. The data suggests that Medium is the sweet spot for this combo, offering a 39% performance improvement over High at 1080p while maintaining most visual features that affect the game's moody lighting and shadow work.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo of Intel Core Ultra 5 125H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile ranks 1999th out of 3724 tested combinations in The Medium. This places it in the 46th percentile of all tested systems, meaning approximately 54% of configurations perform better in this specific title. The ranking reflects the GPU's position in the broader market, as the RTX 4070 Mobile scores 19587 in Passmark G3D and sits at the 73rd percentile among all GPUs. However, the game's particular demands on memory bandwidth and VRAM capacity penalize this combo more than synthetic benchmarks might suggest.

The CPU's performance is not the primary bottleneck in this game. The Intel Core Ultra 5 125H achieves a Passmark multithread score of 21100 and sits at the 79th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 27507. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 5800 (deltaPct -0.1) and Intel Core i5-12600K (deltaPct -0.3), indicating that the CPU provides adequate processing power for The Medium's fixed-camera scenes and scripted events. The 14 cores and 18 threads, combined with 18 MB of shared L3 cache, ensure that CPU-side frame pacing is not a limiting factor.

The GPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT (deltaPct 0) and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 (deltaPct -0.5), which suggests that the RTX 4070 Mobile is competitive with desktop-class hardware in raw compute. However, the mobile GPU's 115 W TDP and 128-bit memory bus constrain its performance in memory-intensive games like The Medium. The combo rank of 1999 indicates that other systems with similar GPU scores likely achieve better results, possibly due to faster VRAM or more efficient cooling solutions that allow sustained boost clocks.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS data for this combo in The Medium is as follows:

At 1920x1080, the system delivers 108 FPS on Low settings, 68 FPS on Medium (with a minimum of 58 and maximum of 78), 49 FPS on High, and 39 FPS on Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra is 69 FPS, representing a 64% performance penalty for enabling the highest quality presets. The Medium preset shows a narrow variance between minimum and maximum FPS, indicating consistent frame times that contribute to a smooth experience.

At 2560x1440, the results are 91 FPS on Low, 57 FPS on Medium (minimum 49, maximum 66), 41 FPS on High, and 32 FPS on Ultra. The transition from 1080p to 1440p costs 17 FPS at Low, 11 FPS at Medium, 8 FPS at High, and 7 FPS at Ultra. The smaller absolute drop at higher presets suggests that the game becomes increasingly GPU-bound, where the pixel count matters less than the shader complexity.

At 3840x2160, the system achieves 72 FPS on Low, 45 FPS on Medium (minimum 38, maximum 52), 32 FPS on High, and 25 FPS on Ultra. The 4K Medium result of 45 FPS is the only 4K preset that approaches playability, though the minimum of 38 FPS indicates potential stuttering in scenes with multiple light sources. The 4K Low result of 72 FPS is surprisingly strong, suggesting that the game's low preset significantly reduces texture resolution and shadow quality, which are the primary consumers of VRAM bandwidth.

The Medium preset at all resolutions shows the most balanced performance profile. At 1080p, the 68 FPS average with a 58-78 FPS range provides a stable experience. At 1440p, the 57 FPS average with a 49-66 FPS range is adequate for most players. At 4K, the 45 FPS average with a 38-52 FPS range is borderline, but may be acceptable for players who prioritize resolution over consistency.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile plays the dominant role in determining The Medium's performance. The GPU features 4608 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output processors, with a boost clock of 1695 MHz. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is the critical specification for this game. The Medium's detailed environments and volumetric lighting effects require substantial memory bandwidth, and the 128-bit bus becomes a bottleneck at higher resolutions.

The GPU's 36 ray tracing cores and 144 tensor cores support hardware-accelerated ray tracing and DLSS, though the measured FPS data does not indicate whether these features were enabled. The base clock of 1395 MHz and boost clock of 1695 MHz are relatively modest for the 40-series, reflecting the mobile form factor's thermal constraints. The Passmark G3D score of 19587 places the GPU at the 73rd percentile, with nearest rivals including the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT (deltaPct 0) and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 (deltaPct -0.5).

The GPU's memory configuration is the primary limiting factor in this game. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p at most settings, but 4K Ultra settings likely exceed this capacity, causing texture streaming and potential stuttering. The 256.0 GB/s bandwidth is also modest compared to desktop equivalents, which explains the significant FPS drops at 4K. The GPU's 15.62 TFLOPS FP32 performance is adequate for the game's shader complexity, but the memory subsystem prevents the compute units from being fully utilized at higher resolutions.

The GPU's integration as an "IGP" with no power connectors and a 115 W TDP suggests it is a laptop component designed for thin-and-light chassis. This form factor limits sustained boost clocks, which may explain why the 4K High result of 32 FPS is lower than what the raw compute specifications might suggest. The 5 nm process node and Ada Lovelace architecture provide good efficiency, but the thermal envelope constrains performance in prolonged gaming sessions.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this system in The Medium?

A: The data shows that 1080p Medium delivers 68 FPS average with a 58-78 FPS range, making it the most balanced option. For higher framerates, 1080p Low achieves 108 FPS, while 1440p Medium offers 57 FPS and is the best choice for players with 1440p displays.

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

A: 4K is only playable at Low settings, where the average FPS is 72. At Medium, the average drops to 45 FPS with a minimum of 38, which may cause stuttering. High and Ultra presets at 4K produce 32 FPS and 25 FPS respectively, which are below playable thresholds.

Q: How does the CPU performance compare to its nearest rivals in this game?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 125H has an average benchmark score of 27507, which is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 7 5800 (27535, deltaPct -0.1) and Intel Core i5-12600K (27578, deltaPct -0.3). This indicates the CPU is not a bottleneck in The Medium.

Q: Is the RTX 4070 Mobile more limited by its VRAM or its memory bandwidth?

A: The 8 GB VRAM capacity is adequate for 1080p and 1440p, but the 256.0 GB/s bandwidth on a 128-bit bus is the primary constraint. The FPS drops from 1080p to 4K scale with pixel count, indicating bandwidth saturation rather than capacity exhaustion.

Q: What is the difference in performance between Medium and High settings at 1440p?

A: At 1440p, Medium delivers 57 FPS average, while High delivers 41 FPS. This 16 FPS difference represents a 28% performance penalty for enabling High settings, which may not be justified given the visual improvements.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to all tested systems in The Medium?

A: This combo ranks 1999th out of 3724 tested configurations, placing it in the 46th percentile. This is lower than the GPU's 73rd percentile position, indicating that the game is particularly demanding on the memory subsystem.