The Medium

The Medium, a fixed-camera horror title built around narrative pacing and atmospheric dread, presents a unique performance profile for the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination. The benchmark data reveals a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher settings, yet exposes CPU limitations at lower presets, creating a distinct scaling curve that rewards careful settings selection.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 2560x1440 as the optimal balance. At Medium settings, it delivers 79 FPS average, which is 84% higher than the 4K Medium result of 62 FPS, while maintaining a far more playable experience than the 45 FPS average at 4K High.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High in terms of performance?

A: The Ultra preset is significantly more demanding. At 1080p, Ultra averages 53 FPS versus High's 67 FPS, a 21% performance drop. At 1440p, the gap widens to 27% (45 FPS vs 57 FPS), and at 4K, Ultra's 35 FPS average is 22% lower than High's 45 FPS.

Q: Is the RTX 4090's 24 GB VRAM a factor in this game?

A: The measured FPS data does not indicate a VRAM capacity limitation. The performance drops from Medium to Ultra are consistent with compute and bandwidth constraints rather than memory exhaustion, as the 1.01 TB/s bandwidth and 24 GB GDDR6X are far beyond what this game's rendering demands require.

Q: What is the playable settings ceiling for a smooth 60+ FPS experience?

A: Medium settings at 1440p delivers 79 FPS average, and 1080p Medium delivers 94 FPS average. High settings only achieves 60+ FPS at 1080p (67 FPS), while 1440p High falls to 57 FPS, just below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the CPU's 18 threads affect performance in this game?

A: The Core Ultra 5 125H's 18 threads (14 cores) provide sufficient headroom for The Medium's fixed-camera scenes. The 12804.5 Cinebench R23 multicore score places it within 0.3% of the Intel Core i5-12600K, and the data shows no CPU bottleneck at higher GPU loads.

Q: Does this combo rank well among all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 677th out of 2911 tested combinations, placing it in the top 23.3% of all configurations tested for this game. This indicates above-average performance, though not in the top tier due to the mobile CPU's constraints at lower settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 achieves a rank of 677 out of 2911 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the 76.7th percentile of all configurations. This is a strong showing, but the ranking reveals an interesting asymmetry: the RTX 4090 sits in the 88th percentile among all GPUs, while the Core Ultra 5 125H sits in the 79th percentile among all CPUs. The combo rank, however, is dragged down by the CPU's performance profile at lower settings where the processor becomes the limiting factor.

At 1080p Low, the combo produces 140 FPS, which is 49% higher than the 4K Low result of 99 FPS. This gap suggests that at lower resolutions, the CPU's single-thread performance (1647.5 in Cinebench R23) begins to cap the frame rate. The CPU's nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 5800, scores 27535 average (0.1% higher), and the Intel Core i5-12600K scores 27578 (0.3% higher), indicating the Ultra 5 125H is competitive with desktop mid-range parts from previous generations.

The GPU's 88th percentile ranking is supported by its 38194 Passmark G3D score, which places it just 0.3% behind the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 and 2.5% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M. This GPU strength is evident in the 4K Medium result of 62 FPS, which is still playable despite the massive resolution. The combo's 677th rank reflects that while the GPU can push high frame rates, the CPU limits the absolute maximum at lower settings, preventing the combo from cracking the top 600.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications explain the measured FPS distribution. With 16384 shading units, 512 TMUs, and 176 ROPs, the GPU has enormous raw throughput. The 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus provides 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth, which is critical for the high-resolution textures and fixed-camera scenes that The Medium uses to create its oppressive atmosphere.

The GPU's clock behavior is noteworthy: the base clock of 2235 MHz boosts to 2520 MHz, and the memory runs at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). This boost behavior is evident in the scaling from 1080p to 4K. At 1080p Medium, the GPU delivers 94 FPS, but at 4K Medium, it drops to 62 FPS, a 34% reduction. This is a smaller drop than the 41% reduction seen from 1080p High (67 FPS) to 4K High (45 FPS), suggesting that the GPU's memory bandwidth becomes more critical at higher settings.

The RTX 4090's 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores are present but not heavily utilized in this game, as The Medium's horror aesthetic relies more on pre-baked lighting and cinematic framing than real-time ray tracing. The GPU's 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 performance ensures that even at 4K Ultra (35 FPS average), the frame rate remains consistent rather than stuttering, which is important for a game that uses fixed camera angles to build tension.

The GPU's 450W TDP and triple-slot cooler are overkill for this title, but the performance headroom means that the 45 FPS average at 4K High is likely limited by the CPU's ability to feed the GPU with draw calls rather than any GPU-side constraint. The 1.01 TB/s bandwidth ensures texture streaming is never a bottleneck, even in the game's more detailed environments.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce 140 FPS average, which is 49% higher than the 4K Low result. Medium settings at 1080p yield 94 FPS average with a minimum of 80 FPS and maximum of 108 FPS, indicating a stable experience. High settings drop to 67 FPS average, and Ultra falls to 53 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium is a 33% performance hit (140 to 94 FPS), while the jump from Medium to High is a 29% hit (94 to 67 FPS), and High to Ultra is a 21% hit (67 to 53 FPS).

At 2560x1440, the frame rates scale predictably. Low settings produce 127 FPS average, which is 9% lower than the 1080p result. Medium settings deliver 79 FPS average (67 min, 91 max), which is 16% lower than 1080p Medium. High settings drop to 57 FPS average, and Ultra falls to 45 FPS. The 1440p Medium result is significant because it maintains a 60+ FPS average while the High preset cannot.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is pushed harder. Low settings still achieve 99 FPS average, which is remarkable for 4K. Medium settings drop to 62 FPS average (53 min, 71 max), which is playable but with noticeable dips. High settings fall to 45 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 35 FPS. The 4K Medium result is 34% lower than 1440p Medium (62 vs 79 FPS), and 4K High is 21% lower than 1440p High (45 vs 57 FPS).

The data reveals that the step from Medium to High is where the experience degrades most significantly. At every resolution, High costs approximately 20-30% of the Medium frame rate, while the visual difference in a fixed-camera horror game may not justify that cost.

Settings Recommendations

The optimal configuration for this combo is Medium settings at 2560x1440. This delivers 79 FPS average with a minimum of 67 FPS, ensuring that the frame rate never drops below the 60 FPS threshold that is critical for smooth camera pans in fixed-camera scenes. The 79 FPS average is 27% higher than High's 57 FPS at the same resolution, and the minimum of 67 FPS is actually higher than High's average.

For users prioritizing 4K, Medium at 3840x2160 is the only viable option, producing 62 FPS average (53 min, 71 max). While the minimum dips below 60 FPS, the average is acceptable for a narrative-driven horror game where action sequences are limited. High at 4K (45 FPS) is only suitable for users who prioritize visual fidelity over smoothness, and Ultra at 4K (35 FPS) should be avoided.

At 1080p, Medium is again the sweet spot, delivering 94 FPS average (80 min, 108 max). This is the highest frame rate with a minimum above 60 FPS, and it provides headroom for any frame drops during intense scenes. The 1080p High result of 67 FPS is playable, but the 29% performance penalty over Medium does not translate to a substantially better visual experience given the game's fixed camera angles.

The data suggests that Low settings are unnecessary for this combo. Even at 4K, Low produces 99 FPS, which is far above what the game needs for smooth playback. The visual degradation from Low to Medium is significant, so Medium should be considered the minimum preset for this hardware.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 125H, with its 14 cores and 18 threads, plays a supporting role in this combo. Its 3.60 GHz base clock and 4.50 GHz boost clock provide adequate single-thread performance, as evidenced by the 1647.5 Cinebench R23 single-core score. The CPU's 18 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support (89.6 GB/s bandwidth) ensure that the GPU is fed with data without stalling.

The CPU's performance ceiling becomes apparent at Low settings. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 140 FPS, but at 4K Low, it still produces 99 FPS. This 41 FPS gap (29% reduction) is smaller than the 46 FPS gap (33% reduction) between 1080p Medium and 4K Medium, suggesting that at Low settings, the CPU is beginning to limit the frame rate. The 140 FPS at 1080p Low is the highest measured result, and it indicates that the CPU can push the GPU to around 140 FPS before hitting its own limits.

The CPU's multicore performance, measured at 12804.5 in Cinebench R23, places it within 0.3% of the Intel Core i5-12600K (27578 average score) and 0.1% of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800 (27535). This parity with desktop parts from the previous generation is remarkable for a mobile processor with a 28W TDP, and it ensures that The Medium's fixed-camera scenes, which are not heavily multithreaded, do not suffer from CPU bottlenecks.

However, the CPU's 79th percentile ranking among all CPUs, combined with the GPU's 88th percentile ranking, means that at lower settings where the GPU is less stressed, the CPU becomes the limiting factor. This is evident in the scaling from 1080p Low (140 FPS) to 1080p Medium (94 FPS): the 33% drop is larger than the 21% drop from High to Ultra (67 to 53 FPS), indicating that the CPU has more headroom at High and Ultra where the GPU is the primary bottleneck.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the balance between CPU and GPU workloads. At Low settings, the frame rate drops from 140 FPS at 1080p to 99 FPS at 4K, a 29% reduction. This is the smallest percentage drop among all settings, confirming that at Low, the CPU is limiting performance even at 1080p, and the GPU has enough headroom at 4K to maintain a high frame rate.

At Medium settings, the drop is from 94 FPS at 1080p to 62 FPS at 4K, a 34% reduction. This is closer to the expected scaling for a GPU-bound scenario, where pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K. The actual 34% drop is much smaller than the 75% that would be expected if the GPU were fully saturated, indicating that the GPU's massive memory bandwidth (1.01 TB/s) mitigates the resolution increase.

At High settings, the drop is from 67 FPS at 1080p to 45 FPS at 4K, a 33% reduction. This is remarkably consistent with the Medium settings drop, suggesting that the GPU is handling the increased load efficiently. At Ultra settings, the drop is from 53 FPS at 1080p to 35 FPS at 4K, a 34% reduction, again consistent.

The consistency of the 33-34% reduction across Medium, High, and Ultra settings indicates that the GPU is the limiting component at these presets, and its performance scales nearly linearly with pixel count. The 29% reduction at Low settings is the outlier, confirming that the CPU becomes the bottleneck at this preset, preventing the GPU from reaching its full potential at 1080p.

This scaling behavior has practical implications. The 34% drop from 1080p to 4K at Medium settings (94 to 62 FPS) is modest enough that 4K Medium is a viable option, especially given the game's slow pacing. The 33% drop at High settings (67 to 45 FPS) pushes 4K High below the 60 FPS threshold, making it less desirable. The data suggests that the combo is best utilized at 1440p Medium, where the 79 FPS average provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS, and the 4K Medium option at 62 FPS is a reasonable fallback for users with 4K displays.