The Medium

The Medium, a fixed-camera horror title from 2021, presents a unique challenge for the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 mobile combo. The benchmark data shows this pairing ranks 1566th out of 2911 tested combinations, placing it in the 46th percentile of all tested systems. This mid-pack ranking suggests the hardware is capable of running the game, but users will need to manage settings carefully to achieve a smooth experience, as the frame rate varies significantly across the four quality presets tested.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 1566 out of 2911 tested combinations places it squarely in the middle of the database. This position indicates that while the RTX 5070 is a modern, high-end GPU, the system does not dominate in this particular title. The data suggests that the game's performance is heavily influenced by the settings chosen, with the spread between Low and Ultra being substantial at every resolution.

Looking at the individual components, the CPU holds its own against direct rivals. The Intel Core Ultra 5 125H has an average benchmark score of 27507, which is nearly identical to its closest competitors. It sits just 0.1% behind the AMD Ryzen 7 5800 and 0.3% behind both the Intel Core i5-12600K and the AMD Ryzen 7 5700X. Conversely, it is 0.5% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 5355G. This indicates that the CPU is unlikely to be the primary bottleneck in most scenarios, as its processing power is comparable to several well-regarded desktop chips.

The GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070, features an average benchmark score of 40377. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon Pro 580, which it trails by a mere 0.1%, and the AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100, which it leads by 0.8%. It also outperforms the NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile by 2% but falls 1.2% short of the AMD Radeon Pro 5300. These close margins in synthetic benchmarks suggest that the RTX 5070 is a solid performer, but its real-world gaming results in The Medium will be defined by the specific demands of the game engine.

The combination of a mid-range CPU and a high-end GPU results in a system that is more than capable of running the game, but the measured FPS data reveals that it is not a top-tier performer for this title. The rank of 1566 indicates that a significant number of other configurations achieve higher frame rates, likely due to a combination of factors including more powerful CPUs and different GPU optimizations.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear hierarchy for the four quality presets. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers an average of 107 FPS, which is more than double the High preset's 48 FPS. The Medium preset offers a middle ground at 67 FPS, while the Ultra preset drops to 38 FPS. For a target of 60 FPS or higher, the Low preset is the only option that comfortably exceeds this threshold at 1920x1080.

At 1440p, the performance scales predictably. The Low preset averages 90 FPS, which remains highly playable. The Medium preset achieves 56 FPS, which is just below the 60 FPS target but still smooth for a horror game. The High preset drops to 40 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls to 32 FPS. For the best balance of visual quality and performance at this resolution, the Medium preset appears to be the optimal choice, offering a 40% improvement over High while maintaining a playable frame rate.

The situation changes at 4K, where the RTX 5070 begins to show its limits. The Low preset is the only playable option, averaging 71 FPS. The Medium preset drops to 44 FPS, and the High preset falls to 32 FPS. The Ultra preset is effectively unplayable at 25 FPS. Given these results, the data suggests that players should prioritize the Medium preset at 1080p and 1440p for the best experience, as it provides a significant visual upgrade over Low while staying within a reasonable performance envelope. At 4K, the Low preset is the only sensible choice for smooth gameplay.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data reveals a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases. At the Low preset, the average frame rate drops from 107 FPS at 1080p to 90 FPS at 1440p, a reduction of 16%, and then to 71 FPS at 4K, a further 21% drop from 1440p. This scaling indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting factor, as the workload on the render pipeline increases significantly with each resolution step.

At the Medium preset, the same trend is visible but with steeper drops. The average FPS falls from 67 at 1080p to 56 at 1440p, a 16% decrease, and then to 44 at 4K, a 21% decrease from 1440p. This consistent percentage drop across presets suggests that the game's rendering load scales uniformly with resolution, and the RTX 5070's performance is being constrained by its memory bandwidth and processing power.

The High and Ultra presets show even more dramatic scaling. At High, the FPS drops from 48 at 1080p to 40 at 1440p and finally to 32 at 4K. At Ultra, the numbers are 38, 32, and 25 respectively. The fact that the 4K Ultra score of 25 FPS is less than a quarter of the 1080p Low score of 107 FPS underscores the heavy toll that high resolutions and quality settings take on the GPU. This data strongly indicates that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 is the bottleneck in this configuration, as the CPU's performance remains constant while the GPU struggles to keep up with the increasing pixel count.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full range of settings was tested. The Low preset produced an average of 107 FPS, making it the only preset to exceed the 100 FPS mark. The Medium preset delivered 67 FPS, with a minimum of 57 FPS and a maximum of 77 FPS, indicating a stable frame time. The High preset averaged 48 FPS, and the Ultra preset dropped to 38 FPS. This spread of 69 FPS between the lowest and highest settings shows a wide performance range.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance scales down across the board. The Low preset averaged 90 FPS, still a very playable number. The Medium preset achieved 56 FPS, with a minimum of 48 FPS and a maximum of 65 FPS. The High preset produced 40 FPS, and the Ultra preset fell to 32 FPS. The minimum FPS readings for the Medium preset at both 1080p and 1440p suggest that while the average is good, there can be brief dips in performance during intense scenes.

At 3840x2160, the RTX 5070 is clearly under heavy load. The Low preset averaged 71 FPS, which is the only playable option. The Medium preset dropped to 44 FPS, with a minimum of 37 FPS and a maximum of 51 FPS. The High preset averaged 32 FPS, and the Ultra preset was nearly unplayable at 25 FPS. The data shows a clear trend: the Medium preset offers the best compromise at 1080p and 1440p, while the Low preset is the only viable choice for 4K gaming on this hardware.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 is the defining component in this configuration's gaming performance. The GPU features 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 672.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is sufficient for the textures and assets in The Medium, but the data suggests that the GPU's raw compute power is the limiting factor at higher settings. The core clocks are set at a base of 2325 MHz and a boost of 2512 MHz, which are modest for a high-end card, but the architecture's efficiency is demonstrated by its 30.87 TFLOPS of FP32 performance.

The GPU's role as the primary bottleneck is evident when analyzing the resolution scaling. The consistent frame rate drops from 1080p to 4K indicate that the GPU is fully utilized at all settings, while the CPU, which is comparable to several strong desktop chips, has headroom to spare. The 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores are present, but the game's performance is more dependent on the standard shading units and memory bandwidth than on ray tracing capabilities.

The GPU's percentile rank of 82 places it in the top 18% of all GPUs in the database, which is a strong showing. However, its performance in this specific game is tempered by the demands of the title. The 12 GB of VRAM is adequate, but the 192-bit memory bus may limit performance in scenarios that require high memory throughput. The data indicates that players will need to rely on the Low or Medium presets to get the most out of this GPU in The Medium, as the Ultra preset at 4K is simply too demanding for the card to handle at playable frame rates.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for a smooth 60 FPS experience at 1920x1080?

A: The Low preset is the only option that averages above 60 FPS at 1080p, delivering 107 FPS. The Medium preset averages 67 FPS, which is also above 60 FPS, but the Low preset provides a larger margin for demanding scenes.

Q: How does the RTX 5070 perform at 4K with the Medium preset?

A: At 3840x2160 with Medium settings, the combo averages 44 FPS, with a minimum of 37 FPS and a maximum of 51 FPS. This is below the 60 FPS target, but may be acceptable for a horror game with slower pacing.

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H a bottleneck in this configuration?

A: The CPU's average benchmark score of 27507 is nearly identical to its nearest rivals, including the AMD Ryzen 7 5800 and Intel Core i5-12600K. The FPS scaling across resolutions suggests the GPU is the limiting factor, not the CPU.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 90 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 32 FPS. This represents a 58 FPS difference, or a 64% reduction in performance when moving from the lowest to the highest quality settings.

Q: Does the RTX 5070 have enough VRAM for The Medium?

A: The GPU is equipped with 12 GB of GDDR7 memory. The benchmark results do not indicate any memory-related issues, as the performance scales consistently with resolution and settings, suggesting the VRAM is sufficient for this game.

Q: What is the combo's overall rank among all tested systems?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 125H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 combo ranks 1566th out of 2911 tested combinations, placing it in the 46th percentile of all systems in the database.