The Medium

The Medium is a horror title that stresses both CPU and GPU depending on the settings and resolution chosen. For the combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT, the measured data shows a wide performance envelope, from a playable 41 FPS at 4K High to a fluid 139 FPS at 1080p Low. The analysis below breaks down how this specific pairing handles the game’s demands, where its strengths and bottlenecks lie, and which settings provide the best experience across the three tested resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows for this combo reveal a clear pattern: the Medium preset is the sweet spot for this hardware in The Medium. At 1920x1080, Medium delivers an average of 87 FPS, which is a substantial jump from the 62 FPS seen on High and comfortably above the 49 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset also provides a minimum FPS of 74, ensuring that frame pacing remains stable even during demanding scenes. This makes it the ideal choice for a high-refresh-rate 1080p monitor, as it offers a significant performance margin over the higher presets while still maintaining visual fidelity that is a clear step above Low.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Medium preset again proves to be the most balanced option. The average FPS here is 73, with a minimum of 62 and a maximum of 84. This is still well within the playable range for a smooth experience, and it represents a 40% performance increase over the High preset’s 52 FPS. While the Low preset at this resolution reaches 117 FPS, it likely sacrifices too much visual quality for a horror game where atmosphere and lighting are crucial. The Medium preset at 1440p offers the best compromise between maintaining the game’s intended mood and keeping the frame rate high enough for responsive gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the situation changes dramatically. The Medium preset drops to an average of 57 FPS, which is still playable but begins to show the strain on the GPU. The High preset at 4K only manages 41 FPS, and Ultra falls to a slideshow-like 33 FPS. For 4K, the Low preset is the only option that provides a truly smooth experience, hitting 92 FPS. However, given the visual nature of the game, the Medium preset’s 57 FPS is the recommended starting point for 4K. It offers a frame rate that is generally acceptable for a slower-paced horror title, and the visual uplift from Low to Medium is substantial. Users with variable refresh rate displays will find the 49 FPS minimum on Medium at 4K easier to tolerate, making it the best experience per the measured data for those prioritizing visual quality over raw frame rate at this resolution.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is the primary driver of performance in The Medium, especially as resolution increases. This GPU features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 512.0 GB/s. This large memory pool and high bandwidth are critical for a game like The Medium, which often renders two worlds simultaneously due to its core gameplay mechanic. The 16 GB capacity ensures that the card is unlikely to hit a VRAM ceiling at any of the tested settings, allowing the game to load high-resolution textures without stuttering or texture pop-in.

The GPU’s clock speeds also play a significant role. With a base clock of 1825 MHz and a boost clock of 2250 MHz, the RX 6800 XT can sustain high performance under load. The game clock of 2015 MHz represents the typical sustained frequency during gaming, and the data suggests the card is able to maintain these clocks effectively. The RDNA 2.0 architecture, built on a 7 nm process with 26,800 million transistors, provides the raw compute power necessary for the game’s complex lighting and shadow effects. The 20.74 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is a strong indicator of its capability in this title.

The benchmark results confirm the GPU’s importance. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3689 and a Passmark G3D score of 24980 place this GPU in the 85th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the NVIDIA RTX A1000 Mobile (1.5% higher score) and the Intel Arc A550M (2.5% lower score), showing that the RX 6800 XT holds its own in the broader market. However, in The Medium, the GPU becomes the clear limiting factor at higher resolutions. The frame rate drop from 139 FPS at 1080p Low to 92 FPS at 4K Low shows a 34% reduction in performance, which is directly attributable to the increased pixel count and the corresponding strain on the GPU’s shading units and ROPs. The data strongly indicates that the RX 6800 XT’s 16 GB VRAM and 512.0 GB/s bandwidth are more than sufficient for the game, but its raw rasterization power is what ultimately caps performance at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for The Medium, this pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT ranks 846th out of 2911 combos. This places it in the top 29% of all tested systems, indicating a solidly above-average configuration for this specific title. The comboRankInGame field shows that while this is not a top-tier extreme-performance setup, it significantly outperforms the majority of systems tested.

This ranking is a reflection of the balance between the two components. The CPU, which itself ranks in the 89th percentile of all CPUs, is powerful enough to feed the GPU at lower resolutions. The GPU, ranking in the 85th percentile, provides strong frame rates. The combination of a high-percentile CPU and GPU results in a system that doesn't have a glaring bottleneck in either direction for most settings. The rank of 846 suggests that the majority of systems ahead of it are likely using higher-end GPUs, such as those found in the RTX 40-series or RX 7900-series, which would pull ahead primarily at 4K resolution where the RX 6800 XT starts to show its age. The fact that this combo still lands in the top 30% reflects the overall capability of both the Core Ultra 5 235 and the RX 6800 XT in this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of this combo’s performance across all settings and resolutions. At 1920x1080, the results are as follows: the Low preset achieves an average of 139 FPS, making it ideal for maximum refresh rates. The Medium preset delivers 87 FPS average, with a minimum of 74 and a maximum of 100 FPS. The High preset drops to 62 FPS average, and the Ultra preset brings the system to 49 FPS average. This shows a clear linear scaling with settings at 1080p, where the CPU and GPU have enough headroom to handle even the most demanding presets at playable rates.

At 2560x1440, the performance scales down as expected. The Low preset hits an average of 117 FPS, still a very high frame rate. The Medium preset is the stand-out performer here, with an average of 73 FPS and a minimum of 62 FPS, which is a solid 60+ FPS experience. The High preset averages 52 FPS, which is playable but may not be smooth enough for all users. The Ultra preset falls to an average of 42 FPS, which is beginning to feel sluggish for a game that requires precision in its puzzle and stealth mechanics. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Medium settings shows a 16% drop in average FPS (from 87 to 73), which is a moderate and expected cost for the resolution increase.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is heavily taxed. The Low preset averages 92 FPS, which is still surprisingly high and indicates that the game is scalable. The Medium preset averages 57 FPS, with a minimum of 49 and a maximum of 66 FPS. This is the only 4K preset that offers a playable experience without major compromises, though it is on the edge of the ideal smoothness threshold. The High preset drops to 41 FPS average, and the Ultra preset struggles to a 33 FPS average. These lower numbers show that the RX 6800 XT cannot maintain a high frame rate at 4K with the more demanding presets, confirming that the GPU is the definitive bottleneck at this resolution.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is the most telling indicator of where the system’s limits lie. Looking at the Medium preset, the average FPS goes from 87 at 1080p, to 73 at 1440p, and finally to 57 at 4K. This represents a 16% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 22% drop from 1440p to 4K, for a total of 34% lower performance at 4K compared to 1080p. This scaling pattern is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario. If the CPU were the limiting factor, the frame rate would remain relatively flat as resolution increases, since the CPU’s workload (draw calls, physics, game logic) stays constant regardless of pixel count.

The data clearly indicates that the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 is not the bottleneck here. The fact that the frame rate continues to scale downward with resolution means that the GPU is running out of pixel-pushing capability, not that the CPU is failing to provide data. At 1080p, the CPU is able to feed the GPU enough frames to reach 139 FPS on Low, showing it has plenty of headroom. The significant drop to 92 FPS at 4K Low is almost entirely due to the increased pixel workload on the GPU. The gap between the 1080p and 4K results underscores that the RX 6800 XT is the component determining the upper limit of performance in The Medium, especially when visual effects are cranked up. The game’s use of simultaneous world rendering likely exacerbates this, as the GPU must process twice the geometry and lighting information.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 plays a supporting but essential role in this configuration. With 14 cores and 14 threads, it offers substantial parallel processing capability, which is beneficial for the game’s background tasks and any streaming of game data. Its base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.00 GHz provide strong single-threaded performance, which is often what games rely on for primary game logic. In synthetic benchmarks, this CPU scores 14769 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2085 in single-core, placing it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375, show a performance delta of only 0.1%, indicating that the Core Ultra 5 235 is competitively positioned in the high-end market.

In The Medium, the CPU’s role is to maintain a high enough frame rate ceiling so that it doesn't hold back the GPU. The measured FPS data shows that it succeeds in this regard. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 139 FPS, which is a high enough number to suggest that the CPU is not the limiting factor at that resolution. Even at 1080p Ultra, the system manages 49 FPS, which is a playable frame rate and shows the CPU can handle the game’s logic even when the GPU is working harder. The 14-core configuration is particularly useful for the game’s dual-world rendering, as it allows for parallel processing of the two environments, preventing CPU-related stutters. The data suggests that the Core Ultra 5 235 provides a robust foundation for the RX 6800 XT, ensuring that the GPU is the primary performance driver in The Medium without being starved for data. The CPU’s high multi-threaded score of 37816 in Passmark further confirms its ability to handle complex, multi-threaded workloads that a modern game engine presents.