The Medium

The Medium, a fixed-camera horror game built on Unreal Engine, presents a unique load profile that shifts dramatically between resolutions. With an Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER, the benchmark data reveals a system that is heavily GPU-bound at 4K but becomes increasingly CPU-limited at lower resolutions, particularly on the High and Ultra presets. This combination ranks 146th out of 2,911 tested combos, placing it in the top 5% of all configurations tested, though the performance deltas between settings are unusually wide for a GPU of this class.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is not linear, and the scaling pattern exposes where the bottleneck shifts. At Medium settings, the transition from 1920x1080 (119 FPS) to 2560x1440 (100 FPS) represents a 16% reduction, while moving from 1440p to 3840x2160 (79 FPS) costs another 21%. This is a moderate degradation curve, suggesting the RTX 4080 SUPER’s 16 GB of GDDR6X memory and 736.3 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient to feed the renderer without catastrophic frame rate collapses.

However, the Low preset tells a different story. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 189 FPS, which drops to 160 FPS at 1440p (a 15% loss) and then to 126 FPS at 4K (a 21% loss from 1440p). The absolute numbers remain high, but the percentage drops are nearly identical to Medium, indicating that even at Low settings, the GPU is still the primary limiter at 4K. The real anomaly appears on the High and Ultra presets. High settings yield 85 FPS at 1080p, 72 FPS at 1440p (a 15% drop), and 56 FPS at 4K (a 22% drop from 1440p). Ultra is the most punishing: 68 FPS at 1080p, 57 FPS at 1440p (a 16% drop), and 45 FPS at 4K (a 21% drop).

The consistency of these percentage drops across all presets—roughly 15-16% from 1080p to 1440p and 21-22% from 1440p to 4K—is a hallmark of a GPU-bound scenario. The RTX 4080 SUPER’s 52.22 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 285.6 GPixel/s pixel rate are being fully utilized, and the scaling is smooth. That said, the gap between 1080p and 1440p is smaller than the gap between 1440p and 4K, which is typical for a card with 112 ROPs and 320 TMUs. The data shows no signs of a CPU-imposed ceiling at 4K, as even the weakest preset (Ultra at 45 FPS) is not stalling against the Core Ultra 5 235’s compute capacity.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on Arrow Lake-S architecture, built on a 3 nm process by TSMC. It operates at a base clock of 3.40 GHz and boosts to 5.00 GHz, with 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 192 KB of L1 cache per core. Its memory bandwidth is rated at 102.4 GB/s over a dual-channel DDR5 interface. In the context of The Medium, these specifications matter less than the frame time consistency, but the benchmark results suggest the CPU is not a limiting factor at 4K.

The key evidence is the 1080p Low result of 189 FPS. At this resolution and settings, the GPU load is minimal, and the frame rate is high enough that the CPU’s single-thread performance—a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,085—is the likely ceiling. The Core Ultra 5 235’s passmark single-thread score of 4,516 is solid but not exceptional, and the 1080p Low result is the only point where the CPU appears to be the bottleneck. At 1080p Medium (119 FPS) and 1080p High (85 FPS), the frame rates fall well below the 189 FPS ceiling, confirming that the GPU is now the constraint.

The CPU’s multi-threaded capabilities, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14,769 and a passmark multithread score of 37,816, are largely irrelevant here. The Medium is not a heavily threaded title; it relies on a few primary threads for rendering and game logic. The 14 cores and 14 threads (no hyperthreading) provide enough headroom, but the lack of simultaneous multithreading means the processor cannot extract extra parallelism from the workload. The data shows that at 4K Ultra (45 FPS) and 4K High (56 FPS), the CPU is idle for most of the frame, waiting on the GPU to complete its work. The boost clock of 5.00 GHz is sufficient to maintain frame pacing, and there are no min FPS anomalies in the measured rows that would suggest CPU hitches.

How This Combo Ranks

With a combo rank of 146 out of 2,911 tested combinations, this system sits in the 95th percentile of all configurations. This is a strong showing, but the ranking is more about the GPU than the CPU. The RTX 4080 SUPER alone holds an 86th percentile ranking among all GPUs, while the Core Ultra 5 235 sits at the 89th percentile among all CPUs. The combination of two high-percentile parts yields a top-5% overall ranking, which is expected given the hardware.

The nearest CPU rivals provide context for the processor’s contribution. The AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 scores an average of 46,030 in CPU benchmarks, a delta of 0.1% from the Core Ultra 5 235’s 46,062 average. The Intel Core i9-13900HX is 0.1% faster at 46,098, and the AMD EPYC 4364P is 0.2% ahead. These are minuscule differences, meaning the CPU is not a differentiator in this combo’s ranking. The GPU, however, is more distinct. The RTX 4080 SUPER’s average benchmark score of 54,209 is 0.1% behind the RTX 4080 (54,247) and 1.1% behind the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X (54,828). The AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB is 2.7% faster in aggregate benchmarks (55,698), but that does not translate to The Medium’s specific workload, where the RTX 4080 SUPER’s 16 GB of VRAM and Ada Lovelace architecture prove advantageous.

The ranking is respectable, but it is not a top-tier result. The 146th position out of 2,911 means there are 145 combos that achieve higher average FPS in The Medium. Those are likely paired with RTX 4090-class GPUs or faster CPUs, but the data does not specify which combos rank higher. What this ranking does indicate is that this system is in the upper echelon, suitable for high-refresh 1440p gaming and playable 4K, though not at max settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS rows provide a complete picture across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 189 FPS average, which is the highest recorded for this combo. Medium drops to 119 FPS with a min of 101 FPS and a max of 137 FPS. High produces 85 FPS, and Ultra falls to 68 FPS. The frame time consistency at Medium (101-137 FPS) is good, showing no severe stuttering.

Moving to 2560x1440, the numbers scale predictably. Low yields 160 FPS, Medium averages 100 FPS (min 85, max 115), High hits 72 FPS, and Ultra drops to 57 FPS. The Medium preset’s min FPS of 85 is notable—it is 85% of the average, which indicates some frame pacing variance but not a catastrophic dip. The gap between High (72 FPS) and Ultra (57 FPS) is 21%, which is steep for a single preset step, suggesting that Ultra enables expensive effects like volumetric lighting or ray tracing that disproportionately tax the GPU.

At 3840x2160, the 4K results are where the RTX 4080 SUPER’s limits become apparent. Low averages 126 FPS, which is still smooth. Medium drops to 79 FPS (min 67, max 90), which is playable but with noticeable variance—the min FPS is 15% below the average. High falls to 56 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 45 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is borderline for a horror game where slow pacing might be acceptable, but the 45 FPS average is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth motion. The 4K Medium result of 79 FPS is the most balanced, offering a playable frame rate with some headroom.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is the dominant component in this combo, and its specifications explain the measured results. It features 10,240 shading units, 320 TMUs, and 112 ROPs, with 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores. The chip runs at a base clock of 2295 MHz and boosts to 2550 MHz, with memory clocked at 1438 MHz (23 Gbps effective) across a 256-bit bus. The 16 GB of GDDR6X memory provides 736.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which is ample for The Medium’s texture-heavy environments at 4K.

The GPU’s percentile ranking of 86th among all GPUs is reflected in the benchmark scores. Its passmark G3D score of 34,245 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6,600 indicate strong rasterization performance. The FP32 compute of 52.22 TFLOPS is high, but The Medium is not a compute-bound title; it is more dependent on pixel rate and memory bandwidth. The 285.6 GPixel/s pixel rate and 816.0 GTexel/s texture rate are the key metrics, and they scale well from 1080p to 4K.

The VRAM capacity is critical at 4K Ultra. The Medium’s fixed camera angles allow for high-resolution textures without the overhead of dynamic LODs, but 16 GB ensures no memory swapping occurs. The nearest GPU rival, the RTX 4080, is 0.1% slower on average, which is negligible. The AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB has a higher average benchmark score (55,698) but only 12 GB of VRAM, which could cause issues at 4K Ultra in this title. The RTX 4080 SUPER’s 16 GB is a clear advantage, and the data shows no VRAM-related stutters in the min FPS values.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows offer a clear hierarchy for optimal playability. At 4K, the Low preset (126 FPS) is a waste of the GPU’s capability, while Ultra (45 FPS) is too slow for a consistent experience. The Medium preset at 4K (79 FPS average, 67 min) is the sweet spot—it delivers a frame rate above 60 FPS with only occasional dips, and the visual quality is acceptable for a horror game that relies on atmosphere rather than raw detail. The High preset at 4K (56 FPS) is borderline, but the 22% drop from Medium is not justified by the visual gains.

At 1440p, the recommendation shifts. Medium (100 FPS) is excellent for high-refresh monitors, but High (72 FPS) is also playable if you prefer sharper textures. Ultra (57 FPS) is playable but sits at the edge of the 60 FPS threshold. The best experience per the data is Medium at 1440p—it offers a 100 FPS average with an 85 FPS min, which ensures smooth camera panning in the game’s fixed-camera scenes. For 1080p, the choice is less critical. Medium (119 FPS) and High (85 FPS) both provide smooth gameplay, with Medium offering a 40% higher frame rate for a modest visual compromise. Ultra at 1080p (68 FPS) is unnecessary—the visual difference between High and Ultra is not worth the 20% frame rate loss.

The data suggests that the Medium preset is the most balanced across all resolutions. It provides the highest frame rate that still maintains visual fidelity, and the min FPS values (101 at 1080p, 85 at 1440p, 67 at 4K) are all above the 60 FPS threshold for playability. For users with a 120 Hz or 144 Hz monitor, 1440p Medium (100 FPS) is the recommended configuration. For 4K display owners, 4K Medium (79 FPS) is the only preset that offers both playability and reasonable visual quality, as High and Ultra fall below 60 FPS. The RTX 4080 SUPER is capable, but The Medium’s Ultra preset is simply too demanding for this GPU at 4K.