The Medium

The Medium, a fixed-camera horror title built on Unreal Engine 4, presents a demanding workload that stresses both the CPU and GPU. The data for the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and AMD Radeon RX 9060 combination reveals a system that is capable of smooth gameplay at lower resolutions and settings, but which struggles to maintain high frame rates at 4K with higher quality presets. The benchmark results show a clear performance hierarchy across the three tested resolutions, with the GPU appearing as the primary bottleneck at higher graphical loads.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal experience for this hardware combination depends heavily on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers an average of 63 FPS, with a minimum of 53 FPS and a maximum of 72 FPS. This is the sweet spot, as it provides a frame rate that comfortably exceeds the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay while maintaining a visual quality upgrade over the Low preset. The High preset at 1080p drops to 45 FPS, which is noticeably less fluid, and the Ultra preset falls to 36 FPS, making it unsuitable for a consistently smooth experience.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset remains the most balanced choice, yielding an average of 53 FPS with a minimum of 45 FPS and a maximum of 61 FPS. While the average is slightly below the 60 FPS target, the minimum frame rate is still playable, and the visual benefits of 1440p over 1080p are substantial. The High preset at this resolution produces 38 FPS, which is sub-optimal for a title that can have sudden shifts in camera angles and lighting, while the Low preset at 85 FPS offers the best performance but sacrifices significant visual fidelity. The Ultra preset at 30 FPS is at the edge of playability and is not recommended.

For 4K (3840x2160), the data shows that the system lacks the raw performance for high-quality settings. The High preset averages only 30 FPS, and the Ultra preset drops to 24 FPS, both of which are below the threshold for a playable experience. The Low preset, at 67 FPS, is the only option that provides a smooth frame rate at this resolution. The Medium preset at 4K averages 42 FPS, with a minimum of 35 FPS and a maximum of 48 FPS, which is a playable, if not ideal, compromise for users who prioritize resolution over detail. The data suggests that for this combination, the Medium preset is the recommended starting point for both 1080p and 1440p, while 4K users should expect to use the Low or Medium presets to maintain adequate performance.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU and GPU combo in The Medium?

A: The data indicates that 1920x1080 with the Medium preset provides the best balance of performance and visual quality, with an average of 63 FPS. While 2560x1440 at Medium is also viable with an average of 53 FPS, the 1080p Medium configuration offers a higher average frame rate and a higher minimum frame rate of 53 FPS compared to 45 FPS at 1440p.

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

A: Yes, but only at lower settings. The benchmark results show that at 3840x2160, the Low preset achieves an average of 67 FPS, and the Medium preset reaches 42 FPS. However, the High and Ultra presets are not recommended for 4K, as they produce averages of 30 FPS and 24 FPS, respectively, which are too low for a smooth experience.

Q: How does the Low preset compare to the Ultra preset at 1080p?

A: The difference is substantial. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 101 FPS, while the Ultra preset drops to 36 FPS. This represents a 65 FPS difference, or roughly 64% lower performance on the Ultra preset, which is a significant trade-off for increased visual detail.

Q: What is the frame time consistency like for this combo?

A: The data provides minimum and maximum FPS values only for the Medium preset across all resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the range is 53 to 72 FPS; at 1440p Medium, it is 45 to 61 FPS; and at 4K Medium, it is 35 to 48 FPS. This suggests frame time consistency is moderate, with a spread of roughly 19 FPS at 1080p and 13 FPS at 4K.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more likely to be the limiting factor?

A: The benchmark data suggests that the GPU is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions and settings. The FPS drops significantly as resolution increases, which is a classic indicator of a GPU-bound scenario. At lower resolutions like 1080p, the CPU's performance is more relevant, but the game's engine and visual demands still lean heavily on the GPU.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combination ranks 1648 out of 2911 tested combos for The Medium, placing it in the lower half of the database. This indicates that while it is capable of running the game, many other hardware pairings deliver higher frame rates or support higher quality settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and AMD Radeon RX 9060 combination holds a rank of 1648 out of 2911 tested combos specifically for The Medium. This places it in the 43rd percentile of all tested systems, meaning that over half of the configurations in the database outperform it in this particular title. The ranking suggests that while this setup is functional, it is not a high-performance pairing for this specific game's engine.

The CPU, the Intel Core Ultra 5 245, holds a strong position in the broader benchmark landscape, with a percentile of 90 when compared to all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 48995 puts it in close competition with its nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G and the AMD Ryzen 9 7900. However, its performance in The Medium is likely constrained by the GPU, as the game's visual effects and rendering demands become more pronounced at higher settings.

The GPU, the AMD Radeon RX 9060, has a percentile of 59 when compared to all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 16014. This places it in the mid-range tier of graphics cards. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, has a similar average score, indicating comparable raw performance. Yet, the combination's overall rank in The Medium is dragged down by the GPU's limitations at higher resolutions, where the 8 GB VRAM and the 128-bit memory bus become significant constraints. The data shows that the system's performance is heavily dependent on the chosen preset and resolution, with lower settings allowing the CPU to keep up more effectively with the GPU's output.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for The Medium reveals a consistent performance curve across the three tested resolutions. At 1920x1080, the system delivers an average of 101 FPS on the Low preset, 63 FPS on Medium, 45 FPS on High, and 36 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 53 FPS and a maximum of 72 FPS, which indicates a playable range, though the gap between minimum and maximum suggests some frame time variance.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages are 85 FPS on Low, 53 FPS on Medium, 38 FPS on High, and 30 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset's minimum is 45 FPS and its maximum is 61 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is approximately 15.8% for the Low preset, 15.9% for Medium, 15.6% for High, and 16.7% for Ultra. This linear scaling indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck, as the performance cost of increasing pixel count is relatively consistent across settings.

At 3840x2160, the averages fall to 67 FPS on Low, 42 FPS on Medium, 30 FPS on High, and 24 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset's minimum and maximum are 35 and 48 FPS, respectively. The transition from 1440p to 4K is much more severe, with performance drops of 21.2% for Low, 20.8% for Medium, 21.1% for High, and 20.0% for Ultra. This steep decline highlights the GPU's struggle to manage the 4K pixel count, especially when combined with the game’s fixed-camera perspective and detailed environments.

The data shows that the Low preset is the only option that maintains an average above 60 FPS at all resolutions, while the Medium preset remains above 40 FPS at all resolutions. The High and Ultra presets are only playable at 1080p, and even then, they fall below the 60 FPS threshold, making them less desirable for a smooth experience.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling analysis for this combination shows a clear and predictable pattern. From 1920x1080 to 2560x1440, the average FPS drops by roughly 15% to 17% across all settings. This is a typical scaling curve for a GPU-bound scenario, where the increase in pixel count from approximately 2.07 million to 3.69 million pixels puts a proportional load on the graphics card.

The scaling from 2560x1440 to 3840x2160 is more pronounced, with drops of approximately 20% to 21% across all settings. This steeper decline is expected, as the pixel count jumps from 3.69 million to 8.29 million, more than doubling the workload. The fact that the drop is not perfectly linear suggests that the GPU's memory bandwidth and VRAM capacity are becoming limiting factors at 4K. The 8 GB VRAM and the 288.0 GB/s bandwidth may not be sufficient to handle the texture data and rendering buffers required at this resolution, leading to the more significant FPS hit.

The data indicates that the CPU, the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 with its 14 cores and 14 threads, is not the primary constraint in this scaling curve. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would remain relatively stable across resolutions, as the CPU's workload does not change significantly with pixel count. Instead, the consistent and substantial FPS drops with each resolution increase point directly to the GPU as the limiting component. This is further supported by the fact that the Low preset, which reduces the GPU's workload, maintains a higher FPS at 4K than the High preset does at 1440p, showing that the GPU’s pixel processing power is the key factor.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture. Its core configuration is unusual in that it lacks hyper-threading, meaning each core handles a single thread. This can be a disadvantage in heavily multithreaded workloads, but for The Medium, which is a DirectX 12 title, the CPU's role is more about maintaining a consistent frame delivery rather than raw multithreaded throughput.

The CPU’s benchmark scores, such as a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 32924 and a single-core score of 4648, indicate strong performance. The single-core performance is particularly relevant for The Medium, as many game engines rely on a few primary threads for physics, AI, and game logic. The boost clock of 5.10 GHz provides high single-thread speed, which helps ensure that the CPU can keep up with the GPU's frame output at lower resolutions.

At 1080p with the Low preset, the CPU is able to feed the GPU enough data to achieve 101 FPS. However, as the resolution increases, the GPU becomes the bottleneck, and the CPU's workload does not increase proportionally. The data suggests that the CPU is not a limiting factor in this system for The Medium, as the FPS scales primarily with resolution and settings rather than with CPU-bound tasks. The processor's 24 MB of shared L3 cache and support for DDR5 memory at 102.4 GB/s bandwidth provide a solid foundation for game data, but the physical core count is less critical than the single-thread performance for this particular title.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 is a mid-range graphics card based on the RDNA 4.0 architecture. It features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. These specifications are modest for modern gaming, especially at higher resolutions. The GPU's benchmark results, including a 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 3322 and a PassMark G3D score of 17631, place it in the 59th percentile of all GPUs.

The GPU's role in The Medium is critical, as the game uses a dual-reality mechanic that renders two separate worlds simultaneously in certain sequences. This effectively doubles the rendering workload, putting significant pressure on the GPU's fill rate and memory subsystem. The Radeon RX 9060's 64 ROPs and 1792 shading units are sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but they are strained by the demands of 4K.

The data confirms that the GPU is the main bottleneck at higher settings. The FPS drops significantly from Low to Ultra at every resolution, with the Ultra preset at 4K averaging only 24 FPS. The boost clock of 2990 MHz provides decent raw compute power, but the 8 GB VRAM is a limiting factor. At 4K with High or Ultra settings, the game likely exceeds the VRAM capacity, forcing the system to use slower memory paging, which contributes to the low frame rates. The 128-bit memory bus also limits the data throughput, which is critical for the high-resolution textures and effects used in The Medium. The GPU's performance is adequate for 1080p and 1440p at medium settings, but it does not have the headroom for high-refresh-rate or high-detail gaming at 4K.