The Medium

The Medium is a demanding horror title that stresses both processor and graphics hardware, and the measured data for the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 shows a clear pattern: this combination is capable of smooth gameplay at 1080p and 1440p, but 4K requires significant settings compromises. Benchmark results indicate the sweet spot is the Medium preset at 1440p, delivering a 57 FPS average with a 49 FPS minimum, which balances visual fidelity with playable performance, while the Low preset at 1080p reaches 108 FPS for high-refresh-rate displays.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS breakdown reveals that the Medium settings preset offers the most balanced experience across all three tested resolutions. At 1920x1080, Medium produces a 68 FPS average with a 58 FPS minimum and 78 FPS maximum, providing a stable frame rate that comfortably exceeds the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. This is a 39% improvement over the High preset’s 49 FPS average at the same resolution, while the visual difference between Medium and High in a horror game like The Medium, which relies heavily on atmosphere and lighting rather than fine texture detail, is often less impactful than the performance gain suggests.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset again proves optimal, yielding a 57 FPS average with a 49 FPS minimum and 66 FPS maximum. This is the highest resolution where the Medium preset maintains an average above 55 FPS, making it the recommended choice for users with 1440p monitors. The High preset at 1440p drops to 41 FPS average, which is playable but noticeably less smooth, especially during the game’s tense sequences where frame pacing matters. The Ultra preset at 1440p falls to 32 FPS average, which is below the threshold for a comfortable experience.

For 3840x2160, the situation is more constrained. The Medium preset delivers a 45 FPS average with a 38 FPS minimum and 52 FPS maximum, which is playable but not ideal for a game that benefits from consistent frame times. The Low preset at 4K achieves 72 FPS average, but this requires sacrificing significant visual quality. Given that the Medium preset at 4K stays above 38 FPS minimum, it remains the best compromise for 4K users, though the data suggests that 1440p Medium is the overall best experience for this hardware combination.

The Low preset should be reserved for competitive or high-refresh-rate scenarios. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 108 FPS average, and at 1440p Low it reaches 91 FPS, making these options viable for users prioritizing frame rate over visuals. However, for a narrative-driven horror game, the Medium preset’s balance of 68 FPS at 1080p and 57 FPS at 1440p is the data-backed recommendation.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 155H is a 16-core, 22-thread mobile processor from the Core Ultra Series 1, built on Intel’s Meteor Lake architecture with a 7 nm process node. Its base clock is 3.80 GHz with a boost clock of 4.80 GHz, and it carries a 24 MB shared L3 cache with 2 MB L2 cache per core. The CPU’s TDP is 28 W, indicating a power-efficient design typical of mobile parts, yet its benchmark scores show it is far from a weak link in this gaming combo.

In Cinebench R23, the 155H scores 15028 points in multicore and 1743 points in single-core. The single-core score is particularly relevant for gaming, as The Medium’s frame rate at lower resolutions and settings is often limited by CPU performance. The PassMark single-thread score of 3468 and the PassMark physics score of 1727 further suggest that the processor handles game logic and physics calculations adequately. The CPU’s percentile ranking of 83 against all CPUs places it in the upper tier, and its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i5-14600T with an average score of 32707 (0% delta) and the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 360 with 32662 (0.1% delta). This indicates the 155H performs nearly identically to these desktop-class competitors in synthetic benchmarks.

The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low, where the GPU is less stressed and CPU-bound scenarios are more likely, the combo achieves 108 FPS. At 1080p Medium, it drops to 68 FPS, and at 1080p High to 49 FPS. This scaling suggests that the CPU is not the primary bottleneck at Medium and High settings, as the GPU takes on more work. However, the fact that the 1080p Low result is only 19% higher than the 1440p Low result (108 vs 91 FPS) indicates that even at Low settings, the GPU still has a significant role, and the CPU’s 22 threads and boost clock of 4.80 GHz are sufficient to keep up.

The CPU’s memory bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s and dual-channel DDR5 support are adequate for feeding the GPU, though the 155H’s integrated Arc Xe-LPG 128EU graphics are not used in this discrete GPU setup. The processor’s 83rd percentile ranking and its close benchmark parity with rivals like the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H (32812 average score, -0.4% delta) confirm that the 155H provides a solid foundation for the RTX 4070, with no evidence of CPU-induced frame rate limitations in the measured data.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is the dominant component in this pairing, featuring the AD104 chip on a 5 nm TSMC process with 35,800 million transistors and a die size of 294 mm². Its base clock is 1920 MHz with a boost clock of 2475 MHz, and it has 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU’s 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs provide substantial raw compute, with an FP32 throughput of 29.15 TFLOPS. The 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores enable hardware ray tracing and DLSS, though the measured data does not include ray tracing-specific results.

The GPU’s benchmark scores are consistent with its mid-to-high-end positioning. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 3854, and its PassMark G3D score is 26927. The GPU’s percentile ranking is 81 against all GPUs, and its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Tesla P4 (37628 average score, 0.1% delta) and the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (37507, 0.4% delta). Interestingly, the RTX 4080 Mobile is listed as a rival with a -1.3% delta, meaning the desktop RTX 4070 is slightly ahead of the mobile RTX 4080 in average benchmark score, which underscores the desktop GPU’s strength in this comparison.

The VRAM capacity of 12 GB is a key factor for The Medium, a game known for its demanding memory usage. The measured FPS data shows that at 4K Ultra, the combo drops to 25 FPS average, which is likely a combination of GPU compute limits and VRAM pressure. At 4K Medium, the average rises to 45 FPS, and at 4K Low to 72 FPS. This scaling indicates that the GPU’s memory bandwidth and compute units are the primary constraints at higher resolutions, while the 12 GB VRAM is sufficient for Medium settings but may be stretched at Ultra with high-resolution textures.

The GPU’s boost clock of 2475 MHz and memory clock of 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective) help maintain performance, but the data shows that the RTX 4070 is not a 4K Ultra card for this title. The 1440p Medium result of 57 FPS and 1080p Medium of 68 FPS demonstrate that the GPU is well-matched to the CPU at mainstream resolutions, with the GPU being the clear performance driver. The fact that 1080p Low (108 FPS) is only 19% higher than 1440p Low (91 FPS) suggests that the GPU is still the bottleneck even at Low settings, as a CPU-bound scenario would show a larger resolution-based delta.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank for this specific configuration in The Medium is 1525 out of 2911 tested combinations, placing it in the 52nd percentile of all tested systems. This rank reflects that while the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H and RTX 4070 are individually strong components, the overall pairing is not at the top tier for this game. The CPU’s 83rd percentile and GPU’s 81st percentile rankings are high, but the combo’s mid-pack rank suggests that other factors, such as power delivery, thermal limits, or driver optimizations, may affect real-world performance in The Medium.

Data indicates that this combo outperforms many lower-tier configurations but falls short of top-tier systems that likely feature more powerful CPUs or GPUs. The measured FPS results show that the combo achieves 68 FPS at 1080p Medium, which is a playable and enjoyable experience, but it does not reach the high frame rates seen in systems with more powerful GPUs or desktop-class CPUs with higher boost clocks. The rank of 1525 out of 2911 means there are 1386 combos that perform better, but also 1524 that perform worse, placing this system in the upper-middle segment of the database.

The nearest rival data for the CPU and GPU individually provide context. The CPU’s rivals, such as the Intel Core i5-14600T and AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 360, all have average benchmark scores within 0.2% of the 155H, indicating that CPU performance is not a differentiator in this rank. Similarly, the GPU’s rivals, including the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 and NVIDIA RTX 4080 Mobile, have scores within 1.3% of the RTX 4070, showing that the GPU is also not an outlier in either direction. This suggests that the combo’s mid-pack rank is a function of the game’s specific demands rather than a weakness in either component.

The 4K Ultra result of 25 FPS and 1440p Ultra of 32 FPS highlight that the combo cannot max out The Medium at higher resolutions, which likely contributes to its rank. However, the 1440p Medium result of 57 FPS and 1080p Medium of 68 FPS show that the combo is well-suited for mainstream gaming, and users should not be discouraged by the rank number. The data supports the conclusion that this is a capable gaming setup for 1080p and 1440p, with the rank reflecting its performance envelope rather than a fundamental flaw.

FAQ

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

A: The measured data shows that 2560x1440 with the Medium preset delivers a 57 FPS average with a 49 FPS minimum, making it the highest resolution where the combo maintains a stable, playable frame rate above 55 FPS. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset yields 68 FPS average, which is also excellent, but 1440p offers a better balance of visual quality and performance.

Q: Can this combo run The Medium at 4K?

A: Yes, but with compromises. At 3840x2160 with the Medium preset, the combo achieves a 45 FPS average with a 38 FPS minimum and 52 FPS maximum, which is playable. The Low preset reaches 72 FPS at 4K, but the High preset drops to 32 FPS and Ultra to 25 FPS, indicating that 4K Ultra is not viable.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 155H has an average benchmark score of 32697, which is nearly identical to the Intel Core i5-14600T (32707, 0% delta) and the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 360 (32662, 0.1% delta). It is also within 0.4% of the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H (32812), showing that the 155H matches these processors in synthetic benchmarks.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 has an average benchmark score of 37648, which is 0.1% higher than the NVIDIA Tesla P4 (37628) and 0.4% higher than the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (37507). It is 1.3% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile (38135), indicating that the desktop RTX 4070 performs slightly better than that mobile GPU.

Q: What is the highest FPS this combo can achieve?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 108 at 1920x1080 with the Low preset. At 2560x1440 Low, the average is 91 FPS, and at 3840x2160 Low, it is 72 FPS. These results show that the Low preset provides the highest frame rates at all resolutions.

Q: Is the Medium preset a good choice for this combo?

A: Yes, the data shows that the Medium preset provides the best balance. At 1080p, it delivers 68 FPS average (58 FPS minimum), at 1440p it delivers 57 FPS average (49 FPS minimum), and at 4K it delivers 45 FPS average (38 FPS minimum). These are all higher than the High preset results, making Medium the recommended setting for smooth gameplay.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of how this combo performs across resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers a 108 FPS average, which is the highest frame rate recorded for this system. The Medium preset at 1080p yields a 68 FPS average with a 58 FPS minimum and 78 FPS maximum, indicating a stable frame time distribution. The High preset drops to 49 FPS average, and the Ultra preset falls to 39 FPS average. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a 64% reduction in performance, from 108 FPS to 39 FPS, which is a significant but expected trade-off for increased visual quality.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset achieves 91 FPS average, which is a 16% decrease compared to 1080p Low, indicating that the GPU is still managing the resolution increase well. The Medium preset at 1440p produces a 57 FPS average with a 49 FPS minimum and 66 FPS maximum, making it the recommended preset for this resolution. The High preset at 1440p drops to 41 FPS average, and the Ultra preset falls to 32 FPS average. The delta between 1080p Medium and 1440p Medium is 16%, from 68 FPS to 57 FPS, which shows a reasonable scaling pattern for this GPU.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset delivers 72 FPS average, which is a 21% decrease from 1440p Low (91 FPS) and a 33% decrease from 1080p Low (108 FPS). The Medium preset at 4K achieves 45 FPS average with a 38 FPS minimum and 52 FPS maximum, which is the lowest Medium preset result that remains above 30 FPS. The High preset at 4K drops to 32 FPS average, and the Ultra preset falls to 25 FPS average. The Ultra preset at 4K is the only measured configuration that falls below 30 FPS, making it unsuitable for a smooth experience.

The data shows a consistent pattern: the Medium preset provides the best balance at every resolution, with average FPS values of 68, 57, and 45 at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K respectively. The Low preset offers the highest frame rates, with 108, 91, and 72 FPS at the same resolutions. The High preset provides 49, 41, and 32 FPS, which are playable but less smooth, and the Ultra preset offers 39, 32, and 25 FPS, which are only viable at 1080p. The minimum FPS values are only available for the Medium preset, showing 58 FPS at 1080p, 49 FPS at 1440p, and 38 FPS at 4K, all of which remain above the 30 FPS threshold for playability.