The Medium

The Medium presents a demanding fixed-camera horror experience, and the measured data for the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile shows a configuration that scales predictably with resolution and settings. The benchmark results indicate a system capable of high refresh rates at 1080p, but one that becomes firmly GPU-bound as the resolution increases, requiring careful settings management to maintain fluidity at 4K. This analysis walks through the measured frames per second (FPS) data to interpret how this specific combination behaves in The Medium, drawing on the provided scores and specifications.

Resolution Scaling

The jump from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 produces a steep performance curve, clearly identifying the GPU as the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions. At Medium settings, which is the most complete dataset with min and max FPS, the average frame rate drops from 94 FPS at 1080p to 79 FPS at 1440p, and then falls further to 62 FPS at 4K. This represents a reduction of approximately 34% from 1080p to 4K, a scaling pattern that is characteristic of a graphics card being pushed to its limits by the pixel count.

The Low preset tells a similar story with even higher absolute numbers: 143 FPS at 1080p, 127 FPS at 1440p, and 99 FPS at 4K. The fact that 4K Low still achieves 99 FPS suggests that the RTX 4090 Mobile has substantial raw compute headroom, but the gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is enormous—99 FPS versus 35 FPS—indicating that the game's higher presets introduce effects that are disproportionately expensive at high resolutions. The 1080p to 4K drop at Low is 44 FPS (143 to 99), while at Ultra the same resolution change costs 18 FPS (53 to 35). This demonstrates that the Ultra preset's additional visual features amplify the cost of each pixel, making the scaling less linear and more punishing.

The 1440p data points sit almost exactly halfway between the 1080p and 4K results for most settings, suggesting a smooth progression of GPU load. For example, High settings yield 67 FPS at 1080p, 57 FPS at 1440p, and 45 FPS at 4K—a near-perfect arithmetic sequence. This consistency implies that the game engine is well-optimized for resolution scaling, and there are no sudden bottlenecks or memory-related stutters introduced when moving between these common resolutions. The min FPS figures at Medium settings (80 at 1080p, 67 at 1440p, 53 at 4K) stay close to the averages, indicating that frame pacing remains stable even under load.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the benchmark database, this combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H and RTX 4090 Mobile achieves a combo rank of 888 out of 3724 tested configurations for The Medium. This places it in the top 24% of all combos, a strong showing that reflects the high-end nature of the GPU. The rank is somewhat tempered by the CPU's mobile pedigree, as the Ultra 7 155H is not a desktop-class processor, but the overall pairing still lands well above the median.

The GPU's individual percentile ranking is 84, meaning it outperforms 84% of all GPUs in the database, while the CPU's percentile is 83. These near-identical percentile scores suggest that neither component is dramatically holding back the other in general benchmarks, though the game-specific results show the GPU bearing most of the load at higher resolutions. The combo rank of 888 is more impressive when considering that there are 3724 total combos, many of which include desktop CPUs with higher sustained power budgets. In a game like The Medium, which relies heavily on pre-rendered backgrounds and camera tricks rather than CPU-intensive physics, the GPU's contribution to the final rank is likely the dominant factor.

When compared to other tested combos, the data indicates that this system is positioned for high-refresh-rate 1440p or solid 4K at reduced settings, rather than maxed-out 4K. The 888th rank out of 3724 suggests there is a meaningful gap to the top-tier desktop configurations, which likely pair even stronger CPUs with the same or more powerful GPUs, but for a laptop platform, this combo ranks exceptionally well.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with 9728 shading units, 304 texture mapping units, and 112 render output units. Its 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 576.0 GB/s, which is ample for The Medium's high-resolution textures. The GPU's base clock is 1335 MHz with a boost clock of 1695 MHz, and it consumes up to 120 W—a figure that defines its mobile performance envelope. The measured FPS data shows that even at 4K Medium, the GPU holds an average of 62 FPS, which indicates that the 16 GB frame buffer is not a limiting factor, as the game likely fits comfortably within this capacity.

The GPU's benchmark scores corroborate its gaming performance: a Passmark G3D score of 27212 and a Geekbench OpenCL score of 180831 place it in the 84th percentile of all GPUs. The nearest rivals in the database include the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 (with a delta of 0.8%) and the RTX A6000 (with a delta of -0.9%), which are professional workstation cards, underscoring the 4090 Mobile's position near the top of the consumer mobile stack. The pixel rate of 189.8 GPixel/s and texture rate of 515.3 GTexel/s explain why the card scales well from 1080p to 1440p, where the 79 FPS at Medium is still highly playable, but the 4K Ultra result of 35 FPS shows the raw fill rate limits being reached when all effects are enabled.

The 18 Gbps effective memory speed and 576.0 GB/s bandwidth are critical for the 4K results, as higher resolutions demand more data per frame. The fact that Low settings at 4K can reach 99 FPS suggests that the memory subsystem is not the bottleneck; rather, the compute units are being saturated by the Ultra preset's shader complexity. The GPU's FP32 performance of 32.98 TFLOPS provides the theoretical peak, but the measured results show that The Medium's specific workloads—likely involving volumetric lighting and screen-space effects—do not scale perfectly to that peak.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal experience depends heavily on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers 94 FPS average with a min of 80 FPS, which is smooth and responsive for a horror game where pacing matters. The High preset at 67 FPS is also acceptable, but the jump to Ultra at 53 FPS introduces a noticeable dip that may not be worth the visual gains, especially since the min FPS data is not provided for Ultra, suggesting potential instability. For 1080p, Medium is the sweet spot: it offers a 27 FPS improvement over High while still looking substantially better than Low.

At 2560x1440, Medium again provides the best balance at 79 FPS average (min 67 FPS), which is just above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. High at 57 FPS is playable but may feel less fluid during intense scenes, while Ultra at 45 FPS is best avoided unless the player prioritizes visuals over frame rate. The Low preset at 127 FPS is overkill for a narrative-driven horror game, as the visual degradation would harm the atmosphere.

At 3840x2160, the situation becomes more constrained. Medium is the only preset that maintains a playable average of 62 FPS (min 53 FPS), and even that is borderline. Low at 99 FPS is technically smooth but sacrifices too much visual fidelity for a game that relies on moody lighting. High at 45 FPS and Ultra at 35 FPS are both below the 60 FPS target and will likely feel stuttery. The data suggests that 4K users should either accept Medium settings or consider lowering the resolution to 1440p for a better experience. Overall, the Medium preset is the recommended choice across all resolutions, as it consistently provides the highest frame rate while remaining visually distinct from Low.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 4K with Medium settings?

A: The measured average FPS at 3840x2160 with Medium settings is 62 FPS, with a minimum of 53 FPS and a maximum of 71 FPS.

Q: How does the 1080p Ultra result compare to 4K Ultra?

A: At 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 53. At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS drops to 35, a reduction of 18 FPS.

Q: Is this combo better suited for 1440p or 4K gaming in The Medium?

A: The data shows 1440p Medium achieves 79 FPS average, while 4K Medium achieves 62 FPS average. The 1440p result is more comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold, making it the better target for consistent smoothness.

Q: What is the highest FPS recorded in the entire dataset?

A: The highest average FPS is 143, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: Does the GPU's 16 GB VRAM cause any performance issues at 4K?

A: No, the 16 GB GDDR6 memory with 576.0 GB/s bandwidth appears sufficient, as the 4K Medium preset still reaches 62 FPS, indicating no memory-related bottleneck.

Q: How does this combo rank against all other tested combinations?

A: This combo ranks 888th out of 3724 tested combinations for The Medium, placing it in the top 24% of all tested systems.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 155H is a 16-core, 22-thread processor based on the Meteor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 4.80 GHz. Its 24 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support (with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth) provide solid platform fundamentals, but in The Medium, the CPU's role is secondary to the GPU. The game's fixed-camera angles and pre-rendered backgrounds reduce the need for rapid CPU-driven geometry changes, meaning the 155H's compute capabilities are unlikely to be a limiting factor in most scenes.

The CPU's benchmark scores—Cinebench R23 multi-core of 15028 and single-core of 1743—place it in the 83rd percentile of all CPUs, with nearest rivals including the Intel Core i5-14600T and AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H, all within 0.4% of its average score. This performance level is more than adequate for The Medium's AI and scripting demands. The measured FPS data shows no sign of CPU bottlenecking, as the frame rates scale consistently with GPU load changes across resolutions. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect to see similar FPS numbers at 1080p and 4K, but the data shows a clear 50% drop from 143 FPS at 1080p Low to 99 FPS at 4K Low, indicating the GPU is the constraining component.

The 28 W TDP of the Ultra 7 155H is modest, but the processor's 22 threads ensure that background tasks and game logic do not starve the GPU of data. The integrated Arc Xe-LPG graphics are irrelevant here, as the discrete RTX 4090 Mobile handles all rendering. In summary, the CPU provides a stable foundation without introducing frame drops, allowing the GPU to dictate performance scaling. The combo rank of 888 benefits from this balanced pairing, where the CPU's 83rd percentile score complements the GPU's 84th percentile, resulting in a system that performs as expected without significant bottlenecking.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset for The Medium is as follows, with all values representing measured average FPS unless otherwise noted:

At 1920x1080:

• Low: 143 FPS
• Medium: 94 FPS (min 80, max 108)
• High: 67 FPS
• Ultra: 53 FPS

At 2560x1440:

• Low: 127 FPS
• Medium: 79 FPS (min 67, max 91)
• High: 57 FPS
• Ultra: 45 FPS

At 3840x2160:

• Low: 99 FPS
• Medium: 62 FPS (min 53, max 71)
• High: 45 FPS
• Ultra: 35 FPS

The largest single-step drop in the dataset occurs from 1080p Low (143 FPS) to 1440p Low (127 FPS), a 16 FPS decrease. The smallest drop is from 1440p Ultra (45 FPS) to 4K Ultra (35 FPS), a 10 FPS decrease, showing that Ultra settings are equally taxing across all resolutions. The Medium preset is the only one with min and max FPS data across all three resolutions, allowing for a precise view of frame variance: at 1080p, the range is 28 FPS (80 to 108); at 1440p, it is 24 FPS (67 to 91); and at 4K, it is 18 FPS (53 to 71). This tightening range at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU's frame pacing becomes more consistent as it approaches its limits, likely due to fewer CPU-bound hiccups.

The High preset shows a linear progression: 67, 57, and 45 FPS across the three resolutions, representing a 10 FPS drop for each step up in resolution. This suggests that High settings scale almost perfectly with pixel count, making it a predictable choice for users who want consistent behavior. The Low preset similarly scales well, with a 16 FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 28 FPS drop from 1440p to 4K, indicating that at Low settings, the GPU has enough headroom that the resolution increase is the primary variable.