The Medium

# Hardware Analysis: The Medium with Intel Core Ultra 7 155H + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090

This combination of Intel's Core Ultra 7 155H mobile processor and NVIDIA's flagship GeForce RTX 5090 desktop GPU produces a curious pairing in The Medium, a fixed-camera horror title that leans heavily on atmosphere rather than raw simulation. The measured frame rates across resolutions and settings reveal a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher presets, yet the CPU still plays a meaningful role in shaping the experience at lower settings where frame rates climb substantially.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 553rd out of 2,911 tested combinations in The Medium, placing it in the top 19% of all systems evaluated. That percentile positioning is notable because the RTX 5090 alone sits in the 92nd percentile among all GPUs, while the Core Ultra 7 155H reaches the 83rd percentile among all CPUs. The gap between component-level percentiles and the combined ranking suggests that The Medium's engine does not fully utilize the enormous headroom this hardware offers, particularly at higher settings where frame rates remain modest despite the flagship GPU.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 32,697 places it nearly exactly between its nearest rivals: the Intel Core i5-14600T scores 32,707 (0% delta), the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 360 scores 32,662 (0.1% delta), and the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H scores 32,812 (-0.4% delta). Meanwhile, the RTX 5090's average score of 79,842 compares closely to the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB at 79,605 (0.3% delta) and the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT at 78,940 (1.1% delta), though those are wildly different hardware classes. The measured game performance, however, tells a more complex story than these aggregate numbers suggest.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 155H brings 16 cores and 22 threads from its Meteor Lake architecture, built on Intel's 7 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and boosts to 4.80 GHz, with a 28 W TDP that marks it as a mobile-class part. The cache hierarchy includes 112 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache. Memory bandwidth is rated at 89.6 GB/s over a dual-channel DDR5 interface.

In synthetic workloads, this CPU demonstrates solid multi-threaded capability: Cinebench R23 multi-core reaches 15,028 points, while single-core hits 1,743. PassMark multi-thread scores 24,873, and single-thread scores 3,468. These numbers suggest a processor that can handle The Medium's logical threads without becoming a bottleneck, but the game's actual frame rates indicate the CPU is rarely the limiting factor.

At 1080p Low, the combo produces 143 FPS, which is the highest measured frame rate across all configurations. This suggests the CPU can feed the GPU adequately at lower resolutions where the graphics card has less work per frame. However, the drop from 143 FPS at 1080p Low to 132 FPS at 1440p Low (an 11 FPS decrease) hints that the engine's CPU-side scene management begins to strain as resolution increases, even with identical quality settings. The fact that 4K Low still delivers 104 FPS indicates the CPU retains enough headroom to avoid becoming a hard ceiling, but the scaling pattern implies the game's rendering pipeline becomes progressively more GPU-dependent at higher resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is a desktop-class behemoth with 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. Its Blackwell 2.0 architecture includes 21,760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 raster output units, with 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores. The GPU clocks at 2,017 MHz base and 2,407 MHz boost, producing 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. The chip itself contains 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die, fabricated at TSMC's 5 nm process.

Despite this overwhelming specification sheet, The Medium's measured performance shows the RTX 5090 is not being pushed to its limits at higher settings. At 4K Ultra, the combo manages only 37 FPS, which is surprisingly low for a GPU that scores 39,650 in PassMark G3D and 18,355 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. The 4K Medium setting yields 65 FPS with a minimum of 55 and maximum of 75, while 4K High produces 47 FPS. These numbers suggest The Medium's engine has inherent performance ceilings that even the most powerful consumer GPU cannot overcome, likely due to the game's fixed camera angles and pre-rendered lighting techniques that don't scale with raw GPU compute.

The RTX 5090's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (0.3% delta) and the Radeon RX 6850M XT (1.1% delta), but those comparisons are misleading for gaming scenarios. The real story is that this GPU has far more capability than The Medium can utilize, which becomes evident when examining how frame rates scale with resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers 143 FPS on Low settings, 98 FPS on Medium (with a range of 84 to 113), 70 FPS on High, and 56 FPS on Ultra. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a steep decline, with Ultra delivering only 39% of the Low setting's frame rate.

Moving to 2560x1440, frame rates drop across the board: Low produces 132 FPS, Medium reaches 83 FPS (ranging from 70 to 95), High delivers 59 FPS, and Ultra falls to 47 FPS. The 1440p numbers represent an 8% reduction from 1080p at Low, a 15% reduction at Medium, a 16% reduction at High, and a 16% reduction at Ultra.

At 3840x2160, the pattern continues but with more dramatic reductions at lower settings: Low still manages 104 FPS, Medium drops to 65 FPS (55 to 75 range), High falls to 47 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 37 FPS. The 4K results show that even a flagship GPU struggles to maintain 60 FPS at High settings in this title, while Medium settings become the realistic ceiling for smooth gameplay.

The Medium settings row at 1080p reveals a 42 FPS gap between Medium and High, which is substantial for a single preset step. The Ultra preset at 4K produces only 37 FPS, making it effectively unplayable for smooth motion, while the Low preset at 4K still delivers a very playable 104 FPS.

Resolution Scaling

The scaling behavior across resolutions provides clear evidence about which component limits performance. From 1080p to 1440p, frame rates drop by 8% at Low, 15% at Medium, 16% at High, and 16% at Ultra. From 1440p to 4K, the drops are 21% at Low, 22% at Medium, 20% at High, and 21% at Ultra. These consistent percentage reductions across all settings suggest that resolution scaling follows a predictable curve, but the absolute frame rate differences tell a more nuanced story.

At Low settings, the 39 FPS drop from 1080p (143 FPS) to 4K (104 FPS) indicates that the GPU is still the primary constraint, but the CPU's ability to maintain high frame rates at lower resolutions is evident. At Ultra settings, the 19 FPS drop from 1080p (56 FPS) to 4K (37 FPS) shows that the GPU becomes increasingly dominant as the workload grows, yet the absolute numbers remain low enough that the engine's inefficiencies are the real bottleneck.

The most revealing comparison is between Low and Ultra at each resolution. At 1080p, Ultra delivers 56 FPS versus Low's 143 FPS, a 61% reduction. At 1440p, the reduction is 64% (47 vs 132). At 4K, the reduction is 64% (37 vs 104). This consistency suggests that the game's quality presets impose a fixed computational cost that scales with resolution in a predictable manner, rather than revealing any unexpected bottleneck shifts.

The data implies that at 1080p Low, the system approaches the CPU's practical limit for this game engine, while at 4K Ultra, the GPU is working hard but still cannot overcome the engine's inherent performance constraints. The RTX 5090's 32 GB of VRAM is never a limiting factor, as even 4K Ultra textures would fit comfortably within that allocation.

FAQ

Q: Why does the RTX 5090 only produce 37 FPS at 4K Ultra in The Medium when it scores in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs?

A: The measured data shows that The Medium's engine does not scale performance with GPU horsepower as expected. The 4K Ultra result of 37 FPS, compared to 4K Low's 104 FPS, indicates that the game's quality presets impose computational costs that even a flagship GPU cannot overcome, likely due to the engine's rendering architecture rather than hardware limitations.

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 143 FPS, which is the highest measured result. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 15,028 and single-core score of 1,743 suggest it has sufficient headroom, but the 11 FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings (143 to 132 FPS) indicates the CPU may be approaching its practical limit for feeding the GPU at very high frame rates.

Q: What is the best resolution for smooth gameplay with this combo?

A: The data shows that 1440p Medium delivers 83 FPS with a minimum of 70, while 4K Medium produces 65 FPS with a minimum of 55. For consistent 60+ FPS gameplay, 1440p Medium is the safest choice, while 4K Medium offers playable performance but dips below 60 FPS in demanding scenes.

Q: How does the RTX 5090 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5090's average benchmark score of 79,842 places it 0.3% above the Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (79,605), 0.6% above the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (79,396), and 1.1% above the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78,940). It trails the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X (80,959) by 1.4%.

Q: Does the 32 GB VRAM matter for The Medium?

A: The game's measured frame rates do not indicate any VRAM-related performance drops, even at 4K Ultra settings. The 32 GB GDDR7 allocation is far beyond what The Medium requires, and the performance differences between settings are attributable to computational load rather than memory capacity.

Q: Why does the combo rank 553rd out of 2,911 if it uses a top-tier GPU?

A: The ranking reflects actual measured performance in The Medium, where the engine's limitations prevent the RTX 5090 from demonstrating its full capability. The CPU ranks in the 83rd percentile and the GPU in the 92nd percentile, but the combined ranking at the 81st percentile (553/2911) shows that this particular game does not reward high-end hardware proportionally.

Settings Recommendations

For 1080p gaming, the Medium preset provides the best balance with 98 FPS average and a range of 84 to 113 FPS. The High preset at 70 FPS is playable but represents a significant 29% reduction from Medium, while Ultra at 56 FPS introduces noticeable frame pacing concerns. Low at 143 FPS is ideal for competitive play but sacrifices visual quality that this horror title leverages for atmosphere.

At 1440p, Medium is again the optimal choice, delivering 83 FPS with a 70 to 95 range. High at 59 FPS dips below the 60 FPS threshold, while Ultra at 47 FPS becomes uncomfortable for sustained play. Low at 132 FPS remains an option for those prioritizing frame rate, but the visual compromise is substantial at this resolution.

For 4K, the choice narrows considerably. Medium at 65 FPS (55 to 75 range) is the only preset that approaches smooth gameplay, though it will occasionally dip below 60 FPS. High at 47 FPS is borderline, and Ultra at 37 FPS should be avoided. Low at 104 FPS is surprisingly viable given the resolution, suggesting that The Medium's low preset removes enough computational overhead to enable high frame rates even at 4K.

The overarching recommendation across all resolutions is the Medium preset, which consistently delivers the highest frame rates while maintaining acceptable visual quality. The step from Medium to High incurs a disproportionate performance penalty (42 FPS at 1080p, 24 FPS at 1440p, 18 FPS at 4K) that is not justified by the visual improvements in this fixed-camera game. Players seeking the highest frame rates should consider Low settings, particularly at 4K where the engine's overhead is most pronounced.