The Medium

The Medium presents a unique challenge for hardware analysis, blending fixed-camera angles with real-time rendering of two simultaneous worlds. This page examines the performance of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER, using measured data to understand how this combination handles the game's specific demands. The analysis focuses strictly on the provided benchmark results, interpreting what the scores and frame rates reveal about the interaction between CPU, GPU, and game engine.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 is a 20-core, 20-thread processor built on the Arrow Lake architecture. Its base clock is 2.40 GHz, with a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. This configuration gives it a strong presence in synthetic benchmarks, particularly in multi-threaded workloads. For instance, its Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 42216, while its single-core score is 5960. This suggests a processor that excels when all cores are engaged, but also holds its own in tasks that rely on fewer, faster threads.

In the context of The Medium, the game's engine is known for rendering two scenes simultaneously—the real world and the spirit world. This dual-rendering approach can be demanding on both the CPU and GPU. The processor’s 20 threads are likely beneficial here, as the game may offload the logic, physics, and rendering preparation for both worlds onto separate threads. The data supports this theory: at 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 190 FPS, which is a very high frame rate. When the resolution increases to 4K with Low settings, the frame rate drops to 126 FPS. This is a significant reduction, but the fact that the CPU can still feed the GPU enough data to produce over 120 frames per second at 4K indicates that it is not a bottleneck at lower graphical presets.

The L3 cache is 30 MB (shared), which is a substantial pool for holding game assets and instructions. This likely helps with the game's streaming of data between the two worlds. The processor's memory bandwidth is rated at 102.4 GB/s, which is also critical for a game that may need to quickly access large textures and geometry for two simultaneous environments. The CPU’s percentile vs all CPUs is 93, and its average benchmark score is 64640. This places it in the top tier of processors, very close to rivals like the AMD EPYC 4464P (score 64823, deltaPct -0.3) and Intel Core Ultra 7 265F (score 64438, deltaPct 0.3). The performance difference between these chips is marginal, suggesting that the 265 is a well-balanced part for gaming, even if its server-class rivals are not typical gaming choices.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is ranked 137th out of 2911 tested combos for The Medium. This places it in the top 5% of all configurations tested, which is a strong result. Given that the GPU is a high-end part (the RTX 4080 SUPER has a percentile vs all GPUs of 86), and the CPU is also highly ranked (93rd percentile), the top-5% ranking is expected. However, the data suggests that the CPU is not the primary driver of this ranking; the GPU is likely doing the heavy lifting at higher resolutions.

The rank of 137 out of 2911 means there are 136 combinations that perform better. While we do not have the names of those combos, the deltaPct values for the CPU's nearest rivals are all within a very tight range (-0.3% to +0.7%). This suggests that the CPU is not a differentiating factor in this game. The ranking is more dependent on the GPU. For example, if we compare the RTX 4080 SUPER to its nearest rival, the RTX 4080 (avgScore 54247, deltaPct -0.1), the performance difference is negligible. This implies that the combo's ranking is largely determined by the GPU's raw power, which is substantial. The combo's position in the 137th spot, rather than higher, could be due to other combinations using even more powerful GPUs, such as the RTX 4090, which would naturally push this combo down the list.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data shows a clear pattern of scaling from 1080p to 4K. At Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 119 at 1080p, to 100 at 1440p, and finally to 79 at 4K. This is a drop of 16% going from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 21% drop when moving to 4K. This scaling behavior is typical of a GPU-bound scenario. The CPU is powerful enough to maintain high frame rates, but the GPU's rendering load increases significantly with pixel count.

At Low settings, the pattern is more dramatic. The average FPS at 1080p is 190, which drops to 160 at 1440p (a 16% reduction), and then to 126 at 4K (a 21% reduction from 1440p). This indicates that even at the lowest settings, the GPU is still the limiting factor at 4K. The CPU is not the bottleneck here, as the frame rates are still very high. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect to see a much smaller difference between resolutions, as the CPU's workload would remain constant regardless of resolution.

The data implies that the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 is more than sufficient for The Medium. The performance scaling is almost entirely dictated by the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER’s ability to fill pixels. The game is heavily GPU-bound, and the CPU's strong multi-threading capabilities are not being pushed to their limit. This is a good sign for the combo, as it means the CPU has headroom for other tasks, but it also means that upgrading the CPU alone would not yield any significant frame rate improvements in this game.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The data provides a complete picture of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets.

1920x1080:

• Low: 190 FPS average.
• Medium: 119 FPS average, with a minimum of 101 FPS and a maximum of 137 FPS.
• High: 85 FPS average.
• Ultra: 68 FPS average.

2560x1440:

• Low: 160 FPS average.
• Medium: 100 FPS average, with a minimum of 85 FPS and a maximum of 115 FPS.
• High: 72 FPS average.
• Ultra: 57 FPS average.

3840x2160:

• Low: 126 FPS average.
• Medium: 79 FPS average, with a minimum of 67 FPS and a maximum of 90 FPS.
• High: 56 FPS average.
• Ultra: 45 FPS average.

The Medium settings are the only ones with min/max data. At 1080p, the frame rate ranges from 101 to 137, which is a 36 FPS swing. At 1440p, the range is 85 to 115, a 30 FPS swing. At 4K, the range is 67 to 90, a 23 FPS swing. This suggests that frame time variance decreases as resolution increases, which is counterintuitive. It could indicate that the CPU is causing some frame pacing issues at lower resolutions, where it is less of a bottleneck, or that the GPU is more consistently loaded at higher resolutions. The average FPS at 4K Ultra is 45, which is just below the 60 FPS target for a smooth experience. At 4K High, the average is 56 FPS, which is closer but still not consistently smooth. The 4K Medium average of 79 FPS is much more comfortable.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: What is the best resolution to play at for a consistent 60+ FPS experience?

A: Based on the average FPS data, 1440p with Medium settings yields an average of 100 FPS, and 1440p with High settings yields 72 FPS. At 4K, only the Medium preset (79 FPS) and Low preset (126 FPS) exceed the 60 FPS threshold, while High (56 FPS) and Ultra (45 FPS) fall below it.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 has an average benchmark score of 64640. Its closest rival, the AMD EPYC 4464P, scores 64823, which is 0.3% higher. The Intel Core Ultra 7 265F scores 64438, which is 0.3% lower. The performance difference is negligible.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 4K resolution?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor. At 4K Low settings, the average FPS is 126. At 4K Ultra, it drops to 45 FPS. This significant drop due to graphical settings, while the CPU workload remains constant, points to the GPU being the primary bottleneck at this resolution.

Q: What is the frame rate range at 1440p Medium settings?

A: The measured average FPS is 100, with a minimum of 85 and a maximum of 115. This indicates a stable frame rate with a 30 FPS variance between the lowest and highest recorded frames.

Q: How much faster is 1080p compared to 4K at High settings?

A: At 1080p High, the average FPS is 85. At 4K High, the average FPS is 56. This means 1080p High is 51.8% faster than 4K High in terms of average frame rate.

Q: Does the game's performance scale linearly with resolution?

A: No. At Low settings, the FPS drops from 190 at 1080p to 160 at 1440p (a 15.8% drop), but then to 126 at 4K (a 21.3% drop from 1440p). The scaling is not linear, with a more significant performance hit when moving from 1440p to 4K.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

The measured data shows that the RTX 4080 SUPER is a powerful card, but even it struggles to maintain high frame rates at 4K with the highest settings. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, producing an average of 45 FPS at 4K, 57 FPS at 1440p, and 68 FPS at 1080p. These frame rates are all below the 60 FPS threshold that is often considered the target for a smooth experience, except for the 1080p result which is above 60 but not by a large margin.

For a 60+ FPS experience, the High preset is the best choice at 1440p, yielding an average of 72 FPS. At 4K, the High preset is not sufficient, as it only hits 56 FPS. For 4K, the Medium preset is the sweet spot, delivering an average of 79 FPS. This is a significant improvement over High (56 FPS) and Ultra (45 FPS), and the min/max data (67 to 90 FPS) shows that it remains relatively stable. At 1080p, the High preset (85 FPS) is a good choice for high visual quality, while the Ultra preset (68 FPS) is still playable.

The Low preset is not recommended unless the goal is to achieve extremely high frame rates for competitive play, which is unlikely for a horror game. At 1080p Low, the game runs at 190 FPS, but the visual quality is likely to be severely compromised. The best experience for a balance of visual fidelity and smooth performance is 1440p High (72 FPS) or 4K Medium (79 FPS). For players with a high refresh rate 1080p monitor, the High preset provides a comfortable 85 FPS.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is the primary driver of performance in The Medium for this combo. Its architecture, Ada Lovelace, is built on a 5nm process. It has a boost clock of 2550 MHz and a memory clock of 1438 MHz (23 Gbps effective). The GPU is equipped with 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 736.3 GB/s. This is a substantial amount of VRAM and bandwidth, which is likely crucial for a game that renders two worlds simultaneously, as it needs to hold textures and geometry for both.

The GPU's compute power is also significant, with an FP32 performance of 52.22 TFLOPS. This raw power is reflected in its benchmark scores, such as a Passmark G3D score of 34245. However, the measured FPS data shows that the GPU is still the limiting factor at higher resolutions. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 45, which suggests that even with this level of GPU power, the game's most demanding settings are too heavy for a locked 60 FPS experience.

The GPU's memory capacity of 16 GB is more than enough for The Medium, as the game does not likely require more than 8-10 GB at 4K. The high memory bandwidth of 736.3 GB/s helps to ensure that texture streaming is not a bottleneck. The RTX 4080 SUPER's performance relative to its nearest rival, the RTX 4080, is nearly identical (deltaPct of -0.1), indicating that the "SUPER" variant offers a marginal improvement. This suggests that the GPU's role in this combo is to provide a high baseline of performance, but the game's engine and optimization ultimately limit how much of that power is used at the highest settings. The data shows the GPU is the clear bottleneck, with the CPU having ample headroom to support it.