The Medium

The Medium presents a particularly demanding workload for even the most powerful mobile hardware, and the combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265HX and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 demonstrates a classic tension between CPU capability and GPU-bound rendering. The measured frame rates reveal a system that is unequivocally limited by the graphics processor at higher resolutions, while the processor's substantial headroom only becomes apparent when the graphical load is reduced. This analysis interprets the benchmark data to explain how this specific pairing behaves across the three primary resolution classes.

Resolution Scaling

The performance curve from 1080p to 4K is a textbook illustration of GPU-bound scaling. At 1920x1080 with the Medium preset, the system produces an average of 94 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same settings drops the average to 79 FPS, a reduction of 15 FPS. The jump to 3840x2160 is more severe, bringing the average down to 62 FPS. This pattern demonstrates that as pixel count increases, the RTX 4090's workload expands exponentially, while the CPU's role in feeding frames diminishes.

The data suggests that the Intel Core Ultra 7 265HX is never the primary constraint in this title. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 150 FPS, which is a strong indicator of the processor's capability to drive high frame rates. The RTX 4090, however, cannot translate that headroom into higher scores at 4K, where even the Low preset yields 99 FPS. The gap between the 1080p Low and 4K Low results—a 51 FPS difference—shows the sheer pixel throughput required at Ultra HD.

The scaling efficiency is not linear, which is typical for a horror title with complex lighting and volumetric effects. From 1440p to 4K at High settings, the frame rate drops from 57 to 45 FPS, a 21% decline. This is a steeper drop than the 1080p to 1440p transition at the same preset, which only sees a 10 FPS reduction from 67 to 57. The 4K resolution demands significantly more from the memory subsystem and the shading units, pushing the GPU to its limits.

At Ultra settings, the pattern becomes even more pronounced. The 4K Ultra average of 35 FPS is only marginally playable, while the 1080p Ultra result of 53 FPS shows that even at lower resolutions, the game's maximum visual fidelity is a heavy burden. The RTX 4090's 24 GB of GDDR6X memory is sufficient for the game's assets at 4K, but the sheer compute load of the Ultra preset's effects is what drags the frame rate down. The data confirms that this is a GPU-bound scenario across all tested configurations, with the CPU's 20 cores and 30 MB of L3 cache providing ample processing power for the game's logic.

FAQ

Q: Why does the frame rate drop so significantly from 1440p to 4K at the same settings?

A: The benchmark data shows a 15 FPS drop at Medium settings (79 to 62 FPS) and a 12 FPS drop at High settings (57 to 45 FPS) when moving from 2560x1440 to 3840x2160. This is because 4K contains over twice as many pixels as 1440p, requiring the RTX 4090 to process a proportionally larger amount of fragment and texture data, which saturates its compute units.

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 7 265HX holding back the RTX 4090 in this game?

A: No, the evidence points to the GPU being the limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 150 FPS, indicating the CPU can feed frames well above the GPU's output at higher resolutions. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 40642 and single-core score of 5737 support its capability to handle the game's threading model without bottlenecking.

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

A: For a consistent 60+ FPS experience, 2560x1440 with Medium settings is the optimal choice, as it delivers 79 FPS on average with a minimum of 67 FPS. At 3840x2160, the Medium preset provides an average of 62 FPS, which is playable but dips to 53 FPS in demanding scenes, making 1440p the safer option for sustained performance.

Q: How does the Ultra preset affect performance compared to High?

A: The Ultra preset is significantly more demanding. At 1080p, it drops from 67 FPS (High) to 53 FPS (Ultra), a 14 FPS penalty. At 4K, the penalty is 10 FPS, dropping from 45 to 35 FPS. The data indicates that Ultra's additional graphical features impose a cost that is disproportionate to the visual benefit at higher resolutions.

Q: Does the RTX 4090's 24 GB VRAM impact the results at 4K?

A: The measured frame rates at 4K, ranging from 35 FPS at Ultra to 99 FPS at Low, suggest that VRAM capacity is not the bottleneck. The RTX 4090's 24 GB of GDDR6X memory with a 384-bit bus and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth is more than adequate for The Medium's assets, as the performance drop at 4K is more likely due to the GPU's raw compute throughput limits.

Q: Are the frame rate dips at 1440p Medium a concern?

A: The data records a minimum of 67 FPS and a maximum of 91 FPS at 2560x1440 Medium. While the average is 79 FPS, the 24 FPS variance between min and max suggests that the game can experience stutter in complex scenes, but the minimum remains above the 60 FPS threshold, so it should not be a major issue.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy of presets for this specific hardware combination. The High preset at 2560x1440 yields an average of 57 FPS, which is below the ideal 60 FPS target. The Medium preset at the same resolution pushes the average to 79 FPS, with a minimum of 67 FPS, making it the sweet spot for a balanced experience. This configuration offers a 22 FPS improvement over High while still maintaining visual fidelity that is noticeably better than Low.

At 1920x1080, the High preset's 67 FPS average is adequate, but the Medium preset's 94 FPS provides a much smoother experience with room to spare. The data suggests that for users prioritizing frame rate consistency, Medium at 1080p is the most sensible choice, as it nearly doubles the 4K Ultra result of 35 FPS while still looking robust. The Low preset at 1080p achieves 150 FPS, but this sacrifices too much visual detail for a game that relies heavily on atmosphere and lighting.

For 4K displays, the Medium preset is the only viable option for a playable experience, delivering 62 FPS on average. The High preset at 4K drops to 45 FPS, which is noticeable in a horror title where smooth camera movement is crucial for immersion. The Ultra preset at any resolution below 1440p is not recommended, as the 53 FPS at 1080p does not justify the visual upgrade over High, and the 35 FPS at 4K is too choppy for the genre.

The variance data for Medium settings shows that the frame rate is more stable at lower resolutions. The 1080p Medium preset has a narrow range of 80 to 108 FPS, while the 1440p Medium preset has a wider 67 to 91 FPS spread. This indicates that the game's dynamic environments and scripted sequences cause more significant load fluctuations at higher pixel counts, reinforcing the recommendation for Medium at 1440p as the best compromise between visual quality and frame time consistency.

How This Combo Ranks

The data places this specific combination at rank 583 out of 2911 tested combos for The Medium, putting it in the top 20% of all configurations. This ranking is a reflection of the RTX 4090's raw power, though the measured FPS suggests that the GPU's full potential is not being realized in this title. The combo's percentile ranking against all GPUs is 88, meaning it outperforms 88% of graphics cards, while the CPU's percentile against all processors is 93.

The ranking discrepancy between the component percentiles and the in-game combo rank of 583 out of 2911 is notable. This suggests that while the hardware is individually powerful, The Medium's specific engine characteristics may not scale perfectly with the RTX 4090's architecture. The game's reliance on fixed-function effects and its release date in January 2021, predating the GPU's launch, means there might be driver-level optimizations missing for this newer hardware.

Compared to the GPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database, the RTX 4090 has an average score of 60347, which is nearly identical to the Intel Arc Pro A60 at 60326 (0% delta). The AMD Radeon Pro W6600M is 2.5% faster with a score of 61896, while the AMD Radeon PRO V710 is 2.9% slower at 58657. These differences are small in synthetic benchmarks, but in a real game like The Medium, the 4090's 24 GB memory and higher shading unit count provide a tangible advantage in texture-heavy scenes.

The CPU's nearest rivals show a tight cluster of performance. The Intel Core i7-13790F is 0.1% faster with an average score of 63080, while the AMD Ryzen AI 7 450G is 0.2% slower at 63331. The Intel Core Ultra 7 255HX, which is a close sibling in the same series, is 0.7% slower with a score of 62738. These marginal differences in synthetic tests are unlikely to manifest as measurable FPS differences in The Medium, confirming that the GPU is the dominant factor in the combo's ranking.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the definitive driver of performance in this pairing. Its base clock of 2235 MHz and boost clock of 2520 MHz provide the compute throughput necessary for the game's DirectX 12 rendering path. The 16384 shading units and 512 TMUs are heavily utilized during the game's fixed-camera sequences, which often feature complex transparency effects and dynamic shadows. The GPU's 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is a key metric for understanding its capability in this title.

The memory subsystem of the RTX 4090 is a critical asset for The Medium, which is known for its dual-reality mechanic that renders two worlds simultaneously. The 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus provides 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth, allowing the GPU to stream high-resolution textures for both the real world and the spirit world without stuttering. The measured frame rates at 4K would likely be significantly lower with a card featuring less VRAM or lower bandwidth, as the game's asset streaming is memory-intensive.

The 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores are present in the architecture but are not explicitly leveraged by the game's default settings, as The Medium does not mandate ray tracing for its core visual effects. This means the raw rasterization performance of the 176 ROPs is what determines the frame rates seen in the data. The 443.5 GPixel/s pixel rate explains why the GPU can still manage 45 FPS at 4K High, as it has sufficient fill rate for the game's resolution.

The GPU's production status is listed as end-of-life, and its successor, the GeForce 50 series, has since been released. The RTX 4090's launch MSRP of 1,599 USD positioned it as a flagship part, and its performance in The Medium reflects that premium tier. The data shows that at 4K Medium, the card achieves 62 FPS, which is a strong result for a horror game that relies on dense visual effects and high-resolution textures to create its oppressive atmosphere.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset provides a granular view of performance across all tested configurations. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 150 FPS, while the Medium preset delivers 94 FPS with a measured minimum of 80 FPS and a maximum of 108 FPS. The High preset at this resolution produces 67 FPS, and the Ultra preset yields 53 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 97 FPS spread, indicating that the game's settings scale has a profound impact on the GPU workload.

At 2560x1440, the pattern continues with the Low preset producing 127 FPS. The Medium preset averages 79 FPS, with a minimum of 67 FPS and a maximum of 91 FPS, providing a stable 60+ FPS experience. The High preset drops to 57 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls to 45 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 82 FPS, similar to the 1080p scaling but with lower absolute numbers due to the increased pixel count.

The 3840x2160 results show the RTX 4090 under maximum stress. The Low preset averages 99 FPS, which is impressive for 4K. The Medium preset averages 62 FPS, with a minimum of 53 FPS and a maximum of 71 FPS, representing the only 4K setting that maintains an average above 60 FPS. The High preset drops to 45 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages just 35 FPS. The variance at 4K Medium is 18 FPS, which is wider than the 11 FPS variance at 1440p Medium, suggesting that the game's frame pacing is less consistent at Ultra HD.

The min and max values are only provided for the Medium preset across all resolutions, which provides a unique insight into the game's performance consistency. At 1080p, the range is 80 to 108 FPS, a 28 FPS spread. At 1440p, the range narrows to 67 to 91 FPS, a 24 FPS spread. At 4K, the range tightens to 53 to 71 FPS, an 18 FPS spread. This data indicates that at lower resolutions, the CPU can push the GPU harder, leading to higher peaks, but also more pronounced dips when the game loads new areas. At 4K, the GPU is more consistently saturated, which smooths out the frame delivery but at the cost of absolute performance.