The Medium

The Medium is a fixed-camera horror title that stresses both CPU and GPU, and the pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K with the AMD Radeon RX 9060 produces a specific set of measurable outcomes across resolutions and presets. This combination ranks 1648th out of 2911 tested combos in the database, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the field. The data shows that this system is capable of smooth play at 1080p and 1440p with the right settings, but 4K Ultra is not viable. The following analysis breaks down exactly what to expect, where the bottlenecks lie, and how to configure the game for the best experience.

FAQ

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

A: Based on the measured FPS, 1920x1080 is the strongest resolution. At Low settings it averages 101 FPS, at Medium it averages 63 FPS, and at High it averages 45 FPS. At 2560x1440, the average FPS drops to 85 on Low, 53 on Medium, and 38 on High. The 3840x2160 results are significantly lower, with only the Low preset reaching a playable 67 FPS average.

Q: Can this system handle Ultra settings in The Medium?

A: Not at any resolution. At 1920x1080 Ultra averages 36 FPS, at 2560x1440 Ultra averages 30 FPS, and at 3840x2160 Ultra averages 24 FPS. These numbers are below the threshold for smooth gameplay, even at 1080p. The Medium preset is the highest setting that provides a consistently playable experience.

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

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K has an average benchmark score of 70879, which places it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs. It is 1% ahead of the Intel Core i7-14700KF, 1.3% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F, and 0.2% behind the Intel Xeon 6511P. The CPU’s 20 cores and 20 threads are more than sufficient for this game’s demands.

Q: What is the GPU’s performance tier relative to other cards?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 9060 sits in the 59th percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 16014. It is 0.7% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, and 1% ahead of both the AMD Radeon R9 370X and the AMD Radeon RX 7700. This places it as a mid-range card, which explains the difficulty at 4K.

Q: Does the GPU have enough VRAM for this game?

A: The RX 9060 has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus with 288.0 GB/s bandwidth. This is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p at Medium and High settings, but the data shows it struggles at 4K, where even High settings only produce 30 FPS and Ultra drops to 24 FPS. The VRAM capacity is not the primary bottleneck; the overall compute performance is the limiting factor.

Q: Is the 265K a bottleneck for the RX 9060 in this title?

A: No. The CPU’s benchmark scores are far above what The Medium requires, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35850 and a single-core score of 2020. The measured FPS drops are consistent with GPU limitations, especially at higher resolutions. The CPU’s 94th percentile ranking versus the GPU’s 59th percentile confirms the GPU is the constraining component.

Settings Recommendations

The data provides a clear hierarchy of playable presets. For a 60 FPS target, the only option that hits it at 1080p is Low, which averages 101 FPS. Medium at 1080p averages 63 FPS, which is above 60 and represents a significant visual upgrade over Low. This is the best balance of image quality and performance for most users. High at 1080p drops to 45 FPS, which is playable but not smooth for a horror title where timing matters. Ultra at 1080p is not recommended, as 36 FPS is too low.

At 1440p, Medium is the sweet spot with an average of 53 FPS and a minimum of 45 FPS. This is still playable, though not a locked 60. Low at 1440p averages 85 FPS, which is excellent for competitive or high-refresh play, but sacrifices visual fidelity. High at 1440p averages 38 FPS, which is borderline. Ultra at 1440p is out of the question at 30 FPS. For a 1440p experience, Medium is the recommended preset, as it provides the best balance between the measured 53 FPS average and the visual improvements over Low.

At 4K, the situation is dire. Low is the only playable preset at 67 FPS average, but this defeats the purpose of 4K. Medium averages 42 FPS, which is too low for a smooth experience, and High and Ultra are not viable at 30 and 24 FPS respectively. If 4K is a requirement, the user must accept Low settings, but the data suggests that 1440p Medium is the better overall experience. The 2560x1440 Medium preset shows a 53 FPS average with a 45 FPS minimum, which is consistent and playable, whereas 3840x2160 Medium offers only 42 FPS with a 35 FPS minimum. The 1080p Medium preset is the safest recommendation for a smooth, stable experience, with a 63 FPS average and a 53 FPS minimum.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K is a 20-core, 20-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, built on a 3 nm process by TSMC. Its base clock is 3.90 GHz with a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, and it has a 30 MB shared L3 cache. The CPU’s benchmark results are exceptional: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35850 and a single-core score of 2020, plus a Geekbench multi-core score of 23085 and a single-core score of 2713. These numbers place it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs, meaning it is faster than the vast majority of processors tested.

In The Medium, this CPU is never the limiting factor. The game’s fixed-camera angles and scripted sequences do not require the kind of brute-force multi-threading that this chip offers. The 20 cores are overkill for a title that likely uses only a handful of threads. The single-core performance, as measured by the 2020 Cinebench R23 score, is more relevant, and it is more than adequate. The CPU’s nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon 6511P, which is 0.2% ahead, and the Intel Core i7-14700KF, which is 1% behind. This level of performance means that the CPU will not cause frame drops or stutters in this game.

The CPU’s memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s with dual-channel DDR5 support is another factor. The Medium’s streaming of textures and audio assets benefits from fast memory access, and the 265K’s platform provides this without issue. The CPU’s TDP of 125 W is modest for its performance level, and it runs on the Intel Socket 1851 platform with PCIe Gen 5 support. The 20 lanes of PCIe Gen 5 are more than enough for the RX 9060, which uses PCIe 5.0 x16. In practical terms, the data shows that the CPU is ready to feed the GPU at all tested resolutions. The FPS differences between 1080p and 1440p are consistent with GPU-bound behavior, not CPU limitations. The CPU is a non-factor in this pairing.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured FPS varies significantly by preset. Low averages 101 FPS, which is excellent for a horror game with fast camera transitions. Medium averages 63 FPS with a minimum of 53 and a maximum of 72, providing a stable and smooth experience. High averages 45 FPS, which is playable but noticeable frame pacing issues may occur. Ultra averages 36 FPS, which is too low for comfortable play. The gap between Low and Medium is 38 FPS, while the gap between Medium and High is 18 FPS, and between High and Ultra is 9 FPS. This indicates diminishing returns as settings increase.

At 2560x1440, the pattern holds but with lower absolute numbers. Low averages 85 FPS, still well above 60. Medium averages 53 FPS with a minimum of 45 and a maximum of 61, which is the borderline playable range. High averages 38 FPS, and Ultra averages 30 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is roughly 16 FPS at Low, 10 FPS at Medium, 7 FPS at High, and 6 FPS at Ultra. This shows that the GPU is becoming the limiting factor, as the relative cost of higher resolutions increases. The 1440p Medium result is notable: the 45 FPS minimum is just at the edge of what most players consider acceptable.

At 3840x2160, the results are poor. Low averages 67 FPS, which is surprisingly playable, but this is the only preset that clears 60. Medium averages 42 FPS with a minimum of 35 and a maximum of 48, which is a stuttery experience. High averages 30 FPS, and Ultra averages 24 FPS. The 4K results show a steep cliff after Low. The jump from Low to Medium costs 25 FPS, and from Medium to High costs 12 FPS. The GPU’s 8 GB of VRAM and 288.0 GB/s bandwidth are not enough to handle the texture and shading demands of 4K at higher presets. The 24 FPS Ultra result is unplayable, and the 30 FPS High is barely a slideshow.

The data also reveals that the minimum FPS values are only recorded for Medium presets. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 53 FPS, at 1440p Medium it is 45 FPS, and at 4K Medium it is 35 FPS. These minimums are close to the averages, indicating that the frame time consistency is acceptable for Medium presets. For other presets, the lack of minimum data makes it harder to assess stuttering, but the averages alone are indicative of poor performance at High and Ultra.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K and the AMD Radeon RX 9060 ranks 1648th out of 2911 tested combos in The Medium. This places it in the 56th percentile of all combos, meaning about 44% of tested systems perform better. This is a mid-pack ranking, which is expected given the GPU’s 59th percentile position. The CPU’s 94th percentile ranking does not boost the combo because the game is GPU-bound at the resolutions tested.

The combo’s rank is determined by the measured FPS across all settings and resolutions. The strongest results are at 1080p Low and Medium, where the system delivers 101 and 63 FPS respectively. These scores are competitive with other mid-range GPUs. The 4K results, however, drag the overall ranking down. A combo with a stronger GPU would achieve higher FPS at 4K, pushing its rank higher. The CPU is not the issue; the RX 9060’s performance ceiling is the limiting factor.

Compared to the GPU’s nearest rivals, the RX 9060 is 0.7% behind the RTX 3060 Ti and 1% ahead of the RX 7700. This means that a combo with an RTX 3060 Ti would likely rank slightly higher than this one, while a combo with an RX 7700 would rank slightly lower. The CPU’s nearest rivals do not matter as much, because the CPU is not bottlenecking. The Xeon 6511P is 0.2% faster in CPU benchmarks, but that difference is irrelevant in a GPU-bound game. The ranking of 1648 out of 2911 is a fair representation of the system’s overall capabilities in this title.

For a builder, this rank means the system is adequate for 1080p gaming at Medium settings and 1440p gaming at Medium settings, but it is not a high-end performer. The 1648th rank reflects that many other combos, particularly those with higher-tier GPUs, will deliver better FPS in The Medium. The combo is not a bad choice for a budget-conscious build, but it is not a top-tier performer.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 is a mid-range graphics card based on the RDNA 4.0 architecture, with a Navi 44 chip built on a 4 nm process by TSMC. It has 1792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs, along with 28 ray tracing cores. Its boost clock is 2990 MHz, with a game clock of 2400 MHz and a base clock of 1700 MHz. The card has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its FP32 performance is 21.43 TFLOPS, and its pixel rate is 191.4 GPixel/s.

In The Medium, the GPU is the primary determinant of performance. The measured FPS drops consistently as resolution and settings increase, which is typical of a GPU-bound scenario. The card’s 59th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 16014, places it in the lower-middle tier. Its nearest rival, the RTX 3060 Ti, is 0.7% faster, which explains why the RX 9060 struggles at 4K. The card’s 8 GB VRAM is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K the memory bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s becomes a bottleneck.

The GPU’s clock speeds are high, with a boost of 2990 MHz, but the architecture’s compute power is limited by the 1792 shading units. This is reflected in the 4K results, where only Low settings achieve 67 FPS. The 128-bit memory bus is also a limiting factor, as it halves the bandwidth compared to wider-bus cards. The 21.43 TFLOPS FP32 performance is adequate for 1080p gaming, but The Medium’s visual effects at High and Ultra presets require more compute power than this card can deliver at higher resolutions.

The GPU’s DirectX 12 Ultimate support and 12_2 feature level are not the issue, as the game runs on API features that the card supports. The Vulkan 1.4 and OpenGL 4.6 support are also relevant. The card’s TDP of 132 W is low, indicating it is not a power-hungry part, but the performance is correspondingly modest. The data shows that the RX 9060 is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming at Medium presets in The Medium. At these settings, it delivers 63 and 53 FPS respectively, which are playable. At 4K, it is only usable at Low settings, which defeats the purpose of 4K resolution. The GPU is the clear bottleneck in this combo, and users should adjust their expectations accordingly.