The Medium

The Medium, a fixed-camera horror title, presents a unique load profile that differs significantly from typical action games. This analysis examines how the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 combination handles this specific title, based on measured data. The benchmark results reveal a system that is heavily dependent on graphical settings, with the CPU and GPU playing distinct roles across resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for The Medium shows a clear and dramatic scaling pattern as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 123 FPS. Moving up to 1440p Low, the average drops to 104 FPS, a 15.4% reduction. At 4K Low, the average falls to 81 FPS, which is a 34.1% drop from 1080p. This scaling suggests that even at Low settings, the GPU is becoming the primary limiting factor as pixel count increases.

The scaling behavior changes when settings are raised. At Medium settings, 1080p averages 77 FPS, 1440p averages 65 FPS (a 15.6% drop), and 4K averages 51 FPS (a 33.8% drop from 1080p). The consistency of these percentage drops—around 15% for the step from 1080p to 1440p and roughly 34% from 1080p to 4K—indicates a stable performance profile that is almost entirely dependent on the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth at these presets.

High settings show a similar pattern but with lower absolute values. The 1080p High average is 55 FPS, dropping to 46 FPS at 1440p (a 16.4% reduction) and 36 FPS at 4K (a 34.5% reduction from 1080p). The near-identical percentage scaling across Low, Medium, and High presets strongly suggests that the game's performance at these levels is not constrained by CPU capabilities but by the GPU's ability to process the increasing resolution.

Ultra settings tell a more severe story. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 44 FPS. This falls to 37 FPS at 1440p (a 15.9% drop) and 29 FPS at 4K (a 34.1% drop). The 4K Ultra result of 29 FPS is below the generally accepted threshold for smooth gameplay. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at every settings tier remains consistent, which implies that the bottleneck is the GPU's raw throughput rather than any other system component.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is built on the Ampere architecture and features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU has a base clock of 1500 MHz and a boost clock of 1725 MHz. These specifications are critical for The Medium, a game that appears to be heavily dependent on memory bandwidth and fill rate, as indicated by the consistent scaling patterns.

The RTX 3070's 8 GB of VRAM is a potential concern at 4K. With High or Ultra settings, the game's asset load could exceed this capacity, but the measured data shows that the FPS scales almost linearly with resolution. If VRAM were spilling, we would expect a more dramatic drop at 4K compared to 1440p. Instead, the drop is consistent. This suggests that the game is not exceeding the 8 GB frame buffer at these settings, or that the game's engine is effectively managing memory. The 4K High result of 36 FPS and 4K Ultra of 29 FPS are low, but they are not indicative of a VRAM capacity cliff; they simply reflect the GPU's raw compute limits.

The RTX 3070's 46 RT cores are relevant, as The Medium is a game that supports ray tracing. However, the measured data does not specify which rendering features are active in the High, Medium, and Low presets. The performance patterns suggest that even with ray tracing disabled or at a basic level, the GPU is struggling to maintain high frame rates at 4K. The GPU's 5888 shading units provide a high raw FLOP count, but the game's performance seems more tied to memory bandwidth and ROP throughput, which is 165.6 GPixel/s.

Comparing the RTX 3070 to its nearest rivals from the benchmark data, it sits with an average score of 17208. It is 0.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT and 1% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690. It is 1.5% behind the NVIDIA Tesla K40c. This indicates that in a general benchmark, the RTX 3070 is performing near the expected level for its class, and the specific game data aligns with its overall percentile ranking of 61.

How This Combo Ranks

In the specific game of The Medium, this combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 ranks 1570 out of 3724 tested combos. This places it in the upper-middle tier of systems tested. The rank indicates that a significant number of other CPU-GPU combos perform better in this specific game, but it also means it outperforms a majority of the systems.

The combo's rank of 1570 out of 3724 suggests that while this is not a top-tier setup for The Medium, it is far from the bottom. The percentile position implies that for a mainstream configuration, this system is capable of running the game at playable frame rates, but it will require settings compromises, especially at 4K. The rank is a global measure, and does not directly translate to a specific frame rate, but it provides a baseline for how this combo compares to others in the database.

The data suggests that the CPU is not the primary factor in this ranking. The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus has a percentile of 96 against all CPUs, placing it in the top 4% of tested processors. This is a high-end CPU with 24 cores and 24 threads, based on the Arrow Lake Refresh architecture. However, in this game, the GPU's performance is the limiting factor, and the CPU's potential is not fully utilized. This confirms that the ranking is likely a reflection of the GPU's capability, which is a mid-range, older generation part.

Measured FPS Breakdown

This section details the exact measured performance data for each settings configuration. The data is broken down by resolution and settings.

At 1080p, the results are as follows:

• Low: 123 FPS average.
• Medium: 77 FPS average, with a minimum of 65 FPS and a maximum of 88 FPS.
• High: 55 FPS average.
• Ultra: 44 FPS average.

At 1440p:

• Low: 104 FPS average.
• Medium: 65 FPS average, with a minimum of 55 FPS and a maximum of 74 FPS.
• High: 46 FPS average.
• Ultra: 37 FPS average.

At 4K (3840x2160):

• Low: 81 FPS average.
• Medium: 51 FPS average, with a minimum of 43 FPS and a maximum of 58 FPS.
• High: 36 FPS average.
• Ultra: 29 FPS average.

The Medium settings at all resolutions show a min and max FPS that provides a measure of frame pacing consistency. At 1080p Medium, the minimum of 65 FPS is above the original target of 60 FPS, indicating that the experience is stable. At 1440p Medium, the minimum of 55 FPS is slightly below 60 FPS but remains playable. At 4K Medium, the minimum of 43 FPS is a noticeable dip, but the average of 51 FPS suggests the frame time is not wildly inconsistent.

The progression from Low to Ultra shows a clear trade-off. At 1080p, the jump from Low to Medium reduces the average by 46 FPS. The jump from Medium to High reduces it by 22 FPS, and from High to Ultra reduces it by 11 FPS. This indicates that the performance cost of each settings tier is not linear, with the largest cost being the initial jump from Low to Medium. This same pattern holds at 1440p and 4K.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus is a 24-core, 24-thread processor from the Core Ultra Series 2. It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. With a TDP of 125 W, it is a high-power desktop part. The CPU's impressive specifications, including a 96th percentile ranking, suggest that it is more than capable of feeding the RTX 3070 in most gaming scenarios.

In The Medium, the CPU's role appears to be secondary. The game's performance is heavily tied to the GPU, as evidenced by the consistent scaling across resolutions. The 1080p Low result of 123 FPS is a high frame rate that does not stress the CPU. The 1080p Ultra result of 44 FPS is low, but this is likely due to the GPU's limitations at that preset, not the CPU's inability to process the game's logic. The game's fixed-camera angles mean that the CPU's workload is likely lighter than what is seen in open-world games.

The CPU's L3 cache is 36 MB, which is shared. It supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus. The memory bandwidth of 115.2 GB/s is high. While the exact memory frequency used in the benchmark is not specified, the CPU's memory controller and cache hierarchy are more than sufficient for the game's data streaming. The CPU's performance is not a bottleneck, as the frame rate is more dependent on the GPU. The CPU's high performance ensures that it is not a limiting factor at any resolution, and the bottleneck is entirely in the graphics card.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the recommendation for this combo depends on the target resolution and desired performance. For a 60 FPS target, this system cannot achieve it at 4K with any settings. The 4K Low average of 81 FPS is the only 4K setting that is above 60 FPS. For a stable 60 FPS experience at 4K, the Low preset is the only option.

At 1440p, the Medium preset, with an average of 65 FPS and a minimum of 55 FPS, is the best choice for a high frame rate. It provides a balanced visual and a mostly stable frame rate. If a higher visual quality is desired, the High preset offers 46 FPS, which is acceptable for a slower-paced horror game. The Low preset at 1440p, at 104 FPS, is overkill for the game's genre, but it is an option for those with high refresh rate monitors.

At 1080p, the Medium preset is the optimal setting for this system. The 77 FPS average and the 65 FPS minimum ensures a smooth experience. The High preset at 55 FPS is still playable and offers better visual fidelity, but the drop to a minimum of 65 FPS at Medium is a more comfortable margin. The Ultra preset at 44 FPS is a significant downgrade in frame rate and may not be worth the visual benefit.

Given the game's horror genre, maintaining a consistent frame rate is more important than a high average. The Medium's fixed camera angles and slow pacing make lower frame rates more tolerable. Therefore, the recommended settings for this combo would be 1080p Medium for a stable 60+ FPS experience, or 1440p Medium for a higher resolution at 65 FPS. For the best visual quality, the user can consider 4K Low, but this does not fully exploit the CPU and GPU combo's potential.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest frame rate this combo can achieve in The Medium?

A: At 1080p with Low settings, the average FPS is 123. This is the highest average frame rate recorded in the measured data.

Q: Is 4K gaming viable with this system?

A: 4K gaming is possible but limited. The 4K Low preset averages 81 FPS, but the 4K Medium preset averages 51 FPS, and High and Ultra drop to 36 FPS and 29 FPS respectively.

Q: What is the best settings preset for a 60 FPS target?

A: For a 60 FPS target, the 1080p Medium preset (77 FPS) and 1440p Medium preset (65 FPS) are the only settings that meet this requirement. The 4K Low preset (81 FPS) also does, but it is at 4K.

Q: How does the CPU's performance affect the frame rate?

A: The CPU is likely not a limiting factor in this game. The data shows consistent scaling with resolution, indicating the GPU is the primary bottleneck. The CPU's 96th percentile ranking and high core count are ample for this game.

Q: What are the frame time consistency results for this system?

A: The frame time stability is best at 1080p Medium, with a 65 FPS minimum. At 1440p Medium, the minimum is 55 FPS, and at 4K Medium, the minimum is 43 FPS. These measurements indicate a stable experience, but with increasing variance at higher resolutions.

Q: How does this combo compare to other tested systems in this game?

A: The combo ranks 1570 out of 3724 total tested combos. This places it in the upper middle of the database, indicating that while not a top-tier system, it performs adequately for this game, with the main limitation being the GPU's performance at 4K.