The Medium

The Medium, a fixed-camera horror title built on Unreal Engine 4, presents an interesting stress profile for the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti combination. The benchmark data shows a system that is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions, with CPU headroom becoming apparent only at 1080p. This analysis breaks down the measured frame rates across resolutions and settings, the role of the specific hardware components, and how this particular pairing stacks up against thousands of other tested configurations.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a classic resolution scaling curve that shifts the bottleneck from the graphics card to the processor as pixel count decreases. At 4K (3840x2160) with High settings, the combo delivers an average of 52 FPS. Dropping to 1440p (2560x1440) at the same preset lifts the average to 66 FPS, a 27% improvement. Moving down to 1080p (1920x1080) with High settings yields 79 FPS, which is only a 20% gain over the 1440p result. This diminishing return pattern strongly indicates that at 1080p, the CPU is beginning to cap performance, preventing the GPU from fully stretching its legs.

The scaling behavior is even more pronounced at the Low preset. At 4K Low, the system produces 116 FPS. At 1440p Low, it jumps to 148 FPS, and at 1080p Low, it reaches 175 FPS. The delta between 1440p and 1080p is just 18%, whereas the jump from 4K to 1440p is 28%. This reinforces the notion that the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus, with its high core count and boost clocks, is sufficient to keep the RTX 4070 Ti fed at lower resolutions, but the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases.

Examining the Medium preset, which is the only one with recorded min and max FPS values, provides additional insight into frame time consistency. At 4K Medium, the combo averages 73 FPS with a minimum of 62 and a maximum of 83. The spread of 21 FPS suggests a relatively stable experience. At 1440p Medium, the average rises to 92 FPS with a min of 79 and max of 106, showing a similar 27 FPS spread. The 1080p Medium result shows an average of 110 FPS, with a minimum of 93 and a maximum of 126, a 33 FPS spread. The widening range at lower resolutions points to CPU-driven frame time variance, where the processor's scheduling of its 24 threads becomes more visible in the frame pacing.

The Ultra preset tells a different story. At 4K Ultra, the system manages just 41 FPS, which is only a 21% drop from the High preset's 52 FPS. This suggests that the Ultra preset introduces effects that are disproportionately heavy on the GPU's compute units. At 1440p Ultra, the average is 52 FPS, and at 1080p Ultra, it reaches 62 FPS. The progression from 4K to 1440p to 1080p shows a 27% and then 19% improvement, respectively, again indicating a CPU influence at the lowest resolution. Overall, the data shows a system that scales predictably with resolution, with the GPU being the primary constraint at 4K and the CPU becoming more relevant as resolution drops.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is the driving force behind the pixel output in this configuration. Built on the Ada Lovelace architecture and the AD104 chip, this card features 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering a memory bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s. The GPU's boost clock of 2610 MHz, combined with its 7680 shading units, allows it to handle the game's fixed-camera scenes with high geometric complexity. In The Medium, which renders two simultaneous worlds in certain sequences, the GPU's 60 RT cores and 240 tensor cores are likely engaged for the game's rendering effects, though the measured FPS data does not isolate ray tracing usage.

The VRAM capacity of 12 GB appears sufficient for the tested resolutions and presets, as the benchmark results show no signs of texture thrashing or severe frame drops that would indicate memory overflow. At 4K Ultra, the average of 41 FPS is low but playable, and the absence of min FPS data for that preset makes it difficult to assess worst-case frame times. The GPU's pixel rate of 208.8 GPixel/s and texture rate of 626.4 GTexel/s are key to understanding why the card performs better at Medium settings. The jump from 4K Low (116 FPS) to 4K Medium (73 FPS) represents a 37% performance hit, which is substantial and suggests that the Medium preset enables transparency effects or shadow filtering that taxes the ROPs and TMUs.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it in the 84th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 44795. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile, scores 45152, which is only 0.8% higher. This proximity indicates that the RTX 4070 Ti is operating at the upper edge of its performance class. The data also shows that the GPU's performance is consistent with its position in the GeForce 40-series lineup, sitting between the predecessor GeForce 30 series and the successor GeForce 50 series in the product stack. The 285 W TDP and dual-slot design suggest the card is adequately cooled for sustained loads, which is critical for maintaining the boost clock during extended gaming sessions.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance for this combo. At 1080p Medium, the system delivers an average of 110 FPS with a minimum of 93 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay even during the game's most demanding dual-world sequences. The 1440p Medium result of 92 FPS average with a 79 FPS minimum is also strong, providing a high refresh rate experience on most monitors. At 4K Medium, the 73 FPS average with a 62 FPS minimum is playable, but the lower minimum FPS could be noticeable in scene transitions.

The High preset is a viable alternative for users prioritizing visual quality over raw frame rate. At 1440p High, the 66 FPS average is sufficient for a cinematic horror experience, though it lacks the headroom of the Medium preset. The 4K High result of 52 FPS is on the edge of playability, with dips below 50 FPS possible in heavy scenes. The Ultra preset, which averages 62 FPS at 1080p and just 41 FPS at 4K, is only recommended for users with variable refresh rate monitors who can tolerate sub-60 FPS averages, as the visual gains over High are likely marginal in a game with a muted color palette and fixed camera angles.

The Low preset, while delivering 175 FPS at 1080p and 116 FPS at 4K, sacrifices too much visual detail for a horror game that relies on atmospheric lighting and shadow work. The data suggests that the Medium preset is the sweet spot, as it provides a 39% performance increase over High at 1080p (110 vs 79 FPS) while presumably retaining most of the visual features that define the game's eerie aesthetic. For 4K users, Medium is the only preset that keeps the average above 70 FPS, making it the default recommendation for this resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti combination ranks 269th out of 2911 tested combos in The Medium, placing it in the top 9.2% of all configurations. This rank reflects the strength of both components, though the GPU's 84th percentile standing and the CPU's 96th percentile standing suggest that the pairing is slightly imbalanced, with the processor having more headroom than the graphics card can utilize in this specific title. The rank of 269 is impressive given the large pool of combos, but it also indicates that there are 268 configurations that deliver higher average FPS in this game.

The CPU's benchmark scores provide context for its contribution to this rank. The Core Ultra 7 270K Plus achieves a multi-core score of 44253 in Cinebench R23 and a single-core score of 2439, placing it in the 96th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Xeon 6520P, has an average score of 93786, which is essentially identical (0% delta), while the AMD EPYC 4564P scores 95183, a 1.5% difference. These rivals are enterprise-class processors, underscoring the desktop CPU's high-end positioning. The CPU's PassMark multi-thread score of 68574 and single-thread score of 5068 further confirm its capability to handle the game's logic and AI without becoming a bottleneck.

The GPU's rank in the broader context is also relevant. The RTX 4070 Ti sits in the 84th percentile, with its nearest rival being the RTX 5090 Mobile at a 0.8% higher score. The AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT and Intel Arc A730M are 1.3% and 1.7% higher, respectively, while the RTX A6000 is 1.6% lower. These margins are tight, indicating that the GPU is performing near its expected level. In The Medium, the combo's 269th rank out of 2911 suggests that the game is more favorable to higher-end GPUs than the CPU, as the fixed-camera perspective and pre-rendered lighting reduce the CPU's workload relative to typical open-world titles.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus is a 24-core, 24-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake Refresh architecture, built on a 3 nm process by TSMC. Its base clock of 3.70 GHz and boost clock of 5.50 GHz provide the raw single-thread speed necessary for games like The Medium, which rely on a main thread for game logic and camera control. The CPU's 36 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB per-core L2 cache help reduce memory latency, which is beneficial for the game's streaming of new areas as the camera shifts between fixed angles.

The CPU's memory bandwidth of 115.2 GB/s, paired with DDR5 support, ensures that the 12 GB of GPU memory is not starved by system memory transfers. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system produces 175 FPS, which indicates that the CPU can handle over 170 frames per second in this game without bottlenecking. However, the scaling from 1440p to 1080p at High settings (66 to 79 FPS, a 20% gain) versus the scaling from 4K to 1440p (52 to 66 FPS, a 27% gain) suggests that the CPU is starting to limit performance at 1080p. This is expected for a high-refresh-rate scenario, where the CPU's per-core performance becomes the deciding factor.

The CPU's PassMark scores illustrate its strengths: a single-thread score of 5068 and a multi-thread score of 68574. The multi-thread score is boosted by the 24 cores, which handle background tasks and the game's asynchronous loading without impacting frame rates. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2439 is competitive with the best desktop CPUs, confirming that the boost clock of 5.50 GHz is not just a marketing number but a deliverable frequency. In The Medium, which is not heavily threaded, the CPU's single-core performance is more critical than its core count, and the data shows that it does not become a limiting factor until frame rates exceed 150 FPS.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1440p with High settings?

A: The combo delivers an average of 66 FPS at 2560x1440 with High settings, which is a 27% improvement over the 52 FPS at 4K High.

Q: Does this system maintain 60+ FPS at 4K?

A: At 4K Medium, the average is 73 FPS with a minimum of 62 FPS, so it stays above 60 FPS. At 4K High, the average drops to 52 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 Ti compare to its nearest rival in GPU benchmarks?

A: The GPU scores 44795 on average, placing it 0.8% below the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile (45152) and 1.6% above the NVIDIA RTX A6000 (44075) in the nearest rival comparison.

Q: What is the CPU's multi-thread performance in Cinebench R23?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus scores 44253 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, which places it in the 96th percentile of all CPUs and nearly matches the Intel Xeon 6520P's average score of 93786.

Q: Is the 12 GB VRAM sufficient for The Medium at 4K?

A: Yes, the measured results show no indication of VRAM limitations at 4K Ultra, where the system averages 41 FPS. The GPU's 504.2 GB/s memory bandwidth supports the game's texture streaming without frame drops.

Q: What is the best preset for high refresh rate 1080p gaming?

A: The Medium preset is recommended, as it delivers 110 FPS average with a 93 FPS minimum at 1920x1080, while the High preset only achieves 79 FPS and the Low preset, despite 175 FPS, sacrifices too much visual quality.