The Medium

The Medium is a demanding horror title, and the measured data for the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 shows a system that requires careful settings management to achieve a smooth experience. The benchmark results indicate a clear trade-off between visual fidelity and frame rate, with the GPU emerging as the primary constraint across most configurations. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS data to guide settings choices and explain the performance characteristics of this hardware combination.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal experience for this hardware combination is achieved at Medium settings at 1920x1080. This configuration delivers an average of 59 FPS, which is the only setting at any resolution that lands in the playable range for smooth action while maintaining a balance between visual quality and performance. The minimum FPS of 50 and maximum of 67 for this preset indicate a stable frame delivery with relatively minor fluctuations, making it the most consistent choice for gameplay.

At 1080p, the Low preset achieves 94 FPS on average, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate displays, but it does so by sacrificing significant visual detail in a game that relies heavily on atmosphere and shadow work. The High preset at 1080p drops to 42 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target and may introduce noticeable stutter during camera transitions. The Ultra preset at 1080p is the worst performer among the 1080p options, with an average of just 33 FPS, making it unsuitable for a responsive experience.

For users who prioritize visual quality over frame rate, the Medium preset at 2560x1440 is the only viable option above 1080p, producing an average of 49 FPS with a minimum of 42 and maximum of 57. This is a tighter frame range than the 1080p Medium configuration, suggesting that the system is working harder but still maintaining playable performance. The Low preset at 1440p achieves 79 FPS, but the visual compromise is substantial for a horror game where lighting and texture detail contribute to the mood.

At 4K, the data shows that only the Low preset at 3840x2160, with an average of 62 FPS, is playable. The Medium preset at 4K drops to 39 FPS, while High and Ultra fall to 28 and 22 FPS respectively, making them effectively unplayable for a title that demands timing and precision. The recommendation is clear: for a balanced experience, use Medium at 1080p; for maximum fidelity with acceptable performance, use Medium at 1440p; and for 4K gaming, accept the Low preset as the only realistic option.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this system in The Medium?

A: The benchmark data shows that Medium settings at 1920x1080 provide the best balance, with an average of 59 FPS, a minimum of 50 FPS, and a maximum of 67 FPS. This is the only configuration that hits near-60 FPS with moderate visual quality.

Q: Can this hardware run The Medium at 4K?

A: Yes, but only at Low settings, which produces an average of 62 FPS. All other 4K settings are below playable thresholds: Medium averages 39 FPS, High averages 28 FPS, and Ultra averages 22 FPS.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 1440p at Medium settings?

A: At Medium settings, the average frame rate drops from 59 FPS at 1920x1080 to 49 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 10 FPS. The minimum FPS also drops from 50 to 42, showing a consistent scaling penalty.

Q: Is the Ultra preset ever viable for this hardware combination?

A: No. The Ultra preset produces averages of 33 FPS at 1080p, 28 FPS at 1440p, and 22 FPS at 4K. These values are all below the 60 FPS threshold and even dip below 30 FPS at higher resolutions, making the preset impractical for actual gameplay.

Q: What is the frame time consistency like at Medium settings across resolutions?

A: At 1080p Medium, the frame range is 50 to 67 FPS, a spread of 17 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the range is 42 to 57 FPS, also a spread of 15 FPS. At 4K Medium, the range is 33 to 45 FPS, a spread of 12 FPS. The consistency improves slightly as resolution increases, but the average frame rate drops significantly.

Q: How does the Low preset compare to Medium in terms of average FPS at 1080p?

A: The Low preset at 1920x1080 achieves an average of 94 FPS, which is 35 FPS higher than the Medium preset's 59 FPS. This represents a 59% improvement in average frame rate, making Low the choice for high-refresh-rate displays.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 is the central component in determining The Medium's performance, and the data reflects its capabilities and limitations. The GPU features a base clock of 2280 MHz and a boost clock of 2497 MHz, with 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is a critical factor, as The Medium's asset streaming and texture loading at higher resolutions can strain the 8 GB capacity, particularly at Ultra settings where the average FPS collapses to 22 at 4K.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it in the 72nd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 26331. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon 860M (deltaPct -0.3), NVIDIA GeForce MX550 (deltaPct -0.3), AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary (deltaPct -0.8), and AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT (deltaPct 1.2). These deltas are all within 1.2% of the RTX 5060's average score, indicating that the GPU sits in a competitive performance tier where small differences in synthetic benchmarks translate to similar real-world gaming results.

In The Medium specifically, the GPU's role is evident in the scaling pattern across settings. Moving from Low to Medium at 1080p reduces the average FPS from 94 to 59, a 37% drop. This steep decline suggests that the Medium preset enables significant GPU-intensive effects, likely including volumetric lighting and shadow quality, which are hallmarks of the horror genre's atmospheric rendering. The Ultra preset further reduces performance to 33 FPS, showing that the GPU's 19.18 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is insufficient for the game's maximum visual load at any resolution.

The RTX 5060's 30 RT cores and 120 tensor cores are present in the hardware, but the measured data does not isolate ray tracing or DLSS performance. The direct benchmark scores, such as 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 at 3628 and Geekbench Vulkan at 113321, provide context for the GPU's overall capability, but the in-game numbers show that traditional rasterization at high settings is the limiting factor. The GPU's pixel rate of 119.9 GPixel/s and texture rate of 299.6 GTexel/s are the theoretical ceilings, yet the game's engine demands exceed these at higher presets.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 94 FPS, which is the highest recorded value for this combination. The Medium preset at 1080p averages 59 FPS, with a minimum of 50 and maximum of 67, providing the most balanced frame pacing. The High preset at 1080p drops to 42 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages just 33 FPS, showing a steady decline as graphical complexity increases.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset remains strong with an average of 79 FPS, representing a 16% reduction compared to 1080p Low. The Medium preset at 1440p averages 49 FPS, with a minimum of 42 and maximum of 57, which is a 17% reduction from its 1080p counterpart. The High preset at 1440p averages 35 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls to 28 FPS, the latter being below the threshold for consistent smoothness.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops are more pronounced. The Low preset averages 62 FPS, which is a 34% reduction from 1080p Low and a 22% reduction from 1440p Low. The Medium preset at 4K averages 39 FPS, with a minimum of 33 and maximum of 45, showing that even the mid-range preset struggles at this resolution. The High preset at 4K averages 28 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 22 FPS, both of which are unplayable for a game that requires responsive controls.

The data shows a clear pattern: the RTX 5060 can handle Low settings at any resolution, but Medium settings only become playable at 1080p and 1440p. High and Ultra settings are only viable at 1080p, and even then they do not reach 60 FPS. The minimum FPS values, where available, indicate that the Medium preset at all resolutions maintains a frame floor above 30 FPS, which is critical for avoiding severe stutter during gameplay.

Resolution Scaling

The scaling of performance from 1080p to 4K reveals important characteristics about the bottleneck in this system. At Low settings, the average FPS progresses from 94 at 1080p to 79 at 1440p and 62 at 4K. This represents a 33% reduction from 1080p to 4K, which is relatively modest and suggests that at Low settings, the CPU and GPU are working in a more balanced manner, with neither component fully saturated.

At Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 59 at 1080p to 49 at 1440p and 39 at 4K. This is a 34% reduction from 1080p to 4K, nearly identical to the Low preset scaling. However, the minimum FPS at Medium settings shows a more interesting trend: 50 at 1080p, 42 at 1440p, and 33 at 4K. The consistency of these drops suggests that the GPU is becoming the limiting factor as resolution increases, with each resolution step costing roughly 10 FPS on average.

At High settings, the scaling is steeper: 42 FPS at 1080p, 35 FPS at 1440p, and 28 FPS at 4K. This represents a 33% reduction from 1080p to 4K, consistent with the other presets. At Ultra settings, the averages are 33, 28, and 22 FPS respectively, a 33% reduction as well. This consistent percentage across all presets indicates that resolution scaling follows a predictable pattern in The Medium, with each doubling of pixel count (from 1080p to 4K is a 4x increase) yielding roughly a 33% reduction in frame rate.

The limiting component is clearly the GPU. The Intel Core Ultra X9 388H has 16 cores and 16 threads, with a boost clock of 5.10 GHz, and its benchmark scores (Cinebench R23 multi-core at 18911, single-core at 2200.5) place it in the 88th percentile among all CPUs. The CPU's nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D (deltaPct -0.2) and Intel Core i9-13950HX (deltaPct 0.3), are all within 0.5% of its average score, indicating that the CPU is not a bottleneck. The fact that FPS scales consistently with resolution, rather than remaining flat, confirms that the RTX 5060's rendering throughput is the constraint.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra X9 388H plays a supporting role in The Medium's performance, and the data suggests that it is more than capable of feeding the RTX 5060. The CPU features 16 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 2.10 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz. Its architecture, Panther Lake, is built on a 3 nm process, and it supports LPDDR5X memory with dual-channel bandwidth of 153.6 GB/s. The 18 MB of shared L3 cache is a substantial resource for game logic and asset management.

Benchmark results for the CPU show strong multi-threaded and single-threaded performance. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 18911 and single-core score of 2200.5 indicate a processor that can handle both heavily threaded workloads and latency-sensitive tasks. The Passmark single-thread score of 4280 is particularly relevant for gaming, as many game engines, including those used in horror titles, rely on single-thread performance for physics and AI calculations.

The CPU's percentile rank of 88 among all CPUs places it in the top tier of processors. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D with an average score of 44573 (deltaPct -0.2), the Intel Core i9-13950HX at 44342 (deltaPct 0.3), the AMD Ryzen AI Max 385 at 44309 (deltaPct 0.4), and the Intel Core i5-13600 at 44240 (deltaPct 0.5). These deltas are all under 1%, meaning that the Core Ultra X9 388H performs essentially identically to these established desktop and mobile processors in synthetic benchmarks.

In The Medium, the CPU's role is likely to be in maintaining consistent frame times during complex scenes with many interactive elements. The game's horror genre relies on scripted events and environmental interactions, which can be CPU-intensive. However, the measured FPS data shows that performance degrades primarily with resolution and settings, not with scene complexity, suggesting that the GPU is the primary bottleneck. The CPU's high single-thread performance (2200.5 in Cinebench R23 single-core) ensures that it can keep up with the GPU's demands even at lower resolutions where the frame rate is higher.

The combination of the CPU's 16 cores and 5.10 GHz boost clock provides ample headroom for the game's background tasks, such as streaming assets from storage and managing the game world. The Passmark data compression score of 361763 and encryption score of 28490 indicate strong throughput for data-intensive operations, which is relevant for a game that loads environments with high-resolution textures. Overall, the CPU is not the limiting factor in this configuration, and the data supports the conclusion that the RTX 5060's 8 GB memory and compute capabilities are what determine the playable settings and resolutions.