The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 and AMD Radeon RX 570 combination delivers a severely constrained experience in The Medium across all tested settings and resolutions. The measured frame rates indicate that this pairing falls far below the thresholds required for smooth gameplay, with the GPU acting as the primary bottleneck at every configuration point.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best average frame rate this combo achieves in The Medium?*

A: The highest average frame rate recorded is 44 FPS, but this only occurs at 1920x1080 with Low settings. All other configurations produce average frame rates below 40 FPS.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations?

A: The data places this pairing at rank 3557 out of 3724 total tested combos, meaning it outperforms only a small fraction of the systems tested in this game.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The GPU is the clear limiting component. The RX 570 only has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory and a 224.0 GB/s memory bandwidth, which is insufficient for The Medium's demands, especially at higher resolutions where frame rates collapse.

Q: What kind of frame rate can be expected at 1440p with Medium settings?

A: The measured average at 2560x1440 with Medium settings is 23 FPS, with a minimum of 20 FPS and a maximum of 27 FPS. This is far from a playable experience for most users.

Q: How does the frame rate scale from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings?

A: At 1920x1080 Ultra, the average is 16 FPS. This drops to 13 FPS at 2560x1440 Ultra and further to 10 FPS at 3840x2160 Ultra, showing a steep decline as resolution increases.

Q: Does the CPU performance align with the overall system result?

A: The Ryzen 5 2600 scores in the 75th percentile among all CPUs, which is respectable, but the game's results show the system is held back by the GPU. The CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are not the limiting factor in this title.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 2000 series, based on the Zen+ architecture (Pinnacle Ridge). It operates with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 3.90 GHz. With a 65 W TDP and a 16 MB shared L3 cache, this chip provides a solid foundation for gaming, though it is not a top-tier performer by modern standards. Its benchmark scores, such as a Geekbench multicore score of 5648 and a Passmark multithread score of 13160, place it in the 75th percentile of all CPUs.

In the context of The Medium, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU. The processor's performance is sufficient to feed the GPU in most scenarios, as evidenced by its relatively strong benchmark standing compared to rivals like the Intel Core Ultra 5 228V and Intel Core i9-11900H. The Ryzen 5 2600 is only 0.2% behind the Core Ultra 5 228V and 0.5% behind the Core i9-11900H in average benchmark score, while being 1.2% ahead of the AMD EPYC 9454. This indicates that the CPU is not a major bottleneck in this pairing. However, the game's results show that even with a capable processor, the system cannot achieve playable frame rates, suggesting that the CPU's theoretical headroom is irrelevant when the GPU is overwhelmed. The 12 threads may help with background tasks, but the measured FPS data shows that the CPU's contribution does not translate into better gaming performance in this title.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 570 is built on the Polaris 20 chip using the GCN 4.0 architecture and a 14 nm process. It features 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 32 render output units. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1168 MHz and a boost clock of 1244 MHz. The critical limitation is its memory configuration: 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s. This memory capacity is notably insufficient for a modern horror title like The Medium, which likely requires more VRAM for high-resolution textures and complex scenes.

The GPU's benchmark scores reflect its mid-range status, with a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 880 and a Geekbench Vulkan score of 42752. It sits in the 74th percentile of all GPUs, with its nearest rivals including the AMD Radeon RX 6800M, which is only 0.4% faster, and the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000, which is 1.2% slower. Despite this, the RX 570's performance in The Medium is abysmal. The data shows that the GPU is the primary constraint, as even at 1080p Low settings, the average frame rate is just 44 FPS. The 4 GB VRAM is likely exhausted quickly, causing severe performance degradation at higher settings and resolutions. The GPU's 150 W TDP and 224.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for the game's demands, making it the definitive bottleneck in this configuration.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data reveals a consistent pattern of unplayable performance across all tested configurations. At 1920x1080, the results are as follows: Low settings achieve an average of 44 FPS, Medium settings drop to 28 FPS with a minimum of 23 FPS and a maximum of 32 FPS, High settings fall to 20 FPS, and Ultra settings yield just 16 FPS. These numbers are all below the 60 FPS target that most gamers consider smooth, and even the Low preset is only marginally playable in less demanding scenes.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance degrades further. Low settings produce an average of 37 FPS, Medium settings drop to 23 FPS with a minimum of 20 FPS and a maximum of 27 FPS, High settings fall to 17 FPS, and Ultra settings plummet to 13 FPS. The step from 1080p to 1440p results in a 16% decrease in frame rate at Low settings (from 44 to 37 FPS), but the relative drop is more severe at higher settings, where the GPU is already struggling.

At 3840x2160, the situation becomes nearly unplayable. Low settings average 29 FPS, Medium settings average 18 FPS with a minimum of 15 FPS and a maximum of 21 FPS, High settings drop to 13 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to just 10 FPS. The 4K resolution places an enormous strain on the RX 570's 4 GB VRAM and 224.0 GB/s bandwidth, resulting in frame rates that are far below any acceptable threshold. The data shows that this combo is only capable of approaching playability at 1080p Low, and even then, the average of 44 FPS is not ideal for a game that may have sudden frame drops during intense scenes.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 2600 and AMD Radeon RX 570 ranks at position 3557 out of 3724 total tested combos in The Medium. This places it in the bottom 5% of all systems tested, indicating that it is among the worst-performing configurations for this game. The rank of 3557 means that only 167 other combos perform worse, which is a stark indicator of how poorly this hardware handles the title.

The GPU's 74th percentile ranking among all GPUs and the CPU's 75th percentile ranking among all CPUs do not translate into a competitive gaming result. This discrepancy highlights that The Medium is a particularly demanding title that punishes the RX 570's limited VRAM and bandwidth. The combo rank is not a reflection of the CPU or GPU's general capabilities but rather their specific inadequacy for this game's requirements. The data shows that even though the CPU is relatively capable, the GPU drags the entire system down, resulting in a ranking that is far worse than what the individual components' percentiles would suggest.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the only configuration that provides a remotely playable experience is 1920x1080 with Low settings, which achieves an average of 44 FPS. This is still below the ideal 60 FPS target, but it is the highest average frame rate recorded for this combo. The Low preset at 1080p is the only setting that allows for a semblance of gameplay, though users should expect significant frame drops during demanding scenes.

If a user insists on higher settings, the data shows that Medium at 1080p yields an average of 28 FPS, which is borderline for a slow-paced horror game but may be tolerable for some. However, the minimum of 23 FPS suggests that stuttering is likely. At 1440p, the Low preset at 37 FPS is the only viable option, but it is still below the acceptable threshold. For 4K, the data indicates that no setting is playable, with even Low settings averaging only 29 FPS. The recommendation is clear: for the best experience with this combo, use 1080p Low settings. Anything higher will result in a degraded experience that is likely to hinder gameplay and immersion.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the GPU-bound nature of this configuration. At Medium settings, the average frame rate drops from 28 FPS at 1920x1080 to 23 FPS at 2560x1440, a 18% decrease, and then to 18 FPS at 3840x2160, a further 22% decrease. This steep decline is characteristic of a GPU that is overwhelmed by the increasing pixel count and the associated memory demands.

At Low settings, the scaling is slightly less dramatic but still severe: 44 FPS at 1080p, 37 FPS at 1440p, and 29 FPS at 4K. The differences between resolutions show that the GPU's 4 GB VRAM is the primary limitation, as higher resolutions require more memory for frame buffers and textures. The fact that the frame rate does not scale linearly with the pixel count (4K has 4 times the pixels of 1080p, but the frame rate only drops by about 34% at Low settings) suggests that the GPU is also limited by its computational throughput. The data indicates that the limiting component is unequivocally the GPU, as the CPU has ample headroom to handle the increased workload at higher resolutions. The RX 570's 224.0 GB/s bandwidth and 5.095 TFLOPS of FP32 performance are simply not enough to maintain playable frame rates at any resolution above 1080p Low.