The Medium

The data for The Medium with the AMD Ryzen 5 2600 and AMD Radeon RX 6600 reveals a configuration that is heavily constrained by the graphics card, particularly at higher settings and resolutions. The measured frame rates show a wide performance gulf between Low and Ultra presets, indicating that the game's visual demands scale dramatically. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS, the role of each component, and how this specific combination stacks up against other tested systems.

FAQ

Q: What is the best average FPS this combo achieved at 1080p?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 82.6 FPS, which was achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low settings preset. This is the only settings/resolution combination in the data that breaks past the 80 FPS mark.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K with the High preset?

A: At 3840x2160 with High settings, the average FPS drops to 24.2. This is a demanding configuration that yields a frame rate below the 30 FPS threshold typically considered playable for a smooth experience.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the average FPS with Low settings is 71.5, while the Ultra preset yields an average of 24.6 FPS. This represents a significant performance hit, with the Ultra preset delivering roughly a third of the frame rate of the Low preset.

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking among all tested combinations for this game?

A: The combination ranks 1390 out of 1689 tested combos for The Medium. This places it in the lower percentile of systems, suggesting that many other configurations deliver higher performance in this specific title.

Q: Which component appears to be the primary bottleneck at 4K Ultra?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 18.9, which is a very low frame rate. Given the RX 6600's mid-range standing (69th percentile), it is likely overwhelmed by the game's graphical load at this extreme setting.

Q: Does the CPU's benchmark performance suggest it is a strong match for this game?

A: The Ryzen 5 2600 has a strong overall benchmark score, ranking in the 77th percentile of all CPUs. Its multi-core performance is solid, but the game's results suggest that the GPU is the primary constraint, meaning the CPU is likely not the main cause of the low frame rates at high settings.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear picture of how settings impact performance. The most balanced experience appears to be at 1920x1080 with the Low preset, which delivers an average of 82.6 FPS. This is the only configuration that approaches high-refresh-rate territory. For a more visually rich experience, the Medium preset at 1080p yields a respectable 54.1 FPS, which is still a playable frame rate for a horror title.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset is the only viable option for smooth gameplay, delivering an average of 71.5 FPS. The Medium preset at this resolution drops to 46.3 FPS, which may be acceptable, but the High preset (32.7 FPS) and Ultra preset (24.6 FPS) fall below desirable playability thresholds. The data suggests that 4K is not a practical target for this combo, as even the Low preset only achieves 52.7 FPS, while the Medium and High presets fall to 33.8 and 24.2 FPS respectively.

The Ultra preset proves to be extremely demanding across all resolutions, with the highest average FPS being 27.6 at 1080p. This suggests that the Ultra preset is designed for significantly more powerful hardware. The optimal strategy for this combo is to prioritize the Low preset for high frame rates, or the Medium preset when visual fidelity is more important than maximum smoothness. The data implies that the game's "High" and "Ultra" presets are not well-suited for this hardware pairing.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 2000 series, based on the Zen architecture. It has a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 3.90 GHz. Its benchmark scores are respectable, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 11186 and a single-core score of 1579. It ranks in the 77th percentile of all CPUs, indicating it is a capable processor for its generation.

In the context of The Medium, the CPU's role seems to be secondary to the GPU. The measured FPS drops are more consistent with a GPU bottleneck, especially at higher resolutions where the rendering load increases. For instance, going from 1080p Low to 4K Low, the FPS drops from 82.6 to 52.7. While this is a significant drop, it is not as severe as the drop seen when increasing settings, which points to the GPU being the primary constraint. The CPU provides enough throughput to avoid becoming the main limiting factor, but the system's overall performance is capped by the graphics card.

The Ryzen 5 2600 sits close to rivals like the Intel Core i5-11600KF and Intel Core i7-10700F, with an average benchmark score delta of -0.6% and +0.7% respectively. This means its processing power is well within the range of other mid-range options. However, the data implies that in this specific game, the CPU's performance is not what determines the playable settings; rather, it's the GPU that dictates the frame rate ceilings we observe.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 and AMD Radeon RX 6600 combination is ranked 1390 out of 1689 tested combos for The Medium. This places it in the bottom 20% of all tested systems, which is a telling statistic. Despite having a CPU in the 77th percentile and a GPU in the 69th percentile, the combined performance in this game is relatively low.

This ranking suggests that The Medium is a demanding title that favors configurations with higher-end GPUs. The RX 6600's performance, while adequate for many games, struggles with this specific horror title's rendering requirements. The combo's rank is a direct result of the measured FPS data, which shows it cannot maintain high frame rates at higher settings. The data indicates that this pairing is more of an entry-level to mid-range gaming setup, and for a game like The Medium, it places the user in a position where they must make significant compromises to achieve playable frame rates.

The close benchmark scores of its GPU rivals, such as the AMD Radeon RX 6700M and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, with a deltaPct of 0.2% and 0.5% respectively, suggest that the RX 6600 is not a weak card in general. However, the game's specific demands and the combination's overall rank indicate that it does not have the performance headroom needed for a high-quality experience in this title.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 is based on the RDNA 2.0 architecture and features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus. It has a boost clock of 2491 MHz and a game clock of 2044 MHz. Its benchmark results show a Passmark G3D score of 15096 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1492, placing it in the 69th percentile of all GPUs. This indicates it is a solid mid-range performer.

In The Medium, the GPU is clearly the main bottleneck. The most dramatic evidence is the impact of settings changes. At 1080p, moving from Low to Medium reduces the average FPS from 82.6 to 54.1, a drop of 28.5 FPS. Moving from Medium to High reduces it further to 36.5, and finally to Ultra at 27.6 FPS. This shows the GPU's compute and memory bandwidth are quickly saturated as the game's visual effects are increased. The 8 GB of VRAM is likely a contributing factor, as higher textures and effects can consume memory rapidly, causing performance to plummet.

The GPU's role is also evident in resolution scaling. While the CPU might handle the additional draw calls, the GPU's rendering workload increases significantly with pixel count. The data shows this, but the GPU's performance is the limiting factor at every resolution, not the CPU. The RX 6600's performance relative to its nearest rivals, such as the AMD Radeon 890M and the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP, is nearly identical, with a deltaPct of 0% and -0.2% respectively. This suggests that the RX 6600 is a consistent performer, but its absolute level of performance is not sufficient for the highest settings in this game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of the combo's performance across all tested configurations. At 1920x1080, the average FPS is 82.6 for Low, 54.1 for Medium, 36.5 for High, and 27.6 for Ultra. This shows a clear and consistent decline as settings are increased, with the Ultra preset delivering less than half the FPS of the Medium preset.

At 2560x1440, the performance drops across the board. The Low preset averages 71.5 FPS, which is still quite playable. The Medium preset averages 46.3 FPS, which is a noticeable step down. The High preset drops to 32.7 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls to 24.6 FPS. None of the higher presets at this resolution can maintain a consistently smooth 60 FPS experience. The data shows a clear pattern where the game becomes increasingly demanding as resolution and settings are raised.

At 3840x2160, the combo struggles to keep up. The Low preset averages 52.7 FPS, which is the only remotely playable result at this resolution. The Medium preset averages 33.8 FPS, while the High and Ultra presets average 24.2 and 18.9 FPS respectively. The Ultra preset's result of 18.9 FPS is the lowest score in the entire dataset, highlighting the extreme demand of 4K rendering with the highest visual quality. This data clearly shows that 4K gaming is not a realistic option for this hardware combination, except with the lowest possible settings.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is not uniform and provides insight into the system's limiting components. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 82.6 at 1080p to 71.5 at 1440p and finally to 52.7 at 4K. This represents a 36% decrease in performance from 1080p to 4K. This is a significant drop, but it is relatively linear and suggests that the GPU is still the primary bottleneck, though the workload is scaling predictably with pixel count.

At High settings, the average FPS drops from 36.5 at 1080p to 32.7 at 1440p and 24.2 at 4K. This is a 34% decrease from 1080p to 4K. The pattern is similar, but the absolute FPS is much lower. However, the relative drop is not as steep as one might expect if the CPU were becoming a bottleneck at lower resolutions. The fact that the FPS still drops significantly when moving to 4K suggests the GPU is still the limiting factor.

The data implies that the GPU's performance scales with resolution as expected, but the overall frame rates are low because the GPU is not powerful enough for high-fidelity rendering. The fact that the Low preset at 4K (52.7 FPS) outperforms the High preset at 1080p (36.5 FPS) is a key finding. This indicates that the game's settings have a more profound impact on performance than resolution scaling. It shows that reducing visual quality is a more effective way to gain FPS than dropping the resolution, confirming that the GPU's shading and memory capabilities are the primary constraint in this configuration.