The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 produces a fascinating set of results in The Medium, a horror title that demands a great deal from both the processor and graphics card. The data indicates that while the RX 9070 is a powerful modern GPU, the aging Ryzen 5 2600 CPU exerts a significant influence on overall performance, particularly at lower resolutions. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS to understand the dynamic between the two components.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a system where the CPU becomes less of a bottleneck as resolution increases. At 1080p High, the combo achieves 61.7 FPS, but at 1440p High, it drops to 50.6 FPS, a reduction of 11.1 FPS. Moving to 4K High, the average FPS falls further to 44.4. This pattern shows that the GPU is being tasked more heavily at higher resolutions, but the initial drop from 1080p to 1440p is relatively modest, suggesting the CPU is still a limiting factor at 1080p.

The scaling becomes clearer when looking at the Low preset. At 1080p Low, the system produces 93.8 FPS. At 1440p Low, it drops to 90.4 FPS, a mere 3.4 FPS decline. This minimal drop indicates that at Low settings, the CPU is the primary constraint, and increasing resolution doesn't add enough GPU work to change the outcome significantly. However, jumping to 4K Low yields 84.7 FPS, a more substantial 5.7 FPS drop from 1440p, showing the GPU is starting to take on more of the load.

The most telling data point for resolution scaling is the Ultra preset. Here, the 1080p Ultra score is 47.6 FPS, which is higher than the 4K High score of 44.4 FPS. This suggests that the Ultra preset at 1080p is still not fully saturating the GPU, allowing the CPU to keep up. In contrast, the 4K High result is clearly GPU-limited, as the massive pixel count dominates the rendering pipeline. The data implies that for this specific combo, the 4K resolution presents a significant challenge, with even the Medium preset only reaching 60.7 FPS.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070, with its 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, provides 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth. This substantial memory allocation is crucial for The Medium, which is known for its high-resolution textures and complex scenes. The data shows that the GPU's role becomes more pronounced as settings increase. At 4K Ultra, the frame rate collapses to 32.8 FPS, indicating that the GPU's compute capabilities are being overwhelmed by the combination of high resolution and maximum graphical fidelity.

The GPU's clock speeds are notable, with a boost clock of 2520 MHz and a game clock of 2070 MHz. The difference between the 4K Medium (60.7 FPS) and 4K High (44.4 FPS) suggests that the additional graphical effects in the High preset significantly increase the load on the GPU's 3584 shading units and 128 ROPs. The RX 9070's performance in this game appears strong, but it is clearly not enough to maintain high frame rates at 4K Ultra, a demanding scenario for any card. The data indicates that the GPU is the dominant component at 4K, while its headroom is not fully utilized at 1080p due to CPU limitations.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 3.90 GHz. Its benchmark scores, such as a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 11186 and a single-core score of 1579, place it in the 77th percentile of all CPUs. In The Medium, the CPU's influence is most evident at 1080p. The fact that the 1080p Low (93.8 FPS) and 1080p Medium (77.1 FPS) scores are significantly higher than the 1440p counterparts (90.4 and 75.4 FPS, respectively) suggests that the CPU can push more frames at lower resolutions, but the frame rate ceiling is capped by the processor's single-thread performance.

This CPU bottleneck is confirmed by the 1080p Ultra result of 47.6 FPS, which is nearly identical to the 1440p Ultra result of 39.9 FPS. The scaling from 1440p to 4K Ultra (32.8 FPS) shows a more significant drop, indicating that the GPU is finally becoming the limiting factor at that extreme resolution. The Ryzen 5 2600's architecture, based on the older Zen+ design, struggles to keep up with the demands of the game's logic and draw calls at lower resolutions. The data implies that the CPU is holding back the RX 9070 at 1080p, preventing it from reaching its full potential.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 2600 and AMD Radeon RX 9070 ranks 742 out of 1689 tested combos in The Medium. This places it in the 56th percentile, meaning it outperforms more than half of all tested systems but lags behind a significant portion of higher-end setups. The ranking is likely a result of the CPU's age, as the GPU is a modern, high-performance part. The data suggests that the combo is well-balanced for 1440p gaming, where the CPU and GPU are both reasonably taxed, but it is less competitive at 1080p where the CPU bottleneck is most apparent.

The ranking indicates that this system is a mid-tier performer for this specific game. It is not at the top of the charts, but it is far from the bottom. The Ryzen 5 2600's passmark multi-thread score of 13160 and single-thread score of 2239 show it is a capable processor, but it is clearly outclassed by newer CPUs that can feed the RX 9070 more effectively. The data implies that users with this combo will have a playable experience, but they will not be achieving the maximum possible frame rates that the GPU is capable of, especially in CPU-intensive scenarios.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of performance across all settings and resolutions.

At 1920x1080, the system achieves 93.8 FPS on Low, 77.1 FPS on Medium, 61.7 FPS on High, and 47.6 FPS on Ultra. This shows a steady decline as settings increase, with a total drop of 46.2 FPS from Low to Ultra.

Moving to 2560x1440, the scores are 90.4 FPS on Low, 75.4 FPS on Medium, 50.6 FPS on High, and 39.9 FPS on Ultra. The drop from Low to Ultra is 50.5 FPS, indicating that the higher resolution amplifies the impact of the graphical settings.

At 3840x2160, the system manages 84.7 FPS on Low, 60.7 FPS on Medium, 44.4 FPS on High, and only 32.8 FPS on Ultra. The difference between Low and Ultra here is 51.9 FPS, showing that the GPU struggles with the most demanding settings at 4K. The data reveals that the most significant performance gap occurs between the Medium and High presets at 1440p (24.8 FPS drop), while the difference between Low and Medium at 1080p is a more manageable 16.7 FPS.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to achieve a 60 FPS average?

A: The only resolution and setting combination that achieves a 60 FPS or higher average is at 4K Medium with 60.7 FPS. At 1080p, the High preset hits 61.7 FPS, and at 1440p, Medium hits 75.4 FPS, but the data shows that 4K Medium is the only 4K option to break 60 FPS.

Q: How much of a performance hit does the Ultra preset cause at 1080p?

A: The Ultra preset at 1080p yields 47.6 FPS, which is 14.1 FPS lower than the High preset (61.7 FPS) and a 46.2 FPS drop compared to Low (93.8 FPS).

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1440p?

A: The data suggests a balance. The 1440p Low score (90.4 FPS) is only 3.4 FPS lower than 1080p Low (93.8 FPS), indicating a CPU limit. However, the 1440p High score (50.6 FPS) is 11.1 FPS lower than 1080p High (61.7 FPS), showing the GPU is becoming more involved.

Q: What is the single highest FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 93.8 FPS at 1920x1080 with the Low preset.

Q: How does the combo's rank compare to the total number of tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 742nd out of 1689 tested combos, placing it in the upper half of all results.

Q: Is the 4K Ultra preset playable with this hardware?

A: No, the 4K Ultra preset averages 32.8 FPS, which is below the generally accepted threshold for smooth gameplay.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the best experience for this combo depends on the user's display resolution. For 1080p displays, the High preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance, with an average of 61.7 FPS. While the Medium preset gives a higher 77.1 FPS, the drop in visual fidelity may not be worth the 15.4 FPS gain, especially since the High preset already clears 60 FPS.

For 1440p, the Medium preset is the clear recommendation, achieving 75.4 FPS. This is well above the 60 FPS threshold, and the Medium preset is a significant step up from Low in visual quality. The High preset falls to 50.6 FPS, which is less desirable for a smooth experience.

At 4K, the Medium preset is the only viable option for a playable frame rate, hitting 60.7 FPS. The High preset drops to 44.4 FPS, and Ultra is unplayable at 32.8 FPS. Users with 4K displays should stick to Medium settings to maintain a stable experience. The data clearly indicates that the Ultra preset is not recommended for any resolution due to its significant performance cost, with the highest average being 47.6 FPS at 1080p.