The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER presents a compelling case study in The Medium, a horror title that demands both strong single-threaded responsiveness and substantial GPU throughput. The CPU, a 6-core, 12-thread part from the 2000 series based on the Zen architecture, operates with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 3.90 GHz. Its Cinebench R23 scores of 1,579 single-core and 11,186 multi-core place it in a competitive position, ranking in the 77th percentile against all CPUs. This older architecture, built on a 12 nm process with a 16 MB shared L3 cache, provides enough processing headroom to feed the GPU, though its performance ceiling is notably lower than modern parts.

The data suggests that the CPU is rarely the primary constraint in this pairing. At 1080p with Low settings, the combination achieves an average of 96.1 FPS, which indicates the CPU can handle the game’s logic and draw calls efficiently at higher frame rates. However, the gap between the CPU’s raw multi-threaded capability and its single-thread performance, as seen in the Cinebench R15 scores (1,127 multi-core versus 159 single-core), hints that the game’s engine may not be fully utilizing all 12 threads. The nearest rivals in CPU benchmark scores, such as the Intel Core i5-11600KF (0.6% lower average score) and the Intel Core i7-10700F (0.7% higher), show that this CPU sits in a very tight performance band, but those rivals typically offer higher clock speeds that could translate to better minimum frame times in CPU-bound scenarios. For The Medium, the Ryzen 5 2600 appears adequate, but the measured FPS declines as settings rise, suggesting that the GPU becomes the bottleneck long before the CPU is fully stressed.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data provides a clear hierarchy for optimizing the gameplay experience across different presets. At 1080p, the Ultra preset delivers an average of 37.1 FPS, which is playable but falls short of smooth 60 FPS territory. The High preset improves this to 43.8 FPS, still not reaching the ideal threshold. The Medium preset, however, jumps to 64.8 FPS, offering a significant 47.9% improvement over Ultra and crossing the 60 FPS mark that is crucial for responsive horror gameplay. The Low preset pushes the average to 96.1 FPS, but this likely sacrifices too much visual fidelity. The data indicates the Medium preset is the optimal balance for 1080p, providing a fluid experience while maintaining enough graphical detail to preserve the game’s atmospheric tension.

At 1440p, the same pattern emerges, but the frame rates drop across the board. Ultra averages 29.4 FPS, which is barely playable. High reaches 39.5 FPS, and Medium achieves 50.4 FPS. None of these reach the 60 FPS target, but Medium is clearly the best playable option, offering a 71.4% improvement over Ultra. The Low preset at 1440p hits 87.2 FPS, but the visual compromise is substantial. For 4K, the situation is more demanding: Medium drops to 40.6 FPS, High to 31.8 FPS, and Ultra to a stuttering 26.7 FPS. Only Low at 69.7 FPS provides a smooth experience at 4K, but this negates the purpose of high-resolution gaming. The data strongly suggests that Medium is the recommended preset for 1080p and 1440p, while 4K requires Low settings for acceptable performance.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS across resolutions reveals a classic GPU-bound scaling pattern. Moving from 1080p to 1440p at High settings reduces the average frame rate from 43.8 FPS to 39.5 FPS, a drop of approximately 9.8%. The more significant jump occurs from 1440p to 4K, where the same High preset falls to 31.8 FPS, a further 19.5% reduction. This non-linear scaling indicates that the RTX 2070 SUPER’s memory bandwidth and compute resources are strained as pixel count increases. The GPU’s 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is substantial, but the 4K resolution’s demand for fill rate and shader operations overwhelms the chip’s 9.062 TFLOPS of FP32 performance.

The Low preset scaling is even more telling. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 96.1 FPS. At 1440p Low, it drops to 87.2 FPS (a 9.3% reduction), but at 4K Low, it falls to 69.7 FPS (a 20.1% reduction from 1440p). This pattern confirms that the GPU is the limiting component, as the CPU’s workload does not scale with resolution. The average frame rate at 4K Low (69.7 FPS) is still higher than the 1080p Ultra (37.1 FPS), which shows that lowering settings has a more profound impact than reducing resolution. The data implies that for this specific title, the RTX 2070 SUPER’s 8 GB VRAM is sufficient, but its raw processing power caps performance at higher resolutions, making 4K gaming viable only at the lowest settings.

How This Combo Ranks

In the broader database of tested combinations, this specific pairing of the Ryzen 5 2600 and RTX 2070 SUPER ranks 1,031 out of 1,689 combos for The Medium. This places it in the 61st percentile, meaning it outperforms roughly 61% of all tested systems. This is a respectable position, but it highlights that this is a mid-range configuration in the context of modern hardware. The GPU, which ranks in the 65th percentile against all GPUs, is the stronger component of the duo. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA RTX 4060 Mobile (2.3% higher average score) and the AMD Radeon RX 5700 (2.5% lower), showing that the RTX 2070 SUPER is competitive with newer mid-range parts. The CPU, ranking in the 77th percentile, is slightly less dominant relative to its peers, but its 6-core, 12-thread configuration remains viable.

The delta between the combo’s rank and the individual component percentiles suggests that the CPU may be holding the GPU back in certain scenarios. In CPU-light scenes or at lower resolutions, the GPU can stretch its legs, but in more complex scenes, the older Zen architecture’s lower IPC (instructions per clock) could limit the frame rate. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 96.1 FPS, which is close to the GPU’s potential, but at 1080p Ultra (37.1 FPS), the frame rate is heavily constrained by GPU load. The rank of 1,031 indicates that there are 658 combos that outperform this one, many of which likely feature newer CPUs with higher boost clocks. This is not a top-tier configuration, but it sits comfortably in the upper-middle tier, capable of running The Medium at playable settings without extreme compromises.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is the driving force behind this combo’s performance in The Medium. Built on the Turing architecture with the TU104 chip, this GPU features 2,560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs. Its base clock of 1,605 MHz boosts to 1,770 MHz, providing a solid foundation for rasterization. The GPU also includes 40 RT cores and 320 tensor cores, which are relevant for ray tracing and DLSS, though the benchmark data does not explicitly test these features. The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus yields 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is critical for the game’s high-resolution textures and streaming assets. The GPU’s Passmark G3D score of 18,169 places it in the 65th percentile, and its nearest rival, the NVIDIA RTX A400, is only 0.5% higher, indicating a tight performance cluster.

The measured FPS data shows the GPU’s limits clearly. At 4K Ultra, the combo manages only 26.7 FPS, which is a direct reflection of the GPU’s inability to process the game’s most demanding settings at that resolution. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is substantial: 69.7 FPS versus 26.7 FPS, a 2.6x difference. This demonstrates that the GPU’s compute capacity (9.062 TFLOPS FP32) and texture rate (283.2 GTexel/s) are the primary bottlenecks when settings are maxed out. The GPU’s thermal design power of 215 W and its suggested 550 W PSU indicate it is a power-hungry part, but the benchmark results are consistent with its mid-range positioning. The RTX 2070 SUPER is capable, but it is not a 4K Ultra card for this title; its sweet spot lies in 1080p and 1440p with Medium settings.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to achieve 60 FPS in The Medium?*

A: The data shows that 1080p with Medium settings achieves an average of 64.8 FPS, which is the only configuration that exceeds 60 FPS. 1440p Medium drops to 50.4 FPS, and 4K Medium falls to 40.6 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 4K resolution?

A: The benchmark results indicate the GPU is the limiting factor. At 4K Low, the average FPS is 69.7, but at 4K Ultra it drops to 26.7. The CPU’s workload does not scale with resolution, so the RTX 2070 SUPER’s processing power determines the frame rate.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 2600 compare to its nearest CPU rivals?

A: The Ryzen 5 2600 has an average benchmark score of 19,616. The Intel Core i5-1345U is 0.4% lower, the AMD Ryzen 5 7530U is 0.6% higher, the Intel Core i5-11600KF is 0.6% lower, and the Intel Core i7-10700F is 0.7% higher.

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

A: At 1440p, Low settings average 87.2 FPS, while Ultra settings average 29.4 FPS. This represents a 196.6% performance increase from Ultra to Low, showing that settings have a massive impact on frame rate.

Q: Does the GPU support ray tracing for this game?

A: The GPU includes 40 RT cores, but the measured FPS data does not include ray tracing benchmarks. The data shows performance with standard rasterization settings only.

Q: What is the combo’s overall rank among tested systems?

A: This combo ranks 1,031 out of 1,689 tested combinations for The Medium, placing it in the 61st percentile of all systems.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following table presents the exact average FPS measurements for each resolution and settings preset.

| Resolution | Settings | Avg FPS |

|---|---|---|

| 1920x1080 | Low | 96.1 |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 64.8 |

| 1920x1080 | High | 43.8 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 37.1 |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 87.2 |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 50.4 |

| 2560x1440 | High | 39.5 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 29.4 |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 69.7 |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 40.6 |

| 3840x2160 | High | 31.8 |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 26.7 |

The data shows a consistent trend: at every resolution, the Low preset provides the highest frame rate, followed by Medium, High, and Ultra. The largest relative drop occurs when moving from Low to Medium at 1080p, where the FPS falls from 96.1 to 64.8, a 32.6% reduction. At 4K, the drop from Low to Medium is 41.8% (69.7 to 40.6 FPS), indicating that the GPU struggles more with increased settings at higher resolutions. The minimum FPS values are not provided, so the analysis relies solely on averages, which may hide frame time spikes. However, the averages clearly show that this combo is best suited for 1080p Medium or 1440p Low/Medium, with 4K reserved for Low settings only.