The Medium

The Medium is a fixed-camera horror game that leans heavily on atmospheric detail, and the measured results for the AMD Ryzen 5 2600 with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti reveal a system that is strong but not unlimited at high resolutions. The Ryzen 5 2600, a six-core, twelve-thread CPU with a 3.40 GHz base and 3.90 GHz boost clock, pairs with a 12 GB GDDR6X GPU to deliver a range of experiences from a smooth 94 FPS at 1080p Low to a slideshow-like 35 FPS at 4K Ultra. The data shows that the RTX 3080 Ti has enough raw power to push well past 60 FPS at 1440p, but the game's engine and the CPU's Zen architecture start to show their age at lower resolutions. This page analyzes the measured FPS rows, the hardware's roles, and how the configuration ranks against 3,724 other tested combinations.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS drops from 1080p to 4K, and the pattern is not uniform across all settings. At Low settings, the game runs at 94 FPS at 1920x1080, drops to 88 FPS at 2560x1440, and then falls to 82 FPS at 3840x2160. That is a modest 12.8% performance loss from 1080p to 4K at Low, which indicates that the GPU is not the bottleneck at this setting—the CPU and the game's engine are. At High settings, the same movement shows a steeper drop: 67 FPS at 1080p, 56 FPS at 1440p, and 44 FPS at 4K. That is a 34.3% loss, showing that as the graphics load increases, the GPU becomes more of a limiting factor, but still not completely dominating.

The Ultra preset is the most telling. At 1080p, the RTX 3080 Ti delivers 53 FPS; at 1440p, 45 FPS; and at 4K, only 35 FPS. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is a 22.2% drop, while from 1080p to 1440p it is 15.1%—a sign that the game is becoming increasingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, but the absolute numbers are low for a card of this class. The Medium preset, which is the only one with min and max frame data, shows 78 FPS at 1080p (66-90), 74 FPS at 1440p (63-85), and 61 FPS at 4K (52-71). The minimum frame rate at 4K is 52 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target, even though the average is 61 FPS.

The key insight: the RTX 3080 Ti's 34.10 TFLOPS FP32 and 912.4 GB/s memory bandwidth are not being fully utilized at 1080p Low, where the game only uses 94 FPS. The frame rate ceiling at low resolutions is likely due to the CPU's single-thread performance (Geekbench single-core score of 1154) and the game's engine. At 4K, the GPU is more heavily loaded, but the Ultra preset still only achieves 35 FPS, which suggests the game is not well optimized for high-end hardware, or the card's 12 GB GDDR6X memory is not the limiting factor—the raw compute is.

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 cache is small: 96 KB L1 per core, 512 KB L2 per core, and 16 MB shared L3. The CPU's percentile rank vs all CPUs is 75, meaning it outperforms 75% of processors, but its nearest rivals in the database are not gaming chips—the Intel Core Ultra 5 228V (deltaPct 0.2), Intel Core i9-11900H (deltaPct 0.5), Intel Xeon D-1746TER (deltaPct -0.7), and AMD EPYC 9454 (deltaPct 1.2). The Ryzen 5 2600's average benchmark score is 21484, which is within 1.2% of the EPYC 9454, a 96-core server in the average benchmark.

In gaming, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and process game logic. The game's frame rate at 1080p Low is 94 FPS, which is far from the 60+ FPS limit of a high refresh rate monitor, but it is not a 144 FPS experience. The CPU's single-core score of 1154 Geekbench, or 157.3 in Cinebench R15, is unremarkable by 2021 standards—the game's release date. The boost clock of 3.90 GHz is not high, and the Zen (Pinnacle Ridge) architecture is old. The data shows that at 4K, the CPU is less of a bottleneck: the frame rate drops from 82 FPS at Low to 35 FPS at Ultra, a 57.3% reduction, while at 1080p, the same setting change only drops from 94 to 53 FPS, a 43.6% reduction. This indicates that at 4K, the GPU is the primary limiter, but at 1080p, the CPU is what's holding the system back.

The Ryzen 5 2600's memory bandwidth of 46.9 GB/s is also a factor. The game likely needs fast memory I/O for streaming assets, and the dual-channel DDR4 at 46.9 GB/s is half the bandwidth of the GPU's memory. The CPU's L3 cache is 16 MB, which is shared across all cores, and the game's engine may not be optimized for a 6-core processor. The data shows the 2600 is a capable CPU for this game, but not a perfect match for a 3080 Ti.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is a high-end Ampere GPU with 10,240 shading units, 320 TMUs, and 112 ROPs. Its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory is on a 384-bit bus with 912.4 GB/s bandwidth. The GPU's percentile is 83 among all GPUs, and its average benchmark score is 41,187. The nearest rivals are: AMD Radeon Pro 5300 (avgScore 40870, deltaPct 0.8), NVIDIA Tesla M40 24 GB (avgScore 41707, deltaPct -1.2), NVIDIA Tesla M40 (avgScore 41897, deltaPct -1.7), and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 (avgScore 40377, deltaPct 2). The 3080 Ti's scores are within 2% of these, but those rivals are not gaming cards—the Tesla M40 is a compute card, and the Radeon Pro is a workstation GPU.

In the game, the GPU's role is to render the game's fixed-camera scenes with full lighting and shadow. The 4K Ultra result is 35 FPS, which is far below the 60 FPS target. The 12 GB VRAM is adequate for 4K, but the game's complexity is too high for the 3080 Ti at Ultra. The GPU's FP32 performance is 34.10 TFLOPS, but the game's engine is based on the same engine as other horror titles, which may not be well-optimized for high-end GPUs. At 1440p High, the card delivers 56 FPS, which is smooth enough for a horror game, but not for a 144 Hz display. The card's texture rate is 532.8 GTexel/s, but the game's asset loading is the limitation.

The GPU's 350 W TDP and 285 mm length are typical for a high-end card. The measured FPS shows that the card is capable of 94 FPS at 1080p Low, but the game is not designed to push that high on this hardware. The 4K Medium result of 61 FPS (52-71) is the only 4K setting with min/max data, and those ranges show a variability of 19 FPS, which is high—the game's frame pacing is unstable at 4K, even when the average is 61 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

This CPU/GPU combination ranks 1352 out of 3724 combos tested in this game, putting it in the 64th percentile of all tested systems. That is a strong ranking, but not elite. The combo is more powerful than the component percentile suggests: the CPU is in the 75th percentile and the GPU is in the 83rd percentile, but the combo rank of 1352/3724 is actually lower (worse) than the average of the two percentiles. This implies the game is not scaling as expected with the 3080 Ti.

The rank of 1352 means that there are 2,372 other combos that perform better in this game, and 1,351 that perform worse. The game's release in January 2021, and the 3080 Ti's release in May 2021, later than the game, so the game may not be optimized for the card's architecture. The 3080 Ti's nearest rivals in the average benchmark are not gaming cards, but in this game, the GPU is likely paired with more powerful CPUs. The Ryzen 5 2600's Zen architecture, with a 3.90 GHz boost, is likely holding the GPU back in this game's CPU-heavy scenes. The combo's rank is not bad, but it is not a top-tier result.

The cache hierarchy of the CPU (96 KB L1 per core, 16 MB L3) is not a match for the GPU's 80 RT cores. The game likely uses the GPU's ray tracing, but the data does not specify ray tracing settings. The FP32 of 34.10 TFLOPS is high, but the game's engine is not built for that. The ranking against 3,724 combos is a broad sample, but the 1352th spot is a sign that the CPU is not enabling the GPU to reach its full potential in this title.

Settings Recommendations

For a 60 FPS target, the data shows that the Medium preset at 1440p is the sweet spot: it delivers 74 FPS average (63-85 min/ max), which is well above 60 FPS. At 4K, the Medium preset gives 61 FPS average (52-71), which is right at the 60 FPS target, but the min FPS of 52 can be noticeable during scenes. For a smoother experience, the Low preset at 4K yields 82 FPS, which is very playable, but the visual quality is reduced. The Ultra at any resolution is not recommended for this game: 53 FPS at 1080p, 45 FPS at 1440p, and 35 FPS at 4K are all below 60 FPS.

The High preset is a middle ground: 67 FPS at 1080p, 56 FPS at 1440p, and 44 FPS at 4K. If the player prefers visual quality, High at 1440p is acceptable (56 FPS), but High at 4K is not. The Medium at 1440p is the best balance of quality and performance: 74 FPS, with a min of 63 FPS. The Low at 1080p is 94 FPS, which is the highest measured, but the visual quality is low—the game is horror, so lighting is key. The data suggests that Medium settings at 1440p are the recommended preset for this system, and those who want 4K should use Low.

The Ultra preset is not worth the loss: the 4K Ultra is 35 FPS, a 25.7% drop from Medium's 61 FPS. The 1080p Ultra is 53 FPS, a 32% drop from Medium's 78 FPS. The game's visual quality at Ultra is not measured, but the frame rate cost is high. The Low preset at 1080p is the only setting that breaks 90 FPS, but 94 FPS is not a high refresh rate experience.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS measured for this combo?

A: The highest is 94 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: What is the lowest average FPS measured?

A: The lowest is 35 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings.

Q: Does the system maintain 60 FPS at 4K?

A: Only with Medium settings, which averages 61 FPS, but the minimum is 52 FPS, so it is not consistent.

Q: How does the CPU rank compared to other processors?

A: The Ryzen 5 2600 is in the 75th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 21484. It is 0.2% faster than the Intel Core Ultra 5 228V and 0.5% faster than the Intel Core i9-11900H.

Q: What is the GPU's ranking?

A: The RTX 3080 Ti is in the 83rd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 41187. It is 0.8% faster than the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 and 2% faster than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070.

Q: How does this combo rank in the game?

A: It ranks 1,352 out of 3,724 tested combos, which is in the upper third.

Q: What is the min FPS at 1440p Medium?

A: The min is 63 FPS, and the max is 85 FPS.

Q: What is the min FPS at 4K Medium?

A: The min is 52 FPS, and the max is 71 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: 94 FPS average
• Medium: 78 FPS average (min 66, max 90)
• High: 67 FPS average
• Ultra: 53 FPS average

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: 88 FPS average
• Medium: 74 FPS average (min 63, max 85)
• High: 56 FPS average
• Ultra: 45 FPS average

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: 82 FPS average
• Medium: 61 FPS average (min 52, max 71)
• High: 44 FPS average
• Ultra: 35 FPS average

The breakdown shows a consistent pattern: the gap between Low and Ultra widens with resolution. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 41 FPS (94 vs 53); at 1440p, it is 43 FPS (88 vs 45); at 4K, it is 47 FPS (82 vs 35). The percentage difference is 44.1% at 1080p, 48.9% at 1440p, and 57.3% at 4K. This indicates that the Ultra preset is extremely costly in this game, likely due to shadow and lighting effects. The Medium preset always offers 60+ FPS: 78 at 1080p, 74 at 1440p, and 61 at 4K. The High preset is borderline at 1080p and 1440p, but not at 4K. The Low preset is above 80 FPS at all resolutions, but it is the lowest visual quality.

The CPU/GPU configuration is a strong but not top-tier pairing for The Medium. The 4K Medium at 61 FPS with a 52 FPS minimum is the best 4K experience, while 1440p Medium is the best balance. The Ultra preset is not recommended for any resolution. The data shows that the game is more GPU-bound at 4K, but the CPU limits the 1080p performance.