The Medium

The Medium presents an interesting paradox for this hardware pairing. The AMD Ryzen 5 2600, a 2018 CPU, is coupled with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti, a high-end 2023 GPU. The benchmark data reveals a combination that ranks 578th out of 1689 tested combos for this game, placing it in the upper third of all systems. This rank is not a reflection of poor individual component performance, but rather a complex interaction between a capable but aging processor and a graphics card that is clearly designed for higher resolutions. The data suggests a system that is often GPU-bound at higher settings, but one where the CPU can become a limiting factor when settings are lowered, making the Ryzen 5 2600 a critical variable in the overall experience.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 578 out of 1689 combos places it in the 65.7th percentile, indicating it outperforms nearly two-thirds of all tested systems in this specific game. This is a strong position, but it's important to contextualize it. The Ryzen 5 2600 has a percentileVsAllCpus of 77, meaning it's better than 77% of all CPUs in the database's general benchmark suite. Similarly, the RTX 4070 Ti has a percentileVsAllGpus of 85. The drop from these individual component rankings to the 65.7th percentile combo ranking suggests that The Medium is a demanding title that doesn't allow the hardware to perform at its peak potential, likely due to a bottleneck or a game-specific engine limitation.

The CPU's nearest rivals in general benchmarks are interesting for context. The Intel Core i5-1345U has a deltaPct of -0.4, and the AMD Ryzen 5 7530U has a deltaPct of 0.6, placing the Ryzen 5 2600 right between these modern mobile and low-power desktop chips. This shows that while the 2600 is older, its six-core, twelve-thread configuration still holds its own in raw compute tasks. However, these are general benchmarks; the game's specific engine may not scale with the processor's strengths. The GPU's nearest rivals are also telling. The RTX 4070 Ti is remarkably close to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile (deltaPct -0.6) and the Intel Arc A730M (deltaPct -1.5), which are both mobile or lower-tier desktop parts. This data point positions the 4070 Ti as a very strong performer, but the game's actual measured FPS will reveal how this theoretical power translates into real-world performance.

GPU Role

The RTX 4070 Ti is the obvious star of this pairing, and its specifications suggest it is the primary driver of frame rates in The Medium. It features 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. This is a substantial amount of memory bandwidth, which is crucial for a horror game that likely relies on high-resolution textures to create its atmosphere. The GPU's boost clock is 2610 MHz, and it can reach a memory clock of 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective), giving it the raw speed to process complex scenes. With 60 RT cores and 240 tensor cores, it is also well-equipped for any ray-traced effects the game might use, though the measured data focuses on standard settings.

The GPU's general benchmark score of 31624 in Passmark G3D and its 85th percentile ranking underscore its power. Its nearest rival, the RTX 5090 Mobile, is only -0.6% behind, suggesting the 4070 Ti is a top-tier performer. However, the measured FPS in this game shows the GPU is not always fully utilized. For instance, at 1080p Low, the game produces 94.2 FPS, but at 4K Ultra, it drops to 40.3 FPS. The 4K Ultra figure is a clear sign of a GPU-bound scenario, where the card is working at its limit. The fact that the RTX 4070 Ti's Passmark DirectX 12 score is only 116, which is suspiciously low, might hint at driver overhead or a game engine that isn't purely DirectX 12-optimized, affecting how the card's power is channeled.

Settings Recommendations

Examining the measured FPS data, the most balanced experience appears to be at the Medium preset. At 1080p, Medium yields 78.3 FPS, which is a solid, playable frame rate. At 1440p, it drops slightly to 74.2 FPS, still comfortably smooth. Even at 4K, the Medium preset manages 69.9 FPS, which is a surprisingly strong result for such a demanding resolution. This suggests that the Medium preset is well-optimized and provides a significant performance uplift over High and Ultra settings without a massive visual compromise, based on the data.

The High preset is a different story. While it offers 68.2 FPS at both 1080p and 1440p, it falls to 53.5 FPS at 4K. This is a playable but less consistent experience. The Ultra preset, on the other hand, is the most demanding. It provides 64.5 FPS at 1080p, 53.9 FPS at 1440p, and a poor 40.3 FPS at 4K. For a horror game where smoothness is key to immersion, the Ultra preset at 4K would be a poor choice. The data clearly indicates that the Medium preset is the "sweet spot" for this combo, offering a high frame rate across all resolutions. The Low preset, while hitting 94.2 FPS at 1080p, is likely sacrificing too much visual fidelity for a marginal gain over Medium at lower resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play The Medium with this hardware?

A: Based on the data, 2560x1440 at Medium settings provides an excellent balance, with an average of 74.2 FPS. It offers a significant visual upgrade over 1080p while maintaining a smooth frame rate that is close to the 1080p performance.

Q: Is the AMD Ryzen 5 2600 a bottleneck for the RTX 4070 Ti in this game?

A: The data suggests it can be, but it's not always the case. At 1080p Low, the game produces 94.2 FPS, which is not exceptionally high for this GPU, indicating the CPU may be limiting the maximum frame rate. However, at 4K Ultra, the GPU is clearly the limiting factor, as the frame rate drops to 40.3 FPS due to the rendering load.

Q: How does the 4K Low performance compare to 1080p Ultra?

A: The 4K Low preset averages 84.4 FPS, which is significantly higher than the 64.5 FPS seen at 1080p Ultra. This shows that resolution scaling has a less dramatic impact on performance than the game's graphical settings, allowing for a higher frame rate at a higher resolution with lower fidelity.

Q: What is the frame rate at 1440p on the High preset?

A: The measured average FPS for 2560x1440 at High settings is 68.2. This is identical to the 1080p High result, suggesting the game is not significantly GPU-bound at this resolution and setting, or that there is a performance cap in place.

Q: Is the RTX 4070 Ti comparable to other high-end GPUs?

A: Yes, in general benchmarks, its average score of 44900 is very close to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile, which has a deltaPct of -0.6. This places it in a high-performance tier, even if its in-game performance is tempered by the game's demands.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear picture of where the bottleneck lies. At the Medium preset, the game runs at 78.3 FPS at 1080p, 74.2 FPS at 1440p, and 69.9 FPS at 4K. This is remarkable scaling; the drop from 1080p to 4K is only a 10.7% reduction in frame rate. This indicates that at Medium settings, the game is not heavily GPU-bound, and the system's performance is relatively stable across resolutions. The RTX 4070 Ti has enough horsepower to handle the increased pixel count without a massive hit to performance.

However, the scaling is much more dramatic at the Ultra preset. Here, the game runs at 64.5 FPS at 1080p, 53.9 FPS at 1440p, and 40.3 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 4K is a 37.5% reduction. This steep decline is a classic sign of a GPU-bound scenario. As the resolution increases, the GPU's workload grows exponentially, and the frame rate suffers accordingly. The fact that the FPS drop is so much larger at Ultra than at Medium suggests that the Ultra preset introduces effects (like higher-quality shadows, textures, and post-processing) that are extremely taxing on the GPU, making it the definitive limiting component. The near-identical FPS between 1080p and 1440p at High (68.2 FPS for both) further suggests that the CPU might be capping performance at these resolutions, preventing the GPU from running faster.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen architecture, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 3.90 GHz. It has 16 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR4 memory on a dual-channel bus, providing 46.9 GB/s of bandwidth. In general multi-threaded benchmarks, it scores 11186 in Cinebench R23, placing it in the 77th percentile of all CPUs. This shows it is a competent processor for its age. However, its single-core performance is more modest, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1579.

The game's performance data indicates that the CPU is a key factor, especially at lower resolutions and settings. The fact that 1080p High and 1440p High both produce exactly 68.2 FPS is a strong indicator of a CPU bottleneck. The processor is likely being maxed out, preventing the GPU from pushing more frames at either resolution. Conversely, at 4K Ultra, the CPU has more time to prepare frames, and the GPU becomes the limiting factor. The Ryzen 5 2600's general benchmark rivals, such as the Intel Core i5-11600KF (deltaPct -0.6), show it's on par with newer mid-range chips. Yet, the game's engine appears to be sensitive to the CPU's limits, capping performance in certain scenarios and preventing the RTX 4070 Ti from showing its full potential.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The data provides a comprehensive look at the performance across three resolutions and four settings. Starting at 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 94.2 at Low to 64.5 at Ultra. The Medium preset delivers 78.3 FPS, while High drops to 68.2. At 2560x1440, the numbers are 90.8 (Low), 74.2 (Medium), 68.2 (High), and 53.9 (Ultra). The 1440p Low and Medium results are only slightly lower than their 1080p counterparts, showing the GPU's capacity. The jump to 3840x2160 shows a more pronounced difference: 84.4 FPS at Low, 69.9 FPS at Medium, 53.5 FPS at High, and 40.3 FPS at Ultra.

A notable pattern is the performance parity between 1080p and 1440p at the High preset. Both average exactly 68.2 FPS, which is an anomaly that strongly suggests a CPU limit. The system cannot produce more frames regardless of the resolution increase, because the processor is saturated. In contrast, the Low preset shows a more linear scaling from 94.2 to 90.8 to 84.4 FPS as resolution increases. This indicates that at Low settings, the GPU is doing less work, and the CPU is still the primary limiter, but the GPU is also contributing to the frame rate differences. The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling, with a 24.2 FPS difference between 1080p and 4K, which is a typical GPU-bound scenario where the increased pixel count directly impacts the rendering time.