The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX produces a clear and somewhat unusual performance profile in The Medium, a horror title released on 2021-01-27. The data, drawn from measured FPS rows, reveals a system where the GPU’s immense capabilities are frequently restrained by the CPU, yet the settings menu still allows for a transformative gaming experience. This combination lands at rank 464 out of 1689 tested combos for this specific game, placing it in the upper 27% of all tested configurations.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data across the three tested resolutions tells a story of a system that is heavily CPU-bound at lower resolutions, but which transitions to GPU-bound behavior as the pixel count rises. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 105.3 FPS, which is the absolute peak of all measured results. Moving to 1440p at the same Low settings, the frame rate only drops to 99.6 FPS, a relatively modest decline of roughly 5.4%. However, at 4K with Low settings, the average FPS falls to 93, which is a more substantial drop from the 1440p result. This pattern suggests that at 1080p and even 1440p, the CPU is the primary limiting factor, as the GPU is not being fully utilized; the frame rate is constrained by the processor's ability to feed the game’s logic and draw calls.

The scaling becomes more erratic when moving up the settings ladder. At High settings, the drop from 1080p (77.6 FPS) to 1440p (63.1 FPS) is a significant 18.7% decline, and then a further drop to 4K (49.9 FPS) represents another 20.9% reduction. This indicates that at High settings, the GPU begins to take on a more significant role, though the CPU is still a contributing factor. The Ultra preset presents the most intriguing data. Here, the 1080p result is 63 FPS, which drops to 54.9 FPS at 1440p (a 12.9% decline), and then to 42.7 FPS at 4K (a 22.2% decline from 1440p). The fact that the 1080p Ultra frame rate (63 FPS) is so much lower than the 1080p Low frame rate (105.3 FPS) suggests that the Ultra settings are adding a significant amount of GPU work, but the CPU is still holding the system back from hitting much higher numbers.

The data implies that the limiting component shifts depending on the settings and resolution. At 1080p and 1440p with Low and Medium presets, the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 is the bottleneck. The RX 7900 XTX is clearly capable of far more, as evidenced by the relatively small FPS gains when dropping from 1440p to 1080p at Low settings. However, at 4K, especially with High and Ultra presets, the GPU’s workload becomes the primary constraint, and the FPS drops are more directly tied to the resolution. The 4K Ultra result of 42.7 FPS is the lowest in the entire dataset, highlighting the immense stress this setting places on the graphics card.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is a behemoth of a GPU, and its specifications in the FACT PACK show why it is so potent. It features 24 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus, resulting in a massive 960.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth. This is an RDNA 3.0 architecture part built on a 5 nm process, with a base clock of 1929 MHz and a boost clock of 2498 MHz. The game clock is rated at 2365 MHz. With 6144 shading units, 384 TMUs, and 192 ROPs, its raw compute power is immense, further evidenced by its 61.39 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. Its percentile rank is 85, meaning it outperforms 85% of all GPUs in the benchmark database.

Despite this power, the data shows that the GPU is often left waiting. The 1080p Low result of 105.3 FPS is a strong number, but it is not the type of extreme frame rate one might expect from a GPU with this level of capability. The fact that the 1440p Low result (99.6 FPS) is so close to the 1080p result suggests that the GPU is not the limiting factor at these settings. The VRAM capacity is more than sufficient for The Medium at any resolution, and the high bandwidth ensures texture streaming is unlikely to be a cause of stutter. The GPU's role becomes more dominant at 4K, where its ability to process pixels is tested more severely. The 4K Ultra result of 42.7 FPS, while low for this card, is likely a reflection of the game’s demanding rendering techniques at that resolution rather than a deficiency in the GPU itself.

The GPU’s role is essentially to provide a massive headroom that the CPU cannot utilize at lower resolutions. The benchmark results indicate that the RX 7900 XTX is a component that can easily handle high frame rates and high resolutions, but in this specific pairing, its full potential is capped by the processor until the resolution and settings are cranked up to 4K Ultra, where it finally becomes the primary limiting factor.

Settings Recommendations

Given the CPU bottleneck present in this combo, the measured FPS data points to a clear strategy for the best experience. The Low preset consistently delivers the highest frame rates across all resolutions. At 1080p, it hits 105.3 FPS, and even at 4K, it maintains a very playable 93 FPS. This makes the Low preset the only one that guarantees a high-refresh-rate experience at 1080p and a smooth 60+ FPS experience at 4K. The difference between Low and Medium is noticeable but not transformative: at 1080p, Medium is 87.8 FPS (a 16.6% reduction from Low), and at 4K it drops to 72 FPS (a 22.6% reduction). This suggests that Medium offers a significant visual upgrade for a moderate performance cost.

The High preset is a compromise. At 1080p, it delivers 77.6 FPS, which is still smooth, but at 1440p it drops to 63.1 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 49.9 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target. The Ultra preset is the most punishing. It only achieves 63 FPS at 1080p, and at 4K it produces a barely playable 42.7 FPS. Given this data, the recommended approach is to use the Low preset for maximum fluidity, especially at 1440p and 4K, where it offers a huge performance advantage over the other presets. For players who prioritize visual fidelity over raw speed, the Medium preset at 1080p or 1440p (84.6 FPS) offers a solid balance. The Ultra preset is only advisable for those who value visual quality above all else and are willing to accept a sub-60 FPS experience at 1440p.

How This Combo Ranks

The data shows that this particular combination of CPU and GPU is ranked 464 out of 1689 tested combos in The Medium. This places it in the top 27.5% of all tested systems, which is a respectable position, but not a dominant one. The ranking is likely held back by the CPU. The AMD Ryzen 5 3600, while not a weak processor, is not the strongest partner for the RX 7900 XTX. Its average benchmark score is 18129, and it sits in the 76th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i5-11400, which scores 18150 (a 0.1% difference), and the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS, which scores 18101 (a 0.2% difference). These are all closely matched processors, but they are not in the same tier as the high-end CPUs that would typically be paired with a GPU like the RX 7900 XTX.

The combo’s rank of 464 suggests that many other systems with more balanced pairings achieve higher frame rates in this game. The RX 7900 XTX is in the 85th percentile of all GPUs, but its potential is not fully realized here. The system’s performance is likely a reflection of the CPU’s 6 cores and 12 threads, based on its specifications, which may not be sufficient to fully saturate the GPU’s capabilities in all scenarios. The rank indicates that while this is a high-performing system, there is a clear bottleneck preventing it from reaching the top echelons of the benchmark charts.

FAQ

*Q: What is the highest average frame rate this combo can achieve in The Medium?*

A: The highest average frame rate in the measured data is 105.3 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset.

Q: At what settings and resolution does this combo fail to maintain 60 FPS?

A: The combo drops below 60 FPS at 4K with High settings (49.9 FPS) and with Ultra settings (42.7 FPS). It also falls below 60 FPS at 1440p with Ultra settings (54.9 FPS).

Q: How much of a performance gain is there from using Low settings compared to Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, the Low preset achieves 105.3 FPS, while the Ultra preset achieves 63 FPS. This represents a 67.1% performance increase for the Low preset.

Q: Which component appears to be the primary bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data suggests the CPU is the limiting factor at 1080p, as the frame rate at Low settings (105.3 FPS) is not significantly higher than at 1440p (99.6 FPS), indicating the GPU has headroom that the CPU cannot utilize.

Q: What is the best resolution and preset for a smooth 4K experience?

A: The only preset that allows for a smooth 4K experience is Low, which achieves an average of 93 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K is also playable at 72 FPS.

Q: How does the combo rank overall in this game?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 + AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX combo is ranked 464 out of 1689 tested combos for The Medium.

Measured FPS Breakdown

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

| Resolution | Settings | Avg FPS |

| :--------- | :------- | :------ |

| 1920x1080 | Low | 105.3 |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 87.8 |

| 1920x1080 | High | 77.6 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 63 |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 99.6 |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 84.6 |

| 2560x1440 | High | 63.1 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 54.9 |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 93 |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 72 |

| 3840x2160 | High | 49.9 |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 42.7 |

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 2 architecture. It has a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz. This is a capable mid-range CPU, but its role in this pairing is clearly to be the limiting factor. The data strongly suggests this. The fact that the FPS does not scale as expected when moving from 1440p to 1080p at Low settings (99.6 to 105.3 FPS) is a classic sign of a CPU bottleneck. The GPU is capable of rendering more frames, but the CPU cannot process the game’s simulation and draw calls fast enough to keep up.

In the benchmark data, the CPU has an average score of 18129, placing it in the 76th percentile. Its single-thread performance is modest, with a 3dmark_single_thread score of 696, and its multi-threaded performance is respectable but not exceptional, with a cinebench_r23_multicore score of 15045. These scores indicate that while the CPU is solid for general use, it is not designed to feed a top-tier GPU in a demanding game like The Medium. The CPU’s role is to provide a baseline of performance that is generally sufficient for 60 FPS gaming at lower resolutions, but it prevents the system from reaching the extremely high frame rates that the RX 7900 XTX is capable of. The measured results indicate that the CPU is the main reason why the combo does not rank higher than 464th. The system is balanced only at 4K with Ultra settings, where the GPU’s workload becomes so immense that it becomes the new bottleneck.