The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT delivers a highly resolution-dependent experience in The Medium. The data indicates that this combination is capable of smooth frame rates at lower resolutions, but struggles to maintain playable performance at 4K with higher settings. The recorded scores place this combo in the 1196th position out of 3724 tested combinations, showing a mid-tier standing for this specific title.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in The Medium?

A: The highest average frame rate recorded is 107 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. At 2560x1440 with Low settings, the average drops to 101 FPS, while at 3840x2160 with Low settings, it records 93 FPS. The data shows that 1080p provides the highest performance ceiling.

Q: How does the RX 9070 XT perform in synthetic benchmarks relative to its rivals?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score is 13543. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon HD 7770M, scores 13536, a delta of 0.1%. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 scores 13515, a delta of 0.2%. The NVIDIA P106-090 scores 13470, a delta of 0.5%, and the AMD Radeon Pro 555 scores 13407, a delta of 1%.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 3600 compare to its nearest rivals in CPU benchmarks?

A: The CPU has an average benchmark score of 17035. The Intel Core i7-1260P scores 17007, a delta of 0.2%. The Intel Core i5-11400 scores 17067, a delta of -0.2%. The AMD EPYC 7742 scores 16998, a delta of 0.2%. The AMD EPYC 7573X scores 17070, a delta of -0.2%.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Medium and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Medium preset records an average of 79 FPS with a minimum of 67 FPS. The Ultra preset records an average of 45 FPS. This represents a drop of 34 FPS when moving from Medium to Ultra.

Q: Does the combo maintain 60 FPS at 4K on any preset?

A: Yes, at 3840x2160 with Low settings, the average frame rate is 93 FPS. The Medium preset records 62 FPS, which also exceeds 60. The High preset records 44 FPS, and Ultra records 35 FPS, both below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: What is the GPU's memory bandwidth and how does it relate to performance?

A: The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s. This high bandwidth supports the texture and geometry loads in The Medium, as evidenced by the performance scaling across resolution changes.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT uses the Navi 48 chip on the RDNA 4.0 architecture, built on a 4 nm process at TSMC. It contains 53,900 million transistors on a 357 mm² die. The GPU operates with a base clock of 1660 MHz, a game clock of 2400 MHz, and a boost clock of 2970 MHz. The memory runs at 2518 MHz, which translates to 20.1 Gbps effective.

The GPU's memory configuration is substantial: 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, yielding 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth. This bandwidth is critical for The Medium, a game known for its dual-world rendering mechanic that demands high memory throughput. The recorded FPS data shows that at 1080p, the GPU is rarely the limiting factor, as even Ultra settings produce 53 FPS. However, at 4K, the performance drops significantly, indicating that the GPU's compute and memory resources are being saturated.

The GPU's raw compute capabilities are represented by its 4096 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 128 ROPs. It delivers 48.66 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and a texture rate of 760.3 GTexel/s. The pixel rate stands at 380.2 GPixel/s. These figures suggest ample fill-rate capacity, yet the 4K Ultra result of 35 FPS shows that the game's advanced rendering effects, including ray tracing on the 64 RT cores, impose a heavy load.

In synthetic benchmarks, the GPU scores 26795 in Passmark G3D, 7260 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, and 65879 in Geekbench Vulkan. The Passmark DirectX 11 score is 292, while DirectX 12 scores 78. These numbers indicate strong overall performance, but the game-specific results in The Medium show a more nuanced picture. The GPU's percentile rank against all GPUs is 55, placing it in the upper half of tested hardware.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 5 3600 and RX 9070 XT holds the 1196th rank out of 3724 tested combos in The Medium. This places it in the 32nd percentile of all tested systems, meaning roughly two-thirds of tested combinations perform better in this specific game. The ranking reflects the balance between the CPU's mid-range compute power and the GPU's high-end graphics capabilities.

This rank is notably lower than what the GPU's synthetic scores might suggest. The RX 9070 XT's Passmark G3D score of 26795 is strong, and its average benchmark score of 13543 places it in the 55th percentile of all GPUs. However, the CPU's 71st percentile ranking (average score 17035) does not fully compensate for the game's demands. The data implies that The Medium is particularly sensitive to the CPU's single-thread performance, where the Ryzen 5 3600 scores 696 in 3DMark single-thread and 2124 in Cinebench R23 single-core.

Compared to the CPU's nearest rivals, the performance delta is minimal. The Intel Core i5-11400 is 0.2% faster on average, while the AMD EPYC 7742 is 0.2% slower. These tiny differences suggest that CPU selection within this performance tier has limited impact on overall ranking. Instead, the GPU's handling of the game's visual effects at various resolutions drives the combo's position.

The 4K results heavily influence the rank. At 3840x2160, the combo only exceeds 60 FPS on Low settings (93 FPS) and Medium settings (62 FPS). High and Ultra presets drop to 44 FPS and 35 FPS, respectively. These figures pull the average performance down, contributing to the mid-pack ranking. At 1080p, the combo performs much better, with all presets except Ultra exceeding 67 FPS, which would rank higher if the database weighted only lower resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The recorded data provides a full matrix of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 107 FPS average. Medium delivers 89 FPS with a minimum of 76 FPS and a maximum of 103 FPS. High delivers 67 FPS, and Ultra delivers 53 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 54 FPS, showing that the GPU has significant headroom at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 101 FPS. Medium averages 79 FPS with a minimum of 67 FPS and a maximum of 90 FPS. High averages 56 FPS, and Ultra averages 45 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at each setting is consistent: Low loses 6 FPS, Medium loses 10 FPS, High loses 11 FPS, and Ultra loses 8 FPS. This pattern indicates a balanced scaling behavior where both resolution and settings impact performance proportionally.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 93 FPS. Medium averages 62 FPS with a minimum of 53 FPS and a maximum of 71 FPS. High averages 44 FPS, and Ultra averages 35 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium at 4K is 31 FPS, which is larger than the 18 FPS gap at 1080p. This widening gap suggests that the Medium preset introduces rendering effects that are disproportionately expensive at higher pixel counts.

The minimum FPS data is only recorded for the Medium preset at all resolutions. At 1080p, the minimum is 76 FPS; at 1440p, it is 67 FPS; at 4K, it is 53 FPS. These minimums indicate that the Medium preset maintains playable frame rates even during demanding scenes. The lack of minimum data for other presets means the average figures alone represent their consistency, but the Medium preset's recorded range shows a 27 FPS variance at 1080p and an 18 FPS variance at 4K.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data suggests that the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance for this combo. At 1080p, Medium delivers 89 FPS average with a minimum of 76 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay without significant drops. At 1440p, Medium delivers 79 FPS with a minimum of 67 FPS, still comfortably above 60 FPS. At 4K, Medium delivers 62 FPS with a minimum of 53 FPS, which is borderline but playable.

The Low preset provides the highest frame rates across all resolutions: 107 FPS at 1080p, 101 FPS at 1440p, and 93 FPS at 4K. This preset is suitable for competitive play or for users prioritizing frame rate stability over visual fidelity. However, the jump from Low to Medium at 4K is only a 31 FPS loss (from 93 to 62), which is a significant visual improvement for a moderate performance cost.

The High preset at 1080p delivers 67 FPS, which is acceptable, but at 1440p it drops to 56 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 44 FPS. These figures indicate that High is not ideal for this combo at higher resolutions. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, delivering only 53 FPS at 1080p, 45 FPS at 1440p, and 35 FPS at 4K. The data suggests that Ultra is only viable at 1080p if the user accepts sub-60 FPS performance.

Given the recorded results, the Medium preset is the recommended choice for this hardware combination. It provides the highest settings level that maintains at least 60 FPS average at 1440p, and it remains playable at 4K. Users targeting 4K should consider the Medium preset as the maximum viable option, while those at 1080p can choose between Medium for quality or Low for maximum frame rates.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 2 architecture, codenamed Matisse. It has a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz. The CPU supports DDR4 memory in a dual-channel configuration with a bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s. It features 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 512 KB of L2 cache per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache.

In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU scores 15045 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 2124 in Cinebench R23 single-core. The 3DMark scores show scaling: 1361 for 2 threads, 2579 for 4 threads, 3844 for 8 threads, and 4605 for 16 threads. This scaling indicates that the processor leverages its 12 threads effectively, but the single-thread score of 696 in 3DMark reveals a limitation. The Medium appears to be sensitive to single-thread performance, as the game's logic and scene management rely heavily on a few primary threads.

The CPU's percentile rank of 71 against all CPUs confirms it is a solid mid-range performer. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-11400, is only 0.2% faster on average, showing that the 3600 is competitive within its tier. The Passmark multithread score of 17700 and single-thread score of 2562 further support this positioning. However, the data from The Medium suggests that the CPU is not the bottleneck at lower resolutions, but it may contribute to the performance ceiling at 1080p where frame rates are highest.

The CPU's 65 W TDP and 7 nm process node from TSMC indicate an efficient design. The 3,800 million transistors on a 74 mm² die allow for strong performance per watt. In the context of The Medium, the CPU's 12 threads handle the game's background streaming and AI tasks, while the GPU manages the rendering. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (107 FPS) shows that the CPU can feed the GPU adequately at this resolution, but the 4K Ultra result of 35 FPS is primarily GPU-limited.

Resolution Scaling

The recorded FPS data shows how this combo scales from 1080p to 4K at each settings preset. At Low settings, the average frame rate drops from 107 FPS at 1080p to 101 FPS at 1440p, then to 93 FPS at 4K. This represents a 13% drop from 1080p to 1440p and an 8% drop from 1440p to 4K. The relatively small decreases indicate that at Low settings, the GPU has substantial headroom, and the limiting factor is more likely the CPU's ability to process frames.

At Medium settings, the frame rates are 89 FPS at 1080p, 79 FPS at 1440p, and 62 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 11%, consistent with the Low preset. However, the drop from 1440p to 4K is 21.5%, showing that the Medium preset's additional effects (likely including higher-resolution textures and more complex lighting) place a heavier load on the GPU as pixel count increases.

At High settings, the frame rates are 67 FPS at 1080p, 56 FPS at 1440p, and 44 FPS at 4K. The drops are 16.4% from 1080p to 1440p and 21.4% from 1440p to 4K. The larger drop at the first step suggests that the High preset introduces effects that are sensitive to resolution changes, such as volumetric lighting or ambient occlusion. At Ultra settings, the frame rates are 53 FPS at 1080p, 45 FPS at 1440p, and 35 FPS at 4K. The drops are 15.1% and 22.2%, respectively.

The scaling pattern indicates that the GPU becomes the dominant limiting factor at higher resolutions, particularly with Medium and above settings. At 1080p, the CPU can maintain high frame rates, but as resolution increases, the GPU's rendering workload grows faster than the CPU's frame submission rate. The 4K Ultra result of 35 FPS shows a 67% reduction from the 1080p Low result of 107 FPS, highlighting the combined impact of resolution and settings on this hardware combination. The data confirms that this combo is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, with 4K requiring significant settings reductions to remain playable.