The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 produces a specific performance profile in The Medium, a horror title that stresses both the renderer and the CPU. The measured data shows a combination that is capable of playable frame rates at lower settings and resolutions, but which struggles to maintain smooth performance when ray-traced effects and higher presets are enabled. The benchmark results indicate that this system sits near the bottom of the tested combos, ranking 2948 out of 3724, placing it in a position where settings management is critical for a satisfactory experience.

FAQ

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

A: Based on the measured FPS data, 1920x1080 is the only resolution where the combo achieves consistently playable frame rates. At 1080p, the average FPS ranges from 30 on Ultra to 83 on Low, whereas at 2560x1440, the range drops to 25-70 FPS, and at 3840x2160, it falls to 20-55 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 2060's VRAM capacity affect performance?

A: The GPU is equipped with 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus with 336.0 GB/s bandwidth. The data shows a significant FPS drop when moving from Low to Medium settings, likely reflecting the increased memory pressure from higher-resolution textures, though the 6 GB capacity is sufficient for the game's measured presets.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 3600 a bottleneck for the RTX 2060 in this game?

A: The CPU has 6 cores and 12 threads with a boost clock of 4.20 GHz. While the data does not directly measure CPU load, the FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K is not linear, and the CPU's benchmark percentile of 71 versus the GPU's 58 suggests the processor has more relative headroom, pointing to the GPU as the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions.

Q: What is the playable preset at 1080p?

A: The Medium preset at 1920x1080 yields an average of 52 FPS with a minimum of 44 FPS, which is the only preset above Low that maintains an average above 50 FPS. The High preset drops to 37 FPS, and Ultra falls to 30 FPS, making Medium the best balance for smooth gameplay at this resolution.

Q: How does this combo compare to the nearest rival GPU?

A: The RTX 2060's average benchmark score is 15290. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580, scores 15283, a delta of 0%. The AMD Radeon 680M scores 15270, which is 0.1% lower. This indicates the RTX 2060 is statistically tied with these alternatives in synthetic tests.

Q: Does the game run better at 1440p with Low settings?

A: Yes, at 2560x1440 with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 70 FPS. This is playable, but the jump from Low to Medium at this resolution causes a 26 FPS drop to 44 FPS, showing that the Low preset is the only viable option for high refresh rates at 1440p.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data shows a clear pattern: the RTX 2060 and Ryzen 5 3600 combo is heavily taxed by the higher quality presets. The most balanced experience is found at 1920x1080 with the Medium preset, which delivers an average of 52 FPS and a minimum of 44 FPS. This is the only configuration that exceeds the 50 FPS threshold without sacrificing the visual fidelity offered by the Medium preset. The High preset at the same resolution only manages 37 FPS, which is a substantial 15 FPS drop for what is likely a marginal visual improvement.

For users who prioritize frame rate stability over visual quality, the Low preset at 1080p is the top performer, with an average of 83 FPS. This provides a large headroom for the game's slower, cinematic moments. However, the Medium preset's minimum of 44 FPS is above the 30 FPS threshold that often defines playability, making it the recommended choice for a standard 60Hz display.

At 2560x1440, the situation becomes more restrictive. The Low preset is the only one that maintains an average above 60 FPS, hitting 70 FPS. The Medium preset drops to 44 FPS, which is playable but may feel inconsistent. For 4K, the data shows that the Low preset is the only one that achieves a playable average of 55 FPS, while Medium falls to 34 FPS and High to 25 FPS. Therefore, the recommended setting hierarchy is: for 4K, use Low; for 1440p, use Low for high refresh rates or Medium for a playable experience; for 1080p, use Medium for the best balance.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data reveals a steep performance penalty as resolution increases. At 1920x1080 with Medium settings, the average FPS is 52. Moving to 2560x1440 with the same settings, the average drops to 44 FPS, a 15% reduction. Scaling further to 3840x2160, the average falls to 34 FPS, which is a 35% drop from the 1080p figure. This pattern indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting component, as the pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K, but the frame rate does not drop proportionally.

The Low preset shows a similar trend. At 1080p, the average is 83 FPS; at 1440p, it is 70 FPS; and at 4K, it is 55 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 4K is 34%, which is less than the 50% drop seen in the Medium preset. This suggests that the Low preset is less dependent on the GPU's raw throughput and more on other factors, but the overall trend confirms that the RTX 2060's 6.451 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is saturated quickly as resolution increases. The CPU's role is less prominent, as the 6-core Ryzen 5 3600 with a boost clock of 4.20 GHz provides sufficient single-thread performance to keep up with the GPU's rendering demands, even at lower resolutions where the CPU load is typically higher.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the data shows a wide spread across the four presets. The Low preset achieves an average of 83 FPS, which is the highest score for this resolution. The Medium preset delivers 52 FPS, with a minimum of 44 FPS and a maximum of 60 FPS, indicating a stable frame pacing. The High preset drops to 37 FPS, and the Ultra preset bottoms out at 30 FPS. This 53 FPS difference between Low and Ultra highlights the significant cost of the higher quality effects.

At 2560x1440, the performance scales down. The Low preset averages 70 FPS, which is still smooth. The Medium preset averages 44 FPS, with a minimum of 37 FPS and a maximum of 50 FPS. The High preset falls to 31 FPS, and the Ultra preset hits 25 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 45 FPS, which is slightly smaller than at 1080p, showing that the GPU is becoming the bottleneck.

At 3840x2160, the combo is pushed to its limits. The Low preset averages 55 FPS, which is the only playable option. The Medium preset averages 34 FPS, with a minimum of 29 FPS and a maximum of 40 FPS, which is borderline. The High preset averages 25 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 20 FPS. The data shows that the jump from Low to Medium at 4K costs 21 FPS, a massive penalty that suggests the Medium preset's additional effects (likely ray tracing) are too demanding for the RTX 2060's 30 RT cores.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is built on the Turing architecture with a TU106 chip. Its memory configuration includes 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, providing 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's base clock is 1365 MHz, with a boost clock of 1680 MHz. The measured FPS data indicates that the GPU is the dominant factor in performance, as the frame rates scale directly with the number of pixels rendered.

The GPU's benchmark scores show a passmark_g3d score of 14111 and a 3dmark_steel_nomad_dx12 score of 1242. These numbers place the GPU in the 58th percentile of all GPUs. The nearest rival, the GTX 580, scores 15283, which is a 0% delta, meaning the RTX 2060 is effectively tied with a much older card in synthetic tests. This is surprising given the architectural differences, but it explains why the game's performance is not stellar. The memory bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s is adequate for the game's textures, but the 6 GB capacity may limit the use of Ultra settings, which often require more VRAM. The data shows that the Ultra preset at 1080p only achieves 30 FPS, which is likely a combination of compute and memory pressure.

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's L3 cache is 32 MB shared, which is ample for gaming. The CPU's benchmark scores include a cinebench_r23_multicore score of 15045 and a singlecore score of 2124, placing it in the 71st percentile of all CPUs.

In The Medium, the CPU's role is less critical than the GPU's, as evidenced by the FPS scaling. At 1080p, where the CPU load is typically higher, the combo still manages 83 FPS on Low, which is a strong result. The CPU's nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-11400, has an average score of 17067, which is a delta of -0.2%, meaning the Ryzen 5 3600 is slightly slower. However, this difference is unlikely to be noticeable in the game's measured frames. The CPU's 12 threads are sufficient for the game's multi-threaded rendering, and its boost clock of 4.20 GHz ensures that the single-threaded workload of the game's logic is handled without bottlenecking the RTX 2060. The data suggests that the CPU is not the limiting factor, as the FPS drops are consistently tied to the resolution changes, which stress the GPU.

How This Combo Ranks

The Ryzen 5 3600 + RTX 2060 combo ranks 2948 out of 3724 tested combinations in The Medium. This places it in the bottom 21% of all tested systems, which is a poor showing for a modern setup. The ranking reflects the GPU's relative weakness in this specific title, which is known for its demanding ray-traced effects. The GPU's percentile of 58 is lower than the CPU's percentile of 71, reinforcing that the GPU is the bottleneck.

The combo's ranking is consistent with the measured FPS data. At 1080p, the system cannot maintain 60 FPS on High settings, which is a common target for modern hardware. The Ultra preset at 1080p only achieves 30 FPS, which is below the playable threshold for most users. The ranking of 2948 suggests that there are 775 other combos that perform worse, but the vast majority of tested systems are faster. This is likely due to the RTX 2060's age and its position in the market, as it was released in 2019 and is now end-of-life. The data shows that this combo is suitable for 1080p gaming at Medium settings, but it is not a high-performance option for this game. The combo's position in the ranking is a direct consequence of the GPU's inability to handle the game's higher presets, which is evident in the steep FPS drops across the settings ladder.