The Medium

The Medium is a horror title that stresses both GPU and CPU heavily, and this particular pairing of an AMD Ryzen 5 3600 with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 produces a fascinating bottleneck profile. The data shows a system where the graphics card is overwhelmingly powerful, yet the final frame rates are consistently tempered by the processor and the game's engine. This combo ranks 344th out of 1689 tested combinations, placing it in the top 21% of all systems, which is respectable but far from what the RTX 4090 is capable of in less CPU-bound titles. The following analysis breaks down exactly where the limits lie across resolutions and settings.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic CPU-bound scenario at lower resolutions that gradually shifts toward GPU-bound behavior at 4K, though never fully escaping the processor's influence. At Low settings, the average frame rate drops from 109.2 FPS at 1920x1080 to 100.2 FPS at 2560x1440, and finally to 95.9 FPS at 3840x2160. That is a mere 12.2% total drop from 1080p to 4K, which is remarkably small and indicates that the CPU is the primary limiter even at 4K Low. The Ryzen 5 3600's six cores are being maxed out, preventing the RTX 4090 from stretching its legs.

Moving to High settings, the scaling is slightly more pronounced. The average goes from 77.7 FPS at 1080p to 74.6 FPS at 1440p, then down to 65.6 FPS at 4K. The 15.6% drop from 1080p to 4K here shows the GPU starting to take on more responsibility, but the absolute numbers are still low for an RTX 4090. At Ultra settings, the trend becomes clearer: 75.3 FPS at 1080p, 63.9 FPS at 1440p, and 47.4 FPS at 4K. This 37% reduction from 1080p to 4K is the largest of any settings tier, demonstrating that Ultra is where the GPU finally becomes the dominant bottleneck. The pattern suggests that in this game, the CPU holds the system back at 1080p and 1440p, while the GPU's workload at 4K Ultra is so immense that it aligns more closely with the card's raw capability.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is an absolute monster on paper, with 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus providing 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. Its boost clock of 2520 MHz and 16384 shading units give it a theoretical FP32 performance of 82.58 TFLOPS, which is more than enough to obliterate most games. In this title, however, the GPU's role is constrained by the CPU. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the RTX 4090 only manages 109.2 FPS, which is far below what its compute capabilities suggest. The card is effectively idle waiting for the CPU to feed it data.

The VRAM capacity is never a concern here; 24 GB is massive overkill for a game that likely uses a fraction of that at 4K Ultra. The GPU's memory bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s also ensures that texture streaming is never a bottleneck. What matters more is the card's raw shader throughput, which only becomes fully engaged at 4K Ultra, where it still manages 47.4 FPS. Benchmark results indicate the GPU sits in the 91st percentile of all graphics cards, with a Passmark G3D score of 38194, placing it well above most rivals. However, in this specific game, the measured FPS at 1080p High (77.7) is nearly identical to 1080p Ultra (75.3), suggesting that once the CPU is saturated, additional GPU load has minimal impact until 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

Out of 1689 tested combinations, this pairing of the Ryzen 5 3600 and RTX 4090 achieves a rank of 344. That places it in the top 20.4% of all systems tested, which is a strong result on the surface. However, the context is critical: the RTX 4090 is an end-of-life flagship that, when paired with a more modern CPU, would likely rank far higher. The Ryzen 5 3600, with its 76th percentile standing among all CPUs, is the weak link here. Its average benchmark score of 18129 is nearly identical to the Intel Core i5-11400, which scores 18150 (a 0.1% difference), and the AMD Ryzen 5 1600 at 18158 (0.2% difference). This means the CPU is performing exactly as expected, but that expectation is several generations behind the GPU.

The combo rank of 344 suggests that the system is still faster than over 1300 other combinations, which confirms the GPU's brute force. Yet, the delta between this rank and where the RTX 4090 would land with a top-tier CPU highlights the imbalance. The data implies that many lower-tier GPUs paired with better CPUs might achieve similar frame rates in this specific game, as the CPU bottleneck levels the playing field. For a builder, this rank indicates a mismatched pairing, though not a broken one.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the results are consistently CPU-bound. Low settings produce 109.2 FPS, Medium drops to 89.4 FPS, High to 77.7 FPS, and Ultra to 75.3 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra is only 3.1%, showing that the CPU cannot push more frames regardless of the GPU's workload. The jump from Low to Medium is 22.2%, which is the largest single-step drop at this resolution, indicating that Medium settings introduce enough GPU work to start hitting the CPU's limit harder.

At 2560x1440, the pattern holds but with slightly lower absolute numbers. Low delivers 100.2 FPS, Medium 83.2 FPS, High 74.6 FPS, and Ultra 63.9 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra widens to 14.3%, showing that the GPU is beginning to matter more. The 1440p Low result is only 8.2% lower than the 1080p Low result, confirming the CPU bottleneck is still dominant.

At 3840x2160, the GPU takes over. Low produces 95.9 FPS, Medium 79.4 FPS, High 65.6 FPS, and Ultra 47.4 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra is a 50.6% drop, which is the most pronounced of any resolution. This is where the RTX 4090's workload finally overwhelms the CPU's ability to feed it, allowing the GPU's raw power to become the limiting factor. Notably, the 4K Ultra result of 47.4 FPS is the only sub-60 FPS result in the entire dataset, making it the only configuration where the system struggles to maintain smooth gameplay.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 is a six-core, twelve-thread processor based on the Zen 2 architecture, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz. It has 32 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR4 memory in dual-channel configuration. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 15045 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2124 in single-core, which are solid but unremarkable numbers for a 2019 release. Its 76th percentile ranking among all CPUs confirms it is an average performer by modern standards.

In The Medium, the CPU's role is to feed the RTX 4090, and it fails to do so adequately at lower resolutions. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 109.2 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's maximum frame generation limit for this game engine. The fact that 1440p Low (100.2 FPS) and 4K Low (95.9 FPS) are not drastically lower suggests the CPU is the constant limiting factor across all resolutions when settings are low. The CPU's six cores and twelve threads are being fully utilized, but the game appears to be heavily dependent on single-thread performance, where this chip's 2124 Cinebench R23 score is merely adequate. The result is that the RTX 4090 is never fully utilized until 4K Ultra, and even then, the CPU's influence is still present.

FAQ

Q: Is this system capable of running The Medium at 4K Ultra?

A: Yes, but just barely. The measured average FPS at 3840x2160 Ultra is 47.4 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target but still playable for a horror game where atmosphere matters more than fast action.

Q: Why is the FPS so similar between 1080p and 1440p at Low settings?

A: At Low settings, the CPU becomes the bottleneck. The 1080p Low result is 109.2 FPS, while 1440p Low is 100.2 FPS, a difference of only 8.2%, indicating the Ryzen 5 3600 cannot generate more frames regardless of resolution.

Q: What is the best settings tier for this combo at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, High settings deliver 74.6 FPS, while Ultra drops to 63.9 FPS. The 14.3% performance hit for Ultra may not be worth it if visual fidelity gains are marginal.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 3600 compare to its closest CPU rival?

A: The Ryzen 5 3600 scores 18129 on average benchmarks, which is 0.1% lower than the Intel Core i5-11400's 18150. The performance difference is negligible in this game.

Q: Does the RTX 4090's 24 GB VRAM matter for this game?

A: The data does not indicate any VRAM-related limitation. The 24 GB GDDR6X memory is far more than The Medium requires, so the GPU's memory capacity is not a factor in the measured FPS.

Q: Is the 47.4 FPS at 4K Ultra a stable result?

A: The measured average FPS is 47.4 at 3840x2160 Ultra, with no minimum FPS recorded. The average suggests consistent performance, but the lack of a minimum frame rate means stutter data is unavailable.