The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is a study in contrasts. You have a 2025 flagship GPU with a 2019 mainstream six-core CPU, and The Medium’s measured results show exactly what happens when those two worlds collide. This combo ranks 494th out of 2,911 tested configurations, placing it in the top 17% of all pairings, but the data reveals that the CPU is holding back the GPU at lower resolutions while the GPU’s raw power dominates at 4K.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 brings six cores and twelve threads to the table, built on the Zen 2 architecture with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz. It’s a 65-watt part on the AM4 socket, and its 32 MB of shared L3 cache helps with game-level data access. For a horror title like The Medium, which is not typically a CPU-burner, this processor has more than enough physical resources to feed frames. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 4,605 and the max-thread score of 4,603 show that the chip’s multithreaded headroom is consistent, while the single-thread score of 696 indicates solid per-core performance for its generation.

The CPU’s percentile rank against all processors is 71, meaning it outperforms roughly 71% of all CPUs in the database. Its nearest rivals in aggregate benchmark score are the Intel Core i7-1260P (0.2% ahead), the Intel Core i5-11400 (0.2% behind), the AMD EPYC 7573X (0.2% behind), and the AMD EPYC 7742 (0.2% ahead). This puts the 3600 in a tightly contested performance band, but that band is far below what the RTX 5090 D is capable of. In The Medium, the CPU’s job is to keep up with the GPU’s frame output, and the measured FPS data suggests it does that adequately at 4K but becomes a bottleneck as resolution drops and frame rates climb.

At 1080p, the CPU’s limitations become visible in the scaling pattern. The high preset at 1920x1080 averages 79 FPS, which is only 4 FPS higher than the 4K high preset’s 68 FPS. That’s an 11 FPS difference between 1080p and 4K on the same settings, which is far smaller than what a GPU-bound scenario would show. The CPU is capping the frame rate at the low resolution, preventing the RTX 5090 D from stretching its legs. The single-thread score of 2,124 in Cinebench R23 and the Geekbench single-core score of 1,536 reinforce that this is a capable but not exceptional CPU by modern standards, and in a game like The Medium that relies on consistent frame pacing, those per-core limits matter.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This specific combination of the Ryzen 5 3600 and the RTX 5090 D holds a combo rank of 494 out of 2,911 tested configurations. That places it in the 83rd percentile of all combos, which is impressive on paper but somewhat misleading given the GPU’s potential. The RTX 5090 D is a top-tier card with a percentile rank of 92 among all GPUs, while the CPU sits at the 71st percentile. The gap between those two numbers is where the bottleneck lives.

The data shows that this combo is stronger than the average pairing, but it is not delivering the GPU’s full potential. The RTX 5090 D’s nearest rivals in GPU benchmark scores are the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (1.1% ahead), the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (1.6% behind), the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (2.1% behind), and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (2.4% behind). Those are all significantly lower-tier cards than the 5090 D, yet the combo rank suggests that the CPU drags the overall result down. If you were to pair this GPU with a stronger CPU, the combo rank would likely be much higher. As it stands, the 494th rank reflects a system that is GPU-rich and CPU-poor, and The Medium’s frame rates at lower resolutions prove that point.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The resolution scaling in The Medium tells a clear story about which component is doing the heavy lifting. Moving from 1080p to 4K on the high preset, the average FPS drops from 79 to 68, a decline of 11 FPS or roughly 14%. That is a modest drop for a 4x increase in pixel count, which strongly indicates a CPU bottleneck at 1080p. If the GPU were the limiting factor, the drop would be much steeper — typically 40% or more when going from 1080p to 4K.

The low preset shows the same pattern. At 1080p low, the system hits 107 FPS, while at 4K low it drops to 93 FPS. That’s a 14 FPS difference, again suggesting that the CPU is holding back the low-resolution results. The medium preset, which has full min and max FPS data, shows 89 FPS at 1080p, 84 FPS at 1440p, and 78 FPS at 4K. The step from 1080p to 1440p is only 5 FPS, and the step from 1440p to 4K is only 6 FPS. This gradual decline is characteristic of a system where the CPU is the primary limiter at lower resolutions, and the GPU only becomes the bottleneck as pixel count increases and frame rates drop.

At 4K, the GPU starts to take over. The ultra preset at 4K drops to 54 FPS, which is a 24 FPS drop from the 4K high preset’s 68 FPS. That’s a much larger relative drop, indicating that the GPU is now struggling with the combination of high resolution and high settings. The RTX 5090 D has 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and a 512-bit bus, so memory bandwidth is not an issue, but the shading workload at 4K ultra is substantial. The data suggests that at 4K, the system is closer to GPU-bound, while at 1080p, the CPU is clearly the limiting factor.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS ranges from 73 on ultra to 107 on low. The medium preset averages 89 FPS with a minimum of 76 and a maximum of 103. The high preset averages 79 FPS. The ultra preset’s 73 FPS is only 6 FPS below the high preset, which is a smaller gap than expected and points to the CPU limiting the ultra result as well. The low preset’s 107 FPS is the highest recorded at any resolution, but it’s far below what the RTX 5090 D could achieve with a stronger CPU.

At 2560x1440, the numbers shift slightly. Low averages 101 FPS, medium averages 84 FPS with a min of 72 and max of 97, high averages 75 FPS, and ultra averages 69 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p on the low preset is only 6 FPS (107 to 101), which again shows the CPU holding back the low-resolution result. The ultra preset drops from 73 FPS at 1080p to 69 FPS at 1440p, a 4 FPS decline that suggests the GPU is starting to engage more at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the GPU finally takes the lead. Low averages 93 FPS, medium averages 78 FPS with a min of 66 and max of 89, high averages 68 FPS, and ultra averages 54 FPS. The gap between low and ultra at 4K is 39 FPS, which is much larger than the 34 FPS gap at 1080p (107 to 73). This widening gap indicates that at 4K, the GPU is becoming the primary limiter, and the CPU has enough headroom to feed it. The medium preset’s min FPS of 66 at 4K is the lowest recorded minimum, but it’s still playable for a horror title where frame pacing matters less than atmosphere.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is a monster of a GPU, built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a base clock of 2017 MHz and a boost clock of 2407 MHz. It has 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. With 21,760 shading units and 170 RT cores, it’s designed for extreme workloads, and its FP32 performance of 104.8 TFLOPS puts it in a class of its own. The GPU’s percentile rank of 92 among all GPUs confirms its top-tier status, and its Passmark G3D score of 44,065 is nearly double what most mid-range cards achieve.

In The Medium, the GPU’s role is to render the game’s fixed-camera horror scenes with high-quality lighting and shadows. The 32 GB of VRAM is overkill for this game, but it ensures that even at 4K ultra, memory capacity is never a concern. The 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth is also far more than this game needs, which means the GPU is never starved for data. The measured FPS at 4K ultra of 54 FPS is respectable for a demanding preset, and the fact that the GPU can push 93 FPS at 4K low shows its raw power is not the issue.

The GPU’s nearest rivals in benchmark scores are all significantly weaker cards, which highlights how much headroom this GPU has. The RTX 5090 D is 1.1% behind the RX 6650M XT in average score, but that’s a synthetic benchmark quirk — in real gaming workloads, the 5090 D is in a different league. The data shows that the GPU is not the bottleneck in The Medium at 1080p or 1440p; it’s the CPU that’s leaving performance on the table. At 4K, the GPU starts to flex its muscles, but even then, the 54 FPS at ultra suggests the CPU is still marginally holding back the highest settings.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

For the best balance of performance and visual quality, the medium preset at 1440p is the sweet spot. It averages 84 FPS with a minimum of 72 and a maximum of 97, which is smooth and responsive for a horror game. The jump from medium to high at 1440p costs 9 FPS (84 to 75), which is not worth the visual gain in most scenes. At 1080p, the medium preset’s 89 FPS with a min of 76 is also excellent, and it’s the highest preset that maintains a comfortable margin above 60 FPS.

If you’re gaming at 4K, the high preset at 68 FPS is the recommended choice. It drops to 54 FPS on ultra, which is a 14 FPS loss for what is likely a subtle visual improvement in shadows and reflections. The medium preset at 4K averages 78 FPS with a min of 66, which is also playable, but the high preset offers noticeably better image quality for only 10 FPS less. The low preset at 4K hits 93 FPS, but at that point you’re sacrificing too much visual fidelity for a game that relies on atmosphere.

The measured data shows that the ultra preset is generally not worth the performance hit on this combo. At every resolution, the drop from high to ultra is disproportionately large — 6 FPS at 1080p, 6 FPS at 1440p, and 14 FPS at 4K. The medium preset provides the best frame rate stability, as evidenced by the min FPS values being closest to the average. Ultimately, the RTX 5090 D has the horsepower to run The Medium at high settings across all resolutions, but the Ryzen 5 3600 limits how much of that power you can actually use at lower resolutions. Stick with high at 4K or medium at 1440p for the most consistent experience.