The Medium

The Medium is a demanding horror title that stresses both GPU and CPU, and the combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 4600G with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti produces a wide spread of results depending on your resolution and quality targets. The data shows this combo ranks 569th out of 1689 tested combinations, placing it in the upper third of all systems. At 1080p, the pairing is capable of high refresh rates, but at 4K Ultra, it falls below the 60 FPS threshold. The measured frames per second reveal a clear pattern: the RTX 3080 Ti carries the load at higher resolutions, but the Ryzen 5 4600G’s six cores and twelve threads can still keep up without becoming a major bottleneck in most scenarios.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark results indicate that the optimal balance of visual quality and performance depends heavily on your display resolution. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers 93.4 FPS average, which is a strong baseline for smooth gameplay, while High settings only drop to 69.5 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1080p yields 53.5 FPS, which is playable but sacrifices the headroom needed for consistent frame pacing. For 1440p, the Medium preset is the sweet spot, hitting 77.4 FPS, whereas High drops to 59.1 FPS, which is still acceptable for a horror title where atmosphere matters more than twitch reflexes. The Low preset at 1440p reaches 104.2 FPS, but the visual trade-off is likely too severe for a game that relies on lighting and shadow detail.

At 3840x2160, the situation changes dramatically. The Medium preset averages 59.3 FPS, which is just shy of a locked 60 FPS experience, while High drops to 42.9 FPS and Ultra falls to 33.7 FPS. For 4K users, the data strongly recommends the Medium preset as the best experience per the measured rows, as it maintains fluid motion without the steep cost of High or Ultra. The Low preset at 4K reaches 95.1 FPS, but that setting effectively removes the visual fidelity that defines the game’s horror atmosphere. The recommendation is straightforward: use Medium at 4K, Medium or High at 1440p, and High at 1080p for the best balance of frame rate and image quality.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications explain the performance scaling. The GPU features 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, providing 912.4 GB/s of bandwidth, which is critical for The Medium’s high-resolution textures and complex scenes. The boost clock of 1665 MHz, combined with 10240 shading units and 80 RT cores, allows the card to handle the game’s fixed-camera perspective and volumetric effects with authority. The data shows that moving from Low to Ultra at 1080p reduces the average FPS from 108.7 to 53.5, a drop of 55.2 FPS, which highlights how much the GPU is taxed by the higher-quality presets.

At 4K, the RTX 3080 Ti’s memory bandwidth becomes even more important. The jump from Medium (59.3 FPS) to High (42.9 FPS) at 3840x2160 represents a 16.4 FPS loss, indicating that the card’s 12 GB frame buffer is sufficient but the compute load at High and Ultra becomes prohibitive. The GPU’s performance percentile of 83 places it above most cards, and its nearest rival, the RTX 3090, is only 0.5% faster in average benchmark score. This means the RTX 3080 Ti is not the limiting factor at 4K Ultra; rather, the game’s demands simply exceed what any single card can deliver at that preset, as evidenced by the 33.7 FPS result.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 569 out of 1689 tested combinations places this system in the 66th percentile of all tested pairings. This is a respectable position, but it is not near the top, which suggests that the Ryzen 5 4600G holds the RTX 3080 Ti back in some scenarios. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 17489 puts it at the 75th percentile among all processors, but its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i3-14100T and i3-13100F, which are lower-tier chips with similar performance. The Ryzen 5 4600G is within 1% of these rivals, meaning the CPU is not a standout performer, but it is not a weak link either.

When compared to the GPU’s own standing, the RTX 3080 Ti sits at the 83rd percentile, which is higher than the combo’s overall rank. This discrepancy indicates that the CPU is dragging the system down slightly, particularly in CPU-bound scenarios at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 108.7 FPS, but a stronger CPU might push that number higher given the RTX 3080 Ti’s headroom. The rank of 569 suggests that many other combos with faster processors and similar or weaker GPUs outperform this pairing in overall game scores, but the RTX 3080 Ti ensures that 1440p and 4K performance remains strong.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of how this combo performs across all resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 108.7 FPS, Medium hits 93.4 FPS, High reaches 69.5 FPS, and Ultra drops to 53.5 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra is a 55.2 FPS reduction, which is a significant penalty for the highest quality settings. At 2560x1440, the numbers are 104.2 FPS for Low, 77.4 FPS for Medium, 59.1 FPS for High, and 47 FPS for Ultra. The 1440p results show a similar pattern, with Ultra falling below the 50 FPS mark, which is not ideal for a game that can have sudden action sequences.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops considerably. The Low preset averages 95.1 FPS, which is surprisingly high for 4K, but Medium drops to 59.3 FPS, High falls to 42.9 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 33.7 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium at 4K is 35.8 FPS, which is the largest single-step penalty in the entire dataset. This indicates that the Medium preset introduces significant visual effects that heavily tax the GPU. The 1080p Medium result of 93.4 FPS is higher than the 1440p High result of 59.1 FPS, showing that resolution has a larger impact than settings in this game. The data also shows that at 1440p, the Medium preset (77.4 FPS) is 18.3 FPS faster than High, making it the clear choice for smoother gameplay.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play The Medium with this combo?

A: The data suggests 1440p with the Medium preset, which averages 77.4 FPS, offers the best balance of visual quality and smoothness. Alternatively, 1080p High at 69.5 FPS is also a strong choice for higher refresh rate displays.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in The Medium?

A: Yes, but only at Medium settings, which averages 59.3 FPS. High and Ultra at 4K drop to 42.9 FPS and 33.7 FPS respectively, which are below the ideal 60 FPS threshold for comfortable play.

Q: How much performance is lost going from Low to Ultra at 1080p?

A: The average FPS drops from 108.7 at Low to 53.5 at Ultra, a reduction of 55.2 FPS. This is a 50.8% decrease in performance, making Ultra a poor choice for competitive or fast-paced play.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 4600G a bottleneck for the RTX 3080 Ti in this game?

A: The benchmark results indicate the CPU is adequate but not exceptional. Its average benchmark score of 17489 is only 0.1% different from the Intel Core i5-12450H, and the combo ranks 569th out of 1689, suggesting the CPU limits performance in some CPU-bound scenarios, particularly at lower resolutions.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 1080p and 1440p at High settings?

A: At 1080p High, the average FPS is 69.5, while at 1440p High it drops to 59.1. This is a 10.4 FPS reduction, showing that the resolution increase has a moderate impact on performance at this settings level.

Q: Does the RTX 3080 Ti’s 12 GB of VRAM cause any issues at 4K?

A: The data does not show any VRAM-related stuttering or failures. The 12 GB frame buffer, combined with 912.4 GB/s of bandwidth, is sufficient for the Medium preset at 4K, which achieves 59.3 FPS, though higher presets are limited by compute performance rather than memory capacity.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 4600G is a Zen 2 architecture processor with 6 cores and 12 threads, base clock of 3.70 GHz, and boost clock of 4.20 GHz. It has 8 MB of shared L3 cache and supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth. In The Medium, the CPU’s role is to feed the RTX 3080 Ti with enough draw calls and physics data to keep the GPU busy. The benchmark data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo hits 108.7 FPS, which suggests the CPU can handle the game’s threading demands reasonably well. However, the CPU’s benchmark scores tell a more nuanced story. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 13593 and single-core score of 1919 place it in the 75th percentile, which is solid but not top-tier.

The nearest rivals to the Ryzen 5 4600G include the Intel Core i3-14100T, which is 0.8% faster in average benchmark score, and the Intel Core i3-13100F, which is 1% faster. These are budget-oriented CPUs, which indicates that the Ryzen 5 4600G is not a high-end part. In The Medium, this means the CPU could become a limiting factor when the GPU is not fully utilized, such as at 1080p with lower settings. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 4863 and max-thread score of 4889 show that the CPU scales well with additional threads, but the single-thread score of 726 is relatively low. The game’s fixed-camera design may rely more on single-thread performance for scene updates, which could explain why the combo does not rank higher than 569th. Overall, the Ryzen 5 4600G is a capable companion for the RTX 3080 Ti in this horror title, but it does not boost the system beyond what the GPU alone can achieve.