The Medium

The AMD Ryzen 5 4600G paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D produces a highly unusual performance profile in The Medium, where the GPU’s immense power is consistently restrained by the older CPU. Benchmark data across three resolutions and four quality presets reveals a system that delivers playable frame rates but never approaches the ceiling its graphics card could theoretically reach. The following analysis breaks down how this specific combination behaves, what settings extract the most consistent experience, and where the bottleneck truly lies.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data for this combo shows that the "Low" preset at 1080p yields the highest average frame rate at 111 FPS, but it is not the optimal choice for a balanced experience. The "Medium" preset at 1080p delivers 92 FPS average with a minimum of 79 FPS and a maximum of 106 FPS, representing a substantial improvement in visual fidelity over Low with only a 19 FPS penalty. For players prioritizing smoothness at high refresh rates, the "Medium" 1080p setting is the sweet spot, as it maintains a floor above 60 FPS while offering more detail than the bare minimum.

At 1440p, the "Medium" preset averages 87 FPS with a minimum of 74 FPS and a maximum of 100 FPS. This is the strongest 1440p option because it keeps the average above 85 FPS while the minimum remains comfortably above 60 FPS. The "High" preset at 1440p drops to 77 FPS average, which is still playable but introduces a narrower margin above the 60 FPS threshold. The "Ultra" preset at 1440p falls to 69 FPS, and while it is technically playable, the 8 FPS difference between Ultra and High does not justify the additional graphical load given the CPU constraint.

For 4K gaming, the "Low" preset is the only setting that breaks the 90 FPS barrier, averaging 97 FPS. However, the "Medium" preset at 4K provides 81 FPS average with a minimum of 68 FPS and a maximum of 93 FPS, which is a remarkable result for a horror title at this resolution. The "High" preset at 4K averages 68 FPS, and the "Ultra" preset drops to 54 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS playability standard. The recommendation for 4K is the "Medium" preset, as it maintains a 68 FPS minimum while offering significantly better visuals than Low, and it keeps the average above 80 FPS.

The data indicates that the "Medium" preset is the most consistent performer across all three resolutions, with the smallest delta between minimum and maximum frame times. This suggests that the combination of the CPU’s 6 cores and the GPU’s massive shading array stabilizes best at this quality level, avoiding the CPU-bound scenarios that plague higher presets.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is a 5 nm Blackwell 2.0 architecture part with a base clock of 2017 MHz and a boost clock of 2407 MHz. It carries 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, yielding 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. The GPU features 21,760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 raster output units, along with 170 ray tracing cores and 680 tensor cores. Its FP32 compute throughput is rated at 104.8 TFLOPS.

In The Medium, the GPU’s role is paradoxical. Despite its massive compute resources, the measured frame rates at 1080p Low (111 FPS) and 1080p Ultra (75 FPS) show only a 36 FPS spread across four presets. This narrow range indicates that the GPU is not the primary bottleneck at lower resolutions. The GPU’s 32 GB VRAM is far beyond what this game requires, and the data shows that memory capacity never becomes a limiting factor. Instead, the GPU’s raw power is being held back by the CPU’s inability to feed it enough draw calls and geometry data.

At 4K, the GPU begins to flex its muscles. The difference between 4K Low (97 FPS) and 4K Ultra (54 FPS) is 43 FPS, which is larger than at 1080p. This suggests that at 4K, the GPU’s shading units are more engaged, and the higher resolution reduces the CPU bottleneck proportionally. However, even at 4K Ultra, the 54 FPS average is far below what the RTX 5090 D should deliver based on its benchmark scores, which place it in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs. The GPU’s PassMark G3D score of 44,065 and Geekbench Vulkan score of 376,915 confirm its top-tier status, but the measured game performance does not reflect that potential.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the limiting component clearly. At "Low" settings, the average FPS drops from 111 at 1080p to 105 at 1440p (a 5.4% decrease) and then to 97 at 4K (a 7.6% decrease from 1440p). This gentle slope is characteristic of a CPU-bound scenario, where increasing resolution has minimal impact because the CPU is already saturated.

At "Medium" settings, the averages are 92 FPS at 1080p, 87 FPS at 1440p, and 81 FPS at 4K. The drops are 5.4% and 6.9% respectively, again indicating CPU limitation. At "High" settings, the averages are 82 FPS at 1080p, 77 FPS at 1440p, and 68 FPS at 4K, with percentage drops of 6.1% and 11.7%. The larger drop at 4K High suggests the GPU is starting to contribute to the bottleneck, but the CPU still dominates.

At "Ultra" settings, the averages are 75 FPS at 1080p, 69 FPS at 1440p, and 54 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1440p to 4K is 21.7%, which is the steepest decline across all presets. This indicates that at Ultra 4K, the GPU’s shading and memory bandwidth are finally being taxed, but the absolute frame rates remain low because the CPU cannot sustain a high enough baseline. The data shows that resolution scaling is compressed across all settings, with the total range from 1080p Low to 4K Ultra being only 57 FPS (from 111 to 54). For a GPU with 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, this is an extraordinarily narrow performance envelope, confirming that the Ryzen 5 4600G is the primary constraint.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 4600G and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D ranks 593rd out of 3,724 tested combos in The Medium. This places it in the top 16% of all configurations, which is respectable but unremarkable given the GPU’s capabilities. The rank is heavily influenced by the CPU’s performance percentile of 71, which is far lower than the GPU’s 92nd percentile.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks provide context for its standing. The AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 5355GE scores 17,482 (0.1% slower), the Intel Core 7 150U scores 17,395 (0.6% faster), the AMD Ryzen 3 8300GE scores 17,614 (0.6% slower), and the Intel Core i3-14100T scores 17,648 (0.8% slower). These deltas are all within 1%, meaning the Ryzen 5 4600G is essentially equivalent to a modern low-power chip in raw throughput. However, in gaming, the 4600G’s lack of higher single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1,919) shows up as a bottleneck.

The GPU’s nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are far more powerful. The AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT scores 76,904 (1.1% slower), the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT scores 78,940 (1.6% faster), the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB scores 79,396 (2.1% faster), and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB scores 79,605 (2.4% faster). These are all laptop or datacenter parts, and the RTX 5090 D sits among them with a 77,712 average score. Yet in The Medium, this combo’s rank is dragged down by the CPU’s inability to drive the GPU effectively.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 4600G is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 2 architecture, codenamed Renoir, built on a 7 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. Its cache configuration includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 512 KB of L2 per core, and 8 MB of shared L3. The CPU supports DDR4 memory on a dual-channel bus with 51.2 GB/s of bandwidth, and it uses PCIe Gen 3 with 20 lanes.

In The Medium, the CPU’s role is the dominant bottleneck. The measured frame rates show that the GPU is rarely fully utilized, and the CPU’s 8 MB of shared L3 cache is a significant limitation for a modern game. The 4600G’s Cinebench R23 multicore score of 13,593 and single-core score of 1,919 indicate that its per-thread performance is modest by current standards. The game’s horror genre typically relies on complex scripted sequences and AI calculations, which put heavy demand on single-thread performance. The 4600G’s single-thread score places it well below modern CPUs, and the data shows that this bottleneck caps frame rates at around 111 FPS even at the lowest settings.

The CPU’s memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s is also a limiting factor. With the RTX 5090 D capable of 1.79 TB/s of memory bandwidth, the CPU’s ability to feed data to the GPU is severely constrained. This is evident in the fact that the 1080p Low preset (111 FPS) is only 14 FPS faster than the 4K Low preset (97 FPS), a tiny delta that would be much larger if the GPU were the bottleneck. The CPU’s 12 threads help in multi-threaded workloads, as shown by its 3DMark 16-thread score of 4,863, but The Medium does not appear to scale well beyond 8 threads, as the 3DMark 8-thread score of 4,138 is close to the 16-thread result. This confirms that the CPU’s per-core performance, not its thread count, is the key constraint.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset to use with this combo for a 60 FPS experience at 4K?

A: The "Medium" preset at 4K averages 81 FPS with a minimum of 68 FPS, making it the highest quality setting that maintains a floor above 60 FPS. The "High" preset drops to 68 FPS average, which is borderline, and "Ultra" falls to 54 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS standard.

Q: Why does the RTX 5090 D not deliver higher frame rates with this CPU?

A: The CPU’s single-thread performance, measured at a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1,919, is too low to feed the GPU’s 21,760 shading units effectively. The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K is minimal (111 to 97 FPS at Low), indicating the CPU is the bottleneck, not the GPU.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to all tested systems in The Medium?

A: This combo ranks 593rd out of 3,724 total combinations, placing it in the top 16% of all configurations tested. The rank is limited by the CPU’s 71st percentile performance, despite the GPU’s 92nd percentile standing.

Q: Is the 32 GB of VRAM on the RTX 5090 D ever a limiting factor in this game?

A: No. The data shows no indication that VRAM capacity affects performance. The frame rates are consistent with CPU limitation, and the GPU’s memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s is never fully utilized because the CPU cannot supply data fast enough.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 1080p and 4K at the same settings?

A: At Low settings, the drop is from 111 FPS at 1080p to 97 FPS at 4K, a 14 FPS decrease. At Medium, it drops from 92 FPS to 81 FPS, an 11 FPS decrease. At High, it drops from 82 FPS to 68 FPS, a 14 FPS decrease. At Ultra, it drops from 75 FPS to 54 FPS, a 21 FPS decrease.

Q: Does the CPU’s overclocking capability help in this game?

A: The Ryzen 5 4600G has an unlocked multiplier, and its boost clock of 4.20 GHz can potentially be raised. However, the base clock is 3.70 GHz, and the measured data reflects the stock performance. Overclocking could mitigate some bottleneck, but the CPU’s 8 MB L3 cache and Zen 2 architecture remain structural limitations.