The Medium

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

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor built on the Zen 3 architecture with a 7 nm process. It operates at a base clock of 3.60 GHz and boosts to 4.20 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. This is a desktop-class chip on the AMD Socket AM4 platform, supporting dual-channel DDR4 memory with a bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s. The processor's cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 512 KB of L2 per core, and a 16 MB L3 pool.

In synthetic workloads, the Ryzen 5 5500 shows a balanced profile. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 16429, while the single-core score sits at 2319. Geekbench results follow suit: 7976 multi-core and 1730 single-core. The 3DMark threaded tests reveal scaling from 836 single-thread to 5411 max-threads, indicating that the chip gains roughly 6.5x performance when moving from one thread to all threads. This scaling curve matters for a game like The Medium, which is a horror title that tends to favor a few heavily loaded threads rather than perfect multi-core utilization.

The processor's percentile rank against all CPUs is 73, meaning it outperforms roughly three-quarters of tested processors. Its nearest rivals in aggregate benchmark score include the AMD Ryzen AI 5 430 at 19617 (a 0.1% delta), the Intel Core i5-12500 at 19668 (0.4% delta), and the Intel Core i7-10700F at 19499 (a -0.5% delta in the other direction). The Ryzen 5 5500 sits essentially neck-and-neck with these chips, within a single percentage point in either direction.

For The Medium specifically, the CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads provide enough headroom for the game's rendering tasks, but the measured FPS data suggests that the processor is rarely the primary constraint at higher resolutions. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 123 FPS average, which climbs to 104 FPS at 1440p and 81 FPS at 4K. This pattern shows that even when the GPU load is reduced by low graphical settings, the CPU can still feed frames at triple-digit rates. The 3.60 GHz base clock and 4.20 GHz boost are modest by modern standards, yet the Zen 3 architecture's efficiency compensates, keeping the chip relevant in this pairing.

The Cinebench R20 scores (6900 multi-core, 973 single-core) and PassMark multithread score of 19330 reinforce the idea that this CPU is a solid mid-range performer. It is not a flagship part, but its 73rd percentile standing means it is well above average. In the context of The Medium, the CPU's role is to maintain consistent frame pacing, particularly at 1080p where the GPU is less taxed. The data shows that at 1080p Medium, the average FPS is 77 with a minimum of 65 and maximum of 88 — a tight band that suggests the CPU is keeping up without bottlenecking the GPU to any significant degree.

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is built on the Ampere architecture using Samsung's 8 nm process. It features 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units, along with 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores. The GPU runs at a base clock of 1500 MHz with a boost clock of 1725 MHz, and its memory operates at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). The 8 GB GDDR6 frame buffer sits on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

This memory configuration is a defining characteristic for The Medium. The game's measured FPS deltas between settings presets at the same resolution reveal how heavily the GPU's VRAM and compute resources are taxed. At 1080p, moving from Low to Medium costs 46 FPS (from 123 to 77), from Medium to High costs another 22 FPS (down to 55), and from High to Ultra costs 11 more (down to 44). These are steep step-downs, indicating that each preset tier meaningfully increases the rendering load.

The RTX 3070's pixel rate is 165.6 GPixel/s and its texture rate is 317.4 GTexel/s, with FP32 compute at 20.31 TFLOPS. These specifications position the card as a capable 1440p performer, which the measured data confirms. At 1440p Medium, the average FPS is 65, which is a playable level for a horror game that relies on atmosphere over twitch reflexes. At 1440p High, the average drops to 46 FPS, and at Ultra it falls to 37 FPS. The 4K results are more punishing: High averages 36 FPS, Medium 51 FPS, and Ultra drops to 29 FPS.

The GPU's percentile rank is 61, and its nearest rivals in aggregate benchmark score are the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT at 17083 (a 0.7% delta), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 at 17037 (1% delta), and the AMD Radeon HD 7970M at 17019 (1.1% delta). The RTX 3070 scores 17208 on average, placing it slightly above these competitors. However, the deltaPct values are all within 1.5%, meaning the RTX 3070 is functionally comparable to these cards in synthetic tests.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity is worth noting. The Medium is a game known for its dual-reality rendering technique, which can be memory-hungry. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra (29 FPS) suggests that the GPU is running out of headroom, either from compute or memory bandwidth. The 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for 1440p Medium, where the 65 FPS average indicates smooth operation, but the sharp drop to 36 FPS at 4K High points to the GPU being the limiting factor at that resolution.

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

The measured FPS rows provide a clear picture of which settings preset delivers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance for this CPU-GPU combo. At 1080p, the Low preset achieves 123 FPS average, which is far beyond what a horror game needs for smooth play. The Medium preset delivers 77 FPS average with a minimum of 65 FPS, which is the sweet spot for 1080p: it provides significantly better visuals than Low while maintaining a frame rate well above the 60 FPS threshold.

At 1440p, the Medium preset again stands out as the recommended choice. It averages 65 FPS with a minimum of 55 FPS and a maximum of 74 FPS. The minimum of 55 FPS is close to the 60 FPS target, but for a slower-paced horror title, this is acceptable. The High preset at 1440p drops to 46 FPS average, which is noticeably less fluid. The Ultra preset at 37 FPS average is too demanding for this resolution.

For 4K, the situation is more constrained. The Medium preset averages 51 FPS with a minimum of 43 FPS and a maximum of 58 FPS. This is the only 4K preset that stays above 40 FPS on average. The High preset drops to 36 FPS, and Ultra falls to 29 FPS. The Low preset at 4K averages 81 FPS, but the visual compromise is substantial.

Across all three resolutions, the Medium preset is the consistent recommendation. It provides the best balance: at 1080p it offers 77 FPS (well above the 60 FPS target), at 1440p it offers 65 FPS (just above the target), and at 4K it offers 51 FPS (playable for a horror game). The measured minimum FPS values for Medium settings are also the most stable: 65 FPS at 1080p, 55 FPS at 1440p, and 43 FPS at 4K. These minimums are higher than the averages for the High and Ultra presets at the same resolutions, making Medium the clear winner for maintaining consistent frame pacing.

The data suggests that the jump from Medium to High is disproportionately expensive. At 1080p, the cost is 22 FPS (from 77 to 55), which is a 28.6% drop. At 1440p, the cost is 19 FPS (from 65 to 46), a 29.2% drop. At 4K, the cost is 15 FPS (from 51 to 36), a 29.4% drop. This consistent ~29% penalty across resolutions indicates that the High preset introduces a significant additional rendering load, likely related to the game's dual-world rendering effects. The Medium preset appears to be the point where the RTX 3070's resources are utilized efficiently without overcommitting.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This particular combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 ranks 1570 out of 3724 tested combos in The Medium. This places it in the 42nd percentile of all tested configurations, meaning it outperforms roughly 42% of combos and falls behind 58%. This ranking reflects a mid-pack position, which is consistent with the individual component percentiles: the CPU sits at 73rd percentile and the GPU at 61st percentile.

The rank of 1570 out of 3724 indicates that there are many combinations that deliver better performance in this specific game. This is not surprising given that The Medium is a demanding title with heavy GPU requirements. The combo's position suggests that while the RTX 3070 is a capable card, its 8 GB VRAM and 20.31 TFLOPS of compute are not enough to push this pairing into the upper echelons of the ranking table.

The gap between the CPU and GPU percentiles is notable. The CPU is stronger relative to its peers (73rd percentile) than the GPU is (61st percentile). This implies that in this pairing, the GPU is more likely to be the limiting factor. The measured FPS data supports this: the performance scales dramatically with resolution and settings changes, which are GPU-bound variables. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 123 FPS, but at 4K Ultra it falls to 29 FPS — a 76.4% drop that is characteristic of a GPU-limited scenario.

The combo rank also reflects the balance of the pairing. A rank of 1570 out of 3724 means that roughly 2154 combos perform better in The Medium. Many of these likely feature higher-end GPUs like the RTX 3080 or RX 6800 XT paired with similar or better CPUs. The Ryzen 5 5500's 6-core configuration is sufficient for this game, but the RTX 3070's performance ceiling is what anchors this combo to its mid-pack position.

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

The measured FPS data across resolutions reveals a clear scaling pattern that identifies the GPU as the primary limiting component. At Medium settings, the combo delivers 77 FPS at 1080p, 65 FPS at 1440p, and 51 FPS at 4K. This represents a 15.6% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a 21.5% drop from 1440p to 4K. The total drop from 1080p to 4K is 33.8%.

At Low settings, the pattern is more dramatic: 123 FPS at 1080p, 104 FPS at 1440p, and 81 FPS at 4K. The drops are 15.4% and 22.1% respectively, with a total drop of 34.1%. At High settings, the numbers are 55 FPS, 46 FPS, and 36 FPS, representing drops of 16.4% and 21.7%, with a total of 34.5%. At Ultra settings, the pattern continues: 44 FPS, 37 FPS, and 29 FPS, with drops of 15.9% and 21.6%, totaling 34.1%.

The consistency of these scaling percentages across all settings presets is telling. Regardless of whether the game is running at Low or Ultra, the FPS drops by roughly 15-16% when moving from 1080p to 1440p, and then by roughly 21-22% when moving from 1440p to 4K. This uniform scaling indicates that the performance is limited by a component whose workload scales linearly with pixel count — the GPU.

If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect to see smaller FPS drops at higher resolutions (because the CPU work stays constant while GPU work increases), or we would see a plateau at lower resolutions where the CPU maxes out. Neither of these patterns appears in the data. The Ryzen 5 5500's 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient to keep up with the RTX 3070's output even at 1080p Low, where 123 FPS is achieved.

The 4K to 1080p ratio at Medium settings is 51/77 = 0.662, meaning 4K delivers about two-thirds of the 1080p frame rate. This is a typical result for a GPU-bound scenario, where the 4x increase in pixel count from 1080p to 4K is partially offset by the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute efficiency. The RTX 3070's 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is a limiting factor at 4K, as the game's dual-reality rendering demands significant memory throughput.

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

The complete measured FPS dataset for this combo covers three resolutions and four settings presets, providing 12 data points. At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 123 FPS, the Medium preset averages 77 FPS with a minimum of 65 FPS and a maximum of 88 FPS, the High preset averages 55 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 44 FPS. The Medium preset is the only one at 1080p with measured minimum and maximum values, indicating that this was the primary test configuration for frame time analysis.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 104 FPS, the Medium preset averages 65 FPS with a minimum of 55 FPS and a maximum of 74 FPS, the High preset averages 46 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 37 FPS. The Medium preset at 1440p shows a frame time band of 55-74 FPS, which is a wider relative spread than at 1080p (65-88 FPS). This suggests slightly less consistent frame pacing at the higher resolution.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 81 FPS, the Medium preset averages 51 FPS with a minimum of 43 FPS and a maximum of 58 FPS, the High preset averages 36 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 29 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K has the narrowest absolute FPS band of any Medium preset (43-58 FPS), which indicates that the GPU is operating at a more consistent load level when it is more heavily utilized.

Comparing across resolutions at the same settings, the Low preset shows the highest absolute FPS at every resolution: 123 at 1080p, 104 at 1440p, and 81 at 4K. The Ultra preset shows the lowest: 44 at 1080p, 37 at 1440p, and 29 at 4K. The gap between Low and Ultra widens at lower resolutions: 79 FPS at 1080p (123 vs 44), 67 FPS at 1440p (104 vs 37), and 52 FPS at 4K (81 vs 29). This widening gap at lower resolutions is consistent with the GPU having more headroom at lower pixel counts, allowing the settings preset to have a larger relative impact.

The Medium preset's measured minimum FPS values are 65 at 1080p, 55 at 1440p, and 43 at 4K. These minimums represent the worst-case frame times during testing. The fact that the minimum FPS at 4K Medium (43) is higher than the average FPS at 4K High (36) and 4K Ultra (29) reinforces the recommendation to use Medium settings at 4K. Similarly, the minimum FPS at 1440p Medium (55) is higher than the average at 1440p High (46) and 1440p Ultra (37).

The maximum FPS values for Medium settings are 88 at 1080p, 74 at 1440p, and 58 at 4K. These peaks indicate that the combo can occasionally deliver much higher frame rates, but the averages are more representative of sustained performance. The spread between minimum and maximum is 23 FPS at 1080p, 19 FPS at 1440p, and 15 FPS at 4K — a narrowing spread at higher resolutions, which again points to GPU-bound operation where frame rates are more tightly clustered around the average.